Trial of Anubis

١١: WRAITH

       Banished again. 

       He had forgotten him, forgotten all thought and feeling. But as Wraith looked up at the statue, he remembered why he instructed the artisan to craft the image of another. Under the scrutiny of Elijah at the end of the corridor, Wraith exhaled a long breath and wiped his tears. 

       Wraith could imagine the voice telling him to forget Rabiah and uphold the divided lands, warning of Aperia's influence and the political unrest caused by Akhenaten. If allowed, Wraith would have stepped down as Head Son and given it to another but all he could do was re-write his history and erase his own existence. 

      "Asemonekh," Wraith shook his head. "I bet you're laughing at me from Aaru." 

       He turned and walked away, allowing the memories to fade into his subconscious. 

      In the main entrance hall of the complex, Lacy strung a women bag over her shoulder. Next to her a younger girl hugged her side, "Look after the girls, Seshat has sent me on a journey which I must complete. If anything happens, send a Shabti and I will do what I can from Luxor." 

        "Be safe, and if you find any exotic blends you just have to buy me some. I will prepare some offerings so Seshat will watch over you," the girl gave a final squeeze before bowing towards the rest of the Sons. 

        "We are banished, I do not wish to disrespect your temple further, Head Daughter," Wraith frowned. "My Sons and I will leave." 

       "You forget that two factions live here, Head Son. I do not share my partner's distrust, I honour our alliance and the words spoken by the gods," Lacy gestured to Ziara. "Her Eyes are just the start, knowledge is what kept us alive after Akhenaten and I will continue to use it to benefit others. I've made the decision that we should head to Luxor as the prophecy seemed to manifest there." 

       "The mothers meeting also declared that since we know absolutely nothing at the moment, Ziara's Ungifted connections could provide useless insight and also she's homesick," Nathanial rolled his eyes. "Put on your Egyptologist panties ladies because we're gonna be digging up some dirt." 

      "Hep-sed-thk, wht-lok-yut," Ziara hissed.

      "Does it look like I speak Egyptologist?" Nathanial raised an eyebrow.

      "Big ego, small penis," Ziara flipped him off. "Ungifted might be able to establish a timeline for us to fill in your equally blank history. Consider it a tit-for-tat." 

      Lacy nodded in agreement, "Enapti, Chigaru would not want to see you acting this way. Put your prejudice aside and learn from these people." 

       Folding his arms, Elijah muttered under his breath before submitting, "Fine, let me collect some resources and then we shall go." 

• • •

      Isfet insisted that they use his Ancient Art to transport to Luxor, in order to 'save time'. They ended up out the front of CLEOPATRA A'LA NILE, which for Isfet, was an improvement.

      Wraith plummeted from the sky and landed hard on his back, all the air was knocked form his lungs as Elijah's duffle bag slammed into his stomach. Wraith winced and tried to roll the bag off him, the duffle weighted a ton. The Head Son had to lunge out of the way to avoid Anuka landing on him.

      "And this is the precise reason why I hate jumping into scrolls to get anywhere," Anuka staggered to his feet to lean against the post near the hanging baskets to catch his breath.