Winter Legacy -17-

Claus had forgotten his conversation with the mysterious Tahiya Shalut and had even begun to think that he was mistaken, but one day a ticket came in the mail. Without hesitation, Claus packed and boarded the plane and headed to Egypt. Along with the manila envelope the ticket came in, there was a set of instructions, telling him to head to Base Camp when he reached Egypt and that further instructions will be placed on the message board, he'll know his instructions when he saw them.

The instructions told Claus to explore the tome near Base Camp, if he was successful, he will find further instructions. If anything made Claus follow the vague instructions left by a woman he didn't even know, it was curiosity. 

The hot Egyptian sun beat down on the dry, dusty earth. Claus wandered around the strange country, until he found a small brick shed. He wondered if he had the right location, as there was nobody around to ask, Claus decided to try the door. It was unlocked so he pushed it open and stepped inside.

Inside the shed was a completely different temperature than outside, Claus trembled when the cold air passed through the fabric of his clothes. "Wow." Claus murmured, his voice echoed through empty building. He looked around shed, there was a nothing but a locked door and a statue. Claus inspected the statue and realized that it was not as heavy as he first thought. Upon closer inspection of the floor, he realized that the one of the tiles loose, so he pushed the statue onto the lose tile. It caused the lock to fall away from the door.

Claus explored the tome and very easily found the chest. It contained a couple ancient coins and his next set of instructions. Claus sighed, and stretched and made his way back out of the tome. It was ridiculously easy to work his way through the tome, Claus hoped that maybe the next part of his journey would be a bit more of a challenge.

Claus found an empty tent back at Base Camp and crawled inside. Once he got the oil lamp going he zipped the door of the tent closed and settled down to find out what he had to do next. 

Claus frowned, nothing he read made any sense to him. It talked about MorcuCorp destroying the Al Simhara, his instructions told him to ask around the town for information on MorcuCorp.

The locals pretty much told him the same thing, basically, MorcuCorp had been busy destroying trees and digging craters in the sand for years and nobody wanted any trouble so they were not about to get involved or interfere with what the corporation was doing. Claus realized that they were scared, this entire town was living in fear.

When Claus returned to his tent, he found a letter attached to his mat. 

You have done well Claus Winter. 

Return home and await further instructions.

                                                        T.S.

When Claus returned home he crawled into his bed. His adventure in Egypt left him slightly disappointed but still thirsty for more. A heavy sigh of relief escaped Claus, he had missed his bed more than he had his family, sleeping on a mat on the hard, hot, clay earth was not his cup of tea, but he wouldn't trade the opportunity to travel for anything.

When Claus woke up he went over to his parents house. While he interviewed the merchants, he took the time to pick out something nice for his little sister. 

"Claus you're home!" Snowie squealed, more excited to see her brother than the gift in his hand.

Claus chuckled and bent so that Snowie could throw her arms around his neck.

"I missed you." She said into his shoulder. 

"I missed you too Snowie." Claus enheld his sister for a long while, knowing that she was getting older everyday and each time he returned to Egypt he would stay longer. He had yet to meet Tahiya Shalut and he still had no idea what he was getting himself into.