3,542 days since the command
Hammu just stared as he watched another slave collapse on the worksite. The shock of all the deaths had worn off years ago. So now he saw that man fall and a girl rush to him crying before being dragged back to work, all he felt was a dull anger, anger at the man he’d finally get to kill in just a few weeks.
The work was finally coming to a close. The finishing touches were being made, the plaza beside the statue was being put together, and the mounds where the dead had been dumped into the dirt and covered would be smoothed over. The dead who had fallen as he commanded them to be worked till they dropped to satisfy his master’s demands and to save himself from an early grave. Many would call that selfish, but at this point, he did not care. They could tattle on all they liked but all that mattered was that he would survive, and revenge would be exacted upon Othoes. After all, he was the one who commanded this made, not him, he just did what anyone else would do in his situation...
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3,612 days since the command
Othoes couldn’t hide his excitement. After ten long excruciating years, it was finally done! It had been far, far too long waiting for it, feeling aches start to creep across his body at inopportune times, his body growing closer and closer to its apex, but it was done now. No more would he have to worry if his soul would ever die for it never would! With his new statue, all would know his name and visage for all time! And just as he came back from a long trip to a beautiful oasis retreat.
Hammu had put up curtains all around the palace and his litter to make sure he wouldn’t see it till he reached the gardens. After all, what better place is there to see his greatest achievement from his second greatest!
But as he was being carried to the gardens, he thought he could hear shouts in the distance. Some mob howling his name and some hideous insults! He had been hearing them more and more over the years but luckily his guards knew exactly what to do and kept them far, far away. It wouldn’t do to have this perfect day ruined by the masses…
Eventually, the litter found its way inside the gardens and was set down by the base of the long staircase upwards. The ground floor was on a raised base where the rest of the gardens stood, and around all the arches that went out onto the ground floor’s garden were yet again draped with black cloth. So, as he walked up his way was lit by oil lamps closely followed by his guards.
Up and up, he went as his legs started to grow numb from the endless steps but, eventually, he finally made it to the fourth floor, the third highest one. There, in the core section of the floor yet again surrounded by black tarps, was Hammu with a beaming smile.
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“My auspicious pharaoh, are you excited on this grand day?”
He nodded, trying to keep a suitable divine composure despite the joy that made him want to bounce on his feet like a boy. “I am Hammu! I see you’ve made great preparations to make it a surprise!”
“Well while you were at the retreat, I thought I should make sure the unveiling of the statue should be kept for this magnificent moment. To view one of your projects from the other, the two twins that will carry your legacy forever! So, are you ready to see it?”
“Of course, I am!”
Hammu glanced over to a slave in the shadows and raised a hand before bringing it down.
The curtains fell, crumpling to the ground as light suddenly flooded in and blinded him.
As his vision slowly returned first he saw the well-manicured garden terrace with all its vibrant colours and beautiful water features. Then he saw the city, the walls, the desert beyond then—
Oh…
It was beautiful. Decorated with gold, carved to perfection, and dominant across the landscape, it was everything he could have wished for. The pride he felt in that moment, from watching it grow from that tiny stump, into the gigantic monolith it was now… He could barely describe it.
“Do you wish to be left—”
He waved his hand to Hammu impatiently, “Yes, yes, send them away!”
His body could barely contain the excitement that was now welling up inside of him as he ran to the balcony edge overlooking the hippo enclosure and the statue. He wanted to reach out, to touch it, to cup the replica of his own cheeks in his hands. To tell it and himself that everything would be now okay, and he’d forever feel joy!
“Do you know how much it took to build that Othoes?”
Hammu?
Those certainly were his footsteps… Anyway, he’d engage with the small talk for a moment before telling him to go. Nothing could take his eyes and attention away from the majesty in front of him now.
“Several thousand men and cubits of stone?”
“And thousands of deaths and thousands of slaves. Was it worth it?”
Othoes’ brow furrowed, “Why wouldn’t it be? It was to immortalise their divine pharaoh for all eternity! They should be grateful they got the chance!”
That was when he felt the sharp, screaming pain in his gut. A pain like no other he ever felt as the area around it became hot and wet and—
His entire body shook as he turned around and slowly reached a tentative hand to his tender lower back. There was a knife, held by Hammu’s hand cutting straight into his gut and planted in his back…
This- This has to be a nightmare!? A nightmare like I’ve had so many times before! Right!?
But the feelings he felt were far too vivid to be a dream, far too real. Instead, everything felt more real than it ever had before in his life as he felt the daemonic thoughts of death come rushing into his mind.
“What’s wrong Othoes!?” Hammu asked laughing! “Everyone will remember you now! Now as the pharaoh who enslaved his own country, who asked his loyal chancellor to commit so many crimes in his name, who was so mad with megalomania he made this fucking statue! Hah! Do you feel it now? Your life starting to slip away through your fingers—”
“No!”
He howled as he fought, trying to grab onto Hammu’s throat, to at least bring him down to meet Soter too.
But it was all in vain as his howls turned to cries and his vision blurred with hot tears. His struggle grew weaker and weaker as his life force was sapped away, red blood coating the yellow stones below him.
I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die!
Over and over that thought played in his head as everything else became dull, the knife still in him.
Then it slipped out.
He stumbled back.
And he was pushed over the edge.
He didn’t even feel himself splash into the hippo’s pool. He was gone, forever.