Underworld

~All things are possible. Who you are is limited by who you think you are.~ Egyptian quote.

In the days that followed, Aria barely got a glimpse of the Prince. He was still in the Palace but she had a feeling that he preferred being in his private chambers.

Once every day, he went around the Palace observing the day-to-day activities of the people, both servants and royal and he'd retreat back to his chambers—which was huge.

The mystery lake—as Aria had come to learn-was an extension of it. Two weeks had passed easily without so much as a glimpse of him. The days had seemed to pass fleetingly. She had to see him, she wanted to see him.

Although, in the past weeks, the feeling of being watched never went away. It made her fidgety in a way and each time she would convince herself it was all in her head.

After serving Pharaoh his afternoon medicine, she went purposefully to the lake—his lake.

She already knew the way so it didn't take her much time.

Soon, she was there.

She did something she'd never done before. She called out to him.

"Hello?" She said in a loud voice. There was no response.

She walked deeper into the cave and paused when she was right by the lake.

Aria's eyes widened.

She'd never seen a lake that clear. She knelt by it and stared at her reflection.

Her eyes were painted as usual. Her short, black hair framed her small face.

She didn't think she looked beautiful or attractive. She sighed and looked around. A few rays of light penetrated through. She looked back down at the lake. Something in it called to her. She reached down to touch it.

Immediately, she was pulled down by an invisible force. Her entire body fell into the lake, eyes wide. Her panicked scream died in her throat and everything went black.

•••

Minutes later, Aria found herself on a bed. She was confused. She sat up slowly feeling a little drowsy.

'Where was she?'

She looked around, it was unfamiliar. It was like a shrine or temple? It was large. Aria stood, her feet wobbly. She didn't know how she got there, but she had to get out.

"You can't resist the darkness." A voice spoke.

Her eyes widened. She knew the owner of that voice.

"Prince Akhenaten." Right before her eyes, he appeared.

He was wearing a half-pleated kilt wound around his body with a pleated section drawn to the front. He had bracelets on his wrists and ankles, with armlets on his arm. His face was bare of any eye painting though, he looked younger. Aria stared at the tattoo on his chest and arms. She looked back at him.

"Where am I?" She questioned.

"Where you shouldn't be." He replied.

Her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Where are we? Where is this place?" She asked again.

He stared at her for a moment before answering.

"The Underworld."

Immediately those two words came from his lips, the entire scene changed. The facade of a shrine morphed into a very wide expanse of land where fire burned relentlessly.

The atmosphere was eery and dark and the air smelt of sulphur. Aria saw demons, yes demons—winged creatures flying around. Aria saw one demon that walked with its head and another had no eyes. At that point, Aria almost gave up the ghost. She looked to him for answers.

"Am I dreaming?" She whispered.

"No." He said simply.

"Since you kept coming, I thought I'd show you this." He added.

Aria's blood became the hot lead in her veins and she wanted to run, run away but her feet were kept bolted by a force she couldn't see.

"And what is t-this?" She asked in a trembling voice. He stared at her for a moment and looked away.

"A place for the damned." He said.

Her breathing was irregular and she knew she might faint.

"And what are you?" She asked out of breath.

He stared into her eyes.

"Their Prince."

Aria felt her body going down, her eyes fluttering close, and everything went black.

•••

Aria woke up with a start, she sat up and looked around she was by the lake.

'What?'

Her eyes widened when she saw him emerge from the lake.

She looked away, she didn't want to see him naked, not again.

He got dressed and faced her.

"How do you feel?" He asked her, his voice was calm as usual.

He looked her over and his eyes stopped at a small necklace she wore which was hidden underneath her sheath dress. He'd seen it a few times. He looked into her eyes, waiting. Aria stared at him, mouth agape and dumbfounded.

'How does she feel?'

'How does she feel?!'

"You kidnapped me! And what you're a Prince? Prince of the underworld?!"

"What does that even mean?!"

"No one forced you here." He turned his back to her.

"You came of your own free will. You came to me." He said.

Aria's brows furrowed.

"What are you-?"

"Why are you here?" He turned to face her.

She looked at him and pursed her lips.

"Why do you keep coming here? Why do we keep having these unusual meetings?"

She still didn't answer.

"I'm regent, you're an Israeli servant and yet, here we are."

He stared into her eyes, his amber eyes intense.

"If you knew I was trespassing, then why didn't you punish me?" Aria was confused, the conversation was taking an unusual turn.

He was silent for a while and Aria thought he wouldn't reply when he spoke.

"I don't know." He said.

"You're lying." She accused. He did something that surprised her immensely...he smiled.

Aria blinked.

'Was she seeing things?'

"You could say I find you intriguing."

"There's nothing intriguing about me." She admitted.

He sat beside her and put his legs into the lake.

"This is my special spot, my secret place. No one knows about this place, except me..."

He stared deeply into the lake as if there was something he could see that she couldn't.

"...and you." He turned to face her. But she didn't look at him.

Aria's mind was not there at the moment, it was far away, far far away, in a place that seemed only like a vague memory now. She remembered her own secret place by the Nile River. She remembered how she always went there to think and also when she felt overwhelmed or just to be alone.

"I used to have a secret place." She said softly, absentmindedly.

Without realising it, a tear had fallen. She quickly wiped it away. He looked down at her slim wrist. Aria missed home, a lot. She knew she may never see them again.

Tears brimmed in her eyes and without being able to stop them, they flowed down her cheeks. He noticed them and looked away.

"Crying doesn't solve anything." He stated.

Aria looked up.

"That's not true. Crying helps you release pent up frustration."

"It's an outlet for emotions I can't otherwise express." She explained.

He stared into her eyes, there was something in his eyes she couldn't quite put her hand on. She hugged her knees.

"What kind of emotions?" He asked referring to her earlier statement.

"Frustration, sadness, pain, anger." She shrugged.

He smiled a little.

"I can't expect you to understand, you're as cold as a stone."

"Which is it?"

"Hmn?" She looked at him.

"What tears are these?" He placed a hand on her cheek and wiped the tears away, his eyes never leaving hers. Her heart slammed against her ribcage. His touch was like fire against her skin.

He was close-too close. Her mouth tasted like sand and she wasn't able to form any words.

"I can tell. They are tears of-"

"Sadness." Aria finished softly.

The moment that word came out of her mouth, her eyes widened and she stood up. She stared at him but he remained seated.

Her brows were furrowed in confusion.

'Those words...they sounded familiar-too familiar.'

It's like she'd heard them before...

And that was when she remembered.

Ammon...

Aria's eyes widened and she stared at him.

"Ammon?" She whispered.

He stood and turned to face her. Her brows furrowed in immense confusion. He stared at her and shook his head.

"If you're not him, then who are you?!"

"I'm his brother." He said.

Aria's eyes widened. She took two steps back.

"What?" Her brows furrowed.

"What happened to him?"

Akhenaten watched her carefully and remained silent.

"Did you kill him?" Aria questioned accusingly remembering his confrontation with his father. Aria saw something in his eyes that wasn't there before, but she couldn't identify what it was.

"Like you killed those innocent people?" She whispered, but he had heard it.

He stared at her for the longest moment. She could see no emotion in those expressionless eyes.

"Yes." He answered finally.

Aria tried but she couldn't hide the look of pain and disgust in her eyes.

"You're a heartless monster." She said quietly.

He looked right into her eyes and spoke.

"You don't know what a monster is. You've always thought me one even when you don't know me."

"It explains why there's always fear in your eyes. It rolls off you in waves." He said.

He turned his back to her.

"You don't know me...and you never will." He said quietly.

He got into the lake and soon, he was gone.

Aria felt a small prick in her heart, her eyes lowered.

She knew she'd hurt him.

•••

After that uneventful day, Aria didn't see him for three months. She went to the lake religiously, every day, but she never caught sight of him. One morning, while attending to Pharaoh, she had asked in passing where the Prince went.

Apparently, he had gone on another political journey and the day of his arrival was uncertain. Every day was the same and every single day he didn't come back increased the guilt in her throat.

She had hurt him a lot.

The topic of his brother was obviously a sensitive one and she had used that against him—she was the monster. She wanted to apologise, she needed to. She had been shocked to find out Ammon, the mysterious young man she had met by her secret place by the Nile was the Crown Prince's brother-but he'd died.

Aria had felt a pain in her heart that surprised her. She didn't know why hearing of his death affected her so. Even though they only talked twice, those two times had felt like forever to her. Probably because she'd never had someone to talk to.

Now that she thought of it, she could vaguely remember him, he looked younger than the Prince regent but the resemblance was uncanny.They had the same dark hair but while Ammon's eyes had been dark brown, Akhenaten's were amber.

She let a single teardrop for Ammon whom she'd only met for the shortest time. She had thought they would never cross path again but she had crossed path with his brother.

Aria sighed. She wondered if he'd meant what he said.

'Had he really killed him?'

'And what if he did, what would she do?'

...