Absolute Chaos
Chapter 40.

A short time later Raijen awoke, Amaunet lay sleeping softly on the sands beside him. It was the small hours of the morning, he stood, stretching towards the darkness and walked down the shores of the Nile, trying desperately to clear his stampede of crazed thoughts.

As he walked he spied a small silhouette on the Niles banks, sitting silently in the dark. Nearing he realised it was Maia. He did not want to tell Maia of her true origins, however seeing her here now gave him the courage to speak.

Approaching her, he saw Kaydir step out from the shadows some distance up the Niles shores, is was if he knew that he would come. Raijen nodded towards his dear friend, Kaydir bowing his head in return.

He was in awe of his friend after what he had seen pass between him and Amaunet, although he had no idea what it had meant.

Raijen sat with his kin, next to her on the calm banks of the mighty river, the moon barely visible above them. Kaydir sat nearby in the near distance, just out of earshot to give Raijen and Maia some privacy, watching Maia, his love pure and true.

“I need to tell you a tale Maia.....hearing these words myself tore out my soul. The pain so profound I do not know how you will bare it. But I have no right to keep this information from you, even though it pains me so to tell you. Theda had only confessed this to me this last yesternight.” He looked down at the stunning woman, her dark sleek skin glistened in the silver night, her beauty radiated out onto the great rivers facade and glimmered in its deep shadows.

Grasping her small hand in his, Raijen began the tragic tale, more devastating than Maia could ever had fathomed.....

***

As the words fell from Raijen’s lips, Maia’s world fell silently apart. An oppressive black cloud came from nowhere and swarmed furiously before her eyes, near blinding her.

She could not believe what she was hearing, trying desperately to shut this knowledge out, to shift it completely and erase it from her core.

Theda was her grandmother, yet Araphel’s was her grandfather?...No.....she tried, but couldn’t quite grasp the horror.

Theda and Araphel were brother and sister. Araphel had raped Theda repeatedly over many years and as a result was only thirteen when she gave birth to her sick brothers child.

Araphel believed the baby had died, however she was raised by a couple in a neighbouring village, their natural child been born without life and a deal with Theda was done to protect her daughter.

Theda named her mother Zahra. She was fifteen when she came to have Maia, dying as she drew breath into this profound new world. Theda then took poor Maia and raised her along side Raijen, preparing her for Araphel’s great army, giving her both strength and nous.

All of that was one thing Maia though, but Araphel?.......he was her grandfather!. What he had done was horrific enough, however to learn of her origins was unthinkable!. She tried desperately to wipe the thought from her mind, rapidly swinging her head to face Raijen.

“NO!......Raijen...you have always joked with me as a brother would since I can remember....please,....this cannot be!...” Maia flew to her feet and without another word ran. She sprinted down the dark red sands, shattering into the cool night, pumping her legs as fast as she could.

Maia found her voice then and screamed. Hot tears tore at her flesh, running swifter than the wind, her blood thrusting its way amid her heart and swirling throughout her true soul, pushing her legs to their extreme.

She did not want to stop, she couldn’t stop, wanting to run far from the terror that had consumed her, she wanted to tear her skin from its flesh until she existed no more, becoming mere dust, scattered to Chaos above.

Then from the sheer darkness came two huge arms, tackling her to the harsh sands. Maia rolled onto her hip and was slammed into ground, screaming into the dark night, not from fear, but from the purest of sadness, it ripped through her heart like a starving tornado, consuming her with inconsolable grief.

His familiar warm body wrapped around hers, embracing her, holding her like he would lose her.

Kaydir sat on the cold sand near the Nile with Maia, crushing her trembling body to his. She could not stop the confused spiteful tears from falling, each time she tried, a new flood would embody her, overwhelming her, engulfing her mind and her soul.

Kaydir soothed her, hushing her, stroking Maia’s hair in is huge hands until her screams of anguish finally faded into quiet sobs of grief and pain, wracking throughout her tainted core until the suns first rays broke over the Niles shores.