Author's Notes: So, I know these couple of chapters have been that much fun, but still kinda necessary for the crazy plot thing... at least the disappearing writing is back (I wish I could say it was all for you, Cairis Rin, but really, it was always going to make a reappearance). Thank you to the faithful who have been reading my little 'story', as it were. Hang in there!
Daniel found himself in the lower room of the temple, everything around him hazy. After having the same recurring dream for nights on end, he was finally beginning to recognize it as just that. In his dream, he sighed in frustration.
"This is getting old!" He shouted to whoever was listening – maybe to his own unconscious mind.
Cuneiform appeared once again on the walls.
"No!" Daniel continued yelling. "I'm not gonna read it!" He flopped himself down on the floor in indignation.
In response, the little glowing triangles flared all the more brilliantly.
Daniel dropped his head. "Alright." He said, defeated, before standing and stepping closer to the text. "Can't I just wake up already?" he mumbled to himself.
Great is the daughter of heaven...
Daniel read aloud. Just as they had in every other dream, the words began to fade.
"What?" Daniel shouted, looking around to the emptiness of the room. "You want me to read it?!"
The words flickered in what Daniel imagined would be an irritated fashion, if they had been a sentient life form, and recaptured their glow.
Her hand is net, her embrace is death
She is cruel, raging, angry, predatory...
The text dimmed, and Daniel rolled his eyes, just barely resisting the urge to tap his foot while he waited for it to return to a more workable brightness.
A runner, a thief is the daughter of heaven...
The words blinked out with finality.
"So, what?" Daniel asked, more intrigued now. "This 'daughter of heaven,' is she a gould?" he sighed, not really expecting any kind of response. "Okay." He said to himself. "This temple is in Iraq: what used to be Babylon... and this is obviously Babylonian cuneiform." Daniel reasoned, rubbing his forehead wearily. "Daughter of heaven... daughter of heaven... that could be any number of deities!" he found himself frustrated again. "Am I really supposed to remember this? I'm an Egyptologist!" he was also shouting again. Leaning against a wall, Daniel slid down to the floor, taking a deep breath and making another attempt at logic. "Okay. Whoever this 'daughter of heaven' is, she doesn't sound like a very nice person." In his over-tired state, Daniel laughed at himself and his characterization of whoever this deity was. "The arrangement of the text and the content suggest poetry – maybe a prayer." He thought with more clarity as pieces clicked together in his brain. "Is this a prayer against the daughter of heaven?" he asked.
Daniel suddenly felt a sharp jab to his shoulder. He closed his eyes...
...and opened them. Jack looked down on him and smiled.
"You were talking in your sleep." The colonel informed him.
Daniel blinked a few times, trying to remember what he'd dreamt about. "I was?"
"Yeah. You were saying all kinds of stuff." Jack replied.
Daniel grew a little concerned. "Uh... what'd I say?" he sat up on his bedroll a little.
"Hell if I know." Jack laid down on his own. "It was in another language." He answered.
Daniel let out the breath he'd been holding. "Oh... okay."
"Most of it." Jack added. Daniel opened his mouth to say something. "Go back to sleep, Daniel." Was all Jack told him, smiling to himself.