(AN: Sorry to any I offended with the dialogue from the Three Angels part. I know many of you may not hold similar beliefs, and therefore I trust you can ignore my slip-up. It was made according to my thoughts, so it will have a little of my own input from it.)

(For those with a keen eye, you may notice that this was originally going to be the first chapter, based on my wording and such. For your sake, I added the pre-first prologue on the spot. Here now is prologue 1...part 2, named after the first part of the Torah for two reasons, as you shall soon see.)

Genesis

The hot day's sun rose to kiss the blasted desert lands. The Bedouin women wore veils and turbans about their heads as they tended the sheep. A man there was among them, tall and strong, whom they were teaching how to shepherd the flock. Even for a lowly and despised shepherd, the thought of a woman teaching a man how to do anything was unheard of. But he listened intently and did as he was instructed.

As they were so engaged, another figure joined them. This one was a woman also, but she was older and of greater importance than the other six. A staff was in her hand and a cloak of sheep's wool upon her shoulder.

"Egyptian!" Zipporah called out.

The man raised his head in response.

"My father commands that you appear before his tent."

The tall Egyptian man did as he was instructed, to the chagrin of the other women.

"What if the Amalekites come to take our well again?" Basinah asked.

"Then you'll know where to find the Egyptian, sister." the eldest one said.

The eldest one took the Egyptian from the flock over to the small gathering of tents set up just a few yards away. She led him to the largest tent, where she opened the screen and they entered.

Zipporah bowed before her father, who nodded in return. He then turned to look at the Egyptian.

"Sit down, Moses." the old man said to the Egyptian, who sat down before him.

If an Egyptian, than he looked like no typical Egyptian. Dark hair, now long and slightly unkempt, sat upon his crown, whereas most Egyptians wore black wigs or were bald altogether. His facial features also were unlike those of any Egyptian, though he spoke the Egyptian language fluently. The old sheik communicated with him in his native tongue, for the sheik was a man of great renown, who knew several languages.

"I should be out there, working among the flocks." the old sheik said. "After all, they are mine, raised by my hand and the hand of my beloved until we raised children to tend to them."

"A leader doesn't directly lead his people, good sheik." the Egyptian named Moses said. He spoke softly, and sometimes haltingly, as if he had great difficulty speaking to anyone.

"Perhaps in Egypt, but here in the wilderness, things are different. Very different indeed, my friend. There are no governors or priests to argue over procedure, no small niceties to dull the senses. It is a very hard life in the desert, but I feel confident that the God of our fathers sent you to me for a reason."

"Is that why you decided to keep me?"

"Keep you? Ha! You speak as if you are a prisoner here! No, my friend, you are free to leave if you so desire. It would not be truth to say that I have no need of a man's help here: oh, make no mistake, my daughters are fine shepherdesses, but they are but women. No disrespect to the fairest of God's creations, mind you, but I am an old man who does not possess the strength of his youth.

"No, Moses, I do not keep you simply because the God of our fathers told me to. It is required of my people to give out the hand of hospitality to strangers, for in so doing did our father Abraham entertain the Almighty Himself!"

"If I may ask, good sheik, why was I called into your tent?"

"Ah, yes, I believe I owe you that explanation. When you first came among us, you chose to stay here, and lent your hand to helping me and my daughters with our work, which has prospered because of you. If you desire to stay, I have no objections to that. I would, however, like very much to instruct you in the ways of my people, for you have lived with us for three months time. In exchange, I would like to know something about yourself, and what drove you to leave the land of Egypt the way you did."

"I think my hand is much better served to you in the fields, good sheik."

"As it is, I have no objection to that. However, I would be most displeased if you reject my offer. I only offer it, I cannot force my wishes upon you."

"As the sheik commands."

"Very well." The old sheik asked his eldest daughter to bring them food. "As the host, it falls to me to trouble you with the asking of questions. May I commence?"

"As you wish."

The eldest daughter returned and gave to them some bread and meat, which, after the old sheik blessed, they began to eat.

"I would first like to ask you about the nature of yourself. Who were you in Egypt? Who were your father and mother? Were they Egyptians as well? And finally, though painfully familiar, what drove you to leave the land of Egypt?"

Moses finished his food and then began to speak.

"My eldest memories were in a hut. That's where we lived, my father, mother, sister, brother and myself. We were of...of the Hebrews, those who live in Raamses and serve the Egyptians as slaves. My father was Amram of the tribe of Levi, his wife Jocheved, my mother, and my sister Mirian and brother Aaron. I alone was given an Egyptian name: Moses, which means born from, for so it was told of me in the halls of the Pharaoh that I was born of the Nile gods.

"My mother told a different story. She said that on the night that I was born, the midwives Purah and Shiprah told her to hide her child, for they had been charged by the Pharaoh to kill all new-born male children of the Hebrews. But the midwives feared God and would not do so, and wise was the advice they gave to my mother. For when the midwives were found out, the Pharaoh, Amenemhet III, ordered his people to take the male children of the Hebrews by force and drown them in the Nile river. For three months, my mother said, she and my sister kept me hidden.

"Eventually, she said, I became too much to be hidden, and so she and my sister did make an ark of reeds, into which they put me as a young child and set me adrift upon the Nile..."

She had done it so many times, it was almost routine. Would the gods listen for once? Her father, the Pharaoh of Egypt, refused to let his line end with him, and therefore forced his daughter to pray to the river gods to bring her a son. Every day after the Pharaoh would bring forth the morning, she and her maids would go down to the river-side and offer their prayers to the statue of Hapi that she might bestow life to the barren womb of the Pharaoh's daughter.

This day was no different. The entourage made their way to the small shrine, built on the banks of the river, and there they made their pagan supplications to the goddess of fertility.

At last their prayers had ended, and the princess ordered her entourage to return to the palace. But, as she turned to make the sad return journey home, she thought she spied something hiding among the reeds in the river. With a command, one of her maids came and bowed before her mistress.

"Tell me, maid, what is that thing I see among the reeds?"

The maid looked as she was directed.

"Thy servant sees what she does not know."

"Then bring it hither that I may know what it is." she commanded.

The maid bowed her head and approached the river's edge. Surely it must be some kind of sacrilege, trespassing upon sacred waters. Besides that, she feared what could be hiding among the reeds. Crocodiles ate those foolish enough to enter their waters, and the hippo could gore one to death as easily as a bull. But she was the servant, and, obeying her mistress' orders, waded out into the river.

The princess was not concerned: after all, what cause did she have to be concerned? She was not going into the river. Besides, the priests told her that no crocodile could harm her, since she was the daughter of Sobek himself. And though Egyptian maids were expensive, they were not hard to replace.

It did not take the fearful maid long to see what it was, and she thanked the gods that it was not what her fears made it out to be.

The princess, watching where her maid disappeared to, saw her return with a small basket made of reeds.

"Is that it, Kiya? A basket?"

"That is all, my lady." the maid answered. She came to the edge of the shrine and attempted to throw the basket onto the alabaster landing, but it was heavier than she had presumed. She lifted it over her head and placed it on top of the landing first before climbing back onto the landing of the shrine and presenting the basket to her lady.

"Open it up." she demanded.

The maid unfastened the tight, reed bindings on the edge and slowly lifted the cover, fearing that asps might be found within. Fortunately, there was nothing harmful within; in fact, there was nothing within except for a sleeping infant.

"A child, my lady."

"I can see that!" snapped the princess. "But what shall we do with it?"

"My lady," a priestess of Hapi said to her aside. "See the pattern of the cloth in which the baby is wrapped? Surely this is a child of the Hebrews. My lady knows the mandate of thy father, the Pharaoh."

Before the princess could say another word, the child began to hear strange noises and let forth a wail of fear. It was not among the familiar voices it had known, and terror struck it's little heart.

The princess turned and saw the little thing crying, all alone in its basket and on the verge of being slain by her over-zealous priestess. Something clicked in the heart of the princess. She knelt down and picked the child up in her arms, holding him and trying to soothe his cries.

"My lady," the priestess insisted. "by your father's law, the child must die."

"Damn my father's law!" the princess said, choking back tears. "I shall not let this child die! Don't you see, priestess? This is an answer to my prayers! The gods have smiled upon my father and me and have given us this son to be our own! He shall be named Nilemoses, for from the river have I brought him forth!"

"My lady," the maid said. "Pardon me for speaking out of my place, but I feared it to be a greater dis-service to you if I should keep silent."

"What is it, maid?"

"My lady has not born a child, and therefore knows not how to raise a child. Permit me to find one to raise this child for you."

At this, a noise came from the reeds. Startled, the princess ordered one of her guards to seek it out. He came back with a young girl, merely a child, dressed in Hebrew clothes.

"Who are you, slave-girl?" the princess asked somewhat indignantly.

"I am your humble servant." the young girl said, bowing before the princess.

"Why are you not working?"

"I beg my mistress' pardon, but my mother, thy servant, is a nurse-maid, who has sent me to seek out one needing her services."

The princess suddenly payed closer attention to what this Hebrew girl was saying. It seemed like she could get what she wanted.

"Is she a wet-nurse?" she asked.

"My mother, thy servant, is indeed." the little girl responded.

"Well then, slave, bring your mother to me and I will pay her for the nursing of my son."

"And so it was, good sheik, that my own mother did nurse me for wages from the princess of Egypt."

"And on the heels of the decree of death upon Hebrew men-children from the Pharaoh, no less!" the old man laughed. "Indeed, the LORD works in mysterious ways. What else happened afterward?"

"Not much. I lived with my mother until I was weaned. She told me the truth about where I was from, and told me that one day I was to leave her forever and live with our masters the Egyptians. She also told me that they would try to teach me to pray to their gods and to become like them: she told me to always remember the God of our fathers and never forget that I was no true Egyptian, but a Hebrew the same as she, my father and my sister."

"What of your brother?"

"He was born but a few years after I was already a man in Egypt."

"A truly inspiring story, Moses. I am impressed. And now, if you will kindly listen, I shall weary your ears with a small tale, one of which I think you might be familiar with to a degree."

"I shall listen."

"This is the oldest tale told by my people. My father told it to me as his father told it to him, and so it went as far back as Ishmael, the father of my people, who heard the story from the very knee of Abraham himself. He also heard it from Terah and Heber, from hence your people take their name, who in turn was taught by Shem, who did hear it from Noah, who from the mouth of Lamech and Methuselah did hear all of this, who also did hear this word from Enoch and Jared, who heard it spoken to them from Seth, who heard the story from Adam, the first man created by God.

"'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' The story always begins with this: the creation of the world! 'And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.'"

As the sheik spoke, he got up and closed the screen of the tent, bringing darkness to their abode.

"'And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.'"

Moses then heard some scraping, after which the darkness of the tent was banished by a small glow from a lightened tinder in the sheik's hand.

"'And God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.' You may wonder why I present to you this lamp as example of the story. Well, so it has been told since as far as I can remember. 'And God saw the light, that it was good: and He divided the light - day - from the darkness - night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.'"

And with a breath, the lamp was extinguished.

Thusl did the sheik, Jethro of Midian, teach Moses the story of creation which he himself had learned from his mother and father, though long forgotten among the trials in Egypt. Those who may read this now might find this monotonous and boring, but they think so now out of luxury. So much do they owe to the lives of many martyrs forgotten! For, in the time before the martyrs, and before the people of Israel were given a nation, the story of creation was passed down, generation to generation, by word of mouth.

(And here is the second chapter. Not much stuttering from Moses as in the last one, but there will be a lot more later on.)

(As much as I like The Ten Commandments, like with Joshua King of Heaven, I endeavor in this story to alienate myself from Hollywood's adaptions of the biblical account, so that my own imagination is allowed to roam free and create a story of my own. However, there is definite influence, both from that movie and very little from Prince of Egypt. I shall discuss that later in full as the story unfolds)

(One such alienation is my placing of the story in the 12th - 13th dynasties of Egypt, rather than the 18th - 19th [Ramoses' reign]. My reasons are 1] the Ipuwer Papyrus, 2] the Hyksos invasion and 3] the lack of Neferhotep's mummy. This is probably unique to my story, since most other interpretations make the Pharaoh of the Exodus Ramoses the Great.)

(Part 3 will be up a.s.a.p)