The sea of gold before me was vast and great, the only contrast a cream set of lines that were constant in front of us. With the sun indicating mid-day, I was quite glad that we were moving, if only a little. The heat is quite unbearable here in the place of the great ones.
The great kings that is.
All of them reside in this valley, hence the name "Valley of the King's." Well, they once rested in this grand tomb, but now they were in museums all over the world. However, I was only going to see one specific site.
I was going to the tomb of Young King Tutankhamen. He was my favorite to learn about and I volunteered for this group along with four of my other class mates. The university we attend back in the states pays for the trip only to a point and we pay the rest, but I was willing to pay everything I had in the bank to go on this trip.
My duty for this trip is to read hieroglyphics in the king's tomb; but not all of them. That would take years. Many before me have already deciphered a great majority already but I was to read the most important. I am to read about the days before the young king's death. His quest for immortality. His want of a family. His lack of both as a dying human.
I pitied him and his wife, a part of me feeling their pain of not being able to have breathing children. If only they were brought to this time where the medicines could be offered to help keep their children alive and not still born. If only they had a second chance at happiness.
But they are both dead.
Tut is in a museum nearby on display and his wife is who knows where. Those are just their shells. Husks of what they used to be. I sometimes imagine them frolicking in their own little heaven. But I also know that with much unrest in their lives that it may cause them to not be able to move on in their own way.
The vehicles exhaust pipe played an unfavorable tune as we putted through the sea of gold that continued almost endlessly. Foreign music played along with the exhaust pipe and made for an unlikely duet. Excited quips and complains blended into the onslaught creating one throbbing migraine.
My class mates that accompanied me on this trip consist of one other female and three men. The brunette girl's name was Maria. She was a tree to put it mildly. Her legs could reach the bottom of the pyramids if she sat on top. Her hair was almost uncontrollable as a wild animal around her pale light skin. She didn't quite fit in out here where the history was presenting it self to the world on a gold platter.
The three others are Orlando, Ken, and Zack. Orlando was the joker of this deck. His hair was visible as a kind of hat that would keep his head warm during the desert's cold nights but may cause him a bit of discomfort in the scorching days. He was about a head taller than myself and a bit darker in pigment but he was one of the most toned in our group. Ken was the Ace. He was about my height and the same tone of our skin but other than that, we didn't share much other than space and oxygen. His hair color was similar to Maria's but a bit lighter, almost a mix between her locks and the sea of never ending gold around us. Zack, well, I guess he would be the Jack. He held a bit of authority that we understood but knew that he was just a needed part of this group to help keep things going. His hair was the craziest of us all with the desert around us being its twin. If Maria could sit on and reach the bottom of the pyramid, then he would stand next to it and be able to talk to her face to face. I guess you could say he was the jock of the group yet he was one of the smartest.
Yet he wasn't the smartest.
As the Queen and leader of this deck of Egyptian history majors, my strait raven hair and blue eyes gave me an advantage to the rest. I look a bit like the pictures of the Egyptian paintings on the walls of the tombs that surrounded us. I wasn't as tall Orlando but I was taller than Maria, if only by an inch.
We were all dressed a bit lightly to let the wind flow through and cool us as the beast weaved us through the mounds of sand to our destination.
"Sena, do you think that the curse is true?" Inquired Maria. I rolled my eyes.
"Which curse are you talking about?" She narrowed her eyes and set her lips, her expression telling me to narrow it down.
"The curse of Tut's mummy of course," she said as the guys lounged in the back, no words passed between them, lest they lose energy. I knew of what she was talking about. In the '20s, when Carter had discovered the tomb, people had died soon after leaving the tomb. Though they died of diseases that were caught by insects of this area, people still think that king Tut's mummy cursed them for opening his tomb.
I didn't believe a word of their propaganda. King Tut was as peaceful as an Egyptian cat.
"No. They were bitten by mosquitos that carried malaria but claimed that it was a curse for opening his tomb. I highly doubt that those stories of curses were true." She gave off a pout that shined brighter than the sun upon us. It made me feel low for telling her that but I couldn't help it. I felt almost protective of Tut and his history. It was something that was unlike me.
Being nineteen as well, I understood how it would feel to lose your life without being able to start it with the one I love. He was so misunderstood to today's people, but somehow, I felt like I understood him better than even the people who had done an autopsy.
Maria turned back to talk to the living zombies behind us who were making the car smell of a men's locker room in this small vehicle. That left me to my own thoughts as I stared out at the desert that felt familiar yet foreign. I felt like I knew the exact the texture of the bricks of the great pyramids at our destination, the story I would find written there, and the pain that would come with knowing.
As the giant landmarks came into view, the feeling of sorrow and loss swept over me in tidal waves.
"Sena, are you okay?" Maria questioned. I looked at her with confusion.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because you are crying." I reached up and felt my cheeks. Sure enough, there was a wetness there and a salty taste on my lips. I furiously wiped them away and nodded to her as the great triangle shaped structures jutted out of the ground at an alarming rate. I never cried for anything, not since birth, but for some reason, I was feeling reluctant to read the story of the final days of the pharaoh Tut.
"Yeah, just got sand in my eye," I lied. She gave me a glance before looking away to the golden pyramids before us.
'Tut, if you can hear me, I want you to know that I wish you had a second chance at happiness,' I spoke silently to him, hoping that he could hear me. But if I knew Tut, he was talking with Ankhesenamun about a how a strange girl from a future time to him was telling him that she wished him a second chance. Just knowing that he would know that someone cared enough to mourn made me feel less hollow inside.
"Finally! I'm dying here," Zack expressed, his deep voice making the car sound like a theater.
"Yeah," everyone agreed and started moving their stiff limbs as the driver pulled up to the entrance to Tut's tomb.
"And it begins," I murmur to myself as the beast is set to slumber and the chorus of obnoxious music dies. Our bodies practically fall out of the car, all of us grateful for the space but not for the sun's unkind rays that were plotting to burn a hole through us.
Even from our position here next to the car, I could see the entrance to the tomb. Excitement fled through me as an overwhelming feeling to run inside became a need.
"Sena, here is your bag," Mary's little voice spoke as she set the bag in the sand next to me. I pulled my eyes from the tomb's entrance and looked at her, a soft and small smile appearing on my face.
"Thank you. Do you want me to get the tent or are you getting it?" A smirk plastered her face as she jabbed a thumb back towards the guys.
"I took care of that on the way here. For giving the guys a drink of my power water, they will set it up for us." I shook my head as a laugh erupted between us. I don't know how she seems to be the daughter of Satan even though she is a "Daughter of God." She really is a character.
"You have to admit though Sena that was a good one I pulled on them. I mean, watch them try to put that up. They look like monkeys!" I looked over at the boys as they looked at the tents like they were going to bite them and take them into the tomb to never return.
"Come on guys, the tents are not gonna build themselves!" The guys sounded like snakes as they looked over at us with venom in their eyes.
"Shaddup! You aren't the one who is dying here and has to build your tent!" Orlando scowled at her as his words sank in. Mary was a moment behind him.
"You know what? You aren't the one who gave their precious water to three smelly boys who were just dying to have a drink. So get back to building that thing before I throw you into the tomb and close it!" I rolled my eyes as Mary crossed her arms and Orlando murmured some unkind words before getting back to work on our tent.
Leaving my duffle next to the brunette, I went over to Mary and I's tent and began to set up the main poles.
"Sena!" Her shrill voice echoed in my ears as Orlando gave her a smug grin. I looked over the tent into his eyes, mine showing annoyance. His bright eyes dimmed and his throat cleared as he went back to setting up the "girl's tent."
Once the tarp was nailed into the sand, I collected my duffel bag from next to Mary and went into the tent, setting up my cover and pillow for when night falls. No tourist should be here the next few days since we had asked the history departments of Egypt to keep them away for a few days. Just enough time for us to study and not be strange that we were out sleeping next to a dead guy's resting place.
"You know Sena, you made my water that I gave to them seem like a small thing. You know we have a small ration with us to last us until tomorrow night so what little I give them needs to mean a lot." She sounded like a pharaoh that said the workers could live off of one bite of bread a day and still build the pyramids. She was almost as into the Egyptian character as the kings and queens themselves.
"I just didn't feel right letting them do it alone. I mean, it is our tent. We should be able to at least help while they do it too." My argument passed into one ear, through the hole in her head, and out the other as she stomped off back to the car for her bags.
Making sure that my things were all set into place, I opened my bag, pulled out my journal and a copy of the Egyptian alphabet and climbed out of the tent.
"Are you going in already?" Ken asked. I nodded and headed for the tomb, my skin somewhat used to the blazing sun. The entrance was taped off and a small stream of light fled inside away from the heat. I was grateful for the lights that the history department of Egypt had set up inside for tourist to see, otherwise, I might have fallen just getting inside.
When I got to the tape, I took a deep breath, my books shaking, and lifted the tape above my head. One step in and a coldness hit me like a wave of fresh water. A weight laid on my chest as I walked deeper, scorpions and camels running rampant in my stomach.
The moment, I saw the first hieroglyphics, I couldn't help but stare in awe of their raw beauty and shape. This was all done by hand. Every painting, every line that was proof of the people that once inhabited this area 2,000 years ago was all still here, just waiting to be touched, to be read, to be captured in ink on a piece of paper.
Finding Tut's crypt, I sat down, opened both my journal and handy dictionary, and started reading.