A Falcon's Light

Chapter 9

A few hours later all of us stood in front of the great stone double doors. They were like two spikes of stone coming together in a triangle. A small slab stuck out from the middle of the door. It was only big enough for the right hand that was engraved into it. Just like I had seen at the exhibit, a series of hieroglyphs lined the triangular door, a prayer to Re. The falcon god himself had joined us moments before.

"It will open only for you Alice, it will also only let you inside." He said his falcon wings folded behind him. Everyone else was in their human forms except the sun god. The feathers of the large falcon wings matched those that stuck in his hair. His skin glittered like it was flecked with gold, and he had long sharp talons instead of human feet.

I stepped up to the door and placed my hand into the carved plate. At first, nothing happened until a deep click resounded. Slowly and quite loudly the doors fell into the ground beneath them. As they pulled apart a familiar face appeared and made me gasp. There in front of me was the transparent figure of the man I had seen in my visions.

"Is something wrong Alice?" Set looked between me and the man in front of me.

"You can't see him?" I looked at his confused face and turned to see the same look mirrored on the faces of the other.

"None of them can. Only you can see me." The ghost man cocked his head, taking me in. "I must be honest, I never expected me to be a woman. Not that I mind." He shrugged. He turned towards the dark hallway and motioned for me to follow.

I quickly grabbed my flashlight and entered through the door. The others followed but were blocked by the invisible barrier.

"They cannot follow just yet, not even my closest of friends. Tell them you'll be fine. It is your tomb after all." I nodded, reached out to kiss Set's cheek, and relayed the message. With a nod from the others, I began to follow my other deeper into the tomb.

My flashlight lit our way for a while. Once we turned a corner Heru asked for me to turn it off. Once I did he snapped and wall sconces burst to life. The small fires lit the passageway better than my little flashlight. We passed long walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. Tomb scripts were a series of prayers, names, and instructions to lead the deceased to the field of reeds. Soon I noticed something. The further we walked the more opaque Heru became.

"So have you been able to see what I've been doing? I've been having nightly visions of your memories." I started rambling.

"No, I haven't been able to see you all that well. It comes in brief flashes and without context. A sword, golden eyes, crimson eyes connected to green skin. Those are the few things I've seen. Which memories have you seen?" So I told him of all of the visions. "I see. Were all of those people outside gods? I recognized Re and Inep but not the others."

"Well, you saw Re and Inep. The younger grey-haired girl is Bastet. The older man and woman are Sobek and Sekhmet respectively."

"And the one you kissed? He looked familiar but I couldn't place him."

"That was the man you knew as Sasekhmet." He stopped in his tracks and whirled to face me.

"Sasekhmet was a god?" His eyes were wide.

"Yup and the reason he disguised himself was so that you couldn't tell which one" I laughed haughtily. "He, my dear past life, is Set." He only stared at me like I was crazy.

"And you trust him? How? Why? He could kill you." He was really scared of Set.

"First off, it's Nephthys and Ausir who want to kill me, not Set. Second, he's my lover, so get over it. Set came to you in his animal form so you'd take him seriously, he was serious when he said someone would kill you. Ausir killed you so he could do something with your soul, but Set and the others found out and tried to protect you.