Seth Phisler sat in his makeshift office inside one of the bunkers staring at the empty space of his desk where the documents he kept in a file once were.
Once.
To his horror they had disintegrated and turned into ash before his eyes as he was studying them. Almost as if someone or something unseen took it from him. Five years of his work was wiped clean and he had no idea how or why. Now the rage he felt was unbearable.
He unscrewed a bottle of whiskey and took a swig not even caring to grab a glass. Something was watching him. Something was very much toying with him and taking away his own work.
I guess we did not kill all those roaches in this slimy eastern continent.
Then realization hit him. The prisoners. Ah, of course. The ones they took from the unmarked village. Even Atann's people had no idea they existed. A village that never was supposed to exist. Now he knew what he could focus his rage on. The High Priestess. Or whatever she was to her people. Nonetheless she was their leader that had supposed powers from their ancient gods.
Seth got up abruptly and grabbed the revolver from his desk drawer before rushing out of the room. If anyone knew anything about whatever the hell happened to his paperwork it would be here. His fiance never had a clue what he had been up to when they got together. What his intentions were. Yes. He needed her to get rid of the people of Atann but the work wasn't over at that point. He wanted what was rightfully his back. Something he lost. Seth was all about starting over. Just without the people of Atann.
He paused to greet the guards outside of the prisoners bunker and asked them kindly to take a break and that he would handle it for a few moments. His men had no clue what his true intentions were out here either. Had no idea why he kept the prisoners but they were good dogs and never asked any questions outside of their commands. Something he wished Ramuna had done.
Everything was a concern to that bitch. He wished he did not have to imprison her. Maybe in another life he could have easily married her if she had just been able to do as told instead having a mind of her own. Seth smirked. There had been a time. And even then. She never listened.
Seth unlocked the steel door to the bunker and entered the room pointing the revolver directly at the first body he saw. Most of the prisoners were awake and scuttled away like rats seeing him enter the room.
"As long as no one makes a movement towards me I will not start shooting," he said with a deadly calm. In reality he would love nothing more than to open fire on all of them and finish off the last of Atann's people.
He saw Ramuna in the corner unconscious. To his surprise they kept her alive and actually were caring for her. There was a wet rag over her forehead as she was shaking in her sleep. They even covered her with one of their jackets. Fools. All of them. They knew that was the person who spent their whole life creating a controlled nuclear bomb to destroy their country and yet they still pitied her. Seth grit his teeth. The scene he saw before him enraged him.
He turned his gun to Ramuna, cocking back the pistol.
"No!"
A woman ran between him and Ramuna. He would have fired if it was not the person he came here looking for.
"Hello, witch," he snarled. "You are actually who came here to have a lovely conversation with. Let's go."
That made the men in the bunker actually stand up as if they were ready to charge him. The protectiveness they had for each other disgusted Seth to his core.
"Did I not say if anyone moved towards me I was going to shoot!" He roared. "Go ahead! Try to attack me! You can not stop this bullet from hitting your leader if you dare try!"
The High Priestess looked at her people with worry and to his relief she raised her hands to her people in surrender to let them know to retreat and stay idle. She walked slowly towards him, her eyes to the door not daring to look at him.
Seth watched her daring her to make any sudden movements as they left the bunker. Even as he locked the door shut and he was alone with her finally he felt like it was necessary to keep the gun pointed at her. From his studies the past five years he was fully aware that this woman knew Heka magic.
He did not keep the gun pointed at her but kept it in his hand instead of putting it back in its halter. It was a silent walk back to his office. Seth did not want his men to know of anything he was about to demand out of the High Priestess. When they got to the bunker he locked them inside so no one else could enter.
If the High Priestess was scared or even worried for her life she showed no sign. Her face was blank and still stayed looking forward, not looking at him. He knew it was a sign of defiance. He did not care less.
"Please. Take a look at what's on my desk. I insist."
The High Priestess slowly lowered her eyes to his desk to see the heap of black ashes on his desk and then finally she looked at him, giving a look of utter disgust.
"It appears you tried to start a fire on your desk," she said calmly, making it known through her voice that she was already irritated with this discussion.
Seth fell back in his chair looking up at the glaring elderly woman as he put the gun on his lap. He knew this woman would not budge to help him but at least maybe he could find a way to get information out of her. She cared about Ramuna so much despite what she had done to her country. What if he threatened the lives of her own people? Perhaps the children? Would she work with him then?
"Those ashes happened to be some very old pages out of a book. A book that was once called the Book of Thoth. Sound familiar to you?"
The woman showed no reaction to his words instead she continued to stare at him coldly. Seth just stared back at her with a piercing gaze, his thumb sliding across the hilt of the gun.
"If what you had there was pages from Thoth it had to have been fraud. That book never existed; it was a fairytale." The High Priestess said, finally breaking the silence.
"See I doubt that very much, lady. If the pages meant nothing, why did they just crumple right as I was making a little break through with them? Hm?"
"Things from the past tend to fade away if not properly taken care of." The High Priestess responded.
Seth burst out laughing. "That is not what I was implying."
Without a second thought he raised his gun and pointed it at her shoulder and fired quickly. Blood splattered across the desk and onto his uniform in a spray. The High Priestess barely let out a sound but her look of shock was very apparent. She didn't even fall back.
"Go ahead. Heal yourself. I won't tell anyone." Seth winked at the woman. "I am also not some stupid New Worlder either. I know a few things about Atann and its way of life past my government's orders. I did my research."
The High Priestess's eyes widened even more and that made Seth grin. She finally realized that not only did he know she knew magic but that he very well was after magic himself.
Seth watched as the bullet fell out of her shoulder and dropped to the floor and her flesh started to slowly mend itself back together. After a few moments it was almost as if he never shot her. Only thing left on his shoulder was the hole in her robes and the blood that stained her clothes. It was quite fascinating that she was capable of doing that without uttering a word or drawing a symbol in the air. He wondered how old she truly was.
He had so many questions and something told him she was more than just a elderly leader for a small unnamed village. Who knew what secrets she held. Seth knew he had to get as much information out of her as he possibly could if he wanted to finally be free from this mortal body.
"So now that we are done bullshitting let's talk about the Book of Thoth."