Liquid Sand

The sun rises and the shadow of the great pyramid falls on the dig site and Nolan wakes up. He goes to brush his teeth, being careful not to wake up his friend who is snoring loudly with his cowboy hat resting on his face. From the bathroom he sees outside to the still cool valley, Fathi is handing out payment to his employees. He sighs as the last one comes to him, asking the same thing like so many others had before him. “Boss. What happened? I swear I didn’t steal shit, man. Come on, how am I gonna pay my rent now, huh?”

Fathi grinds his teeth and gets up from his white plastic chair and puts his arms around the man: “I feel you, Jahmed. I feel you. But the order came from higher up. I’m sorry-” The worker takes the money and walks away head down as Fathi holds a hand on his forehead. He curses and kicks the chair and falls on his knees. Nolan approaches Fathi and kneels next to him, putting a hand on the big man's back.

"I'm sorry, Fathi. It wasn't supposed to get this… dramatic. But the poker game helped a bit, huh? Maybe we can do that again later?" The soft spoken man smiles at the Egyptian who frowns and gets up: "Do I remember right? Mr. Tusk called you homosexual earlier, didn't he?" Nolan pulls his hand away shyly and shakes his head: "N-no! I'm not! I have no idea why he thinks-"

"Tough morning, huh?" Connor walks in and tips his hat at the two. Nolan crosses his arms and looks away and Fathi nods and sighs:

"Well, at least they were happy with minimum pay, ha ha..." He tries to laugh it off but instead sighs as he remembers his workers' solemn eyes – it's not funny.

It’s then the three hear an engine and turn to see a truck approaching. A dust cloud swooshes over them and the driver side door opens. Monica hops out of the truck wearing her field duty clothes and sunglasses. "Come on, everyone on board. No time to waste." She announces and gets behind the truck and everyone follows her a little confused. "Eh, mind telling us where we are going?" Nolan asks carefully but Monica doesn’t say a word and opens the back of the truck and the angel boy jumps out to hug Connor. "I missed you! That horrible woman wouldn't even let me sleep in her soft bed."

Monica groans and points at him: "One, you said you prefer the floor. Two... I-I... why would I sleep with you? Moron." Connor looks at her a little amused and the girl goes back behind the wheel as the rest jump in the back. The back of the truck is filled with gear from ropes to shovels and other tools. Even a small field lab table. Whatever Monica was up to, it was big.

The truck drive is rather long and the heat is starting to wear down on everyone. Baya seems anxious somehow and looks outside and points at something: “Hey! Guys! Don’t be all so down and grumpy! It’s a sphinx! Ah, they are still around. That’s so cool.” The rest peek outside through the back of the truck and indeed there is a massive sphinx in the distance, lying in the middle of the dunes. “Oh! I remember going there with auntie Sekhmet. She loved that place. I’m so glad it still exists, with so much under sand now covering everything.” The boy reminisces.

“Agh! I can’t take this anymore!” Fathi suddenly lets out and makes everyone jump: “Bird boy! What happened to my man! Why did he… Allah… turn into a skeleton?!” He is obviously still frustrated. A bead of sweat is falling on his cheek and he’s breathing heavily. The boy shakes his head: “Sorry. I don't know. I was never that well informed on the crypt defense mechanisms. But I know who was! Uncle Osiris and Uncle Set!” Nolan knows those names from Egyptian mythology. They were the gods related to **** and rebirth – fittingly enough.

“If I remember correctly uncle Set came up with the flower! He was always a little weird. We never did traps or anything, it was just him. But I liked nude sunbathing with him… don’t tell me it’s weird to sunbathe naked with your uncle nowadays…” He looks around at the awkward expressions of the others and sighs. Fathi groans and seems still upset. The ride is not too much longer, and soon enough the truck stops.

Everyone gathers around in the middle of the desert and Zou, who was apparently in the front with Monica complains about the heat while using a parasol. Monica on the other hand seems almost anxious somehow: “This is the place. Y-you promised to show it. The temple of life, here, right? The long lost temple of Ibhar?” Connor takes note of her weird behavior but shrugs it off to a long and tiresome trip. The scenery doesn’t look promising. All there is is sand and dunes and of course the scorching hot sun.

“Eh. I can try to find it, but no promises. I think I know a trick. Let’s see…” The angel boy backs away and the rest look at him closely as he looks around and sits down on the sand and takes a deep breath. The others back away and give each other confused looks. Suddenly there is a rumble. The sand switches and starts slowly moving.

"Allah!" Fathi screams and jumps away from the moving sand as the angel uses its magic. The sand is vibrating, moving fast in place and it almost looks like the sand is turning into a liquid around him. Monica takes Connor's hand and they wait tensely as something starts rising from the liquid-like sand. It's a building. It rises and it's starting to take the form of a temple as sand flows down its walls and pillars. "Holy shit!" Zou shouts and falls on his back, dropping his parasol as the temple gets fully uncovered. Where there was just sand previously there now stands the remains of a massive ancient building.

"I-incredible... Ah... this is just..." Monica looks up in awe and leans on Connor's side, making the man look at her a little suspicious. Nolan drops on his knees and sees as the boy snaps out of his trance. Baya hops up and looks behind him and starts jumping up and down in joy. "Look! Look! I did it! I freaking did it!" He cheers and runs to Nolan and takes his hand: "Mommy told me I could! I am an angel after all! My job is to bring back the long forgotten! Come on guys! I'm sure it will be so cool!"

With the excited boy's commotion, the crew follow him inside the freshly discovered temple of life. Some clearly more excited than the others.