Bastet

The stars crowded in the night sky were surpassed in number only by the grains of sand below. The desert stretched in every direction as a vast sea of earth. The moon, an unblinking eye watching distantly from its heavenly perch, bore solitary witness to the night's passing.

A young boy walked among the waving dunes. A thin loincloth served as his only protection against the harsh elements. No living soul accompanied him on this journey. Minutes and hours went by unmarked as the child had no solid grasp of time in the stillness of the desert. His last memory was of falling asleep on his pallet as he watched the sun's slow descent through a small window. He lay warm and content until awakened by the grating slap of sand against his flesh. The burn of his soles scraping against sand and dirt as he walked toward an unknown destination. Darkness surrounded him; suffocating in its oppression. The boy tried to turn his head and search for any signs of his village, but an imprisoning force held his head immobile.

Panic rose. His heart exploded in his chest. Fear rolled into a hard stone settling in his belly and sickening with its weight. The boy focused all his strength and will on halting his feet, but to no avail. He pleaded, begged, and prayed. Still, he moved forward. At night the desert became the wind's playground and an exposed body still in the grip of childhood stood no chance against its play. It teased and wove knots into the boy's long black hair. The wind wrapped around his body in a deceptively light vise and seeped a terrible chill into his bones. It wound its away between his chapped lips to take the young mortal's breath while filling him with the sand it carried. Tears flooded from dark brown eyes only to be stolen away in the gusts. With each step his body sunk further into the sand. First his ankles disappeared followed by his calves. The panic progressed into mind numbing terror. Only images of his parents and sisters flitted across his paralyzed mind. Images that served as an attempt at another type of escape.

His knees sunk into the sand. The strength to walk into the earthen wall was not his own. It came from the same sinister presence that propelled him forward and permitted the wind to cut into his skin causing blood to seep from the shallow cuts. The selfish stars shed no light on the scene below. Only the moon's cold glow illuminated the waves of earth. It's aurora of pale light strengthening with the night's passing. The darkness slowly ebbed away until the boy was revealed and his path across the desert a dark scar behind him.

The wind shied away. Intangible cold fingers slipping from the boy's flesh and dropping the grains of sand it carried. The rigid force in his muscles relaxed its hold until eventually freeing his limbs. He stopped as weakness threaded into his fatigued body. The sand now at his waist. His heart slowed to resume a more natural beat as the terror was replaced by comfort and safety. The chill that had taken residence in his bones fled and replaced with warmth. Gentle moonlight lay on his small frame and brought color back to his tawny skin. Behind him the boy sensed a beckoning presence. The boy turned in answer.

The moon was a giant in the sky. So large it seemed it would soon touch the earth itself. The boy's dark brown eyes widened in awe and the giant orb reflected in their depths. An elusive tune reached out to him. Teasing his ears with its melody. The tune carried with it childhood memories, the comfort of his family home, and an inherent hope for peace. The boy listened with rapt attention. Before him, a silhouette appeared in stark contrast against the moon. A wildly dancing figure, a woman, with a lute in her hands. Silver hair absorbed the moonlight as it flew in the night sky until the moon was nothing but a pale rock at her back. The boy, entranced, watched. The sinister presence that brought him into the desert forgotten. Laughter and song filled his ears and reached into his heart bringing relief and happiness for he knew he would be going home. With a smile on his lips the boy crawled up from the sand. He ran with arms outreached and laughter sprang from his lips to join the cheerful song. He ran to the woman in wild abandon with the knowledge that no secular harm could come to him now.

To a distant observer, he was a soul swallowed whole into the moon, and carried away from the earth.

As the night continued on the moon returned to its perch. The all seeing eye in the sky.