The Pharaoh

Chapter 8

"I ended slavery."

That changed my thinking. How was slavery just barely outlawed? I'm so confused. Where was I? Better yet, when was I? Was all this disappearing and showing up somewhere random time traveling? What am I?

No wonder Aiden and Nyra were so confused by me. I'm confused by myself!

"Are you alright?" Aiden said.

My head snapped up and I finally looked away from the flickering fire in front of me. His gray eyes were examining me and held legitimate concern within them. His bare chest was covered in dust from the slight desert breeze. "I'm fine. Just thinking a bit," I reassured him.

He nodded and began to go back to whatever it was he had been doing. My gaze went back to the fire and my thoughts resumed.

When Nyra and I had first met she compared me to a slave. I didn't think anything of it then. I should've taken notice of it. That's not a common expression! I'm so stupid! I should've caught on long before Aiden told me that he ended slavery that something was seriously wrong.

"You should head to bed," Aiden said, "We'll have to leave at dawn again." I nodded my head and laid down on my side. "You don't have to sleep on the ground. I laid a cot out for you over here," he called out.

So that's what he was doing. I walked over to where he was and looked at the simple cot. It was woven reed on top of something else. It didn't look awful. I looked back up at Aiden and forgot how to breathe. He was standing mere centimeters away from me. His gray eyes were examining my face and I don't know if he knew this, but he was leaning in. I quickly backed away and he snapped back to reality.

Did he just try to kiss me? Why would he, a demigod and Pharaoh, want to kiss me?

"I'm sorry," he mumbled as he looked down at the dirt.

"It's alright," I told him immediately.

He cleared his throat and said, "I'll leave you to sleep."

I opened my mouth to point out that there was only one cot but he was gone before I could say anything. After what just happened I better not rock the boat.

So instead of saying anything, I laid down on the cot. I found myself incredibly comfortable and I closed my eyes.

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I was sitting at an old desk. About ten other children were all seated next to me at desks of their own. A woman, barely even eighteen, stood in front of us. She pointed to an old large printout of the world that hung on the chalkboard. The children were all silent as the young woman talked about countries of the past.

"Canada and America used to be two separate countries?" A little boy interrupted.

The teacher smiled and explained, "During times of peace there was no reason for them to be a unified country. Mexico used to be a separate country as well. However, after the cold wars turned into world war three the continent decided that becoming the United Continent of America made more sense."

"So UCA used to be three separate countries?" I wondered with disbelief.

"That's right," the teacher replied.

Another little girl with red hair raised her hand until she was called on, then she asked "Why didn't they become one big country earlier?"

"There were a lot of differences between the three. They had treaties and trade agreements but culturally they were just different. If the war hadn't taken such a toll on the entire world they probably never would've united," the teacher informed us.

"How long did it take?" A boy yelled out.

The teacher frowned slightly and replied, "Freddy, raise your hand next time you have a question, but the answer to your question is nine years. Nine years into the war and all three countries had lost two-thirds of their population. The ones that were left were suffering from all the bombings and simply couldn't survive without each other."

"Wait so you're saying that the war has only been going on for twenty years?" I asked after doing some counting on my fingers.

The teacher got a flustered look on her face and said, "This is the longest world war that we've ever had. Billions have died Alison, so please do not make this war seem like it barely started."

Something clamped down on my mouth and I jerked awake. I tried to scream but all that came out was a muffled whine. I threw my small body around and tried to free myself. All that resulted was a slap to my forehead. "Hurry! Before the Pharaoh notices!" I heard them say.

I forced myself to look around at my surroundings. The fire was nothing but smoldering ash and Aiden was asleep on the other side of the fire. No rocks or twigs that I could kick up and at my attackers were in sight. I was completely defenseless.

I once again I tried to scream for Aiden to wake up and save me. The sound came out muffled and my attacker tightened his grip around my mouth. "Yell one more time and I'll slice your guts open for the Pharaoh to find them in the morning," a man threatened in a low whisper.

My blood turned to ice and I stopped all sound and movement. I looked at Aiden's beautiful, unconscious body and tried to will him awake. He had to wake up. This couldn't be happening right now.

"Let's go," he said.

I slowly walked to where the man led me. I practically held my breath as I walked farther and farther away from Aiden. Before I knew it he was out of sight.