A white hawk born under a scorching desert sun. A place with a clearcut circle of life and death, symbolized by the rise and fall of the banks of a river. In the day, the heat threatened to drop the strongest men where they stood. At night, creatures of the hunt lived rampantly. The large beasts could rip a careless person in half. The small ones could poison even the most careful ones.
In my life, only two things ever remained constant: the feathers on my back, and the uncertainty that always lies in the future.
I once believed that there would be four constants in my life, the third and fourth being the place in which I lived and my master. I was born and raised in the eastern sands of Akhenaten, living a humble life as a monk following the sun. Ever since my talons touched sand, I have been fascinated by the prospect of some ancient, time-forgotten secret lying dormant under the shifting sands of the White Desert of the Sun. My mentor, Darius Akhil enjoyed teaching me of the ways of the sun and encouraging my interest in the lands of the Desert. We would go on week-long treks into the desert before returning to Akhenaten. On one of these, he got very stern all of a sudden. He decided I was ready to learn the wisdom of the Sphinx, and brought me to the Great Gate of All Wisdom.
As I entered the gates, I felt the hot desert sun leave my back. The crisp dry air was replaced by a musk of exotic spices and ancient fog. It seemed as if I had entered a foreign country. A voice boomed behind me, and I turned suddenly. No longer was the desert at my back, but a gargantuan hall of lapis, gold, and sandstone, polished to perfection beneath green vines. And at the end of the cavernous hall lay the Sphinx.
“What offerings do you bring, Seeker of Knowledge?” the voice boomed.
I laid down the books I brought along with the pages of research done by Darius Akhil and I on the ruins around the desert and of the heavenly patterns of the sun and stars. “Here are your offerings, Knowledgeable one.”
“These are acceptable, wisdom and knowledge are the strongest forms of wealth and power. However, that is not all I ask of. To learn of my secrets, you must first answer my riddle. I never was, am always to be. No one has ever seen me, nor ever will. And yet, I am the confidence of all who live and breathe.”
Puzzled by the riddle, but knowing that an incorrect answer would mean punishment, I knelt on the ground intending to think on the answer. “Knowledgeable One, Great Sphinx, I shall sit and answer tomorrow.”
“That is correct,” the voice boomed. You are worthy of my blessing. The knowledge you seek is not my own, but yours to discover.
A pale blue light shone from the lapis ornamenting the walls, and the room darkened. The Sphinx began to rear, and it pounced, moving at an impossible speed directly towards me. Upon what should have been an impact, the Sphinx passed through my body and there was a sudden searing pain before everything was white. I awoke in the desert, surrounded by towering layered pyramids ripe with hanging gardens and ornamenting decor that seemed to be worth more than all the wealth in the world. Aarakocra flew in the skies. Humans walked the streets. The vision then faded away, and I recognized the outline of the wondrous land lying in the ruins around the Great Gate of All Wisdom. I recognized a new feeling within my body, and looked down at it.
Three symbols had been emblazoned onto my body. Golden feathers outlining the Eye of Horus, the Ankh, and the Scarab.
It was then that Darius Akhil gifted me a blue and gold crook as well as a silver khopesh, and sent me on my journey to discover the secrets of the Sphinx’s blessing