Beyond the blood-soaked land, there was still a haze of sand and dust, and the howling wind raged on. Within the boundaries of the blood-soaked land, however, it was as calm as a pool of stagnant water. But the shattering of the clay jar brought slight ripples to this excessive stillness.
Contrary to what one might expect, there was no scattering of pottery shards. The jar broke apart in a rather gentle manner.
Accompanied by a series of crackling sounds, the pottery fragnts fell away piece by piece, revealing what had been contained within.
It was a clump of black soil, still quite damp, and from it, green sprouts had erged. Once freed from the jar's confinent, the soil scattered and rolled to the ground. As the black soil fell away, a tallic object gradually erged from within.
Hikigaya stepped forward and picked it up.
It was a bronze pendant, fairly heavy, still retaining traces of colored lacquer, and its surface glead with a gold-green sheen.
The design was of an ancient style, the central motif being a large eye. Beneath the eye were droplets and curls, which morphed into an eagle's clawed legs and flapping wings.
Just one glance was enough to identify it — this was the Eye of Horus, the famous ancient Egyptian amulet.
Horus, in ancient Egyptian mythology, was the guardian deity of the pharaoh and the symbol of royal authority. He was a composite of many other gods related to kingship and the sky, most of whom were sun gods. This composite nature even served as a prototype for the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity. Besides this, Horus, like Set, was an ancient deity. Before Egypt's unification, he was the principal god of Upper Egypt, holding equal status to Set, who was revered in Lower Egypt.
Before the rise of Osiris, Horus was Set's great rival in mythology. Their mythological conflict symbolized the battle between the flooding of the Nile and the invading desert sandstorms.
He was a trendously powerful god, even considered the emblematic figure of the Heliopolitan pantheon of ancient Egypt.
Hikigaya pondered briefly, then put the amulet around his neck.
The sensation of sothing flowing into his body beca even more distinct — it was indeed caused by the amulet.
The Eye of Horus is also called "Wadjet," the sa na as one of the oldest deities in Egyptian history — the cobra goddess Wadjet. Originally, it represented the eye of Wadjet, the cobra, who was also a sun goddess. Thus, the eye beca known as the all-seeing, all-knowing sacred eye of Wadjet. As Horus's status rose, the Eye of Wadjet gradually beca the Eye of Horus.
The mysterious insight he had gained six months ago might well be related to this…
Set had ntioned that the jar contained a divine artifact, triggered by Hikigaya as an outsider, and he had referred to the Eye of Horus — it had to be this amulet.
Even soone as unfamiliar as Hikigaya could tell how important the Eye of Horus was in ancient Egypt.
It carried sacred aning, symbolizing divine protection and supre royal power. Another spelling of it conveyed the sense of wholeness and being undamaged — in mythology, Horus offered his recovered eye to Osiris, which made it the most sacred and precious offering to the dead in ancient Egypt. They believed it played a role in resurrection.
This eye symbol could also be found in depictions of other gods. For instance, in early murals, it sotis represented the eye of the goddess Hathor, who was either Horus's mother or wife. So while related to Horus, it also existed independently of him.
Having donned the Eye of Horus, Hikigaya crouched down and began sifting through the scattered soil on the ground, hoping to find more.
Though he couldn't identify the plant, the erging sprout was quite fresh. The soil was all black and held a good level of moisture.
So hastily learned knowledge of ancient Egypt now ca in handy — Hikigaya quickly realized the significance of what he saw.
This clearly symbolized Osiris. Hikigaya couldn't recall all the details, but he rembered that ancient Egyptians often included a jar in tomb offerings filled with soil, clean water, and seeds to symbolize resurrection after death.
But such a jar was wholly dedicated to Osiris. Unlike the one before him — which had Set's head on it and hid an Eye of Horus inside.
Hikigaya strongly suspected there was more. If this was a tool once used by Osiris's and Horus's followers to combat Set, then just the Eye of Horus or the soil, water, and seeds wouldn't be enough.
It might serve as protection, but probably lacked the power to harm Set.
Hikigaya looked toward the land beyond the blood-soaked ground — it was now utter darkness.
But that was sothing beyond his control. Whether or not Set had truly descended, there was nothing he could do about it.
Those Egyptians were such clowns — and yet they had the nerve to call him the sacrifice. Judging by the current scene, it was more likely that 80 to 90 percent of them were about to beco sacrifices themselves.
Hikigaya couldn't imagine that a bunch of people who couldn't even keep their eyes open in the wind could stand a chance against a god of storms.
The blind man from earlier probably wasn't blinded by the wind either — Hikigaya recalled that Set was the sa as Typhon in Greek mythology, who had the power to stir up mists, dull people's minds, and blind their eyes.
Maybe these Egyptians had already fallen under his influence from the very beginning. After all, when people act stupid, it's like rain falling from the sky — nothing to do but let it happen.
Hikigaya extended his fingers, continuing to sift through the moist black soil, hoping to find sothing.
Finally, his fingers touched sothing hard.
He carefully cleared the surrounding soil to expose it.
It appeared to be a dead insect.
Completely lifeless — it felt like a stone in his hand, but was much lighter than a stone of the sa size.
Hikigaya even felt he could crush the insect's corpse with a light squeeze.
What use could this possibly have? Hikigaya deeply doubted.
At that mont, a strong sense of unease rose in his heart. Snapping out of his thoughts, he also noticed that the wind outside seed to have lessened.
He sensed it keenly — not with his eyes, but through a judgnt that arose directly within his mind. A vague scene even flashed across his brain.
It was irrational, yet Hikigaya couldn't bring himself to question this feeling — it was like breathing. Even while you're analyzing the air's composition or scent, your body has already taken several breaths on its own.
So this was what divine artifacts were like — truly terrifying things.
And then, amidst that unease, he sensed that the wind hadn't weakened. Rather, in a certain direction, it was being disrupted.
It was another, completely different kind of wind.
A wind brought by a god — it clearly wouldn't be affected by natural elents. In other words, the wind now appearing nearby, like a divine breeze from the sea, was another unnatural force.
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