{Nubia, Ancient Egypt}

The hot blazing sun bore down on the raft that was slowly floating through the lazy river, causing its occupants to sweat and seek shade under the canopy that had been erected.

"How much further must we sail Uncle, its been three days already and we haven't seen a port anywhere." I whined trying to fan myself with the long, wide leaves I picked off the riverside.

"Soon, it's not too far from here I promise. But if you're so hot why don't you take a dip in the river, we're far from any crocodile infested waters." Hemetre answered while peering over the railing as to check.

"Beats sitting around I suppose, I'll race you to the bank Jade!" I yelled, ripping off my shirt as quick as possible and dove into the cool waters below.

"Knock yourself out." Came the lazy response as she read through a scroll she'd borrowed from the library at the First Nome. Jade was always studying contrasting my more of a go with the flow lifestyle, raising my personal beliefs of opposites attracting. As well as the fact that she was literal royalty and I was an orphaned nobody.

"The water's perfect Jade, you're missing outtttt!" As I tried without reward to get her to relax. "Fine, the river's all mine." And I dove under the surface of the surf with that remark.

I know that most of Egyptians didn't really like swimming in the river or really having anything to do with it other then for the nutrients the river brought whenever it flooded or in some forms of elementalist magic, but for some reason I always felt a sense of calm and clearing of mind whenever I swam. Just mark it down as another reason why I'm an oddball and don't belong, but I didn't have a care in the world as I sank to the river bed and opened my eyes.

The Nile River teemed with life just below the surface, fish swam past me and darted this way and that paying me no heed. A barracuda swam right up to my face and stared me in the eyes and before I was able to react it bowed it's head in some sort respect and swam the opposite direction. I walked or rather swam around the bottom of the river inspecting the inhabitants of the river bed. Little crabs crawled around sometimes picking fights with one another claws clashing as if swords. Nearby catfish fed off the bottom, acting as a natural filter for the river cleaning up the remains of others. I just sat and studied the scene around me, watching the animals interact with each other, while also following the boats progress above me.

Realizing I had been under for quite a long time I started to propel myself upwards to the surface before I broke through, shooting up in the air and landed on the deck, raining down water droplets like rain on the small raft soaking Hemetre and our driver. Jade was protected underneath the canopy and barely spared a glance at my dramatic entrance.

"Perseus my boy, just in time it seems we have arrived at the port city of Nubia, the center of the lands gold mining and exportation. " Hemetre said attempting to quickly dry himself off. I looked at where he had pointed and saw the city and it took my breath away. Almost every household was two stories tall and it was built into a hill so that the terrain naturally sloped upwards giving it a daunting figure. Also the lords manor stood a pure white marble, a stark contrast to the tan sand brick homes surrounding it. But the most amazing part was that the buildings themselves were adorned with gold, reflecting the sun's rays and creating a spectacle of light on the river.

When we docked, Hemetre payed the driver and he started his journey back upstream. The docks themselves were made of a dark wood with market stalls set up every couple steps, vendors trying to sell us all different assortments of fish and sea life, as well as 'miracle cure' made from the algae of the Nile. We pushed past them, Hemetre brandishing his staff as a warning sign for any who felt the need to get to close.

We reached where the dock met the land and Hemetre paused as if waiting for someone before saying, "Here comes our ride now."

I felt it coming before I saw it, every so often the ground would shake just a little as if something very large was coming our way. Then I looked to the source and saw a gray beast lumbering towards us at break neck speed. It had two startling white horns jutting from its snout, one larger than the other, and gold chains linked the back horn to the saddle on its back. On the saddle sat a dark-skinned man wearing the traditional Egyptian garb, but he laughed wildly at the sight of people staring at the beast in awe.

"Uncle, what in the world is that thing…" I asked, indadvertedly backing up into Jade causing us both to stumble.

"That is a rhino, actual not a magical creature believe or not, but admittedly bigger than most." Hemetre laughed and hailed the beast over as one would a cart on the street.

It slowed down until it was trotting and came to a complete stop before us, and I got to take in the full extent of the beast's size. It was easily the size of a fishing boat and just as wide, and it stood at roughly twice my height.

"Macario at your service, I assume you are the mages from the House of Life that Lord Sahib sent for." I responded by simply nodding my head speechless triggering a chuckle from Macario, "Seeing the rhino for the first time does that too most people, come hop on I promise it's a lot faster than walking."

Once we had all climbed on to the beast's back, with some struggle, Marcario kicked the rhino with his heels and it huffed before breaking into a gallop gaining speed until the wind whipped around us earning me a mouthful of Jade's locks, sadly they didn't taste as good as they looked.

We were moving at such high speeds that when I looked to the sides the building started to blur together, a colorful mesh of tans and the occasional woolen market roofs. People on the streets riding donkey drawn carts quickly dodged out of the way to avoid being trampled and several called insults after us causing Macario to just laugh harder. Then as we passed through looming marble gates to the manor the beast slowed to a stop right at the stairs leading to the entrance. I'd like to say I hopped down with the strength of a natural, but instead I simply tumbled out of the saddle to the hard ground below.

I stayed in that position for a while till after Macario had ridden off to attend to some other matter and Hemetre grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me off the ground stifling laughter.

"Smooth move genius." Jade laughed, but I didn't mind because her laugh sounded like the tinkling of bells.

The double doors at the top of the stairs were opened by two servants and who I assumed was Lord Sahib walked out behind them beckoning us to come inside. He wore a white robe accented with maroon highlights and a blood red scarf draped around his neck along with several shining charms. He walked with a limp in his step, but at the same time he strutted like he owned the town, and I suppose in this case he pretty much did.

"You see how my little village has prospered and turned into the shining "Golden Port" of the empire, all thanks too my family's efforts mind you. I have more wealth than many kings and a full serving staff to fill my every need." He paused at a window viewing the mountainous hills to the south. "But I have no military, no great warriors, no one to defend my people except for the truly incompetent guard."

He turned to face me and stared deep into my eyes as if he was reading my mind, dissecting me from the inside. "It would seem that Ammon thinks you could be the solution to that. You see out there in those mountains a leopard that size of a lion has been terrorizing the farmers and slaughtering their lifestock. The men they've sent to face it down have yet to return, and that was 3 weeks ago."

I quickly looked to Hemetre thinking the man must be mistaken, but I saw he was staring at me too. Looking between them, I saw that there was no mistake and that this was the "special test" Chief Lector Ammon had in mind, "But I'm just a trainee, nothing special.." Before Hemetre cut me off, "Perseus this is what I've been training you for. You are ready, it's time for you to take the first step."

"So will you or Jade be coming with me?" But I knew the answer from the look on their faces, "You will be dropped off by Macario, I believe you've met, near the mountain base with supplies in this pack." He grabbed an over the shoulder bag that was a beautiful sea blue with gold embroidery, "And then from there you will track the beast and dispose of it."

"When do I leave?" I asked.

"Better sooner than later, so you'll be leaving in 10 minutes enough time to say your goodbyes and then be off before sun fall." Sahib answered with finality, like this could be the last goodbye, which it very well could be. Then he turned to go, but turned back to say, "Just to let you know, that bag is magically blessed by the priests of Ra. You should be able to store it in the Duat without second though if the need ever arrises."

I turned to Hemetre and Jade, who both had concern in their eyes, Jade more so, but they covered it with brave faces. "If I didn't fully believe that you could do this Perseus I wouldn't even let the thought cross my mind of letting you go. But you're more than ready, and once you complete your quest the House will be able to graduate you to a full scribe of the first nome. Come back and make me proud my boy, but if you don't mind taking your time, I've heard Sahib has one of the most impressive collections of old Egyptian magic, speaking of I must find him." And he left Jade and I, looking down hallways to check which one he had gone down.

"Percy, you're gonna do great, I just know you are. And you better come back in one piece or so help me gods." Then she did something that shocked me even more than the news that I was going on a solo suicide mission, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. Before I could even respond she ran off in the direction Hemetre had left. I took one last glance back at the two of them turning a corner, and headed back to the front courtyard to board me favorite type of transport.. Rhino.