The oasis is more than large enough, and as Sura feels he already has some esoteric connection to the place (in addition, of course, to it being part of Desolace) it would be perfect. The laws of sympathy support the place.

Forgive the interruption, continued the scorpion. I am known as Lkjab, King of the Scorpions, and I bear important news. My kind have finished their exploration of Desolace.

He thought more on his direction from here.

"Report your findings, Lkjab, King of the Scorpions."

The scorpion, Lkjab, scuttled up to Sura's boot, and spoke clearly and efficiently. It was refreshingly cool in the Oasis.

To the south is this place, my Lord, the Dark Oasis.. its waters are sharp and deep. It was I and my subjects who found this place, and it is perhaps the safest, most tranquil area in the lands. Even the carrion gave us no trouble. With your permission, my Lord, I would like to start a colony of scorpion folk here.

To the north is .. the desert, filled with broken metals.. like those found only in the deepest earths. It is a wasteland, my Lord, the pure white sands tarnished with black blood and strange parts.. it is as if a giant had fallen. The wormed people were fearful, my Lord. Some of the metal still moves.

To the east, the sand flies have found something interesting. Barren desert of the finest form until you reach the hills to the further corners of the land.. within one of the hills is a cave, Lord,  made by mortal hands.. and any one of the fly folk who tried to enter were killed through lightning, as if a cloudless storm had been conjured. It was terrifying for them. Eetshet, the King of All Flies, is miserable.. he's lost easily half of his men.

Finally, to the west the beetle lords report an open plain.. there is nothing of interest there. The worm people, however, believe the place to be sacred, and a vicious war has begun between beetle and worm because of it. The worms believe that their gods inhabit the lowest soils of the land, ready to rise when the worms need it the most, and by allowing the beetles to tread upon the land.. they may have angered their deities. Primitive superstition, Lord, but perhaps relevant nevertheless..

"I am pleased. You may colonize there if you wish... I thank you for your service."

Sura headed off to the East towards the cave.

Thank you, my Lord..

The walk to the east was a hot and long one, but eventually Sura reached the artificial cave dug into the side of a scrubby hill. Sura noticed similar hieroglyphics laid in silver upon the highest rock above the cave's mouth. Broken eye, screaming sun, mark of a thousand daggers..

Here lies death for those who have not been proven.

The message was clear.

Sura felt an electric tingle run through his body as he stepped close to the entrance.

Not proven? He thought for a moment. Osiris-Ra, it seems, has set this up. But have I been proven? Sura searched deep within himself for a gut feeling that would hopefully tell him the answer.

Both his gut feeling and common sense - he still had something to accomplish at the Oasis of the Blackened - told him that no, he'd be blasted to tiny pieces if he attempted to wander into the cave now.

He turned around and headed back to his temple - hopefully to find a silver long sword amongst his treasures.

There were easily a dozen silver swords for his convenience within the pyramid. He was a very wealthy individual, it seemed, though Sura should be reminded that wealth doesn't always buy happiness. Please, keep that in mind, Lord of the Rod of a Thousand Screaming Curses.

((Lol))

Sura takes a sword and heads back to the Oasis where he will unlock his memories.

Much has happened since Sura had left.

The scorpions had moved in, digging their burrows, building a vast underground kingdom beneath the Oasis..

The sand was black and cool underneath his feet.

He sits down and begins to meditate on what needs to be done to regain his memories.

It was an imperfect ritual, but it would gain solid results - of one kind or another. If Sura Al'Amun wanted to unlock his memories, he would need to spend a day resting and bathing within a pool of clear water, such as the oasis, and meditating on his identity. He would then need to take the sword and swear his name upon it. Then he is to travel to each point his Realm - to begin with - that seem to have memories associated with them, and declare for them to return what is rightfully his: the memories and knowledge of his past. This same approach, after the sword is consecrated, can be applied to items or individuals. Sura will be knocked down by visions and the rushing current of the past, however, so he best do it while alone..

And so he spends the day bathing and resting in the oasis while meditating on his identity.

It was done.. Sura rose at midnight feeling refreshed and eager.

He held the sword up and spoke clearly, "I, Sura Al'Amun, God of the Desert, declare my intent to restore my lost memories, hidden deep within my mind."

The Oasis of the Blackened shimmered, collapsed upon itself, came back, was distorted as Sura met his vision..



It was cool when the hooded figure came to see him.

Sura, upon his return from the Urth, had been dabbling with the principles of Western Alchemy, an idea popular during the renaissance which had hit Europe during Sura's visit. The Ubinas Door was shattered, and Sura thirsted for the world which had shown him such miracles as gunpowder, the printing press, true architecture..

He was desperate to restore it. He knew the Europeans had the answer. They'd built the door themselves, after all, and it was their Highest Immortal who had deemed Sura worthy of worship. For a single precious year Sura had ruled the Esoteric Order of Iunpu, had a hundred score powerful magicians willing to do his bidding, had unleashed the strangest fires upon London..

But it was gone. The gate was broken, taken by worms in the Plains that Stirred. He had tried digging for it, but to no success. The scraps had been devoured by creatures of soil.

The hooded figure was ignored by the ten thousand ceremonial warriors that lined the black sands of the Oasis of Akhenatan, the great desert paradise which encompassed the entire Realm. He'd found Sura in the pyramid, and watched him work at the furnace for an hour before Sura even realized he was there.

Sura saw something of himself in the figure.

"Hello, my friend," spoke the black figure. "I see you are working on something. Might I inquire as to what it is?"

"Alchemy," said Sura. "From a world long distant. Dead, for all I know. You wouldn't understand."

"Perhaps I would," replied the figure. "Have you heard of the World-Tree, Yggdrasil, and it's splendor?"

"Only in the rantings of madmen," said Sura, turning back to the furnace. "Supposedly the thing that holds the universe together. Myth. Odin's cult.. popular, yes, but nothing compared to this." He held in one hand a small lump of gold which he'd been able to transmute this morning. "Nothing compared to the Great Work."

There was a silence for a moment.

"You rule over a beautiful kingdom, friend," spoke the figure.

"I am the God of the Oasis," replied Sura. "Is it not natural that my oasis, my desert retreat, is the finest?"

"Lovely, nevertheless. Sura.. what if I told you your efforts were futile? That the so-called 'Western Alchemical Tradition' of the Europeans was a weak thing, with one success every thousand years? That there was a faster way to Earth?"

Sura suddenly leaped to the side, grabbing his curved scimitar and swinging towards the intruder.

Osiris only stared as he turned the thing to sand.

"I.. I don't believe it," said Sura, through gritted teeth. "It doesn't make any sense. You're telling lies, friend."

Osiris smiled as he waved a hand, and Sura was attacked with visions of the World Tree; of the Real of Anvils; of the City of Alkan; of Ratatosk; of the true Greatest Work; finally, of Earth.

Sura collapsed, crying manically.

--

The hooded figure only watched as Sura took the Dagger of Imminence, accepting the change. He knew what would happen. Sura gripped the dagger, raised it as high as he could, and called for the ceremonial warriors to commit their ritual suicide.

It was done quickly, with a minimum of screams.

Finally, the Dagger had done it's work, and Sura stepped down.

Once more he wept as the most beautiful Oasis in the Realm Supernatural fell to white sand, destroying all life. The ceremonial warriors remained. They would serve the Realm in undeath. The hooded figure cackled as the entire realm collapsed upon itself, devoured itself, became the fine white soot fell.

There was only the Oasis of the Blackened left, a tiny shrine to a world before.

Sura knew that when the time was right, he'd be forced to destroy that, too.

"Show me Yggdrasil," said Sura, through hardened tears.

Osiris complied.

It started to make sense. He has committed himself to Osiris. His body remembers but his mind does not.

He composed himself once more and headed to his temple to do the exact same thing.

Before Sura left, a thought crossed his mind, horrible in it's implications -

Was this the time?

Was now the point when Sura was to destroy the Oasis, transmuting it to sand? Was it now? Was it now that he had to forsake the last remnant of the innocent past.. and enter the deadly future?

He looks to the oasis. His hands move before his head can think. The oasis would be destroyed.

The scorpions would be displeased.

The black sand was taken, destroyed, and reborn pure white.. the palms fell upon themselves in a torrent of pallid sand.. the water dried up, disappearing rapidly, became nothing.. the animals died and were decomposed and dried in seconds..

Sand to sand.

It was done.

The Oasis of the Blackened had become the Sacrifice, destroyed so that Sura could prosper once again.

He did not shed a tear, although he felt he should. He then headed to his temple to gain  more memories.

As Sura moved to leave, he heard a powerful rumbling, and was suddenly thrown to the sand. Something - huge, heavy, black, writhing - was on top of him, and he cried in agony as a powerful pincer cut clean through his hand, chopping it off cleanly. He felt a familiar, much intensified, sting in his leg..

You shall pay, Pharaoh of Lies, said the true King of the Scorpions.

Sura would not be out done here. With bountiful amounts of sand, he moves and shapes it to bind the scorpion king.

The sand forms, hardens, reforms.. and the Scorpion King is caught within a prison of sand.

Sura stands, and collapses. The poison is running through his body. He feels woozy.. his head, no - arm hurts, and everything seems to go a shade of pink.

Release me, King of Liars, or you will be destroyed!

Sura vomits sand. It is an entirely familiar feeling.