To Cairo

In the following week, Zale stayed as far from Meru as possible, both physically and mentally. His anger and fear drove him like a deranged man. He spent eight hours a day pouring over 'Mana' until he had it completely copied over and nearly memorized. He put the document on a flash drive and handed it over to Shai the next time they met. "I had to leave the book at the library, but whatever magic brought it to our world had already left it," he explained to the pharaoh.

Indeed, he returned the book to the desk only the day before, and before leaving the library, he took one last look. The inexplicable pull was gone. It was no different than all the other books on the counter. "I see. Well, we've not much information on the temple and how it functions. I trust what you say."

Zale nodded and handed Shai his flash drive as they walked towards their departure gate. "As a sign of good faith, here is the whole book, typed by yours truly. I hope this at least covers the cost of the flight there," he jabbed.

In a lapse of etiquette, Shai threw his arm around Zale's shoulder and laughed with joy. "Zale, my friend, you have paid for a lifetime of luxury with what you've given me. We may have a rough time ahead, but you'll not sleep hungry while under my roof. Of that, I guarantee."

"Rough times ahead, rough times behind. Might as well enjoy something," Zale replied.

"I hope you'll tell me more about your life until now, Zale. It seems you've stories to tell," Shai replied, releasing him.

"Lots of fighting, lots of The God of Blessings, and lots of hardship," he said briefly, his last raid popping into mind. The memory of lightning that groped out like a hand sent a shiver through him.

"Well, there will be time for them soon. Shall we?" Shai suggested, motioning towards the gate that led out to his private jet.

The flight, though fourteen hours long, passed like a dream. A better-than-first-class flight with Shai and Akil along for the ride. He forgot that Meru was in danger, that his life would end someday. His anger and fear faded. For once, he was just a man enjoying his life. He wished these moments could last.

When the flight landed in Cairo, Egypt, he moved from a dream world to the impossible. Zale gawked at everything they passed. Street vendors, people speaking a different language, architecture, all of it was new. "Even though I lived in the southern bastion, this is so far beyond that scale," he expressed, finally gathering himself as he and Shai drove up to the palace, a building equally beyond Zale's expectations.

"Well, Cairo is the heart of Egypt, as well as our final bastion. We are in dire straits right now. Much of the cities south of here have been overrun by monsters, and there is nothing west but death. That death threatens to encroach even now," Shai explained, his eyes burning with determination.

Zale swallowed as reality set in again. The humans were slowly being pushed back, yet people were still at odds, and Zale was on his own path out of that.