Rest In Peace, Kosem

MEDIA, THE Hungarian Government, and even bystanders circled the excavation site. Per Dr. Clara Kosuma's orders, bystanders were not allowed to enter within thirty meters of the main excavation site. In comparison, the media could not enter within ten meters of the main excavation as their objective was to interview her or her team and to take pictures. The only allowed guests were the representatives from the Hungarian government. Professor Runyi led the exploration with the representatives while Clara stayed in her tent as she analyzed their newest discovery.

Photographs of 'Kosem,' their alias for the found mummy, were littered atop her desk. She wore the customary Ottoman wedding decorative ornaments paired with a satin lilac wedding dress. She was now holding the analysis of Kosem after undergoing the examination. And the report sprouted another set of questions rather than answering the previous questions.

Professor Runyi appeared in front of her. "Did you find something, Dr. Kosuma?"

Clara took off her eyeglass. "Done with the representatives?"

The old Professor sighed. "Hallelujah for that, yes. The benefactors got a lot of questions. They are talking about developing this site into a tourist attraction. I told them we would check the site further since our excavation process is not yet done."

She nodded, completely agreeing with Professor Runyi's response to the representatives. She had no time to deal with politicians right now.

Clara tossed the photographs to Professor Runyi's side. "Clearly, Kosem died before the wedding since her body was wrapped first before Kosem got to wear the dress. Based on the photographs, it is also evident that Kosem's wedding ornaments were placed after she was laid to rest inside the golden casket."

'Then why let her wear the dress? If she is the lost heart, why did Sultan Suleiman march 100,000 elite soldiers to Habsburg just to die inside a tent? Why do I feel that something is wrong.'

Professor Runyi stared at it, contemplating Clara's words. "The 'heart' in the legend is not an organ. It is a metaphor for Sultan Suleiman's heart. But we don't have records of the Sultan having a wife named Kosem. Yet the calligraphy inside the casket points out that she was so important that Sultan Suleiman chose to die next to her tomb."

"Damn," muttered Clara as she whisked the report away, fisting her raven-colored hair.

Professor Runyi saw her distress. He read the situation wrong as he thought the cause of her stress was the overcrowded excavation site since he knew how she hated this environment. Out of goodwill, he suggested. "Why don't you try to explore the ruins? I can entertain your guests for a while. You can do your work down there. There's no one better than you in reading Elifba."

His suggestion was quite logical, but Clara's nonsensical self hesitated. And what frustrated her was the fact that she did not have any clue why she was wavering in the very first place. To prove that nothing was wrong with her, Clara accepted Professor Runyi's offer with a tight lip smile.

"I appreciate that, Professor. I can take your shift later in visiting the mummy if you want." Clara offered since she heard the Professor's granddaughter would celebrate her birthday. Undoubtedly, the warmhearted Professor would want to attend that. Like she guessed, Professor Runyi's eyes sparkled, nodding his head like a child. "Thank you very much, Dr. Kosuma."

AS PER Clara's instructions, the soldiers she took with her remained standing at the last step of the staircase while she continued exploring the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. Clad in her combat boots to fight the rocks in the excavation site paired with a sleeveless shirt, khaki shorts that covered midway of her thighs, and instruments like the recorder and camera, Clara explored Sultan Suleiman's lost tomb, or rather Sultan Suleiman's hidden church.

It was covered with tiles from the stairs to the walls and the ceiling. Though time ruined its grandeur, Clara could imagine how elegant it would look four hundred sixty-five years ago.

"What a lucky girl," whispered Clara to the air as she stared at the entirety of the hidden church. She could imagine how Sultan Suleiman cherished Kosem. What Professor Runyi said was accurate. Sultan Suleiman setting a camp a meter away from this hidden church was not coincident. He chose his deathbed and was to be close to Kosem until his dying breath.

What Clara was thinking was a hypothesis. But the moment she felt a lone tear escape from her left eye as it fell to the tile, like a dream, the dim-lighted church with ruins everywhere became good as new. Sparkling like jewels, the tiled surroundings gleamed like they were at their prime as they were accentuated by the massive torch at the center of the church.

'I am sure that there is no torch remaining here. What the fuck?' Clara exclaimed in her thoughts.

Clara spun to where the soldiers were just standing but found none. "Where are they? Wait, am I dreaming while standing? Or did I collapse, and I am dreaming right now?" Clara incredulously asked herself, but no one answered her. Instead, she heard footsteps going down. Thinking it was Professor Runyi, Clara rushed toward the bottom of the staircase. Her voice was frantic, her face looked desperate, and she blurted her words.

"Professor Runyi, you won't believe…." Clara's words trailed until her words slurred into a mere whisper as she stared at the person before her. The silhouette she saw and the footsteps she heard were not from the wrinkled Professor, causing her to freeze like a goldfish starved of water. Standing before her, a man wearing a white satin garb with golden hair ornaments attached to his silver-blonde hair stared at her with his curious lilac eyes.

"Why are you here? And what is the matter with your garments?" His perfectly shaped eyebrows were knotted with wonder as he descended to her level. Looking down at her, he stared at Clara, who was still dumbfounded from where she stood. His olive-colored skin shone like bronze as the dangling golden bangles on her left foot clanked with every step he took.

'He looks like a prince or something.'

Looking up at him, who was so close to her, she observed his graceful aura, and the jewels adorned his head. Somehow, she knew what was happening. She read about this occurrence of archeologists dreaming about the memories of the past of the ruins. If what was happening to her was a dream of a memory of this place, then the kingly person in front of her was no other… Sultan Suleiman!

"You, you know me?" Clara pointed to herself dumbly. Her lilac eyes widened as she realized the way he spoke to her.

The way he tilted his head to the right side, she reminded him of her puppy, Hasher. "What's happening to you? Did the Austrian cavalry frighten you that much?"

The next thing he did was make Clara swallow her gasp as he pulled her to his lithe body. His muscular arms encircled her petite body, hugging her intimately. "I know you suffer because of me, but please don't leave me."

"Wa-wait!" Clara pulled her body away from the stranger before her, pushing him out. Her action worsened the situation when hot tears fell from his Amethyst-colored eyes. For some unknown reason, she hated seeing the melancholic expression of the awfully attracted man before her.

'Is this really the Sultan Hazeyn Suleiman?'

"I can't imagine a world without you. Please don't leave me, Kosem."

Clara felt her breath leave her as he uttered that name. Her heart thumped frantically, and she was afraid she was suffering from a heart attack. The strength from her legs left her, but Clara felt her body being sucked somewhere at that exact moment. Closing her eyes, she felt her body free-falling.

"Clara," said a soft yet weak voice. Opening her eyes to look at the person who called her, she found herself at the same shiny shimmering hidden church minus the crying Sultan Suleiman.

'That is one weird dream,' Clara thought as she sighed.

"That is not a dream. It happened four hundred sixty-five years ago in this church." The voice from behind her made Clara spin.

"Are you?" Clara could not finish her sentence. Standing before her was a girl wearing the same wedding dress they found lying inside the golden casket. She was healthy while smiling sadly at Clara. But what made Clara tremble with her as she remembered the Sultan's words was the girl got the same face and stature as Clara. "Kosem," whispered Clara.

"We look alike," said Clara as she observed the girl in front of her.

'Is this a trick? Is this the same as what the archeologists before me experienced when they stumbled to ruin?'

Kosem chuckled, which stopped Clara's train of thought. One thing that Clara observed from Kosem differed from her: Kosem's eyes. They were a pair of unique colors, one was hazel, and the other one was electric blue. "I am you, and you are me. I'm Kosem, your identity from your previous life. And yes, we have different eyes. But aren't your eyes quite familiar, Clara? After all, they are the eyes of the man who shed tears for Kosem. He gave his eyes to Kosem the moment she died, offering his eyes to the god just for you to have his eyes in Kosem's next life."

She remembered the crying Sultan. He got the same eyes as Clara. "Why are you talking to me? Okay, I will humor you. If I am indeed you, then why talk to me now? Why?"

Pain. Clara felt the radiating pain from Kosem, her past self. And when Kosem smiled sadly, Clara's heart ached. It was like she was sharing the same pain with Kosem.

"You can talk to me since I am a fragment of your soul. When your identity as Kosem died, a part of your soul from Kosem's timeline remained. Your past self wanted to reach you, her future self."

"What is the whole point when I can't do anything? Kosem's time already passed by four hundred and sixty-five years, too late for me to change."

Kosem smiled sadly again. "I know, Clara. I lingered around the world, watching everything change and witnessing how Zeyn became a legend to the people. But not once did I stop hoping that one day, I would be able to reunite with you. I even forgot the reason why I wanted to reach out to you. Time can truly change people. Now, I just want to rest."

Clara realized it too late that she was crying while feeling Kosem's fragment of soul lingering emotions. Longing. Sadness. Clara felt it all.

'How tiresome it must be for her? Wandering as a broken soul with no one to hold into.'

When Clara opened her arms, Kosem's eyes widened with disbelief and happiness, and the next thing she did, she cry as she ran toward Clara.

The moment Kosem touched Clara's body as she hugged her, Clara could feel that, finally, she was complete, like she was just waiting for this moment. Kosem's body turned into a mist, swirling around Clara until it vanished around her.

'Rest in peace, Kosem.'

The last thing Clara remembered was the onslaught of memories from Kosem as she lost consciousness, muting Professor Runyi's worried voice.