4 years ago…
Ali and Camelia snuck into the old library again and talked for an hour. In this large and cold place, a feeble light was illuminating the area. Even without physical fire, a flame was sustaining the heart of the two lovers.
"Hey Camelia, what do you want to do after all this?"
"I don't know. I don't think women can become Sultan. I'm pretty lost. I want to change the country and carry out my father's old dream. but… I don't think I have the strength."
Ali stood in the middle of the library and grabbed the wall firmly. He stared at it while smiling.
" Your brother called you the beautiful flower of Rudhetria before disappearing, right?"
"Yes, like the flower that inspired my name."
"You know, a flower cannot always survive against storms or bad weather. Sometimes, it needs a solid object to stop the wind from reaching her… I can be that object for you, Camelia. A strong wall protecting you from all the bad weather, from all your enemies! Together we represent the silent beauty and the impenetrable determination! All of this by the power of our love."
"Hahaha, you sound cheesy, Ali!"
The young boy turned his head in dismay.
"Anh, me? But I was honest!"
Camelia laughed and grabbed the hands of the boy. Looking at him with passion.
"That's ok, the idea is not so bad. you said together, right?"
"Yes… Together! Forever…"
—
The door of Geb was in the middle of a large and luxurious room inside the palace. The place was spacious, and a garden full of flowers from all around the world was accumulated in this area, where the sun was unable to reach. This miracle was only produced by the tree in the middle of the place. A giant baobab with its roots was filling the whole site. Going even further, the entire city was filled with the seeds that originated from here. In the middle of it stands a simple door. A simple door embedded in the wood of the gigantic tree. The entry to the divine domain of Geb…
Gahzo and Camelia were hidden in the middle of the garden; Waiting patiently for the war to stop. When from the only entry appeared a silhouette. Gahzo, even too weak to do anything, stood up with difficulty to protect Camelia. The princess stopped him immediately.
" You don't need to do that, I can handle everything myself Gahzo, and I put guards at the entry, so don't worry."
"Even with that princess, Your life costs a lot more than an old man like me. Allow me to protect at least one thing myself," answered Gahzo, grabbing a stick on the ground.
"You will not need that old man."
Saan appeared from the entry with his hands in the air. His green hairs were going up in all directions, and his cape torned up in little pieces. His mind was all around the place, and he looked tired.
"I'm here for you, Camelia."
"Saan? Is that you? You look… tired."
"It's ok Camelia, Look at me, it's ok."
Saan walked to her and tried to grab her hair. Worried, she stepped back, and Gahzo interfered. Stopping the hand of the Dune Walker. Saan looked at him with animosity and pushed him to the back furiously.
"Don't you dare touch me! Do you know who I am, peasant?"
"I'm sorry…" answered Gahzo, regaining his balance. "But right now, I don't think you should touch the princess."
Saan turned to her and saw on her face a distressed expression. Camelia was scared of him… He tried again to walk to her, but she slowly distanced herself.
"but… Camelia… It's… It's me…" stammered Saan stretching his hands towards Camelia. He fell to the ground and walked on his knees to grab the bottom of Camelia's dress. Camelia screamed and kicked him in the face.
"Stop it, Saan, you're scaring me! This time you're exaggerating. I have often let your unpleasant behavior go by, but you are going too far."
Saan froze in place and looked at her with pity. His eyes were moving frenetically.
"But… you are… my sister, my treasure… It's me, Camelia. Your brother and you are my little Camelia. The proud banner of the beauty of Rudhetria."
"What are you talking about…."
"The sultan… Our father, he is dead Camelia."
She stumbled back, and tears flew from her eyes.
"What happened Saan, what were you talking about…."
"I'm not Saan, I'm Salian!"
Saan began to scratch the ground, hitting it furiously.
"Why, why, why, why, why!" He screamed, unleashing a large amount of green sand all around him. Ankh flowed from his body, slowly burning the flower around him.
"Why don't you recognize me! Why do you never recognize me!"
The ground began to shake, and the flower grew frantically in all directions. The tree where the door of Geb was embedded resonated with his screams, and energy flew from it.
"It's his fault, all his fault… He brought me back to this world, but I never asked for it. I never desired this!"
"Saan, stop this. I don't understand everything but stop this for the love of Geb!" Shouted Camelia at the side of Gahzo.
"Geb…" answered Saan.
The earth stopped shaking, and the flowers regained their original form. Saan stood up and looked at the door of Geb silently.
"These damned gods! They choose dying humans and force them to join their armies. And for what? Spending eternity collecting gold for the fleeting dream of becoming a Djinn, a demigod. A chance to reach divinity hahahaha.... DON'T FUCK WITH ME! I never chose this. Why would I choose to be forgotten, to be an outsider in my own family, to forever be away from those I love"
He paused looking at Camelia with deranged eyes, empreint with sadness and despair.
"A chance... this is a curse"
He then walked to it slowly and invoked his two swords in his hands. Another person entered the room during this time.
" I talked to him when I came back to Rudhetria as a Dune Walker. I implored him to let me be a human again and explained to him the stupid plan that the sultan made to bring me back. And you know what… He laughed… He kicked me out of his domain while laughing at me!" Khal showed himself to Gahzo and Camelia and ran to Saan. Saan slashed the tree, cutting the top without touching the door. The baobab collapsed, crushing everything in its path.
"Geb and all the gods don't care about us. They only act when the urge comes to them. Geb never really protected this city. He let the sultan and I continue experiments. And even right now, he let the Anubis demon invade our country. Geb acts like a child. He doesn't care about us humans. We are toys for his entertainment! Rudhetria doesn't need a god!"
Saan then threw his weapon at full speed towards the door, hoping to cut it in half. Khal jumped in front of him, interfered by grabbing his hands with his black chain.
"Sorry, but I will need this door first."
"You…"
Saan deflected the hands by turning on himself. The chain in his hands, Khal flew in the air, thrown by the force of Saan. He then hit the massive wooden log on the ground. Saan removed the restriction on him, but it was Bag who bit him this time. Saan smashed him to the ground repeatedly, each time distorting the form of the demon of Anubis. Nemu dived into the air and sank into Saan's eye to save him. The Dune Walker shouted in pain and let Bag run away with Nemu at his side. Black smoke emanated from the prince's eyes until he was completely healed. This time, all his attention was on Khal. His face was scrunched in anger and distorted by his rage. Without hesitation, he ran to the Heh contractor not far.
"Why do you interfere in this kingdom affair? You have nothing to do here!"
Saan slashed with his right, Khal dodged at his side and tried to retaliate. The angry man quickly swivels on the ground and counters with his left. With the movement engaged, he put his hands on the floor and spun with his two legs stretched all around. The kicks were fast, but Khal had already gauged his attack range. He quickly jumped at the back, right at the top of the wooden corpse of the cut baobab.
The prince didn't stop his momentum and used his hand on the ground to jump after Khal. While jumping, roots emerged from the ground and followed him. The plants, faster than him, came first at the black Walker. The undead of Heh cut the first couple attacks quickly but couldn't stop the last one. The roots restrained Khal and pulled him in the air. While out of the ground, Saan successfully slashed the two hands of Khal, who fell to the ground.
"This battle is not yours, Khal the Dune Walker. Why do you always show up at the worst moment?" Saan jumped on the tree and propulsed himself right next to Khal. whose hands were still not already healed. The Deadman dived to escape the attack of Saan.
"I have my own agreement, Salian. To save your kingdom, I need Geb or this door if you prefer." Khal rolled to the ground and hid inside a bunch of sunflowers. Saan looked around and spotted Khal by the smoke emanating from his wounds. He walked slowly to him.
"You are the only danger restraining me from freeing this city from this parasite of a God. I don't need Geb to beat that spider of Anubis. His only error was to bring me back to the living realm" He summoned more roots and attacked randomly in the direction of Khal. "And perhaps I can show you the difference between you and me! The warrior of Rudhetria."
The ankh plant pierced all the area, forcing Khal to jump out of his hiding place. He then proceeded to dodge the incoming attack. He went through the middle of the storm of blades, passing into all the incongruous space. When he finally leaped outside of it, he ran faster than ever to the side of Camelia and Gahzo who were now in danger themself. He stood in front of them and sliced the first roots reaching them. He barely stopped the attack, and many lacerated him. When a filament of Khal's blood hit Camelia, she screamed. Saan immediately stopped his assault.
"Camelia! Camelia, are you ok?" He invoked plants behind her and brought her to his side. While covering her in plants, he rocked her tenderly.
"Everything is fine, Camelia. Everything is fine. Your big brother is here."
Camelia tried to answer, but she was now all covered in flowers. Unable to move or talk anymore.
" Look at me protecting you, Camelia. You are a beautiful flower, and I love to watch you grow."
"Stop it right there!" shouted Ali arriving in the room.
"Ali, don't move!" replied Gahzo seeing his son run to Saan.
Ali didn't stop, and Saan threw his two swords at him. The boy avoided the first and grabbed the second in mid-air. The prince surrounded himself and Camelia with a large amount of roses. He expanded the thorns all around him. Khal dove behind Ali and pulled him to the side with Gahzo. Nemu and Bag quickly joined them. He then summoned Nitat, the bouncy demon, to counter the offensive. The monster of Heh acted as a shield since the thorns continued to expand, covering almost all the garden.
"Stop acting irresponsibly. You make my job harder," said Khal looking at the barrier protecting Saan.
"His right Ali, this battle, exceeds us" add Gahzo hugging Ali
"Dad… What happened to you?" asked Ali looking at his father older than ever. "Don't tell me you…."
"It's nothing Ali, Khal did a part of his job and brought you back to me alive… I'm…"
"I'm sorry, dad!" cut Ali. "I shouldn't have said all these things to you. Please forgive me."
"You don't need to Ali… You already did enough… It's all my fault."
the two of them looked at each other and broke into tears. Khal gazed at them with disgust and sight in the direction of the tree, something strange.
"Good, good for you, but I don't think it's the time to rejoice. Nasseh is fighting alone, and without Nitat, we would have been skewered at this time. Saan is unkillable without sacrifice at this stage."
Khal pointed at the door, strangely intact after all the attacks.
"The door, I need to reach it. Right now, the priority is to stop the Anubis demon. If I can talk and convince Geb, we can end the battle in the city and even here without me wasting time."
"Talk to a god?" Asked Gahzo. "Nobody can enter the domain of a God and come out alive."
"I can. Remember who you are talking to. I'm already dead…." He then clapped his hands firmly. "Now, we need to free the passage to it. Listen carefully, here's the plan…."
The thorns stopped growing after a few minutes. Saan put down his shield and looked at the demon of Nitat standing quietly between him and the three guys. He laid Camelia on the ground and ran to finish the job alone. When he arrived, only Gahzo was standing behind. Saan grabbed his collar and stretched him to the air menacingly.
"Talk, old man, where are your friends?"
"Is that how you treated an adult, Dune Walker? '' shouted Gahzo, pushing away the undead. "None of your kind knows how to interact with people."
"..."
"Answer!" screamed the old man while clapping the cheeks of the prince. Saan didn't react and kept his calm.
"I will ask one last time, old man… where… are… they?"
" you disrespectful brat!" cut Gahzo, aiming for the head, but Saan grabbed his hands before it reached him.
"If you don't want to talk. You can just die then…."
"Wait, I will… I will'' answered Gahzo.
"So talk…"
"I'm just wasting time, idiot."
From the ground, two snakes appeared with the Heh mark on their head. Saan jumped at the last minute and avoided the attack. He stretched numerous roots to the floor all around.
"do you think you can hide in the ground in front of me!"
The two demons slide between all attacks and directly bite the shoulder of Saan. But the two beasts were not tall, and their entire bodies were formed of chains. The Dune Walker tried to free himself, but the grip of the demons was too firm. Then from the ground, their chain's hardened. Khal appeared, putting himself directly in front of Saan.
"Hard to use your roots when I'm right in front of you? These demons are Thueban."
Saan pushed him back, and the snake liberated him to encircle their master.
"Try to avoid that instead!" Shouted Saan.
He threw more roots at him, but the demon of Khal escaped with Khal at their side. Khal Jumped on all the attacks and summoned a myriad of blackbirds around Saan.
"Each Dune Walker has a different specificity. There are three kinds of them. The summoner's, like me. Prioritize the use of demons. Second, Life handlers are Ankh experts, normally they are human with already large control of their energy."
The blackbirds limited the movement of Saan and pierced all the roots that he tried to summon.
"Finally, we have God sucker. Undead like you who excessively use the power given by their god!"
Khal then grabbed the end of his chain demons and guided them inside the attack of birds. He had successfully bitten the two legs of Saan.
"Using ankh, it's hard, and summoning demon requires a lot of years of practice. But God suckers like you only rely on their God to gain power. You don't need a lot of ankhs when you use your roots, compared to me who spend too much energy just to maintain these two invocations."
He then stretched his two snakes and pulled Saan to his side. The prince tried to debate himself and slash furiously at the two snakes. The Snake Disappeared and the demon birds also. Saan ran to Khal, who looked at him nonchalantly. The Geb accountant tried to call his plants on Khal, but nothing happened.
"I think you will understand the nature of the two chains serpent Thueban quickly."
Saan tried again and again, but nothing happened. The reserves of Ankh of Saan were empty… Khal started to run to the door immediately.
"Unfortunately for me, this garden is full of plants gorging on Ankh. You can regain a large amount quite fast, but I only need a few seconds to access the door."
Without a second thought, Saan started to run at his turn but fell instantly to the ground. When he looked at his back, two black chains were still restraining his leg. This time it was two standard black chains in the hand of Gahzo.
"You were right, Khal… These chains are pretty easy to handle."
"You old man!" Shouted the Dune walker of Geb while breaking the chains easily. Khal was already too far, and he chose to run to Gahzo instead. The old man tried to whip his aggressor with the rest of the chain, but Saan successfully grabbed Gahzo.
"Don't move Khal, or I will kill this man!" Khal hesitated for a moment but continued his run to the door. That irritated the prince, who began to suck the Ankh of Gahzo. Losing more and more energy with time.
"Stop it, or Camelia will die!" shouted Ali at the other side of the garden, pointing the sword he took from Saan precedently to Camelia. Saan didn't believe that the boy would kill Camelia but stopped and raised his hands to the air. Ali had taken advantage of Khal's attack to liberate the princess. All of this was part of the plan of the Heh accountant.
"Don't you dare touch my sister human…"
"So you will let my father join me first."
Saan let go of Gahzo, who ran at the side of Ali with difficulty. Khal attained the door of Geb and opened it. Bag and Nemu ran far from it and a large wave of energy flew through the room. A light emerged from the door and took in Khal in an instant. The door closed behind, stopping the flux of Ankh.
Ali and Gahzo, who are only human, fell to the ground. The energy was too much for them. Saan took advantage of it and ran to Ali, but before joining him, the door opened again, letting Khal go out. Saan froze in place. He stopped and looked at him.
"How can you already be out?" Murmured Gahzo.
The expression of Khal had changed. He was not non-expressive. His mind was no longer there. The Dune Walker of Heh walked to Ali quietly. The Prince interfered and threw a large number of roots at Khal. The Walker cut all of them easily. Without even stopping his walk. He summoned more chains and threw them at Saan at high speed. The undead stopped them with his right hand. Grabbing them in the motion. Khal injected a large amount of Ankh through it in answer. Breaking it gradually all apart.
"Sorry, Saan, but I don't have any more time for you."
Saan dropped the chain before being hit by the Ankh and summoned multiple plants simultaneously. This time, they were so large that the attack filled all the room. Breaking the remaining flower spread on the field. Only the door of Geb with his half-cut tree stood untouched. Khal recited a prayer and retaliated immediately. He touched his necklace and reversed it.
"Heh, I give you 50 years for 2 minutes!"
He clapped his hands, and instantly the time stopped all around the place, except around him, Ali, Gahzo and Camelia.
"I wasn't planning on giving up years I accumulated, but this fight will never finish. Our battle can stretch infinitely, with us running away for a moment to heal and regain energy. The only way to end it all… it's to crush the things maintaining a Dune Walker in life. Our desire…"
Khal walked to the side of Ali. Camelia was lying on the ground at his side. She was aware but very weak. The room was filled with numerous roots that froze in time. All pointing in the direction of the group.
"Tell me, Camelia, are you ready to throw up everything for your country?"
Camelia was too weak to directly answer but shook her head quietly in approbation.
"Eve… everything"
"You already understand what I need to do to stop Anubis…."
"I'm ready… for my kingdom…."
"Even ready to die?"
Ali jumped in surprise and pushed Khal to the side. Grabbing his collar in rage.
"What are you talking about? Who needs to die?"
"I talked with Geb. To stop all of this, Camelia will be our sacrifice," answered Khal, summoning his sword.
"No… He couldn't say that! You lie!" shouted Ali, running to Camelia.
"I never lie, Ali. Never…" replied Khal with a straight face.
The young man broke into tears while holding Camelia. The princess moved and grabbed the face of Ali.
"Stop it, Ali… You make it difficult…."
"But Camelia…"
"Ali… if I'm the sacrifice we need to make. I'm ready for that."
"Camelia, I promise to protect you at all cost. We were meant to change this country together. Hand to hand…."
"Ali…"
"Yes, I'm Ali, son of Gahzo. The wall that protects you, the beautiful flower of Rudhetria, from everything. If you go, I will go with you."
"Ali…"
Ali kissed Camelia passionately and hugged her with his eyes closed.
"Together…"
"Ali…"
"Together…"
"As you wish…."
Khal pierced the chest of Ali and Camelia at the same time. His face was stoic, and his hands didn't even flinch. Khal didn't care…
The time started again, and the roots began to explode at the contact of the ground. Gahzo tried to run to their side, but the first one to arrive was Saan. He looked at the two dead on the ground and screamed in rage. He collapsed to the ground, looked at Khal. His face was destroy and the anger disappeared. Slowly his leg began to turned into sand. The process quickly rose to the other part of his body. Only his tears fell before he was completely transformed. Salian was dead, killed by the sight of his dead sister.
"The only way to stop a Dune Walker is by destroying his desire." Said Khal, looking at the corpse. "God gives us the most basic goal to prevent that. Accumulating wealth and killing Kamarupa. But people like you and me cannot stop their old human self and attach themself to temporary purposes. Yours was your family, and mine was my past. I won this battle of desire by crushing everything you ever wanted… Family..."
… Red like a Camellia blossom… The silent flower without fragrance…