Discovery of the Amulet of Sutekh
The following is an excerpt from the Hyat abd alˈGhumud (“Life of Abdul Ghumud”), written in 873 by Wahid alˈNajem, translated by Desmond Hynes, Ph.D., Professor of Eastern Antiquities, University of Naus:
And so it came to pass one day, that alˈSayid (a) was flying(b) over ar’Ramaal (c) when he came upon a sizable outcropping of stone with which he was quite familiar, having passed by that place many times before. On this day, however, his attention was drawn to it by a change in its appearance. Whether as a result of a quake, or the work of the djinn (d) in the night, several massive stones had been moved, and much sand displaced, revealing a large fissure in the wall of the ledge.
When alˈSayid went down to examine the crevice, he found it was wide enough for a man to enter. As he went in, he saw a brilliant light in the distance, deep within the stone. Eager to understand the meaning of such a strange illumination from within a stone, he made his way further into the narrowing passage. As he neared the source of the light, he realized, as he told it to me, that he was passing through a type of wall and had reached the other side.
With some difficulty, he pressed his body through the nearly impassible opening in the stone and stepped into a place that confounded his senses. Behold! A great city spread out before him, its broad avenues paved with diamaints and péarls, and its palaces built of gold and silver. As he made his way through the streets, he met not a soul. The entire city was utterly deserted, left to the devices of the scárabs and the scairpeans.
Yet the site was not a ruin; every stone was in place, every roof intact, every doorway secure. It was as if the entire population had removed as one that very day, leaving everything as it was at the moment of their departure. As alˈSayid explored the wondrous place, he slowly came to understand, as he told it to me, that he had located the Lost City of Sabhadiq,(e) renowned in story and song.
Coming upon a temple, alˈSayid ascended the marbal steps and entered the sanctuary. There he saw an enormous golden idol of a god he did not recognize, which puzzled him, as he had theretofore been confident of his familiarity with all the known deities of the world. The inscriptions, too, confounded him, written as they were in an unfamiliar script.
AlˈSayid wondered at the strange god as he took pains to observe it from all sides. When he came to the rear of the idol he discerned a passageway leading down a stairway carved from the living rock. He entered the passageway and followed the stair as it descended ever deeper below the floor of the temple, until all light was gone and he found himself in pitch-black darkness.
Feeling his way along the rough-hewn walls, he struggled to maintain his footing on the steep winding stair, when by chance his hand came upon a small niche in the wall. In it alˈSayid felt the contours of an object, small yet weighty. As he grasped it, he determined it was some type of pendant suspended from a cord. He withdrew it from the niche, and placed the cord around his neck.
Instantly, in a flash as of lightning on a moonless night, the darkness that engulfed him vanished and everything around him was as bright as a market at mid-day. But more than that, he could see through the walls that had been his guide in the murky darkness, and beyond them to the temple above, and beyond that to the entire desolate city in which he found himself. And he could see beyond the city, and beyond the desert. Lo! AlˈSayid could see even to the walls of Dimashiq and beyond. For wheresoever he chose to look, there he could see.
AlˈSayid made great haste away from the temple of the strange god, bringing the magical talisman with him, and filling his purses with diamaints and péarls as he returned to the cleft in the wall. He attempted to leave the city as he had come, but the many purses filled with treasures prevented his passage. So he emptied his purses within the walls of the enchanted city of Sabhadiq and retreated with only the mysterious medallion he had taken from the niche in the wall of the stairway beneath the tomb of the strange god.
As he ascended from the place, a great Riyahramlia(f) blew up from the south, so alˈSayid set out for Dimashiq at great speed. Turning to look behind him, he saw the red sands of the desert swirling round the place he had been, sealing up the entrance to the fissure, and obscuring it from view once again.
When he arrived at Dimashiq, he could find no one, even among his old friends, who would speak with him, or even acknowledge his presence. He soon appreciated that despite his efforts to greet them, so long as he wore the amulet, the old friends whom he encountered could neither see nor hear him. It was then that alˈSayid fully comprehended, as he told it to me, that he had come into possession of a great and powerful relic – the Amulet of Sutekh – the possessor of which may not be constrained, and the wearer of which has the power to see all and yet remain unseen.
This is the way that alˈSayid came to possess the Amulet of Sutekh, as it was told to me, Wahid alˈNajem, by alˈSayid himself.
A Description of the Discovery of the Amulet of Sutekh
And so it came to pass one day, that alˈSayid (a) was flying(b) over ar’Ramaal (c) when he came upon a sizable outcropping of stone with which he was quite familiar, having passed by that place many times before. On this day, however, his attention was drawn to it by a change in its appearance. Whether as a result of a quake, or the work of the djinn (d) in the night, several massive stones had been moved, and much sand displaced, revealing a large fissure in the wall of the ledge.
When alˈSayid went down to examine the crevice, he found it was wide enough for a man to enter. As he went in, he saw a brilliant light in the distance, deep within the stone. Eager to understand the meaning of such a strange illumination from within a stone, he made his way further into the narrowing passage. As he neared the source of the light, he realized, as he told it to me, that he was passing through a type of wall and had reached the other side.
With some difficulty, he pressed his body through the nearly impassible opening in the stone and stepped into a place that confounded his senses. Behold! A great city spread out before him, its broad avenues paved with diamaints and péarls, and its palaces built of gold and silver. As he made his way through the streets, he met not a soul. The entire city was utterly deserted, left to the devices of the scárabs and the scairpeans.
Yet the site was not a ruin; every stone was in place, every roof intact, every doorway secure. It was as if the entire population had removed as one that very day, leaving everything as it was at the moment of their departure. As alˈSayid explored the wondrous place, he slowly came to understand, as he told it to me, that he had located the Lost City of Sabhadiq,(e) renowned in story and song.
Coming upon a temple, alˈSayid ascended the marbal steps and entered the sanctuary. There he saw an enormous golden idol of a god he did not recognize, which puzzled him, as he had theretofore been confident of his familiarity with all the known deities of the world. The inscriptions, too, confounded him, written as they were in an unfamiliar script.
AlˈSayid wondered at the strange god as he took pains to observe it from all sides. When he came to the rear of the idol he discerned a passageway leading down a stairway carved from the living rock. He entered the passageway and followed the stair as it descended ever deeper below the floor of the temple, until all light was gone and he found himself in pitch-black darkness.
Feeling his way along the rough-hewn walls, he struggled to maintain his footing on the steep winding stair, when by chance his hand came upon a small niche in the wall. In it alˈSayid felt the contours of an object, small yet weighty. As he grasped it, he determined it was some type of pendant suspended from a cord. He withdrew it from the niche, and placed the cord around his neck.
Instantly, in a flash as of lightning on a moonless night, the darkness that engulfed him vanished and everything around him was as bright as a market at mid-day. But more than that, he could see through the walls that had been his guide in the murky darkness, and beyond them to the temple above, and beyond that to the entire desolate city in which he found himself. And he could see beyond the city, and beyond the desert. Lo! AlˈSayid could see even to the walls of Dimashiq and beyond. For wheresoever he chose to look, there he could see.
AlˈSayid made great haste away from the temple of the strange god, bringing the magical talisman with him, and filling his purses with diamaints and péarls as he returned to the cleft in the wall. He attempted to leave the city as he had come, but the many purses filled with treasures prevented his passage. So he emptied his purses within the walls of the enchanted city of Sabhadiq and retreated with only the mysterious medallion he had taken from the niche in the wall of the stairway beneath the tomb of the strange god.
As he ascended from the place, a great Riyahramlia(f) blew up from the south, so alˈSayid set out for Dimashiq at great speed. Turning to look behind him, he saw the red sands of the desert swirling round the place he had been, sealing up the entrance to the fissure, and obscuring it from view once again.
When he arrived at Dimashiq, he could find no one, even among his old friends, who would speak with him, or even acknowledge his presence. He soon appreciated that despite his efforts to greet them, so long as he wore the amulet, the old friends whom he encountered could neither see nor hear him. It was then that alˈSayid fully comprehended, as he told it to me, that he had come into possession of a great and powerful relic – the Amulet of Sutekh – the possessor of which may not be constrained, and the wearer of which has the power to see all and yet remain unseen.
This is the way that alˈSayid came to possess the Amulet of Sutekh, as it was told to me, Wahid alˈNajem, by alˈSayid himself.
Life of Abdul Ghumud
Hyat abd alˈGhumudANCIENT MANUSCRIPT
Translator's Notes
(a) “The Master,” which is how Wahid alˈNajem referred to Abdul Ghumud throughout the manuscript.
(b) This is a reference to alˈSajaadˈsihria, a magical carpet that allowed Abdul Ghumud to fly over vast distances at great speeds.
(c) “The Sands,” the Beidúin name for the Empty Sector of the Alcafran Desert.
(d) A type of demon.
(e) A fabled “Lost City” of Nemedian folklore.
(f) “Sand Wind,” a Nemidi word for “sandstorm.”
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