Chapter 4 : Heliopolis

The water in the courtyard basin of the temple, upon which I had leaned, rippled in concentric circles, reflecting a distorted image of my face back at me. An eerie sensation enveloped me. Where was I? Who was I? There was a vague sense of déjà vu about this environment. My mind wandered as I watched the sinuous waves formed by the moving circles of water. They morphed into vast temples atop mountains surrounded by oceans, ships traversing the waves and the skies, then into flames, lightning, explosions, and a titanic deluge engulfing all forms of life. Frightening visions of obscure memories surfaced in my foggy mind. Something urged me to delve deeper into my consciousness, but a mental barrier prevented me from seeing anything other than these images. I felt like I came from elsewhere, from the depths of the night sky, from those luminaries that dot the starry vault, yet I couldn’t focus my attention to try to clarify this impression.

Then the ripples in the basin’s water smoothed out, and a clearer image reflected back at me. Gazing at myself, I snapped back to my senses in an instant. I was Soptekh, a priest of the Temple of Horus, and within me resided the Imperial Mage Urul, who had witnessed the horrors of the Atlantean destruction, likely leaving an indelible mark on my spirit and wounded heart. Everything became clear to my eyes now.

Soptekh had a mission in this world, entrusted by the Highest Authority, Queen Selene, regent of all the Nomes of Egypt: he had to retrieve the « Book, » a collection of sacred papyri kept at the Temple of Ra in Onou (also known as Heliopolis by the Lagids, the dynasty of Ptolemaic descendants) to use it to consecrate the Naos of the Temple of Edfu, erected relatively recently compared to the millennia-old monuments of the Giza plateau.

The temple of Ra in Onou was a relic of the ancient world. The first temple to worship Ra, Atum, and Khepri, the Primordial Solar Triad, it had once shone brightly and shaped the original Egyptian kingdom. Its archives also preserved ancient knowledge, and neophytes came there to undergo the trials of initiation in its deadly dark corridors. There was no room for failure at the end of the initiation. Either the candidate overcame the trials and underwent the ascension of the Ba, the awakening of consciousness, or they failed and perished in the Limbo of Eternal Movement.

The task entrusted to Soptekh, to me, was of the utmost importance and extremely perilous, as the treasure trove of knowledge housed in the temple was coveted by multiple hostile factions—warrior, initiatic, priestly, and mercantile. I had to act in the shadows, alone, without drawing attention to myself.

The temple was situated in an oasis within a compound protected by tetrahedrons, shielding from profane eyes the sacred beauty it contained. The Holy of Holies, the Naos, located at the center of the structure, was topped by a pyramid whose iridescent apex radiated the Light of Ra in all directions.

To enter, four staircases were guarded by colossal guardian heads, one facing each cardinal point, while the pyramidion pointed toward the Zenith, in the constellation of Cassiopeia, and the Nadir at the base of the structure, surrounded by moats filled with water and voracious reptiles, rooted in the Primordial Chaos.

One had to carefully choose the entrance to access the Naos, considering seasonal parameters, astral conjunctions, but also the very nature of one’s own conscious will to succeed. 

Only those whose intentions were clear and whose minds had been illuminated by the Essence of Ra could open the sealed doors.

Within the Naos, deeply nestled within a labyrinth of vast underground galleries, shelves filled with papyrus scrolls and various objects stretched as far as the eye could see. A wan light of pale blue emitted by curious incandescent photophores faintly illuminated the different alcoves.

In these papyri lay all the teachings, mysteries, and scrolls of power from the known past and present world. Some were written in hieratic, in demotic, in Greek, others in cuneiform, still others with certain unique glyphs, which the consciousness of Urul inhabiting me recognized as of Atlantean origin.

I immediately knew which gallery to traverse to obtain the collection that Queen Selene had asked me to retrieve.

Wrapping the precious Tome and concealing it within the folds of my long linen robe, I could finally depart the premises. However, I must not, under any circumstances, expose the compendium to an unconsecrated space, lest the glyphs it contained fade away forever. Therefore, I could not consult it until I reached my ultimate destination, the Temple of Edfu.

Queen Selene, current regent of the Nomes since her husband the Pharaoh perished in a bloody battle against the enemy, harbored the ambition of unleashing the Light of Ra from the single eye of Horus, to make the Temple of Edfu the Mystic Capital of the entire country.

Queen Selene was a wise monarch, concerned about the well-being of her subjects, possessing remarkable intelligence, and particularly adept at diplomacy. She was beloved by her people, not only because she embodied the divine essence of the Goddess Isis in this world but also because of her great qualities of empathy and conciliation.

A powerful aura emanated from her, and Urul’s consciousness sensed in her the traces of the Atlantean « Blue Blood » he had encountered elsewhere, in another time.

She sought by all means to reconcile differences among peoples, and preferred hard but fruitful negotiation to devastating and despotic war fury.

Her young son, the future Pharaoh, was carefully educated in the Arts and Sciences, and she made sure to cultivate in him a political critical mindset, urging him to always see beyond the deceptive appearance of human intentions and maneuvers.

Naturally, Séléné was envied, hated by her detractors and opponents, who conspired and plotted for her downfall. But fortified by a cohesive priestly system aligned with her cause, and a loyal armed force, she ruled as a wise and absolute mistress over all of Egypt.

Séléné had entrusted me with other significant missions in the past, notably that of enriching the country and its inhabitants without having to conquer additional territories or exploit the buried riches of the copper and gold mines at the cost of deadly labor exploitation.

As a priest of Horus, I had been initiated into the Art of Energy and Matter Transformation, and I had been able to produce for the Queen precious stones and metals such as gold and emeralds in phenomenal quantities, with the gems being sold or exchanged by approved merchants of the royal administration throughout the country, thus enriching the reserves of the Royal Treasury.

It was within the Temple of Edfu that I had acquired these knowledge, passed down from generation to generation of initiates into the Mysteries of the Primordial Matrix, and it had cost me greatly in my flesh and in my being before I could fully master the entirety of the operative processes and rituals.

These processes were engraved on the walls of the Temple’s Laboratory, which had been allocated to me as a Creation space in service to the Queen. Though in coded language, they were accessible to any initiate who mastered the powers of the Matrix.

The Laboratory was also the place where sacred perfumes and ointments were concocted, used by physicians and priests to heal the various wounds that occasionally ravaged our country and its inhabitants.

Among other things, there were developed the elixir of remembrance, used to resurrect ancient occulted knowledge; the elixir of projection, allowing one to project their consciousness beyond the veil of space and time; the elixir of materialization, which, combined with the use of the Matrix, allowed the transmutation of « sand into gold »; and finally the elixir of long life, which allowed the prolongation of existence far beyond the usual human lifespan.

With certain other carefully selected priests, I was tasked with developing these elixirs and bending the Matrix to materialize the will of my sovereign.

The journey back from Onou to Edfou was far from easy. I had to employ cunning to avoid drawing attention to myself, disguising myself at times as a beggar, at others as a merchant, in order to regain the sacred enclosure of my Temple.

Upon arrival, I proceeded to the Naos of the Temple to consult the Sacred Tome and undertake the ultimate consecration of the Naos, in order to open the Portal between Worlds and Epochs, as my sovereign had requested of me.

I set to work, invoking the hidden powers of the Matrix, dissolving raw and primal materials, coagulating astral energies, uniting opposites to create The Bicephalic, the Being with the double Eagle Head, the powerful symbol that would materialize the portal in this place.

Just as I was about to utter the ultimate incantation, I had a terrifying vision: a foreign army was on the brink of invading and exterminating us. It would soon be repelled by the Queen’s army, but the enemy soldiers would have time to seize the Bicephalic and the Sacred Tome to offer them to their King.

I realized the magnitude of the conspiracy, the Queen’s opponents conspiring with the enemies of the Throne to orchestrate a fatal attack that would annihilate Séléné’s glorious project, the consecration of Horus in the Light of Atoum-Ré.

The Warrior King behind this plot was none other than the one who had slain Pharaoh, Séléné’s husband, and he was planning an invasion and total extermination of our people, our traditions, and our culture.

He had been preparing for this for decades, inheriting a hatred that his ancestors harbored towards ours, and had raised a colossal and formidable army to annihilate us.

Although they did not possess specific powers or resources to give them any military advantage, they were fierce soldiers, and their architect-inventors had developed attack techniques and tools of destruction unmatched by any known to date.

This made them formidable adversaries.

As I snapped out of my vision, I rushed to inform the High Priest of the Temple of the imminent threat. Already aware of this assault, he informed me that the bulk of the enemy army had been halted at our border, but a small group of fighters had managed to escape the vengeance of our soldiers and were heading straight for the Temple.

I understood that it was my duty to secure the Sacred Tome and the Bicephalic so that they could never be seized. As enemy soldiers had just breached the main entrance of the Temple and were now entering its precincts, closely followed by our royal soldiers in hot pursuit, I managed to escape through the Temple’s maze of columns and the citadel’s alleys, seeking to stay out of reach of their spears and scimitars.

A chariot stood ready to serve as my means of transportation, allowing me to speed swiftly towards the Naos of Heliopolis, which only I could enter to conceal the two sacred artifacts.

After a long and perilous journey, upon reaching the Naos, I first placed back the Sacred Tome and sealed the Bicephalic at the bottom of a well. Winding through the corridors, I then noticed a door concealed behind a stele engraved with Atlantean glyphs.

Deep within my being, I knew that this door concealed another Portal that would once again allow me to traverse the spaces between worlds and epochs, transporting me to another version of myself.

My mind urged me to dress appropriately for the journey. Donning an array left there by an illustrious unknown predecessor, I masked my face with some whitening pigment but neglected to don the protective headgear accompanying the passage attire.

As I closed the Portal behind me, I felt a powerful wave disturb my mind, and while I was disoriented, I realized too late the necessity of proper protection for my head. My consciousness dissolved once more, carrying away the memories and recollections of my previous beings. I knew then that of Urul, of Soptekh, soon there would be no trace remaining.

To be continued here: Chapter 5