Chapter 5: Watchers646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKpnQDpyjE
The conversation with Ptah didn't last long. Tutor sat in the same place the entire time listening to Ptah speak about what had been happening the last few months. The Risers had apparently been making a push against them in Rhakotis just before Thoth disappeared. The last message they received was cryptic but clear, “They’re coming.” Now what exactly he meant was clear to them all. They had been planing the siege against Sphinx for a long time now and information acquired from several private runners Thoth had employed had affirmed that idea ahead of the attack. Tutor was told that when Intel Industries received this news they had immediately began rerouting personnel into the city such as Ptah and many others. Tutor knew that the info came from him and his father but kept the knowledge to himself, all Ptah knew was that he ran for companies in and around Rhakotis. This being the reason why Ptah wanted him in Rhakotis to discover the truth of Thoth’s fate. His first target was someone named Gwenevere and that she might have information on the whereabouts of their MIA agents. Sirens interrupted the briefing as the Risers infiltrated into the parks interior and started wreaking havoc. All Tutor knew was to escape and reach an extraction point as quickly as possible. He was given a location in between the city walls and the military Fort Montu to the northwest of the city. 646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrohP9y4arm
At the end of the conversation Ptah got a flash on his communicator that he answered. “What? Jaxz can’t reroute the trajectory to outside the city?” were the first words out of his mouth. “The damn thing is falling from orbit there has to be…” A voice on the other side cut him off that sounded gruff and loud. “Yes Jaxz I’ll do what I can.” He stood looking down at the table in front of him for a moment before running his hand over the surface. A louder evacuation siren started blaring through the complex with a calm woman’s voice, “Evacuation protocols activated. All civilian and non-civilian personnel make your way to the nearest exit point.” The pair locked eyes as Tutor stood and turned towards the door. “Jacob will be meeting you at the extraction point. If your locator doesn’t ping you as alive by the predetermined time the mission will continue with only him.” A flash bounced of Tutors arm where a chip was inserted long ago that kept track of vital signs for him. “If you are alive but not at the extraction we will reroute Jacob to assist with further operations until you are found. Get out of here the Caution star liner is on a collision course with the park.” Ptah immediately raced out of the room with the others leaving Tutor to himself to figure out how to get out of the park and the city without being caught or killed. He knew the Risers were likely looking for him in Ptah’s park. Why else would they come after a civilian leisure site? Unless they wanted to cause as many casualties and collateral damage as possible, which no one would certainly put past them.
Tutor stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the inside of the park. Fires had sprung up in several places throughout the park and noticed that where just minutes before there had been merry seeking couples out to enjoy the night, bodies and barricades littered the floor. Fighting was intense all over the ground and all around the vast structure. The Shield Corp soldiers that fought in the Sepulchre were nearly absent here save for the security that had been patrolling before. The majority of fighters here were in sleeker armours much like the ones that had been on the other Phantoms in the room with Tutor. He espied one extremely efficient troop of Phantoms that had been going in and out of sight just enough to lure Risers to look towards them before they would be taken down by another member. This group wore distinctively different armours with red trimming and lights that flickered on and off as they distracted their enemies. Other Phantoms would seemingly disappear into thick clouds of smoke and vanish from sight. The Shield Corp troops stayed near each other in defensive formations. Looking about he had found the structure he entered through had already crumbled to the ground from an explosion that ripped some of its foundation upward out of the ground. The way he came in was clearly no way out so he instead searched for another route. Keter had immediately highlighted a different one through another one of the large side structures. This one was to the east of the park but still through many pockets of fighting and bullets raining down from the open air above. The loud sound of armoured footsteps echoed up from the hall outside the room the balcony was connected to. Before the Risers could make out he was there he leapt from the railing onto the still strong foliage below. One gauntleted hand reached down and nearly grasped him as he wove his way down with the vines.
Even though fires and bullets nicked the vines they held strong. Repelling the flames like water and still staying as slick as ever. With gunfire raining down on him from the squad of Risers above he landed on the ground floor with a roll. Getting back to his feet he Immediately jumped over a body clad in a light blue business suit and ran off into the direction of the exit he was shown. As he ran a voice boomed over the intercom barely receiving any notice by the combatants near him. “This is Ptah to all Phantoms, immediately engage the enemy and drive them back. I will not have them defiling my park or this fair city. The Risers shall know the might of the ones that rose faster and tonight they will learn what it means to fear.” At that the lights immediately went out in areas around the main park with screams following very shortly afterward. A repeat of the evacuation protocol echoed throughout the battle around them.
Ptah’s voice pushed an encouraging feeling into Tutors heart. Several lighter clad Riser soldiers had fallen in behind him. They moved swiftly dodging bullets and chunks of earth from around them as they raced after him. These were familiar to him, a Chasers worst nightmare. The Riser equivalent of inquisitors from European past, they would hunt down Chasers and torture them to get the information they stole back. Most never made it back alive and they probably hoped to capture Tutor here tonight. They clearly wanted him alive and that was the reason the Risers were here slaughtering innocents. The information he carried, now on two different matters of import, clearly got under their skin. With his feet making strides longer than ever before, he weaved his way through the fighting. Shield forces stood in circles like great Spartan forces repelling the forces of Xerxes. The guns poking out from underneath their great kite shields. Indeed as Tutor passed one group a holographically formed man pushed through from one formation exploding into the fray with only classical armour across his chest. A simple fauld fell down his thoighs where metal-looking greaves ran up his shins with only simple sandals underneath. In his hands were no guns but only a large full body circular shield with a single chevron adorning its centre on one arm and in the other a long simple spear with a very ornate and deadly point. He fought with the ferocity told in the history books of Leonidas himself and pushed against the risers with Shield Corp soldiers close behind fighting in renewed strength. Nothing came near their defensive positions as huge men clad in thick intimidatingly designed armour smashed through Riser ranks with explosive force. Tutor passed one and noticed the name Crater embossed on his back as he smashed a Riser that had turned toward Tutor. Others fired huge explosives into the sky acting as mobile anti air. Planes and Riser bodies fell to the ground in crumpled heaps creating pock marks of flames and debris throughout the park.
The same burly muscled man stepped toward Tutor as he stood staring at the sight in front of him. He reached down and caught one inquisitor in his hand holding the man up by his neck. With a twist of his wrist a loud crack expelled from the mans lifeless body. He dropped it to the floor and turned toward the rest of Tutors pursuers speaking to Tutor directly in a deep resounding voice, almost like that of rocks grinding along wet ground. “Go little one the Gibborim will handle this.” The man was huge. Several feet taller then the human he then squished beneath a hammer propelled by a jet of flames on one end. As it reached the ground a shock wave exploded outward sending others in the inquisition group barreling or dodging away. His large feet then pushed him through the fray quicker than any inquisitor could have avoided him. He sent the second flying into the air with a quick upward thrust of his hammer.
Tutor took the large mans advice and rushed off. Through the thickness of the fray he weaved his path following as closely as he could to the path highlighted by Keter. He watched, as he ran, how the fully integrated Phantoms fought. Like Ninjas or Samurai they sliced through their enemies with bullets bouncing off their lightly shelled bodies. Long blades of red hot metal scorching the air around them as their dark armours blended them into the darkness of the night. Their bodies danced in between the ranks of Risers and fellow UC forces. Their movements a blur against the backdrop of chaos Tutor found himself almost losing track of his goal and he found himself again surrounded by his adversaries. Several inquisitors and normal Riser troops stood around him drawing ever nearer with their weapons drawn on him. They took caution not to leave any gaps in their flanks this time, prepared for what the boy could do and clearly not underestimating him any longer. He turned to stand face to face with a man clad in deep black armour with glowing red LED's accenting foreboding spikes. Like a dark menacing king he strode towards the boy with two inquisitors flanking him, his dark armour shining in the moonlight. He gripped the thick hilt of a long mace with an electrified head. The battle continued around them with explosions and screaming echoing around the small clearing made around them. The tall figure stepped toward him raising the other arm where a bright crimson snake-like blade appeared in his hand. It was lowered down to Tutors eye level with what Tutor could feel was a menacing cowl behind the elaborate dark steel mask. A pungent smell wafted up from the blade like that of burning flesh and blood. Tutor looked up the blade to the mans visor with defiance. As they stood staring at each other a noticeably different sound was heard around. Looking out from the corner of his eye Tutor saw pinecone shaped pods of various sizes smash into the ground.
One very large one created a small crater near the two immediately drawing the mans attention away from Tutor. It had flung away an entire side of the formation around tutor and the dark armoured man. A shooting star blasting into a NC was plastered to the side and burn marks scorched upward from its base as if having been set over a blazing fire for a long while. One panel blasted off its side and shot into the crowd decimating several other unsuspecting Risers. From within a giant imposing silver hand stretched out from the darkness within. It gripped the edge of the threshold and pulled out a hulking mass of muscle and armour. The 12 foot tall man that stretched over the battlefield was clad in grey and blue armour covering only his legs forearms and shoulders. His thick African skinned chest and abs remained bare and shone in the light of the fires around him. They reflected the chaos around him as he flexed them. His face was a handsome chiselled and strong jawed one with a long braided red beard hanging from his chin with a golden cylinder holding it together. His hair was of the same dark shade of red, short cropped on either side of his head with a long thick and sleek portion running down the centre ending with a golden metal hair tie holding it in place. “Orion is here! An’ ma lions are screamin’ ta shred ya ta pieces!” the giant exclaimed with a gruff Scottish accent before rushing toward the leader of the Risers. Most of the normal Riser soldiers fled the sight of the behemoth before he took just two steps and slammed into the leaders side throwing him clear across the battlefield. He laughed a blood curdling roar of enjoyment before barreling into the heat of the fray tossing his enemies aside like ragdolls. Not a single weapon was to be found on the giants body, his only weapons were his fists.
Despite the giants open faced chest and abdomen the enemies’ feeble attempts to fire any projectiles bounced away from him as if his muscles reflected their attacks. Though the thought was impossible. It must have been some sort of barrier covering the exposed area. The area around Tutor pressed back into chaos as the circle of Risers around him charged toward the giant. Tutor immediately raced off again as the Risers lost sight of their goal here. The moments whizzed by in furious speeds. Where once green foliage and coloured lights adorned a calm and serene park, now flickered flames amongst dead bodies that lay littering the walkways. Sirens flared in circular patterns throughout the enclosure and the foliage disappeared behind thick blast shields. The ground itself seemed to be locked away behind a shield as well, several Risers who weren’t aware of the defensive measure found themselves quickly trapped in between two chunks of interlocking metals. Their feet or legs ripped from their bodies leaving them helpless and screaming as UC personnel appeared to execute them before moving on to the next target. Blood drenched the ground in intermittent pools and small streams from piles of bodies as the UC made ground against the intruders. Tutor found he had miraculously missed being trapped between the blast shields as he ran, at some point having made a step up from grassy ground to sheets of metal. As he raced through the carnage and battling a huge boom rippled through the air above the now intense battlefield making Tutor stop to look upwards. Smoke filled the sky from all over the city in thick plumes and embers. Behind it a huge ominous red-orange glow pulsed through the black smoke. What Tutor saw next terrified him and he heard the battle around him cease as the warring sides froze in place. Silence wrapped around him as hushed breaths and the clicking of armour was heard. A breeze blew in revealing the menace behind the smoke. The flock of Ibis burst from a tree not far off, disturbed finally by the deafening boom.
From behind the great canopy of smoke and ash exploded forth a massive construct. A vessel twice the size of the Titanic billowing flames and leaking smoke and escape pods. It was once a massive magnificent construct, through the blackened hull could be seen vestiges of bright colours and a few letters from its name painted boldly along the hull. The vessel barreled downward directly over the park with momentous roaring as it broke through the airless void of space into the atmosphere, Another large craft had been ripped in twain by it slamming into it from above as it was focused below. A Riser craft that had made it into the city was the boom that was heard. Tutor without second thought darted through the momentarily fear struck audience toward his escape route. Falling debris smashed into the ground near him breaking the silence and causing all the others in the enclosure to flee as well. The shield soldiers clamped their shields back to their chests and fled to nearby ships and shuttles that were their only quick escape route with their Crater and Phantom brethren. Tutor noticed several of the Phantoms that were in the room with him and Ptah clamber into one medium vessel, he watched for a moment before it got slammed in the side by a falling hull section. The left wing exploded upon impact of the ground and the ship spiraled out of control into one of the large buildings. The facade crumpled around the wreckage leaving a new plume of smoke billowing upwards toward the sky.
The moments that followed raced nearly as fast as he did. Sections of the ship rained down ahead of him as Tutor pushed his way through the fray. Great flaming heaps of metal careened into the ground flinging debris and red hot wreckage all around his path. Several times he found himself on his back from an unexpected piece of metal or earth flung against him or dodging sharp sheets of metal that had dislodged from their hull sections. A huge hallway fell before him blocking any other route forcing him to race through it in anticipation of being crushed by another falling section. The hall was lined with myriads of doors, several blown from their cradle with others still held fast. The floor was littered with sparking electrical panels and missing perfectly circular sections in it. As he raced he noticed numbers along the walls proving to him that these rooms were suites for guests of what this ship had to be. The thought crossed his mind that he knew the ship, the famous starliner of Caution Corporation that gave tourist cruises through the solar system. In the centre of the hall near the other end of the section he noticed one of the odd pinecone shaped pods with a thick beam slammed through it, an unfortunate soul stuck inside and killed by the beam. The exit gave way just outside the door into the great building that the pathway led into. He raced inside expecting to head upwards but he was surprised to find it shoot down an elevator shaft whose doors had been blown away from the shaft. It was well lit inside and much sleeker than shafts found elsewhere. He stopped just short of jumping down to look up. He saw the elevator was locked into place by emergency clamps holding it from falling just a few metres from the floor he was on. Peoples voices could be heard trapped inside as they kept banging on the walls trying desperately to escape. “leave them Tutor. You must jump now the ship will impact in only a few seconds.” Tutor looked back to see an intense flame rip the front of the building off its foundation and feel an immense heatwave push him backward. He lost his footing as flames rushed over him just behind the heatwave, down into the depths of the parks undercroft he fell.
Cold air rushed up around him as he flipped himself over to look for a catch of some sort. Yet before he could even comprehend anything else a soft force caught his speed and began to lower him to the bottom gently. The walls were smooth glass with electricity pulsing through them like fibre optic cables. No more doors leading out of the shaft were found and the ladder that is usually found within these shafts ended at the floor he now found himself falling away from. The soft force slowing his descent felt cool and calming like the night air of the desert. He looked beside him to find a golden orb as his reflection with seven defined spikes reaching out from its centre. His amazement was mirrored in that golden orb against a brightly lit and well polished corridor he was met with upon landing his feet to the glass. He looked up to see the effects of the explosion slow at the same area. But also the elevator had dislodged and began to fall. The kinetic force that acted against him and the shock wave didn’t repel the elevator, too heavy an object maybe. With a quick leap he bounded into the hallway and slid along the smooth glass floor panels. Screams echoed downward from above also not being acted upon by whatever force had saved his life.
The loud noise of the elevator crashing into the ground forced him to look away. Soft drips of blood falling onto shattered glass and bent metal was all that could be heard from what was left of the occupants. He couldn’t bring himself to look back for any survivors. His gut told him that was impossible nothing could have survived that impact. With no way back he stood up straight and pointed his feet down the long corridor. The glass shown with brilliance yet no lights were visible along its smooth surface. His thoughts circled around ideas of what the families of those occupants would be thinking. Revenge against the Risers just like himself, remorse and sadness of the loss just like him for his mother. Their leaders and protectors failed them when they needed it the most. Failed to bring family members back home safely and soundly. Pushing a gulp of tears back he focused back on his route as he wiped a few off his cheek The glass wrapped metal beams glistened in the light that flickered inward from the fire. The connection to Keter became faint as he followed the flickering highlighted trail. The last vision of coloured highlight he saw was ended at the large arch at the end of the glass tunnel.
The path led him through the long seamless corridor and out onto a platform with no railing. Darkness permeated the entirety of the area around him, yet he felt a presence nearby that told him there was much hidden here. As he stepped into the expanse of darkness that stretched before him, lights pulsed on from somewhere above. Great rays of light that shown through the darkness in solemn pale columns illuminating what rose before him, a vast array of buildings. A fully duplicated model of the city of Sphinx sitting right underneath the park. It rose out of a huge tank of water emitting bright light from below. The enormous model encircled the entire circumference of the city or maybe even more including a section he saw far off in the distance that was a sandy beach against the waters below him. An odd buzzing started to rise up from behind him in the hallway. Turning to look, Tutor saw several drones flutter inward from the crumpled elevator shaft. They briefly shined lights on the wreckage showing a hand sticking out of the bent metal, blood pooling beneath. Knowing there was no way they were friendly he looked around for a ledge to leap towards, none in sight he stepped again closer to the edge. Peering over the side he saw no building near him before suddenly the entire platform gave way under his feet. Stepping back from the edge he scrambled to find a grip to hold onto before he fell into the expanse below.
The platform fell into the water below but listed into it rather than splashing downward. Only a small wave of water sloshed against his shoes that ran back into the lake below. He now could see the faint light blue glow emanating from below, a calm feeling of unease reaching up into his soul. The more he stared down at the waters surface the more his eyes played tricks on him, faces and bodies began to rise up from below the waves like drowned ghosts reaching up at him longing for a chance at living again. Their faces were ghoulish and reflected the sorrow and pain he felt in his heart, women crying with not a sound uttered and men writhing in the pain they endured in their death. Their mouths opened in silent calls and screams that he felt in his chest as they reached their arms up at him from below the waves. He took a step toward the edge of the barge with a subconscious want to help the damned souls. Their hands broke the surface of the water and clung to the side of the barge pulling their spectral bodies up from the water as he stepped closer, their limbs decomposed with rotting flesh hanging from their bones and gaps in their skin showing their decrepit organs underneath. The wails that escaped their mouths now could be heard jarring Tutor from the hypnotism of their longing eyes.
He stepped back quickly as one slammed its hand down onto the barge where he was standing with a resounding smack. Where the hand landed he now saw symbols and figures illuminate the floor of the craft. The hand had landed on a symbol of a woman with horns and a disk over her head supported by the horns, a glowing golden wisp of energy wrapped around the hand and burned it away as it turned into the very symbol at its feet. Standing a full six feet the woman appeared before Tutor and looked down upon him. “Young soul,” Its voice, ethereal and smooth, echoed throughout the surrounding area as she pointed to the centre of the barge, “Stand there and your journey will be safe.” He looked to see a square lit up in the centre of the boat with a symbol of a man with the same disk over his head. He looked back up to the horned woman and nodded before moving to stand in the square. As he placed his feet in the centre he heard a smooth buzzing waft up to his ears from below his feet. A light glow followed up into the air around him following parallel to the square he stood in.
Looking past the barrier of golden glow he now saw several other figures standing around him, silhouetted by the glow itself. Two men stood beside the horned woman with only armour that mimicked that of the guards he had seen near the Pharaoh before. At their feet were different symbols just like under the woman’s feet. The three of them fought off the hordes of souls from below as the barge moved silently through the waters, flesh hanging from loose bones fell away through the odd expanse without a sound. The two guards wielded odd large sickle blades that sliced through the bodies of their adversaries as easily as they did the air around them. They danced in between each other as a voice from behind called out directions to them, the woman stood with her disk shining light upon the waters before them as she hummed a silent chant to herself. The light was as bright as day eating away at the darkness around them as it passed over several other ethereal and surreal figures that marched before the boat. Several carried weapons such as swords and spears, slashing through the waters creating ripples through the darkness scattering the bodies of those that scrambled through to the light. These beings forward of the ship stood much larger than those that stood upon its prow, several feet taller and much more menacing they cleaved through the creatures without remorse.
Looking away from the fighting, gruesome and devastating he merely couldn’t watch as these desperate beings were just cleaved apart trying to reach the light they so longed for, he looked upon the scenery that surrounded him. Through the dark expanse several of the bright rays of light fluttered down onto structures around his procession. Great carved columns of stone reached up into the darkness above likely acting as columns that supported the world above. Upon them were carved many figures and characters, the first he laid his eyes upon near him was of a large beetle much like a scarab with one smaller column on either side. Both of these had men holding their hands upwards toward the beetle in praise. Looking opposite of that he found himself face to face with three large serpents that rose up from the waters below, many of the creatures and lost souls climbing upon the two flanking snakes the centre was noticeably bare save for a single man that sat upon the snakes head whose eyes seemed to follow the barge Tutor stood upon. The snakes bodies rose high into the darkness as well but followed their heads back down to peer towards the barge several meters from the surface of the water. The barge listed through the unnervingly calm waters past the giant columns as Tutor locked eyes with the man that sat upon the head of the centre snake, his green and gold armor shined in the light that hovered briefly over him.
He looked away from the man back to the battle ahead and watched for several minutes as the procession continued on past the statues of snakes and men. Two more sets of columns appeared from within the expanse as a faint fog started to roll over the waters. Four columns mimicking each other with only very slight differences Tutor didn’t have the time to ponder on. Nine large ape like beings sat upon one another like totems with their hands in different positions. Past these, as the barge continued on were the last four columns before coming to a very large dam-like gate. These were of three sets of twelve women two with their hands at their sides and one with their arms up and mouths open in song. The fourth and final column was twelve cobras intertwined around each others bodies, their heads rose above the darkness where they shot off in eleven separate directions with the last holding its head above the vast gateway before them. This column of snakes was the only along the entire procession to receive light at its canopy to see where it ended, against a rocky and stalactite covered ceiling. The stalactites hung like giant teeth from bases several meters wide in most cases, some extremely large and old the snakes even curved around them. The woman with the horns stepped up to the barrier and held her hand through it, “We have come to the first gate young lord. The gates shall open to ye and thou shalt proceed through them to find your way out back to the world of the living.”
“Wait. World of the living? Have I fallen into the underworld?” Did he die from that impact? Was his journey ended before it even began? How was it going to unfold for those above without his information and his skills? “What is this place really?”
“The answers to your questions will come with time. But I can tell you that you do not belong here, dead you are not young one.” She turned away and walked towards the landing that the barge had come to, the other men all disappeared and the area fell silent. Tutor followed her through the light of the barrier that had been meant to protect him from the souls of the damned, luckily the men that fought through the hordes did that job for him. He stepped over the small gap between the barge and the dock looking down into the mist over the water. Small wisps of mist rolled between the two surfaces and took on shapes like snakes themselves or odd curved rods. Not even a wave of the water sloshed against the stone dock the barge sat upon as it rocked back and forth from the force of him pushing off of it with his foot. Looking back up he followed the woman as she went. She walked onto the dock and slowly, with each step, began to disappear as she distanced herself from the barge. She stopped with barely an outline of herself left to her just in front of another symbol on the floor. A woman with her arms by her sides with a hieroglyphic at her feet. The horned woman stepped once onto it and fully vanished before his eyes, he reached out and tried to grasp for her but his hand went through the last vestige of her hand like it was nothing but air. A deep feeling of fear rolled into him for a brief moment as he thought of his loneliness in the darkness here. He looked back to his route in to also see the barge had begun to list back the way that it brought him from. Gruesome hands and gnawed bones reached up from the waters below yet again as he watched it list away.
Turning back toward the great gate he wondered how he could open it, with no way back he had to make it through the gates before the creatures behind him sunk their claws into him. He quickly stepped forward onto the symbol of the woman causing a bright flash to appear around him and another woman to rise standing before the gates. She raised her hand and called up to the gate in a language Tutor couldn’t understand, her accent old and raspy. For only a brief moment she stood with her arms raised before vanishing again into thin air. A line of light shone up the gap in between the gates’ doors and branching off from it in lines that formed a simple hieroglyphic version of what he just experienced. At the very bottom of the whole depiction was a great being that sat with his legs crossed directly in between the two large gates. A true goliath even larger in stature than the man that named himself Orion. Tutor continued and walked towards the being and the gate wishing only to stay away from the hands that rose from the waters edge. As he drew near a slight humming and chanting could be heard from behind. Almost cheerful, it was of both feminine and masculine voices singing in harmony, a praise of something is what it felt like. The great being stood from his seat upon the floor and strode towards Tutor. His legs striding far and strong with heavy footfalls and loud steps. A huge mace rested on his shoulder as he strode towards the boy, its head simple but ornamented in bright shining gold. His armour almost just as simple as the mace head but thick and plated, almost non-Egyptian in nature. He stopped just before the doorway and stood staring down at the small boy before him. A deep rumble rolled from the giants throat in an ancient tongue that boomed like a drum.
From below Tutors feet a great circle rippled outward to nearly as wide as the beings shoulders and pulsed lightly before Tutor stepped back. Something told him that he shouldn’t have been there in the centre and he had to move before anything else happened. As his feet exited the disc a column of light rose into the air ahead of him and a dark shape started to take form within the bright rays of light. Golden and resplendent, the single column broke and branched off into seven rays that pivoted from the head of a second giant figure. They turned to point off into the darkness behind him and meet with large discs in the distance, the light illuminating the waters below in bright glistening waves. The creatures adrift in the water wailed upwards at the light as they scratched at the air attempting to reach its warmth. The figure that stood underneath the bright rays was a man dressed only in a green ancient style scale armoured tunic and an orange knee length fauld. His head was adorned with a brilliant falcon masked headdress with stripes running down the back in the same two alternating colours. In his right hand he held a long staff with an odd bent head, the other was empty but held forward towards the mace wielder. The two beings exchanged words before the mace wielder slung his weapon towards the falcon masked warrior. With a quick motion the mace stopped before making contact with the beak of the mask as the staff came to be held just in the way.
Just as sudden as the battle began it ended with both beings vanishing in particles of light and the darkness enveloping around Tutor yet again. But now the particles flew away into the doorway and came to rest in a depiction of the battle ending with the falcon headed man resting his staff into the chest of the other. The doorway cracked open slightly as waves of dust cascaded off from the edge of the arched doorways. The doors pulled themselves open further with some unknown force and began to reveal the other side as the screams from behind him heightened and grew alarmingly closer. He turned to face the noise and found the unliving fully standing upon the stone dock and running in full force towards him. Their angered and sorrow filled wails pushed straight into his soul as he stepped back once and turned to run towards the gate that stood open before him. Its easily forty foot tall arched slabs rolled to a stop forty-five degrees from their original resting point and kicked up a thick cloud of dust as sand cascaded like waterfalls from its centuries old basin atop the doors. Tutor ran through the avalanche without thinking twice as to his direction except only to escape the wailing from behind him. The cloud of sand was thick and clung to him as if it was trying to suffocate him and squeeze the life from him. He felt fingers and hands grip him as he pulled through the sand trying to escape.
At last, breaking through the dense sand he found himself face to face with an immensely different sight then before. The sprawling necropolis stretched out before him almost exactly like that of Sphinx. A presence made itself known to him at his side and put its hand onto his shoulder. Strong and comforting it felt familiar and safe, looking up to it though he saw no shape take form. No face smiling down at him to reassure him it was safe here and that he was going to make it. A twinge in the back of his throat brought tears to his eyes as he lost the hope that his father could be standing beside him, or that all he just went through was just a nightmare. But brushing the sand off his shoulder that was left where the feeling had left an impression in the shape of a masculine hand, he turned and looked back behind him. Shut were the gates that were open, locked now by immense metal clad stone beams that slid into slots along the backside. Not a single soul reached through the sand with him, not a hand stretched toward him longing for the reality he still held dear. But instead, from toward the city he was now facing, a solemn and content sort of wailing reached his ears. It seemed to call him on and lure him inwards from the expanse behind him. He followed it with curious eyes watching the city in the distance, it stretched upwards into the dark canopy above them same as Sphinx, a cascading mountain of buildings and walkways. But instead of clad in high tech metals and advertisements the city was built of ancient stone and seemed to meld almost perfectly into the scenery around it. As if it was carved or molded from the rockface it stood out from.
The stone he stepped on was no longer surrounded by the dark foreboding waters he had left. Instead it was clear and a deep emerald green, colder than any water Tutor had swam in before he noted. Just a few metres from where he stood he saw another barge sitting in the cold waves, flanked on either side by two others that had within them the source of the wailing and crying. It called him forward, feeding on his subconscious want to help those in need. Though he knew it was likely a ploy to lure him in he let himself fall for the trickery and followed the voices to the boat. He reached the procession and stepped onto the centre boat again to be greeted by the same woman materializing before him. “Again you have reached my vessel,” She pointed with her hand to the centre square again that this time housed a seat, a sort of throne whose arms were both serpents facing away from the chair they were bound to by thick ropes. “Sit between the traitors and let the tale be regaled unto thee young one.” It felt overwhelming to him to be thrust upon this journey through what must be a historical account. Or perhaps a tale meant to scare away lost travelers. But this seemed like it would be a reward, being given inside the city limits of a site that seemed more ancient than any ever discovered. He obliged and moved to sit in between the two snakes whose eyes glowed with a strange light. The chair itself was ornamented in a strange deep green glass and gold.
Upon sitting the two snakes moved and wrapped their heads and bodies around his wrists. “Thus the lord of us all was ensnared by their treachery and lies. Promised power beyond all other to surmount even Ra himself as our guide in the overworld.” The guides voice echoed round him and into the darkness beyond the waters edge. “The goddesses Isis and Nepthys stood trial for their treachery and were deemed to be naught but the vilest of snakes for their wrongdoings. Doomed to forever reside here in the Duat and watch over their master to ensure his existence is forgotten and his soul laid to eternal rest.” The snakes wrapped further around Tutors arms as he struggled with them trying to stand up from the throne. They tightened their grip on his wrist and the guide pressed him downward into the seat. “Sit young one. You are safe here.” He relaxed his struggle and turned his gaze upon the boats around him. The first on the forward left of his own boat was one that had heads affixed to either end of its shape. In its centre sat a bright disk that illuminated the path before them by reflecting light from some unknown source. A woman kneeled by a tall feather swaying in the subtle breeze that there was in this desolate place. The disk stood upon a small tower with thirteen notches carved into it with horn like fixtures holding it in place. The woman moved the feather to and fro which aligned the disk to shine in different directions. He came to notice that no clawing and longing souls could be seen in the waters below.
The boat opposite to the first also seemed to be surmounted by heads but this holds an odd half oval shaped object with long slender shafts running along its width in the centre between two women that played from it a soothing chiming tune. They didn’t start to play until Tutor laid his eyes upon the pair, or rather he hadn’t noticed the sound before. The head on the stern of the craft seemed to hum an odd chant in harmony with the chiming. He couldn’t turn his head far enough to see the boats behind him but felt they were important in some way. As he pondered on the odd procession they listed forward away from the stone dock they were drifting next to. The wailing he previously thought was from the creatures of the boat pulled closer to the craft he sat upon from within an odd structure in the distance. With a roof like a step pyramid but ornamented with a multitude of carvings and depictions of figures and scenes, it stood tall and wide and resembled temples Tutor recalled seeing in texts from Rhakotis. Surrounded by rows of pillars and walkways but with only three large entrances on the side facing him. The stream his procession drifted upon ran through the centre opening that stretched far below the others’ floors. An odd glow reached outwards from inside with an almost ghastly and sickening pulse. The wailing was haunting and odd, almost painful and surreal. The other two entrances were bare and raised high up from the ground, probably for some purpose he didn’t understand. The boat drew upon the entrance of the temple like building as waves rushed along bringing him inwards. The quickness of the procession grew as it drew closer and tutor realized some form of rapids or descent was awaiting him. Perhaps a waterfall or deep plunge even deeper into the earth. His thoughts began swimming through scenarios of never making it out of this crazed city of the damned.
The bow of the ship listed downward pointing into the odd glow as the forward ships vanished into the bright light, the music and wailing both ceased as his vessel plunged down the rapid waves. His mind became filled with images of people from the world above, living their daily lives and praying in many various ways. A large man dressed in simple monk robes sitting underneath a waterfall cascading from over his head, the water tinged a light emerald from the ice cold temperature. A thousand men and women with their heads bowed to the floor, all facing the same direction. A group of classical worshipers standing around an altar, their arms raised in adoration with a goat slaughtered and bloody upon the dais. The voice of the woman upon the boat broke through the apparitions of human life and began to speak to Tutor. “It is the wailing's of those that reside within this palace that hath lured you here, any other direction your mind could have raced and surely had been destroyed, but here is where you followed the waters of Urnes to,” The brightness dissipated and again Tutor could see the darkness around him, but now with a new glow that outlined the inner structure of the temple and a series of chairs and altars that stood filled with beings. “Before you in the picture of this scene sit the lords of prayer.” She waved her hand to the right of his craft where twenty one figures stared down at the waters where he sat. Twelve beings sat upon chairs wrapped in odd linen and were still but moaning in agony and despair. The next two that stood upon altars of their own were a sort of staff and a snake that wound its way up from the base of the altar. One altar was occupied by a lion-headed woman with an odd cask behind her, a head lay broken and empty at its feet. The last six stood strong upon their altars and called down to Tutor in multiple languages. Their voices thick and nearly as grotesque as their bodies.
The six that resembled people each called down in a different language, the first started with an odd guttural language that flowed out of its mouth almost like a river. With an accent like a native American mixed with that of deep Asian influence it rolled its odd words downward at him. It was a woman’s body encased by a simple headdress of stone carved into a beaming ray of light that split into forty separate rays that fell down her back. Its crest was mounted by a cobra that sat with its tail wrapped around the circle the light fell from. Her chest was covered by nothing but a thick necklace in a style like that of the ancient Egyptians, upon this sat the Aten disk that had it’s twenty rays splaying down her rounded stomach. Her stomach bulged with movement as her face contorted in pain and grief whilst her arms held out to her side she supported two staves that held crosses upon them, each of a different type. Her altar was carved with reliefs of biblical characters and depictions where her grotesque skinless clawed feet stood just below the rotting flesh of her knees and shins. The white of her bones shone in the glow that radiated from the odd orb embedded in the centre of an odd circular pattern carved in the ceiling. Another followed the firsts voice in almost practiced cadence, calling down to Tutor in an equally frightening voice but one of a rolling African accent. Deep and rumbling like an earthquake it drew his eyes to fall upon the woman that stood above him as the boat passed the group.
Deeply dark skinned she held in her hand an Ankh with very pronounced edges different then the common Egyptian theme. It was strangely familiar to him, yet he couldn’t quite place his finger on why. Her skin was riddled with pins and needles that stabbed into her with blood running continuously from each puncture. Her only attire was simple leather and fur covering only the essentials leaving little to Tutors imagination. She smiled at him with sharp fangs protruding from within her mouth with light drips of blood falling off her canines dripping down onto the pedestal she stood upon that held the mangled bodies of various men clad in different types of armour ranging from ancient Indian to colonial English. A third shrieked downward to him with a high pitched wail. As his focus fell upon her she changed her tone to a chant of prayer, one of simple vocal signatures almost meditative. She stood upon the dais with only one foot, the other clung through her skin just above her supporting legs knee. She had six arms held out around her, each pair of two different from the last. The lowest pair was decrepit with her flesh falling from her bones and her hands dangling by her wrists’ ligaments. The middle was pristine and healthy with strong muscles and held in one hand a disk that she balanced on her middle finger. The uppermost pair was barely visible and hazy, almost spectral in their form as she moved them about in odd circular patterns. Energy waved around her upper hands forming a sort of weave in the air around her, this weave hid from view her body. What he did see was a pale blue colour with tinges of grey the lower he looked.
A bright flash of flame erupted from the dais next to her and within the roaring fire rose a woman of red hair and fair skin. Instead of decrepit and grotesque like the previous few she stood tall and strong staring down at Tutor with knowing eyes. “We are they who receive the prayers of man. We usher forth their wailings to the great one above whom watches over all.” Her voice rolled downward to him like a fireball, full of heat and empowering. Her gaze was fixated on the boy with a passion as deep as her flame. “I see the fear in your eyes young one, it is not without warrant. My fellows here have fallen to the corruption that has encased your world since ancient times, they have been mutated and wrongfully shifted in shape to resemble the monsters their followings have become.” Tutor shifted his gaze from her long flowing hair of fire back to those that now stood in adoration and fear of the fire that blazed in their company. Their screams silent and their agony seemed to vanish as they watched the flame, the same hungry look in their eyes as those that crawled from the waters scratching at Tutor. “We are the last of the fold that defends the earth from the evils of itself, yet now we number so few and soon even they shall fall. But not as before, their following cannot continue into another. They will fall and be easily susceptible to that evil.” Her hand waved towards the last two on her other side.
The first sat in a legs crossed manner with a thin long pipe held from her mouth. She showed no emotion to the presence of the flame except for that of stoking the pipe with her flames. She wore a long feathered headdress and simple leather coverings over her red skin, paint of clay and iron accented round her face and body. She made no sound and paid little attention to the boy standing on the boat below her. A staff of simple wood rested against her back with a boomerang tied around its base. The second was the only man in the group, standing facing away from Tutor towards an odd temple shaped object. His hands gestured towards it in a fixed state with one hand held below the other that had his index and middle fingers pointed upwards. This one neither made any notice of Tutor and continued his prayer. “They have managed to stay mostly in solitude and solidarity with their teachings. Now go with this knowledge of Ma’at and bring with it to your leaders. Follow along the Urnes to find yourself in the reeds.” With that final message she vanished and a similar sound echoed from the other side of the vast chamber. Tutor turned his head to peer in the opposite direction to see what was making the noise.
On this side of the building sat twenty-two coffins and altars, each with different symbolism and structure. The first was a statue standing upon a dais with his left foot positioned towards the waters edge. The three coffins beside him each had two ears of corn etched into the feet of them, the stone was of the same dark black make as the temple itself with a glisten that seemed like tar. The next three were similar except for ears of wheat sticking up from the centre of the coffins where the shape of the hands of men held them up. The eighth member in the line was tied to a pillar beside his empty dais where only a knife lay bloodied on the altar. His neck was slit and bled down the ropes tied around his body. The ninth through eleventh were each mummified but not sitting within closed coffins, they instead seemed to have been ripped from their rest and torn to bits. Each had a different head that was mounted,decapitated, on the ends of the coffins. A horned animal, a man and a jackal. The next had the same disrespect to its person, his coffin held the a red crown upon its feet. The next a statue rose up from the dais holding a long staff tipped with a lotus and star at differing ends. Tutors boat began movement towards the far end of the room as he watched these beings pass him by. Only one living creature stood upon this line of men, a man with a mask of two faces each angry and of opposing styles. Both faces directed their gaze towards Tutor whilst its hands held daggers to its waist. It then spoke down to Tutor in gruff strong voice. “Before you here stand the once proud leaders of the city that stretched from heaven to earth. Ur Kulaba with its mighty spire and ziggurat. They were those that guided the seasons, they ensured man the luxury of plentiful harvests and never did a drought or a flood touch the land.” his hand then waved over the second half of the same group of men. Following suit to the rest they were all mummified and deceased.
The first here was simple, sealed in a granite coffin without a trace of hindrance. The following two each held in their hands, as they lay in their coffin, the everlasting sign for life an Ankh. “The gods Hun and Hetchetchtu gave life to the first seeds of the crops of man. Twas they who fell first in the fall.” Three followed after the life givers each sealed in their coffins below palm trees, their roots holding the coffins up and out of the water that their feet touched. “Neha, Makhi and Renpiti gave man repose from the power of Aten when the heat became too much after the fall. Forever preserved they shall be in peace.” The next Altar was absent of any coffin or distinguishing figures save for a mutilated body with a knife through his throat. “But Jealous of man did one of their number become, jealous of their being watched over and guided. He corrupted a number of their fold and caused much suffering to your people, even today without the guidance of the great city drought and famine run rampant. This be the traitor we now name Afau in fear of his remembrance. His name is one of evil and brought all we had built to ruin.” The last was a statue of a man holding above his head a circular calendar centred by the Egyptian hieroglyph for year. “Now the seasons were made to better control the cycles of the earth and watch over man even after the fall of Kulaba. A great battle raged within the city and brought it to ruin, the Jealous one brought a great flood to the land below. Alas it was brought down from the sky and we failed in our jobs to give protection to mankind. The corruption of Mordias infiltrated our leadership and we are now charged to watch over the soul and body of his champion Osiris.” The boat followed the current of water deeper into the temple and towards the other end of the canal, wailing began again as he passed and the fiery woman bowed and again disappeared into the darkness. The man with the angry eyes turned to sorrow as he watched her vanish before him. He took one step towards her before the ledge crumbled beneath causing him to stop and look downward. “Alas tortured souls we are for our failure.” He looked to Tutors boat. “The lord of the day did not release us as promised but we hope to see the day again, our eyes and souls long to see the land that you have made for yourselves without our guidance. And pray that it is as plentiful now as it was once upon a time.” He stepped back and reached back for his knives, the faces looking to either side as if guarding himself from the mangled bodies of his old comrades turned enemies.
The boat coursed through the water at full speed before crashing up a small ascent and out of a bright flash of light yet again. Surrounding Tutor was a field of tall and dead, decrepit reeds. Figures lurched through them searching and pushing them aside, stepping from one to the next unceasingly grasping but never taking an ounce of form from them. Forward through the overgrowth and smell of decay was more buildings and walls with gates through them that blocked his view from the evil that he was sure rested within. Gods charged with watching over a failure that was clearly theirs whilst still following along their old routines of guidance, another who stood alone among fellows long dead that defended the outside world from an evil even he stood in fear and anger of. Thoughts of what could be locked within trudged through Tutors mind and not a single answer or word crept through from Keter. Truly alone the fear of death and disappearing into this city never to see daylight again crept into his young mind. He clutched the chairs arms as the snake wrapped around his wrists released their grip and slid down into the waters below. He watched them slither deeper into the reeds away from him before he glanced back up towards the city proper. The sounds of wailing and crying echoed all around as he sat in the boat wanting to do the same but held it in, in fear of attracting some evil spirit that resided just beyond his peripheral vision.
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