According to the hourglass it now had been a week since Ramuna's arrival on the lunar world that was now Atann. They had stopped traveling around the pyramid systems on that third day that the conversation took place of her choice in destroying a civilization and now they currently resided in the pub.
Ramuna had no idea if the pub was a permanent stay nor did she bother to ask the Jackal. She decided that anything was better than the fate that probably would have come upon her if she woke up from the drugged state her fiance had put her in.
The Jackal had been right about one thing. There was no way her mind had been making this whole world up. Where she was now whether it was physically or subconsciously was in fact very real. There was no possible way she could have made up the new things she was learning, the smells, the tastes. Even though Ramuna never felt hunger she had accepted a bowl of the food the pub was offering to its guests the other night and was in awe at all the different flavors and spices that were in one bowl of soup. It was nothing like anything she had ever eaten. If anything the food tricked her mind into believing that she could be hungry for more of it.
Ramuna was resting on a chaise outside of her room on the balcony, observing all the people on the street shopping in the market below her. Children were running through the crowd playing with marbles that they kept bouncing onto the brick annoying some of the adults around them. Not one person dared to stop their fun though. This city was more peaceful than the New World and that was the one thing that made her uneasy.
Maybe I did not save the innocents but killed the innocents instead and let the enemy live.
The harsh truth of that thought plagued her mind. Ramuna felt she did not deserve to be here living amongst this civilization. Didn't she deserve what the New World believed in? The afterlife of damnation if you had done wrong while living? Shouldn't she be in pain and suffering a terrible fate right now?
That was another reality she kept thinking over but had no answer to. The Jackal did explain that she was not dead. So what was she right now? Ramuna pinched her arm creating yet another small bruise. So far she counted ten on her arm. The amount of times through the week she had inflicted pain on herself to tell her she was not in a dream.
"Can you stop that ridiculous behavior and follow me downstairs? There is something I would like to show you."
Ramuna jumped in fright as she saw the Jackal standing next to her chaise, arms crossed as if in severe disappointment as he looked at her. He did not hold her gaze long but soon became distracted by what she had been observing down below. The children were weaving through the crowd chasing each other down with the marbles in hand. Ramuna studied the Jackal's features and this time it seemed like he was looking at the children longingly. As if he wished to be a part of their fun.
"Let's go," he demanded, leaving the balcony without her response.
Ramuna was impressed that he had nothing sly to say about her observance of him watching the children. She knew he could pry into her thoughts whenever he felt like it. Not wanting to irritate him more, she got up from her chaise and followed him through her bedroom and down the hall. Luckily she had the room safely to herself. What worried her more though is that the Jackal did not book a room with the pub's owner. He had only booked one for her and would only show himself during what Ramuna presumed to be the daytime. Did he sleep? And if so where was he staying? How could he so easily appear and disappear without Ramuna noticing?
Was he using that thing he mentioned? Heka?
The Jackal led her back to the table they sat at on their third day. Ramuna sat down and noticed a thick brown leather book on the table. The cover had Hieroglyphics engraved deeply into it. Without saying a word the Jackal dropped some type of hash into the hookah and handed her the hose.
"No tobacco. Today you are trying my favorite. It's cinnamon shisha."
Ramuna took a small hit and was surprised that the flavored smoke in fact tasted just like cinnamon. The taste reminded her of a thick milky cinnamon latte. She sat in silence with him as they both shared puffs of the hose. After her nerves were calmed down from the fright he gave her on the balcony she inclined her head towards the book. "What's this?"
"That is your first resource of studies, Ramuna."
"I can't read Hieroglyphics. I would not even know where to begin understanding these symbols."
The Jackal rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "You blew up my whole home and didn't even think about reading a single book from my nation." The Jackal held out his hand and a piece of paper appeared in his grasp.
Ramuna gasped. How did he do that? It just appeared out of thin air! A lot quicker than typing something into a phone and searching for it on the web.
"By the gods your comparison of me using Heka to a cell phone just made me want to throw you at the hands of General Phisler myself!"
Ramuna looked at the Jackal in absolute disgust. "You know the way you talk to me is truly insufferable! You are a complete asshole!" Her hands started to tremble. Ramuna was in fact scared of this being before her but at the same time after a week of dealing with it she could no longer tolerate his snippy remarks.
"How do you expect a victim of your genocide to treat you?" The Jackal sneered. "You don't even know who I am because I refuse to show my face! Has it ever occurred to you that I am just like everyone else here in this new dimension of Atann? That in fact you already had gotten the best of me and never even got to hear me utter a snide remark your way because you dropped a damn bomb on me!? You are lucky I am tolerating you."
Ramuna studied the dog-like face and the eyes that bore deep into her soul with an amount of rage even she could not comprehend. She never thought once that this man before her could have been in Atann when she pressed the button to fire the missile. And if he had been there how was it that only he could use this magic called Heka? How could he be the only one that was 'alive.'
The Jackal leaned back in his seat and sighed in defeat. "I will finally answer one thing that has been driving you mad about me. This system I use is called Heka. It's an ancient arcane magic even my nation forgot how to use long ago. In fact I fear I am the only one that was in Atann at the time you destroyed the land that knew how to wield that kind of magic anymore. That is in fact how we are here now Ramuna. I used what power I could to save myself from your nuclear explosion and in one last effort I decided to avenge my land by coming after you. Right as I reached the base you were in outside of Atann I saw a whole different setting I did not expect.."
"Did you see me on the ground? That was the last thing I remember was falling over in front of my fia.. Ex fiance," Ramuna corrected with a bitterness she realized she now had for Seth Phisler.
"No. It took me a while to reach your camp. You were already in the bunker with the last remaining people of my civilization. It was what I found there that made me decide on pulling you here into limbo instead of killing you."
"What did you find?" Ramuna asked curiously. "I am surprised to know that the remainder of them didn't tear my body to shreds I suppose when Phisler's men threw me in there."
"Oh, believe me, when I say this Ramuna, they wanted to kill you. The issue is one of the prisoners in there that you and your lovely fiance captured is a high priestess of a village that even was hidden to Atann's own people. A secret society so to speak and this society happened to have something in their possession that has been forgotten. I was even shocked to see it on her person. It was the amulet of Amun-Ra. The sun god. That amulet seemed to start working and acting up as soon as it came in contact with you. Most Atannians would say that is in fact the sign of Ra making his great comeback."