Eye of Ra (28 page)

Laurence gazed at the blue-green sky and milk white clouds. His gaze moved to Ma’at’s familiar armor, which kept a cruising speed next to the carriage. Finally, the House of Ra came into view.

The main structure was a silver pyramid with blue lights beaming from different parts of it. Unlike pyramids from Earth, it had balconies and windows that wrapped around at different stories. At the flat peak sat a large sculpture of a creature similar to an eagle forged in gold with its wings extended: the symbol of the House of Ra. Behind that was a huge star disk, the same as the one that formed on his armor when it converted to Celestial mode.

The entrance to the pyramid was a wall of foliage that stood at least a hundred feet high. Within the green walls was a sea of colorful flowers and plants that emitted a dizzyingly sweet smell as their scent invaded his nostrils. The carriage wound through the gardens and came to the base of the House, a main yard decorated with more exotic trees and plants. Two white stone Seni carved fountains sat flanking one another, spitting streams of clear blue water from their mouth. Steps carved into the side of the house led to the main entrance, but he could not see where they began. A host of bodies stood awaiting his arrival.

Anxiety swept over him as the chariot came to a halt. The driver opened the door, and he turned to Ma’at, who gestured with a smile that it was alright. Timorously he rose to his feet and stepped slowly down with his heart in his throat.

 Every member of the bloodline of Ra, from young to old, stood eager to meet him. More than fifty people gathered together and shed tears of their own as if he were a long lost family member who had finally come home. It baffled him. By human standards, he would be considered a bastard. But he was one of them. To them even a tiny drop of Amun-Ra’s blood was enough.

The children were the first to break rank, joyfully flocking around him to touch his armor and skin. Two of them took each of his hands and pulled him into the fold. He was met with embraces, and his head was cupped to press his forehead against theirs. He met again with Thoth, who as it turned out was not only Chief Administrator for Healing and Science, but the secondary Head of House, and Ma’at’s mate. Every now and then he turned with glass eyes to Ma’at, joyfully overwhelmed.

After being introduced to every single member of the House of Ra, he was taken inside to be properly cared for and have the funk of battle removed from him. Four handmaidens removed his armor and the rest of his clothing and tossed him into a massive tub to scrub him clean. From that experience, he learned that Annunaki women are extremely strong, forward, and thorough. Afterwards he was brought inside, adorned with oils so sweet they almost strangled him, and dressed in royal civilian garb to be presented to Ma’at and the rest of the House of Ra once again for dinner.

The entire family of the House of Ra sat at a long green crystal oval table covered from tip to tip with food. He was placed in between Ma’at’s two daughters. Seshat with pink streaks in her dark hair, honey brown skin, bright sunshine eyes, and bubbly personality was the youngest, while Tefnut, who was the spitting image of a younger Ma’at with her father’s complexion and eyes, was the eldest and also the current Eye of Ra.

While he tasted Asperanza, a massive boar-like creature whose meat was cooked to juicy perfection, the pet Seni of the House, Nubia, curiously slithered up to him. It looked like a twenty-foot-long King Cobra. He nearly had a heart attack, but overcame his fear and extended his hand allowing it to take a sniff. It rested its head on his lap for a good portion of the dinner. Then Babek, the house Jacolla, came sniffing him all over and sat waiting for scraps. He realized it was the creature that Anubis’ helm was fashioned after. Its head was like a jackal, while its body was shaped like a silverback ape. It also had a long narrow whip for a tail, rows of daggers for teeth, and curved razor sharp claws on each of its feet. As Laurence smiled and laughed with relatives from another world, the back of his mind was filled with thoughts of his father, wishing he was there with him.

After dinner, Ma’at took him on a tour of the garden on the north side of the House so that they could converse privately.

“Something I don’t understand; everyone keeps calling me the Eye of Ra,” he turned to her. “But Tefnut is the current Eye of Ra.”

“Yes,” she smiled with a nod. “I was the one that spread the word before you were brought to the Council that the Eye of Ra had returned to Anu.”

“I still don’t understand.”

Ma’at began to explain, “In the days of my father, and his father, all the way back to Geb, the Annunaki have believed a leader should lead by example. Leaders cannot expect their people to do what they are unwilling to do themselves. The Heads of Houses had to be learned in many pursuits and able to do many things. They explored new territory, they charged headfirst into the heat of battle, and willingly did without when times were tight to help the people prosper.

Whenever a species is discovered that could become part of the Dominion Council community, we are very interested in assessing its character. That is why three Heads of Houses: my father, Set, and Osiris, were the ones who ventured to your planet. The weight of potentially exterminating a species is not a yoke a ruler should place on any of their subjects, especially if they are not willing to do it with their own hands and bear the consequences.

The day we lost them, there was a great mourning, not just within the Houses, but across the entire planet. Months later, there was a great petition from the people to the Houses. They could no longer stand to lose any more leaders senselessly and called for proper delegation of roles to ensure that such an event would never happen again.

There were times we glimpsed what Lord Geb was attempting to teach us, but at that moment his true lesson was etched into us.”

She turned and locked eyes with him.

“True wealth and power comes from the love of the people. When the rulers see them not as subjects to control and exploit, but as family to love and protect, that same love will return in kind. The people will die for their leaders and protect us the same as we would for them, and with that combined love …anything is possible. To obtain that is more valuable than any of the known riches in the universe.”

“I wish leaders of my world would learn that,” Laurence lowered his head.

“The people were devastated by the passing of Set, Osiris and Amun-Ra, so we needed to make an Amendment to the governing Houses. It was established that an Elder on the Council could not also be The Eye. The Head of House assumed the roles of governing Anu and diplomatic affairs in regards to the Dominion Council. The Eye assumed roles such as police, military, and exploration. The title of Eye of Ra was vacated for quite some time until I joined with my mate Thoth, and Tefnut came of age to take up the mantle. However, in this universe most species have two eyes …sometimes three.”

Laurence semi-comprehended what she was talking about, but he remained silent hoping for more clarification.

“I wish to show you something,” Ma’at requested.

Laurence nodded, following her into a radiant garden. He closed his eyes as he allowed the sweet scents of the plants and flowers to smack him in the face. She led him down a path, eventually coming to a massive golden wall etched with hieroglyphics. Rows of circular doors were lined one after the other from the top of the wall to the bottom. He realized that it was a wall of tombs. Each tomb had two containers on either side; in the containers to the left were rainbow arrangements of gorgeous flowers, while those on the right contained green crystal figurines infused with eternal Awakening energy. The combined lights made the wall come alive as if the spirits of those that left the physical plane were still there with them.

They stopped at a tomb two levels up and five rows down.

“This tomb belonged to my mother Hathor,” began Ma’at. “My father’s first mate. Like him she explored the cosmos asking the question why, sometimes with him, and sometimes without. On one particular day, she visited a then-uncharted planet that we now call Char. It was there that she contracted a deadly disease called the Scourge. It was in the planet’s atmosphere, and it took months for symptoms to appear. Despite our great advancements in medicine, it proved to be untreatable.

Her passing was painful, especially for my father. More so because she suffered greatly before she found peace in her return to the Awakening. He was never the same after that. It must have felt as if a part of him had been carved out, never to be refilled until his time to rejoin the Awakening.”

Her words conjured up thoughts of his father and particularly Rosemary. They were heavy enough for him to bow his head as she walked over to her mother’s tomb to touch it.

“That is why when my father decided to spend his end days on Earth,” she turned smiling. “I was happy for him. Even though he attempted to deceive me with his last transmission …his eyes could not hide the truth. There would always be a special place in him for my mother, but he needed to fill that part of him that had been carved out, and it is evident by you standing here before me, that he found it. I am so glad to finally see it for myself with my own eyes.”

His head rose as she walked back over to him taking his hand.

“Do you know what being “The Eye” really means?” Ma’at asked.

Laurence shook his head with an earnest no.

“It means to be a witness,” she smiled, “to witness good, and evil, to remember the past, while seeing a better future. To see not just what is, but what can potentially be. To see the truth. The Eye goes forth and sees what the people cannot see, learns and absorbs, and then returns to teach the people in order to make them better. That is the responsibility of the Eye. A responsibility that you have proven that you can carry, and one that I believe your people desperately need. You would honor this House; you would honor me, by becoming the second Eye of Ra.”

“Is that even …”

“One of the agreed upon Amendments was the right to appoint more than one Eye within the bloodline, if the Elder deemed them worthy,” Ma’at answered him before he could ask his full question. “Seshat is much like her father, and prefers the practice of healing, which warms my heart. My father’s armor was not waiting so that you might only don it once and deliver a single truth to us. I believe that your work has just begun.”

“I would be honored to be given the opportunity to prove that I am worthy of it.”

It flowed from his lips as easy as streaming water. After coming so far, he did not want the journey to end. He wanted to go further. After being stuck for so long, he did not want to slow down; he wanted to chase something again. It was his chance to continue his redemption, to look in the mirror once again and love what he saw looking back.

In the middle of their moment, a handmaiden appeared getting their attention.

“My Elder,” she curtsied, “The Eye of Set is here and would like an audience with the Eye of Ra.”

Ma’at turned to Laurence to get his permission, and with an edgy gulp he nodded, letting her know it was alright.

“Escort him to the garden please,” she requested.

“As you command,” the handmaiden acknowledged.

They returned back to the center of the garden to see Anubis. Even without his gear and weapons, he appeared a force to be reckoned with, adorned in a large necklace of golden and metallic blue material that covered the upper part of his chest with a green crystal scarab in the center. The colors matched the triple strapped belt around his waist that had the same beetle emblem as a buckle that held his skirt together. 

“My Elder,” he slammed his right arm across his chest and bowed.

“We can dispatch with formalities, cousin,” Ma’at narrowed her eyes at him. “Remember I use to bathe with you and braid your hair.”

Anubis turned away, embarrassment written across his stone expression, Laurence looked down. Her stern look turned into a pleasant smile as she glanced at both of them.

“I shall leave you two to get properly acquainted again.”

As she passed Anubis, she gave him a solid back hand shot to his right arm causing him to wince.

“Pórtate se sami kahle,” she snarled pointing a finger at him.

She finished her stern threat with a soft pat on the same arm before walking off, leaving the two of them alone.

“Uh, she just said?” a bewildered Laurence asked.

“For me to behave myself,” Anubis sighed.

“Oh,” he nodded, a little unnerved at Anubis’ display of vulnerability.

“I …came to extend a personal invitation to the entombment of my father,” he glanced at the ground, “and to request forgiveness. During our two previous confrontations, I made several disparaging remarks about you and your bloodline.”

He dropped to one knee again and lowered his head while crossing his right forearm across his chest. The sudden action almost made Laurence spring backwards from his spot. Despite successfully defeating Anubis in combat, he knew he had only survived by a hair. The several thousand-year-old Annunaki god warrior would always be intimidating to him.

“I humbly retract those remarks and seek your forgiveness.”

“Brah,” Laurence held up his hands. “We had a disagreement … we went to blows …I got to travel across the universe and am on my third planet, where I got to meet family I never knew I had and am now under the most beautiful starry sky I have ever seen. As far as I’m concerned we’re good.”