The wind changed before sunrise.
It swept through the camp like a warning, cold and sharp, rolling dust across the quiet tents. Soldiers rose quickly. The children woke faster. Something in the air felt different, stretched thin, ready to tear.
Chloe was already standing, armor half-fastened, spear planted in the ground. "Up," she commanded. "We move now."
Valerie and Calix were beside her in moments. Baron strapped on his armor without a word. The children packed what little they carried. Even the horses stomped nervously, sensing something ahead.
Kibo looked up at the sky. "Feels… heavy."
Abraham answered without missing a beat. "Because the veil's thinning. Something divine crossed through."
Chloe didn't deny it. She didn't need to.
They mounted their horses and began riding east. The sky grew brighter, but not warmer. A dull, metallic light clung to everything.
Halfway through the morning, the land changed.
The trees grew sparse. The earth thinned into gray stone. The wind carried faint tremors, pulsing through the ground like the heartbeat of a god.
Calix pulled his horse to a stop. "Do you feel that?"
Valerie closed her eyes. Her vines shifted under her skin, reacting on instinct. "It's… wrong. Like a soul screaming."
Baron joined them, squinting at the horizon. "Egypt's getting closer. But something's between us and the coast."
Chloe raised her spear. "On foot. We scout from here."
They dismounted and moved through the rocky path. The children stayed close, keeping their steps light, ready to break or fight.
The sound reached them first.
A low, rhythmic pulse.
Like a drum.
Like a heartbeat.
Like something ancient trying to wake.
The group froze as dust blew past them. Then, through the haze, a figure emerged.
A woman.
Barefoot.
Dressed in a flowing white robe stained red at the hem.
Her hair long and black, whipping in the wind like smoke.
Her eyes glowing gold, slit like a lion's.
Valentina whispered, "Is that…?"
Chloe's breath hitched. "No. Not her. Not fully."
The girl's body was too small. Too young.
She looked about twelve.
The vessel.
The child whose body had been taken.
Valerie stepped forward cautiously, her hand raised. "Hey… little one?"
The girl tilted her head. Her smile was soft, gentle. Too gentle.
Then the earth cracked.
A wave of heat exploded from her body, blasting sand and stone outward. Chloe shielded the children with her arm. Calix threw up a wall of shadow. Baron braced against the force with pure strength.
When the dust settled, the girl stood in the crater she had made.
She was humming.
Kibo whispered, shaking, "She's… happy."
Abraham swallowed hard. "No. She's remembering."
The girl opened her mouth. Her voice was layered, childlike, but beneath it, something older, deeper, vibrating like a war drum.
"You brought me home."
Chloe took one slow step back. "Everyone stay behind me."
Valerie whispered, "She's not awake. But she's close."
Calix drew close to his wife. "If she wakes fully, we die."
Baron squinted, jaw clenched. "Then we keep her from waking."
For the first time, the girl-Sekhmet, looked directly at him.
At Baron.
At the contractor of Zeus.
Her smile widened, too perfect. Too knowing.
"Son of storm," she said. "You carry lightning that does not belong to you."
Baron froze.
His hand tightened on his sword.
She raised her hand. The air rippled. The sand beneath her feet turned to glass.
Then
She vanished.
Just gone. No sound. No wind. No trace.
Chloe's heart hammered. "She… she can already move like that?"
Valerie grabbed her husband's arm. "We need to warn Egypt. Now."
Baron looked back the way they came, eyes wide and furious. "She's heading east. Toward the Nile."
Valentina whispered, "Toward Magnolia."
Silence fell.
Baron turned to Chloe, voice hardening. "We ride. Full speed. If we're late… the goddess won't need Ahn to destroy Egypt."
Chloe didn't hesitate.
"Everyone move! We ride until our legs give out!"
Horses screamed.
Weapons were drawn.
Dust stormed behind them as they sprinted across the desert.
They were no longer marching toward Egypt.
They were racing against a waking god.
The veil rippled again.
A pulse.
A breath.
A shake that pushed dust off the broken archways like something on the other side just rolled over in its sleep.
Cyclone stopped first. "Yeah… that's divine. And not the kid kind."
Alexander didn't slow. His molten eye brightened, turning the shadows around him orange. His tattoos pulsed under his collar, each Greek letter warming with Aries' irritation.
He felt the pull.
Deep. Heavy. Hungry.
It was coming from past the old cat-shrines, where the reeds bent toward the river and the old priests once claimed Bastet's messengers kept watch.
Cyclone exhaled, annoyed, brushing sand off his boots. "Hermes says someone cracked the veil open. Sloppy job, too. Like whoever did it wasn't even conscious."
Alexander answered without looking back. "Delilah."
Cyclone nodded. "And Ahn."
The gust of wind that followed smelled like river water and rotten fruit. Something spilled through the tear in reality. Not a creature, not a person, not a shadow. Just… presence. A pressure in the air.
Alexander's hands curled, knuckles cracking. "She's close."
Cyclone tilted his head. "You mean the girl?"
"No." Alexander stepped forward, stare narrowing. "I mean the thing wearing her."
The veil rippled again, then snapped open for half a heartbeat.
Both men froze.
Inside, through the haze, they saw a silhouette.
Small. Barefoot. Hair hanging to her shoulders. The outline of a child.
But her shadow was wrong.
Too tall.
Too broad.
A mane where hair should be.
Hands shaped like claws.
And eyes glowing the color of dying suns.
Cyclone's voice dropped to a whisper. "So that's Sekhmet."
Alexander didn't breathe.
The veil snapped shut again.
Silence.
Cyclone broke it. "We can't rush her. You know that, right? I mean, I'm allergic to dying."
Alexander didn't move. "She's not awake."
"Uh, she looked awake to me."
"No," Alexander said, voice low. "She's moving. But she's not awake. Ahn woke her body. Not her mind."
Cyclone rubbed his forehead. "So we're dealing with a divine sleepwalker."
Alexander took one step closer. "We need the child. If we get her out of the goddess' shell, we can-"
He stopped.
A second ripple hit the ground. Harder.
A growl curled through the air. Not loud. Small. Almost bored. But it sank into Cyclone's bones like a warning.
"Right," Cyclone muttered. "Super comforting."
Then, faint footsteps.
Light. Barefoot. Soft.
Walking toward the veil from the other side.
Alexander's molten eye flared all the way to white. His pulse thundered under his tattoos. Aries surged through him like a war drum.
Cyclone grabbed his wrist. "Hey. Don't."
Alexander didn't pull away. "Let go."
"No," Cyclone said. "Because you're not you right now. Your god's trying to shove his hand up your spine and drive."
A long silence.
Alexander's jaw flexed. "I'm fine."
"You're lying."
Alexander finally looked at him. The human eye was exhausted. The molten eye was ravenous.
Cyclone sighed. "We need backup."
"No one's close enough."
"Then we need the twins."
Alexander's voice sharpened. "I will not involve them."
Cyclone shrugged. "Then it's us and a half-awake goddess with a borrowed child body. Sounds great. Truly."
The veil rippled again.
This time, a voice slipped through.
Small.
Young.
Confused.
"Where… am I?"
Cyclone blinked. "That sounded like the kid."
Alexander stiffened. "That's because it is."
He took a step toward the veil.
Cyclone stepped in front of him. "Alexander. Think."
"I am thinking."
"Try it with the human half of your brain, not the war-god furnace cooking behind your eyes."
Alexander gritted his teeth.
The child's voice came again-panicked now.
"I don't… I don't want to be here. Someone… someone wake me up…"
Cyclone whispered, "She's getting buried inside the goddess."
Alexander's control snapped.
He shoved Cyclone aside-not hard, not to hurt, but like a man shaking off a hand on his shoulder, and stepped into the veil's edge.
"It's me or no one," he said. "If she fully merges with Sekhmet, the Nile burns."
Cyclone clicked his tongue, sighed, and marched after him.
"Fine. But if we die, I'm haunting you."
Alexander didn't answer. He stepped into the haze.
The veil shuddered.
The child screamed.
And Sekhmet opened her eyes.
The sand under Bubastis shook like a drum being struck from beneath.
Far away, in the heart of Egypt, every priest of Ra felt the same chill crawl up their spines.
Something old was waking.
Something angry.
Something hungry.
Alexander didn't retreat.
Cyclone cursed under his breath.
And the goddess smiled through the face of a stolen child.
Stone dust still floated in the air.
The torches still burned bright gold.
Everyone stood frozen in the aftermath of Delilah's confession.
Magnolia's chest rose and fell too fast. His scar throbbed. His fists shook.
Poison watched him from the side, hands in his pockets, expression sharp. He didn't trust the quiet. He never did.
Isamu kept his gaze forward, jaw tight, waiting for the Pharaoh's next command.
Saijew leaned on his cane, breathing through the pain in his leg, face set like carved granite. The hall still smelled like burned air and blood.
The Pharaoh was the only one who looked calm. His golden eyes swept over them with a weight Magnolia felt like a hand on his back.
"We move at dawn," the Pharaoh said.
Magnolia lifted his head. "We don't have until dawn."
Poison muttered, "Here we go."
Magnolia stepped forward. "Ahn has Sekhmet's vessel. A child. And you're telling me to wait?"
Saijew slammed his cane into the ground. The crack echoed.
"Boy. You do not understand what you're asking to rush."
"I do," Magnolia snapped. "You're telling me a goddess of destruction is walking in a kid's body and I'm supposed to sit here?"
Kahn stepped between them, arms folded, voice rough. "You will do what the Pharaoh commands."
Magnolia's power flared around his hands. The scar across his chest pulsed like molten gold. "If we wait too long, she'll disappear. Or kill someone. Or wake completely."
Poison's eyes narrowed. "He's right."
Kahn shot Poison a glare sharp enough to cut bone. "You want to put children against Sekhmet?"
Poison shrugged. "Already happening. Might as well admit it."
Isamu finally spoke, stepping closer to Magnolia.
"Magnolia… we aren't running into this blind. We regroup. We strategize. I know you want to act-"
Magnolia's voice cracked, softer. "She's a child, Dad."
The hall went silent.
Isamu froze. Saijew looked away. The Pharaoh lowered his eyes.
Magnolia swallowed hard. "Ahn used a kid. Like me. Like us. I'm not letting that happen again."
He turned and Ra's voice flared in his mind like a brand.
Do not rush toward destruction.
Sekhmet is not like the others.
She does not forgive.
She does not restrain.
She does not "wake" gently.
Magnolia closed his eyes. "Then tell me what to do."
Ra didn't answer at first. When he finally did, something in his tone was afraid.
Find her before she remembers her true name.
Before the child disappears.
Before the lioness returns.
Magnolia's eyes snapped open.
He spun around and started walking.
Saijew's voice roared across the hall. "Where are you going?"
Magnolia answered without stopping. "To find Sekhmet before she wakes."
Kahn cursed under his breath. "Magnolia-"
Ren surged after him. Emma too, wind circling her like invisible threads.
Magnolia didn't stop.
Poison stepped in front of the kids, blocking them with one arm. "Move."
Luna glared. "We're going too."
Poison didn't budge. "You won't survive her. Magnolia barely might."
Emma's voice shook. "We can help him-
"No," Poison said. "You'll slow him down. And if Sekhmet sees fear, she'll target you first."
Magnolia vanished through the outer gate.
"Magnolia!" Valentina shouted.
Poison looked back at the kids, at their drained faces, at Emma's trembling hands, at Abraham gripping his staff like it was the only certainty left.
He sighed. "Fine. Go cry to the Pharaoh about it. I'm going with him."
He ran after Magnolia, coat whipping behind him.
Isamu followed, slower, heavier, but he followed.
The children stood stunned.
Saijew gripped his cane, breath sharp. "Let them go. They've chosen."
Saijew closed his eyes. "Magnolia is Ra's vessel. Poison is Horus' legacy. Isamu is an old wolf who won't lose his son twice."
Kahn added quietly, "This fight is not for you. Not yet."
The Pharaoh raised his head. "Prepare my army. If Sekhmet rises, every mortal in Egypt will burn."
Delilah shuddered where she knelt. "You don't understand. If Ahn is near her… he wants her awake. Fully awake."
The Pharaoh's voice was a whisper of steel. "Then the jester will die first."
Emma stared at the gate Magnolia vanished through, breath shaking.
She whispered, "Magnolia… please be careful."