The Pharaoh's Champion

 What the…?

 She stood inside a small glass chamber, one she could barely stand tall in. Sand covered up to her waist and there was a small pile on top of her head that she shook off.

 The scene on the other side was like something you'd see on the walls of the palace. Everyone stood unmoving, like figures in a painting. This whole moment was frozen in time, it was now that she could truly appreciate the situation they were in.

 The Egyptian God's lay in a battered pile around Zorc. The darkness had sucked out every single scrap of light, her eyes had to fight to see even that much.

 Then, glowing just in front of her, was the millennium puzzle that hung around the neck of the most loyal, clever and fierce man she had ever known. She could recognise him by touch alone, by his smell. She knew him even when she was blind, by the way he breathed and how his feet struck the ground. The only man who had ever been able to break down her walls.

 I would know him in death, at the end of the world. And this was exactly that.

 The need to reach out to him was too much and as she touched the glass, it shattered into tiny bright lights and the weight of the sand tackled her to the ground.

 Time seemed to stand still as a voice sounded from all around her. Zahra gathered herself unsteadily to her feet, sweeping away the hair that stress and sand had stuck to her face.

 Her chest was crippled as she saw him stand proud and immovable, staring into the face of the abyss. His regal cape blown out in a phantom breeze, as he unflinchingly looked death straight in the eyes, with not a hint of fear or despair.

 There was no breeze for her now, everything was frozen.

 She persistently stared at him, desperately trying to sense a hint of movement from his face.

 "You must now make a choice, my child," Zahra looked around and saw nothing but darkness. "You can save him, and the world if you would like."

 "How?" was all she could manage.

 "Thanks to your sacrifice, your King and Ruler are about to summon a creature far more powerful than the Egyptian Gods themselves. That creature is me, the Goddess of Creation. To do so, he will need to merge the biggest powers of Egypt... together," there was a slight pause in their voice as if they were unwilling to carry on. "You must fulfil an oath you made five thousand years ago."

 Zahra frantically looked around for the source of her birth mother's voice but could see nothing.

 Her five thousand-year journey had led to this moment.

 "What must I do?" She spoke shakily to the faceless voice.

 "You must return the life that I gave you."

 "My life?"

 "The Egyptian gods were created by me, to protect this country and its people. You, however, were created by all the Gods of Egypt, to protect the light that keeps the darkness at bay. It is why you are so different to the rest. Together, you are the greatest power, a part of each of the Egyptian Gods and myself and your father, live within you. You're golden hair, like the Winged Dragon of Ra. You're unfathomable power, like the Sky Dragon, Slipher. You're raw strength, like Obelisk the Tormentor. You're determination, like Maahes, the lion protector himself," her voice had an air of tenderness when she mentioned his name. "To defeat this evil for eternity, I require what I did not have before; every ounce of my power returned."

 Zahra's head was about to explode. Looking upon the frozen faces of everyone at war, the terror in their eyes was paralysing.

 She allowed herself to settle on the face of her Pharaoh.

 A readiness to lay down her life was always there, to make the ultimate sacrifice to save him; but now the time had come, she felt a sickening feeling in her stomach. Dropping her gaze to her hands, she could see them tremble. Fear was taking over.

 "Zahra, you're my daughter, I gave you life so that you could live it. Five thousand years ago, you chose to follow him through the sands of time. I did not force that choice on you then, and I will not force you now."

 Her chest began to heave, dragging in the air. She was able to hold herself together just enough to speak, but not enough to stop the silent tears tumble down her cheeks.

 "Does it hurt… to die?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

 "It can, if your end is met with violence. The release of death, however, is not something that can be described with mere words."

 She wiped away the tears from her eyes and nose. She had always expected her oath to be fulfilled in a more 'brutal' way. At least this way he couldn't see the fear in her eyes, not so much at death, but more at the thought of never being able to see him again.

 He would go on, live his life, rule his country, start a family, grow old, and forget about her. Perhaps only ever remembering her when he saw a chessboard or held a tournament.

 Maybe not even then…

 A small part hoped he would forget her, the thought that he could feel this crippling pain if his love was even half as strong as hers, was almost unbearable.

 Her feet moved, scraping across the outline of her body that still lay in the sand, there was no wind to blow the indent away, and she would savour this precious instant.

 Sand crunched under her feet as she moved closer and closer to him, reaching out to touch his soft cheek one last time. He was still warm, and still so handsome. And still staring at Zorc.

 "I don't know what to say to you, except…" her voice caught as she finally spoke the truth of her heart. "That it tore the heart out of my body, to say goodbye to you before," her thumb tenderly stroked his jawline. "I hope you stay the person you always were."

 He would not look death in the eyes any longer, and taking a small step back, she memorised every detail of his face as she straightened her spine and rolled back her shoulders.

 As she looked towards the evil they all faced, a light began to materialise. Small at first, then it got bigger until it was over seven feet tall. In the brightest part, she could just about make out a woman's face through her squinting eyes.

 "Nothing ever truly dies?" It wasn't a question.

 The ethereal face seemed to nod in response.

 That was all she needed, the thinnest veil of hope to wear and to hold.

 As she turned her back to the Pharaoh for the final time, she steeled herself and stretched her arms and neck, releasing an almost inhuman click. Her face turned into the primal huntress she truly was and she stalked towards her prey, and into the light. All the while, keeping the face she had memorised at the very front of her thoughts.

 In truth, she wished she could see it, the freedom from the darkness. All of this fighting, the internal crisis she faced, the waiting through the ages. Everything her mother and father went through… For her.

 She wished she could breathe its fresh air.

 Freedom, she suddenly realised, is nothing but the distance between the hunter and its prey. She was the hunter, and the darkness her prey, the time had come to close that gap.

 The time had come to take the Darkness' freedom.

 Unafraid of what would come for her after she stepped into the light, she smiled in earnest, her mind set on one goal.

 "Let's take him down."

 There were no tears or catches in her voice, there was nothing but cold, unwavering steel. She would do it, she would give her life for the world.

 She would give her life for him…

 The wind started to blow and the closer she got, the more she saw the light grow and grow. And grow. As she neared, she was greeted by voices welcoming her home, one she recognised from not-so-long ago, Maahes.

 The whoosh of time starting again made her head spin.

 She heard Atem's voice summoning the Goddess of Creation. For a split second, she wondered if he would have done it, if he had known what she was doing right now.

 The light grew, immersing the bodies of the Egyptian Gods, and herself.

 After that moment, there was nothing.

 ****

 As he summoned The Goddess of Creation, his eyes were drawn to the ground. There were small, feminine footprints that blew away in the gust that suddenly hit his face, taking his breath away.

 In the distance, where the footprints headed, he saw a slender silhouette in the blinding light of the manifesting Goddess. With his memories restored, he knew it was her, he could still smell her in the air; a fresh fragrance that cleared his mind.

 Atem squinted in the dazzling light as he watched her move further into it, her body being engulfed. In the sudden awareness of what was happening, and the abrupt return of his past life's memories, he looked at her in the same way he always did. To him, she was the light itself. He basked in the glow she emitted and felt blind when she was gone. He was in awe of her strength but sometimes fought against it. 

 A tight feeling crippled in his chest, he remembered it only happening when he watched her walk away. Gods, it happened every time she simply turned her back.

 That sudden realisation hurt him the most, that he never truly appreciated her until he was threatened with her loss.

 It was a love born of passion and frustration, he couldn't help but feel it. He wanted her more than anything. Whenever they connected emotionally or physically, something happened to pull them even further apart.

 Would they ever be together? Could he ever be happy?

 She's the best thing you'll ever have… The thought hit him like a galloping horse. The burn of tears at the back of his eyes spread. His heart ached and his chest knotted even more.

 In the beauty of this sunset, he wondered how he had never seen her before. From the moment he saw her in that alley, he knew she was something else to him. Then coming back to his home, he realised it all again.

 Thank you Tadal, but you were wrong, I do regret it, I regret ever having let her go… Zahra, If my life is repeated a thousand times. Still you, you and again, you.

 "You still owe still owe me a wish," he whispered to the wind. "And I wish that I will always find you. That you will always know, how much I respect and love you."

 As the darkness fell and light once again shone down on his country, the sounds of his countrymen rejoicing did nothing to console the grief in his heart.

  The End

 A small epilogue will follow soon