An alien lands in ancient Egypt and walks across the middle east in search for his lost love until he finds her.

Reading time: 13 minutes.

Ciao,

The following tale is one of the three stories that kick start XTales.net's featured Mythical Series 'Keepers of the Knowledge'. The other two are still in work, but you can read the first drafts if you'd like. I'll add the links at the end, let me know.

Keep reading.

Arrivederci.

An Evoking from the Stars

Chapter One — Walking

Walking. That's one of the few things I remembered. I had been walking ever since I had landed on this planet. I didn't know how long I had been walking for, didn't remember how far I had come. I just remembered walking.

I remembered the first time my feet touched the ground. The dry and hot sand burned my soles. I remembered when my lungs filled with this foreign air and the sun shone on my head. It was so familiar with my planet, it almost felt like I was back home. The first thing different from our planet that I noticed was the cycle of day and night. The day lasted only for a few hours. I got scared at first, thinking I'd have to hunt for food for a long time, but then just a few hours later, the sun rose again. My first task was to find the inhabitants of this planet, so I walked. It wasn't so bad the first time, because one: I wasn't alone, and second: it wasn't that long. I skilfully found the creatures of the planet. They looked so much like us that I got happy because that would make my mission so much easier.

I observed them for some time. The second difference was that they were heterotrophs; they depended on autotrophs and other heterotopic animals for food. Their skin looked different too. Since they couldn't perform photosynthesis, I gathered that they couldn't breathe or intake water through their skin. Though it was conceivable because the days and nights changed so fast, they didn't evolve like us. They were our nocturnal counterparts. They lived as we did during the dark.

Once, I got close to one of them to study their brains, but there was no connection. I didn't feel a thing. The only conclusion I could draw was that they didn't have any telepathic abilities. It could have been a problem.

I had to implant the subject among them. I had to call him 'subject' because I wasn't allowed to call him by his name or form any connections with him. I was worried that they would harm him, but I soon discovered that they were kind. They weren't telepaths like us, but they had developed a way to express their emotions. They had formed a connection with other animals. So, my job was done much easier than I had thought. I left the subject in a puddle. They heard him crying and ran to help him. I left soon after. I knew that they would find him strange, that they would think he was something else, but I knew that they would accept him as their own. I believed in their kindness. I had faith in Love. After all, love was what had brought me here.

That's when I started my journey. That's when I started walking, but this time, I was alone, and this time, it took very long to get where I wanted to go.

I remembered the fields I had walked through, the food for these people, crops swaying with the wind as if they were dancing. Then came the trees ladened with fruits, standing so tall. They felt honoured to provide not only food but also shelter to smaller creatures with so much more.

I remembered the mountains, touching the skies, watching over these people like a guardian. The valleys felt as if they had picked these people up in their laps.

I remembered the forests, so dense that even daylight couldn't light up the dark caves and burrows, which were homes to so many other creatures. I had never seen so much diversity on one planet.

I remembered the rivers; they were the arteries of this planet, carrying water across the land, enabling every creature to survive. The ecosystem of this planet was like none I had ever seen. This planet had a food chain, a water cycle, and a carbon cycle much more complex than ours. I wondered if this was heaven.

I remembered when I had to walk across thousands of miles of uninhabited land. It felt like an eternity. In the deserts, both hot and cold ones, the temperature reached each of its extremities. No wonder no one lived there; their delicate skins couldn't survive this. I almost thought I wouldn't make it, but I remembered why I had been walking for so long. I remembered her, my love.

I remembered the first time I had laid my eyes on her. She sparkled with the light of a million stars. Her laughter echoed in my head, and it made my world stop. For a moment or maybe an eternity, I just kept looking at her. I remembered every single moment that I had spent with her; every second felt like a year. I remembered her glowing face, her beautiful eyes, and her soft lips. I remembered the fragrance of her hair which induced so much of those happy hormones in my body. I remembered being in love with her.

Love is a strange thing. Billions of years of evolution and thousands of years of research, still my species couldn't understand it. Love gave me the strength to travel across the galaxy and walk thousands of miles, gave me the desire to see her again, gave me hope to find her one day. It was love that gave me solace that my suffering and my pain will end one day. Yes, I remembered the pain too. I remembered the sense of loss when she was taken away from me. I remembered every second after that, which I spent without her, every moment that I lived being dead inside—until now.

I reached the middle of the dense forest on one of the darkest nights. It was dead quiet. My gaze fell upon the little wooden hut. It stood there as if it was a part of the woods, growing out of and into the trees, walls with leaves and flowers that hid it perfectly. I walked up to the door, knocked, and waited. My heart was racing with excitement. I felt someone approach the other side of the door. Something clonked, and the door pulled open.

My eyes met hers, and the time stopped. My pain vanished like it was never even there to begin with. Now, all those years of suffering felt like a bad dream. I had woken up to this beautiful reality. I smiled and—

“Who are you?” she asked.

Chapter Two — An Evoking from the Stars

I was still looking at her. She looked assuredly the same as I remembered. Her beautiful face was staring at me, and then I processed her words.

"What?"

"Who are you?" she repeated.

"It's—it's me. Don't you remember?"

“I’m sorry. I don’t. I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”

"What?"

I couldn't think. All these years, all the pain and suffering, all the wait and for what? I couldn't understand why she didn't remember me. There was something fishy about the whole situation. And then, I remembered who could've been behind this. "Where's your father?" I asked.

"He is sleeping," she replied with her soft, silvery voice. "Did you come here to meet him? Then you'll have to wait. I can't wake him up in the middle of the night."

I thought about it for a second. She didn't recognize me; her father must've done something. If anyone could do anything, it was her father. I made a decision. "Yes," I lied. "I came here to meet your father."

"Oh, come on in. Father never had a visitor before. How do you two know each other?"

I walked into the hut. It looked nothing like one would imagine seeing it from the outside. "Oh, we are old friends," I answered. "We haven't met for quite some time." I settled on a wooden chair. It was more comfortable than it looked.

The hut was glowing with a light whose source I couldn't see. The walls looked like the insides of a tree. She then came out of the kitchen holding two cups on a tray. After putting the tray in front of me, she picked up one of the cups and gestured to me to do the same. I, however, kept looking at her. I tried to form a connection with her, but there was no response. Though I could sense her confusion.

I couldn't control myself anymore. "You really don't remember anything?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but I—I really don't."

“You don’t remember our planet?”

She looked even more confused. "What?"

"This planet is not our home," I began. "We came from another planet of a different star system across the galaxy. Oh, it is so beautiful." For the first time in years, I missed my home.

"Uh—I don't know what you are talking about," she said. "I've always lived here as far as I remember." She didn't believe me, but her eyes were saying something else. They glimmered with hope to see and listen to anything that wasn't this hut and this forest. "What about this planet?" she asked, "Tell me more."

"Oh, home. There's no place like it. Our planet was formed early on when the universe started. Life began soon after, and through about a million years of evolution, we came into existence. Our home is not very different from this planet, but there are a few things.

"Our planet revolves around a colossal star. Days and nights last for months there. During the day, we process our own food. We also collect and store for the night. Some of us hunt for food during the night. Our people look a lot like the beings of this planet. I don't think you've ever seen any of them either. But they are different in many ways than I thought at first. They are heterotrophs. They are not telepaths like us. They are intelligent, yes, but there's one peculiar and significant difference.

"You see, our species is eternal. We never get old except on one condition, which I'll get to in a minute. These people grow old and die no matter what. I think this is the reason that restricts them from evolving like us. They have to pass their knowledge onto the next generation, a great deal of which is lost in transition, I guess. No one understands the vision better than the person who first had it. I wonder what these people could have achieved if they were like us." I was lost in my own thoughts when—

“What is that one condition?” she asked.

I looked at her, staring back at me with curiosity. I was glad that she asked that; it made me smile. Those beautiful eyes kept looking at me for the answer.

"We don't grow old except when we are in love," I let out slowly while looking at her.

“What?”

"Yes. It's quite strange; no one understands it. We have spent a lot of resources and even more time researching the reason behind this. We tried everything that we could to understand it, but we found nothing. However, we did find that it's not just living together or mating. It's love. That's why I say that love is a strange thing. Do you see where love has brought me? It has brought me to my destiny, to my soulmate, to you."

“What?”

"Yes. We were in love. You don't remember it, but we were, like, inseparable."

“What are you saying? I don’t understand any of it.”

“Because you don’t remember.”

“But why don’t I remember? Why don’t I remember this planet you’re talking about. Why don’t I remember you? And how did you find us here?”

"Because you called me."

She was surprised to hear that but didn't say anything for quite some time. She was in her thoughts. I was looking at her. This was not how I expected our meeting would go. I thought she would remember me, remember herself, remember us.

"I called you? When? How?" she asked.

"I don't know how, but I was in pain. I missed you, and then I heard your voice calling me. It was coming from across the galaxy. No one else could hear it. It was like a call from beyond, an evoking from the stars."

“How is this possible?”

“Love. Love is a strange thing.”

No one said anything for a minute. What could we say after this? I couldn't think of anything else, so I just finished my story, "I set out on a mission to send one of our kind here on this planet, to observe and understand them and after that, I came here following your voice, looking for you."

"I still can't believe it," she said. "It all sounds like a fairy tale. No—" She shook her head in disbelief. "It can't be true; you are lying."

Before I could say anything, someone else did.

“He isn’t.”

It was her father. He had woken up.

Chapter Three — An Eternal Love Story

We both stood up and looked at him. He also looked exactly the same as I remembered. As soon as our eyes met, I formed a connection with him and—

“How did you find us?” I received.

“What did you do to your daughter? Why doesn’t she remember anything?” I responded.

He ignored my question just like I did his, and he sent in, "You have to go," to which I sent away—

“No, I've come for her. I won’t go without her.”

All this happened in an instant. She didn't even realize anything, and she asked, "Father, is it true? Is it all true?"

He looked at her then nodded after a second.

“Then why don’t I remember anything?”

I then realized something. "Because he altered your memories," I said, looking at him. He couldn't look any one of us in the eye.

She walked up to him, placed her hands on his arm and said, "Father, please, answer me." She was looking at him with the same hope I had seen in her eyes earlier.

Her father slowly looked up but soon closed his eyes because he still couldn't look her in the eye. He simply nodded with his eyes closed. "It's true," he said.

“Why would you do it?”

"Yes," I demanded too. "Why would you alter your own daughter's memories? Why?"

He didn't say a word. He couldn't. He freed himself and turned his back to us, and then without any warning, he started crying. "I was selfish," he let those words out crying. "I didn't want to lose my daughter, my only family."

None of us said anything. We just let him cry it out. After a minute, he calmed down and began his tale. Now we both were listening.

"I was once in love too. I, too, had someone in my life. She was my world. She was everything to me." He turned to his daughter. "Your mother. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. We were made for each other. We were ready to grow old and die together, but I lost her. She died in an accident and left you—a child and an eternity of loneliness. I braced myself for it at first. I thought I could live the rest of my life alone because my daughter would be with me, but then you fell in love. You found him, and I was never that afraid in my life. I knew you would grow old and eventually die, leaving me behind, alone forever. I couldn't bear the thought of this.

"So, I left that planet, travelled through the stars and ended up here. I thought that you would forget him, but you kept crying and calling for him. I changed your memories so that you wouldn't remember anything."

"How could you do this to me? To your daughter?" she asked. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her voice was breaking.

"I'm sorry. I was selfish. I didn't think about anyone else. Forgive me," he said and started crying again.

"You could still fix this," I said. "Uncover her memories. She deserves this."

He stopped crying, nodded and put his hand on her head. Something happened. She started losing her balance. I jumped forward and caught her in my arms. I looked at her for an instant, and then she opened her eyes.

I knew the moment she saw me that she recognized me. Her eyes met mine, and the time stopped.

"Horus?" she said.

“Hathor. Yes. It’s me.”

“You found me.”

“Yes. I did.”

The biggest ever smile stretched on our faces. Our eyes filled with tears of joy, tears of love. We embraced each other tightly as if we would never let each other go this time. No one could separate us now.

"Oh, I missed you so bad," she whispered. "I cried. I called you. I was in so much pain."

"I know. So was I. I heard you, came to you. Don't worry. I'm here now. With you. The pain will go away."

"Oh, it's already gone."

"Love is a strange thing," I said.

The wind started singing. Leaves on trees began dancing with the wind. Sky woke up as the sun came out to witness this beautiful moment that seemed to have stopped in time, as we walked out after a few hours to bid farewell to her father, who decided to go back and find something worth doing to contribute to our community.

"Now, where did you park your ship?" he asked.

"Walk north to the mountains and then head east until you reach an ocean of sand," I replied.

He waved goodbye. We formed the last connection and—

"Take care of my daughter," he sent in.

"I will," I responded.

"Don't worry, father," she interjected. "We'll be okay."

We looked at each other, still holding onto one another, and smiled. We waved back. Her father walked away. We looked at him until he disappeared, then we came back to our little home. We knew that we'll grow old now, we knew that we would die one day, but we were happy because we will be together. Though we'll pass away, our love will live on forever. Our tale will be told, heard, and will be alive forever as an eternal love story.

...

Epilogue (optional for narrators)

—"and then they adopted me. They knew it would be hard to keep an alien among them, but they were kind. They are long gone now. It's been so many years. I've met so many people, travelled so much, but I didn't, once, meet anyone as kind as them," the alien finished.

He then looked at the other one and asked,

"That's my 'Weird'. What about you? What's your weird tale?"

"Ugh—it's a long story," said the other one, a young woman in strange clothing.

"The night's long, and we have time to kill." He looked around the barn and pointed at the storm raging outside. "Come on, start with your clothes. Where'd you get them?"

"Oh, these—are called jeans and shirts. These won't come out until hundreds of years from now."

“What?” He was thinking that it was a joke.

"Let me tell you my tale from the beginning." the other one looked at him, paused for a second and then said, "I'm a time traveller."

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