Chapter Text
Sally Jackson is newly turned fifteen when her uncle tells her he’s dying.
Uncle Richard had sat her down on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate before he gave her a soft smile and explained how he had cancer, newly discovered but progressing rapidly - too rapidly for treatment. That’s when he took a deep breath and said, “I think it’s time I told you about our curse.”
“Curse?” Sally parroted, brows furrowed as she wondered whether the cancer had already messed up her uncle’s mind.
Uncle Richy nodded solemnly. “I know this will sound far-fetched, but I need you to listen patiently and not ask any questions until I’m finished.” He waited for her nod of confirmation. “Firstly, there is magic in this world and other things that can’t be explained. All the gods you’ve ever heard of likely existed at one point and are possibly still around. You know those creatures you sometimes saw when you were younger? Well they were real, but I always told you they weren’t because I wanted you to have as normal a childhood as possible. Anyway, we can see these creatures in their true form because we have magic in our blood, whereas other people do not and therefore cannot see the true nature of things as we do.”
Richard stared at Sally intently. “People who have magic in their blood are special, usually because they are descended from the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. These people are called magicians, or shesh in Egyptian, and they are taken to train under the House of Life, otherwise known as the Per Ankn. Our family specifically descends from Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of a sovereign Ancient Egypt.” Richard sighed before carrying on, “Our family-line was cursed by the gods when Cleopatra lost Egypt to the Romans. The curse was that our family members would usually die young, although a single line of descent would always remain to carry on the curse. That’s why your parents died, Sally. That’s why we have no other relatives, just you and me. That is why I am now dying as well, and when you have a child you will die sometime after. If the gods have mercy, that won’t be until your child is old enough to fend for themselves. However, if the gods are feeling vengeful…”
Richard looked to Sally, noticing her clutched hands. He then proceeded to place a small chest on the table in front of them and open it. Sally was given permission to look and as she shifted through papers and pictures she noticed newspaper clippings of tragic deaths, a folded and worn out family-tree with crosses and notes next to names, and at the bottom of the chest there was a long cloth holding something within. Sally carefully picked it up and opened it, pulling out a scroll which she recognised as papyrus from the various museum trips her uncle took her on. The papyrus had writing from various alphabets on it. Sally could recognise the one at the bottom as Greek, specifically Koine Greek, which her uncle had always made her learn and even spoke with her. The one with pictures of animals and things at the top were obviously hieroglyphs, and Uncle Richard said the middle letters were Demotic.
“This is an important scroll,” Sally realised, skimming the Greek and noticing words relating to death and curses. But there was something else too, something about a cure. Sally went over it again, more slowly and thoroughly. It mentioned overcoming challenges to prove oneself, to let one’s fate be held in the hands of the gods for judgment. It mentioned a place called the Duat.
“The curse can be broken?” Sally asked quietly.
Uncle Richard nodded his head in defeat. “Yes but it is dangerous. If you read the whole thing carefully it reveals instructions for someone of our blood who is brave enough to try and overturn the curse. If someone decided to do this, then they must present this scroll to the House of Life and be granted permission to undertake such a journey. But the person will only have one chance, and if they fail then our entire bloodline will end and forever cease to exist.”
Richard sighed in frustration and pinched the upper part of his nose between his eyes. “Your parents, may their souls rest in peace, never wanted you to know of this, but what right do I have to never tell you? When I die, is it truly better you do not know what fate awaits you? What fate awaits your future children? Because there will be children, the curse will make sure of that, no matter if you try to abstain from such things. No, I have raised you since you were a toddler and, may my brother forgive me, this is what I think is best. Ignorance is not a virtue, and I know you would not appreciate it either.”
“So, what am I to do?” Sally swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. “Am I the one to uplift this curse?”
“That is up to you,” Richard gazed at her sadly. “But I would never push for you to do it. Like I said, it is dangerous and will likely result in your death. But I thought you should know.”
If I do nothing then I curse my own children, all my descendants, to such a dire fate. A fate worse than death, Sally thought. Instead she said, “Is this why you’ve made me learn Koine Greek? Is that why you tried to teach me the hieroglyphs?”
“Yes,” Richard said. “I wanted you to at least be prepared, whatever your choice. Because of that, you can at least read most of the documents here. You can at least have something of a heritage that has been denied to you, even if you didn’t realise it when I taught you.”
“Uncle,” Sally murmured, tears clouding her vision. Really, the man before her was more than just her uncle, his was the face she saw when she thought of father or mother, when she thought of home. “Uncle, you would only tell me this if you truly thought you didn’t have much longer to live.”
Uncle Richy sent her a smile that trembled slightly. “I do not know how much time I have, but I will endeavour to push through until your sixteenth birthday. I am one stubborn man, and it’ll take more than a godly inspired curse to bring me to my knees.”
Sally released a sob, dropped the scroll among the other papers, and rushed forward to cling onto her uncle. He patted her head and murmured sweet nothings before eventually pulling her back to wipe away her tears.
“It’s going to be okay,” Richard said, and neither knew who he was trying to be more encouraging for. “I’m going to teach you everything I know. We’ll learn harder than before. With your permission, I’ll take you out of school and teach you everything from here, under the guise that it’s for you to look after me. At least this way you are prepared for whatever course you wish to take.”
“And we’ll spend the rest of our time together,” Sally sniffed. “That’s the most important part.”
Uncle Richard gazed tenderly at her and stroked her cheek. “Yes,” he smiled, tears clouding his own vision. “Yes, my sweet girl. Nothing is more important than family.”
Sally threw her arms back around her uncle, her father in all but name, and sobbed.