Chapter 38 A Vision of Aur
A Vision of Aur
Zahra’s vision swam as Namir stumbled through the darkness, carrying her in his arms toward the Pharaohs’ Stable House.
Their chests glowed with a soft, golden light.
He clutched her tight, looking back for only a second.
Waaiz was helping Ramses run after him. The pr-aa was bright with flames, and Iset’s great form slithered away from them toward the city.
A sharp pain struck Zahra’s chest, and she whimpered as Namir fell to his knees, gasping. Zahra’s eyes slipped closed as the pain came again, accompanied by distant screams.
Zahra shivered as Namir got to his feet once more, and she slipped into a restless sleep. When she opened her eyes again, she was lying on a cot. Despite her blurred vision, she could make out many people around her and that she was somewhere familiar.
Heba leaned over her, dabbing her head with a wet cloth. Heba smiled at Zahra’s open eyes, speaking in a soft voice. “O chara, it’s good to see you awake.”
Zahra’s frozen lips struggled to respond. She had never felt so cold before. Her hands and feet were practically numb, but that wasn’t the worst of it. There was something missing, something deep inside her that was once there that was not anymore.
“I…I can’t feel Selene.” What was she supposed to do without Selene’s guidance? How was she supposed to fulfill a prophecy if she did not have Selene with her?
A hand tightened around hers, and Zahra turned her head to see Namir sitting beside her. Grief filled his face, his eyes rimmed with deep exhaustion.
The earth quaked beneath them, and Zahra could once more hear the screams of her people. A wave of pain coursed through her, and Namir’s grip on her hand tightened as he braced himself. He could feel it, too.
The Pharaohs’ plight. Namir and Zahra both could feel the loss of their people—and the loss was great.
Zahra blinked hard, tears streaming down her cheeks. They had failed.
The faces around her became clearer. They were other people from Heba’s village, all running around and taking care of her or others that were injured. Zahra’s chest tightened. She pushed herself up from the cot, gasping. “Ahmose. He was at the pr-aa. I have to—”
Namir caught Zahra as her strength gave out, and he lowered her to the bed with Heba’s help.
“Ahmose is safe,” Heba promised. “He came home after he dropped you off at the pr-aa.”
Tears slipped down Zahra’s face. “What of my father?”
Heba glanced at Namir, and Namir looked down. “Last I know, he was still under protection in Khem.”
A sob left Zahra’s throat, and she closed her eyes. Her lip trembled as the Pharaohs’ plight wracked her body once more. “I have to find Selene.”
Namir leaned closer, pained. “No. If you go there, you don’t know if you will be able to come back.”
“I have to…try.” Zahra sucked in a shallow breath. “Our people are dying. I know you can feel it, too.”
Namir’s jaw clenched and tears welled in his eyes. “My first duty is to you.”
“But Aur will fall if we don’t stop Iset,” Zahra said. “Selene made a promise to my people—to me—that she would always be there. If I can reach her—”
“No.” Namir gritted his teeth. “Nebthet and Re both are gone. Aur is gone. There is nothing left for us here.”
Zahra shook her head, closing her eyes. “No. I won’t accept that.”
Namir put his hand on her face. “Zahra.”
She pulled away, focusing on Selene and the Duat.
It felt as if there was a wall in front of her, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get past it.
Zahra gritted her teeth, pushing harder.
The wall cracked as she focused all of her power into hitting it.
Namir said her name, but she ignored him.
The wall yielded at last, and she tumbled into the Duat.
The sand, once golden and fine, was dry and cracked.
The corpses of withered plants were scattered about her, and the sky was black and starless.
Zahra sucked in a breath, choking on the stench of decay.
She pushed herself to her feet, desperately looking for any source of light.
Only the glow from her chest could be seen, and it only lit the space about five feet from her.
There was no sun or moon. There were not even the sounds of keres. Everything and everyone was gone, and this plane was even more barren than the desert outside of Aur.
Zahra looked down at her hands. The cracks were spreading toward her shoulders on her arms, and the ones on her legs had passed her hips and were quickly spreading up her torso.
The wall between the worlds threatened to push Zahra back, but she pushed against it, trudging forward. “Mamá! Mamá, where are you?!”
Only the wind answered.
A large shape appeared in the corner of her vision, and Zahra stumbled away from it. A tall man stepped toward her, his head that of an ibis. He stopped some feet from her, watching her with beady eyes.
Zahra stopped backing away and looked at him warily. “Are you Djehuty?”
The ibis-headed man shook his head. “I am but one of his servants.”
“Where is Selene?” she asked. “Where are the sun and moon?”
“Gone from all planes but one.”
Dread filled Zahra’s chest. Tartarus.
The servant of Djehuty nodded, as if reading her thoughts. “All the ones you call the theos are with them.”
“Then how are you here?” Zahra asked. “Are you in the mortal plane as well?”
“I am the guardian of Djehuty’s temple in Inebu-hedj,” he said. “It is the place you and the other Pharaoh have spent many days and nights studying.”
The Pharaohs’ Library. He was the statue that stood at the front of it.
“And the other servants of the theos?”
“Lost in this place.” He gestured to the space around them. “All of us are now wanderers. Our theos cannot reach us, and we do not have the power to reach them.”
The wall threatened to block her once more and she squinted, grunting at the effort it took to stay in the Duat.
“You must return, Pharaoh sibyl.” He stepped back out of her light. “Or else you will be lost just as we are.”
Zahra gasped as she was forced from the Duat.
Namir was standing over her, his eyes filled with panic. Relief filled his face. “Zahra.”
Zahra’s lip quivered. “You were right. They are gone—all of them. Iset has won.”
Namir sat back down. His mouth twitched as he fought for words, but there were none.
Zahra forced in a strangled breath. “I saw you standing over the united lands. I thought… I thought we would win this.”
Was it all a lie? A dream to push them both to try their hardest, even though there was the chance they would inevitably fail?
Namir put his hand on her forehead and brushed her curls from her face. He looked up. “Heba, she is getting worse.”
Heba returned to Zahra’s side with a handful of crystals. She picked up Zahra’s hand, holding her closed fist over Zahra’s skin. Slowly, marks began to glow orange. Cracks.
Heba trailed her fist over Zahra’s body. The cracks crept up Zahra’s limbs, covering her legs and arms and reaching for her heart.
“I—I have never seen a case as bad as this.” Heba squeezed Zahra’s hand. “The only other person I treated died before the cracks reached his heart. I am so sorry, o chara, but I fear if the cracks reach your heart, your psyche itself will perish.”
Namir shook his head. “There must be something we can do.”
Heba’s hands fell by her side, and tears pricked her eyes. “There is nothing more I can do. Her fate is up to Selene now.”
And Selene is gone.
A deep shiver wracked Zahra’s body, and she wheezed for breath. Namir stood, putting his hands on either side of her face. “Zahra, please. I cannot lose you, too.”
Zahra’s vision blurred as Namir spoke to her once more, but she couldn’t make out his words. She did not want to be lost, but the pain was too great. Her body was heavy with the loss of her people. Iset would soon find them in this place, and Zahra could do nothing but lie here, useless.
Harsh wind whipped around Zahra’s frame as she opened her eyes back in the Duat. The cracks had begun to creep up her shoulders to her neck. Around her were great walls of dust and wind of a mighty sandstorm, and it was coming from her.
Zahra stumbled to her feet, crying out as pain shot through her legs.
Her skin was turning into sand. The tips of her fingers and toes were disintegrating.
The cracks were working their way up her torso.
Soon, she would be covered in them. What would happen to her then?
Was Heba right, and her psyche would be lost forever?
Zahra took a step before crumbling to the ground. She sobbed as she covered her face, letting the sand consume her. Her father, Heba, Ahmose, Jala, Faisal, and all of her friends would perish. And Namir, her King, would fall with them.
Zahra wailed, clawing at the sand and screaming into it. How could this have happened?
A child’s laugh echoed in the distance, and Zahra pushed herself to her knees.
Though her eyes were closed, she could see the memory in front of her—on her family’s boat with her mother and father, watching the eagles soar.
She saw her father guiding her to Aur, her time with Heba under Bahiti’s roof, and the night she met Namir under the starlight.
Zahra clenched her fists around the sand, wishing she could still feel Namir’s hand holding her own. She opened her eyes, placing her hand on her forehead. Her sibyl mark was still there, glowing against her palm.
Zahra’s brow furrowed. If Selene was gone, then why did Zahra still have her mark?
A voice penetrated the wind and sand. “Zahra!”
Zahra sat up straight, looking through the darkness and sandstorm. Her eyes narrowed when she saw a form. It couldn’t be….
Zahra shot to her feet, crying out as the cracks spread up her neck and torso. She took a labored step forward, clutching her hands to her chest. “Namir!”
Namir lowered his hands from his face, and his black eyes met hers through the wind and sand.
Zahra cried out, stumbling forward and reaching for him. Namir gritted his teeth, holding one hand to his eyes and the other toward her. Their chests glowed brighter as they grew closer to each other. Finally, their hands connected, and Namir pulled Zahra into his arms.
Zahra fell into him, sobbing. She could feel the cracks creeping up her cheeks and toward her sockets. The rest of her body was numb with pain. Her hands were crumbling into sand before her eyes.
Namir placed his hands on her cheeks, smiling softly. Cracks spread up his skin at a rapid pace. There was no fear in his eyes.
“No,” Zahra cried. “If anyone can save them, it’s you. I can’t fight this. I—”
Namir kissed her forehead, resting his head against hers as the cracks spread up his neck. “Then I will fight it with you, ib ib.”
Zahra’s lip trembled as Namir wrapped his arms around her. She shut her eyes and buried her head in his chest, screaming as the cracks spread up her face and reached her heart.
A vision overtook her mind. Within it, she saw Aur—beautiful, bright, and whole.
The sun burned bright in the sky. Namir stood above the kingdom on a balcony, gray in his hair and with the brightest and proudest smile.
He turned around, his gaze settling right on her.
He held his hand out, grinning. “Ib ib.”
A woman stepped forward, her graying curls covered by a blue-and-gold scarf. Her wrinkled hand took his, and her amber eyes crinkled as she smiled and laughed. “O méli.”
Namir held Zahra close to him as the vision faded. A silver-and-gold light surrounded them. Namir’s and Zahra’s cracks glowed and faded.
Zahra took in a deep breath. She was back in Heba’s home, and Namir was beside her. He was leaning on the cot she rested on, his sweaty hair stuck to his forehead.
He let out a relieved gasp and placed his hand on her cheek. “My Queen.”
Zahra laughed, reaching for his face. “My King.”
They pulled each other in for a kiss, and Heba and the others cheered around them.