STARBORN: FORTY-FOUR-THE REALM OF GOLD.
2013 • S P A C E
ETERNAL TEMPLE
THERE WAS LIGHT, BLINDING AND CONSUMING, THEN CAME THE DARKNESS...
Everything happened in a blink, harsh air blew back her long hair, white light reflecting on her glassy eyes, glistening like immaculate pearls at the bottom of the sea. The trip down the cosmos was far from pleasant, there was no magic, no infinite darkness with specs of starlight, it was pure...whiteness. Alora let out a high-pitch scream as she kept free falling down the seemingly endless portal, despite feeling like she had been falling for more than thirty minutes, the portal existed outside the laws of space and time.
So she could've been falling for more or less than that, nobody would know.
Below her an opening appeared, tearing through the baryonic matter, Alora's eyes widen with sheer horror as she spotted a beautiful marbled floor with black and gold designs at the other end. Her breath hitched, heart drop to the pit of her stomach, she brought her forearms up in an effort to shield her face from the fall and squeezed her eyes tight as she anticipated the harsh landing. She felt the change in the atmosphere as she passed through the opening, it was cold and then all of a sudden hot, as she went through the portal and into the Celestial Realm known as the Eternal Temple. Once her body appeared, the Gatekeeper slammed the butt of his spear twice and slow down her fall, Alora opened her eyes and frown as she felt herself falling in slow motion.
"What the heavens?" She mumbles to herself as her body slowly touched the ground, she landed on her side, sat up on her left hip. Grey eyes blinked with surprise as she took in the mystic yet ancient room, behind her there is a wide opening that held a portal, in the opening frame there was the moon phases along with intricate gold designs and hieroglyphs written in light blue ink. "Holy guacamole..."
She could feel the magic and ancientness from this place deep in her bones, it felt oddly familiar.
"Alora, Daughter and Mortal Descendant of the Great Solar God, Amun-Ra, Creator of the Universe." A man with a raspy voice, said. "We've been expecting you."
Alora turn to face the man who wore an Egyptian armor, he stood in front of her and held a hand out, she took it and allowed him to help her stand up. She brushes her pants off, her stomach churn with nerves and excitement, she offered him a shy smile. "Oh, uh, hi-that's uhm quite the introduction." She laughed nervously. "Alora Stark, would be fine. And who might you be?"
The man had curly hair, he wore a low gradient with medium afro, his beard was well kept, and his skin was brownish. "I am Jabari, haris albawwaba. The Gatekeeper of this Realm."
"Oh, cool. Tiresome but an essential job." She answered half-distractedly as her eyes roam around the dimly lit room, hoping to spot Ma'at, her gaze then returns to Jabari's caramel eyes. "I'm sorry, I just-I have no idea where to go. I was told Amun-Ra wanted to see me, can you perhaps point me the direction to where he is?"
Jabari offered her a kind smile. "I am aware of your business here." He stepped aside, revealing the stairs at the end of the room, he pointed at them. "Take those stairs. They will lead you up and out of the observatory room, Ma'at will be waiting for you just outside."
Alora nodded, taking hesitant steps forward before shooting him an unease look. "So I go straight? No turns."
"No turns, sayidati." Jabari agreed, Alora let out a sigh and nodded. My Lady.
"shukraan Iak." Alora thanked him, cheeks flushing red with embarrassment as she attempted to speak Arabic, Jabari responded with a curt nod before taking his place on a platform beside a gold spear that was wedged on the ground. Thank you.
Alora turn away from the man and made her way onward before climbing the stairs made of rough stone. She jogged up the stairs until she made it to the top and realize that the observatory room was actually underground. Once she stepped into the second level her eyes were greeted by an open room, about twenty feet from her there were tall columns lined up horizontally in colonnade style. On one of the spaces between the columns she noticed a woman dressed in a nude caped gown, a whisper of chiffon and sparkle, all over her gown there were white embroideries of ostrich feathers and on her very side there was a big black embroidery of a scale of justice. Her hair was no longer in dreadlocks but in a French crown braid, she wore a gold halo crown leaf with Opalite rose quartz onyx.
The Sun Goddess walked up to Ma'at, her steps soft but loud enough to alert the Goddess of Justice of her presence. The beautiful brownish Goddess turn to face the earthling, her moves were gracious and confident just like she remembered, Ma'at smiled at Alora. The Goddess linked arms with Alora and move her to stand next to her so she could gaze at the beautiful landscape, Alora breathe out in amazement as she took in the blue sky with scattered clouds, the nature, the ancient temples and pyramids, the four Egyptian statues of a male body with a falcon face wearing a royal Egyptian headdress.
Ma'at smiled at her mesmerized look. "Welcome home, sister."
The Goddess of Justice and the Sun Goddess stood at the very entrance of the Observatory temple, below them was a flight of fifty stairs that led to an uninterrupted pathway that connected the Observatory to what she assumes must be the Eternal Palace. The pyramid was enormous, on top of it was a gigantic statue of another a falcon head, a sun disk rested on the top of its head like a burning star and around the disk there was a cobra resting on its head.
"Just... wow." Alora breathed out in amazement. "It's beautiful. Everything looks so clean, the temples are so beautiful, similar to the ones on earth but these ones are more... majestic." She took in every detail, warmth and comfort spread through her chest, Alora felt like she could belong there. "But what's the deal with the falcon statues?"
"The four statues you see positioned around the Realm are our protectors, children of Horus." Ma'at explained, Alora raised her eyebrows in realization as she gazed at the statues. "Each one of them represent the cardinal compass points, north, south, east, and west. "
Alora nodded, remembering the time when Kalum attempted to tell her about his family and she laughed. "What about that one?" She jerks her chin up, gesturing at the one on the palace. "The one sitting at the top of the pyramid."
Ma'at smiled proudly at the statue. "That's Amun-Ra, King of all Gods."
"Father." Alora breathed out, stomach churning with nerves.
Ma'at smiled approvingly, she glanced at her. "Exactly."
Their attention soon averted to the sound of a chariot approaching, below them, at the end of fifty flight of stairs, a beautiful tall man with a chiseled face and a harsh stare rode the carriage. Alora blinked as she examined him from a far as he came to a halt in a beautiful brown chariot adorned with gold accessories and two white horses.
The man turns to them, he was dressed like a warrior and there were visible battle scars adorning his exposed arms, Alora raised her eyebrow in question. "And he is...?"
"That's Arsalan, God of the North, Horus firstborn." Ma'at informed her, Alora blinked. "The Warrior Prince. He's escorting you to the Palace."
Alora took a side step away from Ma'at, shooting her an alarmed look. "What? But-But what about you, why can't you take me?"
The Goddess let out a sigh, a small smile adorning her chiseled face, she reaches out and took one of Alora's hands. "Because there's something I have to do; I must visit Kalum." Alora stomp her foot softly on the ground, a discontent look falling on her face. "But don't worry, the ride will be swift, once I return I'll come looking for you. Now go, time is precious."
"Anytime now would be good, Your Highness!" Arsalan shouted from below them, his deep and booming voice sent shivers down Alora's spine. "We're running short on time!"
"Uhm, Your Highness?" Alora chuckled confusedly, not comprehending.
"It's nothing." She quickly dismissed with a shake of her head. Ma'at took in a deep breath, a look of guilt and shame flash across her caramel eyes, but they soon disappeared and she was back at smiling. "You will soon learn why, now go on, it is impolite to make the King wait."
Without letting Alora speak, Ma'at turned around and walked deeper into the observatory room, retracing Alora's steps. The blonde woman stared in confusion at the Goddess, her mind quickly pointing out how weird her behavior became, as if she was hiding something.
"Odd." Alora mumble to herself before turning to face the flight of stairs and quickly descending them, she jumped down the two last steps and offered Arsalan a respectful bow.
"No, stop. We don't do that here." Arsalan said, Alora straighten up and cleared her throat, feeling embarrassed.
"Oh, so sorry, I just thought since you are all-." She gestured around her. "-Gods. I was supposed to bow."
"Mortals bow." Arsalan said, his face remained serious as he outstretched a hand to her, Alora glanced at it and took it, he helped her climb on the chariot. "Not Gods. That includes you, act accordingly."
"So I've been told." Alora mumble under her breath, her eyes finding their way to the Palace.
Arsalan gripped the reins of the horses with one hand, his left arm whips the reins in a swift manner causing the horses to react and pull them forward. "Ha."
IT WAS HOT.
The Sun Goddess could feel the heat and warmth engulfing her whole being, but instead of feeling suffocated she felt at ease. The heat wrapped around her body like a protective blanket, welcoming her to the land where everything began, she was standing in the core of magic and history.
Alora and Arsalan were traveling through the uninterrupted pathway that led to the Palace, the youngest Stark was baffled from the advanced lifestyle they carried. Judging from their style of transport, she thought they lived like people in ancient Egypt, but everywhere she looked there was wealth and prosperity. Alora blinked in surprise as she saw a walking A.I. actively talking with a person made of flesh and bones, there were several A.I. holograms walking around accompanying what she must assume to be their owners. She also spotted some people randomly talking to no one in particular, if it wasn't for the glow of their irises she would've thought they were coo-coo.
"What are they doing?" Alora wondered, Arsalan kept his focus forward, rolling his eyes at her question. "The people with the glowing eyes."
"On a call." Arsalan shrugged. "With a friend. Relative. Lover. Could be anyone."
Alora frown, she turns her head to him. "How? How does that even work? How can they be calling someone without a device or signal?"
"We have neural implants, wired deep into our brains." Arsalan explained, Alora let out an impressed chuckled, he showed her a necklace a gold square pendant with a drawing of Horus eye engraved in the middle with dark blue ink. "These necklace work as visual aids if we wish to share the message, the eye projects a hologram, it also works as geotagging or tracking device. The eye is detachable."
Alora eyes glanced at the side of his face for a second longer before averting her gaze forward, her brain processing all the information. "I have no words, I'm speechless." The youngest Stark was beyond impressed, she instantly thought of Tony and how intrigued he would be. "Who invented this?"
"As much as I hate giving him credit, it inflates his already enormous ego." Arsalan kept a serious face as he spoke, he glanced at her before his eyes went back to the road. "All of the technological advances you see around here were built by Kashif, my youngest sibling."
Alora brush a strand of hair that the wind blew on her face. "How young?"
"Seven decades." Arsalan responded.
Alora let out a puff of air. "That's a lot."
"No, three to four millenniums. That's a lot." Arsalan corrected, Alora stare at the huge pyramid as they came to a halt beside the flight of stairs.
She let out a low whistle. "People live that long?"
She jumped off the chariot, her eyes never leaving the sun disk that glisten at the very top of the pyramid, wrapped by the cobra's tail. Arsalan handed the reins of his chariot to one of the guards, he watches them take the chariot away before he began to climb the stairs.
"Not everybody." Arsalan responded. "Don't lag behind."
Alora glanced at him and groan loudly. "You know what your brother should invent next?" She spoke to him in an annoyed tone as she followed him up the stairs. "An elevator. A lift. Whateveryou wanna call it."
"Are humans always so whiny?" Arsalan wondered even though he knew the answer to that question.
Alora narrow her eyes at the back of his blond hair. "Not when we have a reason to be, no."
Furthermore, the God of the North and the Sun Goddess arrived at the top, none of them breaking a sweat. Alora notice two female guards, both armed to the teeth, their gazes were fixated forward none of them spared her a second glance. Alora was impressed by their muscular physique, they were female warriors, she could already tell they were built to be the sharpest and deadliest protectors of the King. The warriors stood in front of two white columns which were now behind Alora as she walked deeper into the Palace, before arriving to the actual pyramid, a porch came to view formed by a continuous row of eight columns forming half a circle, on top of the columns sat a beautiful cornice with hieroglyphs engraved on it.
Alora walked down a brick pathway that led straight to the pyramid's entrance that sat between the openings of two columns, she notices there were about two benches on either side of the pathway. But what caught her attention the most was that ponds adorned with water plants on either side of the pathway, that water clean and fresh. It made her want to take off her clothes and jump into the water, but first things first, she had to meet the King.
Alora couldn't get enough of how beautiful everything looked, she followed Arsalan down the hallway that led to the entrance. On each side of the walls were banners that told the Egyptian history of the Gods and how they became who they were. Alora couldn't keep her eyes off the detail embroidery in the banners which resulted in her bumping into Arsalan's back.
The God of the North shot her look which had her stuttering out an apology, once her eyes left his deep blue ones, they wander to the tall black bi-parting swing gate made of wrought iron. On each side there were gold emblems of Gods or Goddess made with the same wrought iron, there were three emblems on each side of the gate.
"Do yourself a favor and don't embarrass yourself in front of the King." Arsalan advised in commanding voice, he turns to face the door waiting for it to open. "Or you'll have to deal with that for the rest of your life."
Alora grimace, knowing he was fully right, whenever she made an embarrassing mistake her brain force her to remember it over and over again. Specially whenever she couldn't sleep or woke up at 3 am, it was endless torture until eventually sleep put her out of her own misery.
"Gee, thanks." She mumbled, the bi-parting gate opened simultaneously pulled by two female warriors.
Alora Stark figured other Realms must nickname them the Realm of Gold, everything around them, including how they dressed were made or had the color of gold. Inside the pyramid everything was made of limestone, it was very spacious, on the walls there were torches between each columns which provided light to the room. The Egyptian Temple was lavishly decorated, huge columns supported the roof's temple decorated with paintings and hieroglyphics, as were the walls.
A purple runway carpet ran all the way to the throne that sat on its full glory at the top of a platform, but no one sat on it. Arsalan let out an annoyed sigh and turned to one of the female warriors that opened the door.
"'ayn akhy?" Arsalan demanded, the olive skin woman with dark braided hair and gladiator-like armor with obvious Egyptian designs turn to face the impatient Prince. Where is my brother?
"almulk haliaan fi dawrat tadribiat. laqad sayim alaintizar." The woman said in a silvery tone, but despite how soothing and composed her voice sounded, her eyes held hellfire. The king is currently in training session; he grew tired of waiting.
Alora for some reason felt guilty, feeling slightly at fault.
"mumtaz." Arsalan nodded, he turns to the human and motion her with his head to follow him. Very well.
Alora had to fast walk to keep up with his long strides. "How come you know English and she doesn't?"
Arsalan glanced at her with boredom. "We are multi-bilingüal beings. We can speak and understand any language, unlike many other beings around the universe who depend on a device to translate for them."
"Oh, right." Alora grimace at herself. "I remember." Arsalan nodded, they walked down the hallways of the palace. "What did you ask the guard about?"
Arsalan let out an exhausted sigh. "I am convinced that silence disturbs you." Alora chuckled, Arsalan shot her a side glance before looking forward. "I asked her where my brother was. The king."
Her eyebrows were knitted together. "I'm sorry, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the king supposed to be Horus? Your father?"
Arsalan clenched his jaw at the mention of his father. "Horus is dead. It's been less than a century since he was led by Anubis to the afterlife."
Oh my god, Alora thought. "I'm so sorry for your loss, I had no idea."
"How could you know; you never knew him." Arsalan answered indifferently as he walked down a corridor. Alora looked to her left and notice they were passing by the dining area which had an opening that allowed the people to see the sky and feel the warmth of the sun.
"I understand now." She said, eyes twinkling with realization as she made sense to what Ma'at meant by saying 'you'll find out soon'.
Arsalan kept walking, leading them to the training room where his young brother is. "Understand what now?"
"Ma'at's trip to earth." Alora stated. "I assume she went to tell Kalum."
Arsalan let out a dry chuckle. "That and more."
Alora narrowed her eyes, confused. "What'd you mean? I mean, at least she had the decency to go visit him, I bet Karim would've wanted to hear that kind of news from his older brother."
Arsalan narrowed his eyes and refrain to lash out on Alora. "Impossible."
"Why?" Alora slightly jogged, noticing how his pace quicken. "Horus is dead. Shouldn't Kalum's punishment be annulled?"
Suddenly Arsalan stopped, he turned to face her, his movement sharp and swift, Alora flinched and took a cautious step back. "Annulled?" Arsalan said through gritted teeth, Alora saw anger and violence in his eyes, his title serves him right. "One can't annul an exile. It is forbidden and a straight up disrespect to the God who adjudged it. What Karim did was blasphemy, a disgrace, he brought dishonor and shame to our ancestry. He failed to see what was right, he allowed himself to be misguided, influenced by his heart."
"He only did what he thought was right." Alora defended, voice firm.
Arsalan sneered. "He didn't think." He pointed at his head before bringing his finger down to his chest. "He used his heart, that was always his biggest flaw."
"Is a mistake really worth all of this? A brother?" Alora questioned, Arsalan blinked. "Is it really worth neglecting him over something that happened decades ago? Ma'at is the only one that visits him. It's unfair. He yearns to see his family."
"So much sentiment repulses me. All his pain, it's on him." Arsalan snapped, Alora felt her heart break, she made the mistake of putting herself on Kalum's shoes if he were to be in her place now. Arsalan spoke without guilt, he meant every word that came off his mouth and it sadden Alora to no end, she couldn't imagine be apart from Tony longer than a month or two. She loved her brother, she would die for him and she knew he would too, they were each other's lives.
Alora looked at him with hurt on her face, her lips parted as she struggles to find the words. "You'll regret this-whatever happened in the past cannot be undone, instead of offering him a new chance to prove himself worthy of your mercy, your backs remain turned on him. You will regret not getting to know the incredible, most selfless and bravest man you'll ever get to know in this life."
Arsalan stared at her, deep blue irises drowning her steel grey ones, raging sea against thunderous sky. He observed her, none said anything as her words sank deep into his skin, they were true but the Egyptian Gods were prideful.
"I am not king; I do not make the rules." He broke the silence. "I adapt to them and enforce them. Perhaps you should direct all your questions to the King of this Realm." He gave her a final look before turning around. "I'm sure he'll tell you what's fair and what's not."
He continues to walk down the corridor before taking a sharp left turn, Alora clenched her jaw and stood there for a second longer before eventually making her way after him. She was determined to find out why they didn't want Kalum back, that man has been adapting his whole life, he deserves to feel at home. And she was his best shot at getting back home, she wasn't going to let him down, never.
✶ ↳ ScriveFiorella_ Note ˎˊ˗
You guys have no idea how much time
I invested writing this few chapters of
Alora in the Eternal Temple. I was sooo
Invested, I literally second guessed everything. HAHAHA oh God, but I feel
Like they didn't come out as bad though.
Also, made a Tik Tok account for my books,
I feel it's going to be a good experience.
Mostly doing it for fun, I love my OC's so
Much I wanna go all Wanda Maximoff and
Bring them to life.
;)
The user is: scrivefiorella_, the link is on
My message board for those who wanna
Take a look. I only have 1 video uploaded, so
That's a start.
Stay safe my loves💕