Afekia ran from the underground chamber as fast as he could, not caring if his footsteps were heard. After what he had just seen, he didn't care what anyone did to him anymore. Afekia's tears silently trickled down his face. Mother! He thought in anguish, thinking of what he just witnessed…
"No! Please, stop it!" His mother cried. "I have a ten-year old son at home! He…"
"Shut up, woman!" A soldier harshly shouted in response. "Do you think we care about what happens to the brats of thieves and scoundrels who probably deserved this long ago?"
"Please, sir, have some mercy!" Afekia's mother shouted. Although tears streamed down her face and her voice was terrified, she still tried to retain a calm composure. "I have some trinkets at home. They are very valuable…"
The soldier savagely backhanded Afekia's mother across her face. "I am an employee of the pharaoh! He is God! Do you expect me to commit such blasphemy?"
Another soldier chuckled, before letting out a full, insane roar. His tongue drooped out of his mouth, reminding Afekia of a starved, malicious snake. "Enough of this talk!" He quickly twisted the woman's wrist behind her back, and Afekia's mother shouted in unadulterated pain. "Off you go!" He said gleefully, before pushing her towards the large pot in the center of the room.
"No!" Bit out Afekia's mother. "My son! My…" She then went limp in the soldier's hands. All the life seemed to drain out of her, and she blankly stared at the cauldron ahead. The last words Afekia heard his mother say was: "Afekia? Is that you?" before she fell into the cauldron, the most peaceful expression on her face that Afekia had ever seen. This quickly changed into pure anguish. She screamed as her skin turned brown, then sobbed as her flesh melted off of her. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Then Afekia's mother remained silent.
The last memory Afekia had of that scene was the insane laughter of the soldiers, and their unremorseful, blank eyes…