Eye of Ra (32 page)

“Beryihun did not display the aggressive traits of his father and previous relatives,” interjected Sol.

“So from generation to generation,” his father continued. “Our family has kept the staff safe, waiting for one who was worthy, waiting for you.”

“So that night I took Sol,” Laurence began to piece events together.

“I commanded him to do what I could no longer do should he ever come into your possession,” Mr. Danjuma confessed, “never to leave your side and to protect you at all costs.”

“That’s crazy,” Laurence shook his head in disbelief. “All of those hands that Sol passed through, and no one took the power for themselves? Not even you?”

“First of all to say that no one used any of the power of Ra would be an exaggeration,” Mr. Danjuma chuckled. “Our family owes our survival and protection over the centuries to both God and Sol here. What everyone relinquished and protected was the
full
power of Amun-Ra, which you now possess. You may call it crazy. I call it faith. Our people knew that such a power was a great responsibility.”

 His father placed a hand at the center of Laurence’s chest.

“It needed someone who could retain their human heart, their humanity. Not to see themselves as a man or woman turned god, who could rule the world, but as a person given a gift to help save it. You … have that heart.”

In that moment, the mixture of his father’s touch and words, bowed Laurence’s head as his shoulders slumped forward. Tears rained down again as he remembered the person he used to be before Sol came into his life.

“All this time … you knew. Why didn’t you tell me dada? Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I wanted to my boy,” his father’s voice cracked. “So many times I wanted to tell you, show you. But the day I came to the hospital to see you after you were injured, I saw that it wasn’t just your body that was broken …your spirit was broken too, and neither I nor Sol could fix that.

Coach Patterson had broken my boy, and I did not know how to fix you.

That hurt me more …than watching you on that poison.

And then one night, I dreamt of all the times I sat you in my lap and told you heroic stories and how your eyes just lit up.

When I awoke, it came to me that the only way to save you …was to give you your own adventure …one that could not be influenced by me or anyone else. In order for your spirit to be reforged you had to make all of the decisions of your own free will in order to take back your life.”

“I hurt so many people, that’s why I stayed away for so long.” Laurence cried, “I hurt you so badly dada.”

“And what of the pain and hurt you had to endure?” His father raised his head. “What of the bright young man with the big smile who stayed the straight and narrow, before the injury and poison? I never forgot about that young man.

Just because we fall, does not mean we cannot rise again.

And my son has risen, more powerful than ever. And I shall praise God till the end of my days for blessing me to see this wonderful day.”

“Rosemary …” Laurence sobbed, still remembering her after all these years.

“Was properly laid to rest at Green-Wood cemetery,” Mr. Danjuma reassured him. “I saw to it personally.”

A smile returned to Laurence’s face at the realization that his father had always been there looking out for him, protecting him, even when he did not want it. He had kept his promise to his mother after all.

“Come,” his father placed a hand on his back. “We have much to catch up on. The world has drastically changed since your absence.”

“I know,” he answered wiping his eyes. “That’s also why I came back …I think I have an idea what caused all this.”

A superhuman in a white and blue bodysuit streaked across the sky via the power of photonic emission. Laurence narrowed his eyes, neither shocked nor impressed by the sight. The world had changed in his absence. He instead headed into his father’s house with Mr. Pips following behind, where they would catch up trading stories and adventures big and small.  

Laurence Danjuma was finally home again.

EPILOGUE

Present day.

Twenty miles from Luxor, Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.

A valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom.

These tombs began to be robbed within one hundred years of being sealed, including the tomb of the famous King Tutankhamen, which was raided at least twice before it was discovered in 1922. Oftentimes, the Pharaohs would leave warnings in the tombs of calamities and curses that would be laid upon any who touched the treasure or the bodies, which did little to deter grave robbers.

On this particular day, three grave robbers were on the hunt to find anything of value to sell. This would prove to be extremely difficult considering that the majority of artifacts from these tombs were already stolen or in museums. One of the trio brought his partners further out from the pilfered valley to try their luck at finding treasures elsewhere.

“Why the hell are we back in the Valley of the Kings again?” One of the robbers named Panhesy asked while cutting his eyes.

“Yeah cousin,” the tallest of the trio named Sehetepibre scowled. “Everyone knows this area has been picked dry for years. The only thing you’re lucky to find these days are some broken clay pots and some rusted weapons.”

“First of all you idiots, we are not in the valley. The valley is twenty miles that way. And I you told you two this is where I discovered the fortune of fortunes,” the third and self-proclaimed leader who went by the name Zezemonekh threw up his hands with excitement. “I have found us a tomb of an actual Pharaoh!”

“Which Pharaoh’s tomb?” Sehetepibre smacked his lips.

“How the fuck should I know?”

“Then how do you know it was a Pharaoh’s tomb?” Panhesy folded his arms.

“After all these years, you don’t think I know what a damn Pharaoh’s tomb looks like?” He glared at him.

“So how did you happen upon this ‘Pharaoh’s tomb’?” Sehetepibre dryly asked.

“Last night I happened to be doing some light digging ...”

“You went hunting without us,” Panhesy cut him off with a displeased look.

“Not hunting, light digging around here,” he reiterated while his eyes shifted. “I started to travel further away from the valley hoping to find some stuff with my new metal detector, when I found it! Well it literally found me!”

“What found you?” Sehetepibre narrowed his eyes.

“This, you idiots!” He motioned behind him. “This sinkhole!”

“You fell into that sinkhole and lived?” Sehetepibre snorted is disbelief.

“The ground went out from underneath me at a slant, and I started to slide down!” He began to explain. “I ended up sliding all the way to the bottom a good sixty feet or so, where there is a sealed stone entrance at the bottom!”

“And you believe this ‘entrance’ belongs to a Pharaoh’s tomb?” Panhesy scoffed.

“Do either of you know how many dynasties there were in ancient Egypt?” He folded his arms.

“At least thirty-four,” they said in unison glaring at him.

“Yeah …right,” he stuttered with irritation. “A lot of tombs still have not been found to this day. And some Pharaohs were not even buried within the Valley of the Kings. Now my gut feeling is telling me that down there is one of those tombs!”

“I’m curious cousin,” Sehetepibre looked down digging dirt from under his fingernails. “If you had remembered to bring dynamite and your truck had a power winch like mine, would we even be here?”

“Do you really want to have this conversation now,” he shot him a dirty look. “Or do you want to follow me down there and see if there is anything of worth before a bigger crew with more guns than us drives this way and finds out what we’re up to?”

Sehetepibre’s Teflon demeanor deflected his cousin’s nasty glare as he turned to Panhesy, who agreed that they should get to work.

As described by Zezemonekh, the sinkhole was at a slant, and one could slide down to the entrance. It was difficult to climb back up, but not impossible. Lowering a rope down made the task easier both ways, though it still took longer than most tombs to reach the bottom. Panhesy commented on how the way down was perfectly carved out all the way to the bottom.

The circular stone slab covering the entrance of the ancient crypt had no markings on it to tell who resided within the tomb. This did not deter the trio as they carefully connected explosives to different parts of the stone. Hurrying back up to the safety of the trucks, they remote detonated the dynamite and prayed that the blast did not cause the entire entrance to give way and reseal.

Once they ensured that the entrance was completely stable after the blast, they ventured down once more with flashlights and gear, where they found the stone slab obliterated allowing them entrance into the tomb.

Their feelings when entering were mixed, mainly because the entire room was bare from top to bottom except for one large golden sarcophagus with silver hieroglyphics wrapped around it lying in the middle by itself.

A fortune-driven Zezemonekh took the lead walking over to it, as a cautious Sehetepibre and a superstitious Panhesy took their time. The casket was nothing that either of them had ever seen before. Aside from some sand that covered it, the metal did not appear aged by time the way gold usually did after sitting for thousands of years without care. It shined brightly, as though someone had been polishing it regularly. Panhesy noticed that the large embedded gems in the sarcophagus seemed to pulsate with a faint glow, as if powered by some kind of energy.

The body of the casket was shaped to resemble a human, while it bore the head of a falcon. Panhesy, being the most jittery of the trio, swallowed as a bad feeling crept over him. 

“Well this is the sorriest excuse for a Pharaoh’s tomb I’ve ever seen,” Sehetepibre looked around disappointed. “People must have really hated this guy.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Zezemonekh salivated. “Look at this sarcophagus! It will catch us a couple million easy, maybe even more!”

Panhesy’s heartbeat increased as he drew closer and saw the symbol of a familiar eye on the chest of the casket.

“I don’t think this is the tomb of a Pharaoh,” Panhesy swallowed. “That is the symbol for Horus.”

“Is it?” Sehetepibre narrowed his eyes looking closer.

“Horus …the god?” Zezemonekh screwed up his face in disbelief.

“Pharaoh or god makes no difference to me,” Sehetepibre shrugged. “Help me get it open.”

“Hold on,” Panhesy held up a hand halting his friends. “Did any of you just hear what I just said? This may be the tomb of Horus, god of the sky, war, hunting, and kingship! Which means we’re about to crack open the sarcophagus of an actual god!”

Both of his friends stared back at him with a dull look.

“Really Panhesy,” Zezemonekh smacked his dry mouth. “You really think after all the years of grave robbing we’ve done, and all of the ‘curses and warnings’ we’ve seen and survived with
nothing
happening to us, that now we’ve stumbled upon the tomb of an actual Egyptian god? So what, you’re afraid if we open it we’re going to awaken him and he’ll just kill us all?”

Sehetepibre made mummy moans as he stiffened up and playfully lunged at an irritated Panhesy, who smacked him away for attempting to grab him.

“You seem to forget we now live in a world where people are like the gods themselves! They fly, lift tanks, and fire all types of things from their hands or where ever to blow shit up!” Panhesy pointed a finger at his friend. “Don’t you think it is really odd that after all of these years no one has stumbled upon this particular tomb? Not only was it well hidden, but look how far we had to travel down to get here? No other Pharaoh’s tomb is this deep underground!”

Sehetepibre reluctantly nodded with him in agreement.

“He does have a point Zezemonekh, plus I have to admit I’ve never seen a sarcophagus like this before. It looks like it barely has any age to it,” he said as he looked around. “Not to mention, don’t you think it’s kind of odd that there are no other treasures here, not even other corpses of servants?”

“What are you trying to say Sehetepibre?” Zezemonekh glared at his cousin who appeared to be no longer on his side.

“I’m saying I have a bad feeling. I don’t want to be a damn cliché from a stupid American archaeological movie,” he snapped at Zezemonekh. “Look around you man, this doesn’t feel like a tomb. As crazy as this may sound, my gut tells me this feels more like a prison.”

“Now you two look here,” Zezemonekh raised his voice pointing a finger. “Sehetepibre you are my second cousin, and Panhesy we have been friends since we were little boys even after you were teased for throwing up and shitting yourself from eating too much Umm Ali!”

“Really bro, you had to bring that up?” Panhesy scowled at him.

“I’m saying this is the job of all jobs for us!” Zezemonekh howled. “We sell this thing and we can make it rain for eternity!”

“Dude, no one says ‘make it rain’ anymore,” Sehetepibre rolled his eyes. “Unless you’re in a strip club.”