The man rose up from the sand confused about where he was. Having no memories previously of who he was and how he got where he was. He stumbled as he tried to move from where he stood falling into the sand. Surrounding him was mounds of sand. It looked like piles of ant hills without an entrance. Was he surrounded by a colony of bugs? He had to move quickly if so.
He tried to stand back up on his feet and slowly surely started to make tiny steps forward. It was as if it had been his first time ever walking. That's how it felt anyways. He looked forward to the dreary atmosphere in front of him. It was nighttime and the land in front of him was lifeless and gray except for the even more giant piles far out in the distance in front of him.
What were those things?
Pyramids. Homes of civilization.
He found it weird that the answer came to him so quickly. It was like knowledge was slowly pooling into him. He started to make his way towards the pyramids. Maybe something there would have the answer of how he got here?
He had no idea how long it took him to get to the cluster of pyramids on the grayish planet but as soon as he made it to the first one the outside began to glow a bluish color and an entrance lit up brightly on its side. Without hesitation he walked through.
Within the pyramid was a large city made of sandstone. It was beyond mesmerizing to the man and he couldn't help but stand there and take everything in. I have never seen anything like this before!
He had not noticed the group of women a small distance away from him near the entrance that were using a stone fountain to wash laundry as he stood there observing the city before him. One of their gasps brought him into the moment and out of his amazement of the city before him.
Before he could react the women were surrounding him, scolding him as if he was a child and wrapping him quickly in a long robe. He looked at them confused, realizing they weren't attacking him to harm him but to lecture him about his nudity. Somehow he picked up on their language quickly and told them that he was sorry and had no idea how he arrived on their land.
One of the women had said Kemet. It interested the man for he could have sworn he had heard that name used before. From where though? Why were so many things familiar to him without him having any memory?
He thanked them for clothing him and bid them farewell as he continued to make his way down the steps of the hill they were on and into the city. He had never seen such liveliness as he watched women and children dance in the street, families making their way to collect food and cloth from merchants. Musicians playing in the street. This all was truly unfamiliar to him but he found it rather comforting.
I never knew such peace before.
The man stopped in the middle of the crowd that seemed to not even notice him; going about their lives; and closed his eyes. Taking in the noises, sounds and scents around him. It was truly beautiful. He would do anything to protect this place and he had barely been in it for a few minutes!
Was the life he had before this not filled with peace? Was it full of distress? Fragments of tiny memories played behind his eyes. Dreams he had of safe places, good food and happiness. The will to not have a care in the world. A dream of a child or when he was a child perhaps?
A woman's voice somewhere drifting in his memories promising him peace and happiness no matter what…
The sound of her voice in his mind brought him great pain and grief. Whose voice was that and how is she connected to me?
He squeezed his eyes shut more tightly trying to drown the woman's voice out. He did not know how to control his emotions. It was something he felt he was still very new to managing.
Without realizing it a burst of power vibrated from his skin and consumed the whole city inside the pyramid. Everything grew very silent.
He quickly opened his eyes in fear that everything that had been surrounding him had disappeared and the beauty that had been in front of him vanished. To his relief everything that he started to love almost immediately was still in front of him but the people on the streets that stood before him were frozen like statues. As if they all are frozen in time.
No, I didn't mean to do this! How do I undo it!?
Please enough of this I am sorry! I just wanted the pain to go away. I didn't mean to harm these people! Have I harmed them?
He felt a ticking in his own mind almost like a clock hand. He turned to see the torches that were on the pillars that lined the streets do an odd thing he did not understand. They kept distinguishing and lighting back up again. Almost as if time was moving at insane speeds.
Oh no… what have I done?
After a few moments the torches stopped lighting and relighting and bursted with a larger flame then they originally had as if someone dumped gasoline on them and the people around him started moving again, carrying on with their lives; as if they didn't notice what he had just accidently done out of uncontrolled emotions.
Something was different about the street of people though. As he continued to observe he noticed there were more people then there had been before. Children now ran through the streets throwing marbles at each other. There were a few more adults at the stands lined with vegetables and fruits talking amongst each other as if they had no idea they just appeared amongst the streets out of nowhere. Far off in the distance he heard the woman that had been hauntingly talking in his head. She stood at a stand that was selling scented candles talking to the merchant. Out of all the people in the city he could observe right now she was the only one who looked sad.
He walked over to her not caring that he was about to interrupt her speaking to the merchant.
"Excuse me?" He asked, interjecting their sales conversation. "I don't mean to intrude but your voice is familiar."
The merchant did not look upset at him interrupting their conversation but the woman looked a little dumbfounded when she looked up at him. Even taking a step away from him; her jaw dropping.
"Wow, you look like a spitting image of my husband!"
The man frowned; he knew one thing was certain even without his memories. He was not this woman's husband.
Without a response he shook his head and walked away. He had wasted the woman's time and he felt like his presence was no longer needed in his city. Somewhere deep down he felt the uncontrollable energy that had spilled from him a bit ago did what it was supposed to do. Even if it was an accident. He was no longer needed here.
"Wait!" The woman called after him.
The man ignored her calling out to him. Somehow the sound of her voice no longer had an effect on him. He knew she would be alright. That as long as she stayed inside this city she would be safe. He was now needed somewhere else. How he knew that; well that was what he had yet to figure out.
As he continued to walk he felt someone grab his arm. He spun to see the woman. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at him.
"Please, humor me for a moment. You truly do look awfully familiar. You aren't my husband but… perhaps you know my son?"
"To be honest ma'am I just arrived here I know of no one. I am trying to figure things out myself. Your voice is just very familiar as if I heard it somewhere else once." The man confessed to her. Even though, when she asked if he knew her son, something of deep sadness filled him. Perhaps he had once known her son?
The woman looked down with tears in her eyes. He knew then that had not been the answer she had been hoping to hear.
"Where is your son if I may ask? You look sad, perhaps I can help?"
The woman shook her head. "I am sorry to confuse you with what I said. I never bore a son. My dreams are so real that I- I keep thinking he's real. My husband tells me we have been here our whole lives yet I feel like I used to be somewhere else. As if in another life. I must sound like a mad woman."
The man didn't understand her ramblings so he closed his eyes, diving into her mind to seek answers about her madness. When he got what he was seeking he understood.
I will do what I must to make you proud, mother. Sorry that our lives can not be spent together.
The man sent more energy out into the city and he watched as everyone froze into place again and the torches started going in and out.
When time resumed the woman no longer had been standing before but was nowhere in sight. He knew it was a new day and that right at that moment she was on a long walk across the city with her husband. Dreams of a son no longer plaguing her.
"At least I know my name now," The man said to himself. "Bes."
He continued his journey into the next pyramid seeking the person who made him into what he was now.