"Oh."

He'd been so caught up in his thoughts about how they were going to blend into a world of cars, tennis shoes, and Bedouin robes that he had completely forgotten about the creatures. Actually, Khnurn hadn't even noticed that the beasts were following them until Zahra brought it to his attention. Khnurn turned to study the animals lining up behind them. A griffin, a sphinx, phoenix, and several other chimeras ... Those would not fit in at all. He had a feeling that these animals would not be revered as messengers of the gods in this new world, either.

And then it struck him.

"Wait," he said, a sort of eagerness creeping into his voice. "The gods would not have sent us off on our own to save the world with only two bows and four Khopesh between the both of us. We are surrounded by magic wards; perhaps they bestowed some of this power on us? Maybe we can... I don't know... will these beasts into being less conspicuous?"

He faced a horse-jackal chimera and tried, "Um... become a cat."

Khnurn squinted in concentration -- what he was concentrating on, he could not rightly tell -- but nothing happened. The creature gave him a mildly amused look, but remained unchanged. Khnurn sighed and lowered a hand he didn't even notice he had raised, then muttered, "Or maybe we are supposed to save the world with this meager arsenal."

The animals alongside them would not be impervious to destruction, he assumed. If they walked out into the world with these massive hybrid beasts behind them, they were sure to be killed. One of the most grim, yet prominent, memories that came to him then was that humans were very intolerant of things they did not understand. Fear of the unknown often led to split second decisions and brash actions, rarely for the better.

"Almost there," he guessed. Khnurn's footsteps faltered and he looked over his shoulder at Zahra. "I suppose asking questions is useless now, but once we see what it's like out there... Where do we start?"

If the world was ending, Khnurn pictured legions -- were legions a thing anymore? No, they had fleets of warships and the like, now -- lined up on all sides of every kingdom's ... country's... borders. Perhaps there were beasts and monsters underneath the chaos god's control. Would the humans know how to react to such things? Were the threats more hidden? There was so much that could be waiting outside the entrance to their little sliver of sanctuary; Khnurn was not prepared.

He wasn't ready.

"It... can't be that bad," the young man muttered, mostly to reassure himself. He'd reached what he believed was the final door, the exit into the real world. It sounded quiet on the other side, but perhaps they were hidden farther away from civilization? Khnurn placed a hand on the stone and grumbled, "Now or never, I suppose."

Khnurn placed both hands against the door and pushed hesitantly, noting which way the stone grated in response. He would have to roll it, but that wouldn't be too difficult. There appeared to be slight indentations as handles; whether put there intentionally or worn away by the passage of time, they would work for his intents and purposes. He took hold of the cut away sections and heaved, pulling the stone away as it screeched and groaned in protest.

As soon as there was air flow, sand blasted him in the face and nearly sent him staggering backwards. One hand was removed from the door to shield his eyes as he continued to remove the obstacle until it was, finally, pushed all the way aside. The wind hissed through the new opening and brought with it a blaring red-orange light. It appeared that the sun was setting; actually, Khnurn figured that that would be in their favor. Moving about with such large animals in the dark would decrease their chances of being spied, yes?

Khnurn turned himself in a full circle; the entrance had been well-hidden, buried inside a dune. Even with the entrance open, it was hard to see, though perhaps those were the lingering effects of the spells cast upon it. He cleared his throat and announced, "I don't even see a building, but I may just be blind."

Perhaps Zahra would catch something. Perhaps he wasn't looking hard enough. But being out in the world, woken up after his long slumber, was enough sensory overload to have drowned out anything and everything else. One thing was prominent, however:

"I don't see a god."

Not a single one. Not even Set, and nobody liked Set. Everything was silent, save it were for the wind kicking up sand at his body. The desert expanse was empty. Desolate. A wry smile crossed the young man's features; here he was, experiencing real life and making real memories for the first time, and his first experience was that of loneliness. How... amusing.

Khnurn's dark eyes followed the outstretched arm of his companion, tracking a straight line far off to the horizon. As he moved a little closer to her, a silhouetted shape became visible to him as well, though the heat waves rippling off the dunes distorted the figure. He squinted and put a hand up to shield his eyes but to no avail -- the thing, whatever it was, or whoever it was, remained unidentifiable. Zahra's words rang in his head: "Do you think that is a god?"

His immediate thought was, no. There was something so formidable, so foreboding about the distant shape that set the boy on edge and heightened his alertness. It was similar to the feeling of being in a dark room, seemingly alone, until faint noises nearby announced the presence of another; of course, he had just gone through such an experience in the tombs, but this was... different. This sent his alarm bells ringing and made the hair on his neck stand up.

"It's the only thing we can make out so far. Whatever it is, I have a feeling it was probably the first thing we were supposed to notice," he said. His words came slow; each one sounded forced, clearly displaying his hesitancy to approach the... thing. "It's... off-puting. I don't want to go to it, but at the same time, maybe we are supposed to."

Khnurn figured they could at least get a little closer, determine whether or not it was indeed a threatening entity, and run the opposite way if needed. If it was a god, then they would ask for further directions, because one sentence was certainly not enough to go off of. On the other hand, if it was something that was of a darker, more evil nature, then they could learn as much as they could from a safe distance, retreat, regroup, and formulate a plan of attach.

You want to charge straight at it? The rumbling voice of one of the beasts snapped Khnurn back into the present. He blinked, turned to look at the one who had spoken, and asked, "Did I say that out loud?"

A sphinx looked at him with something bordering exasperation and nodded. Khnurn felt his cheeks burn slightly; he hadn't meant to speak his thoughts. And... well, he hadn't wanted to charge at it, per se. "I just think maybe we should investigate. From a safe distance, of course."

"It would be very considerate of that thing to be what we're supposed to destroy. I'd rather get that over with now and deal with servants later," he sighed, lowering his hand from his eyes. Khnurn began toying with the handles of his Khopesh and furrowed his brows, causing creases to form across his forehead and at the corners of his eyes. It was a grimace of distaste for what he went on to say. "I think you may be right, though... this could very well be nothing more than a semblance of what we will face."

He could sense the evil resonating off of it, and they were still quite a ways off. The young man shook his head and began walking towards it with light, tense steps. He could jump away at a moment's notice -- not that he would be able to leave the sights of whatever resided on the top of the dune. Hoping to lighten the mood, Khnurn cleared his throat and, with a short laugh, mused, "For a modern world with such a dense population, it's pretty dead out here."

Perhaps "dead" wasn't the best choice of words, especially considering their predicament. And, if the world was in the process of breaking into chaos and unorganised matter, the area they stood in could very well be dead. Khnurn bit the inside of his cheek and didn't bother correcting himself; the damage was done, and there was no salvaging that sentence. Instead, he gave a resigned spread of his hands and just kept moving.

"Once we look at this... thing... we'll probably need supplies. How far do you think the nearest city will be?" he asked, now eager to change the subject and perhaps spare himself and his companions the discomfort of his awkward words. His eyes found Zahra's before turning to each of the beasts'. If they were all travelling together, he figured their opinions would count for something as well.