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The golden radiance of the sun spread across Memphis's streets, dyeing the stone-paved roads shades of crimson and gold. The air was filled with the scents of burning incense and roasting meat. Ian walked slowly through the marketplace, scanning the crowd with his gaze while his ears captured every whispered conversation.
As he listened, Ian gathered some information.
Several men stood in front of a pottery stall, selecting clay jars and speaking in hushed tones.
"Have you heard? Someone disappeared again last night."
"Yeah, the old carpenter from West Street. His neighbors found his door open this morning, but he was gone."
"How many is that now? Three last month and two more this month."
"Some people say it was the shadow near the temple."
"A shadow? Don't scare me. I passed by the temple wall last night, and I saw something leap over it. It looked human but not quite."
Ian slowly approached, pretending to examine the pottery while keeping his ears sharply attentive.
"Could it be thieves?"
"What thief would dare operate near the temple? Besides, nothing was stolen from any of the missing people's homes."
"Then what do you think it is? Ghosts? Or divine punishment?"
Before the sentence was finished, one of the men suddenly noticed Ian. His expression changed instantly, and he nudged his companion with his elbow. The group immediately fell silent and eyed the unfamiliar outsider with caution.
"Shh..."
The conversation ended abruptly. Everyone fell quiet at once, their gazes turning toward Ian in unison.
Their eyes carried a mixture of vigilance, suspicion, and unease.
Ian straightened and offered a friendly smile. "Sorry, I'm lost. Could you tell me how to get to the Sun God Temple?"
He stepped forward to ask.
The men exchanged glances. One of them reluctantly pointed in a direction, and then they quickly dispersed as though Ian were contagious.
"It's like they think I've set my sights on them. Seems the city really isn't peaceful," Ian muttered, watching their hurried retreat with a slight frown.
Disappearances. Shadows. Divine punishment.
These words intertwined in his mind, forming a vague yet dangerous picture, one that suggested something far beyond ordinary crime. Thinking of the mad old man, Nakht, and the warning from the black-robed woman, a faint sense of unease rose within him.
Because of that, he did not stop. He continued walking through the city and questioning passersby.
Some shook their heads silently. Some hurried away. Others turned and fled the moment he spoke.
The silence surrounding this seemingly prosperous and vibrant city's hidden strangeness was itself a warning, only deepening Ian's curiosity.
He decided to probe further.
He stopped at a wine stall, bought a cup of palm wine, and casually struck up a conversation with the owner.
"Has the city been unsettled lately? Everyone seems a bit nervous."
The owner, a sturdy middle-aged man, paused mid-motion, his gaze flickering uneasily.
"Outsider, some things are better left unasked. Knowing too much isn't good for anyone."
"Oh?" Ian took a sip, feigning curiosity. "I'm just a traveler trying to stay safe. I'd like to understand the city."
It sounded like a reasonable explanation.
"It's not that you can't ask," a nearby customer interrupted coldly. It's that even if you ask, you won't get answers. You might invite trouble."
Before his words had even settled, not only that customer but also nearby vendors began packing up their stalls and leaving in haste, as if afraid of being watched by something unseen.
The owner lowered his voice.
"People really have been disappearing lately. And..." Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he continued, "Some say it's punishment from the gods."
"Gods?"
"The Sun God...or something else." The owner shook his head, clearly unwilling to elaborate further. He only offered a brief warning: "In any case, don't wander around at night."
Ian nodded and didn't press further, but his mind was already working.
As the sun slowly shifted westward, the glow of the sunset gilded the white walls of Memphis with a golden edge.
Ian stood beside a stone pillar at the edge of the marketplace, unconsciously tracing the patterns carved into his wand with his fingertips. The wary gazes and hurried departures lingered vividly in his thoughts.
The shadows near the temple. The ongoing disappearances. The madman Nakht.
These fragmented clues only grew more puzzling beneath the fading sunlight.
The marketplace gradually quieted as merchants began packing away their goods. Ian approached an elderly woman gathering jars of spices, deliberately making his steps sound casual.
"Grandmother," he said in Egyptian, accented with a Theban tone. He repeated his earlier question: "I've heard the city hasn't been peaceful lately?"
The words themselves seemed almost taboo. All the residents reacted in much the same way.
The old woman's hand suddenly trembled, scattering saffron powder across the coarse cloth. She lifted her wrinkled face, and a flicker of panic passed through her cloudy eyes.
"Outsider," she whispered, lowering her voice as her dry fingers clutched her apron tightly. "Go back to your lodging before the sun sets."
With that, she hurriedly gathered her clay jars and disappeared into the crowd without looking back.
Ian narrowed his eyes.
This level of fear went far beyond ordinary concern over crime. He turned toward a boy selling dates. Before he could speak, however, the boy shook his head nervously, stuffed the remaining fruit into a straw basket, and ran off.
The atmosphere of the entire street suddenly became strange.
The once lively marketplace was now shrouded in an invisible dread. Merchants packed up their goods at an increased speed. From time to time, people cast furtive glances at Ian, who was standing in the middle of the road.
"Looks like I've touched a sensitive nerve in this city, just as I suspected. People are pretending life is peaceful as a form of psychological escape," Ian thought.
He slowed his pace deliberately, strolling along the main street toward the Sun God Temple and observing the reactions around him out of the corner of his eye.
Sure enough, several burly men in linen tunics emerged from a bakery. After whispering among themselves, they hurried away quickly.
Ian's lips curved slightly upward.
Clearly, they were informants going to report him.
Soon, a group of priests in white robes blocked his path.
Their leader had a high nose and deep-set eyes, and a golden Eye of Horus was painted across his forehead. The sun disk atop his staff gleamed coldly in the fading light.
"Outsider, halt! Who are you? Why are you wandering near the temple?" the priest said in a thick, slow voice like Nile mud. "The Sun God Temple does not welcome suspicious eavesdroppers."
Ian calmly performed an Egyptian-style greeting, placing his right hand over his chest and bowing slightly.
"Honored servant of the gods, I am merely a scholar interested in the history of your great city."
He produced a forged papyrus document from his robes and handed it over.
"This is a study permit issued by the House of Thebes."
As an alchemy master, forging such items came easily to him. His craftsmanship could deceive any wizard below the level of the gods.
The priest accepted the document and squinted as he examined the elegant hieroglyphs and bright red seal.
Ian silently thanked himself for his thorough preparations before time-traveling. This magically disguised document could blur the lines between truth and lies, and in that regard, Ian was quite confident.
The priests exchanged glances before the staff-bearing priest spoke again in a slightly softer tone.
"Even scholars should understand that inquiring into royal secrets is a grave crime."
In any era, a scholar's identity was universally useful, and most factions preferred not to offend one if possible....
"Royal secrets?" Ian displayed just the right amount of confusion. "I only heard about disappearances in the city. As a traveler, it is only natural for me to care about my own safety."
The priest's expression suddenly stiffened.
A younger attendant behind him couldn't help but speak up. "High Priest, since this scholar is so curious about that matter, should we take him to—"
He never finished.
"Silence!" the staff-bearing priest barked sharply. Turning back to Ian, the priest's face resumed its formal calm. "All foreign wizards must register their magical signatures at the temple. Since you claim to be a scholar, I assume you will cooperate."
He looked at Ian with open suspicion.
Ian's gray-green eyes flickered slightly.
This was both a trap and an opportunity.
"Of course," he replied with a smile. "It would be my honor to assist the servants of the Sun God."
On the way to the temple, Ian silently memorized every turn and guard post. The priests intentionally led him along a winding route through complicated corridors and courtyards, but that suited Ian perfectly.
He noticed that security around a side hall on the western side of the temple was unusually tight and that a staircase leading underground emitted abnormal magical fluctuations.
The magic was neither traditional ancient Egyptian protective magic nor orthodox divine magic.
The registration room was a circular stone chamber with walls carved to depict the movement of the stars. Ian was instructed to place his hand on an obsidian slab said to record a wizard's magical signature.
He secretly activated Occlumency, releasing only the most superficial layer of magical fluctuation, realistic enough to pass inspection, yet insufficient to reveal his true strength.
"Wait here."
After the staff-bearing priest left with the recording tablet, Ian began carefully examining the room.
There was a strange error in the star chart on the ceiling—the position of Sirius deviated from its true orbit. Meanwhile, fresh abrasion marks could be seen along the edge of a drainage groove on the floor.
Just as he was about to crouch down for a closer look, the stone door suddenly opened.
The priest had returned.
His expression was extremely strange now, and the golden paint on his forehead faintly glowed under the torchlight.
"You may leave," he said stiffly. "A messenger of the Lord has vouched for you."
Ian raised an eyebrow.
"Wasn't I supposed to register my magical signature?"
After all, he had only undergone the initial test; the procedure wasn't finished.
"The procedure is waived."
The priest's lips twitched slightly, as if he were suppressing an emotion.
"You are permitted to move freely within the city." His gaze drifted upward behind Ian.
Ian turned around and saw her.
The woman in black robes was standing quietly before an arched window along the second-floor corridor. In the dim light, the runes beneath her hood faintly appeared and disappeared. She gave a slight nod before retreating into the shadows.
There was no mistaking it: It was the young woman from the alley, the servant of Ra with runes carved into her face.
She said nothing, merely standing by the window as if to confirm that Ian would leave. Under Ian's gaze, her figure slowly faded, dissolving into the air like mist the next moment.
Ian stood at the top of the temple steps, narrowing his eyes as they adjusted to the light outside.
The black-robed woman had long since disappeared from the arched window, yet he still felt as if he were being watched, a sensation clinging to the back of his neck like a spider's web.
He descended the steps slowly, his boots scraping softly against the stone. The sound was unusually clear in the suddenly quiet streets.
"Messenger of the Lord…" Ian murmured, repeating the title as his fingers unconsciously brushed the wand hidden within his sleeve.
The woman's ability to overturn the priests' decision so easily meant that her status within the temple was extraordinary. Yet he had never seen markings like those carved into her face on any orthodox priest of the Sun God.
Even stranger was her contradictory attitude. She warned him of danger yet seemed to expect him to investigate further.
The temple priests' attitude toward her had also been strange.
Was this an internal power struggle within the temple, or something else entirely?
"Return to the temple at night…"
Ian softly repeated her words, absently tracing his wand with his fingers.
As he turned the final corner past the temple walls, he suddenly stopped.
The sight before him caused his pupils to contract.
Less than half an hour ago, the street had been bustling with noise and life. Now, it was completely empty.
Shop doors were tightly boarded shut. Tavern banners had been hastily taken down. Not even stray cats and dogs were to be seen. Overturned baskets of dates lay scattered across the stone road, evidence that people had left in a hurry.
The entire city looked as though it had been struck by a Vanishing Spell.
Only the wind rattling hanging signs echoed between buildings.
"A curfew?" Ian frowned.
Ancient Egypt did indeed have traditions of closing city gates at night, but enforcing a lockdown before sunset was highly unusual.
He walked along the main street, deliberately softening his footsteps. Through the cracks in the shuttered windows, he sensed tension. Behind the coarse cloth curtains, he knew that countless unseen eyes were watching the street.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of metal clashing in a side alley.
Ian pressed himself against a wall and saw two guards dragging a merchant who had come back late.
"That's the third warning!" the heavier guard barked. His bronze armguard reflected a blood-red glow in the twilight. "Get caught again, and you'll be sent straight to the temple!"
The captured man trembled violently. The clay jar in his arms shattered on the ground, and milky-white liquid snaked across the stones.
Ian followed the guards' departure with his gaze, noticing unfamiliar symbols engraved on their armor, not the usual Eye of Horus, but a sun entwined with thorns.
Even more concerning was their mention of being "sent to the temple."
Normally, curfew violations would be handled by city guards. Why send offenders specifically to the temple?
Everything felt increasingly mysterious.
As darkness deepened, Ian decided to find a vantage point from which to observe.
He slipped into a secluded alley and lightly tapped his temple with his wand.
"Visual enhancement."
The world instantly sharpened into clarity. In the distance, patrol torches traced glowing lines through the streets like threads of light.
He selected the tallest residence nearby, the protruding bricks along its outer wall provided perfect climbing holds.
The view from the rooftop was startling.
As dusk thickened, the entire city of Memphis appeared divided into two distinct halves.
However, the direction of the Sun God Temple shone as bright as day.
Even stranger, the light sources were not ordinary torches or oil lamps, but golden spheres floating in midair. Arranged in a complex geometric formation, the spheres bathed the main temple hall in blinding brilliance.
"A modified form of the advanced Lumos Charm," Ian murmured.
Such magic required the continuous consumption of enormous amounts of magical power and was usually reserved for the most important rituals.
As he prepared to observe more closely, a faint vibration suddenly traveled up from beneath his feet.
The roof tiles clicked softly as a low-frequency hum resonated through the structure, sending shivers down his spine.
Almost simultaneously, a baby's cry rang out somewhere in the civilian district, followed immediately by a muffled sound as if someone had covered its mouth forcibly.
At that moment, the city's fear became tangible, like a thick layer of grease floating in the air.
Ian suddenly understood the deeper meaning behind the black-robed woman's words.
She had not invited him to investigate the temple.
She had shown him a terrifying ritual already in progress.
(End of Chapter)