The Scepter of the Priest

The gates were wide open, thick high gates of pure gold, decorated with many elegant hieroglyphic symbols and spells that prevent the king's enemies from trying to assassinate him. Hiding behind them a very large hall, at the end of which the great throne made of pure gold settles in the middle between two statues for two giants with the head of a jackal and a human body, a huge throne that accommodates a giant, which makes the queen appear slim in size.

The guards advanced inside the hall pushing a short, slim man compared to the two giant guards, with his hands tied behind his back, and wearing short apron in coarse linen, unlike high-quality linen guards' clothes attached around their muscular bodies with wide belts, and the distinctive decorated shoulder cover of the Royal Guard.

When the man appeared in front of the queen, one of them poked his weapon behind his knee to force him to kneel before the queen. The man raised his head slightly to see her. Queen Sa-Hur-Ra. The beautiful young queen wearing her thin white silk dress, and her golden crown set with the most beautiful Precious stones decorates her soft black silk-like hair.

She gently embraces her hands and looks at him with pride, and then asks him: "What is your name?"

He replied with a confident voice: “My name is Sa-Lim.”

She stared at him a little while.

"What is the charge of that man?" She asked the guard.

"We arrested him while practicing strange sorcery without the permission of the High Priest Mu-Nir."

She looked at him again with a rigid face, devoid of any expression. Every person in the hall knows the punishment well, even him, But he did not show any of the signs of fear or remorse.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense?" She asked.

He turned his eyes on the faces of those present in the hall around him, then returned to look directly at the queen with confidence. He took a deep breath to arrange his thoughts and then...

"My lady ... I swear to you in the name of Ra that I did n-..."

Interrupted by a strange voice that suddenly appeared, a voice that is not from this world, but he knows it very well.

"What's that sound?!" The guard asked while poking his shoulder with his weapon violently. Sa-Lim thought quickly, and then answered with a terrifying smile on his face:

«Do you hear that voice? It is one of my talismans that have just been activated! I advise you to release me now if you care about the life of your queen! »

He looked around again and made his smile even wider when he saw the horror on the face of the audience... But how did he end up this far?

To understand this, we have to go back a little, just a little bit to know what happened.

***

It all started with a big bang! Since then the universe has been expanding. The hydrogen and helium atoms that result from the explosion have scattered in all directions, forming the world for us as we know it today.

Just a moment!! We are back in time, too long! I apologize. Let's try again... No, not the Jurassic era, our story is not about dinosaurs. We finally got to the stone man... well a little far yet…

Ah I understand now!! To understand we have to go ahead! It's a little complicated but you have to trust me. Let's start again...

***

It started when Salim was chosen to be one of the first to experiment with the time machine. Why not, and he is one of the most important professors of Egyptology in one of the largest universities in the United States. Of course he had to offer many gifts -or bribes as most people call them- but he was chosen. I mean, who can be better than him to take a trip to ancient Egypt?

So he ended up in that suspicious white room, almost naked on that cold metal table, which was not comfortable at all, especially for his sick back, but they assured him that it was only for a medical examination that would take no more than a few seconds.

A beautiful physician approached him with her white coat, which added more to her beauty, and fixed several electrodes on his head, then asked him to close his eyes for a few moments, then he felt a needle penetrating his arm and emptied what was inside the tube in his veins. After several seconds he heard her voice again asking him to rise.

He slowly opened his eyes and sat at the table, and saw the beautiful doctor smiling gently while placing a tiny device inside his ears:

“This will help you understand their language and speak it fluently.”

 She explained then pointed towards a side room. He walked into the room and looked around where different clothes of all ages are hanging on the walls to choose whatever he wants. he went towards the pharaonic clothes without thinking, and chose the coarse linen white cloth to merge between the middle class of the ancient Egyptians in this era, Then he headed towards the table in the middle of the room to choose from them the tools that he would carry with him, and there were not many, a flint knife, a lighter, and some ropes for emergencies. And they allowed him to take his mobile phone after a long discussion provided that he hides it well, what is the point of going to the past if you don't take pictures?

Thus, he had nothing to do but to wait inside the narrow time machine until the technicians abroad decided to determine the place and time he had chosen. He felt slight tremors, then these tremors turned into a violent shaking, and he tried to overcome the vertigo when the machine started to rotate and he felt himself falling into a free fall! Then the machine stopped suddenly!!

***

He opened the door and rushed out, gasping for air, and then started coughing to expel the hot sand that filled his lungs. He looked around and saw that village, which is only a few miles away, so he decided it was the right place to start from, but what exactly would he start? What is he looking for?

This question brought him back with his memories a few months ago, when Leila visited him in his office after one of his lectures, and asked him with enthusiasm:

"If time machines existed, what would you have used them for?"

He looked at her wondering about the strangeness of her question, and then he got up from his seat thinking about an appropriate answer.

“Ten years ago, I was able to translate a rare papyrus ... that tells about the period of Queen Sa-Hur-Ra.”

He was trying to hide this from everyone so that no one would steal his research, but her sweet hazel eyes that admired him forced him to continue talking.

"The papyrus talked about the scepter of Mu-Nir, the magic wand that brings the dead back to life! I know you won't believe this, I don't believe it either. But this scepter is the only thing that may prove the existence of this age in the history of Egypt! but all my efforts were unsuccessful"

He looked at her again when he felt that her question had not yet been answered:

"If I went back in time, I would bring this scepter with me. This is enough to prove my words to everyone who doubts that this papyrus is rigged."

She smiled with eyes shining excitedly:

"What if I told you that time machines are no longer a science fiction?"

***

This is how Leila introduced him to the beautiful doctor. After few months, he is now walking around the old houses - of course they were not old at the time - thinking of a plan to reach the scepter...

He looked around at the people, their clothes, and their houses, everything was exactly what he imagined!

He entered a store and his eyes turned between the displayed utensils.

"Can I help you?"

He looked at the man with astonishment, and then replied:

"I want to meet the priest"

He was astonished when he heard his voice speaking in a strange language, but he understood every word of it. The man puffed him with a look that questions his sanity:

 "I will not sell you wine in exchange for that joke if this is your demand. Nobody meets the High Priest except the dead."

He thought fast, then took out the knife he holds and handed it to the dealer:

"How much do you sell me for this?"

The merchant received it from him and examined it very carefully before answering:

"One cup. A small one."

"Deal. That will be enough."

The merchant took the knife in and then came back with a small pottery cup and handed it to him.

"Thank you very much. Can you direct me to the market?"

***

He took his position in the center of the market square, carrying his pottery cup in his right hand and the lighter in his left. He quickly turned his eyes to make sure that the guards were still there, and then emptied the cup in his mouth. His face shrank as he did not expect it to be so stinging, then he lit the lighter and lifted it in front of his lips before spraying the wine out of his lips towards the flame.

And within moments, people ran in every direction ... some shouted while others lost the ability to speak because of the horrific scene.

 “He is breathing fire!!”

He felt some of the liquid still in his mouth so he sprayed it on the flame again before the guards threw him to the ground and tied his hands. Well, you know what happened next...

***

We are back where Salim - or Sa-Lim now - threatens the Queen Sa-Hur-Ra, after the alarm sounded from his phone, just as he planned and at the right time.

"Do you hear that voice? It is one of my talismans that have just been activated! I advise you to release my record now if you care about the life of your queen! »

The guard looked at the queen with terror, and then Salim sighed and stood up:

"It seems you don't care."

Then he lit the lighter - which he still held in his hand the whole time - and burned the ropes to free his hands in front of the audience. And now they became sure that his magic was real.

"I want to meet the High Priest!"

He yelled with confidence as he pulled his phone out of his secret pocket and turned off the disturbing sound of his alarm, then smiled when he saw terror in the eyes of everyone, especially the Queen.

 “Or watch your luxurious palace collapse over everyone's head!”

***

The guards led him between the palaces corridors towards the room of the High Priest, following them with pride, enjoying watching them execute his order submissively. They opened the huge door and bowing to him with dignity, he advanced inside the room so they closed the door behind him and waited for him outside. And inside, the High Priest was waiting for him…

He was a man of little size compared to the rest of those he met at this time, stocky, and his face is covered with various cosmetics carefully to add to him the required luxury, leaning on his abundant seat filling his mouth with food, and beside him was the scepter!

 "I heard what you did, Sa-Lim. And I heard that you wanted to meet me, so here we are, what do you want?"

He did not hesitate a moment and immediately answered while waving his phone:

- "Your scepter! Hand it over to me and I will leave the palace safely."

The priest stared at the phone surprised, and then stood up from his seat:

"Where are you from, magician?"

"From a faraway country you have not heard of -..."

The priest interrupted his lie nervously as he advanced toward him:

-"Stop! I'll ask again, When are you from, magician??"

Salim's eyes widened as he tried to understand the meaning of his question.

- "Y-You.. You are also from the future!"

The priest did not care about his chatter, which was already clear.

"It does not matter from what time you are. Where is the time machine? Is it still working?"

 "I-I think so."

"You have to take me to it immediately! Get me out of here, please!"

***

Salim is still in shock, while the priest Mu-Nir leads him through the complex paths towards the back door of the palace, while he tells him how he ended up here, and how his machine was destroyed, and how Munir the chemistry teacher became the High Priest Mu-nir.

"What about your scepter that “brings the dead back to life!”?"

- "You know how the history books exaggerate. I only treated patients who they counted them among the dead."

He opened the round head of the golden scepter to reveal the powder inside, while resuming:

 "The sulfa drug, an antibiotic that I managed to prepare here. Thus, the bacterial infection is not fatal anymore. you can take the scepter, it will be a lot equal in your time. Just get me out of here!"

They ran outside the palace with the maximum speed allowed by Munir's body.

"Stop there!!"

Their eyes widened in terror when one of the guards shouted behind them. They ran faster before Salim fell on his face with a spear penetrating his chest! He struggled to raise his head to see Munir running few meters ahead of him, before his back was penetrated with another spear and falling down as well. Then everything darkened...

In the midst of this darkness, two words appeared in a bloody red color: "GAME OVER"

***

He opened his eyes again with horror and touched his chest to make sure that there is no implanted spear there. Then he looked around to find that he was still in that suspicious white room, and his back screaming in pain from lying on the cold metal table. He finally noticed that voice, the sound of applause that lasted for several minutes and does not seem to stop anytime soon.

A girl helped him to sit at the table and covered him with a warm blanket, to finally see the changes in the white room, the wall behind him has become black with the phrase "GAME OVER" in bloody red, and the wall in front of him has disappeared to reveal a wide audience of viewers who have not yet stopped clapping. And finally he saw the face of the girl who helped him get up...

"Leila!!"

The beautiful doctor approached the audience and bowed to them, so the clapping sound finally stopped, and then held the microphone to address them:

"Thank you for coming! Tonight, we saw together the first experience of the "Dream" project, which will transfer the future of virtual reality games to a new level that no one ever dreamed of!"

The audience started to clap again, so Leila looked at him and saw the lack of understanding dropping from his eyes:

“You didn't understand yet?! There are no time machines. There is neither Sa-Hur-Ra nor Munir. All of this was just a programming we planted in your brain to live the adventure of a lifetime. Sorry Doctor, to exploit your research in the "Dream" but as you see, my mission was to find a story worth viewing in the first experience and I couldn't find a better story! You did a great job by the way. Get dressed and accompany me, journalists will want to ask you some questions about your experience..."