Chapter 4 : I believe I can fly!

“H-Horus?” I stammered, “But you’re a myth.”

He sighed, “That’s what they all say my friend, and trust me, I don’t like to brag, but I just saved your butt. If I was a myth, you’d be dinner for those nasty lycans.” I wasn’t about to argue. I stared at the golden spear, now stuck in a pile of ashes. “What are those things?” I asked. “Lycanthropes, nasty breed there, you’re lucky I’m a great sniper.” He beamed. Show-off, I thought. “Lyca-what?” I inquired. “Those things were about to kill-” He cut me off. “Come along kid, someone needs to see you.” He walked over to the the the spear and plucked it up from the ash and slid it over his shoulder, it automatically shrunk to a golden stick the size of a baseball bat. “Whoa.” I was awestricken. He looked at me and laughed. “That’s simple magic, you’ll learn soon enough.” I stared at him blankly. “Learn what” He stared at the horizon, ” Come on kid, we’re already late.” “I’m not going anywhere until you explai-” He lifted me by the shirt and into the air. I screamed, but couldn’t hear my voice, and the next thing I knew, we were a thousand feet above New York. “Let me go, let me go.” I thrashed at his arms. “Fine kiddo, it’s your call.” He released me and I accelerated towards the ground. My screams and shouts for help were muffled by the wind, about a hundred feet from the ground, Horus snatched me back. I wheezed, struggling to breathe. “You jerk, I could’ve died!” I shrieked “Jeez, relax kid, after all, you’re in the hands of the god of the skies, the one with the golden eyes the one who never misses.....” I rolled my eyes here we go again. I thought. He went on for a while. After some time I got fed up with his bragging. I decided to play along. I pretended to be interested in my fingernails. “The lord of the skies you say, I thought Zeus was the lord of the skies.” I replied mockingly. I could feel his arms tensing. “Zeus! That imposter, the only thing he does is chase nymphs all day, I’ll take him out in a fight any day.” He remained silent for the rest of the way. “Where exactly are you taking me, my mother is probably worried sick about me.” I said, finally breaking the silence. “You’ll know soon enough, but for now enjoy the scenery while you still can.” He replied grimly. Wow, I thought, total mood shift. I looked down and saw the snow-topped mountains and rivers snaking around the green forests, the scene looked amazing. But something kept nagging at the back of my mind, while you still can, what does that mean. I was about to ask him about it when we suddenly lurched to the side. “Whoa! What was that for?” I asked. “Vampires,” he shouted, “They can’t fly that high, where have to go higher, take a deep breath.” We started rising. The vampires had huge fangs and extremely pale skin, They had black wings sprouting from their shoulder blades. They kept coming at us, there was at least a dozen of them. “But we are in broad daylight, aren’t they supposed to, like, I don’t know to die or burn or something?” I asked. “I don’t know, they are supposed to die in daylight, but with Asmodeus rising, the laws of nature are diminished.” He said, kicking a vampire in the gut and another with the hilt of his spear, it was now in full form again, a golden spear with the sharp end on both sides. Asmodeus. The name sent a chill down my spine. “Who's Asmodeus?” I asked, “Now isn’t the time really, you’ll know everything in time.” he replied. He was now holding me with one hand, and it didn’t look pretty hanging from somebody’s hand thousands of feet above the earth with vampires trying to bite your legs off. I kept thrashing at them with my hands and legs, just when I thought that’s it for me, the vampires backed off. “That’s right, and don’t come back!” I shouted breathlessly. “They’re not done, and I’m not in my full form to fight them all,” said Horus. I didn’t know what he meant by that. “Ok, here we go, this is the part where oxygen is nearly negligible.” He said. “Whoa, hold up a sec, you know I can’t breathe up there, right?” I asked quickly. “I know, that’s why I’m hoping you’ll forgive me for this, like you have a choice anyway.” He smiled wickedly. “Horus,” I said trembling “What are you intending to do?” The last thing I saw before blacking out was Horus’s huge hand slapping me on my head, and then everything went black. In my dream, Mallak and I were in her hometown in Lebanon, we were sitting in a park enjoying the sunlight. Everything was perfect until my alarm clock decided to interfere. I woke up drowsy and tired. I looked around, I was back in my room. Everything was normal, I was so glad all that was just a dream. I walked to the mirror and saw my head bandaged. I touched my wound and winced in pain. What a dream, I thought, a dream inside a dream. Weird. Suddenly, the door opened, I was expecting my mother, Instead, I was greeted by Horus’s smiley face. I groaned loudly, it wasn’t a dream after all. He was now the size of a regular human, about six feet tall. “So, it’s not a dream, you’re real, gods are real. That’s a lot to process.” I said, steadying myself. Horus looked at me sympathetically, “Yep I’m real, gods are real, and a lot of other nasty things are real too, it’ll take time, but you’ll get over it.” My head started throbbing again.

“You slapped me on the head so hard I blacked out!” I shouted at him. “I was doing it for your own good, how else could I have made you sleep. you would have never survived the journey here if I hadn’t decreased your oxygen consumption level. You breathe less when you’re out cold” he explained. I stared at him blankly. I remembered my mother, I ran for the door, but Horus stopped me. “What do you want, I want to see my mother” I struggled against him, but he was too strong. “Why are you in my house anyway? I want to see my mother get out of the way.” I said, “This is not your house,” he said at last, “Urshu, our best architect, designed an exact replica of your room here.” I ignored what he just said, “Where’s my mom, what did you do to her.” I said. “Your mom’s okay, don’t worry.” He replied. “She must be worried about me, I should have been home by now,” I said, pacing the room nervously. “Kid,” said Horus “you really do worry about things more than you should, we sent your mom a letter from your school saying that you went on a camping trip with your class.” I stared at him. “So you’re saying that you sent my mother a fake letter” I asked, “The letter wasn’t fake it was even stamped by your principal.” He clarified “But why?” I said, “you’ll know everything when it’s time,” he said “Wait,” I said, “how did you even manage to get that letter, you do know that meeting ancient gods isn’t in most people’s to-do lists.” Horus smiled “One word: magic, the letter was enchanted to look exactly like one your school would send.” I couldn’t help laughing “Magic? Magic doesn’t exist.” He looked at me like I just ate a hedgehog, “You were flying at a height of a couple thousand feet with a god, and you were attacked by vampires in broad daylight, I say you reconsider your beliefs.” I admit, he does have a point. “Whose Urshu anyway?” I asked. “You seriously haven’t heard of Urshu? He’s the guy who built Seth’s tribute to Ra, the thousand feet-tall pillar.” “Never heard of him, sorry,” I confessed. I looked around “Well it isn’t an exact replica; my room isn’t this tidy.” I said, throwing some clothes on the ground. “You said earlier that I would have never survived the journey here if you hadn’t decreased my oxygen consumption level right? Where exactly is here?” I asked. He smiled, “Come with me” He took me by the hand and up a flight of stairs, we emerged on what seemed like a ship’s deck, it was made of wooden planks. the ship had huge black sails that blocked the sky, they were lined with ancient drawings and carvings that I couldn’t recognize. He pulled me to the ship’s rail and gestured for me to look over. I bent over and all the air was sucked from my lungs, the ship was floating in the middle of outer space! A giant chain was hoisted to the ship, at the end of the chain was… the sun itself! Horus extended his hands, “Welcome” he said, “To the Battleship of Ra!”