What happened to your brother?

[Alex's POV]

In the meantime, Alex was on his way back from the nearest village. It was late, the sun had set and everything around him was pitch black. He was suddenly glad that one of the villagers had pushed a lantern into his hands before he'd left, even though he had persisted that he didn't need it.

Otto hadn't been in the village.

In fact, there hadn't been any blond-haired girls at all. And once he'd noticed, it was hard to ignore. Blonde hair wasn't an anomaly anymore. Not like it had been in the days of Ancient Egypt. Shouldn't there have been at least a few blond haired girls in the village? Hadn't Yahya said there were plenty? Something was off. Yet, he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

A shiver ran down his spine and left an eerie feeling behind that didn't light up once the shiver had passed. What was this feeling? At first Alex thought that he'd spooked himself because of the darkness that surrounded him but then he'd noticed that his hackles were actually physically raised. As if he'd sensed something by accident and his body was on high alert to spot it again. Had something been attracted by the light of his lantern? Could someone be watching him?

"Is someone there?" he called out to the blackness around him while he raised the lantern and searched around him. He nearly had a heart-attack when he almost smacked his lantern into someone's face. That was how close someone had snuck up on him.

"Jeezus!" Alex breathed, his heart hammering in his throat.

"You nearly scared the living daylight out of me. Why didn't you answer when I called?" Alex asked as he raised the lantern towards the other person's face and was met with a lifeless stare.

"The ghost from earlier," he thought, but this time he'd gotten a good look at the ghosts face.

"Intef?" he asked.

A different kind of shock coursed through him. One of disbelief and confusion. The ghost met his eyes at the mention of his name, but didn't say anything. Well, he'd never actually said anything, so that wasn't new.

"What happened to you?" he asked, his voice laced thick with worry. The whole situation gave him the chills. Intef shouldn't be here. If he had died a natural death, he should've moved on again ages ago.

That's when one of Amon's memories came to mind. It was a memory of how Intef had followed him to the field of reeds along with Yahya. But why was Intef a ghost?! Yahya seemed to be fine. Well, except for the few mental issues he probably had for staying here as long as he had. But that was nothing compared to how Intef looked!

"Hey!" someone called out as an actual -physical- hand grabbed Alex's shoulder. The newly arrived person had approached him from behind and had startled Alex so badly that he'd nearly jumped out of his skin.

Alex reacted on instinct; he dropped the lantern, grabbed the arm of his offender, threw him in true judo fashion to the ground and held him down in a hold to the ground.

"Wait! Wait!" the newly arrived person yelled, wriggling like a worm beneath him. "It was a joke! I wanted to scare you. I didn't think it would actually work?!"

Alex's mind was swirling and adrenaline was rushing through his veins. Now that the danger had been subdued, his head had time to catch up.

"Yahya?" Alex asked, finally coming to his senses, still breathing heavy.

"Oh, thank God! I thought you were going to kill me for real this time," he sighed in relief as Alex released him. "What happened to you anyway? Do you always go bananas when people scare you?!"

"Sorry," Alex mumbled, feeling ashamed. "I think I've seen a ghost."

"Yeah, I figured as much," Yahya growled annoyed. "However, I can't even start to imagine what spooked you to this extent. You do realize the predators here don't hunt, right? Or did you develop a fear of the da-"

"What happened to your brother?" Alex asked, interrupting Yahya's incessant rambling, which instantly put a stop to it. He turned to see if Intef's ghost was still there, but he wasn't.

"Shouldn't you be the one to know?" Yahya answered with so much venom in his words that it took Alex by surprise.

"You and Intef vanished 4000 years ago!" Yahya continued with obvious hurt in his voice. "You left me behind! Stuck and alone, and you can't even remember doing it?! Man, you're infuriating!"

"No, I wouldn't do that. I would never have left you stranded," Alex mumbled, but the more he tried to remember, the worse his heart started to hurt. What was this feeling?

"I wouldn't," Alex repeated, but when he saw Yahya's accusing eyes, he realized that he had left him behind. The proof was sitting right in front of him. The pain in his chest got worse, as if a knife was stabbing his heart. And then he suddenly realized what it was; the feeling of regret. He pressed a hand to his chest, unable to ignore the pain any longer. "Why would I …?"

He couldn't even say it. It hurt to the point were he was having trouble breathing.

"Hey, are you alright?" Yahya asked, finally catching on.

"I'm fine," Alex said between clenched teeth. Amon had wronged his own son by leaving him behind, his own flesh and blood, and now chances were high something terrible had happened to Intef. It was high time that he set a few wrongs from his past life right.

"Tell me everything you know," Alex said, looking Yahya straight in the eyes, determined to do whatever it took to set this right. Even though the pain in his chest hurt so bad that he felt like he might pass out. He watched as Yahya studied his face, his brow deeply creased in thought. Then he raised his gaze towards the sky and released a heavy sigh, undoubtedly asking the heavens for strength.

"I will," he finally said. "But not now. You look like you're about to faint, and it's already late. Let's go back home for now and I'll tell you everything I know tomorrow."

Alex frowned.

"If we have to," he said as he took his lantern from the ground and followed Yahya back home.