The Memory Painter

Everyone nodded. They all seemed to know their missions. Thoth could not keep his frustration in check any longer. “And what of me?”

Hermese looked at him and his anger died. “Thoth, as our newest Guardian,” she said, “you have the most vital task.” She set the box in front of him and explained, “This is a summary of the knowledge in this room, the wisdom we protect. It contains many Sacred Symbols and their keys, how to harness the energy of the Earth, control the elements, and much more. It is a great risk to take it aboveground, but we must—which is why I am entrusting it to you. Look far and wide, follow your heart to find the safest place on this Earth to hide it … for one day it will need to be found.”

Thoth stared at the box, afraid to touch it. “What is it?”

“The Book of Thoth,” she answered. Thoth looked at her in confusion. She gave him a faint smile. “Every book has a name. This one has yours.”

Thoth studied the box again. “I hide it, but then who will find it?”

“You will,” Ma’at said.

Thoth was impatient with their riddles. “I don’t understand.”

The seer tried to explain. “Time is a circle. There will be a way to come back to this moment and set the path right. We will live again and again, gaining new wisdom with time, helping mankind become ready to receive its legacy once more as we find our way back to this moment. We have only to remember our past in our future—when we do and the two become one, then Horus will return to help heal the world.”

Thoth listened to her words, his thumb absently tracing an infinity sign along his index finger. Horus would walk among us? The time of the Gods would come again? How could man ever return to such a divine state when all seemed lost? It would take thousands of years if not more to reach such enlightenment, and now that task rested on the brotherhood’s shoulders? He was speechless. He could see why his father had loved Ma’at. She was just as mad as he was.

“We have studied the ancient texts,” she insisted. “It can be done.”