The House of Life

Chapter 18

Ardeth

I was surrounded by a fog of some sort. There was tall grass and the moonlight was shining above me. I could hear some sort of battle occurring but I could not move. From a distance I could see a womanly figure running towards me. But I can make out every detail of her besides her face. She was wearing slim pants with boots that stopped just below the knees. She was wearing a white button up long sleeve which was rolled up above her elbows and the shirt was open to show her collar bones, which revealed a scar right above her heart. Her hair was black as the night and her hair was cut right below the shoulders. The woman seemed familiar to me, but yet I couldn't make out her face.

'You have to get up' she said, but her voice was muffled.

I tried to respond, but no voice would conjure from my mouth. The woman fell to her knees and grabbed my face to meet with hers. The woman pressed her lips to mine, they were soft and warm and yet familiar.

"Annabelle?"

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I was awakened by the shock that coursed through my body. I was laying in a pile of rubble of what used to be the kitchen of the Doctors residence. I coughed to try and clear my throat from the dust built up in my mouth. I brought myself up to my feet to see that the entire house was in shambles. I recalled the night before, Annabelle, Darius, and Qasim were taken by Meela and her men. They are taking them back to Hermopolis. I went to grab my sword and Annabelle's dagger from my waist, but they were both gone, they had taken everything. I looked outside of the kitchen window to see that my horse was laying on the ground, dead.

They are making sure I don't follow them back to Hermopolis. I leaned over the kitchen counter and slammed my fist against the surface.

"Dammit!"

I took a few deep breaths as I tried to clear my mind to come up with a plan. I know where they are going, but how do I get there fast? A thought occurred. Darius must have some sort of map or mode of transportation to get to Hermopolis. He's probably been doing this for years, he must have something back at his home. I grabbed my bag from the living room when my boots kicked a hard bottle laying on the floor. I picked up the bottle to see that it was heavy and dark. I opened it and could smell the sweetness to the substance. It's some sort of anesthetic I presumed. But why was it on the floor? Did Meela and her men use it on Annabelle and Qasim? I closed the bottle and placed it in my robes. This could be useful.

I made my way through the city to Darius' home. When I arrived, the house was empty and unharmed. I kicked open the front door and made my way into the home. I searched room after room for anything that could help me get to Hermopolis. When I tried to open one of the doors, it was locked. "This must be it." I backed up a few steps before kicking the door open. It swung and with it a gust of wind with it. A few sheets of paper flew to the ground because of the sheer force. I entered the room to find the room having maps and books piled all around each corner of the room and in the center a desk covered with piles of paper.. "Darius, what were you doing?"

As I was rummaging through the room, I recognized maps and documents that looked similar to the ones we saw in Hermopolis. But everything seemed so old and fragile.

I picked up one of the books to realize that the binding to the book was not normal. The pages were worn and fragile and the binding to the book was flexible. I opened the book to see ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs written within these pages. The same ones that we saw in Hermopolis.

"It can't be."

These books were from Hermopolis. Darius must have been bringing them back from the House of Life for years. Preserving them, making sure they did not fall into the wrong hands. That was why the House of Life was completely empty. They have been excavating the ruins for years, bringing back with them the knowledge of what Hermopolis had to offer. That's why they attacked us in that storm. They knew the dangers of that tomb, those piles of rubble that sealed the entrance to the ritual room, they did that. They knew the dangers of that room and they would stop anyone from going in there, including us.

I placed the book down and took the map that was hanging off the wall and cleared the desk from the pile of papers that were stacked. I placed the map on the table to see that Darius and his men had a whole system placed. There's a railroad track from this city that cuts through the mountains into the desert of Hermopolis. They had a path made for themselves through the storm to evade getting turned around. It's a clear shot to the House of Life.

"Darius you son of a bitch." I rolled the map up and placed it into my bag. I continued to look for weapons of any kind, because I knew once I got to Hermopolis, I would have to fight my way through to get to Annabelle and Qasim.

When I searched through Darius' room, I had found not only weapons that they used to fight in the storm, but I had also found the attire that Darius wore during our battle. I grabbed the clothes, knowing that if I'm going to save them, I would need a disguise. Placing the articles of clothing on my body, I can feel that the material is lightweight and easy to maneuver, which was why they were able to attack us at full speed. As I was placing his shirt, I glanced at my scar across my shoulder. My fingers brushed across the healing scar and I remembered Annabelle. Her face, her touch, her voice that night she stitched me back up. I continued to get dressed, trying not to let my emotions get the better of me.

I have to keep to the task at hand. Save Qasim and Darius, then try and save Annabelle's soul from Thoth. Once I got dressed I armed myself with everything that Darius had in his home. I was prepared to fight and kill anyone in my path. Including Lock-Nah.

He was supposed to be the best out of all of us, and yet he did this. We placed our trust in him and yet he betrayed us. I was not going to let him get away with this. He has to die by my hands. I placed the last of the weapons in my belt as I made my way to the back of the house, where Darius had his stalls of horses in. When I entered the stalls, I heard the sound of a single horse residing in the back. It was a gelding, with his coat and hair black as the night. "Darius does owe me a horse." I said. I prepared the saddle on the horse and soon after we rode off to the edge of the city to the railroad system that Darius uses to get to Hermopolis. The spot was not too far from the city and when I had arrived, there was yet another stall for horses, with food and water within it and adjacent to this stall was an abandoned shaft residing within the mountain. I followed the map to this exact spot, so the railway should be somewhere down there. I dismounted and placed the horse into one of the stalls. The horse neighed frantically when I shut the stall door, I petted the horse on the nose and said, "Don't worry, I won't leave you here." I smiled and grabbed my bag to make my way down the shaft.

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The shaft was lined with oil lamps and in the end of the dark corridor, an empty hand car just on the end of the tracks. I placed my bag on the handcar as I jumped on the hand rail and started pumping to make the hand car move down the tracks. The hand car picked up speed, making its way out of the cave. A small light just at the end of the cave shone brightly the closer I got to it. Once I emerged from the cave, it was a vast land of desert from both sides of me and in the distance the dust bowl that covered the entirety of Hermopolis.

I pumped faster, making the car pick up more speed. Hoping that I'm not too late.