The Petrified Mountain - Intef

[Alex's POV]

"This madness has been going on for far too long," Alex said.

Or at least, he thought he'd said it himself. His voice sounded like nothing he'd ever heard before. It reminded him a little of the sound of wind chimes dancing in the wind. A very soft and calming sound.

Yet the monster froze and his eyes widened in surprise. Had it understood what he'd said?

"Good," Alex thought and closed his eyes. With this, he could see inside the monster's mind and was surprised to find, that on the inside the monster was still a 100% Intef. He'd expected the transformation on the outside to be caused by a severely jumbled mind, but that wasn't the case.

The longer he tried to understand, the more he got the feeling that the monster was some sort of last resort.

"This is the memory you're looking for," Intef's mind provided. It was strange to hear his voice. Alex had never heard Intef talk before. It sounded calm and collected.

He doubted for an instant, afraid of what he'd see, but decided he needed to know if he wanted to fix this whole situation.

The scene around him changed and then Alex was looking through Intef's eyes, reliving one of his memories as if it was his own.

He was standing on top of a mountain. The sky was clear and the sun was shining, a truly peaceful scene.

If Alex had to take a guess, he'd say he was standing on top of the petrified mountain before it had all gone wrong, but the difference between the before and after was so large that it was hard to say.

The view on top of the mountain was breathtaking, but Intef was watching the man before him.

This man was standing with his back towards Intef, taking in the view.

"Why did you follow me here?" the other person asked, a note of anger audible in his voice. The older man's voice sounded alien to Alex's ears, but Intef looked at this man with a lot of love and respect and Alex realised it could only be one person; Amon.

"Of course I did, father," Intef thought as he nodded.

"You shouldn't have, Intef. I especially came here to be alone," Amon said. "The way I am now, I can't guarantee your safety. You better leave."

Amon turned to look at Intef. Alex hadn't really seen himself before this point, but Amon looked a lot older than he'd felt when they'd shared a body. He didn't look as buff anymore and his usually suntanned skin looked pale.

Alex could also see that he was suppressing his emotions.

If the sea of pain and anger in his eyes were allowed to break free, it would undoubtedly trigger a storm so powerful it could destroy everything around them. And even though Amon was doing a fantastic job of suppressing his powers, the air all around them was sparking with nervous, magical energy.

"I take it you've realised she isn't here," Amon continued as he hurriedly turned back to look out over the valley again. He was close to tears.

"She left me behind," he choked, but caught himself and continued in a steadier voice. "She ran away at the first sign of danger and she left me behind! She even changed the course of fate to do so. Poor Ma'at didn't know what hit her until it was too late. You should have been ruling Egypt along with your brother, not babysitting me."

Intef's eyes misted over at the memory of his brother. He definitely felt guilty about leaving him behind. But he quickly wiped away the tears with the sleeve of his shirt.

"But honestly, I shouldn't be surprised," Amon said. His voice sounded hard and void of emotion, but a wind was picking up, making the magic swirl around them. "If anyone would have noticed the danger approaching, it would have been Neferet. After all, she and Grace used to be two opposite sides of the same coin. And I was the fool who separated them. Grace has been hunting us ever since we ran away. She is drawn to the power we use and I'd forgotten. I allowed her to catch our scent and she followed it all the way to the outskirts of the universe."

Amon took a shuddering breath and Intef placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Amon glanced at him over his shoulder, a single tear still visible on his cheek, but a smile ghosted over his lips as he gave Intef's hand a grateful squeeze.

"I bet even you can feel her nearing by now," Amon said and for the first time Alex realised he had been looking at the sky instead of the valley.

Amon was right, Intef could feel something powerful approach. The presence was still far away and blended into the background if you didn't pay attention to it, but it was definitely there.

Alex wanted to ask what the hell that presence was and why he couldn't remember something Amon clearly did know about. But this was Intef's memory; it had already happened and he couldn't change it.

Then suddenly, Amon's face twisted into an ugly pained expression and he crumbled to the floor, clutching at his heart.

It startled Intef senseless, and he scrambled to grab Amon by the shoulders to prevent him from falling off the mountain.

When he looked Amon in the face again, he noticed tears were streaming down his face and the wind was properly swirling around them in a small tornado.

For an instant, Intef had the urge to hold on to Amon like an anker.

"It's too late for me to go into hiding now," Amon yelled over the noise of the swirling wind around them. "I'll never be able to get away in time. She'll catch me and use me to get to Neferet. That, or she'll throw me back into prison, to rot for all eternity."

Intef held Amon's shoulders as he crumbled in on himself.

"I'll never get to see my soulmate again," Amon cried. Alex could feel his own heart tear at Amon's words. The thought of never seeing Otto again was truly devastating.

Then something unexpected happened. Intef bend down, and hugged Amon tightly.

"Let me help you," Intef thought. "I'll create a diversion so you can escape. But you'll have to leave your powers behind and never search for them again. It's how she recognises you. It's her beacon in the dark, and your chain to her. Please be free."

Alex wasn't too sure of how much Amon had understood of Intef's message, but he sucked in a breath of surprise when he felt a sudden change in his magic.

"No!" was the last thing he was able to say before his powers spiralled out of control and slipped from his grasp.

It rushed out in a scourging wave, incinerating everything physical around him so fast it didn't even have the time to crumble.

Then the wave collapsed in on itself, sucking in even more power than it had released, robbing thousands of living things of their life-force. And finally, everything went quiet.

Intef had never let go of Amon throughout any of it.

As everything fell silent around him, Intef watched the last of Amon's blue fireflies slip from his grasp and disappear.

"But that's impossible," Alex muttered in shock. "What the hell is this? And why can't I remember any of it for myself?"

He hadn't been expecting anyone to answer. He'd temporarily forgotten that he was inside Intef's mind. So it startled him when he heard Intef's voice say: "It was me. I've taken all your power and erased your memory of this moment. I've become a beacon so powerful I was able to divert Grace's attention away from you. But even now, I can feel that the power yearns to return to you. If you were to release me of this prison, I wouldn't be able to keep it in check and everything would have been for naught."

Alex felt like crying. Why did this keep happening? To Alex, Amon had seemed so powerful, and yet some of the people he loved most ended up suffering because of him. He frowned angrily.

"Hey Intef?" Alex asked. "Did Grace even come here at all?"

In reply, Intef's memory fast forwarded. Alex didn't know how much time had passed, and it didn't really matter either.

What mattered was the sky. Alex had never seen a more beautiful dark blue for the night sky. It looked so bright, yet it was dark.

That's when he noticed it; two enormous eyes, large as stellar constellations, glaring angrily at Intef's beacon of power.

But to say human eyes were looking down from the sky was a bit much. It was more an impression of eyes, made from lines that could be seen because the starry night sky was interrupted, as if the stars suddenly couldn't touch that part of the night sky any longer.

It was beautiful and terrifying all at once.

Alex's heart was beating so loudly it nearly leaped out of his chest. He recognised those eyes. They were the exact opposite of the eyes he loved so much; Grace.

She had come this close to finding him?! Why hadn't he known?! He held his breath as he watched Intef's memory.

The angry eyes glared a moment longer towards the beacon of power.

Alex was terrified of her reaction.

If she labelled this beacon as an act to thwart her, she could erase the earth from existence. To her, it was just as easy as swatting a fly, or stomping her fist on the table.

But she didn't. She merely cried out in frustration, which because of her size made every leaf and atom shiver, and then she vanished.

Alex sucked in a breath of surprise. She hadn't retaliated?! That was new.

"Has she come back after this?" Alex asked.

"No," Intef said.

For an instant, Alex doubted.

The resolve he'd felt that morning had been swayed. The main reason being that Intef himself didn't seem bothered by his predicament. And to be honest, Alex didn't need power. Certainly not this much. All he wanted to do was to live his life with Otto.

Then all the faces of the petrified people came to mind, all the petrified trees and flowers, the pain of being stuck in a state between life and death.

Alex's face twisted in agony. He knew it was wrong. The whole petrified mountain was wrong. It was unnatural and it shouldn't exist.

He was very grateful that Intef was willing to go to such great lengths for him, just to grant him a chance to see his soulmate again, and he was doing a wonderful job of keeping Amon's powers at bay, but Intef had said so himself: the power yearned to return to its owner.

If it hadn't been for the beacon that Amon had accidentally created, Intef would have never been able to contain them.

Alex looked up regretfully towards Intef, who looked back with understanding eyes.

"Thank you," Alex said and Intef smiled.

"Always."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as sudden as Alex had left his body, he found himself back in it. He wasn't floating in the air anymore, that was for certain.

No, when the illusion broke, Alex woke up, bolting upright, tears streaming down his face and gasping for air. Air that wouldn't fill his lungs. His gaze found Yahya, who apparently had been watching over his body, and gasped in full-blown panic: "I- I can't -!"

Yahya didn't need to hear the full sentence to understand.

He jumped to his feet, looked around feverishly until he spotted an ultra fine stem of petrified grass, picked up the nearest loose rock and smacked it against the grass stem.

Then he hurried back over to Alex and jammed the broken-off grass stem into the lung Alex had been clutching. The second he pulled the thing back out Alex was able to breath again.

He lay gasping on the flour for a full minute, before he was able to talk again.

"Impressive," Alex croaked once the black spots had stopped dancing in front of his eyes, but immediately winced at the pain of his broken ribs.

"Thank heavens you woke up!" Yahya sighed in relief. But his relief didn't last long. "Listen, we have to get out of here! That crazy ghost-monster that attacked us? There's something here that chased it off!"

Alex looked at him dumbstruck. Well, honestly, he wasn't to sure himself what had happened, but seeing Yahya in his state of panic seemed a little out of place.

"No, that was me," Alex managed to say between gasps and wheezes. Yahya looked at him in absolute horror.

"You?!" he asked angrily. "You lay unconsciously in a puddle of your own blood!"

"Hey, look! He inherited Amon's anger management issues!" Alex thought, feeling a very inappropriate pang of pride. Ridiculous, right?

"No time to explain," Alex said. His voice sounded as if he were gurgling and the metal taste of blood was thick in his mouth.

"We have to get to the top of the mountain," Alex said as he pushed himself off the ground, but staggered as a dizzy spell hit him because he'd lost too much blood.

Before he could fall, though, Yahya had already caught him.

"Looks like big brother did quite the number on you," he said as he pulled Alex's arm around his neck to shoulder some of his weight. "Not that I don't understand. You don't want to know the number of times I had to resist the urge to punch you ever since you woke up."

"You probably don't want to hear this, but you're SO your father's son," Alex chuckled, gratefully for the support Yahya provided. His remark made Yahya blush bright red.

"You're nothing like him, though," Yahya grumbled in reply. Which made Alex chuckle in agreement. They continued the rest of the way in amicable silence.