The Golden Queen

Three

Three

CONFUSION, disorientation, bewilderment; these words couldn't adequately describe the feelings that overcame me when I gazed at my surroundings. Heat stroke was plausible, but I lifted my trembling hand to brush the sweat from my hairline only to find it was dry. Of course it would be dry; I had been inside the museum moments ago, with the comforts of air conditioning. So what could be the cause of my sudden delirium, forcing my eyes to deceive me?

They tantalized me, for what lay beyond the shifting sands couldn't possibly be real. I squeezed my eyes closed, my heart holding dear to everything important to me. Aunt Clair was among my visions; Father too, even though he had long since passed. Then I saw the museum, a cluttered room on the third floor which Clair called her office; her dusty shelves bulged at the sides from the weight of Father's manuscripts and journals, as well as her own. Snuggled tightly upon those wooden planks was also their research, everything we knew of Ahmose's predecessors and the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. Considered the Golden Age of Egypt, it was the most glorious empire in the world, built upon the backs of the ancient people who dwelled here; their hands raised the granite metropolis from the dirt of the wilderness.

But the desert taunted me, its heat foreign to my nomadic body. It manipulated me, a visitor...an outsider, reminding me I did not belong here. I could hardly breathe; something was happening to me that I did not understand. My cheeks felt puffy and hot, my heart aflutter. I licked my dry lips, my weightless tongue suddenly thirsting for water.

I shifted my gaze from the glaring sun to the white washed buildings that dotted the streets and alleyways. A nearby temple stood isolated from the town. The paintings resembled the art style of the New Kingdom era. I observed it thoroughly, and scientifically, and realized it was the temple of Luxor. I hardly recognized it because much of it wasn't there. It hadn't yet been constructed in whatever time period this dream was taking place. Dream! Was I dreaming?

The miniature scaled temple paled in comparison to the enormity it was in the twenty-first century. I wondered what other surprises lay beyond the walls of the marble capital that surrounded the city in a protective grip. I was in Egypt once again, only this time I was brought to an ancient city. Thebes.

The golden expanse of the Sahara crested the horizon with its sun-bleached waves. The sky overhead was bluer than lapis. It almost looked like a movie set, but what happened to the magical light that had engulfed me when I touched Ahmose's tablet? And where was the museum? I had experienced vivid dreams before, but this didn't feel like the dreams I had shared with him, whoever he was. I glanced around expecting to see him, but he was nowhere in sight.

I could feel the hot sand beneath my sneakers, crunching as I walked upon it. The wind stung my cheeks and lips when it drifted by. The wisp of cloud that passed before the sun cast a shadow over the desert that felt suddenly cooler. The ache in my throat could only be extinguished by water, and the emptiness of my stomach craved food. How could I experience such powerful sensations if I was not lucid? If this was a dream, he would have come to me by now.

But the world before me was not as I had known it to be moments ago. The museum was gone and the bustling city of Cairo had vanished. The only reminiscence of familiarity in sight was the Nile River that now snaked around an ancient metropolis.

I stepped onto the pebbled road, and the city suddenly burst to life. The streets were overcrowded with people that huddled around merchant stands to buy grain, bread, fruit, and figs. The harvest must have been plentiful this year; no one seemed hungry. Women sang in the streets, and children stood atop the marble buildings casting flower petals down on them.

Beyond the bustle of the city was a larger complex with archways and piercing columns. Banners poised on top flapped in the desert wind, the scarlet fabric was hemmed with golden falcons. Ra. The columns and walls glistened like polished limestone in the sunlight. It was glorious, spectacular, and far superior to the city itself. Only a palace would be built with such elegance and adoration.