Goddess of Life (Atem x Reader)

Chapter Two - The Nameless Pharaoh

        Y/n spent the next hour studying the scan, re-scanning his body, and studying even more. She hummed to herself. “They did a magnificent job, absolutely amazing… Now if only I could figure out how… Seriously?! How the hell... “ This went on for a while, with nothing but the hum of the scanner and computer and the occasional mumble from Y/n.
        Squinting her eyes she hummed under her breath. Zooming in on the image, she cleared the resolution up a bit. Her eyes widened. “Now, what do we have here?” The tiniest fraction could be seen on one of the upper, left ribs, right above the heart. “So, they cut out a portion of the rib, tucked the little beauty in, and placed the fragment back in with hardly any visible damage?” She stared in disbelief. “That is is utterly amazing…” She looked at the scan a moment longer and then turned to the pharaoh on the table.

    After she replaced her gloves, Y/n stood at the table, looking down at the body. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. “Forgive me. I’m afraid I must remove something precious from you.” In the back of her subconscious, she felt… as if permission was granted. Carefully she unwrapped the tightly wound strips of linen. The delicate cloth felt almost brittle and she took great care not to break it. Unwrapping only what she need to, Y/n finally found bare skin. It was taught and leathery, yet beautifully preserved. The tiniest incision could be seen above the heart. Carefully, she reopened it, slowly peeling back the skin. If she didn’t have the scan, she wouldn’t have been able to find the bone fragment. With a pair of tweezers, she cautiously removed the piece, placing it on the tray.

        A beautiful lapis lazuli glinted in the lab light. It was surrounded by gold. Slowly, she took it out of the pharaoh’s chest and held it in her hand. Hieroglyphics were engraved in the metal. She would have to translate those later. She then replaced the bone fragment to its rightful place, folded the skin back over, and re-wrapped the bandages, all while taking great care. Once he was all wrapped up, Y/n looked at the pharaoh one last time before laying the cover back over him and putting him into storage.

        When she got back to her office, she made a quick quick call to Jordan, informing her the pharaoh was indeed male. Then, she began searching through the giant stack of papers on her desk about the pharaoh. It was obvious he was royalty. The quality of the embalming, the stone in the chest, and the position of the arms proved it enough. What confused her was the place he was buried. Pictures of the tomb were taken and it was hardly fit for anyone of status, let alone a pharaoh. He was found in a naturally made cave about four miles under ground. There were hardly any paintings or markings on the walls and his sarcophagus was roughly shaped and made of common limestone. From what she gathered, it seemed he was buried quickly and in secret. At first she thought he was merely moved from an original tomb to evade grave robbers, but there weren’t any signs of being moved. That cave was his original resting place. Why? Why would a king, a god in a human body, be laid to rest in such a homely way?

        Then Y/n noticed something. The sarcophagus. It didn’t have anything on it. Not a face, not paint, not a single hieroglyph. In fact, the sarcophagus itself was merely roughly shaped into the outline of a human, with many rough edges and dents. She looked at the pictures, searching for something. There were many, taken at all angles, but she didn’t find what she was looking for. A name. She looked at the pictures of the walls. Nothing. He was buried without his name.

        Y/n stared in disbelief. What could have possibly happened that would have caused the people to not bury their king without his name, the most sacred thing to a person? She glanced at the stone in the bag that sat on her desk. Perhaps it was engraved in the stone. That would make sense. Putting the pictures and papers back into the folder, Y/n slipped on a pair of gloves and opened the bag. Using a magnifying glass, she began to translate the hieroglyphs.
    After about half an hour, she was done. She set the stone down and looked at the paper she had translated on. ‘Where she will always be with him She will forever guard him He will be safe our Savior’. Y/n stared at the translation. What the hell did that mean? She noticed it said he and not his name. He was buried without his name. Y/n looked at the stone. In the cold lab light it looked… quiet. Now, in the warm soft light of her office, it seemed to glow. The gold flakes seemed to swim like fish in the abyss of the deep blue stone, like an endless pool surrounded by gold. She picked it up. It felt warmer in her hand than in the lab. Maybe it was because her office was warmer than the cool lab. For some reason, she doubted it. There seemed something… magical about the stone. It seemed to call her.