"The city should always be animated with invigorating color. The roads, the houses and even the inhabitants need to be covered in wealth." That was the motto imposed by the young sultan Bilal when he gained power.
"We have one of the most powerful gods at our side. We don't need science or studies. Let's just pray for the eternal prosperity of our beloved country. Until our bestial scream can be heard throughout the land of Damar and beyond the great Death sea. Piercing the horizon to reach the ear of Gods from the afterworld! Rudhetria is alive!"
The sun was already down, and the celebration for Al Sahwa had just started. An Aurora Borealis was already covering the sky in a teint blue. Led by this atmosphere, Rudhetria was fuming with life. The fruits and vegetables given through the prayer to Geb were a blessing for the guests. Even the guards were drunk, persuaded their Dune Walker watched over them. Still, unfortunately, never Saan really had thought of the city's behavior… never would they have believed that one day the screams of joy would become screams of agony…
When the Demon of Anubis appeared, a vast explosion occurred. The surrounding districts of the city were destroyed, shaping a large crater at the center. The basements were now in the open air. Panic began to spread in the town, and the unorganized defense could not handle this catastrophe and became anarchy. For the people near the epicenter, the most horrendous thing they had to deal with was the presence of this big simili-spider. Only one of the most courageous guards, Oussam, really ran into the danger. Camelia had given him the critical mission to reach Khal to indicate to him the way to the door of Geb. Never would he have believed that his message would be impossible to give…
He had already crossed the road of the royal district when he fell into the madness of the explosion. He kept his head on his mission and dived through the crowd even with that. The people were screaming, and multiple recoils of the blast were heard. The underground collapsed, restraining the inhabitant from escaping. The zone around its origin was almost isolated from the rest of the city. He managed to jump in it by passing from the roof of a large building not far from the accidental fence caused by the incident. He leaped into multiple groups hiding from something yet not known by him. It was not after entering the restricted area that he saw the things. He was planning to go directly to his target by the main road when he passed upfront a gigantic spider demon of 15 feet wrapped up in a large, thick shell. It had six legs and a large and rounded hindquarters. Comparatively to an actual insect, it seemingly only had two eyes and a mark on its forehead.
Only by the aura, Oussam understood the danger. He quickly escaped into a small corner of buildings and crawled to the bottomless hole. Even with his courage, Oussam knew he didn't have the strength to go up ahead of this monster. Then he chose the most accessible road he had. Passing from the remaining tunnel of the lower-grounds, he finally reached the old entrance of the laboratory, now wide open. The sky was bright upon his head, and the moon was already in the middle of the aurora and the stars. The undergrounds were not recognizable. The city and the lower level had fused, causing a hazardous zone with dangerous obstacles everywhere. He searched quickly for the Dune Walker, but nobody was at his sight until a sound caught his attention. He first thought of a baby and ran to it until he saw a Walker, but not the one he was searching for. It was Saan, the Sultan's personal guard.
"Ahh, ahh, I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed," repeatedly shouted Saan in a fetal position, curled upon himself.
"Uh, sir…" murmured Oussam, ambling to him.
"Uh sir, are you alright?"
"Alright? How can I be alright! He's dead… Hahaha, dead."
Saan threw a cut hand away to the man. When Oussam reached it, he immediately saw the ring of his beloved ruler and crouched to the ground to puke.
"Su… Sultan… Oh, Geb, why?" Shouted the guard in between his regurgitation
" Geb… Geb… He doesn't fucking care, your god!" screamed Saan grabbing the neck of Oussam. "He knew… He knew all along. I betrayed everyone, and now we are alone…."
Slowly the face of Oussam is reddened by the handle of the Dune Walker. He began to agitate, but Saan raised him in the air.
"I… I still have time… I need to protect Camelia… She only matters."
"Ca… Camelia'' tried to answer Oussam. "She…"
"You know? Tell me where?" shouted Saan throwing the man to the ground
Oussam coughed a moment and answered fast out of despair. When he talked, he slowly strolled far from Saan.
"She's at the door… at the door near Geb."
"With… Geb?" answered Saan shaking his hand. "If he thinks he can take that from me…." The ground began to shake, and a significant leg appeared, piercing the land into pieces at the side of a nearby building. A scent filled the atmosphere, and quickly an enormous eye appeared right in front of Oussam. The man stopped in place uncomfortably and tried to reach the attention of Saan dove into his thoughts.
"Geb, Geb, Geb…"
"Uh… P…P…Please sir"
The spider walked slowly to the man and stooped to his level. Opening its mouth slowly.
"Gebbbb!!" Shouted Saan. He stretched roots right in the direction of the far away Palace and ran to it without paying attention to the guard now alone.
Oussam looked at the Dune Walker with confusion, and the spider slowly opened its mouth and passed it over the head of the man at the death door.
Not far away, Ali saw Saan escaping from the location, and he ran to observe the situation. He saw the guard almost in the mouth of the monster and shouted to warn him.
"Heyy, behind you…." but it was futile, Oussam disappeared in the mouth of the spider. Ali stopped his run in dismay and hit the ground furiously.
"Fuck!"
The Anubis demon saw Ali and jumped high in the air before trying to crush his new victim. Even with its giant body, the jump was smooth and almost too easy.
"What are you waiting for, you two."
The giant creature reached its peak and now dove to the ground at high speed.
"Good, I'm on it," shouted Nasseh jumping at his side.
He then drank a flask from his weird lab coat and spit a tiny amount to the ground. At the contact of the earth, the liquid froze the rock, and the breath of Nas formed a little cloud of hoarfrost air. He then proceeded to spit the drink to the demon. During the process, a tiny spark appeared from the mouth of Saan, and all the liquid ignited into a mighty blaze. The flame uncovers the whole body of the creature. He turned to show a proud pose to Ali.
" Hahaha,Voila! that's liquid oxygen at -328℉! I just need to add a layer of ankh for my own protection... cold but explosive!"
"Idiot, the demon is still falling!" screamed Ali tackling Nas to the side
Right before the spider reached the ground, Khal appeared from the sky and jumped on the burning creature. With a large amount of black sands floating around him, he used all of it to form a long chain around the demon. When done, he joined the two others with Bag on his side.
" You are a very strange scientist. Before your strange lab coat of Thot, and now you manipulate highly cold liquid with ankh in your mouth?"
"I'm an expert in ankh. Protecting my body from danger is easy with a good amount of energy at the right part."
Khal then proceeded to look inside Bag.
"I don't have any sand. This chain was my last creation," told Khal, looking at the desert far away.
"That's okay, right? He's already muzzled in fire and chain, right?" Asked Ali.
" No, look closely at the poor work of our Dune Walker," Answered Nas, pointing at the creature already free of his chains and healed from the fire. "I did accept to help you since you saved me with your bouncy demon, but I don't want to die in an experiment."
"I already understood that all of this is a fun experiment for you... I need to go grab more sand and even with that I don't think I can beat these things easily. Give me half an hour, and I will try something. I need to find the door of Geb…"
"Nope, I'm out of here, Aurevoir" answered Nas, walking away nonchalantly. "Unless you…"
"What do you want?"
"I will help you if you give me a hand later. I know that…."
"Deal, thirty-minute," cut Khal without hearing his whole proposition. He called Nemu and Bag at his side and ran to the city's exit. Leaving Ali and Nasseh alone in front of the angered beast. They looked at each other, then at the creature with contempt. They both began to run, zigzagging in between the numerous rock obstacles on the way.
"He really went just like that?" asked Nasseh, looking at the spider right behind them.
"I don't really know, but I guess it's kinda is thing to disappear like that."
"Fuck it, I need to think…."
At this moment, the escape of the two men led them to an old and big storage facility that successfully survived the first explosion. Unfortunately, they are blocked by two giant collapsed pillars in front of the main door, and only two windows higher on the building can lead them inside. Ali tried to push the pillar, but it was too heavy for him. He then jumped on it and infiltrated the storage by the window. When he reached the entry, he turned on to help Nasseh, but he was nowhere to be seen. Only his voice came at Ali.
"I need a moment to think, deal with him."
Far away, The Anubis spider was running toward the building. He closed the window and jumped inside the dark storage room without thinking. To his surprise, the room was full of escape from the explosion. All hiding inside, waiting for the storm to pass, packed in the middle of multiple stocks of fresh fruits.
"You… you want to escape the demon too, right?" asked a stranger
"Oh… ye… yeah, but…."
"Come, come quickly before it c…."
A large scratch began to shout from the door and stopped the proposition for a moment. But without even hesitating, the man called him back at his side.
"Come, don't be afraid he can't enter. We pushed pillars at the entry."
Ali sat down at his side. The people around him were poor, and all dressed simply, but all of them were strangely calm.
"What's your name, boy?"
"Ali, my name is Ali."
"Hi, mine is Yuba, and all these people are my family."
"Yuba, tell me, You look so confident. How can you be so calm in these situations?"
"Oh, you see, because I have my family, how can I be scared? We all believe in the bond that connects us, and seeing each other is a relief and a joy. I can understand your worry if you don't know how your family is doing."
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure my mother and my sisters are safe since they live on the other side of the city, but my father and I had a pretty harsh relationship."
The scratching became more intense and more profound at each moment.
" And if I allow myself, why Ali?"
"Honestly, I don't know anymore. Nothing makes sense. Long ago, my father was my hero. He helped me seek a goal and taught me to appreciate simple things. I traveled and learned so much from him, but as the day passed, I sensed in him… Regret. Like… I was the cause of his worry."
"Ali, your father is a human, you know that?"
"But I don't need to see his pain! I don't need to live with his own regret. I don't want this burden!"
The scratching stopped for a moment, and the calm filled the storage, even amongst the large family.
"But… but even though I just realized, even with this strong body and the liberty gained. I'm just as lost as I felt he was… pathetic… I wanted freedom…."
One of the group woman stood up and furiously grabbed the head of Ali. She slapped him and pointed outside.
"If you feel like this, you are better outside than here. Listen to me, spoiled brat. You can't rely on yourself alone. There is nothing you can accomplish by yourself. Humans need to be sustained by humans! Your father needs you the same way you need him. Your mother needs you the same you need her, and even your lover needs you, the same way you need her. No one is strong by himself. It's the WE that make us stronger than ever. You are not strong; WE are strong!"
"WE…"
Then, The door finally broke at an ultimate attempt of the spider. The storage was now bright from the skylight, and the demon entered harshly in the hold. Damaging the door frame on the way. Seeing the creature, Ali quickly ran in front of the group, grabbing a wood stick on the way.
"Go, run when you can!"
"What do you think you're doing, young man…" repeated the same strange man from before.
He went in front of Ali and then pushed him right behind him. All his family repeated the process until Ali finished at the group's back.
"My daughter was rough, but she was right. Don't forget the WE. You have someone to protect. Your battle is not here…."
Then in a desperate attack, the Yuba family moved forward. They were all aware of the triviality of this action, but they all accepted this reality. They could never accept the sacrifice of someone over themselves. That was the precept they chose to live for. A principle that anchors right into the heart of Ali at this moment.
In a single move of the demon, they were all gone, and the only one left running outside was a devastated Ali. Shouting blindly at everyone to run. "I need to live, I need to live, I need to live," repeated Ali, continually progressing into the madness of the city. The Anubis demon was gaining space at each moment and successfully caught up numerous times. But each time, the vain sacrifice of the Yuba family woke up Ali.
"I need to live, I need to Live, I need to live" These words were the only things on Ali's mind. He ran like he never did throughout the city, alarming the citizens of the danger coming. When he finally reached a dead-end, he fell to the ground looking at the monster with a trembling hand. He looked around and realized in despair that his scream alarmed the people, only assembling them around him. He didn't have any force left. His lungs were exhausted from the run and the screaming. But seeing the people coming more and more to him without thinking of the monster coming far away from the same path as him. He knew that he had to do something, to say something…
"Pray…" "Pray" was the only word that escaped from his mouth. Maybe It was because he was overstrained or simply crazy. Or perhaps he remembered one of the things that his father told him during one of their incursion to the grand library: "
"Dad, Dad! Why do you always pray before coming here?"
"Hahahaha, is it strange to pray for a scholar?"
"I don't know? You always repeated that Geb is a megalomaniac, a God that only acts when he wants."
"Oh, that's true, Ali, for pretty much all Gods from Ra to Anubis. but you know, it doesn't matter for us humans."
"Why?"
"Because Gods give us hope, something hardly attainable by humanity by this time. So each time, when I'm afraid, I pray. Not to someone in particular, but to whoever can hear me. Hoping for a miracle to happen."
"Can I pray to?"
"Yes, of course."
"..."
"so? You prayed for what?"
"For any God to always listen to my dad's prayer."
"Hahaha, alright, Ali. I pray for yours to always be answered!"
that was the first and last prayer of Ali
Until that day…."
When the demon arrived, all the hundred people around Ali were praying in silence. Even the loud steps of the creature were not enough to stop them in their motion. And when it raised its leg to strike the group… a miracle happened…
A light emerged from the ground, and the ground began to shake. When the leg finally dove to the group, many roots rose from the earth and formed a thick wall around the escapees. The wall proliferated, forming a gigantic dome encompassing a large zone around the spider. Trapping him in an area, unable to reach the whole city, or even Ali now outside of this zone. It was not the same root that Saan created in front of him multiple times. The plants were thicker and brighter, with numerous flowers blushing from all parts. Projecting waves of Ankh all around the surface. It was more powerful and solid than that. It was divine intervention. Roots coming directly from the door of Geb…
Ali knew his next destination…