10th July
20:22 GMT +2
We're somewhere over the mountainous west bank of the Red Sea. I say 'somewhere', obviously I have longitude and latitude. There just isn't anything here that I can point to as a unique indicator of the location. We're not near any settlements or roads, the land below us is rock cut through with sandy gullies. Adom's reason for putting Ms Tomaz over his shoulder became obvious fairly quickly. Nothing like his top speed, but we've still flown far faster than would be comfortable for people without our resistances and it allowed him to shield her head from the winds with his body.
Understandably, she still isn't best impressed.
"Take me back right now you beast!"
I'm.. really not sure where he's going with this. Picking someone up and taking them out into the desert is more than a little out of character. I don't
think that he's finally lost his temper; I wasn't seeing enough red. If I had to guess, I'd say that he was frustrated and irritated rather than experiencing the deep wrath or loathing that shows up as red. And he certainly doesn't kill
casually. He kills
readily when he thinks that he has just cause, but he's never made any effort to
conceal it.
Save for Nabu, I suppose. But that was a favour to me, not part of running Kahndaq. And… It's not like he couldn't just kick her out if he really wanted.
Apparently still able to see what he's looking for despite the darkness and Ms Tomaz' best efforts to claw out his eyes, Adom begins his descent. Are there any..? No, no points of interest that the rings can detect around here. Just in case, I hang back a little as he lands and
gently tries to remove Ms Tomaz from his person.
Curious how little red I'm seeing from
her. Are her protestations a rhetorical technique, perhaps? Overstating a case in order to apply greater psychological pressure?
Back on her own feet, she takes a few slightly shaky steps away from his before looking around us. The night sky is quite lovely out here, but the only real source of illumination is
me. "Where is this!?"
Adom looks around, perhaps trying to get his bearings. "This
land was green, once. In my time, I could look down on what is now desert and see a land of plant life. It was hot, and it was dry for much of the year, but the rains could support forest where now there is only… Dust, and sand."
"
And?"
He doesn't answer, turning to me instead. "Orange Lantern. There should be a chamber some distance below us. Please, carefully excavate a passageway downwards, through the rock. I had hoped that there would be a passageway still, but… No, after five thousand years that was unwarranted optimism."
"Very well.
" I extend filaments from the ring on my right hand.
"I didn't detect anything when I scanned earlier.
"
"You have mentioned that sites protected by magic can resist your ring's detection?"
I nod as the filaments breaking through the rock report back, the patterns of vibrations returning through the rock suggesting that there is indeed a hollow space below us.
I sigh.
I suppose I should be
proud that bronze age Humans could spoof power rings…
"Found it. Excavating now.
"
I take a grip on the plug of rock and begin pulsing a series of beams to cut it free without damaging the chamber beneath. I wonder how far down this would have been before five thousand years' worth of erosion went to work on the surrounding rock… Quick check on the stability of the surrounding material, and a quick flare of orange to fuse the loose material…
I
don't raise my right hand in a lifting motion as the plug comes free, but it would probably be appropriate. The column comes out with barely a sound, and I lay it carefully on a level patch of ground a little way from us. I can stick it back in when we've done whatever it is we're here to do.
"All yours, Mighty One.
"
He nods. "Cleanly done. Miss Tomaz, would you accept me lifting you-?"
"No, I will not! I am not going anywhere until you explain why we are here!"
Adom bows his head slightly. "I wish to show you a part of my history, that you may better understand what motivates me. I do not.. share of myself readily, but I am.. increasingly reaching the conclusion that this may not be the correct way for me to behave. At least, with regard to you. Would you accept passage from Orange Lantern?" She gives a cautious nod, and he rises off the ground and descends through the hole.
"You." Me? "What is he playing at?"
"I'm not sure. I will say… That he does actually respect you… More than your arguing suggests. I don't think that he'd waste your time -or mine- with something trivial.
"
She nods, grudgingly. "Take me down. And make lights, I cannot see in this darkness."
"Your wish is my command.
" I attach a flight aura to her, then lift both of us off the ground and float us over the hole.
"Going down.
"
We descend, the orange light I give off reflecting off the nearby walls. It's a ten metre drop into a chamber barely two tall. The stone was clearly dug out, and the thin layer of dust suggests that it's been sealed for some time. Keeping us both off the floor, I send light emitting constructs out into the room.
At the far end, it looks like there was a rock fall at some point, stone carved steps being covered in loose dirt and stones. The passage isn't visible from the surface any longer. If this room is enchanted in some way, then either the enchantment extends to the passage even in its state of decay, or further up it's so filled in that the ring didn't register it as significantly different from its surrounding environment. Curious. The room… There's pigment on the walls, faded from its application but so protected from the elements that it remains in far better condition than the hieroglyphs I'm used to seeing. The designs are simple, literal depictions rather than abstract representations of things. On the left, trees, a forest, a garden..? Not sure. On the right, a power figure… probably a goddess, raises a hand in benediction over a kneeling noblewoman.
And I know where we are.
Adom is knelt as if in prayer before a stone sarcophagus. There are two other, slightly smaller ones behind it. I recognise some of the symbols carved into the surface from Atlantean spell books. That..
shouldn't be enough to throw me off by itself. I did once
ask Adom what he thought about archaeologists digging up long dead bodies. He said it didn't bother him, as none of them were people he knew. I think I'll be doing a
very good job of covering this place u-.
"So? What are we here to-."
"Not-.
Not the time."
"I will say-."
"As I am certain that Orange Lantern has deduced, this is the tomb of my wife and of my sons." He stands, walking around to the narrow end of the largest sarcophagus. "As High Priestess of Isis, she was a living link to her patron as I am to mine. When.. she was murdered… I had her mortal remains entombed here." He closes his eyes for a moment, then gently lifts the lid from the sarcophagus. There's no smell; the organic material that once covered the skeleton has long since rotted to nothing. The only thing of real note is an
elaborate gold, jade and ruby amulet which I actually
don't remember in detail from the comic but can clearly see now.
The Amulet of Isis.
Careful not to disturb the bones, Adom reaches into the sarcophagus and picks it up before walking back around to Ms Tomaz. I remove the aura around her, leaving her to stand on her own two feet.
Adom looks thoughtful. "Of late, I have found myself surrounded by men and women who revere me, who serve me through honest loyalty or simple sycophancy. But in all of that, you are the only one who speaks her mind to me. And no matter how vehemently I have disagreed with you, I find that in your absence I miss your sharp mind and..
even your tongue, a little."
He bows his head, holding out the Amulet to her.
"Will you accept this power, this authority, and stand beside me as my equal and as my wife?"
Ms Tomaz, eyes wide, looks at him, the amulet and then at him again.
Then she reaches a conclusion.
"
No!"
