11 The Nile river

Not many words were exchanged after the incident.

Riya helped Silorek up after their aggressors had departed. He claimed he was fine as he attempted to stand by himself, but Riya could see that those were empty words from the way he walked. That spear jab was powerful enough to knock him down with one blow, even though it was just the wooden end.

Senthia offered them a stay at her house, a great honor for her and her mother, but Silorek insisted they be on their way. A Goddess cannot stay a night in a peasant home, was his explanation. Riya was glad for that anyway. She didn't relish the idea of seeing that baby again.

After getting back on their way through the farmlands, it took them most of the afternoon to reach their destination. They traveled mostly in silence, unspoken words hung around them like a suffocating noose.

The sun above had already begun to set when they left the main road they were following, and diverted into a solid unkempt ground that inclined up into a hill, "We are here your Radiance." Silorek said as he extended his hand out to help her up the last few steps of the hill. Riya looked at him and accepted his offer, although she did not pull on his hand in fear of him falling over from the injury she suspected he was hiding.

The scene she saw before her on the hilltop almost took her breath away.

The ground sank deep underneath the hill, carving outwards into dazzling green meadows. And beyond the meadows was the most famous landmark in Egypt, in both the future and past.

The Nile river expanded before their view, stretching out like a great blue serpent slithering into the distant orange horizon. This was nothing like the Nile river she remembers from her life as Abdo. The Nile river in her memory could only be the result of what would happen if all Egyptian people unanimously agreed to use the river as a Urinal. There just wasn't any other way you can compare the two and call them the same.

The greenery on either bank of the wide river glowed with unbelievable radiance, Riya wasn't sure she had seen anything so purely green, yet permeated with so many other vivid colors. The river water itself sparkled in the sunlight as if the sun was impeded in its waters. Flocks Of river cranes soared above the waters, and some floated on its edges in groups like a scene from a dream.

"This...This is beautiful." She uttered slowly. She stared with bulging eyes unable to put her thoughts into words. "Its nothing like I remember it."

Silorek pulled on his sac's strap, tensing slightly in pain in the process. "There is a saying that says that Egypt is the Gift of the Nile, your Radiance. Without it, Egypt would not continue in its glory as it has to this day," he said

Riya walked down the hill slowly, her head spinning left and right. Along the side of the river bank, she could see walkways and roads built with great precision and architecture. Multiple buildings were also erected all over the banks, but none seemed residential.

"That is the temple of Bes, your Radiance," Silorek said as they reached leveled ground and walked on the grassy land. Following his pointing finger, Riya could see a collection of large buildings standing grander than their neighbors by the river edge.

Even from this distance, she could instantly tell how much of a shithole her temple is compared to the temple that stood there. It consisted of three buildings, two of them being thin spire like buildings, while the middle domed building filled most of the expanse of the temple grounds.

Around the immediate vicinity of the temple, farming fields expanding outwards with the outer temple walls, that were built like a giant stone fence, as their meeting point. The moment Riya passed close enough to see the fields clearly, she cringed.

They were all fields of exclusively white, long, and thick lettuce.

"This is some serious lettuce fetish." She thought to herself as they walked on the established road leading to the Temple. The closer they got, the more people they ran into and the more populated the area seemed to be.

The Goddess and her Priest were soon close enough that they could see the outstanding details in the temple's roofs and spires that rose high into the sky. And right next to the leftmost spire, she couldn't help but notice that there was a figure floating in the air.

At first, she thought it was a bird or a play of light in her eyes. But the figure stood unnaturally still mid-air. "What is that?" She wondered. Silorek followed her line of sight and saw the figure in the air. "I'm not sure, your radiance." the priest squinted his eyes.

They watched the figure in curiosity as they slowed down their pace, wondering who or what it may be, and if it was the God they had come to see. The figure then suddenly shifted ever so slightly in their vision and began expanding. It was a subtle change at first, but within a few seconds, it became apparent that something was sprouting out of the figure's back.

"Are those wings?" Riya said in awe. White projections sprouted from the figure, unfurling gracefully and revealing a set of pure and immaculate wings. Then with one sudden jerk, the two great wings beat heavily in unison, scattering a frenzy of delicate feathers that rained down like snow.

It was at this point that people nearby started taking notice of the unusual scene occurring, and pointing up at the figure with their hands on their mouths.

"You will pay, Bes. You will pay for the lies and the embarrassment you caused me." The angered voice of a female echoed loud and clear into the ears of everyone around. Every other sound seemed to fade into nothing in comparison. Silorek instantly grabbed his head with a yelp of pain the moment the shout resounded, falling down to his knees. But Riya managed to grab hold of him, her features heavy with worry. "Sil, are you okay? what's wrong?" She demanded. But he did not respond. He was already hurt, although he wouldn't admit it. And now this winged woman was doing something that caused him even more pain, Riya gritted her teeth as she pulled Silorek into a tight embrace.

All around them the bystanders felt the same way, holding their head's in shock and pain. It was as if the voice of the woman echoed endlessly inside their skulls.

Then without a warning, the dazzlings wings beat in fury as they sliced through the leftmost spire of the temple. The blow completely destroyed half the structure, sending rubble and stone tumbling into the waters of the Nile river, evoking a large splash of water. "You lying piece of filth." The woman in the sky said with a hint of sadness, before beating her wings once more and flying away to the other bank.

Riya knelt in place, her arms still around Silorek in a protective manner. "What the hell just happened?" she whispered in fear. The people around her began to slowly recover from the pain, that only she was not feeling. But as she looked at the young priest, he gave no response while laying still in her arms.