Desert Rhapsody - Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Jiang Yuan woke from a nightmare.

As always, she had dreamed of a long, winding corridor, pitch-black and narrow, with endless stone walls pressing in on her. All she could do was keep fleeing forward. She could not stop. Up and up she climbed, beneath the silent stone idol’s gaze.

She ran until her limbs went weak, until her hands and feet were scraped bloody. The road to the underworld was filled with fear and pressure, with silent torment. She panted, not knowing when it would end-even if the end was death. …Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it might burst. She could not speak. Her whole body trembled. She lifted her head and saw the idol’s enormous, pupil-less eyes staring down at her, the jewel on its chest as red as blood.

Her eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright, drenched in cold sweat.

The people gathered around her were startled and backed away one after another. Blinding sunlight struck Jiang Yuan’s face, and she instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes.

She was leaning against stone. The hand she had braced on the ground felt around and found hard-packed sand, trampled firm by countless passing feet.

“*(#*@!”

She frowned. Her head was roaring. Deafening shouts rose around her as people cried out in panic, using a language she could not understand. Jiang Yuan adjusted to the sunlight and lowered her hand.

What entered her vision were rows of stone pillars, soaring as if they propped up the sky. Bright sunlight poured down all around her. Countless touches of gold, silver, and painted color adorned the stone walls, while papyrus and divine statues decorated the temple. It was so tall. She stood inside an open hall, magnificent and austere, towering enough to leave a person speechless.

…Where was this?

Without moving much, Jiang Yuan swept her gaze over this dreamlike place. Bald people in white linen robes and woven-grass sandals were staring down at her, angry and packed tightly together. …They did not even have eyebrows. Somehow, their furious expressions looked faintly ridiculous-and all the more unsettling for it.

…Where was Abal?

Jiang Yuan jolted fully back to reality from the dream.

She sprang to her feet with such abrupt force that the people opposite her recoiled on instinct, shouting loudly. She swayed as her vision went white from standing too quickly, then swiftly backed up against a pillar and clutched her head. After fleeing all night, every ache in her body came surging back at once. She felt awful, as if she were burning up. One incomprehensible curse after another poured into her ears, making her feel only irritated… and uneasy.

Abal was not beside her. She was alone here.

Jiang Yuan touched the pillar behind her and quickly scanned her surroundings. She recognized no one. Nothing here was familiar. Enormous stone columns stood rooted in the ground; a single base stone was already taller than a person. Everywhere she looked was brilliant painted color. In the distance, she could see a courtyard and hear the murmur of flowing water. Green date palms swayed in the wind. In this world covered in sandy yellow and green, a breeze brushed her face, dry and scorching hot.

The bald people parted to form a path, and a young child walked over.

He, too, was bald, without eyebrows. His white robe and sandals were of the same style as everyone else’s, and the jewelry and ornaments on his body were no different either. He looked around twelve or thirteen, yet he was clearly the leader here. He opened his mouth and questioned her. Though young, short, and pitifully thin, his expression was calm and dignified. He asked, “*(@&@ who?”

Jiang Yuan remained silent. She was not even certain that was what she had heard.

He asked again, “@You are… (@@?!” His voice was urgent.

She still did not answer.

So the boy waved a hand, and a line of soldiers stepped out beside him, aiming long spears and yellow blades at her. Her gaze shifted and focused on the weapons. Their material was clearly bronze.

A fight, then. Strangely, that actually made her feel a little more at ease.

The soldiers closed in around Jiang Yuan, shouting threats she could not understand. But their skills were truly clumsy enough, and they were too thin, too small, not strong enough. One of them roared and thrust his spear at her. Jiang Yuan sidestepped, snatched it from his hands with a chop of her own, kicked open a path, and charged out.

Behind her, the commotion continued, probably as they hurried to summon more people to chase her. Yet even though Jiang Yuan’s mind was fixed entirely on escape, when she rushed out onto the street, she still could not help freezing for a moment.
As if time itself had reversed, the city began to grow anew. The broken walls and ruins that had once loomed hazily beneath the moonlight were restored in full, transforming into a vivid scroll unfurling around her. Straw covered the sand-scoured stone houses, which stood crooked yet orderly in rows to either side, leaving a passage wide enough for cattle, sheep, and pedestrians to move through. Houses packed close together stretched into the distance. Mist veiled the hills along the horizon, and swaying date palms grew lush and green everywhere.

She looked back again. Behind her stood a massive arcade, and beyond it, a palace-temple. Stone sculptures with eagle heads and human bodies, as tall as the temple itself, sat on either side of the sanctuary, heads lowered as they gazed down at her. Stone columns towered like a forest, like a sea. Soldiers in sandals and jackal masks charged out from within, rushing down the sand-yellow steps. Behind them, bald men in white robes gave chase as well, the peacock-green at the corners of their eyes and their gold-painted eyeshadow flashing in the light.

A shout came from afar. “Jia Nan!” Instinctively, she turned toward the voice. Somehow, Abal had found a camel, judging from its saddle and tack. It was the very one they had released last night, and now it was charging toward her in a miserable state, caked all over with sand and dirt. The road was full of civilians carrying clay jars and grass baskets on their heads, shrieking as they scattered in every direction. Their skin was bronze, their feet bare, their bodies barely covered by cloth, their shaved heads wrapped in rags. Some tumbled into the sand, kicking up clouds of dust.

Jiang Yuan rushed toward him too, reaching out, and he pulled her straight up onto the camel. She rubbed her shoulder. It might have looked dashing, but without years of practiced coordination, that single move could have yanked a person’s arm right out of its socket. Abal wheeled the camel around and loosed an arrow behind them in the same motion. The camel let out a bray, barreled through the crowd, and charged off in a cloud of dust. From behind her, Abal said, “So you were here. I looked everywhere for you!”

He seemed to have let out a breath of relief as well. Anyone who suddenly found themselves in a place like this would probably feel lost and uncertain. “The Ghost City has come alive!” he said hurriedly into the grating wind blowing straight at them. “This must be the curse. These are all the Devil’s illusions, meant to deceive our eyes, toy with us until they’re satisfied, and then kill us!”

He seemed to be trying to comfort her, and his tone was still relatively light. In any case, finding a companion was a good thing. “I’ve already found the city gate and the exit. Let’s try leaving first and see if we can!” Abal said.

“…Let’s find somewhere to get some water and food first, then hide,” Jiang Yuan said. “I have some unfortunate news for you, Abal. This isn’t an illusion.”

The wind swept across her face, splitting to either side and stirring up a roar in her ears. Abal asked, “…What?” His voice was blurred. The view from the camel’s back was so high. Jiang Yuan glanced back. From the hill, she looked down upon a layered yellow sea, rows of stone houses descending in long lines. At the end of her sight, one towering stone gate after another stood in silence. In an age like this, it was truly a miracle.

She said, “This is Egypt.”

This was Egypt. Bronze Age Egypt. Egypt more than a thousand years before the eighth century AD. Egypt of rubies.

…The Egypt of pharaohs.

This was not the first time such a strange thing had happened to her, Jiang Yuan thought. But it was, without question, a thoroughly terrible discovery.

This was Thebes, somewhere between 1400 and 1700 BC, Egypt of the 18th Dynasty, the New Kingdom Period, the Bronze Age.

Welcome, Abal and Jiang Yuan, to ancient Egypt.

Exodus officially begins. Welcome, everyone, and I hope you’ll follow along.

Thank you to the little angels who gave me Overlord Tickets or watered me with Nutrient Solution~

Thank you to the little angel who watered me with Nutrient Solution:

Wuji, 1 bottle;

Thank you all so much for your support. I’ll keep working hard!