The boy from the golden box 7

Chapter 7

After speaking with the birds I entered the city. It had changed a great deal since last I could remember.
The market was a cold, desolate place. All the stalls were gone and in their place stood a massive platform upon which stood great wooden structures with corpses draped across them.
The streets ran thick with mud and sewage and children flitted here and there looking for scraps of food.
A few older people also wondered the streets but when I tried to speak with them they ignored more and hurried on to whatever dark place they called a home.
I finally reached my destination, Asim’s house. It had fallen into disrepair.
The wooden shutters that had covered the window were all upon the ground. The doorway was blackened and cracked. I stepped through it into the destruction of the first true home I had known.
A great fire had wreaked havoc upon the house. I clutched the small falcon to my chest and entered Asim’s bedroom.
I couldn’t go any further than the doorway. I fell to my knees and wept for the sight in front of me.
The room, like the rest of the house, had been beset by fire. The difference with this room was that in the centre, upon the blackened carcass of the bed lay a figure.
“Khepri…” I whispered into the dark.
Tears ran down my cheeks for the woman who had taken me in and given me food and home…
*
“I never meant for this. I just wanted a better kingdom. I never meant for anyone to die for it…”
I turned my head towards the man who stood in the shadows next to the doorway.
“I’m- I’m sorry, Nekheny. I’m sorry for what- what you’ve seen here and what you’ve undoubtedly seen on your way here. And… I’m sorry for your imprisonment in the pyramid,” Asim choked out.
“What happened, Asim? Who did this?”
“It was the Pharaoh you knew and the Pharaoh we now have. The bodies you saw in the market place were the leaders of the resistance that were known to the old Pharaoh. But it was Imhotep who did… this!” he spat out.
“Imhotep? But why? He’s a good man,”
“Not any more. He found out that I was one of the leaders of the resistance who had escaped execution. I fled to the mountains but Khepri refused to follow. She stayed here and Imhotep… Imhotep burned… he burned the house and watched as she stood at the window cursing his name.”
“What about Thema?”
“She was executed along with all the Ambassador’s other wives when you killed him. I have nothing now. Imhotep has taken it all from me.”
“Asim… all of this is my fault. I am sorry. You should not blame yourself.”
“But I do. You were just a child when it all started. Child you could have killed us all with a thought but a child nonetheless. I cannot blame you.”
“But you must. You cannot hate yourself. For Khepri and Thema’s sake. Hate me… I deserve nothing better.” I said bitterly.
“Little Nekheny, how far we have come. And how much we have lost…” he said, tears glistening in the corner of his eyes.
He turned to leave the room. I reached out and grabbed his arm.
“You still have me, Asim. Please, let me help you. Let me try and bring about some form of redemption for myself,” I pleaded.
“No. We must get ourselves out of this mess. We can not expect the Gods to intervene at every turn,”
“I am no God! I just wanted to observe but now… now I have ruined it all. I must make things right,”
“Then go to Imhotep. He always listened to your council. Go! Show him what he has done. Make him see that the monsters he and the previous Pharaoh feared are closer than they first thought!”
With that Asim left me alone in the dark to mourn the dead…