The dream continued. 

Asim was pacing. He knew that the punishment would be severe if they were caught. Not just from their parents, but from their masters. A great deal of training had been put into making Asim and Khalid Mamluk soldiers, guardians of the land. Their masters were invested in them, and weren’t going to give up those investments without a fight.  And what’s more, to be caught trying to escape together, intimate and in love, it was unfathomable. It was sacrilegious.

“What troubles you, my son?” Asim jumped, as he had not expected his mother to be watching him from the doorway. He forced a smile. 

“Nothing.” He lied. 

She tilted her head, looking at him curiously.

“All these years and you still think I won’t see right through you.” She said.

Asim swallowed, feeling a flush of anxiety at her words. Could she really read his mind? Did she know what he was planning? Should he just call the whole thing off?

“What-what do you see?” Asim asked. 

His mother looked at him for a moment, then smiled. 

“I see a young man, unsure about his place in the world. He wants to do good for others, but he is lost, troubled. Uncertain.” She said. She walked across the room and brushed a hand lovingly over Asim’s cheek. “I see my beautiful child, bursting to be free of this place. To change the world in a way that a soldier cannot.”

Asim frowned. 

“I never wanted this life for you. I don’t wish for you to die as a soldier. No matter what training they give you, I know that it is not in your heart to kill others.” She hugged him now, pulling him close to her. “Your father is the soldier. It burns as a fire in him. But not you. There is tenderness in you. Kindness. Your sisters see it. I know they have teased you for it, but they also love you for it. They don’t want to see you harmed. Even your father worries for your future.”

“What would you have me do?” Asim asked, stepping back, gently holding his mother’s arms as he looked into her eyes. 

“I would have you make a life for yourself, a life that suits you. One far away from the carnage of battle. I would have you grow life from the earth, and make a family. Show them the love that you have shown us.” 

Asim swallowed against the painful lump in his throat as he pictured the perfect life she must wish for him. Children running around. A happy wife. Could he do that? Was he capable of loving a woman, or?

“What troubles you?” She repeated. 

“Khalid.” Said Asim. “His struggles are numerous. He fights every day to make his father proud, and every day his father shows only disappointment in him. Today, I found him covered in lashes, devastated. He has only ever wished for his father’s love.”

His mother nodded thoughtfully. 

“I have never understood why his father treats him so. His mother’s death was not his fault. She was such a kind and good soul, Khalid’s mother. She would only ever have wanted the best for him. To know her husband treats him like a sick feral dog would have devastated her.”

“I want to save him.” Asim blurted. “I want to get him away from here. Any day now, I suspect his father will go too far, will kill his own son, and my dearest friend will be gone.”

Asim’s mother took his hands in hers and squeezed them, “I think you know what you have to do. I suspect you’ve already been planning to run. It’s-it’s time for you to go. Find your place in the world. Take Khalid with you, and both of you can discover the lives you were meant to have.”

“What about you?” Asim asked, shocked at her willingness to let him go. “What about my sisters?”

“We are nothing if not resilient.” She said. She pulled Asim into a hug, then gave him a kiss on either cheek. “I love you, my dear Asim. I will pray for you. One day, when you have the ability, come back and visit us. I would love to see the man my son has grown to be.”

Tears had begun to stream down Asim’s face. She had given her blessing, and now it was time to leave, but by Allah, did it hurt. 

“I love you, mother.” Asim put his forehead to hers. “I will think about you every day.”

“And I you.” She said, leaning contentedly against him for a moment. 

Finally, she pulled away, wiping a tear from her face and sniffing, “Go now. While the masters rest.”

Asim wasn’t ready. He thought of his three sisters, who would wonder where he went. Would his mother tell them, or would she keep it a secret to protect them? Would they assume he had abandoned them?

It didn’t matter. It was time to go. 

His mother quickly wrapped some bread and fruit for him in a cloth, and handed them to him, giving Asim one more strong hug before she ushered him out the door. 

The wind was strong outside. Sand was beginning to blow into Asim’s face as he made his way to Khalid’s home. Just as he reached Khalid’s house, he heard a horrible scream. 

It was Khalid, and he was begging for his life. 

“You useless! Little! Freak!” Khalid’s father screamed, every word punctuated by the thwack of a whip against flesh. 

Asim froze for a moment. The wind had just blown the door open, and he could see Khalid lying in a puddle of his own blood on the floor. His breathing was raspy, his eyes closed, whimpers barely escaping his body now.

The whip kept landing, and Asim knew that if it continued any longer, Khalid would be done for. He was barely holding on as it was. 

“Stop!” Asim shouted, dropping the cloth full of food and rushing into the house to shove Khalid’s father back against the wall. Khalid’s father fell down, smacking his head hard against the ground. Asim didn’t stop to see if he was okay. He rushed to Khalid, pulling him bodily from the floor, putting Khalid’s arm over his shoulder, and dragging him out into the night. 

Asim walked as far and fast as he could, Khalid barely managing to shuffle along. The wind was picking up, making it difficult to see at all. Asim could only imagine how it felt on Khalid’s back with all of the open wounds. He continued to drag his friend along, out and away from the city. He imagined Khalid’s father behind them, imagined his wrath once he caught them. They would be dead by the morning if they were found. 

After seemingly ages, moving past homes, shops, and stables, they made their way out to the open desert. Asim didn’t really have a plan. He just knew they needed to get away. Far far away from Khalid’s father. 

Exhaustion was beginning to slow him down, and he paused to breathe, out in the midst of the sand, Khalid hanging on to him, raspy and weak. The wind was still whipping, and Asim looked around to get his bearings. He looked up at the sky, to the stars to get a sense of direction. There was something strange about the stars. Half of them appeared to be covered, but not by a cloud, as the sky was empty. No, they appeared to be blotted out by a wall of darkness. 

Asim squinted until he began to make out what he was looking at. 

Horror dawned on him as he realized what he was seeing.  

A haboob.

A giant wall of sand was being blown right toward them. 

“Run, Khalid!” Asim cried. “We have to run!”

He shook Khalid, who seemed to somewhat realize what was happening, and they charged off into the desert, as far and fast away from the wall of sand as they could go. Asim knew that if it reached them, they would be buried in no time. That would be it. He didn’t have the strength to pull Khalid along in that. 

“C’mon.” Asim said, pulling and struggling through the sand dunes with Khalid. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for. Just some sort of shelter, some form of safety from the wall. He thought about turning back to the city, but it was too late. 

The horrible thought that this was it, that this was how he was going to die came over him as they ran. This was their punishment for leaving home, for being deviants. The winds were stronger now, tearing at his skin, burning his eyes. The end was near, and neither of them would be able to fight it. 

Suddenly, the world seemed to open up and swallow them both. 

Asim and Khalid tumbled down down into the sand, rolling and sliding until they came to an abrupt stop. For a moment, there was only darkness, then as if by magic, a torch came to life with flickering fire, and then another, and another, until the room they were in was lit up. 

Asim slowly sat up to look around. They had landed in what looked to be a temple. One that had lost to the sand for some time. Its pillars stood several meters high. Its walls were covered in intricate hieroglyphics. The storm continued to rage somewhere far above them, but for now they were protected from the worst of it by the mountain of sand that they had rolled down. 

Asim scanned the walls, his eyes resting on a large carving of an enchanting goddess. He knew of her. His mother had often spoken of her when his father wasn’t around. In fact, he was sure his mother had prayed to her before, despite her devotion to Allah. 

“Aset.” Asim breathed. 

A strange wind seemed to whistle around the temple for a moment, causing all of the torches to flicker. Asim shivered, and slowly stood. 

“Thank you, goddess, for offering us protection.” Asim said. He heard a cough, and turned to see Khalid, lying on the sandy floor, blood pouring from his mouth. 

“No!” Asim cried, running over to his friend and kneeling down beside him. “Khalid! Khalid, please, get up! Stay with me!”

Khalid’s eyes fluttered, and he gave a small smile from his blood soaked lips.

“You came for me.” Khalid muttered, before beginning to cough and hack more blood. 

“Take it easy.” Asim warned. 

Khalid looked directly at him. “You care so much. That is why I love you.”

Khalid collapsed back on the sand, his eyes closing, his body slackening.

“Khalid! Khalid!” Asim said. “You cannot leave me! You cannot die!”

Khalid was unresponsive. His body had reached past the point of exhaustion. His chest barely rose and fell now. 

Asim began to cry. He was not sure what drew him to say it. Perhaps the image of his mother, holding him, letting him know she loved him. The words slipped from him as though they had always been ready to be spoken.

“Goddess Aset, please protect him. Please keep him alive. Goddess Aset, I implore you. I will do anything.”

Asim rested his head on Khalid’s chest, hearing his heartbeat grow more and more faint. 

Suddenly, a glowing turquoise light began to encircle the both of them, a sphere of energy, lifting them up from the floor. Asim looked around in awe as they hovered several feet off the ground. The glow had taken over Khalid’s body, and Asim watched in amazement as his dear friend began to stir and twist, appearing to grow stronger by the second. 

The ball of light began to move back to the floor, and a moment later, Asim and Khalid were standing, hand in hand, as healthy and strong as they had ever been. 

Asim instinctively fell to his knees, and bowed to the carving of Aset.

“Thank you. Thank you my goddess. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. If there is anything I can do to repay you…”

Khalid also got to his knees, following Asim’s example. He looked completely in awe of what was happening. 

Aset spoke, and it was like she was speaking through them, her voice in their very bones. 

“It has been a time since someone has visited this temple.” She spoke.

Asim was overwhelmed with the beauty of her presence speaking through him. Tears ran from his eyes. 

“Goddess, we are most fortunate to have found you.” Asim said. 

“You saved us.” Khalid said. “You saved me. Goddess, what can I do for you?”

The goddesses’ words flowed through them again, “There is goodness in you. A kindness. Would you continue to serve me? To do as I ask, to make peace in the world?”

“Yes goddess.” Asim said. He had never wanted to do something more in his life. 

“Yes goddess.” Khalid repeated.

“Then I offer you gifts.” Her voice was not coming through then anymore, but was right before them. Asim and Khalid looked up at the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. Her eyes glowed turquoise, her hair was long dark curls, her gown a spectacular display of red, blue, and green, that seemed to flow independent of her body. 

She seemed to take them in for a moment. 

“There is so much love between you. Love that extends beyond this world and into mine. I see lifetimes ahead for you, always together, always finding one another. I want to give you the gift of forever. Of immortality.”

“Yes goddess!” Khalid exclaimed. 

Asim froze. Immortality was something he had never considered. Had never felt the need for. 

“You hesitate.” She said, looking to Asim. 

“I’m…uncertain, goddess. I had never considered immortality before. There is something important in suffering death. Something necessary.”

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

“I will give you the option. When you are ready, eternal life with your true love will be waiting for you. If you are not ready for it, then in the next life, perhaps you will be.”

“The next life.” Asim repeated, curiously.

“If you have decided that you would not choose immortality after 550 years, then you will cross over permanently, and I will care for you in the Duat, the underworld, when you are ready to pass on.”

“Thank you, goddess.” Asim said. He looked at Khalid, who was grinning at him. 

She had a smile on her face as she pondered something. 

“A second gift, I think, for both of you. For you have gifted me with blood and devotion on this night. What gifts would you have me endow unto you to make the world a paradise?”

“Persuasion.” Khalid said immediately. 

She looked at him with her eyebrows raised, “Go on.”

“I want to be able to see the evil that people have done. And I want the power to make them change their ways. For the better.” Khalid said. 

She nodded, and turned to Asim, “And you, sweet boy?” 

“I only want the power to protect others from the dangers of the world.” Asim said. “I am too weak to do it myself.”

She nodded again. 

“I have but one thing to ask of you both in return. Many years from now, I’ll require the ability to walk the earth again freely. To change and make it a better place with my blessings. One of you will have the ability to give me this chance. If you agree to this condition, then I will gift you these blessings.”

Asim turned to Khalid, who nodded vigorously in agreement. 

They both turned back to Aset.

“Yes goddess, I agree.” Said Asim.

“As do I.” Said Khalid. 

Aset gave a single nod, then placed a hand upon each of their heads. 

Asim felt a powerful energy flowing into him. He was certain the same thing was happening to Khalid. He closed his eyes as the turquoise light enveloped them once more. A strange sensation prickled his lower right back, and he would later discover it to be the ankh, now tattooed forever on his back, a symbol of his contract with his goddess. Khalid had the same ankh appear as they both received their blessings. 

They held hands there in the glowing light of their goddess. Asim had never felt more at peace in his entire life. 

Asim opened his eyes, and he was Rene once more, lying on the hospital bed. 

Khal was sitting in a chair, watching him anxiously. 

Rene took in a deep breath as the whole dream washed over him, and for just a moment, he looked at Khal with the same wholesome love he had felt for him in that first life. Then the present came crashing back, and a wave of sadness rushed over Rene as he thought about everything that could have been. 

“Good to see you awake.” Khal said. “Police came to take a report about the attack. I gave them the story they needed to hear, and sent them on their way.”

“I saw it.” Rene said. 

“Saw what?” Khal asked. 

“Our first life together. Our birth. Our escape. Our blessings. I saw our goddess.”

The anxious look on Khal’s face slowly cracked into a grin.

“And?” He said. 

“And, I think we have a lot of work to do.” Said Rene. 

Chapter 28 https://storiesfrommontana.com/2023/08/06/chapter-28-pebbles-warning-disturbing-content/