Egypt 325 BC
"Get back here!"
"Thief!" Two of the scribe's servants chased the girl across the hot sand. The girl glanced over her shoulder as she ran.
"Fair warning, I'm protected by Re." As anticipated, this did not deter either of them. They were gaining on her so she was out of options. "Ah well, can't say I didn't try." She pulled her two weapons from where they were wrapped around her cloth belt. With a small shower of sand, she skidded to a stop and turned on her pursuers. One man caught a blow to the side while the other jerked away. She backed up slowly while twirling both slungshots to show that she meant business. They were simple weapons made of rocks and twine but affective. The man who wasn't holding his bruised side pulled out a knife. She gave him a glare but he returned the stare. "Fine." She tossed both stones into the air, caught them easily, and brought them together above her head. The moment the two rocks knocked together a shower of flame and hot embers short forth from where they touched. The two men yelled and turned their faces from the explosion. When they regained their bearings and looked back, the girl was gone. All that was left were some footprints in the sand but neither servant felt like following her now.
"What a pain," Nefret grumbled as she trudged through the sand towards her hide out. She absentmindedly played with her weapons but was careful to never let the two rocks touch. Another half-hour of walking and she came to her small campsite. It wasn't much but it was a place to rest. She sat down in the shade of her crude tent and dug around in the sand. She dusted off the jug of beer she had hid there earlier and took a swig. Thirst quenched, she opened her pack. Nefret dumped the stolen goods onto the sand in front of her. "Let's see." She sorted through the objects she had grabbed from the scribe's desk. She picked up each in turn, held it close to her eye, turned it over then set it to the side. The last item, a brush, she examined in the same way before throwing it to the sand. "Ugh! Complete waste of time. Once again, I risk my life for nothing."
With a sigh, she flopped down. She folded both hands behind her head and stared up at the blue sky. She closed her eyes to rest for a moment. A moment easily turned into a few hours. A strange vibe pulled Nefret from her doze. She sat up abruptly. Sure enough a figure had just cleared a nearby sand dune and was approaching her campsite, her vibes were never wrong. Nefret didn't hesitate to grab both her weapons and get to her feet. She held them at her side without being too threatening. And she kicked some sand over the stolen goods.
"Lost or looking for something?" She called to the stranger. The man smiled and held up a chipped clay cup with painted blue decorations.
"Looking for you."
"I've never seen that before."
"You wouldn't have. This finds water, even the water inside people. It's how I tracked you from the scribe's house."
"Fine take them his things back," Nefret backed up, getting ready to bolt if he came any closer.
"I don't care about that, I just want to know why you targeted him." The man was oddly relaxed. It was unnerving. Nefret wondered if he was like her, but she pushed that thought aside for the moment.
"He was rich."
"Is that all?" The man continued to pester. Nefret decided to stall for time some more and continue backing away.
"I heard he had something special."
"Me too, that's why I'm here. But nothing in his house was it and I need to check what you stole."
"None of that junk is special," Nefret blurted out before she thought it through.
"How do you know?"
"I can recognize when something's special." The man didn't follow her as she backed away several paces.
The man surveyed her carefully. "I talked to the servants, they said you summoned fire." Nefret tightened her hold on her weapons. "Listen, I know it makes you feel powerful but these items aren't good for you. Most of them make people go insane." Now he took a step towards her.
"So you are like me," Nefret eyed him. "That cup is yours. It finds water. You must have almost died in the desert."
"I'm not sure I follow," he took a step forward and she took one back. "But some part of you must realize that using it isn't healthy."
"What are you talking about?" Nefret shook her head.
"The special item we're both looking for."
"I told you, the scribe didn't have one."
"Then how did you summon fire?" Nefret knew she should run but this was the only time she'd met someone like her, she couldn't stop herself.
"I've seen three other special items. One of them broke and these two are mine."
"Do you understand what I'm saying about them being dangerous?"
I didn't have the bracelet very long before it broke but it did feel sinister, so I yes understand. But these would never hurt me." She held up her two rocks. One was black and the other rust colored.
"I'm sorry, but they're not yours they belong to…"
"I made them!" she cut him off.
"What?" the man blinked.
"They're mine. I made them," Nefret repeated.
"I've never heard of that happening."
"My sister was dying. She needed her wound cauterized. I had everything I needed but I couldn't get a fire to start." Nefret glanced down at the two rocks she held. There was more to the story that she didn't share. Her sister told her to be calm but she had lost it at some point. She tried everything she could and it wouldn't light. Her sister passed out and she just sat there hitting these two rocks together over and over. Her hands were blistered before she came to her senses and stopped. She looked over at her sister, she knew she was dead but she hit the rocks together once more. They exploded with flame. It scared her and she didn't touch them again for over a week. "I don't know how but they became infused with me and my sister's wish." She gazed at them, even after a year they never failed to amaze her.
"They don't burn you?" the man asked.
"No, they hurt everyone else but not me." That was a lie. Nefret hoped he wouldn't call her on it. The truth was that they never burned the person or things directly touching them. That's why she could wrap them in twine to make weapons. She'd experimented before and anyone who held them when they sparked wouldn't get burned, not just her. And if she was on the receiving end of the flame when someone else used them, she would be burned. But she didn't want this stranger to touch her special items so she lied.
"That's fascinating. We know so little about how these things are made. You should come meet my coworkers."
"Really?"
"Of course, we're always looking for experts on these items and you definitely qualify." The man turned out to have a pleasant smile.
"You won't try to take these from me?"
"I won't but you might have to talk to my superiors." Nefret thought about it for a moment but only for a moment.
"I've spent a year trying to find others like me. I want to come."
"Excellent." The man walked right up to her. "My name is Kesem." He politely introduced himself.
"Nefret." She kept her face and tone calm but on the inside she was doing cartwheels.
"Now, what about this bracelet you found?"
Egypt 324 BC
"Stand down, big guy, I don't want to hurt you." Kesem held up a stalling hand to the large man that was currently trashing the market place.
"Yeah, that'll stop him," Nefret said sarcastically. She had her slungshots at the ready, now upgraded to sturdy rope rather than cheep reeds. The man turned to them and growled. His eyes flashed yellow.
"Nefret, where's the item?" Kesem sounded more panicked now that the man was staring him down.
"Looking," she scanned the man from head to toe. What didn't belong? What felt off? "The sandals!"
"Great, we're going to have to beat this guy to get them."
"He doesn't feel pain, that's going to be tricky."
"You go left I'll go right." Kesem barely got the words out before the man ran at them. He wielded a piece of the market stand he had just smashed like a club.
Kesem ducked to the right and dodged the clumsy swing. Nefret leapt forward and smashed the makeshift weapon out of his hand with one rock and clipped the side of his head with the other. She hoped a glancing blow would be enough to incapacitate without killing. They were supposed to spare the items' victims whenever possible. Apparently, her strike wasn't enough. The man didn't seem to feel anything. He just swung around and slapped her aside with a magic fueled strike. All the air was knocked out of Nefret's lungs as she was sent flying backwards. She landed hard on her back and barely missed hitting sharp debris.
Kesem tried to duck and weave again but the man body tackled him this time. Kesem struggled but the large man pushed him to the ground and grabbed his face as if to strangle him. Whether or not strangulation was the plan became a mystery as Nefret reentered the fray. She took a flying leap onto the man's back. Both her arms wrapped around his neck in a choke hold. His adrenaline addled brain barely had time to realize what she was doing and he only managed a few swats at her arms before he crumpled over unconscious. Kesem rolled out of the way to avoid having the body land on him.
"Hah! Who says girls can't fight? Take that you doubting old men. And old women, you'd be surprised by the number of female nay sayers," Nefret cheered herself as she stood up.
"Yes, again you save the day," Kesem said with only half-sarcasm. "Now give me a hand." He opened the pack he brought to get out supplies. Nefret quickly walked over to where she had landed and retrieved her two rocks before helping. Kesem used two sets of metal tongs to very carefully remove one of the sandals. Nefret unrolled the blanket woven out of purple fibers for him to set the sandal down on. When both sandals were on the blanket, Nefret flipped the end over to cover the items. They both looked away as sparks shot out of the blanket fold.
"Alright," Kesem said triumphantly as Nefret tied the blanket's ends to make a sack. "Why don't you take that back to base while I wait here and see what this victim remembers." He put the tongs back into the bag and handed it to her.
"Sounds good," Nefret put the purple sack into the bag then slung the bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you back at the house."
Egypt 223 BC
After Alexander the Great's death, all the items he collected were to be relocated to Egypt. The architects from Greece were officially in charge of the project. They had studied the design of the first storage vault for the special items and considered themselves experts on the subject. But by the end of the construction, the Egyptian architects and Nefret had all but taken over. They ended up convincing the Greeks to supervise the transport of the items from Greece while they completed the build.
Nobody could deny that Nefret had a large part in designing the Storehouse. It was her idea to use the obelisks as the mind challenge rather than the one originally planned. She convinced the designers that obelisks were a happy medium between security and people needing to get to work every day. Because, people who knew the trick could just stand the proper obelisk up without playing the puzzle. She also suggested using an artifact that would remember people for the flames of the body challenge. The artifact that made the flames would recognize anyone who passed the test once and not activate when they past it again. The blades would always move but those were easy enough to dodge. When everyone else was grumbling about how much work it would take to carve labels for each item, she suggested they just use that nearly indestructible roll of papyrus they recently confiscated.
Egypt 222 BC
Nobody truly knew what to expect when they finally powered up the Storehouse. It was much grander than the former place used to store the items. The workers whispered that the building was nearly sentient. As the power core sparked into life, Nefret felt a tug inside her head. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling so she didn't resist. With a steady pace, images began to flow past her mind's eye. She could suddenly sense every item in inventory. Their unique energy slipped into her body and hummed beneath her skin.
She must have returned the hum out loud because Kesem turned to look at her.
"Are you alright?" he asked. Nefret smiled.
"I've never felt better."
Egypt 206 BC
"Am I expected to take orders from a woman?" the new comer asked Kesem. The man didn't respond but Nefret walked straight up to him without fear.
"I don't know what it's like in your precious Greece," she began, "but here we know two things. One, that the sand that goes on for as far as the eye can see, and two that it is perfectly willing to swallow up anyone who is better not found, Man or woman." The new reagent broke under her gaze and walked away in a huff. A slightly less haughty huff then before.
"I will bury you in the desert, little boy," Kesem said with a laugh. "Not very subtle, Nefret."
"Someone needs to keep the troops in line and it certainly isn't going to be you, old man," she smiled at her friend. Kesem sat behind his desk. His face was wrinkled and his black hair had gray mixed in.
"Not all of us can be immortal I'm afraid," he said with a well worn grin.
"I doubt I'm immortal, the first of my kind aged." When they had learned of Nefret's power the men from Greece admitted that the man who had designed the first storehouse had lived an unusually long time. He also had an uncanny connection to the building. He was old and bed ridden when they began to make the move to Egypt but knew about the transfer before anyone told him about it. Apparently, he died right as the Storehouse in Egypt was turned on for the first time. The Greeks just wrote it up as a fluke and didn't think anything of it. But now that Nefret had yet to age a month in sixteen years, they wished they had studied the old man more.
"Your Storehouse is twice the size of his, Nefret. I won't be surprised if you never reach twenty-eight."
Nefret sighed and leaned against one of the pillars. She looked out over the rows of shelves, at the glowing lighting orb, at the building she could feel pulse in time with her heartbeat.
"I'm going to miss you when you die, Kesem."
"I know you will."
"That's conceited. I'm going to miss you a little less after hearing that," she joked. He smiled in return.
"I've got a few more years. And I've already survived longer than most of our coworkers."
"You never died on a mission because you were always paired with me."
"Who's conceited now?" He unrolled a scroll. "Are you allowed on field missions yet?" he changed the topic.
"No, I'm still stuck here, scaring the new comers and taking mental inventory every five minutes. They're worried the Storehouse will collapse if I die."
"Too bad, this looks like a mission you would like."
"Oh? Let me see."
"Then you'll be tempted to go."
"What the reagents don't know won't hurt them."
Egypt 30 BC
"I don't know what this will look like so try not to scream. I don't want the last thing I hear to be you idiots panicking. And if there's anything left of me, just bury me in the nearest sand dune. I'm sure the desert will take care of me. Anything else?" She looked to the regent who was very carefully placing the outside trap on the door.
"Are you really going to die, Nefret?" a young man who was a second generation regent asked. He had occasionally come with his father to work so he had known Nefret since he was a child.
"I think so," she gazed out at the endless sand. "It feels that way. And after the life I've had I trust my feelings." She noticed the faces of the regents. "Why so sad? I'm over three hundred floods old. Actually, on second thought, go ahead and be unhappy. I'm not sad about dying so you all can feel it for me." Nefret smiled. Her very first age wrinkle had appeared on her face last month. "Once I'm gone be sure to find someone else to boss you around otherwise you lot will never get anything done." All of the regents were used to her teasing and just smiled sadly.
"Case in point," she turned to the man securing the door, "you still haven't finished that lock."
"Sorry, Mistress," he kept his forlorn smile as he finished his somber task. Nefret sighed contently. Her hands went to her belt but her rocks weren't there for the first time in centuries. Her items were in the Storehouse where they belonged. In a moment she would be where she belonged as well.
Even the most manly regent had to hold in a scream as the door clicked shut, Nefret collapsed with a peaceful expression on her face, and her body disengaged into dust that blew away with the sand.
Present:
Leena wore her purple gloves as she carefully removed the next artifact from the shipping create from Egypt. There was a lot of new inventory to log and place in the warehouse. This artifact consisted of a rectangular clay box with no lid, divided into two compartments. In each compartment was a fist-sized stone a black one and a rust red one. They had a longer piece of papyrus tied to them most of the others did. Leena took a picture of the paper and loaded it into the computer's translation program. The message read;
"Fire Stones. The box is not an artifact. Whenever the rocks touch, they create a shower of sparks and fire. Depending on the emotions of the person hitting the stones together, the amount of fire created can increase or decrease. Anything or anyone in direct contact with one of the two stones will not be burned. No side effects will be caused by use. Artifacts made and stored in the storehouse by Nefret Goddess of the Storehouse. Description written by Nefret Goddess of the Storehouse. To whoever reads this after I am part of the desert, treat my precious items and my mighty storehouse with respect. If you don't, I'll make a deal with Anbis and torment you from the afterlife."