by user
«I see nothing, what can we do? Someone help us!» Emmanuel shouted.
Those Shadow Demons, black and invisible to their eyes in the dark of night, began to attack them all together. They came close, hit and ran. The three could neither dodge nor attack. Tanya was no longer with them.
«You will never have my cross!» Emmanuel said, taking his White Sword.
The Shadow Demons, with changing shapes and black eyes, had surrounded them. The three friends were side by side and suffered more hits than they reject. Damian was scratched in the left leg, Emmanuel in the back. They were light wounds but they continued to increase. The Demons swirled around them and the boys were unable to hit them.
«We are doomed. We must escape!» Diosmed suggested desperately, when he heard the voice of a man with a very strong tone and unusual words:
«Mhepo! Anisi apikàv iriv irèb ugnàk!»
«Wind! Deliver me from evil in front of me!»
Vortices of wind appeared, gray in color, which struck the Shadow Demons and put an end to their existence. Then one another whirlwind surrounded the three boys and rotated clockwise around them so strong that even the last enemy, who continued to strike up them, was defeated.
«Guys! Are you okay?» Tanya asked anxiously.
«We’re fine, I think» Damian replied.
«Where were you?» Diosmed asked.
«Did you save us?» Emmanuel asked.
«No. He did it» Tanya replied.
She lit a fire, which lit up in the dark and showed them the face of a mysterious man. He was two meters and twenty tall and possessed powerful muscles. He had black’s dreadlocks long to the height of the shoulders, a beard not very thick, lips typically African and a small nose, long and with the slightly larger nostrils of the western men. He was about twenty-five years old, he wore a necklace made of sharp wooden thorns, five centimeters long. He was wearing a flap of brown cotton folded to form a short, his chest was bare and he had sandals on his feet. His black skin could make him one with the night, but that was not his real gift but something else. When they discovered, were all astonished.
«Mohat. This is my name» he said in his language.
«I’m grateful for your help. The Egyptians who I met weren’t so dark-skinned like you, what a rarity» Damian said, holding out his hand, but the young man stepped back.
«Lucifugus, surrender!» Mohat shouted at him.
«Calm yourself down! He is a friend of mine!» Tanya said.
Damian, a bit shocked by those words, looked better in his face and noticed that the eyes of Mohat had the iris of a gray color while the pupil was white.
«His eyes, is he a demon?» Damian suggested.
«No. It’s trivial that you two are accused of the same thing. But unlike you, Damian, this guy has nothing to do with the Demons» Diosmed said stopping the friend’s shoulder.
«I am blind, I was born this way. My eyes have this gray color that makes me strong. My grandfather always said me these words. He was the village chief of this place, now reduced to shreds. Follow me, let’s get out of here» Mohat said and the four followed him into the darkness lightly lit by Tanya’s fire.
«How does he move around and to know where to go if he does not see?» Diosmed asked.
«And what do I know, at times he was about to attack me! And then, won’t he be cold wearing just that shorts?» Damian whispered to his friend.
«Both of you shut up!» Tanya roared, scolding the two boys.
They walked on a deserted land, until they reached a gray cave high no more than five meters. They entered inside and found themselves in a dark tunnel. Tanya continued to use her fire to light the way, which was useless to Mohat who knew the road by memory.
«Aah!», Emmanuel leaped into the air.
«What’s going on?» Damian asked, noting the presence of a red scorpion that almost punished Emmanuel with his tail.
«He’s gone, be quiet. Let’s take these sticks and use them as torches» Diosmed suggested.
And so they did, picked them up from the ground and Tanya lit them with her fire. They continued to walk along a rocky tunnel, very narrow in width and low in height, where they could barely pass. It was difficult to distinguish colors due to the absence of sunlight. At one point they arrived at a junction area with eight different tunnels.
«Follow me!» Mohat said with his strong voice.
They entered in the third tunnel to the right, starting from the central one. They walked for a half hour and then came out and found themselves under a starry sky.
«Look at you in the sky, the Constellation of the Dragon is upon us!» Tanya said.
Damian turned his eyes to the sky, he struggled to make out anything, but then he saw that constellation with a large quadrangular head and a sinuous and linear body. They had come in a green oasis which was located near a small lake surrounded by palms, baobab and other shrubs. A small hut stood on the vegetation, it was equal to that of the village they had left, with the typical structure of wood and thatch.
«You’re back!» a woman said in the language of Mohat.
«Yes, Shayla. These are some guys that I saved from demons, right in our village» Mohat said.
The four understood her thanks to the Language of the Gods.
«Welcome, I am Shayla and he is my brother Mohat. What you saw before it was our village, unfortunately it had been destroyed by Demons Lucifugi more than two months ago» the girl explained.
«Those Shadow Demons?» Damian asked.
«Yes, they destroyed our village and killed our family and friends, but the real culprit is the one who carries that cursed symbol!» Mohat explained angrily.
«The Pharaoh! We came in Egypt at the request of two Egyptians. Their village had also been destroyed by the pharaoh» Damian said.
«Whatever your path, I don’t trust you!» Mohat interrupted him looking to Shayla.
«You are impostors, confess! Who sends you? And why does Mohat understand your language and you understand ours?» Shayla ranted against them.
She was a young girl, slightly smaller than the brother, with dark complexion and with two large lips, she had long straight hair blacks, two black eyes and the iris of gray color. She, unlike her brother, saw well. She had a small nose and thin eyebrows. She was much beautiful, she was wearing a long gray dress with a slight neck, short sleeves and undulating black lines drawn on.
«Calm down! There is an explanation to all of this!» Tanya said.
«And what would it be? I don’t see, but I can hear your voices. The language of our village, the Kudmar, handed down from generation to generation. Only we speak this language, so how do you do it? My sister is deaf, but she manages to understand thanks to the lip that your words are different from Kudmar and other languages spoken in Egypt. What witchcraft is this! Did you come here on Naav’s order? So it’s got the final punishment of Pharaoh?» Mohat said evoking its whirlwinds.
«We are not men of Pharaoh! We came here to defeat him!» Diosmed shouted.
Mohat calmed down for a moment.
«We speak the Language of the Gods that allows us to understand the words of the speaker and answer using this language, but who listen us understands our words in their own language. It is why the lip reader result different to your sister. Rather, who are you and what do you know about the Pharaoh?» Tanya said with a gentle voice.
«I beg your pardon» Mohat said doubtfully, then explained everything to his sister.
«Sit around the table, I’ll prepare something to make it up to you» Shayla said.
«I’ve never met anyone outside the village who could speak our language. It’s a real magic! We are “The Brothers of the Wind”. I am blind from birth, but my sister is deaf. As a child a serious illness was about to kill us and for this reason my grandfather, the village head, invoked the Ancients to save us and so the “Power of Wind” manifested itself. The disease inherent within us, that it would lead us to certain death
, it was blocked, but limited to us the sight and the hearing. Something of strange happened that not even my grandfather, a skilled shaman who was able to talk to the dead, could understand. I can see the demons and Shayla can hear them and their verses» explained Mohat.
«Your grandfather had been a great man!» Emmanuel said out of respect.
«Thank you for saving us, now I understand. Only you would have been able to see those Shadow Demons in total darkness!» Damian said.
«Yes. We call them Lucifugi, or those who escape from the light of day. I still not understand entirely clear, I know that you are four, but I see in you a dark presence. Why?» Mohat asked.
«It’s a long story...» Damian answered.
«The dinner is ready! Eat everything!» Shayla said while brought to the table a multitude of fish, which had been cooked using a pot placed on a small fireplace present in the hut. The table had a round shape and was low, so they sat with his legs crossed on straw. Every blue fish had been seasoned with green spices that smelled good.
«Wow. I’m very hungry! Thanks!» Emmanuel said, before to eat the food.
«This boy is cool!» Diosmed said laughing.
They ate everything quickly, after Tanya decided to explain to the brothers throughout their history using the Language of the Gods and Mohat translated into Kudmar for Shayla.
«Your journey was very hard. I don’t know those Egyptians, there are many small villages, or maybe I should say there were. Since Naav decided to unify all Egypt under his reign, no independent village was spared. With his powers even managed to tame the roman army, so that Rome itself has given him, after centuries of domination, the privilege to govern the Egypt as his ally. Naav is the ruler and his delusions of grandeur have gone him beyond the Nile. His demons even arrived in Jerusalem, with the intention of making a dark plan. When we were traveling our village was attacked. We had left it to trade with a nearby village. Once the Egypt had many small villages united by the trade, now they are almost all destroyed. The three that we have visited, unfortunately, have been devastated from demons. The Symbol of Naav, with the Eye of Horus that sees everything and the Ankh of power, was engraved on their homes. At the sight of this nefarious tragedy, we rushed to our village, where we discovered the sad truth explained» Mohat.
«Mephistofeles! His hand will certainly be there. What else he has combined in the rest of the world! This Pharaoh Naav also will be a demon too! Have you ever seen him?» Diosmed asked.
«No, but we know where he is. In Giza resides his outpost, between the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren, Menkaure and the Great Sphinx. We seek revenge, our aim is to bring us to Giza and avenge the villages that he destroyed» Mohat said firmly as he shook his fists.
«We will be with you!» Damian promised, and the others nodded.
«Why did he do this to the people?» Emmanuel asked.
«The Demons feed on human flesh. In this way his dark servants get their nourishment and give their services in return. That cursed symbol allows the demons to appear in every place where it was engraved. They are the invisible and indelible, appear out of nowhere, are illuminated by a red light and then disappear. To put an end to all this, we must defeat and the Pharaoh! Tomorrow morning, we leave to the dawn, now go to rest and» Mohat said, showing them the little straw bedding to sleep.
«It was destiny that brought us together» Damian said, offering his hand out of respect for Mohat, who this time held her in friendship.
The four guys thanked them for the meal and for the hospitality. Then they fell asleep while Mohat and Shayla resumed order in their home, that was half in size of what was once their home.
Damian was the last to fall asleep, still thinking about that symbol and those strange words he had heard. “Dragons have hearts on the right. Whose voice was that?”
The next morning, the warm sun of Egypt radiated the oasis in the desert.
«Come on, wake up!» Tanya shouted to the late risers, who jumped to their feet in fear.
«Take it» Mohat said, handing him some small black loaves to eat.
«Good! Of course, I know that you cook well!» Diosmed said while guzzling goes.
«We will cross the Underground Tunnels, some secret passages that will lead us from our allies to Ravenat, after which we will go to Giza. You must stay unite, the darkness is very dangerous» explained Mohat to them.
«Who was the creator of these tunnels?» Damian asked.
«They were the inhabitants of the “Seven Founding Villages”, of which the ours was part. For centuries and centuries, the common people have created these secret passages that open only to us» Shayla explained.
«Can you understand me?» Damian asked, surprised.
«I understand enough of your language. Now, let’s go!» Shayla invited them.
They took supplies for the journey and left the hut. Water and food that were put in a large wicker basket that Mohat put on his shoulder thanks to a leather belt. They walked for about five hundred meters to the northeast of the oasis and arrived at the entry of the Underground Tunnels. It was a gray stone cave, six meters high and three meters wide. Once they crossed the threshold, they walked about twenty paces and when they reached the bottom of the cave, Mohat stopped abruptly, then placed his right hand on the wall and began to utter words:
«Ariz awazina vakay, awizit aroni!»
«Hidden path, show yourself!»
In that wall, which looked like a dead end, ten small passages appeared.
«Use the fire to light these branches» Mohat said to Tanya.
He offered everyone the branches who he had in the basket and Tanya burned them with her power.
«Wind of Creation!» Mohat shouted and created, from nothing, clouds of gray color for each of them.
«What are they for?» Emmanuel asked.
«Go up. They will carry you along the way» Shayla replied.
«They are soft!» Damian noted touching the cloud, then he went up on the cloud.
When all were gone up on those little clouds that hovered above the ground just thirty centimeters, Mohat used the Power of Wind, his irises shone and the clouds began to move quickly. They took the fifth tunnel on the left, among the ten that had appeared in the wall. They entered one by one in that narrow space which, however, allowed the clouds, with passengers on board, to enter and move quickly. They set off at great speed all together and the torches lit up the street without turning off, despite the flow generated by the motion of the clouds.
«Aishiii», after that sound a pack of bats came up against him.
«Stay still, don’t attack!» Mohat ordered.
They passed among those creatures with little difficulty, then they heard the sound of a landslide.
« Help! I’m here!» a voice shouted.
Mohat stopped moving the clouds and they stopped in the place of the happened one.
«It’s near here, I can feel it!» Damian said.
To the right of the main route, they saw boulders that blocked a path, which branched off from their path. Mohat descended from the cloud and quickly reached the rubble. He waved his hands and made the boulders rise with the whirlwinds of wind. After he has moved, appeared a boy of about ten years, with white complexion and short hair of vermilion red color. He had two blue eyes and wore a white suit and black boots.
«Malph, what are you still doing here?» Mohat asked.
«What I always do, I’m looking for my father. Is it true, frog?» the Red replied.
« Cra cra cra » croaked the green frog in his hands.
«How many times have I told you not must not to come and play in this place! Despite everything that’s happened, you’re still here», Mohat snorted, «Why did that wall collapse?»
«It was them! Some passages are falling apart. They found a way to appear here with their symbol. They are looking for something!» Malph answered.
«This Pharaoh is a smart enemy!» Damian, who had come cl
ose to the rubble, said.
«Hey! Who are you?» Malph glared at them.
«Calm down, they are our friends. Now, you say to us what is the shortest path to go to the Village of Ravenat?» Shayla asked, from a distance.
«Grr… that’s fine. Go straight along this passage, then at the junction turn right, then down and back on already» Malph said while taking on transparent features.
«Come on, let’s go!» Mohat said.
They climbed both of those little clouds, this time they moved slower. Damian was just behind Mohat.
«Why is that kid all alone here?» Damian asked.
«Malph lived in a nearby village. My village, called Zikùr, was a close friend of his village, called Zakar, which unlike us, housed people from all over the world. And that’s exactly why that white child, with red hair, is here in Egypt» explained Mohat.
«How can you tell it if you’re blind?» Damian asked in amazement.
«Didn’t you understand? Malph died a year ago because of the Pharaoh. That is his spirit. As to welcoming seems t o a normal kid, it is not. Tell me, have you ever seen someone get hit by the debris and to step unhurt? You will have noticed his diaphanous appearance» said Mohat.
«How is it possible? Before it was normal, then suddenly it became almost transparent!» Damian said with disbelief.
«His spirit has remained tied to this place. He always played in this place together with his frog, they were inseparable friends. One day his father died during the repair of these tunnels that create a dense network of long and narrow tunnels. Sometimes they fall and we must repair them. Only the inhabitants of the Seven Villages can pass through them thanks to a special agreement with the ancient magic of the spirits of our ancestors who built them centuries ago. It was they who excavated all the underground passages in the depths of the earth and created the Grey Caves, the access doors. For you it will seem all dark or barely visible, instead I see the ancient powers flowing into these rocks that surround us. Malph died right here, his spirit remained so tied to this place that he managed to preserve his human appearance for a short time. Then it takes the transparent shape typical of the souls of the dead. If your doubt has not yet been refuted, know that I am blind, but I can see the Demons and also the Dead» Mohat explained.