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A chalice, a perfectly ordinary piece of cutlery made to serve beverages, so none would have suspected it if you were hidden in it, the red gem in the middle acting as your eye to the rest of the world. But long had been your watching, as the sands piled and piled and the lights dimmed; there was nothing to watch, nothing to see, nothing to seethe against, nothing to hate.
Yet the sands began to shift, and for the first time in, who knew how many years, you found the beaker shaking, as sound began to return to you once more.
They spoke a language you didn't speak, though that didn't block you in the slightest, for in the olden days you ripped the tongues of the peoples straight from their thoughts, and though you weren't capable of that, you were still the world's first omniglot.
As the words flowed, you listened and learnt the phonetics, the structure, and the cadence of their speech. It was a new challenge, a new puzzle to solve, and you welcomed it with open arms, eager to have something to do for the first time.
Yet you recognised the language; though it had shifted, these were Sarrindanians, an old desert people who once acknowledged you as the avatar of their serpent god, for which they eagerly paid you great tribute.
You never directly ruled these deserts, though your loyal emirs and sheikhs did; they provided you with heaps of gold, camels and Sarrindan horses. A hint of what can best be nostalgia flowed over you; these were once some of your subjects, and you would have them kneel before you once more, but you were patient, and so you took the time to take their measure.
<span class="mu-i"> "We shouldn't have come here, Simbar; your treasure-hunting expeditions have cost me enough in men already." </span> The taller one, with the full beard, said he was clearly their leader.
<span class="mu-i"> "You worry too much, brother. Naram, we have been doing this for a while now, and we always turned a profit.'' </span> The younger one, with a smile and a chinstrap beard, said. He seems to be the main pusher behind them going here.
