Most people who walked passed him, never really thought much about the young man who's figure was hidden beneath the white tapestry, his hands gently cradling one of his most prized pots. Those people who saw him only thought about him in two ways. 1, a young man wasting his time trying to sell (what seemed to be) useless pots. 2,
An expert at artifacts who was selling himself short by staying in such the barren climate.
Most people didn't know that his line of genes was actually breed for royalty, his mother being the queen and all. He was always quiet about it though, only people who got really close to him could ever hear this from him.
Even then, he didn't tell them everything. The bracelets upon his forearm clattering every time he moved. His dark forest green eyes could see the world in such a way, that all men lesser would quake in the corner due to freight.
He saw them. Anubis's everywhere.
Always watching people with their golden eyes filled with hunger as they followed their designated person, waiting for their time to strike, dragging the poor soul into the underworld. He saw them feast upon flesh of his elders, decomposing the once proclaimed greatest of the great.
Since he could see these animals, he was pronounced a servant of Evil. He was shunned by everyone who came his way. Especially when by his side, was a visible,
Pet Anubis.
He tightened the grip upon his shirt to prevent it from blowing off. The sand burned his skin as it whipped around him, causing him to go blind by tears, trying desperately to keep his eyes clear of the irritating debris.
He wouldn't be out, in the middle of the dry windy desert if it weren't for a little conflict he was all to well known to postpone. The long, never ending, always about something stupid...
Battle between Heracles and Sadik.
Just thinking about what those two idiots could be arguing about now made his head ache with annoyance. He turned into his shoulder to cough, not wanting the sand to burn inside his throat until it started to pool in his lungs. He remembered the first time he had ever made that mistake.
He was only 3 years old.
(A simple memory)
"Mommy mommy," the young voice called as he ran to his mother, the queen breaking from her conversation with the others to watch her son stumble onto his knees, his excitement making him crawl the rest of the way.
"What is it Gupta," her voice rolled, sweet and smooth as the beautiful lotus flower. The littlest boy stood up straight, dusting away the sand which lingered upon his clothes.
"I saw something," he said a smile appearing upon the quiet little boys face, "It was black and, I-it looked like a dog." He turned away from her to face the desert, his finger pointing eagerly. "It ran that way, Mommy. Can I go get it?" A bit confused the Queen turned her head that way.
"A dog," she repeated, "Gupta, from what you seem to be explaining it sounds like you saw an Anubis." The little boy tipped his head, never hearing the word before.
"A-Anubis," he asked, his cute face causing the queen to giggle.
"Yes," she said, "But don't be fooled by their cute innocent look, Anubis' are the exact one's who prepare us for the afterlife. If you see one, well, no one knows what happens." Her little boy looks up at her with saddened eyes.
"D-does that mean I'm strange mommy," he asked, seriousness filled his voice to the brim. The queen felt her heart sink as she looked into his face.
"Gupta," she whispered pulling him close to her, "Everyone's a bit strange," she broke and smiled at him, "But that's what make us special." The boy in her arms let out a small sniff before wiping his nose with a nod.
"If you say so," he said turning to where he had last saw the animal,"Um....mommy?" The Queen followed his gaze out onto the dry desert.
"What is it my little prince?"
"Can I go find it," he asked turning back to her, "If I could catch it, I might be able to keep it for a pet." Her highness couldn't help but give into those big green eyes.
"Oh, alright," she sighed, straightening his clothes, "Just be back before the storm hits." He nodded quickly, his short hair messing up slightly before he turns around and runs off.
"Your Highness," spoke one of the few men there, "You know if he can see them, even though he's royalty, he will be picked on and selected out of everyone." The queen let out a sigh, before turning to them.
"I know," she said softly, "But what else am I suppose to say to my little prince?"
He could see it in front of him, it's legs slender but powerful enough to take long strides. It was smaller than all the others he's seen, but it was still a fast little bugger. It dashed suddenly right, causing Gupta to almost fall down as he tried to do the same move.
The sun beat down on him, the heat burning its rays into his brain, his muscles screamed for a good amount of oxygen, the sand, everything was just telling him to stop.
Yet, he only pushed further.
Gaining more and more ground, the boy was suddenly able to jump and tackle the small animal to the ground. The animal thrashed around for a bit before Gupta hushed it, speaking softly to calm it down. It's wild golden eyes turning into a calm and domestic yellow.
Gupta got up, allowing the animal to move. It got up slowly, and awkwardly, much different than how it was before. The young boy held out the palm of his hand, gesturing the animal closer to him. A bit timid, the animal slowly gained ground before it nuzzled it's head to his hand, accepting the young boy as his sibling.
Suddenly, the wind picked up, whipping the sand all around the two figures. The sand burned as it cut his skin open, filled his eyes, and started to burn his mouth. He tried to turn around and make his way back home, but everything looked exactly the same.
"MOMMY," he screamed, wrapping his arms protectively around the young animals neck. He turned his head into the dark fur, tears streaming down as he tried to sooth his burning body.
He could feel everything slowing and blurring, his body shutting down due to all that was forced upon him. He whimpered slightly, his gaze glancing up one last time...
To see his mother rushing to him.
(Back to the present)
Gupta wiped his eyes cleared of tears as he walked into the open field, finding both of the men arguing over something. He only shuffled his feet, and they snapped his head up to him. Their eyes filled with anger, suddenly turned to sadness when they see him.
"Gupta," called Heracles, "What's the matter?"
The Egyptian simply shook his head, eyes closed and calm.
"Nothing," he stated softly, "Don't worry about me."
He sighed as he watched more and more men and women pass buy his store. None of them seemed even the slightest bit interested in whatever could be behind him, even though nothing but pots lined the outside.
He felt something wet touch against his cheek, causing him to smile and turn to meet his pet he gained all those years ago.
"Hey girl," he cooed, scratching behind her ears, "I'm sorry, but you know you can't come out during rush hour." The pet whined as it's ears pinned back against her head. Gupta sighed.
"I know no ones came since last Monday," he gently pet the black fur, "but there's nothing we can do about it. No one cares to learn about our shop."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Gupta turned his head to where the voice was coming from, his Anubis following as well.
He gasped slightly.
She had short, straight hair, strange Anubis yellow eyes, and a scarf that framed her heart shaped face. Her shirt was black with long sleeves which came down to the gold encrusted ends, while her skirt was white kissed with the wind owned sand.
She was a Goddess.
"I've heard quite a bit about this shop," she says looking down at each of the pots before looking back to him, "Most of it, though, is about it's unique owner." The Egyptian couldn't help but chuckle.
"Well, unique isn't quite how I'd put it," he mumbled, watching as the woman walked to the opening in the tent. Fear filling up his heart, Gupta jumped up and dashed in between both of them to prevent her from seeing his pet.
"What's the matter," she asked.
"Oh, n-nothing, it's just," he gulped slightly, "I-it's a mess back there."
"But what if I want to see the other inventory," she asked, raising an eyebrow to him. He closed his eyes a bit ticked. The first customer in a while and he was going to shoo her away because he was afraid she'd treat him like all the rest.
"Alright," he said, stepping to the side to allow her to go in. She bowed slightly at him before heading in, before Gupta could get in though, he heard her let out a delighted squeal.
"Oh my gosh I've never seen one of these this big," she cried. As soon as he got in, he saw her petting the Anubis head softly, the animal already so warmed up to her, it cuddled into her neck. "It's so warm," she purred, smiling at him.
Gupta let a small smirk appear, a warm sensation filling his heart.
"Is this what you were afraid of me seeing," she asked him, breaking away from the animal to look around the tent.
"Y-yeah," he said softly, "Anubis stands for mummification and the Afterlife, so when people saw I had one for a pet, they believe I was a servant of Evil." He heard the woman by him sigh in sadness.
"That's not right," she said softly, before turning to him, "I'd like to get to learn more about you before I judge you..um..."
"Gupta, Gupta Muhammad Hassan," he stated, bowing slightly, only to look up at a shocked face, "What's the matter?" She took a slight step closer to him.
"Hassan," she questioned, "Isn't that family royalty?" He nodded.
"Yeah but, it's boring now-a days anyways," he commented. A soft scoff was heard.
"So, you could go anywhere you wanted really considering your the only heir of the royal tree, but you decided to be a pot maker and artifact specialist," her eyes were filled with question, "Why's that?"
"Because this is my home," he said softly, "No matter where I go, I always want to come back here." He turned to her to see her smile.
"Well, Gupta," she held out her hand, "Good to know I'm going to be getting to know a happy, moral set man." Gupta chuckled.
"I could say the same for you Miss..."
"Tabitha, Tabitha Fatama."
He taped the message onto the birds leg before letting it fly. He hated to watch it go, but in order to keep in touch with that lovely woman he met a while ago, this is what was needed.
This process took longer than his patients could stand, but was much quicker than passing it through human hands. It was also much safer as well. Granted the messenger could still be shot down and the note fall into hands not made for it, but it was also hard to shoot down this bird.
They had been sending some pretty personal notes between them now. At first it was nothing other than a simple 'How are you today?' but now, Gupta had told her things not even his closet friends knew.
And he liked it.
He told her about his mother, what was so special about him, his tricks within his trades, even deeper things, like his feelings and that he was a country. He, in return, got stories about her father, the legendary hero/majesty of Libya, the simple fact that she was the princess and representation of said country, then even a few of her tricks.
She was a wee bit skilled upon the magic side, which is the number one reason why she was desperately loving his pet Anubis.
But, there was something she had told him recently that her body, wasn't hers.
Many years ago, she was enthroned to a prince which was cruel, mean and treated her terribly. In order to escape the life she would have had, she had a servant come to her, and with a simple magic spell, they had changed bodies.
The servant lived on and ruled over the land with her husband for quite some time, while the Princess herself had to start from the bottom up. She had to forget her family, friends, everyone, and it wasn't till the servant died that her family had realized it wasn't her there.
They sent out a wide search party but could never find her, for her face was hidden behind that of another.
Gupta opened his eyes and smiled as he saw the brilliant red wings of the second bird coming close to him. He held out his arm, allowing it to land upon his arm long enough to get the note off upon his foot.
As his eyes scanned the small piece of paper, Gupta couldn't help but turn his smirk into a full length smile. A woman who gave him a chance, once again saw with him eye to eye. A woman who fell in love, and made him fall as well.
The servant of Evil.
The Artifact Expert.
The Simple....
Pot Maker
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