Chapter II: Desert Green
There were times when Bayek really hated the desert.
Which was ironic given the fact that he was both born and raised inthe desert. Not to mention the fact that Egypt was practically 95% desert. The only places where he could seemingly escape the sea of never-ending hellish sands was in city of Alexandria and the swampy marshes of Herakleion Nome. Though even then he could still feel the blistering heat of the sun's harmful rays against his skin. Not even his hood was enough to keep the heat out of his face.
It didn't help that he was constantly running or climbing while wearing heavy equipment. The amount of sweat that was constantly leaking out of his skin probably would've been enough to fill up an entire lake.
No, if there was truly any reason for him to hate the desert, it was because there was never enough green.
Sure there were the occasional field of trees and shrubbery here and there, but it was always overwhelmed by sand or rocky mountains. It was never just green. It was one of the reasons why he made sure to travel to the swamps whenever he got the chance. There was plenty of green and water cool enough to swim in. That is, if he was cautious enough to avoid the numerous packs of crocodiles and hippopotamus. Otherwise the entire area was practically a paradise in the middle of a wide expanse of hellish sand that seemed to expand on and on forever.
So it came as a great surprise to Bayek when the first thing he saw when he woke up buried all the way up to his neck in the middle of the desert was green.
Correction, it was actually a young woman but the hair that covered her head had been green of all things.
Bayek had never seen anyone with such oddly colored hair before. He had seen many shades of brown, black, and even the occasional blonde, but never had he ever seen anyone with hair as green as the trees that grew near his home village of Siwa.
He also took notice of the fact that she didn't seem at all bothered by the sweltering heat the desert sand gave off. Her skin was as white as the average Greek and Roman but they at least tended to have slightly tanned tones to them due to living in the sun for so long. This woman's skin wasn't at all tan but neither did she seem to have any sunburns. She was also standing completely barefoot in the hot sand, which in anyone else's case would have been like walking on hot coals, yet it still didn't seem to affect her like the hot and dry air. It was as if she was completely ignoring the heat that surrounded them both like a blanket made of pure fire. She wore strange clothing that only seemed to cover her private areas as the rest of her body was exposed to the harsh elements. Though he was reluctant to do so, he couldn't help but admire her very generous curves, from the swells of her very large breasts down to her thick, yet toned thighs. By Amun she was even more beautiful than Cleopatra, and she was considered to be the most beautiful woman in all of Egypt! But this woman, who looked as if she had been sculpted and brought to life by the Greek goddess Aphrodite, herself, made Cleopatra look nothing more than a common street whore. And that was saying something!
"I would appreciate it if you didn't ogle my body like that."
"W-What?!" he asked her in surprise. By the Gods even her voice sounded heavenly!
Her face remained as blank as stone as she stared down at his buried form with her dark eyes. "I said I would appreciate it if you didn't stare at my body like that. I'm not letting you cop a feel no matter how many times you ask."
Bayek's jaw dropped to the sand. Did she seriously think that he wanted to grope her? Granted she was very attractive but he certainly wasn't that kind of man! By Amun he was married for Ra's sake! "T-That wasn't what I was thinking!" he yelled indigently. Thank the Gods his skin was dark enough to hide the blush that was creeping up on his face.
Suddenly he remembered why he was buried. Taharqa. The Scarab. Taharqa was the Scarab. He had been betrayed!
"Please, you must help me! Innocents will die if I don't kill the man responsible for this!" he tried to wiggle free but the sand was too thick for him to move his arms. He looked up at the woman with pleading eyes. Yet all she did was stand there with her arms tucked under her breasts.
"No." she said simply before walking away in the opposite direction.
"WHAT?" he yelled, eyes wide in bewilderment as the woman's form retreated further and further away. Was she really just going to leave him here?! "WHAT IN RA'S NAME DO YOU MEAN 'NO'?! COME BACK AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
The woman let out an annoyed sigh before she turned around and made her way back towards Bayek. Once close enough she crouched down onto her knees and leaned towards his buried form. Bayek had to force himself to not stare at the voluptuous mounds that gently swayed almost directly in front of his face. "Are you not Bayek of the village of Siwa? The very last Medjay?" she asked simply while staring deep into his eyes.
"What?" he asked in confusion. How did this woman know his name?
She ignored him. "Are you not them man who seeks revenge against the Order of the Ancients? The very same Order that not only murdered your only son but it is also is seeking to tear this very country apart? Did you not swear to yourself that you would not rest until you would murder all of those responsible?"
Bayek's jaw once again hit the sand in shock. His voice was lost to him as he stared up into the woman's blank yet serious gaze. How does she know all of this? Who is she?
"I-I-"
"Or," she stood back up, though her gaze never left his. "Are you perhaps someone who simply shares his name and his face? If you can't even manage to dig yourself out of that hole than there's no way you'll be able to obtain the revenge that you've sought for so long. Honestly, how can you even think of calling yourself Medjay if you can't do something as simple digging your way out of a hole? It's absolutely pathetic if you ask me." With that said she turned around and took her leave once more.
Not once did she take notice of the raw fury that had etched its way onto Bayek's face. How dare this woman talk down to him as if he were an infant?!
Blind rage taking control of his mind, Bayek twisted and turned his entire body in rapid movements before he was eventually able to get one of his arms free. He struggled to get a firm grasp on the sand but after some trial and error he was rewarded with getting both his arms free. Placing his arms on both side of his body, Bayek forced himself to push his body up until he was able to wiggle his legs free. Within a few minutes, Bayek was finally free of his sandy prison and was on his arms and knees taking in deep breathes of air. Then before he knew what he was doing, his entire body shot forward like an arrow. His feat beat against the hot sand that burned his skin, yet Bayek ignored the pain in favor of catching up to the unknown woman, fully intending to pay her back with his fists for not only abandoning him back in that hellhole but for also having the sheer audacity to mock his vengeance against the Order as it was nothing but the boasts of a child.
However, when he reached the top of a nearby sand dune, he was shocked to see that she was nowhere in sight for miles in either direction. It was as if she had just disappeared into thin air. But that was impossible. He had just seen her mere moments ago. It shouldn't have been possible for her to vanish so quickly.
Bayek felt sick. Had she merely been an illusion created by the intense heat? But she seemed so real. Her body, voice, everything about her had looked so corporeal. Yet she simply vanished from existence like a phantom.
A series of thumps brought him out of his stupor and his shock was overcome with pure elation at the sight of his horse galloping its way towards him. His joy increased as he also spotted the familiar figure of his trusty eagle, Senu, flying high in the air before gliding down and landing on his outstretched arm. The bird chirped happily as she nuzzled his head. Bayek chuckled and gave the side of her small head a kiss and scratch, making her chirp more in contentment. He threw up his arm and Senu shot into the air once more. He walked over to his horse and gave her snout a nice rub before mounting on her back. That damned woman could wait. First, he had a traitor to kill.
He walked out of the temple, ignoring the anguished cries of Taharqa's family and the pang of guilt in his heart as they sobbed over his corpse. The traitor's blood ran down edges of his hidden blade and dripped into the sand. The full moon hung motionless in the night sky as it shined its heavenly light down on the land below, effectively casting a shadow behind Bayek's hooded form as he paced through the sandy streets of the near desolate town of Letopolis. All was quiet just as it should've been. The Scarab had been killed and once again the people were free to live without the fear of death looming around every corner. Though celebrating was the farthest thing from Bayek's mind at the moment. Taharqa, a close friend and confident, had been the Scarab from the very beginning. He, along with so many more from the cursed Order and been responsible for his son's death and for that he had to die. His mind still couldn't process how a man such a kind man like Taharqa could be a part of something so evil. How could he just sit and laugh with his family at home while the Order were tearing apart so many others? It was simply unfathomable. How many innocents had he tortured and killed?
How many more people would he have to kill until the madness finally stopped?
He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice that he somehow ended up on the outskirts of the city until he looked up, taking a moment to admire the sight of the Pyramids looming in the distance, whose protruding surfaces basked in the moonlight miles away.
"I see you've completed your mission." A nearby voice exclaimed.
Bayek froze. He turned.
Leaning her shoulder on an abandoned house no more than five feet away was the green-haired woman he saw in the desert. The very same woman who had nearly left him for dead.
He was on her in an instant. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he pulled her inside the house before roughly pushing her against the wall, hidden blade barely pricking against the skin of her throat. His shadowed eyes ablaze with barely restrained fury as he glared down at her slightly shorter form from behind his hood.
Despite the manhandling she had just experienced, her face remained perfectly impassive as she looked back up at him with her bored gaze. Even the blade pressed into her throat did nothing to deter her blank expression.
"You left me to die," he growled through gritted teeth. He was practically nose to nose with her with how close he was standing and didn't even notice that her breasts were practically squashed against his chest.
"I did no such thing," she replied simply. "I simply gave you the opportunity to escape on your own and you did. Not only that, your enemy is dead by your hand and you're standing here perfectly alive and well."
"And if I hadn't escaped?" the blade pushed into her skin with a bit more force, drawing droplets of blood that trailed down to her chest. She didn't even flinch.
"Then you would've died, and your quest for vengeance would have all been for naught as the sand devoured you whole." Her bored tone didn't waver. She talked as if she was simply discussing the weather.
"So you would've willingly let me die just to have me prove that I could've escaped on my own?" he asked, outraged. What was wrong with this woman?
"Yes," she replied without hesitation. "I knew you would have escaped eventually. You're the last Medjay, are you not?" his body tensed as she repeated her words from earlier.
"You speak of that title as if it grants me immortality! I may be the last Medjay but I am still just a man! A man who is capable of dying just as easily as any other!"
"Yes, you are," she agreed. He was just a man but he was also so much more. "You could very well drop dead right now or tomorrow and the world would still continue to move forward. But the simple fact that you refuse to die even after all of the suffering you've endured is what separates you from so many others. Where other people would simply give up, you continue to strive forward no matter how much is thrown your way; like a ship against the deafening winds of a hurricane."
Bayek's anger slowly subsided but his grip on her didn't lessen, nor did he retract his blade from her throat. Though he didn't show it he was momentarily stunned, but more importantly he was confused. This was the longest he had ever heard the woman speak and she was talking about him as if he were some kind of hero from some kind of old fictitious story. Yet at the same time she had been willing to let him die. It honestly made him question her mental state.
"Are you going to stab me anytime soon or were you just hoping to look more threatening?" her nonchalant tone reminded him that he did, indeed, still had his blade pressed up against her throat. With an annoyed sigh, he retracted his weapon back inside his bracer before backing away and pulling her off the wall. Noticing the blood trail, he winced with guilt before reaching into his leather pack and pulling out a roll of cloth. He stepped forward, intending on wrapping it around the woman's wound before stopping in his tracks as she raised a hand towards him.
"I need to wrap the wound before it gets infected." The guilt in his voice was palpable. The wound had been his fault after all.
"No need," she replied. "It's already healed. See?" She wiped the blood off her throat and his eyes widened when he saw that the wound had, indeed, been completely healed. There wasn't a single trace of a scar to be found on her throat. It was as if he had never even stabbed her.
"What in Amun?" he whispered in disbelief. He came up to her and put his hand where the wound had been moments before. It truly wasn't an allusion or a trick of the light. True to her word, there was nothing left to heal.
"What sorcery is this?" he demanded in disbelief. He had never seen a wound heal in a matter of seconds before.
"Not sorcery," she replied. And for the first time since he met her, her expression changed as the faintest trace of a smile graced her lips. "Magic."
He didn't have time to react before she pushed past him and made her way outside. Bayek followed after her not a second later. The cool desert wind blew through her green hair as she walked out into the open sea of sand. Bayek trailed after her not far behind and it took a great amount of effort for him to not let his eyes wander down to her swaying hips which greatly emphasized the shape of her wide, supple ass. Great Ra above, not even Aya's bodily proportions were as emphasized as this woman's.
Bayek shook his head, trying to rid his mind of such thoughts. You're married for Ra's sake, stop it!
The woman came to a stop on a nearby dune and clasped her hands behind her back as stared up at the moon with a look of wonder on her face. Bayek stood parallel to her left with his arms crossed but didn't say anything. Simply taking the time to study the mysterious figure beside him.
"I hope you know what you're doing," her voice brought him back to reality. "You still have a long journey ahead of you. Much of it will be filled with strife, pain, and death. Tell me…" she brought her gaze towards him. "Are you truly prepared to sacrifice everything to avenge your son? Is it really worth so much pain and misery?"
For some reason the mention of his son didn't anger him like it did before. Still, he couldn't help but shiver at her ominous words. "I do this becauseI want to end the pain and misery. This isn't just about avenging my son, but all people of Egypt. The Order of the Ancients will bleed this land dry until there's nothing left. Someone has to be willing to take a stand and put an end to their evil. And if that means I must do it all on my own," his lips curled up into a grin. "Then that is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make."
"Even if it only results in more death?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, though there was no judgement in her tone.
"Not everyone can be saved unfortunately," a sad sigh escaped his lips. "I am not a God. Just one man who is far from perfect. People will die no matter how hard I try to save them. I simply must do the best I can and save those who can be saved."
Her face remained blank for what felt like hours until another smile made its way onto her lips. Only this time it was wider and so full of life.
It made Bayek's heart skip a beat.
Her smile never left her face as she stared back up at the moon, Bayek's eyes soon following hers as he, too, couldn't help but admire its ethereal glow that seemed to light up the night sky.
"Maybe this world won't be so bad after all," he heard her whisper.
There was a sudden gust of wind that made Bayek shield his eyes. When it ceased he looked to his right, and for some reason wasn't entirely surprised to see that there was nothing there.
She had vanished once more, leaving him alone in the midst of a dark, empty wasteland.
"What the hell?"
"Layla? You doing alright in there?"
"I'm fine, Dee. Just saw some really weird shit is all."
"Weirder than watching a two millennia-old Egyptian hunting a group of masked psychopaths trying to take over the world?"
"Yes, actually. Like, at least three times as weird. Say, Dee…you wouldn't happen to have info on any women with green hair living in 49 BCE would you?"
"…What? Women with green hair? You sure you're okay, Layla? 'Cause I think you may have been spending a liiitle too much time in the animus if you're seeing things like women with green hair."
"Oh screw off, Dee. I know what I saw. So do you know anything or not?"
"No, Layla. There's absolutely no information regarding any women with green hair living in ancient Egypt. I'm pretty sure hair dye wasn't even a thing back then. You sure you're not just seeing things?"
"Ugh! Never mind! Forget that I said anything! I'm going back in. Don't wait up for me."
"Whatever you say, crazy girl."