Sands In The Darkest Night

Inner thoughts

~Experience will show you; a Master can only point the way.~

Akhenaten spent most of the next day in excruciating pain. He later discovered-quite distastefully-that Aria didn't need to be near him before the bout of pain flooded his entire body. He only needed to think about her.

The Oracles were sly-he knew.

It must be exciting for them to see him in such suffering.

Amun had said that the closer she got to her, the more maddening the pain would be.

Akhenaten released a puff of air.

The pain didn't make him want to see her any less.

The Oracles were clever but he was their leader for a reason.

He went to his lake and sat by the bank, on the ground and folded his legs underneath him

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He exhaled and opened his eyes they were a startling blue.

Akhenaten chanted and he felt everything around him come to life.

The familiar power coursed through him in waves.

The torches lit around the stone walls seemed to burn with a fiercer intensity.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. With a single word in the form of a name, he summoned a demon.

"My Lord." The frightening demon spoke, head bowed.

Its entire body was shrouded in a dark mist which wrapped around its body like an article of clothing, covering also its head and face leaving only its red inhumane eyes exposed.

"I need you to send the Oracles a message."

"Tell them to release me, I know what they're planning. If they don't-" Akhenaten let the underlying threat seep into his words.

The demon nodded once again and disappeared into the smoke.

Akhenaten closed his eyes once he was alone again.

A sigh escaped his lips.

He concentrated and in a few short seconds, he was able to locate her.

'Aria...'

He saw her alone, she was by the washing pool.

She sat by the warm pool moving her legs lazily in the water.

She was wearing a very thin clothing-an undergarment.

He felt his throat dry up.

He could only see her back, he so much wanted to go to her, to touch her, but he knew he couldn't.

He was merely projecting.

He sat beside her, blue eyes taking in her face.

She looked peaceful, happily oblivious.

He was tempted to look down but he didn't.

For the very first time, he noticed how thin and small she really was.

At that point, he was feeling all sorts of emotions and he couldn't name one.

He was trying to block the physical pain with his spells but he knew it couldn't last.

His 'punishment' had been meted by the Oracles, so it wasn't to be trifled.

The cool breeze blew her short midnight hair into her eyes and his hand twitched to brush it away.