Ancient Cairo in its height and glory, with the Giza Pyramids staring at the city, is before us.
Villages and temples and dwelling places as far as the eye can see.
Extraordinary towers and buildings to the gods.
The Sphinx sits with his nose intact.
Amen, Ziyad, and Aziza walk through the busy streets. Everything is heightened. Larger. More bold.
The market. The buildings. The guards. The gods. The towers.
It never stops.
Aziza is looking at the scroll as they walk, while also watching her steps.
Ziyad takes it all in. "I forgot how much I loved Cairo."
"Really?" Amen asks.
"No. I hate it. I feel like I’m going to get robbed, cousin."
"Ironic."
Ziyad shakes his head. "It is better to be the one doing the robbing. And know the local thieves. I don’t know anyone here anymore."
"I’m sure of it now. A wall." Aziza finally looks up, rolling up the scroll.
"There are walls everywhere. But there are only some left from that period it talks of. Those are on the outskirts of the city. I have someone who can help," Amen says, almost to himself.
After some time, Amen walks down a long hallway between buildings away from most of the hustle.
An OLD MAN is sitting among scrolls and statues of gods and ancient writings.
Amen goes to him. He kneels at him and offers him some coins and whispers.
The Old Man nods, and they start to talk about the scroll and look at it.
Ziyad and Aziza watch from afar.
Ziyad looks back at the crowds, and sees a group of men watching them intently.
"Amen. Trouble. We have trouble"
Amen waves his arm, like leave me alone.
The group makes their way towards them.
Amen continues speaking with the Old Man.
His displays go through generations of information, deciphering what the Old Man is saying.
Some of it labeled FALSE.
Some TRUE.
Some have TO BE INVESTIGATED
Percentages go up and down for mission success. Amen's display of WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE starts to drop, with nothing being concrete.
"Amen. These men look very angry and hungry. You stole from their or dated their sister. Sorry Aziza," Ziyad says, rolling up his sleeves for a fight with one hand.
Amen cannot get the Old Man to focus. His life is draining before him from listening to the old fool.
Amen throws more coins at him.
The Old Man finally clears up and starts to speak in a whisper.
"Walls. The desert eats the walls. But the caverns and tunnels, it does not eat. It keeps hidden. Hidden forever. There is a temple. A temple that went astray. A forever dungeon."
"The walls. More about the walls!" Amen yells.
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The Old Man shakes his head.
"This temple, Amen. The screams. All can hear them. You will hear them. The forever dungeon. The walls? The walls. The scroll speaks of the walls. This mark will show you the way."
The Old Man points at a small marking on the scroll. A mixture of an Egyptian eye with a circle and gate around it.
The icon starts to glow, and Amen's display and health and knowledge start to add back up. The percentages of success and truth start to rise.
Amen tosses The Old Man one more coin and turns.
The young men are now before them.
Ziyad pulls a dagger. Aziza turns to run.
The group keeps coming.
Mostafa leads the group. Around the same age of Amen and Ziyad and Aziza, but thinner and darker, damaged from hard work in the sun.
"Oh. Hi Mostafa."
Mostafa smiles, and kneels, as do all of his friends.
"What?" Ziyad says.
"Get up, friends." Amen lifts his hands.
Mostafa does and runs to Amen and begins hugging and kissing him and kneeling at his feet.
"Stop."
"Whatever you want, Master Amen."
"Master?" Aziza says, shock in her voice.
"We need to go. The old man gave me a clue."
Mostafa turns towards Ziyad and Aziza.
"Oh! Great Amen. Who are these people? Your friends? This woman?! This woman of exquisite beauty. Is this the one you spoke of? Your heart broke for?"
"No. Not her, "Amen lies.
"What or whom do you speak?!" Aziza asks.
"Are you Aziza? The Princess of the Nile? The most beautiful woman of Thebes?"
"No, not this old hag," Ziyad interrupts.
Aziza turns to strike Ziyad.
Mostafa goes to him. "You. Your humor. Your wit. Your bravery. You must be Ziyad. The friend of friends. The forever companion. The bravest of the brave!"
Amen puts his head in his hands.
"Yes. I am. Now bring me weapons, women, and song!" Ziyad demands.
"It will be done," Mostafa says, turning to fulfill the request.
"More about me!" Aziza walks forward.
Amen pulls Mostafa aside.
"Mostafa. We are here on secret. We must keep a low profile. I don’t want you to get involved. We are being hunted, I’m sure."
Mostafa nods. "Whatever you want, you will have. We will protect and avenge you to the death. We are yours. You can find us across the way. All of us"
"Excuse me. What did Amen do for you?" Aziza pushes her way forward.
"Do for me? For us?! He saved us!" Mostafa nearly screams.
Amen pulls a dagger and points it at Mostafa, ready to use it.
"I will break our agreement if you do not leave now." Amen says angrily.
"Leaving now. Forever yours."
Mostafa walks away, smiling, with all of his family and friends it seems.
"Lets go," Amen starts.
"No. Explain. Now," Aziza says.
"Forever companion, eh?" Ziyad looks at his dirty clothes like they are fine linen. "I must be their leader. I will lead them to war. Or to find me a new hand."
"Amen," Aziza puts her foot down. "Tell me who they are and what you did, Amen. You are different. What have you been doing for three years?"
Amen thinks about how to explain the light and glowing jar, and the points and the mission and percentages.
The flickering of his eyes and the displays. The things he does not even understand. How his cousin and his former love glow, and how enemies can be seen from across the way.
How warnings and radar and...what is a NPC?!
Amen stops.
"His family. His entire family. All of them. Cousins. Sisters. Parents. They were being held for debts from their grandfather. Their grandfather was a friend of my father. A friend of Omari as well. The grandfather was a horrible, wicked, stupid man. And his debts and sins were now put upon his innocent family. He was a thief of thieves. The Madjay marked his family as outcasts for all of eternity for punishment. Sold them into slavery. I free’d them. All of them. That is all."
It was the first thing did Amen once this all happened. Once the glowing jar and all the rest.
Aziza and Ziyad do not speak for a moment.
"How, cousin?" Ziyad asks.
"I killed their oppressors. And bought back the ones from those I couldn’t kill with steals. Come. We must go."
Amen's displays then show the whole history of everything he said. Every adventure, steal, and kill.
Let's make a game of it.
Amen waved for his friends to follow him. He was done speaking.