Chat Noir, Ladybug, Justice and Ember walked through the portal and were confronted by the dramatic rising form of the great stone Sphinx of Giza.
As one of the oldest known monumental statues of Egypt, Chat Noir and Ladybug recognized it right away. How could anyone mistake this quintessential Egyptian landmark. The body of the huge lion laid out in an alert position, with its pharaoh's face turned to the east.
"I always wondered what happened to the nose," Chat Noir mused tapping the side of his own.
Ember looked a bit surprised, then ruffled his feathers, "That, you can ask your kwami about," he said in an unimpressed voice.
"He thought it would be really funny to distract from the Phoenix harvest festival," Justice rolled her eyes, and pinched the bridge of her nose, "the temple priests went into a frenzy thinking a curse was upon the land!"
"No!" Chat Noir said, as his eyes went wide, "you mean Plagg…actually…never mind…I can't say I'm surprised."
They drew closer, until they stood right between the splayed out front paws of the limestone sphinx. At this close vantage point they could make out a series of faint hieroglyphs. They looked questionly at their Phoenix guide.
In ancient script it proclaims, "This is the Splendid Place of the First Time," Ember told them.
"The first time of what?" Ladybug asked, examining the chiseled symbols that had managed to survive so many lifetimes.
"The first time I was reborn," Ember answered quietly, but his eyes drifted off toward the Nile River, as if trying to recount a dream. The dawn had not quite arrived, but the darkness of the night had begun to soften.
"I remember that reincarnation," a chipper voice spoke from the other side of the Sphinx. "That night the Milky Way stars poured into the Nile…the pathway for souls at the start of a new Sothic cycle." The speaker pranced around the statue and came into view; A lean jackal, boldly observing them with a cool stare. "I thought I saw the morning star of Venus rise."
"Jackal," Ember addressed stiffly.
"Bennu," the Jackal responded in kind.
"Don't use that name," the Phoenix said lowly to the jackal.
"But Bennu…" the jackal persisted.
"Don't…" the phoenix bristled sending sparks from the tips of his feathers.
"Fine. As you wish," the jackal conceded. Then ignoring the tense silence from the phoenix the jackal inquired, "And who are these two young mortals with you. A new ladybug and black cat desiring an extension on their lifeline?"
"This is the wild kwami, Jackal," Ember spoke back to Ladybug and Chat Noir. "He has the power to endow weilders of the miraculous with long life."
"Or take it away," added the jackal, "…among other talents," he bragged, ignoring the glare from the fiery bird. "The Egyptians sometimes called me Anubis. The Greeks called me Hades. I've been known as Lord of death….scale Master…Guardian of Life's threshold…Humans are so funny with their desire to name things," at this he met the smoldering glare of the phoenix. Then with a smirk and turned again to Ladybug and Chat Noir. "With all the mortal's attempts to define the role of a wild kwami, all you really need to know is that when it comes to wielders, I weigh the balance of your lives and judge your heart accordingly."
"What are our lives judged on?" Chat Noir asked.
"The qualities of honor; Truth, morality, and justice," the dark jackal replied. It is the test of virtue. My dear Lady Maat, who you've clearly already meet, will assist me." The jackal looked over at Justice expectantly.
"Only kwami and those weilders to be judged can enter the chamber," Justice responded to their confused silence. "Maat will go the rest of the way with you, and I will wait for her here." Lady Justice, held the amulet and released her transformation, saying "Maat, scales weighed."
The swift ostrich kwami flew from the amulet, and patted the old blind woman draped in black on the hand, and the withered form of Justice sat down at the feet of the Sphinx.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir," Justice momentarily waylaid them, "There is an Egyptian proverb of Ashby that says; 'O people of the earth, men and women, born and made of the elements…realize that your home is not on the earth but in the Light. Why have you delivered yourselves unto death, having power to partake of immortality."
Both Ladybug and Chat Noir shifted on their feet, unsure of the meaning of her words.
"One day we will meet again," Justice smiled to herself. "Then you will understand."
The morning star glimmered, fading as the first rays of the sun crept over the sand. "Come now children!" Maat chirped, not wasting time on further introductions or explanations. She sped from the feet of the Sphinx towards the Giza Pyramids. "The sun will only grant us so much time!" she urged the group. "Quickly! We must reach the threshold!" she called back to them.
They raced after Maat, leaving her content ancient weilder to rest her weary feet, but not knowing where the kwami might lead. Maat reached one of the pyramids, and floated up high to a particular brick on the east side of the impressive structure. As soon as she touched it, the square block moved inward with a grinding noise. The rising sun shot thru, hitting a reflective disk, which allowed the solar beam to release a hidden hatch, and a doorway opened up before the pair.
"Have you ever watched mummy movies?" Chat Noir asked Ladybug as they were about to step through the doorway.
"Chat of all times I absolutely don't want to think about those kind of movies, now would most certainly be it!" Ladybug pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Just saying…We are following 'Anubis' into a tomb. I'm going to be prepared for anything," Chat Noir said, ducking his head under the doorframe.
Ladybug hesitated a moment, then with a grumble followed suit. "Stupid cat! Now I am thinking about mummy movies!"
The narrow rectangular hallway was lit by Ember who floated before them. The floor beneath them had a gradual slope that seemed to draw them deeper and deeper under the base of the pyramid.
Ladybug squeezed her way up to the front with Ember. She rubbed her arm awkwardly, and looked up at the Kwami of Wisdom. "Ember, who was the jackal talking about before? Who is Bennu?" Ladybug finally asked softly.
The phoenix sighed mournfully, and met Ladybug's eyes grief stricken.
"…or if you'd rather not say…." Ladybug rushed quickly, "I'm sorry to bring it up….I just…"
"No. You should know. It is part of why we are here," Ember lowered his head. "I was once called 'Bennu. My first name, given to me by the weilders.
There was such a pause that Ladybug thought that perhaps that was all he would reveal, but then he continued, "Many cycles ago…that for me, seem as fresh as yesterday…Tiki, Plagg, and I fought side by side against an evil man who was terrorizing towns within Egypt.
Tiki's weilder at that same time was a warrior of creation called Khepri. A stern, stoic man of few words…very different from the Ladybug kwami herself, but they worked well together. He was a relentless worker, determined, stubborn, and a friend you could always count on.
Plagg's weilder was a beautiful and fierce woman named Bastet. She became the most famous of all the black cat weilders throughout history. She was adored by all as a great defender of animals and mankind…but even more for the wild parties she would throw with wine, music, and dancing.
But my weilder was different. Seshat was gentle and soft spoken. Her black hair was always pulled up to the top of her head in hundreds of meticulous braids to keep out of her face when she was working. She was diligent in her work. Her nimble, delicate hand would fly across a page of papyrus whenever she got an idea….and Seshat always had plenty of those." At this Ember smiled fondly at the memory. "She was constantly writing and loved to design complicated architectural designs. This chamber of the kwami, beneath the pyramid we now stand in was inspired by one of her ideas," he said looking around the hall.
"Before we met, Seshat's family's village had been attacked. She had been the only one in the village who had stood up against them. Although her village was destroyed, the Miraculous Guardians decided that day to make her my weilder."
"Seshat left her family in the city which became known as Alexandria, and joined our team. We fought many battles together. She would stick my feather quill miraculous into a silver headband she wore over her braids, which had the North Star engraved in the front. And she herself became the guiding star of the weilders. She and I were the source of strategy for all of the battles. Her brilliant mind formed ideas as if transforming clay into works of art."
Ember's eyes shone with love, "but more than her skill…the bond we had was like nothing I had ever known with another human. We were so in sync that even at a distance we could feel each other's emotions."
"One day we received word that the evil commander was working on staging an attack on our borders. She received word at the same time that her father had fallen ill. I could sense her resolve being torn….feeling a sense of duty to the weilders, but a great love for her father. I told her that she should leave me with Tiki and Plagg to strategize, and that she should go to her father. The plan was that she would meet back with us in three days time. I have never regretted a decision more…"
"On the second day, while working on our plan of attack, I suddenly felt the most intense anguish and pain. My flame ragged and consumed me before Tiki and Plagg here at Giza. Within moments I was engulfed, and returned to ash. As a phoenix my cycles mirrored my chosen. When my task or assignment was complete I would regenerate and start anew. But this was different. As I emerged from the soot I was told that Alexandria was burning."
"The three of us rushed to the great city on the coast, but we were too late. We had been deceived by the evil warrior, who had sent the false message about Seshat's father in an effort to divide us and eliminate our strategist. She had fought him alone, a mere mortal without a miraculous. With her cunning, she had defeated him. But screams from her precious library waylaid her victory. The civilians of the city tried to put out the blaze the evil army had ignited, but the inferno was fueled by the very scrolls the scribes tried to protect."
"Again and again Seshat dove into the blaze of the library to rescue the scholars and scribes from inferno, but in doing so became trapped herself."
"Once we reached the smoldering timbers of the famed library of Alexandria, I already knew her fate. Just like the countless priceless treasures within her beloved library…she was gone forever."
"There are only embers left," Tiki had remarked, surveying the chard remains of the halls.
"Only embers," I had repeated.
"Bennu are you going to be okay?" Tiki had asked sympathetically.
"Bennu is no more…" I had told her. "There is only Ember left."
Chat Noir and Ladybug's faces fell, unsure how to comfort the phoenix in his residing grief.
"I left the miraculous team, and left to the far mountain temple of the Guardians, consumed by my grief. I no longer took a weilder after that day, but was commissioned to be the guide for the miraculous trials along with the wild kwami."
"Ember, I …" Ladybug started to say, but was interrupted by the ostrich kwami.
"We have arrived," the Maat announced.
The narrow hall, opened up into a wide circular dome. A tilted walkway across a flat, still pool of water fed by a fountain at the end, led to a round platform at the center. It was illuminated by a thin beam of sunlight entering the cave from the eastern side. There was a four foot stone pillar that rose out of the middle with a circular indent in the top. A layer of white sand coated the base.
Chat Noir unzipped his pocket, and produced the metal disc they had collected from the joint stones in the museum. Then Ladybug slid the disc they had received at the courts of Horus onto it.
He looked over to Ladybug, and they both took a corner of the interlocking discs, laying them into the pillar. The light of the sun refracted off the shining disc, bouncing off the walls of the dome. The illuminated room revealed the colorful hieroglyphs on every inch. They depicted the lives of everyday people over many generations. Not especially heroic or dramatic parts of history…just the everyday moments of people living their lives.
From the pillar a scale extended its arms out from it. Then from either side of the floor, two half-filled alabaster water jars emerged from the ground. Ladybug had one before her and Chat Noir the other.
The jackal handed both Chat Noir and Ladybug a wooden ladle. "Bring these to the water in the pool. Use them to fill your jar," the jackal instructed. "Each drop is an ounce of your life force."
Then the ostrich fit her beak into the side of the west wall, which slid open a panel. Inside was a sand timer. With her wing she flipped it upside down, and the white sand spilled through to the bottom portion. "Your time is short. Don't let it slip away," she warned. "You only have till the last grain of sand falls to determine your fate."
Ladybug and Chat Noir raced to the edge of the pool and dipped their ladles into the water. Ladybug gaspt, for the reflection within the water, she could see moments from her life played out within.
"LB! Look at the walls!" Chat Noir pointed beside her. The hieroglyphs were changing. Moments from Chat Noir and Ladybug's time as weilders started to write themselves along the walls. Their proud moments, and those they regretted. Acts of valor and mistakes they had made along the way.
They dipped their ladles carefully, and quickly returned to their jars. Adding the water to the jars, they returned again to the pool. Over and over again they returned to the pool. Again and again they raced between the pool and their jar. Faster and faster they moved, and the levels in the jars rose with each trip. Even when they became weary, they kept going back and forth with their water.
"Hurry," Maat cautioned. "There are only seconds left!"
Ladybug and Chat Noir ran from the pool one last time with their last ladle of water. Ladybug poured hers into her jar, but Chat Noir tripped in his rush. He fell full force into his own jar, knocking it to the ground. The water poured out from it. He scrambled to right his jar, but the sand beneath his feet whisked away every once of liquid.
As it seeped away, Chat Noir collapsed to the ground, and the color faded from his cheeks. His life was being drained away with the water.
Ladybug leaped with her jar to his side. With all her strength she lifted her own jar, and pour half her water into Chat's jar. As it flowed into his jar, Chat Noir regained his strength and color returned to his face. Just in time…for the last fleck of sand plummeted from the top of the timer.
"Mi'lady!" Chat Noir breathed, looking up at Ladybug from the ground, realizing what she had done; she had given a piece of her life to save his.
"Is this justice?" the jackal asked. "By the cat's error he should have died."
"Not justice, but mercy," the ostrich nodded her head approvingly toward Ladybug. "It was her life to give."
The ostrich plucked a feather from her wing and laid it on the opposite side of the scale. Using magic she caused both jars to rise.
"Water!" the ostrich declared raising each jar into the air and pouring them out onto the scale.
Chat Noir and Ladybug gaspt, dropping to the ground.
The scale tipped.
"Earth!" the jackal chanted, magically lifting the water drenched sand around the based in a spiral onto the scale making it balance.
"Fire!" Ember called, blasting the wet sand causing the grit to drop away, and the water within to evaporate into steam.
"Air!" all three kwami called together and the three sent the cloud of steam into the gasping mouths of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Both weilders rose, revived by the breath of life from within the elements.
Chat Noir jumped toward Ladybug, lifting her up in his arms, and spun her around.
She clung onto his shoulders, wiping away joyful tears. "I thought I had lost you!" she whispered.
"I thought so too!" he whispered back, squeezing her tighter as if somehow afraid she might slip away from him again.
"The water needed to be poured out into the sand anyway?!" Ladybug looked questionably at the kwami, "So it didn't make a difference when I gave Chat mine?"
"I think your actions and intent made a difference to him," the jackal smiled.
"Mi'lady if you didn't already have my heart, you'd have it now a million time over! Without hesitation you sacrificed part of your life for me!" Chat Noir embraced her again.
"You think I don't remember how many times, you've done the same," she said into his chest.
Chat Noir pulled away so he could brush the tears from her eyes, and then turned toward the kwami confused. "But what about the task? Carrying the water? All the things we did in our lives to earn the extra time? Chat Noir asked bewildered. "All the water was poured out anyway?!"
"The lesson is just this…" the ostrich gestured to the scale. "No one, not even a weilder can earn a single second to their life through the things they do. Life is not earned…it is a gift."
"It is up to you how you spend it, wether you waste it on trivial things for yourself or pour it out freely for others. There are evil beings that probably deserve death, but ensure. There are noble beings that deserve life, yet are taken away all too soon," mused the jackal.
"No mortal can know their allowance of time," the ostrich added. "What makes life precious is that you must live each moment like it could be your last. Your hearts have been weighed weilders. I have returned the gift of life to you," the ostrich instructed, "It is beyond the average time given to a human…but of course you are still mortal. You could use caution and live long, or risk it all in the pursuit of heroic deeds. Now it is up to you to proceed on a noble, just path…or not."
Thank you readers! Thanks again to Malicious hero for your ideas and suggestions connected to the Egypt chapters! Please don't forget to follow/favorite this story to ensure you don't miss out on the coming chapters! Ladybug and Chat Noir are destined for Canada next! (Thank you to NintendoNate1 for suggesting it in the reviews!) I am currently also working on chapters set in India and South Africa (Thank you the guest and to Vanilla123catnezzer for the suggestion these in reviews), and other locations…I'm still holding onto the chapter to come set in Mexico that involves a pivotal moment between Ladybug and Chat too.
If there is a country/city that I have not written about yet, that you would like to see Ladybug and Chat Noir visit please let me know in reviews. I am so excited each time I hear from readers that they are enjoying this fantasy and am encouraged to write more!