Page 22 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

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Ra was halfway through the burning city when things started to change. Rubble and bricks began rising in the air. He jumped out of the way several times to keep from getting picked up by debris as it rose. Ra looked up and watched as the buildings that had been smoldering only seconds ago began to disintegrate along with the ashes, cars, and everything else. Within minutes, the landscape was bare. And then the land rumbled beneath his feet. Slowly, rising from the earth, an entire civilization began to evolve right before his eyes. It was like watching a flower bloom through the lens of a camera that had sped it up a thousand times over. When the land finally stopped shifting, he was standing on a dirt road in the middle of an ancient Egyptian city. People began to appear. But instead of going about a normal day's work, they looked around with panicked eyes.

“It’s happening again,” a woman to his left wailed as she fell to her knees. She wore a long sheath dress with a belt around her waist. Her plaited long black hair lay over her right shoulder. It brushed the dirt as she fell forward, hands hitting the earth. She wasn’t the only person in tears.

Ra turned in a slow circle as he watched men, women, and children begin to run in a panic, crying and yelling. They didn’t appear to see him at all.

“Why won’t the pharaohs do anything to stop this?” a man yelled. He was pointing toward a hill where a huge palace stood.

His ancestors.Ra knew that’s where they would be. Suddenly, the yelling turned even more panicked as he smelled the burning. He glanced behind him and saw some of the structures on fire. Without another thought, he turned and ran for the palace.

Ra could feel the heat at his back and hear the horrible screams. They were no longer screams of panic but of pain. The smell hit him next, and he had to swallow down the bile rising in his throat. He pumped his arms and legs harder. His shield banged against his back, but it was barely a thought as his feet sped across the ground to the palace.

At some point, he began to wonder if the damn palace was moving away from him or if it was merely a mirage. Surely, he should be there by now.

You must not stop running, a deep voice said in his mind. The palace is real, but the only way you will reach it is if you persist.

“Ramses?”

It is I, the voice answered.

“How long do I have to keep this up?”

Not much longer. If you stop, you will burn.

He had no plans to die in hell. Ra kept his legs moving, despite the fact that his muscles felt as though they were on fire. He knew the actual fire would be worse. By the time he reached the staircase to the palace entrance, his legs were numb. But he didn’t slow his pace in the slightest. When he finally reached the last step, he saw the one he knew to be Ramses, one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs, standing at the huge open archway into the palace. The pharaoh waved Ra forward. He jogged to Ramses. Ra started to turn back to survey the city, but Ramses grabbed his arm and pulled him into the palace. “Do not look back,” the Egyptian king said.

They walked into the dark interior. The only light was the fire from the torches lining the stone walls.

“It has been a long time since we have seen you,” Ramses said. His voice sounded strained, as if he were in pain.

“Are you all right?” Ra asked.

“I may not be burning yet, but I still feel their pain,” he said.

Ra’s eyes widened. “You feel their pain?”

Ramses nodded. “It is part of my punishment. I bear the pain of my people over and over again.”

“How can you stand it?”

“Because there is no other option.”

They reached a room that opened up into a huge interior with vaulted ceilings. Five thrones rested at the front, but they sat empty.

“Where are the others?” Ra asked.

“They are already enduring their inferno,” he answered. “I asked the demi-lord of this level to allow me to speak with you.”

Ra wasn’t an idiot. There would be a price for that favor. “What will it cost you to speak to me?”

“It matters not. Ask what you’ve come to ask.”

“How do I take a mortal from the underworld?”

“So it’s true?” Ramses asked. “Thereisa mortal here?”

Ra nodded. “A female. Cast here by dark elementals.”

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