The Pharaoh

Chapter 4

The large bird man stood up and I couldn't help but stumble away in fear. The room began to get darker and the black smoke started to take over the room. I took a few more steps away from the looming throne as well as the terrifying Pharaoh and accidentally bumped into Nyra. She fearlessly laced her arm through mine, efficiently trapping me in the room. "That's enough Aiden! She's properly scared out of her mind," Nyra told the imposing figure.

Suddenly the room became bright, all the black smoke disappearing without a trace, and the Pharaoh was no longer a ten-foot bird man. Instead, the Pharaoh was a tall human standing at about six feet. His hair was a light brown, almost as if he was meant to be blonde but didn't spend enough time in the sun to actually be blonde, and his eyes looked like storm clouds. His nose was wide but it suited his large body and added to his overall appearance. He had tan skin, like everyone else I had seen today. He also didn't seem opposed to showing that skin off. He wore a white and gold skirt thing around his waist with no shirt... and I can't say I'm complaining. The guy has a good body.

"You trust her so easily? During a time that an uprising is happening within my empire?" the Pharaoh inquired of Nyra.

Nyra pursed her lips and retorted, "I never said I trusted her."

"You called me Aiden instead of Pharaoh. You never say that in front of questionable company," he reasoned.

"Okay, so maybe I trust her a little bit," she responded, "But it's only because she reminds me of a lost kitten."

"Thanks?" I commented unsure of how to feel about being referred to as a kitten.

"Coming from her that's a compliment," the Pharaoh told me.

Nyra gave me a smile then asked the Pharaoh, "So who's her parent? I can't get a good enough read on her."

"What?" I questioned confused.

The Pharaoh looked at me and narrowed his eyes. He examined everything about me. The way my bottom lip was constantly swollen due to my anxious bitting, all the way to my unnaturally small pinky toe. "I can't tell. It's like she's human," he admitted a bit baffled.

I wanted to shout that I was human, but that didn't seem right. Humans don't disappear in the middle of conversations. Humans don't suddenly vanish as they pull their little sister in for a hug. Humans don't wake up in the desert of an empire that was destroyed years ago.

Nyra scoffed and said, "There's no way she's human. Can't you feel the power coming off of her? That's not human."

"Of course I can!" He scoffed almost offended by her words.

"I'm so confused," I grumbled to myself. Power? I'm not powerful! I'm freaking useless! That's why I was behind a desk as a secretary instead of being a nurse out in the field during the war. It's why Serena and I had to stay with our grandparents when our parents were announced missing in action when I was seventeen.

The Pharaoh gracefully walked down the steps of his throne until he proudly stood right in front of me. He was about a foot away but his intense gray eyes made it seem like mere centimeters. "What are you?" he asked me with suspicion.

I was taken a bit off guard by his words and stuttered out, "I... I don't know."

The room was completely silent. Not even a cricket dared to speak. My heart began to pound and my palms began to get sweaty. Why is nobody talking? Should I talk? No, then they might decide I'm annoying and this good-looking Pharaoh will fry me.

"She really doesn't know," Nyra whispered in amazement.

The Pharaoh nodded and said to Nyra, "Take her to the chambers next to mine. Either I or you watch her. No guards. For now, we keep her... uniqueness quiet."

"What about Byron?" Nyra questioned.

"I can sense him in the hallway. If he's here then that means he'll need to be somewhere else soon. So there's no need to tell him," he said.

Nyra smiled, pleased with his answer, and replied, "Sounds good to me."

------------------------------

Aiden's P.O.V.

"What a beautiful house guest you have," a soft high pitched voice said behind me.

I let out a sigh and turned around. As expected Hathor stood there messing with objects in my room that I'd prefer her to keep her hands off of. Her nimble hand twirled a small homemade cup and the usual annoyance that accompanies her presence presented itself within my chest. I grabbed the cup from her hands and placed it back in its designated spot. "I'm not in the mood for your games," I told the goddess.

She huffed and defended, "Maybe I'm not here for games."

I crossed my arms over my bare chest and inquired, "So this isn't about you wanting to see your only mortal daughter?"

The goddess's face hardened and she sneered, "I can't believe you gave her that charm!" I raised my eyebrow and she took a deep breath, "While I'd love to see my daughter, I was sent here by your father."

I rolled my eyes and said, "But of course dear old Dad still won't come and talk to me himself. Is he mad over the attack at his temple? Or perhaps he's finally going to tell me who's behind the uprising? Maybe he's saying a late happy birthday to me or Byron?"

"You should be kinder in your words. You may be as powerful as your old man but there's still one major difference," she said, "You can die. He cannot."

I leaned against my wall and replied, "I don't fear death."

She rolled her blue-green eyes, the ones her daughter had, and remarked, "Everyone talks big until their souls are weighed."

"Not me. Now are you going to deliver your dumb message or are you going to do what you gods already agreed on and leave us mere mortals alone?" I questioned harshly.

She stepped closer to me and ran her hand through my hair. She lovingly placed her hand on my cheek and said, "Find out what that girl is."

My eyes widened in shock and I pushed the beautiful goddess off of me. This all has to do with that girl? Not the uprising? Not the attacks? "All this over a little human?" I asked.

"That thing isn't a human," she sneered, "Ra fears she has the power to defeat us all."

"But he doesn't know what she is?" I inquired more fascinated than I cared to admit.

She shook her head and admitted, "There's only one of us who bothers learning the secrets of the universe, and none of us know where he is," she walked around me until she was able to whisper in my ear, "But you do. You know exactly where Thoth is."

I smirked as I remembered our deal. I hide him with a permanent illusion and he keeps records of history that I can access anytime I want. Only we two know the location. "So you higher beings want me, a Pharaoh and the empire's great leader, to go to Thoth and ask who this girl really is?" I asked slightly amused.

"That," she admitted, "And kill her is she's a threat."

I raised my eyebrow and said, "I've met the girl. She's more confused and sweet than the Nile itself."

"I knew you would say that," she admitted, "She is the one you're destined to love."

"You're lying," I growled.

She laughed and questioned, "Am I?" Then a puff of red smoke went up in the air and she was gone. Leaving me all alone in my private room.