The Sun Born

On a rainy day, something that would change the course of fate was currently happening.

"I need to hurry up!"

Hurried steps could be heard throughout the streets, and with each of them, a splash of water would make itself heard. It was a terrible day, yet the people here were grateful for the weather. "Almost there!".A painful scream could be heard in the distance.

creak

With an almost terrified look on his face, Asad asked, "Nadia, is she alright? Has the baby been delivered yet?"

"Shut up Asad, let me concentrate."

Inside a well-lit room lay one woman in a birthing chair and three midwives, with one sitting on a birthing stool and being the one who did the most work while the other ones helped as much as they could.

"Saqat, breathe as I taught you" one of the midwives said

"Ok, Saqat let's push when I say ok?" said Nadia

On the birthing chair lay a beautiful woman, her olive skin smooth and her black hair as though the gods themselves made it. Her beautiful face had a pained look on it as she nodded towards Nadia.

"Ok, look at me. Three, two, one and push."

"Aghhhhh" Saqat squeezed Asad's hand with as much strength as she could. 'Has Saqat been training in secret?' he thought as he tried to hide his pain. 'How did she get so strong??'

"One more push Saq, this is the last one. You can do it" the midwives almost stopped at those words, the baby was coming, and Seqta was still very healthy. "Ok, let's go again. Three, two, one, and push."

…

A baby's cries filled the room. He was healthy, already in his mother's careful hands, who smiled brightly at him. Asad, who watched this, got a silly smirk on his face and whispered, "If you like those so much, do you want to make another one tonight?" She quickly looked at him with a dead serious face and said, glaring at him, "I'm not in the mood to joke, and you smell musky, and …"

With his silly smirk still on his face, he quickly made an expression as if he was out of time. "Oh, would you look at that? I have to show the midwives out", and he zoomed out of the room.

She looked at the baby's neck, and there was a birthmark. An eye with a tear streak coming down. She knew this was the eye of the sun. "What are you?" Right when she said that, the baby opened its eyes, and she gasped. They were red. She had never heard of people who had pure red eyes, yet she was quickly lost in them. They looked like the most precious gem to her and complimented his light olive skin like the gods chose them themselves. She kissed his forehead, and he started to fall asleep "I will always protect you, my child, even in the most impossible of times" with those words, he let out a soft smile, and Seqta swears it was as if he understood her.

Asad came in and slowly moved towards his wife. With a big grin on his face, he said," Saq, Ra seems to have heard your screaming and stopped the rain from falling on our home!" he let out a hearty laugh.

"You should have seen Nadia's face when she thought the rain had stopped only to look outside and realize it was only here and that her house was still far away" Seqta let out a small giggle. "Come here, help me get to bed. I'm too tired."

He helped her onto the bed and laid next to her. "Are you going to sleep?"

She looked at his worried eyes and gave him a peck," I'm fine, just tired, silly. I'm not going to die from just this" His eyes brightened a bit but still held worry in them" I know, but.. I'm just worried. I know you're more of a warrior than me" She laughed at his words," This warrior wishes to have a good rest, can she?" He looked surprised at her words and bowed his head" Yes, your excellency."

With the rise of the moon, all of them fell asleep and made a perfect image of peace. Just the three of them, like it should be.

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Fourteen Years later, Alexandria, Egypt. -30 B.C

"Thieves!"

A boy who looked like he had just come out of a drawing looked back, his ruby-like eyes analyzing the one who screamed. It was the vendor of bread in their city, a true delicacy in their civilization. Another boy at his side looked at the red-eyed child. "What do you say, Ramses. Should we stop?" They both looked at each other before laughing and speeding up towards the ports.

"Hey, turn right here; there's a good hiding spot behind this house."

Ramses entered the hiding spot and became immediately enamored with the view. Behind this house, the Mediterranean sea showed its true beauty as though it meant to show everyone in their city that it was more important than them. "This is a nice hiding spot. How'd you find it, Salih?"

"A girl showed me, it was our meeting spot, but her mother forbade her from seeing me" hearing his friend's melancholic tone, Ramses could not stop himself and burst out laughing. "Did you finally find the love of your life? If you did, you should tell that to the other girls you are meeting as well." he said in between his laugh.

Salih looked at Ramses with a shocked face as if this was information he had never heard, "What?! How could such a respected member of society like me have that many girls? Preposterous!" Satisfied with his comeback, he allowed himself a little victory smirk, which turned into a glare at the following words he heard.

"Give me some of the stolen bread, oh respected member of society, I got some scorpion fish filets on the little basket I brought, and I really want to taste it with the bread" the red-eyed boy said as he showed the basket he was carrying on his hand. "Want some?"

"Yeah, I want some. Let's make a small fire to cook it …. or were you planning to eat it raw?" Salih looked at his friend in a questioning manner, "I gave you some donkey dung to keep a fire before we stole the bread….Did you lose it?" this time the one being stared at in a questioning manner was Salih," Uhhh, I'm going to find some right now, be right back."

"Ok, hurry u-" Before he could finish his sentence, he heard someone shout. "ARCHERS READY YOUR WEAPONS, FOOT SOLDIERS GET IN POSITION AND PROTECT THE WALLS AND THE CITY" They listened to the footsteps of the soldiers as they started moving into positions next to the walls of the city. "What's going on? Are we being attacked?"

"I don't know Salih, but most likely. Let's go see what's going on."

As they made their way towards the front gate, Salih and Ramses saw thousands of soldiers moving and even came across the bread vendor, but they seemed invisible. The vendor ran past them and went into a house. It was that serious that the merchant didn't even give a simple yell? They hid themselves and eavesdropped on the army's main force that was stationed near the main gate.

"General Anthony, everyone is in position and ready for conflict. Any more orders?"

"No, just inform them to hold position and remain alert, the Romans severely outnumber us, and we can't let them reach the Pharaoh."

Ramses' eyes widened at what had been said. The Romans had come to attack them. He had heard of them, the largest empire known to humanity. Could Cleopatra and General Anthony even hold them back? He honestly didn't know.

"Hey Salih, let's head back. I need to go home, and you should do the same"

"Yeah, I think so too."

When he arrived home, his mother was already waiting for him" Where were you Ramses, do you know how scared I was?!" His ruby eyes met hers" I was taking a quick walk with my friends. Did you see the commotion outside? I heard the Romans are attacking us."

With a panic-stricken face, she almost yelled at him, "What?! By the Romans? Where did you hear this?"

"As I was walking back alone, I heard the General saying that it was the Romans. Will Father be alright?"

"I'm sure we'll win this. Your father is the strongest after all" her eyes softened. How could she think any differently? They would win and forget this even happened after a few months.

"Yeah, that's true. I'm going to sleep then. Good Night, Mother"

"Good Night"

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"Have they still not left?"

Almost a month had passed since the Romans sieged them. There was little to no conflict that happened in that period of time. It mostly went like this: the Romans launched attacks only to be stopped by General Anthony's forces and then went back to siege warfare.

An effective technique for wearing the enemy down but too slow-paced. With this type of warfare, we should only have a few days left to live. In the best-case scenario, we'd lose but get taken in as workers, and the worst-case scenario would be this siege warfare continuing for as long as possible and our people dying of hunger.

"Salih, why would they have left?"

"I don't know Ramses, would you not get bored from this war where nothing happens?"

"I probably would, but it's the smartest war they can fight right now. I honestly doubt we're going to get out of this alive too, so its effectiveness shows itself in the end."

"What are you talking about, you crazy bastard? Don't speak like that or the gods will hear you."

"You know it too, Salih. You simply don't want to say it out loud."

"Ramses, how can you speak of this so apathetically? This is something that will affect our lives forever. If we win, we gain nothing, but if we lose our lives certainly will be hell under the Roman people."

Ramses looked at his friend and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I don't want anything to happen to everyone in this city, but it simply is not possible. Only a miracle would save us, and miracles are not real. It would be best if you learned that"

With a click of his tongue, Salih got up from the edge of the port," I know you're right, but I can't take it. I'm going home."

"Take care."

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August 1st, 30 B.C

Early morning, inside the Roman settlement.

"Is everyone ready?"

"Yes, Emperor. We're simply waiting for your orders."

"We attack in five minutes. Proceed as previously planned, Private Emericus."

"Understood, sir."

'Mark, this is the only option you have left me. This last push will be the end of Egypt'

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"NOOO"

'What's going on?'

I lifted myself off of my bed and started heading towards the door, but before I reached it, another scream reached my ears.

"PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE"

I was sure this was my mother. Did the Romans finally attack? Instantly, my mind snapped back to reality, and I ran outside, and I saw nothing but chaos. Dead bodies piled on the streets, ugly blood flowing like the beautiful Nile. It looked as if Set and Osiris were dancing on the battlefield.

Father's body lay headless in front of him, and his mother was getting stabbed repeatedly a few dozen meters away from him. I saw as her eyes lost their glint. I knew she was dead, and it bothered me that I felt so little, but I simply couldn't feel anything.

"Ramses, over here."

I searched for where the whisper I heard came from and saw Salih, crouching next to my home.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you. What do you mean?"

"I mean...your Mother, did she make it?"

His face that had a weak smile, suddenly broke down as if removing a mask. He silently wept." Mom... she didn't make it" With teary eyes, he looked at Ramses. "What about your parents?"

"...They both died before I woke up. I found their bodies in the streets."

"I see, you too, huh." his melancholic voice now authentic. "What are we going to from now on?"

I looked around us, trying to find a way out of here." Follow me. Can you swim?"

As if we just passed by a pile of manure, his nose scrunched up at me" We live right next to the sea. Did you honestly think I can't swim?"

"You never know. Maybe you were too occupied with girls."

"Wha-... You...How long have we known each other?"

Looking back at him, I could see that someone stood behind him." Salih, listen to me very carefully. Come towards me very slowly."

"Why, what happened-" The Romans hand fell on Salih's shoulder as he began to talk. "Why do you need to swim? You'd get tired. It would be exhausting to swim to the other side of the walls. Come with me."

I slowly picked up a khopesh that lay on the ground a couple of meters behind me, on the hands of a corpse. "We'd still be able to get away from here. Hands off" pointing it at him, I began getting closer. "Unless you want to come as a simple head."

" I see. I'll give you an offer that, if not taken, will spell death for you. Even if you swim to the other side of the ocean, it won't change your fate. We took over everything around it. Mars blessed us with the strongest armies on earth" His eyes filled with pride, and it simply disgusts me. Anat looks down on false gods of war such as these. Yet his offer would be the only survival chance they would get. "What is your offer, Roman."

His eyes, as if intrigued, analyzed Salih and me. " I want you to be warriors on my behalf. Your ability to hide undetected by my warriors surprised me; You have a future in war. I can see it in both of you."

Salih's eyes pleaded with me to take the offer. "Ramses, this is the best offer we'll get." He smiled at me. "We'll make good Generals, and we'd command armies worth of people. Think of that." I quickly looked towards the face of the Roman soldier. 'Did he get the meaning behind his words? It would certainly make a good plan, but it'd take some time.'

"Alright, we accept." The Roman had an ugly smile when he heard my answer. " I knew you'd be smart. Follow me. And drop that sword, please."

An order already. No need to disguise it as a question. "Yes, sir."

As we walked towards their settlement, we saw as our once beautiful city now lay flooded by blood and corpses. "May I ask for your name, sir?"

"Ah yes. My name is Octavian, but to you, I'm either sir or Emperor" My body froze. Emperor? Why did he come inside the city? What an unusual tactic. Even Salih seemed to have agreed with me, "Emperor?" he whispered at my side.

It seems as though we got lucky. This situation will give us the best possibilities for our plan to work out. Now we just needed loyal soldiers at our say, and fortunate for us, we were great at making people do our bidding.