Chapter 2: Rekindling the Past, Part 3

By Jen M. aka Kalia

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The sun was starting to hang low in the sky. The pyramids, just a few yards away cast darkening shadows upon the yellow sands of Gizeh, giving an enlightening coolness to the area. Tourgroups had long since dispersed, leaving the place relatively deserted, with the exception of homads and fellahins walking around with their stock and camels.

Ja-kal watched this sun unlike any other could. With the setting of the sun, and so he was told, would come the end of whatever magic had brought them back, and their memories would become closed off to what they had a right to know. With a deep sigh he turned around to the others. " Ra is setting. There is not much time left."

" I've got a bad feeling about this." Nefer-tina sympathized. With the darkness very silently closing in on them she wrapped her red pullover around her so much tighter, the baseball cap still backwards on her head.

Rath shook his head grimly. If the others didn't approach soon, there would be no telling what would happen. If they could even find their meeting spot for that matter. " The longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to remember them." He announced, putting the many thought he had into but a few simple words. " And if they don't get here... than we have no choice but to forget them."

" We can't!" Lyris exclaimed with a sudden twinge of panic. " We can't forget them! We just can't leave them here..."

" And how will we know that?" He asked her sternly, breaking off her train of thought. " The sun may set, and we might not even remember who we are... do you even know who we're waiting for?"

The muse looked at him in amazement. " Of course I do, we're waiting for the other guardians... um... I..."

Nefer-tina shook her head, yet still tried to keep a positive attitude. " Gees, are we waiting for destiny, or are we waiting for an execution? Buck up everyone! Whatever's going to happen will happen. And I know that they'll get here on time, you'll see."

" How do you know?"

" I just do." She stated right down to the point and turned away from everyone. Simply saying... this conversasion's over, leave me alone, last word, last opinion. Yet, though her words were strong, the guardian couldn't help but feel a small twinge of pain for what was going to become reality very soon. How could they possibly continue on while they knew that the rest of them were off wandering the world somewhere, without memory of who they are and what their past was.

Ja-kal kept his gaze on the sun, the now bright yellow dimming to a faded orange, then pink, then purple. Off in the distance the faint glint of a star caught their eyes as they began to pertrude from the heavens above. He was not as optimistic as Nefer-tina had been. How could he? After all, he was their leader, he was in charge of them. If something were to unfortunately happen... he couldn't let it escape his mind.

" Is this right?" Suddenly, a different voice cut through the near silence of the four guardians sitting in silent repose. They all looked around to who could have said it, but each of them seemed just as puzzled as the last.

" I don't think this's the correct place." Another voice stated flatly, showing concern and regret. Nefer-tina, being turned away from the group looked all around where she was, unable to find the holder of the voices they'd heard. " There's nothing here." It began again.

Lyris, after scanning the small clearing made out by the Sphinx's long legs cocked her head and looked to the leader. " Who is that?" She asked in wonderment. " I hear voices, but there's no one around to make them."

" It could be the wind, some say the wind holds strange tales not meant for the ears of man." Rath told her, cutting off Ja-kal just as he was about to speak. They listened for a few more seconds, the voices growing either louder... or closer to them. The scribe crossed his arms and shook his head. " Then again, I've never heard of the wind ever using the word 'awsome'."

The hawk guardian stood straight up with realization, then without another word began to walk away from his station. The muse watched him as he left, now more confused than ever. She stood up from the rock slab she'd been sitting on, and began to follow him. Rath watched them both, and then with a sigh of disapproaval decided to join in on the group. Nefer-tina was already to her feet by the time Ja-kal was coming up to her, and waited for him to pass before following, walking urgently beside Lyris.

Ja-kal walked all the way to the end of the statue's paw, then made a sharp turn to the left, and headed off that way. He rounded the last part of the paw, and saw the eternal sands of Gizeh staring back at him. But they were not alone. The voices did in fact have others attached to them.

Knowing that there were others out there besides themselves, the two strangers glanced around and met the guardians halfway. The first one was a dark man, very large in built but had a pleasant face. The other didn't look compatible to him at all, she was as well dark, but looked more professional with a type of prying expression. When the two saw them walking towards them, they put their guards up.

Nefer-tina wracked her brain on who that could be. She knew, she knew she knew but couldn't recall from where. It was going to drive her nuts of she didn't figure out the answer soon.

" Uh, hi." The man finally announced to Ja-kal, the closest to them. He seemed to be caring enough, but not knowing what they were really doing there he had to be careful. " We're just... browsing."

Lyris stepped forward, nodded and gave them one of her trademark smiles. " For what? It is getting quite dark. If you're in a hurry, maybe we could help." After this statement she heard a stuttered 'ahem' from Rath, and she looked back to him. " What? We could." She explained in a loud whisper.

The dark lady shook her head to tell them that they didn't need helping. " That's generous of you, but I believe you couldn't help us in what we want to know. So right now it would be best if we could be alone. Thank you."

" Just a sec!" Nefer-tina interjected, holding her hand out for them to wait as she rushed forward in front of Ja-kal. The charioteer was squarely inbetween the guardians and the new strangers by the Sphinx. Cautiously she watched them with intent. Searching her mind, she could find no trace of ever meeting them before... but that was to be expected at a time like this. " We're... we were trying to find something too," She began as she looked back over her shoulder to see if anyone was disapproaving of her tactic. Ja-kal's face was almost expressionless, behind him Lyris nodded slightly for her to continue. Rath just watched her cautiously, interested in what she was trying to do, but also weary of the consequences.

" Looking for what?" The man asked, intrigued. The woman flashed him a quick look, and then trailed back to the guardian.

" Well, at first we weren't sure." She started with them. " All we knew was that we were suppose to come to the Sphinx, messages on walls and posters told us to come to Gizeh.... maybe you're here for the same reason we are."

The dark woman took a step forward and crossed her arms, scanning Nefer-tina up and down intently, as well as being a little prying. The charioteer shifted uncomfortably, not liking being on display for a perfect sttranger. " And, what would that be?" She asked curiously.

Ja-kal didn't like the way that question was phrased, it was more suspicious than curious as to their acts. Before Nefer-tina had a chance to answer that he stepped in and held a hand out to her to keep her distance. For obvious reasons of course, the guardians didn't know who they were, if anything they could have been some of Scarab's lackies, or worse... " Maybe if you told us of what you are doing here." He stated bluntly, eager to get their plan out of the spotlight.

This was going nowhere fast. Both sides refused to talk of anything that they knew, besides the obvious that they were there, in Gizeh, for something. It was a matter of finding out what the something was before they could get underway. The two strangers shook their heads to this, knowing not to give their secret out. Despite Nefer-tina's pleading expression to try and get through to them the leader disagreed, and told her not to speak so privately of them.

" It's like taking a walk on a turning wheel, nothing's moving and we're not getting anywhere!" Lyris exclaimed softly, out of earshot from everyone else now in some form of showdown next to the Sphinx's foot.

" It has to be done." Rath told her in the same form of voice. " If this is some sort of test to find us defenseless than who knows what we might have to face." Though not fully reassured by this, the muse simply sighed and continued watching.

The cat guardian pulled Ja-kal's shoulder and asked him to turn away from their guests for a moment. The leader, knowing full well not to turn his back on anyone suspicious agreed finally, but was still weary of what was going on behind him. She took him back a little ways, so that others could not hear. " They could be the others." Nefer-tina told him in a loud whisper. " They could be here trying to find us, but they wouldn't know because we won't tell them!"

" And if they are not the others, then what Nefer-tina?" He asked back, just as sure of himself. " Then if you tell them about us our cover is completely blown, out identities are shot and we may never find out what happened at the docks last night."

She felt as though she were about to burst. " Can't we take that chance?!" She suddenly blurted out, this time everyone was able to hear them. The strangers watched them cautiously, not very appreciative of the raising of voices. Rath and Lyris exchanged unusual glanced before watching what Ja-kal was going to decide.

" We are not in a position to take chances... if it hasn't become clear to you yet it is us that are with the problems Nefer-tina. We are still puzzled by this world and forces beyond that, and because we have an upheld duty to perform we cannot afford to fail it."

" Perhaps if we just..." Lyris started to say again, than suddenly before she could even take a step forward the sky began to cloud over around the atmosphere of the Sphinx. The once clear night air was turned into something of pure blackness, hiding the picture-perfect sunset in a cloud of dark. Thunder rolled overtop of them, lightening cracked down upon the tops of the pyramids in crashing waves of luminescent roaring. The six covered their eyes at a light, instantly observed overhead, then reeled back from it. It was a heat, a vast, incredible heat that they could not escape, it was all consuming. Each one had a blast of it, and with it the horrid memories returned to them. Because of this all of the guardians were forced to the ground in excrusiating pain, shouting and hollering to make the sights go away. The light broadened, it was so light now that the view of the sun would have been a shadow compared to it.

The sun on the horizon, covered by the clouds, set behind the ancient Egyptian desert sands. The light exploded, and the six guardians of Rapses disappeared.

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" Arise!" Came a booming voice that tremored the very earth that they lay upon. " Arise, Guardians and protectors of the ancient ways!"

With a loud groan, Armon raised his head to look around at where they were. Everything was fuzzy with his blurred vision, but they all came back once he gathered his thoughts together and gazed upon their surroundings. Everything was cast in an eerie darkness, but with the help of a dim light overhead he could see blocks, old clay bricks, boulders and rock, forming a small, square room with blackened sand as the floor. When the warrior shifted position on his back and actually sat up, he could see five other still forms waiting beside him, each one looking unconsious in the stone silence of the room.

Another sigh escaped another member of the crowd, and very much groggy, Nefer-tina pulled her arm off from around her eyes and looked to the tall ceiling. " I feel like I was just run over by a car." She announced to anyone willing to listen.

" Now you know how pedestrians feel on the streets when you drive the HotRa." Rath suddenly spoke up, he too regaining composition and making it up to a sitting position before having to stop to keep the room from going out of control.

" Haha... ow." She tried to humor him, but couldn't as she grasped her head for support of a massive headache.

Kalia rolled over on her other side and met up with one of the cool bricks by the wall. " Will you two keep it down? Some of us are trying to sleep."

" Arise!" Came the extreme eruption from before. At this, the four sat up almost immediately and exchanged concerned expressions towards this. Lyris and Ja-kal, at the other side of the room awoke, and the muse, still lying on her stomach, yawned.

" What... was that?" Armon asked them all, hoping for an answer, but if none came forth he was willing to get up and find out.

" And if you say it was the wind, I will hurt you." Nefer-tina reminded the scribe, taking the first crack and getting to a standing position. The charioteer's hand slid along the rough wall as she kept her balance by it, then very slowly, started to climb up to her feet. It was hard, far more difficult than she would have imagined since before if this had happened she wasn't prone to bruises and broken bones. At long last she stood up fully, yet still heavily supported by the stone wall, and looked around at everything. " Where are we?"

The room was not just a room, it was more like a palace, shrunken down to the size of dwarfs. It's tall walls shot up from the floor and into nothing but black- if it was up to the seeker than it might have been argued that it had no ceiling at all. The room was set up so that it was in the shape of a hexagon, a six-sided object, at each corner the guardians were stationed. In the center there was a structure that appeared to be that of a dried-up water fountain, with cracks along the old mud scupturing and the eternal symbol of the ankh standing out in the very center to conceal the missing water.

Ja-kal was able to stand up without as much difficulty as Nefer-tina, but he as well had no answers for this. Nor did he have the realization that the six of them were together again- according to his thoughts they had never left each other's sides and the strangers that they had just met were no more than two others of his guardians six.

Leaning onto the wall and inching his way up, Rath looked around at the place in an almost mezmorized state. " Well, it's..." He began, then trailed off for a time, and took a step forward. This was a risky task, but he was able to stay standing and instead walking became easier as he approached the sculpture in the middle of the room. " It could be a burial chamber... though I highly doubt it." He contradicted himself, and examined the ankh podium with extreme accuracy. " It's more likely that this is a shrine, because of the symbol of eternal life... but by closer inspection, if it was, than it's followers have certainly let the architecture go."

Kalia, still ina foul mood and a pounding headache, sore all over was not in the mood for this. " And you thought of this all by yourself, did you?" She asked in agitation, but never bothered to move from her spot. " Alright, if it's a shrine, than what's it a shrine for?"

The scribe sighed at the idea, then bent down to look the sculpture over. It was very much ancient, that could be told by the weathering and the musky smell in the air. Finally he found a small spot on it and sure enough, hieroglyphics slithered their way around this area for the adventure-seeker to discover. " If you would give me a moment, I could find out... yes, here it is." As he read his voice grew louder so that all could hear it. " Like the six corners to every life, there are six balances that must be maintained. Those of trust, honesty, loyalty, spirit, power and death. All of these joined together form the balance of the seventh and final essence of being, and that is Life."

" The Ankh." Lyris spoke to herself quietly, shooting a concerned glance to Ja-kal. He returned it before glancing back to Rath.

" What else does it say?" He asked expectantly.

" It doesn't." The scribe pointed out, looking everything over once more, but turning up empty-handed. " That's all it says, it just ends."

Kalia thought this over and over in her head. " So, if the ankh is the last point in this room, and it symbolizes life... than it would only make common sense that the other six corners here represent the six other balances."

" And like the ankh, the six things in the corners mean one of those words." Nefer-tina advanced them all with a warning. " Which means that one of us represents trust, and power, and... what were the other ones?"

" Honesty, loyalty, spirit and death." Rath read out loud again, yet was absent as he still panned on over the structure for any other clues.

Armon shuddered at this. " I understand everything else," He told them, then confessed, " But I don't know how someone could represent death. We've seen enough of it. Heck, we've been through it at least once."

" This riddle is vast and mysterious." Lyris said. " It could mean a number of things. Perhaps we are not suppose to represent these balances, but to keep everything in order, we each must carry one of these out... you know, as if to set an example for the others."

" I really, really don't like the sound of that." Nefer-tina told her, but before she could say anymore, rath interrupted her again.

" There's something else here." He announced to all, which brought a type of silence over them that was a little too eerie for comfort. There on the other side of the sculpture, there was another form of hieroglyphics, a newer form that was an imitation of the old one, but just as easy to understand. " It looks as though this saying was added later... very later. The other writing was used up until the twenty-third dynasty... this one didn't come into flurition until the nineteenth."

" What does it say? Perhaps it will give us an insight into what these balances mean." The leader spoke carefully.

Rath looked this over for a moment, then shook his head. " No, it's not a clue, it isn't phrased as one." At a closer inspection, his eyes widened and seemed to be almost non-believing. " It's like a spell... Behold all here, the six balances are aligned, now the seventh, giver of life will appear. Ready all for the approach of....." He trailed off again, then shook his head in complete amazement. " Ra."

" Ra?" Nefer-tina repeated. " You mean RA Ra? As in the sun God Ra?"

" No, as in the guy named Ra that works at the grocery store." Kalia snapped back. The charioteer shot her a frustrated glare, only didn't say anymore after that. She mearly crossed her arms and turned away.

Ja-kal walked away from his spot next to the wall and joined the scribe by the inscription. Both looked it over once more, then turned to one another. " This must be part of a Temple of Ra, no other place would have such a saying, nor grant that He himself would come and visit his followers." He tried to reason.

Lyris, as well was able to gain her full balance and trotted across the hard cobble floor to join them and attempt to spell it out herself. " I've never heard of a Temple that even said that." She pointed out quietly. " Temples are to honor Gods, not to be used like a stage at a carnival show."

" Then why?!" Rath suddenly snapped, drawing away from the monument in anoyance.

Just then, there was a loud crack up above all of their heads. The once dark room suddenly began to change as instantly small bouts of light sprung out of the ground in each corner. Blue, red, green, purple, pink and turquoise exploded from the floor with amazing illumination which shook the ground that they stood on. Before any of them could get a good enough foothold upon the ground, each felt something as terrifying as suffication. Ja-kal, Rath and Lyris, beside the structure were suddenly pulled away by some unknown force, back to the corners they had just been by. The six guardians were shoved against the walls with great force, unable to move. Nefer-tina tried to cry out to them, but couldn't, for as she did so her voice was ripped away from her and she could not bring herself to speak. Ja-kal pushed against the wall with all of his might to free himself, but there was no point in fighting it. Rath, however, saw this and stood poised as the light pushed him further, harder into the black stones. Kalia shifted around quickly, and shielded her eyes from the magma-like ground suddenly turned into a light so bright it was painful, even with eyes closed.

The lights quickly fleeted as fast as they had come. The six stood there unable to move for a moment as each searched with their eyes frantically to make certain that all was well before any dared to even breathe.

" This is no temple." Armon finally announced to them all as he held a hand against the wall to try and pull himself away.

" It's almost like a... like a," Rath began to try and explain what had just happened. This was unusual, even for him. There should have been nothing in the world that could have been able to do that to them. White and black magic alike, there was someone... or something so powerful there that it left him with a backdraft of such immense feeling that it made his head ache.

The charioteer seemed to be panting, aware that such a thing had happened to them, but could not believe it. " Like... a trap." She stated bluntly afterwards.

The instant she spoke those words there came a type of screeching behind them. No, it was... it was all around them. Each took a deep intrest in this, stopped and listened. It was as if the earth was splitting open, the sound wasn't loud, yet so deep it penetrated their souls and made a few shudder. Suddenly, the light that had been around them was back again, but not underneath their feet. Each corner of the room, leading up into the blackness shone brightly like a lazer in one of the six colors. For a split second the room looked like a cheap neon lamp left on, but this was not to last. The walls shifted behind them all and started to move away. Kalia was still leaning against hers, so when it moved she cried out and tried to run away, but couldn't, because the same power that was causing the room to shift had also made it impossible to walk- their feet were secured onto the floor.

" Oh Gods, what's going on?!" She exclaimed loudly, frantically watching everything as it started to move.

No one had an answer for that, all the could do was stand there and watch. Stand there and watch as the six walls suddenly parted away from the floor into a deep darkess, as if the ground itself was suspended into thin air. The statue in the center of them, once silent and dark, burst open. Overtop of them, light poured from it, speeding towards the sky like a rocket, while it was doing this spilling what looked like water droplets made of pure light down on them. When one came close enough, Armon tried to bat it away, but it exploded into nothing but bright yellow sparkles and fell upon him. Curious, he watched it, flicked at it, but it wouldn't leave until it was ready, and faded away soon enough. Balls of this great light bounced upon the ground, causing bright cracks to form leading up to the statue.

" Oh maaan!" Nefer-tina suddenly screamed, as what she felt as the ground felt to be falling away. But it never did. Instead, the floor below them was brought together by the light, and just as quickly released, breaking apart the cobble and letting the six now equal parts of it drift off onto thin air. There were now no longer six corners, but six diamond-shaped pieces of rock floating close to each other, each with a guardian poised securely upon it.

The light that flew up into the sky was going to a great length, farther than anyone would have ever thought possible. A star shone up above their heads and lit up the place around them, showing the team that they were not in an enclosed space, but much greater than that. They were in the heavens, far above anything that ever existed to them. Clouds swirled down below them, pouring thunder and lightening. Somehow, this existance was as if the very essence of light had been born from it.

They all waited in an eerie silence, one that would have made other, more deaf ears go mad with such expectation. Ja-kal, always the most cautious, slowly let his eyes trail around them, able to see the clouds, the light and neverending night sky overhead lighten with white. He had been scared before, dozens of times, and he knew that just by mear human emotion he should have been then. At any moment they could have all been dropped to their deaths to the awaiting ground below. But somehow... he was not. By watching the expressions of the others, he could tell that they were not scared either, just waiting, almost... eager.

" This, oh dear. This is... we're up here, we're flying." Kalia told herself, just loud enough so that the others could hear. " Yes, we're up in the air, and.. floating... on rock. That shouldn't be possible."

" Neither should have the ground moving or the walls falling out, but it did happen." The warrior replied to her, still with his own type of awaiting. " What I want to know right now is, are we going to be stuck like this, or is something going to happen?"

Lyris licked her lips and leaned as far over as she could. Below them, the clouds were a deep haze of navy and purple, swirling very quietly. Though there was lightening shining through, and thunder that pounded into their heads, it was not the normal lightening that she was so use to. No, it had a special type of quality... perhaps it was because she had never heard it from above before, only below. The clouds made swirls and spirals around and over, and the muse noted in her head that she had never seen anything so mystical in her life.

" Well, something has to happen." Rath appeased to the rest of them. " If we've gone this far, whoever has sought us out and brought us here would not have just stopped and left us. There must be a perfectly good explaination for this..."

" Yeah, and while you go trying to figure it out, I'm going to try and get out of here." Nefer-tina interjected strenuously, bending down and pulling at her ankles to move. They would not, even the attempt to pull her feet out of her shoes was no good. " Great... so are we rooted in here or what?!" She shouted up to the sky questionably.

" Silence!!" The booming voice commanded them all, and as practice, they all obeyed. Lyris stopped watching below them and shot her eyes straight up to the sky in uncomprehending horror. What was so loud, and so powerful as to bring them here?

The lights high over their head spread across the sky, coating it like a blanket which dissolved the stars and brought the before luminescence to shame. A white orb, so bright that they couldn't look at it, but somehow knew it was there, transended down the long line of deep light, closer and closer to the small statue. The six pieces of the ground they were all a part of slowly started to move away from each other to make room for this. " Oh...!" Kalia screeched, not being able to get away from the bright light, and so fell backwards, still with her feet secured on the ground. The ball of white flame stood upon the very tip of the fountain-like monument before slowly starting to melt away. The droplets from this huge ball fell like rain, but as they hit the clouds transformed into lightening, sending electrical sparks so high the guardians could even feel it. As more and more of the power fell away, there appeared a figure drentched in white and yellow robes, holding a staff and wearing the Ancient Egyptian crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Rath shielded his eyes just enough to see what the huge brightness was turning into, but couldn't concentrate on that. The ball was so large and so teeming with great power that he felt that just being around it, taping into his senses like a sword was going to cause him to collapse from it.

Ja-kal was the first to open his eyes up when the light fled away, and they were once again in the presense of nothing but a dim lazer-like line of yellow dew floating up to the sky. What he saw shocked even him, leader of the guardians and who had faced many of the Western Gate's greatest and most powerful Gods. Now they were in the presense of something else, something alot more overwhelming.

The form turned around in a complete circle, his bright eyes gleaming at each and every one in their own right. He saw Nefer-tina, now finally scared but willing to fight if the time came, Kalia getting up to her feet but never taking her eyes off of them, Armon appearing amazed by his figure, but to be safe with a hand up to protect him. Lyris, bearing a curious expression towards himself, not seeming afraid in his eyes. Rath, who although had been overwhelmed by his entrance, was now comprehending to what they were facing. And Ja-kal, the leader, the one he had to convince the most, standing straight and ready to defend his team. So these were the six guardians of Rapses, up close and what they were truly like. No wonder Pharaoh had been so proud.

" I come here!" He began, passing a hand out forward, jutting towards the leader. " Not for homage, nor for your praise, Guardians of Rapses. Yet, now I must ask for your utter and complete attension. Listen! Listen to Ra and understand!"

The muse's eyes grew wide and understanding. " Ra..." That was what the structure had meant. Even then the God was stationed overtop of it, slowly floating upon a capital of his own light and power.

Ja-kal's mouth could have fallen open at this. " The Great Ra... all kneel before...!" He began, trying to do what he had always been instructed to since childhood- kneel before those mightier than them. But alas, his feet stuck to the ground would not allow it.

" Do not bow before me," Ra told them, for the first time in his creation. They all seemed puzzled, but nevertheless followed his instructions. The form raised his head up high and spoke to the sky, but to them as well, unusually enough. " I have come here because the balance that we, the watchers of all beings unto the world have come to call our own, has been broken. There is chaos raging on earth this day mighty guardians, and we Gods have learned that we do not hold the destinys of our followers in the palms of our hands. Now the balance has shifted down, deeper into the pits of the Underworld and Hell, and because of it, this is what we have to look upon as the world!" His hands parted and another ball of flame rose up from it, only not nearly as bright. In it, the six could see pictures, horrid, terrible images of what was happening to the world as they waited there. In Paris, there were riots raging below the Eiffel Tower; in Chicago, hostages cringed below desks as someone dressed in black held a revolver to a man's head, and pulled the trigger; a city looking to be Tokyo was in a heat of a blazing fire while business owners and shoppers ran around in a frenzy searching for lost loved ones. And it wasn't just that, the elements were playing against them- off the coast of Newfoundland, fishermen were trying to reach the shore as huge sixty-foot waves slammed against their boats; India was suffering a huge drought, which was destroying their crops; England's Tower Bridge was in shambles after a build-up of ice had broken cables.

" But through all of this, the worst is yet to come!" Ra told them all. If he hadn't been such an authoritative figure everyone could have sworn there was fear in his voice. All of these images faded, flashed away and replaced with a city that they all knew well enough, San Francisco. There rain poured heavily into flooding drains, people walked around with umbrellas, expecting the rain, thunder and lightening poured down on them, deep flashed of light struck the earth with such force that it shuddered. Ra brought his head down lower- he could actually hear the pain as Geb was forced to endure this, and the weakness of Nut while she felt oversieges with power as this continued. Lyris watched the picture, and suddenly gasped. The swirling clouds and the blazing lightening- they were above the city even as they stood there!

" You see what the imbalance has caused... The sorcerer you know as Scarab is treating himself as a deity and has no idea what the power that he is unleashing will do to the world." He paused for a moment, to explain better. " At the last second of the last minute of the last hour of the last day in the year before the new Millenium, Scarab will gain the full ability to pull the boy prince Rapses' soul away from the one called Presley Carnavon, and become immortal. When he does this, the balance now tipped on this day will topple, and the earth will cease to exist as we know it today. It will be a full-scale Worldly Armageddon, and he will be the cause of it. Life exists together in a circle, and if that chain is broken or unleveled than it will break into shambles... this is what must be dealt with. If Scarab receives the powers of the prince's soul he will break the chain, he will break life."

All of them were silent through this. Ja-kal watched the pictures with wide and terrified eyes. This could not have been possible... yet it was, and they were there watching it. He had always figured that if Scarab gained immortality the world would never recover, but this... never had he felt so strongly into what could happen.

Ra pulled his arms apart and they fell to his side again. The bright ball exploded upon them like rain once again, and soon they were as they had once been. " Now, it is us, the great onces beyond the reaches of mortals, through the Western gate that call upon you six Guardians to prevent this. I have brought you back from oblivion for this task, given you a new chance to be whole and alive once more to see this though. But I must warn you, this is the last chance that you shall receive. You had the opportunity to return to the world after thousands of years of rest before; now, after you were all destroyed over a month ago, you shall return and fofill the prophecy that We have set."

Ja-kal thought about this, and was overwhelmed. " With all due respect, Great One..." He began, hoping that he wasn't speaking out of line. " You brought us back again to defeat Scarab, and we have been away for a month. How are we to be certain that the trade that he has used to come against us has not changed?"

" You can't." Ra told him flatly, supremely. " As a matter of fact, by the time you reach home, you will find that nothing is as you had left it. You will once more have to hone your instincts to get by. It will be much more difficult however, this time you will not be dealing with mear changes in technology, but there is dark magic praying upon the world with Scarab. One you must watch out for."

" Avaris." Lyris's eyes sharpened and the muse frowned deeply. She knew that was what Ra must have been talking about, she just knew.

" This must be attended to as quickly as possible, yet I cannot leave you here, now, in the city to fend for yourselves. You have each been given the identity of another which will soon enough be claimed as desceased and will no longer exist to others. You must take on the role of that person and return to Cairo to claim what is yours before leaving to return home."

Kalia though of this for a moment. " But..." She interrupted, almost clasping her mouth with her hands when she did so, but Ra turned her way and acknowledged her. The artist continued. " But sir, if you say that we must fight Scarab as quickly as possible, than why must we go back and take all of the time to return to San Francisco?"

" I did not say that this would be simple, but you must go back. I fear that the shock of being sent to the streets below us without preparation would send you all into shock. You must prepare, you must plot what you are to do. This is not a game Guardians." He told them sincerely.

" It never was my Lord." Rath assured him, glancing at Ja-kal as the leader was about to speak the exact same thing.

The God nodded. " Very well. You all have you memories back, you are all together once again, Now you must fight like a team in order to banish the evil and restore balance... this will not be a stale-mate, not this time. Now the stakes are much higher, the outcome more simple..." Ra waved his hands in the air to signal something. The six looked at what he was doing, and instantly they all shouted out as the ground they were on became like quicksand and started to suck them under. Drastically, Nefer-tina grappled for the nearby cobble stones- ones that were not overcome with the circle of red light. She couldn't hold on, she was going to slip on through.

" Either you all, or Scarab wins. Either the clear earth, or disaster." He finished. Watching them as they all slipped under. Armon, being the heaviest, was unable to keep himself held up, and he was barely able to get a shout out before he was pulled all the way under. The rock turned pure once again and shattered in a hale of sand. Ja-kal was the next to go down, doing the same as Nefer-tina and reaching out, but finally accepted his fate and went under without a fight. Then Rath disappeared, as did kalia, then Nefer-tina, and Lyris went under last, taking a deep breath before she was sucked down into the spiraling aqua sands below her, and out of sight.

Minutes after they disappeared, the bright light all around faded, and once again the night sky was clear. Dawn touched the horizon very far in the distance, but it would be unknown to the inhabitants of the city. It had been dark there ever since Rapses had been claimed.

Ra wavered in the atmosphere, caught on the wind only momentarily before the great ball of light exploded from him again, breaking the barriers of light in the sky and vanishing just as quickly with no trace of ever being there. Below, the clouds swirled and lightening cracked down upon the buildings, such as it had for so long.

He had done all he could. Without messing in the affairs of humans, he had attempted to set things right. Now it was up to the Guardians to fofill the prophecy, without the help of the Gods. For they were helpless.

*

********************************************* *

" Hey... hey..." Armon nudged her shoulder carefully to inch her to awaken. He looked behind him at everyone assembling in the lobby, waiting for them to hurry up.

Lyris twitched, wanting so much to go back to sleep. It had been so long since she could fall into slumber dreaming of touching and feeling the wind, she feared that by waking it would all disappear. But she was too close to rising, so finally her eyes fluttered open, and she yawned. " Hmmm... what?" She asked, dazed.

" We're going, the plane's ready and they're loading us up." He told her proudly, with a hint of being tired in his own right. After finding themselves once against back in Egypt, it had taken five hours to finally return to homes, apartment buildings and hotels to find all of their "predescesors" materials, and bring it to the airport. With such tight timing, they had barely made it on a plane to Paris, but they had- first class no less. Perhaps that was another small help from their parton Gods.

The muse stood up and stretched, then slowly followed Armon to the spot where the four others were waiting for them. Each was wearing a different change of clothes, after finding it too difficult to continue wearing the ones they were.

" ... yeah, well at least you had somewhere to go back to." Nefer-tina told Kalia as she pulled on a light mauve pullover overtop of a green t-shirt and white dress-pants. " Wherever this gal lived was burnt to the ground."

The artist grinned as she put her compact away. " Aw, don't worry. You have friends here you can mooch off of." She teased, now wearing a lacey spagetti-strapped yellow sundress. Nefer-tina rolled her eyes playfully and chuckled to herself. " Oh hey, it's about time!" Kalia announced cheerily as Lyris walked up with Armon. " They just called the flight, we should be leaving soon."

" That's great," The muse announced, still half asleep, and picked up her small shoulder-bag. She was now wearing a plain, pretty simple ensemble with a pair of jean shorts and a green tanktop whic seemed a little too short (As a matter of fact, most of her tops in the bag seemed too short, but she wasn't complaining).

Armon laughed. " And you sound so thrilled about it too." He was wearing something different, yet the same in it's own right. Just another type of jersey and a different color pants for getting on the plane.

Ja-kal and Rath seemed a little too eager to be getting on, for they were already at the gate handing the lady their tickets before she would let them go. The leader was wearing another pair of jeans and a red-collared shirt, finding them the only few actual clothes this person had that were to his liking. Rath had on dark green pants with a regular white collared shirt, for the time being sending out his same response as the day before- who would bring suits to the desert? Whoever this person had been, he was conservative until it hurt.

" Thank you, and have a pleasant flight." The young woman told Ja-kal with a smile and broken English. She handed his ticket jacket back to him then turned to the scribe as he was the next in like. The leader looked through the long hallway they had to walk down to get to their plane. They said it was going to be a two-hour flight. Not much time to plan what they were going to do about Scarab.

After the others had gotten through without a fuss either, all six of Rapses Guardians walked down the hall, large, clear glass windows on either side showing off the colorful city of Cairo and sand dunes beyond that even. " It was nice to return to Egypt," Kalia announced bluntly. " But I don't think I would like to live here in this age."

" Give me Sisco anyday." Armon agreed with her whole-heartidly, then thought about it. " Well... without the pouring rain and threat of deadly evils, it was a nice place."

" It is a 'nice place', we just have to return the prince from Scarab," Rath told him from the front, never bothering to look behind him to talk. " Remember what Ra said, we must defeat the sorcerer in order to bring balance back to the earth."

Nefer-tina had a funny feeling in her stomach. " I don't like the sound of that, this is going to be difficult."

" Not so difficult," The artist interjected. " We have fought against Scarab several times before in the past, this will just be a little more... higher in the ranks."

" But we've never actually "Beat" him." The charioteer announced gloomily, causing everyone else to stop and look at her. " We've only had him on a stale-mate. We've saved the prince, but we've never fully defeated him. By what Ra said, we must destroy Scarab. THAT we certainly have never done before."

Ja-kal weighed this in his head. " That does not mean that it cannot be accomplished." He told everyone in a rather cold manner, turned on his heels and once more walked the rest of the hallway length to where the plane was boarding at that moment.

As he went by, Nefer-tina crossed her arms and huffed at the way he's just spoken to them. " Gees... you think coming back to life again would have loosened him up some, but no..."

Kalia giggled, and pulled on her arm. " This is Ja-kal, that you're speaking of. You remember that, don't you? C'mon, let's hurry up and get on before we have to spend another night in this god-forsaken airport. It's worse enough that we had to sleep in those stuffy chairs, but if both sets of doors close from the entrance and exit than we'll be stuck in this hallway."

" Is it a bad time to tell anyone that I'm starting to get a little hungry?" Armon asked, catching up with the two of them before they all started to talk away about what had happened, and what would soon come.

Lyris walked beside Rath and glanced up at him once while the scribe seemed to be going over matters in his head. She didn't know how he could do that, everytime she attempted it thoughts got jumbled and the muse had always figured that by going over things when they happened she remembered them alot better. At the moment he seemed transfixed on the end of the hall, but was probably a thousand miles away. " Penny for your thoughts?" She asked.

Rath stopped and looked to her. " Excuse me?"

She shrugged. " It's a saying..." Lyris searched around in her jean pocket and pulled out a small handful of change left there after the metal detector. She picked out a penny before holding it up. " Apparently by giving you a penny I get an exchange of what you're thinking. Kind of a... trade."

He still didn't seem to get this. " I doubt that whatever thoughts I have are only worth a penny."

" Maybe it worked alot better when a penny was worth more in this world." She replied sadly, and put it back in her pocket. That idea didn't stop the muse however, and just before they came to a turn in the hallway she walked ahead a little bit more. " You just seem to be off somewhere."

Rath shook his head. " No, not off. I was just pondering... do you remember what the monument Ra stood overtop of read?" He asked curiously.

" Something about everyone be prepared to face Ra," Lyris announced a little more cheerily. " Then the walls parted and he was there."

" No, I mean before that." The scribe pointed out to her. " Not the incantation, the message... there are six balances of life, honesty, spirit, loyalty, trust, power and death. The six balances represented each one of us, but we weren't sure how."

Lyris bit her bottom lip and sighed. She had forgotten about that for the time being. At that point in the past she had looked upon it and thought that they were a path that they all had to take seperately, then it was just an illusion. " I don't understand it either, but for now we shouldn't worry about that. The battle has not even started yet, I'm afraid. Despite what Ra has shown us, the war begins in San Francisco."

" Or," He spoke directly after she did. " The war has already begun, but we can't see it."

*

********************************************* *

" Please put your seatbacks in their full upright positions. In case of emergency, there is a manual in the compartment before you with emergency exits and how to file out of the plane in an orderly fashion. This is a non-stop flight to Paris, France. Please keep your seatbelts buckled until the plane has stopped climbing to it's desired altitude, and the stewardesses will serve you. Enjoy your flight." The voice over the speaker told them all. As the pilot did so the large plane was slowly moving across the landing strip to find it's take-off mark on the runway.

" And they call these things safe." The artist told Lyris nervously as she quickly ran through the manual the man had just talked about. On every page there were diagrams and photographs of plane escapes and wrecks, what to do and not to do. " We're on our way to a funeral."

The muse chuckled lightly before turning away from her window seat overlooking the sirport as they made their way past. " Kal, you aren't afraid of flying, are you?" She asked curiously.

" Of course not!" She exclaimed loudly, putting the text away and slamming the other side of the chair in front of her to keep it in it's compartment. When she did so there was clear objection from Nefer-tina, who was sitting in the seat she'd just slammed. " I just think that they shouldn't mortify us like that."

After several minutes of what seemed to be the plane going around in circles, it finally found it's runway and stopped. All of the passengers waited silently, then the engine of the massive machine sped up drastically and the scenery beyond the windows flew by. All were pressed against the backs of their seats as it started to lift off the ground, and became airborn, flying through the hot Egyptian wind.

Once the plane was straight once again, everyone unbuckled their seatbelts and the stewardesses came out with the trays to serve people drinks. Nefer-tina was still very sleepy from staying up almost all night, she she had a small pair of earphones and was listening away to fall into slumber. Small portable television sets came down and started to tell the noon news transmitted from London.

Ja-kal leaned over the seats with Lyris and Kalia in them and watched them both from overhead. " Now, we should start to plan what we should do once we reach San Francisco. The sooner we do so, the better we shall be prepared."

" Ja-kal, we've been in the air ten minutes, and it will be another twenty hours before we reach California." The muse explained to him, finally then giving the right time to yawn. " And plus we're all tired and cranky. Maybe it would be best to wait until we reach Europe to start on with such a concept. It would give us a chance to sleep." She added.

" Hmmm, yes. That is, if we can without Kalia continually shouting, 'We're all going to die!'" Rath told her ignorantly, still sitting back and watching the view of Egypt's sands as they flew on overhead and out into the Aegean Sea.

The ride was very comfy, in the end, most of them, even Ja-kal, found themselves falling asleep on it, missing out on the fineries that first-class was famous for, including the meals and the, albeit short, on-flight movie. When the leader did awake, they had another twenty minutes or so before landing at the Paris International Airport, so he sat back and glanced around at everything. " What is that?" He asked curiously to Rath sitting next to him, looking over notes that definitly were not part of the emergency manual.

" I can't seem to... here." He told him, handing him the small pad. On it very clearly were the six balances on Ra's sculpture. " These six mean something, I know it. But how they all come together is still a complete mystery."

Ja-kal looked down the list over and over again. By the way the words were labeled, it was as if any of them could have had any of these traits. " Perhaps by returning home we will have more insight into them... but seriously, if Ra wished us to know them than he would have spoken of them before we were returned."

" These words were not placed there by accident." The scribe told him, almost as a warning and in a low tone of voice so others couldn't hear. " They were there, we were suppose to read them and understand. If Ra had not wanted us to know about them than he would not have placed them there."

The leader rubbed the side of his head and yawned again. " We should... do some research once we get to Paris." He explained strenuously, handing the paper back. " We should be able to gain more insight then."

Rath raised an eye at this, it was as though no one else was taking it so seriously. They took the appearance of Ra seriously, their task seriously, but the cause was nothing without the information to back it up. " Fine." He stated flatly, dropping the notepad on the floor next to their feet, it made a rather loud clap sound that made Ja-kal nearly jump. " We'll wait."

*

********************************************* *

The plane made it's landing safely down on the runway once again, the wheels bumping along the skidded pavement before the pilot hit the breaks and the plane eased it's way back upon the land, reaching it's destination in Europe.

The image vanished finally, and Ra, standing beside his gold throne looked down upon his subjects. " Everything is prosceding according to plan." He told them all, still the same monotone in his voice. " We can no longer interfer with their lives, they are mortal now, living and breathing. We have done too much already."

Bastet raised her head. " You told them of the six balances?" She asked curiously.

" I did not tell them, they found out for themselves," He explained. " On their own. The guardians are crafty enough for that."

" True," Khnumn agreed, but with a hint of rejection. " But now they will be expecting them. Once they see the first sign appear, they will all believe. Their thoughts will be clouded with the judgement that humans give. They will be so concerned with what balance shall be theirs that they shall not see the sorcerer Scarab and their brave prince slip through their fingers."

" You do not give them credit." Thoth told him sternly. " Have you not been watching all these past few weeks? The Guardians of Rapses are not mearly pawns in a game, they act upon their own instincts. Instincts that have been long since extinguished for all other "Modern" mortals alive today."

Ra nodded. " Exactly. They know their purpose, and that purpose is to save their prince and destroy Scarab, even if it means their own lives. Such as the past has taught us."

Anubis's ear twitched and he felt a pang of something deeply hidden. It almost made him shudder. " I don't see what you are speaking of, master." He confessed. " I fear that the first sign, let alone the other five will leave much more of an impact than we think."

" On some." Anuket assured him. " But in the end their honor will forbid the Guardians from crying over spilled milk."

" Is that what you call it?" Thoth asked, suddenly annoyed by her point of phrasing.

" Whatever anyone calls it," Ra stopped them all before a huge discussion broke out and they lost what they were there to accomplish. " It shall be done, so it is written in the Guardian's destinys. That is the point of all of these meetings. They did not fofill their prophecy's before, it is their chance now."

Horus, silent up until then stood up and made his presence known. " Such pain they will all have to endure for these destinys to become reality."

" That is why the Guardians are who they are, my children." Ra acknowledged, holding his hand up once again. The ball of light shone there once more, and they could see each of the six getting off of the plane and waiting in line at the baggage pick-up.

" It is who they are. Whether they know it yet, or not."

*

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