A.G.

The sound of the beast’s gentle steady neighing echoed in the foggy air. Sahara slowly opened her eyes and gazed at the small creature. It snorted, and then stuck out its tongue at her.

This made Sahara burst out laughing. She preferred to spend her time outdoors, basking underneath the golden sunbeams, while listening to the sounds of nature, or green noise as her beast taming instructor liked to call it.

*SWISH*

‘What was that?’ Her eyes landed on something glistening near the side of the beast’s wooden stall.

Sahara bent down on one knee. She reached for the shiny object, and gasped.

There had been stories passed down through oral tradition. Sahara wondered if these old folks’ stories had not just been made up for the young ones to be at least gentle to those around them— the villagers, including the forest critters, even knowing how to take care of everything surrounding the village- all the natural and precious resources.

Sahara felt a wave of shock pass through her body. Whatever this thing was it definitely was worth holding onto for a while.

Later, after she had sung a lullaby to all the beasts she was asked to take care of during the day, Sahara decided to lightly walk toward the Nile. Once there she sat down by the riverbank, and whistled a soft, steady tune.

As she did so, the amulet in her grass weaved bag began to glow a bright rainbow color. Sahara quickly rose to her feet, and pulled out the amulet from her bag.

To her dismay, the amulet shattered in her palms. But then a female being clothed in Royal garb smiled, and grinned.

Sahara stared in awe at the being. ‘Hey, surely you must know who I am? Right?’ The being spoke in a booming tone.

Sahara blinked, and shook her head. ‘Nope. Your face looks ancient. Are you a Mummy?’

The being gasped. ‘How dare you? I’m Mench… you silly child!’

Sahara raised her left eyebrow, and sighed. ‘Alright. I must be daydreaming, or sleepwalking?’

Mench snapped her fingers, and whisked Sahara right into a moving chariot. Sahara screamed. ‘Hey….take me back home…right now!’

Sahara closed her eyes, and when she opened them she was back at her favorite chill zone, by the Nile. Mench asked, ‘What in the name of Ra are you kids learning about these days?’

‘How to tame beasts.’

’Ah— okay- but you really should be learning about the ones who created the beasts that you are trying to tame. I might need to have a word with your Minister of Instruction.

‘Back in my day, and time, we made sure to give you humans powerful gifts. From the moment you were born, you had been granted something you could use to make this world a better place.’

Mench continued to lecture on, and on, about how as a goddess she would try to remind the folks of the powerful gifts that they were missing out on. They had not been providing any more sacrifices, and so, these gifts had not been passed down to the ones born during Sahara’s timeline.

Sahara was about to drift off to the realm of dreams when she felt a sharp pinch on both of her cheeks. ‘Ow! What was that for?’

‘Wake up. C’mon. Stick with me kid, and you shall receive powerful gifts!’

Sahara took off running in the direction of the palace. She was ready to call it a day.

Mench yelled out, ‘You can’t escape fate, kid. You were meant to find the amulet, or rather the amulet was meant to find you!’

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0OJrjUm0Fb8