Endless: An Autobiography of an Immortal

Chapter 16 - Egypt

Having a new underwater adventure hobby was thoroughly enjoyable and I would invest most of the next thousand years in it, as well as continue to improve on my technology at home. I would still pop into the different areas every so often to get a feeling of the progress being made around the world. Granted I was able to send a few of the Omni devices on stealth mode to watch the progress of many civilizations so that I could be made aware of major events, but I still liked being present to see them in person. One of the times it alerted me was when the step pyramid was being built in Egypt. I went over to see what the fuss was about and before I could do anything at all I had to learn their language. Hieroglyphics was most certainly fun to learn. The ingenuity of people to create a new language never ceases to amaze me. Once I was schooled in the ways of their language I was able to converse with the people to find out who they were and where their civilization was heading. The best place to observe that was at religious places. I was visiting one of the many temples that were built in the area and happened to meet the High Priest, Imhotep. He was intelligent, creative, and down to earth. Being close to the ruling Pharaoh at the time granted him considerable powers but he didn't become arrogant, which drew me to him. We'd actually hit it off and became close friends due to our love of using plants for medicine. We would have many long conversations about several different topics and having spent enough time around him I could see his influence rub off on the Pharaoh. This gave me the idea that being the actual ruler of a land was unnecessary to have a positive influence. This suited me great, especially in this area where the Pharaohs were treated as gods and worshipped as such. They would even have a birthday celebration for these so-called gods. You can see why I didn't like that either, being the only person on the entire planet without an actual birthday. Anyway, I would use this secondary position tactic several times in several civilizations throughout the years, trying my best to improve the lives of others instead of just my own. And to be completely honest, I mostly did it so I could feel a part of something instead of keeping myself isolated on my island. I wanted to be a part of a tribe, even though in my heart, I knew I didn't belong.

I wasn't quite ready to jump into this at the time as there were several areas all experiencing a growth spurt at this time. I would jump around to each area far too often to take on a personality full time. I also needed to work on inserting myself at a time when it would do the most good. The great pyramids then started being built which was a formative project that I felt I had to be a part of. Helping with the construction wasn't an easy task but at least I got free beer out of it. Each worker got a ration of it daily and there's nothing wrong with that. I could have just made my own, but I wanted to work alongside others and the beer came with that. Once the pyramids were built, I again left the area for other places as I'll tell you later but during this time Egypt just kept calling me back. Construction projects were made one after another. Sadly war broke out far too often and kept delaying the possibility of implementing my plans. This was actually a blessing in disguise, though, as there was always a need for architects with each passing ruler wanting to one-up the previous Pharaoh. I was able to learn invaluable skills on projects throughout the many passing kingdoms. I was also able to figure out how to pretend I was from an aristocratic family without ever actually having one by just saying I was the son of my previous character. Once I was schooled in all of this it became the perfect time to infiltrate.

I started making a name for myself in the architect community during the reign of Amenhotep I. I decided to go by the name Ineni since the hieroglyphics was a fish between some reeds and this reminded me of Min'ae. It was also the name of a previous queen and there was great honor in being named after such ones. Amenhotep I was impressed with my work and I was able to work for him on many different projects. My favorite one was his tomb, as morbid as that sounds. These were commissioned by the Pharaoh themselves while still alive to have a fancy place to lay their bodies when they died. The problem I saw over the years was that the tombs of previous Pharaohs were always robbed and vandalized so I came up with the idea to separate Amenhotep's tomb from his temple, because if they weren't separated the tomb's location was obvious to everyone where it was placed since the temple was very clearly visible. This meant the tomb itself could be more secure in the years after his death. Which wasn't much longer after I completed it sadly. Thankfully the next pharaoh, Thutmose I, was a fan of my work and kept me busy on previously uncompleted projects as well as many new ones he desired. My greatest work was the Temple of Karnak. It was a sight to behold. Many of the successors of Thutmose I also added onto it and renovated it to add to its beauty.

Speaking of beauty. Thutmose I had a daughter, Hatshepsut, who was also a sight to behold. As I watched her grow up to become a true daughter of a Pharaoh, holding her own against the males around her, I knew she was going to be a force to be reckoned with. It was unfortunate that the people were still awfully sexist back then and didn't want a female to rule over them, even one as great as Hatshepsut. When the time came for Thutmose I to be laid in his tomb there were two possible people to replace him. Hatshepsut - which was the obvious choice since she was the oldest and wise beyond her years - or her half-brother simpleton, Thutmose II. I do not use that word lightly. He was far from the smartest person in the palace and could be convinced to chase a tail he didn't even possess. As clear as Hatshepsut was the better choice, the male officials would have still liked to see a male rule. Instead of starting a civil war or having people stabbed or poisoned, I came up with a solution. They married. Hatshepsut wasn't entirely happy with that, to say the least, but she knew it was the best way to prevent the throne from falling from the family line or even worse, a civil war. Everyone knew who was actually calling the shots, but they didn't protest. When war came the Generals would eventually sidestep Thutmose II and meet Hatshepsut directly to see what she wanted done and this cemented her rule in people's minds.

Thutmose II was always ending up hurting himself in his mindless wanders through the palace. This caused some counselors to push the idea of getting an heir before he accidentally killed himself. Hatshepsut was at first willing to do what was necessary to make this happen. Unfortunately when she got pregnant she gave birth to a girl, which again was looked at as unqualified to be a Pharaoh, and Hatshepsut did not take that well. As her closest confidant she asked for help to never be able to have kids again as payback for their rejection of a girl heir even as she was ruling behind the scenes. After some unsuccessful protest, I gave her what she needed. The other officials never found out what I did and just assumed that she just couldn't reproduce anymore. They got Thutmose II to sire a male heir from a secondary wife. This suited Hatshepsut just fine as she didn't want to be with her half-brother any more than she needed too. We drew closer due to this secret as I was the only one sympathetic to her and helped her when she needed it. Turns out, though, she didn't have to wait too long to be out from under her husband's shadow.

Hatshepsut was genuinely sad when Thutmose II died. Even though he wasn't smart enough to stay away from water - he couldn't swim - he was still her half-brother and she loved him as such. His heir was his son, Thutmose III, but he was still a child so Hatshepsut was again in a position to command the kingdom from behind the scenes. This time, she didn't take it lying down. Hatshepsut and I drew closer than ever before, especially when I comforted her about her brother's death. I still had some architect duties, but I was far more her closest advisor and secretly her lover. I was obviously a little old for her, and that's coming from Ineni, since she was the fourth Pharaoh I'd work for using this persona and aged my face to match. But Hatshepsut was wise beyond her years and looked at me for who I was instead of what I looked like. I could change my face and the color of my eyes, but they still held years of experience and compassion, which she was able to pick up on. One thing she loved to do was look deep into my eyes almost knowing there was more to me than I let on. Keeping our true relationship hidden was hard, but I was able to use Omni to be able to walk around the palace undetected and this helped keep things under wraps.

The time came for the appointment of the new Pharaoh and most, again, wanted to place the kingship in the hands of someone not capable of doing so. Instead of declaring herself Pharaoh right then and there, causing problems now and down the road, we agreed it would be better for her to be regent of Thutmose III. Again, everyone knew who was actually ruler of the land so a few years later she made it official. She was not one to be kept silent or intimidated, which is what I liked about her. Many weren't happy about her declaring herself Pharaoh but she gave a grand speech and basically said she was a demigod and if they didn't accept her they'd be going against the will of the gods. I was almost to the point of using Psyche because I was getting frustrated by their narrowmindedness but thankfully I didn't need to. After her speech and apparent lineage from the gods themselves, many just finally caved and let her be Pharaoh, but not all the advisors fully accepted it. The kid was still too young to be making any decisions himself anyway, which is why many of the counselors wanted him to be Pharaoh, so they could actually be the ones calling the shots. Who those certain ones were was very obvious to us and I kept a watchful eye on them. Hatshepsut wasn't stupid either, she knew that any false move could have caused her to lose her position. Another reason why we made absolute sure our relationship never got out. While the male Pharaohs could have as many wives as they wanted, the females weren't given the same opportunity.

I loved how Hatshepsut was as a Ruler. She wasn't power hungry or a warmonger. She knew that the quest for more power could only lead to ruin. I had given her history lessons on this extensively when she was younger and thankfully she was paying attention. Then she experienced it personally. Early on as regent she regained territory that was once lost to the Hyksos, but the credit for the victory was given to Thutmose III, instead of her, since he was technically the leader of the armies, so she was careful not to do that again. Instead she focused on things that could only be credited to her. There were many long lost trade networks that had to be rebuilt, so she made sure those were reconnected. This increased the nation's wealth and everyone praised her for it. The army, though, was getting restless. I remembered that there was a small nation to the East that Egypt had traded with many generations ago but stopped due to war. It wasn't far and could greatly increase her prestige, so I told her to send the army there to get them off her back. It worked, but only because Omni and Psyche came to the rescue.

The army went off on several boats with a trusted advisor that could trade for us. One of Thutmose III's most loyal supporters, I'd find out, had plans to disrupt this expedition. I had always kept a close eye on these individuals due to my loyalty to Hatshepsut. When the ships left port I asked Omni to scan them to make sure they were physically fit to last the journey. He came back with a warning that there was trouble afoot. I made myself scarce and got Omni to bring me to the ships undetected. The troublemaker spared no expense in order to cause issues. The ship carrying our ally had several baskets full of deadly snakes unsecured and waiting to either fall over on the ship or be given to the King and Queen of Punt to cause the trade deal to fail. Then there was a jar full of venomous scorpions that had already come loose on the other ship. I had to use Psyche to calm them down and lead them back to the jar. Some other issues I found were the items we filled the ship with to trade with had been replaced with dirt and sand. My patience with these traitors was wearing thin. I stealthily switched the items back before the ships arrived at their intended location and I released the animals in the traitor's bedroom as payback. I also used this time to go back to my island to check up on a few things before heading back.

When I finally got back to the palace and was making my way to my room Hatshepsut found me and asked where I had been. Must have spent more time on the island than I should have. I didn't want to lie to her, but I wasn't sure if she was fully ready for the truth either. I told her I caught wind of a scheme by one of her enemies and fixed it before it could have caused her any damage. This part was actually true. She knew I was hiding more than I let on and was asking for some more details when there was commotion down the hallway. We went to see what was happening when the body of the very person we were talking about was placed by our feet. His family was pleading for clemency as they didn't know what he did until they found his body and the scrolls he used to issue the orders. Apparently he didn't notice he had walked right into the mist of several deadly cobras when going into his bedroom. The scrolls were seized and his body buried without proper burial, a mark of a traitor. His family was exiled but allowed to live. His supporters now feared for their lives and immediately paused all plans to get Thutmose III on the throne. All evidence of the plot was mysteriously destroyed...by me. I didn't want people to dwell on what transpired and thankfully they didn't. Except, of course, Hatshepsut.

During our next alone time she expected an explanation.