Chapter 4

It was nearly dawn, as Emma sat in her favourite spot by the edge of the river and gazed out towards the bridge. She felt cold in the morning air and had her arms wrapped tightly around her body inside her jacket.

On the bank of the river came the flashing lights of the emergency crews that had been called after receiving a phone call about a person that had been sighted falling from the bridge. They had been searching for almost two hours and they hadn't found anything. Slowly news crews were beginning to show up to cover the story.

Emma diverted her gaze from the bridge to the water as people suddenly began running around and shouting to each other. She watched as two divers pulled a body towards the shore which she realised was her own. The medics quickly rushed to cover up her body before the cameras had time to zoom in on the discovery. She continued to sit silently as she watched them go about their job, and she showed no signs of emotions during the whole time.

A bright light appeared behind the bench that she was sitting on and a tall robed man walked out from it. He sat down on the bench next to her. "I'm sorry my child, but your time here is now over."

Emma continued to stare towards the river. "Why can't I remember any of the previous lives when I'm sent to the next?"

"That's the power of reincarnation." the older man explained to her. "It allows us to live on in others, for without it we become the shadows ourselves."

A tear fell down the side of Emma's face. "I can't do this anymore father." she turned and faced the man seated next to her. "I'm destroying innocent lives just to try and resolve our wars."

For a moment there was silence between them as they both knew that there was truth in her statement. "Ra!" came a call from the light behind them.

Ra rose from the bench. "Come, Orsirus is waiting."

"You want me to go so that he can just send me to the next life?" Emma said in disgust as she stared at her father. "I think not."

"No." Ra extended his hand to his daughter. "You have proven yourself to us elders, and now we request that you join us in the higher place as we wait for the pharaoh's return." He lowered his hand as he could see that Emma didn't intend to take it. "Only when all our people are gathered can this world truly be rid of the shadows that plague it." He turned and disappeared in to the light that he came from.

Emma thought about her father's last words and also rose from her seat. She turned to see that the light was beginning to slowly fade. As she began to follow after him she noticed a familiar face stood before her, Shadi.

"Well Hathor, you took a little bit longer to reach the final step of your destiny," Shadi began to tell her. "But you helped others on your way, and that they will be forever grateful for."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked curiously.

"The night you faced Sobek was meant to be your last time in human form." Shadi explained. "The sacrifice you made to send him to the shadows was what would entitle you to join the elders in their wait. This I knew was meant to be your destiny and that was way I stopped Pegasus from reaching you as I knew he would have taken you from the situation, but I did not count on just how powerful a newly made friendship would be. Whatever the pharaoh did that night interfered with destiny's plans and instead here you remained to continue with a life that wasn't meant to be."

Emma looked at the light as it was already half faded and then back at Shadi as he continued to talk. "And since that night you became even stronger than what I thought would have been possible for you to achieve. You have learnt much more about the powers that are within yourself from the friendships you made along the way." Shadi looked slightly uncomfortable with what he was about to admit. "No amount of training that I gave you would have ever been able to unleash that."

Emma began to feel slightly bad about the thoughts that she had thought about during her last remaining moments alive. She had the support of all her friends even though they weren't with her all of the time. And she had always had Shadi's best intentions even though they didn't seem like it at the time. "Thank you." She smiled back at him before she entered the faded light and joined the rest of her people.

THE END