Chapter 14: Elsewhere

Hedjet stood on the banks of the Nile, bow and arrow in hand. He wore a simple linen loincloth, and his dark-brown eyes stared intensely at the horizon. Behind him was an army; hundreds of Egyptians wielding long bronze scimitars, spears, and axes. He was near the city of Abydos, ancient home of pharaohs and gods, which was just a few kilometers north of Waset. This intermediate period had been detrimental for all parties involved, but Hedjet considered himself the least affected. Thanks to Intef, the city of Waset had become a thriving metropolitan center and he had become the most prosperous region in Kemet for the first time, well, ever. Why, then, was he about to launch this attack?

As he turned from the horizon, Hedjet pondered his sudden and newfound ambition. For as long as he could remember Deshret had always lorded over him; a state of affairs that left him weak and without much agency for his entire life. Deshret's defeat at the hands of Henen-Nesut had been welcome to say the least, and Hedjet had been able to exercise the autonomy that he had so long desired. Now, in his prosperity, he had discovered what, perhaps, had driven his brother to such ridiculous acts as building giant stone pyramids and sphinxes.

It was the power. The infinite possibility of being your own, independent nation. Hedjet had never experienced it before, but now that he knew it he couldn't imagine life without it. He could feel the potential of thousands running through his veins, and with every passing day it grew stronger. And now, as he stood on the banks of the Nile, he knew that if he could conquer Lower Kemet and reunite the land that he would never have to face subjugation again. Gritting his teeth, he notched an arrow and aimed for the ramparts of the city of Abydos, letting it loose with hardly a sound.

"Attack!" he yelled, and his soldiers rushed forward in a mass of metal and fury.

Years had passed, and Hedjet's kingdom had advanced far northward. Abydos had been but the first of many gains, and now he found himself at the very doorstep of the tenth dynasty kings of Henen-Nesut. This was it. The moment he had been longing for. With this one campaign, he would reunite Kemet under his rule. He would rebuild the nation his brother had so carelessly destroyed with his frivolous spending and lax government control.

The shouts of his men brought his attention to the battlefield in front of him. A large force approached, though his was far larger. Hedjet strode forward to meet it, and soon saw Henen-Nesut himself at the front of the charge. Like Hedjet, he had come prepared for the battle, wielding a shield and shield and khopesh, a curved blade that was the standard among Egyptian foot soldiers. However, unlike Hedjet, Henen walked with a gait that betrayed weakness. His eyes, dull and tired, showed a man who had never really gained true control of the people who he governed.

"So, you have come to challenge my rule, older brother?" Henen spat, glaring at Hedjet with an impetuous air.

"The end of your dynasty is long overdue, Henen-Nesut." Hedjet replied, his hand drifting to his bow in case he would have need of it, "I've heard of how you run Lower Kemet. You are cruel and unforgiving. The people are unhappy, and few would support you. You will fall easily." Henen-Nesut laughed, put it sounded more scared than triumphant.

"Without allies? What of the nomarchs of Siut, whose lands currently lay in your wake?" he responded, a sly smile growing on his face, "All I need do is call, and they will crush you from behind!" Hedjet laughed, and Henen's smile faded.

"The nomarchs of Siut were hardly your allies, Nesut." He boasted, "I crushed them on my way north. You left them for years to suffer the brunt of my attacks, and they hardly were able to put up a fight." Henen looked shocked, but his surprise quickly gave way to weariness. His face, already gaunt, seemed to age fifty years in a few seconds. With no small effort, he hefted his weapons and entered a battle stance.

"I will not be subjugated." he muttered derisively, and Hedjet could not help but think how similar this young nation was to himself. They both had been put provincial rulers under Deshret's kingdom, and had gained their independence only a century and a half ago. In Henen-Nesut's eyes, he could see his own determination to remain independent. But even more so, he could see what would happen to him if he let his kingdom go awry as this nation had. Henen-Nesut would fail because of his bronze-fisted rule, and Deshret had failed because he had not been controlling enough. Hedjet would have to find a middle ground. Henen-Nesut charged at him with a fury that only desperate men know, but Hedjet simply pivoted out of the way of his arcing khopesh, notching an arrow in the process and aiming it at the back of the younger nation's head. He jerked the bow down in a quick motion, and let the arrow loose. With a sickening thunk it penetrated Henen-Nesut's thigh. He screamed a curse and collapsed to the ground.

"I have won." Hedjet declared, "Your forces have been crippled. Your domain is now mine." Henen-Nesut glared at Hedjet but said nothing, acknowledging the truth of the statement.

It was 2055 BC, and Kemet was united.

In the city of Inbu-Hedj, on the weathered but still great white walls, stood Deshret. Many years had passed, and though Inbu-Hedj was still great, it was nowhere near the great prosperity it had known under Deshret's long-gone Old Kingdom. At this point, however, Deshret considered himself lucky to even be looking upon them again. He had only managed to survive Henen-Nesut's usurpation by the skin of his teeth; holding on because the people were just unhappy enough with the 9th and 10th dynasties' rule to truly accept their governance. However, he was weak and nearly faded. His power, seemingly like second-nature to him when he had possessed it, was now gone. However, in the past few days he had begun to regain some of his old strength. Perhaps, with time, he would be able to reclaim Kemet. He was jarred from his thoughts by a cough from behind him, and when he turned he was shocked to find Hedjet standing there. Deshret's eyes widened as he took in Hedjet's figure, their gaze finally locking on Pschent crown that graced his brother's head.

"How…?" he finally choked out, blue eyes sparkling with disbelief. Hedjet appeared to ignore this request, and stared at his brother emotionlessly.

"I have claimed Lower Kemet for myself, Deshret." he announced, "I am now ruler of the lands, and Pharaoh Mentuhotep II reigns supreme over this city. Do you recognize his rule?" Deshret let out an unintelligible noise, something between a yelp and a laugh. Hedjet had taken control of all of Kemet? What had happened to his brother who had been so uninterested in the politics of Lower Kemet? Why had he chosen to take control now? As he searched his own mind for answers, he found none. So he did the only thing he could do.

"Why?" he whispered, and Hedjet looked on, confused.

"Why what?" he asked, letting his guard down for a split second.

"Why would you take control of Kemet?" Deshret demanded, his voice growing stronger, "After all you claimed I did to suppress you, and with everything you hated about the extravagance of my kingdom, why would you strive to replace me of all things?" For a moment, Hedjet considered this.

"My mind has not been changed, Deshret." he replied, "You ruled Kemet poorly. You allowed Henen-Nesut to take control of Lower Kemet, and we all suffered because of it. However, I believe that I can succeed where you failed. I will be a better ruler than you ever were. Now, do you recognize my suzerainty over you?" Deshret thought for a moment.

"Yes." he finallya answered, "If only to see you fail."

The man and the boy had lived peacefully in the Aegean for centuries. Together, they had prospered. The man's trading routes now extended across the great sea; to the south where Kemet resided, to the east where there were traders on the coasts and nomads in the highlands, and more recently to the west where small towns had begun to dot the rocky landscape of Achaea. The man used the boy's islands to facilitate his great trading empire, and in return the boy looked to the man for protection. Together they lived in harmony.

But that had been centuries ago. Recently, the man hand grown busy with his trade, his prosperity leading the simple islanders to aspire to do greater things. Foundations were being laid for great structures that would sprawl across the coasts, showing to everyone the greatness of the man's civilization. The man grew stronger, his culture expanding and flowering into something entirely unique. There was pottery and writing, trade and commerce. Local lords had been replaced with men who called themselves kings, and the one in Knossos appeared to be the ruler of the kings. Crete had fully developed.

The same could not be said for the boy. His civilization had not grown in the past centuries; rather, it had shrunk. The days where he would carve statues out of marble on the shores of his islands were long past, and now the influence of the man seemed to dominate every facet of his life. He wasn't sure of his identity anymore, and he wasn't sure of what would become of him. It scared him. As time went on, the man had spent less and less time with the boy, leaving to go on voyages and establishing ties with other nations. The boy was left to himself, left to be assimilated.

However, there was one day when the boy finally found the man alone, overseeing the beginning of the first of the great palaces. He approached him from behind, desperate to have his questions answered. What was happening to him? What had become of his culture? He tugged desperately on the man's tunic, earning his attention. The man turned, eyebrows creased in annoyance, and looked at the boy.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The man dominated trade on the Aegean. He ruled a vast trading empire, and his culture spread across the many islands that dotted the sea. He had a vague remembrance of having a companion at one point, but that must have been so long ago. Now he ruled alone.

In a great valley to the east, people cried out in jubilation. The rainy season had come, but for the first time there would be no devastating flood. The great king Yu had finally tamed the waters of the Yellow River. It had taken him thirteen years to do it, but now that he had, he would finally establish his rule over the entire land of—

"China! That's me! The legendary and long-lived China! I am the Xia Dynasty, first and best of the dynasties!"

Um. Yes. That. The Xia Dynasty had come into existance, and it would rule over the Yellow River valley for the next—

"Why are you writing my story like that? I'm bored already! Here, I'll take over. China was the first and best civilization, established before all the other civilizations, even that stupid one in the Middle East. China invented the wheel, and everything else after that, and you have China to thank for everything in the entire world!"

I don't think that's how it goes…

"What do you know? You just search up your history on Wikipedia! China is the origin of all things!"

Hey! I check my sources for validity most of the time! It's not like China created the universe!

"Actually, in the beginning, there was only China—"

No. Stop. That is not real history.

"What do you mean? You're the one telling fake history here!"

I am the author of this story! I'll decide what is and isn't real history, thank you very much! Now let me narrate! Where was I? Oh, yes, ahem—

Yu the Great, tamer of the Yellow River, would be the first—

"Ruler of the entire world because the only world is China!"

You know what? I give up. The chapter's over. Shit happened in China. The end.

Okay, so we traveled to a lot of places for this chapter. Firstly, Egypt. Around 2055 BC, the king Mentuhotep II of Waset (Thebes) led his forces to the north and conquered the nomarchs of Henen-Nesut that had been ruling Lower Egypt for most of the First Intermediate Period. He defeated them and re-united Egypt, signaling the beginning of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Unlike the Old Kingdom, which was ruled from Inbu-Hedj (Memphis), this kingdom would be ruled from Waset and as a result Hedjet get's to be its representative, because Upper Egypt was decidedly the new center of power. Meanwhile, over in the Aegean, the Minoan Civilization has begun to mature. In a few more decades, the first archaeological evidence of the great Minoan palaces will be discovered. However, as a result of this, the neighboring Cycladic culture that had developed such close ties with the Minoans would be quickly assimilated, as the dominant Minoan culture would phase out their weaker and less developed one. Finally, over in China we have the first recorded dynasty, the Xia, appear. However, this dynasty has little to no archaeological evidence supporting its existence, and most historians surmise that it is just a construct made up by the later Zhou Dynasty to justify the Mandate of Heaven. Don't listen to him, guys. He's probably not even real.

"I am the most real and most powerful nation of them all!"

Shut up! Aaaaaaanyway, leave questions and corrections in the comments!

"You can't keep me hidden away forever!"