Goddess of Life (Atem x Reader)

Chapter Three - Magic of the Lapis Heart

        It took Y/n a few days, but she finally got the papyrus translated. Apparently it consisted of prayers to Ma’at along with incense recipes for her. She made a copy of the translation for her own files and carefully packed the scroll back in the box along with the translation. She then had it put onto the jet and sent back to the British Museum. Hopefully, Edward would get the legality fiasco solved. Poor guy. Now that her distraction was gone, her mind wandered back to the pharaoh. She had searched the archives for any mention of him, but she found nothing. She didn’t really have much to go on. She could estimate the time of his reign to roughly the Middle Kingdom based on the embalming style and the hieroglyphs engraved in the metal of the stone. Other than that, she didn’t have much. She needed to see him again. Maybe she could find some clues to his name that she missed before.

    She headed down to the storage room. Walking in, she was greeted by a vast sea of seemingly endless floor to forty foot ceiling shelves. Y/n went over to where the pharaoh was before and found he was not there. She looked around and saw a worker labeling a box. “Excuse me.” The man looked up.

    “Oh, hey,” he smiled. “Need something?”

    “Do you know where the new pharaoh is?”

    “Huh? Oh! The new mummy? Yeah, it just got labeled. Artifact K271, aisle eleven, bottom shelf.” Y/n gave a polite nod.

    “Thank you.”

    “Sure, no problem.” Y/n left to him to his work and walked to aisle eleven. She inwardly had cringed at how the worker had referred to the pharaoh as ‘it’ and ‘the mummy’, but she forced herself not to pass judgement. He was just doing his job after all. Walking down the aisle, she quickly found the large box containing the pharaoh. She opened the box and pulled back the cover just enough to reveal the bust. She didn’t want to take him out completely and risk damage, but she needed to see him. She wanted to talk to him. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt a connection with him. Alone in the storage room with the king, other than the worker who was on the other side of the large room, Y/n knelt down beside the box and looked at him. Even in death, he retained a regal and majestic look.

    “Hello again,” she said softly with a smile. She felt better. For some reason, talking to the lifeless corpse of a dead king made her feel happy. But that was the thing. He wasn’t just a lifeless corpse of some long dead king. There was something about him. He almost seemed… not alive but… had a presence. She believed there was more to this king than a body. “I wish I knew who you are. I’ve looked, but there isn’t anything. Not a mention of you, or rather someone of your description, in any scrolls, tombs, temples, or anything. Not a portrait. Not a single hint. There isn’t any record of you anywhere.” The mood seemed to fall. Y/n gazed at his face thoughtfully. “Who are you?” she asked whispered.

Several minutes passed by. Nothing but silence as she looked at the king. Though his eyes were closed and sunken,  she felt as if he was looking right back at her. After a while, Y/n sighed and bowed her head. “So far I have been able to restore the name to every person whose remains rest here and I refuse to make an exception now. I promise you, I will give you back your name.” Right before she laid the cover back over him and closed the box, in the very back of her subconscious, Y/n felt a sense of gratitude. However it was only for a moment, and it left as quickly as it came.

For the rest of the day, the nameless pharaoh sat in the back of her mind. Though she was able to distract herself for a while with other pieces and remains, it was only temporary and he soon invaded her thoughts once more. The day went by and soon the sun began to set. Almost everyone had gone home, save for a few janitors and loggers, and Y/n was in her office holding the lapis lazuli in her gloved hand. She kept repeating the translation. She had re-translated it several times and kept getting the same thing. It didn’t make any sense. What did it mean?  Who was she? Why didn’t it say his name? What did it mean by ‘our savior’? Had he sacrificed himself for his people? Had his sacrifice been in vain, and the reason why he was buried so secretly?

Y/n hadn’t been able to determine cause of death. While she was able to rule out blunt force trauma and stab/puncture wounds, that was all she could do. Since she didn’t have his organs, which had not been buried with him either, she had no idea how he died. It could have been a heart attack, though she personally doubted this due to his physical health, which was as fit as one could get, and his age, an astonishingly young twenty. Yet another question to add to her long, long list.

She traced the engravings lightly with her finger and mouthed the words. She was tired of hearing them. She had said them too many times. An idea popped into her head. She read the words again, this time in the ancient tongue. “Tn hmt xsfw f nhh hmt bsa rmt  rmt ad i ndty.” The stone seemed to glow in the dim, warm lamp light. The gold flakes swam faster in the blue. She repeated the words. The flakes swam faster. Again. Faster. Again. Faster. Something stirred within her. She stared at the stone. It captivated her. She mouthed the words as she turned the stone over in her hand. It was warm and seemed to give off an energy of its own. Something in the back of her mind told her to do it. Compelled and not thinking, she listened. Slipping off her white, rubber glove, she held the priceless, ancient stone in her bare left hand. The stone itself seemed to glow, as if having a light source of its own. The glow made her tattoo on her wrist shine, the black ink shimmering like the starry night sky. It was a simple, three inch tattoo of an ankh in black ink. She had gotten it as a pledge to honor the title Egyptologist. Whenever she felt like giving up on the search of a name, she would look at it and be reminded of her promise. That was always enough to keep her searching.

The voice in the back of her spoke again. She listened and took the glove off he other hand. Holding the stone cupped in both hands, she spoke the words aloud, slowly and clearly. “Tn hmt xsfw f nhh hmt bsa rmt  rmt ad i ndty.”  Sleep washed over her and she let herself fall into the welcoming abyss, gold flakes surrounding her and holding her gently. She fell away from the world, embracing the darkness.