Shrouded Piety: The Osiris Contract - Chapter 5

Chapter 4 < | > Chapter 6
Ten months pass since the Cairo Revolt, and one year since Napoleon's mastery over Selina began. A year later, victories over the Ottoman Empire continue, but French manpower in the war begs for reinforcement that will not come. While Napoleon had been able to scrape by for almost another year, it is now becoming clear that the Egyptian campaign is about to collapse, and that now he must choose a new course of action. As Napoleon blames the setbacks of Egypt on the lack of support from the French government, the ambitious general now redirects his ire home, where he wonders what might have been, if he had been in charge of France, rather than a mere general. In the meantime, Selina's frustration over being kept in the shadows during one of Egypt's greatest struggles continues to claw at her and spark tension between she and her new master. While the winds of destiny seem to be pointing Napoleon to a different kind of conflict, it is yet to be seen whether Selina's loyalty to him would allow her to leave behind the land of pharaohs...
==Chapter Reading==
== Chapter 5 – Exodus =
Ten months passed since the day Cairo revolted against its French occupiers, a period of time best described as ‘pyrrhic’—that is to say, success but with costs that outweigh the gains. Over those months the French would assert stricter control over Cairo and demand its loyalty, but the populace only wore a fake smile. Many victories were achieved against Ottoman forces, but with every victory, one less French soldier lived, while the Ottoman losses could be replaced. Meanwhile with Selina, while her understanding of French language continued, tension persisted between she and her master Napoleon over her wasted potential. Napoleon and his men did not face many failures in Egypt, but for every bit of progress also came escalating trouble. Ten months later, Napoleon had to decide on the fate of Egypt once and for all…
“Cha—arge!” a French marshal shouted atop his horse.
North of Cairo and against the shore, Napoleon and his soldiers found themselves pinning an Ottoman invasion against the water. While gunfire and swords were exchanged by both sides, it was the opportunistic cavalry charge that gave France the best chance to deliver a swift fatal blow. An entire side of the Ottoman army was not nearly as prepared as the other for this flood of horsemen, and the lack of readiness would carry grave consequences as blood and gore was cast into the air by the hundreds. Several rows of infantry did not waste on the momentum, carrying toward the struggling Ottoman line to apply more pressure.
There behind the fighting stood Napoleon, who observed this escalating cavalry charge from afar by telescope. The charge had the looks of proper execution to suggest a coming victory, and even better was the fact that the French army nearly had the Ottomans surrounded and pinned to the sea—meaning no room for retreat. Nothing going on could put a positive look on the general’s face, however. Once concluding the success of this charge, the man put away his telescope and turned to the command tent at his rear.
From within the tent, a simple table featuring a full map of Egypt was present. The map was mostly irrelevant, merely a surface for the strategy pieces being placed. While the French were out fighting, Selina worked in this tent at placing soldier figurines in formations and specific positions. The layout of the playing field was identical to the current state of the real battlefield, with French pieces pinning Ottoman pieces against the table’s edge. Selina studied the play battle as best she could but could not hide a face of frustration, and boredom.
Napoleon then came into the tent, holding both sides of the entrance and greeting, “Selina.”
A badly postured Selina pushed a cavalry piece toward the Ottoman left flank and reported unenthusiastically, “If my novice understanding of modern war is of any credibility, Murat’s cavalry will either break the Ottoman line into two separate and confused groups, lead to the utter demise of the left side, or prompt the surrender of these troops.”
The general clapped his hands once for her and approached the table, “The charge is ongoing, and by the looks of their trembling morale, I would suppose surrender approaches.”
Selina narrowed her eyes, “Good. May I be so daring to request that I personally slash the throat of every prisoner?”
Napoleon chuckled but was quick to douse her wish, “That won’t be possible. Most will be made laborers in Cairo.”
This answer put a shocked look on the Godcraft, “What?”
He continued, “Come to think of it, given our own losses, it may be more appropriate to offer any prisoners the opportunity to serve us as soldiers instead.”
“Wh- What!?” Selina launched out from her seat with high energy, “They are wicked men intent on destroying Egypt, not servants, and certainly not soldiers of Egypt!” Napoleon curled his lip at her while crossing his arms. “All of these Ottoman barbarians should be slaughtered by the sword! I can just barely tolerate a decision to force them to labor for us, but I cannot accept them as soldiers!”
Napoleon nodded a single time, yet responded, “Fortunately, I am in charge, not you. Or am I mistaken?” Selina’s eyes trembled furiously at him. “Hm, Selina? Am I in charge, or you? Is the unconditional servitude you swore to me, in fact, conditional?”
Slowly and with a glare so strong one would suspect murderous intent, Selina sat herself back down in her chair. Her obedience put a grin upon Napoleon, but only for so long as the more pressing matter at hand would return to mind.
The Godcraft, still on the subject somewhat, motioned a subtle complaint, “I am grateful to you, General, for promoting me to such an important role as a strategist… even though I do not take part in the actual strategizing, nor do I have a right to voice my ideas at your officer meetings, I am glad -”
“You yourself claim it is too hard to manipulate the minds of several people at once,” Napoleon looked her straight in the eyes, giving an honest looking gaze, “Master the language of the French, and I welcome your opinions at every strategy meeting, when all of us can understand you at once. Time is too precious to waste, we can’t have you speaking ancient tongue to only one officer at a time.”
Selina crossed her fingers together, seizing an opportunity, “Of course, I do not need to know French to bring death and destruction to your enemies.” Napoleon closed his eyes and sighed, yet she persisted. “I beg of you, General, let me take myself to the enemy camp, and burn the enemy general alive with my powers.”
She tried selling this request by even going to the effort of casting a Godcraft flame from her fingers, but Napoleon would never notice as he kept his eyes closed. His silence and look of frustration was a rejection on its own.
“Please, General. I have extraordinary abilities and skill being wasted at a planning board. Use me to my full potential and send me at Egypt’s foes!”
Napoleon opened his eyes and answered, “No matter how much time passes, my answer remains the same -”
She interrupted, “I admire that you value my life, but it is not something I will lose. Osiris controls my fate, and he shall not accept my eternal death.”
“Osiris, Jesus, Allah, it makes no difference to me. I have soldiers to carry out my wars, I have greater needs of you.”
Both came out of their chairs at the same time, Selina to angrily wave at the strategy pieces and ask, “Doing what? Playing with toys? Learning French? Egypt needs my help, and I can provide it.”
Napoleon attempted to escape her, but upon realizing that she would follow, he responded, “Patience, Selina. In time, your importance to me will become apparent.”
They left the tent together and faced the battlefield, where the sight of debris, blood, and musket smoke brought fitting context to their tense talk.
Selina further complained, “Almost a year ago exactly I swore my loyalty to you, have I not practiced enough patience? When can I prove myself key to your victories?”
Napoleon pulled up his telescope, “In time,” he said pretending to be distracted.
From this point on, Selina would stare at the general for a good minute or so until the booming of French cannonry startled the woman. Now it was the smoking barrel of this artillery that commanded her attention, and rightfully so.
In a monotone voice, she acknowledged, “A year ago, you introduced me to the horrors of Ottoman cannons, of which has the power to destroy Egypt. Now… it is the French who use these weapons of doom?”
Napoleon did not remove his eye from the telescope but answered, “We use our cannons on Ottoman troops, the Ottoman cannons are for Egyptian cities and citizens.”
“But it is evil weaponry.”
He shrugged, “Evil in the hands of a righteous cause. Is it truly wrong to use evil tools to do good?”
Selina froze for a time, meditating on this, and eventually responding, “I suppose not.”
“Precisely, my dear. Why limit yourself from ‘evil’ when it can be used for good purposes.”
On a final note, Selina wondered aloud, “Though I fear what would happen if those who use evil for good, end up doing evil as well.”
“Then the natural order of things dictate they will fall to justice.”
Selina thought about this as well for a bit. “Indeed…”
“General Bonaparte!” a lower ranked cavalryman called.
“Hm?” Napoleon gave the man a curious look, “You are not Mural.”
The man nodded, “Marshal Mural has been wounded, General. Wounded by the Ottoman commander himself.”
Napoleon took interest in the fact Selina responded with a clenched fist, considering the lack of ancient tongue from the man would suggest she was not controlling his mind.
He continued, “The enemy commander has been captured and is ready to surrender.”
“How wonderful!” Napoleon pushed the man aside dismissively and approached his many soldiers. “Soldiers of France! Settle your fire!” The battle quickly settled down in volume, many soldiers turning to observe their general. “The enemy has surrendered!”
A domino effect of celebration across the army would follow with hats brought into the air and muskets held up high. On the Ottoman front, countless soldiers either laid down their arms in surrender or made a futile attempt to swim out into the sea to try and escape capture. It was yet another victory for the French in Egypt, and thus another reason for the soldiers to celebrate. Napoleon and Selina alike, however, shared looks of mutual stress, but each for different reasons.
Some time after this battle, Napoleon, Louis, and generals Menou and Kléber were gathered around the same palace room they typically fussed around in. Words shared in this meeting were often of their recent victories, but mostly discussions on ending the war.
Napoleon drank from a glass as Kléber continued a thought, “… and it’s one thing to batter around their armies, but to annihilate one as we just did against the sea, backed by the British navy?” he drank from his own glass and concluded, “The Sultan will be most shaken by this defeat. I suggest we impose a letter of peace to him while he is shaking.”
Menou responded, “They are not fools, they know we’ve no reinforcements left and that if they persist, we will soon have nothing to fight with but Egyptian conscripts.” He turned to Napoleon, insisting, “This victory was an impactful one for sure, but we need to deliver a truly punishing blow to the Ottoman military if we are to convince them to leave us alone.”
“All good thoughts, but I do not believe it is within our interests to go out searching for such a fight.” Napoleon stirred his drink and nodded to his own comment. “This great victory was because they came to us for a fight, not the other way around.”
His brother added, “But the longer we wait, the more time we allow for a second revolt to occur in Cairo.”
“There will be no revolt,” Napoleon insisted, “We slapped the last revolt down and now the people of Cairo cower to our might.”
“But with every soldier we lose, the less intimidating we appear.”
The room became silent for a time, but eventually was brought to life again as Napoleon clapped, “My order is for us to remain on standby and wait for our foes to strike again. In the meantime, we let this recent victory serve as temptation to the Sultan to end the war as soon as possible.” Napoleon, seemingly in a rush, turned around and made for the door, “Dismissed.”
The two other generals accepted his dismissal, but Louis chased his brother down at once. The first thing Napoleon did was walk over a palace balcony, grab the railing, and drop his head with stress. Louis soon joined his side and struck a pose.
“Napoleon, I just want to express my approval of your current plan, however, I must stress that now is the time to try and appease the people of Cairo. Better we be safe than -”
“That will not be necessary.”
Louis gawked, “I understand you are frustrated with the way things are going, but -”
Napoleon quickly revealed, “I have arranged for a small ship to sneak past the British fleet and retrieve us, it will arrive by the end of the week to return us to France.”
The brother was speechless by this revelation. Soon, to the offense of Napoleon, Louis leaked out some excitement to the news in the form of a brief sigh of relief.
“You’ve made the right choice, and not a moment too soon. Any longer and I believe we would find a dagger thrust into us in our sleep.” Soon Louis became perplexed, “But I am confused. What was the point of that meeting with the generals if we are returning to France?”
There was no easy way for Napoleon to explain this, so he just spoke away, “Kléber and Menou will remain here in Egypt while we return to France. With any fortune, the Sultan will sue for peace with the two and be allowed to join us back in France.”
Any excitement about Louis now disappeared, “How could we abandon those two here while we return home and drink wine?”
“Abandon them?” Napoleon glared at Louis, “It is with a heavy heart that I leave behind the land of pharaohs to those two. They should be thankful, and they will be thankful once the war ends, and they return home heroes of Egypt.” Napoleon held onto the balcony railing with strength, admitting, “More than ever I wish to embrace my beloved Josephine again.”
The two looked out at the city of Cairo again, only Napoleon would soon direct his eyes to the distant pyramids. For a while, he thought deeply of his wife, but then the matter of Egypt came back to mind, more specifically, a dilemma in his plan.
“I… don’t know how to possibly tell her about this.”
Louis shrugged, “Bring Josephine flowers, she will be so distracted that she pays no attention to this little retreat from Egypt.”
“No, not Josephine…” Napoleon’s gaze of the pyramids became intense. “Selina.”
Napoleon, his bodyguard Roustam, and technically a bodyguard herself, Selina, would go on the following day with a walk around Cairo, bringing them back to the pyramids, but more specifically the iconic Sphinx of Giza. It was not too unordinary for Napoleon to bring Selina out for a walk, but she could sense a difference this time with how he spared her an investigation of ancient knowledge or Godcraft workings. This time, Napoleon seemed distracted, and a bit bothered, yet talkative when it came to more casual matters.
Although facing the Sphinx, Napoleon found himself holding and examining a poster. The poster depicted Napoleon atop a horse, crushing wicked looking rebels of Cairo, and commanded by the text ‘General Bonaparte serves Egyptian peace and prosperity.’ This poster had been vandalized, ‘Sinful beast – conqueror!’ painted over it, and ultimately discovered crumpled. It seemed that no matter how hard Napoleon tried to fabricate his own heroic narrative of how the Cairo Revolt occurred, the people of Cairo were not falling for it. More than a year ago Napoleon came to Egypt a conqueror, and a year later he was viewed as just that. The only Egyptian he was fooling was the oldest one around.
Selina, noticing Napoleon’s concern over the poster, offered, “Would you like me to re-post it on a wall for you, General?”
Of course, Napoleon was only so lucky that the poster was in Arabic—not French nor ancient hieroglyphs—impossible for Selina to understand currently.
“No, no…” he crumpled the poster back up himself and pocketed it, “It is not in a presentable condition.”
She nodded, then turned her attention back to the Sphinx. Napoleon took to her side and observed with a stern yet curious look. For a moment, it almost looked as though Selina were drowning in nostalgia.
“Was he a previous master of yours?”
Selina instantly snapped out of it, “Hm? Oh, I do not recognize this pharaoh, nor do I recall this monument being here during my time.” She crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and with some contemptuous thinking stated, “Regardless, had I not been trapped all those years, I would have served him as I did all pharaohs. The one service I will do for this pharaoh is to protect him from the Ottoman evils.” Napoleon bit his bottom lip for a moment as Selina put on a dramatic show of firing her hands up toward the Sphinx. “No Ottoman cannonry will harm this monument!”
With this said, Napoleon finally closed his eyes to reveal a sigh, then dismissed Roustam with a wave. His bodyguard reluctantly complied, giving the two some several steps of privacy. The general proceeded over to a paw of the Sphinx and sat on it. Selina responded with temper to this but was first concerned by his downness.
“What is bothering you, General?”
“There is no easy way of explaining this to you, Selina…” He felt his chin with a face of guilt, but soon forced a stern appearance. “You are familiar with the Directory.”
She nodded, “Your government in France, your masters.”
“Yes… You see, Selina, when I first arrived in Egypt, I was made to understand that the Directory…” He stopped, suddenly enraged by his own thoughts in process. “No, no! This is not fair!” The general jumped up from the Sphinx and stomped a foot down in the sand. “They failed me, the Directory has failed us! I have done everything right.”
Impatient, Selina demanded, “What did the Directory say?”
He faced the Godcraft with fire in his eyes, “Don’t you understand, Selina? Every complication we have faced in Egypt is due to the Directory undervaluing the mission. Our hold of Egypt cannot last under these conditions!”
Selina gasped, then glared, “Then we have no choice. You must send me into the Ottoman Empire, where I will torch their palace, slaughter their kin, poison their water -”
“No, Selina, there is nothing more we can do here in Egypt… for now.” He still faced her but allowed his eyes to shy away from her. “I have summoned a boat to sneak past the British Navy and… bring us back to France.” Expectedly, Selina delivered a mighty glare onto the general. “Menou and Kléber will remain here with the army and maintain control of Egypt. You, me, and my brother will return to France, where our true challenge begins.”
The mentioning of keeping soldiers and generals in Egypt slightly tamed Selina’s fury, but hardly, “No, we must stay and fight, General. We only win battles against our foes, soon they must surrender!”
Napoleon shook, “True, we win many great victories, but the words of Menou and Kléber are true just the same—it costs soldiers and supply to achieve these victories, and without reinforcements from France, our defeat will come.”
Selina thought about this for a time, but ultimately barred her teeth before repeating, “Then you must send me into the Ottoman Empire, where I will -”
“Selina…” he placed a hand over her bare shoulder, “I need your help.”
“I am an Egyptian, not French. I belong here in Egypt, I only care for Egypt, not France.” She moved back to break Napoleon’s embrace of her, “I will continue to serve you for as long as the title of Pharaoh remains unclaimed, but I will serve you here, in Egypt, against Egypt’s enemies, surrounded by my Egyptian people, and protected by the gods of Egypt.”
Napoleon argued with a confident voice, “That is exactly my point, exactly why you must follow. Egypt needs you to follow me back to France.”
“I -”
“We can save Egypt yet. Follow me, Selina, into lands far, far beyond the Nile, and assist me in acquiring the power needed to return here and destroy the Ottomans.” He appealed to her further by taking her hands into hold, looking her deep in the eyes, and arguing, “Help me gain power in Europe, and I will order every last soldier in France to repel Egypt’s foes.” Selina shook for a moment in shock at this idea. “We are not surrendering, we are… how you say… retreating so that we may ‘live to fight another day,’ and that day will come, but only when I acquire the powers that the Directory currently holds hostage from us.”
“Th- This is all too much..!” Selina paced away from him with a frantic look. “First you suggest we may lose Egypt to the evil Ottoman Empire, and now you are suggesting I leave my home for a place I do not know, to help you become some sort of French king.”
“No, not a king,” Napoleon waved the idea off, “The people of France will put me in power.”
Selina’s eyes paced around constantly in the direction of the pyramids. Eventually she turned her head and asked, “What help could I possibly provide in France anyway? A year ago, you suggested I may help against the Ottoman Empire, yet here I am now still learning French language and playing with battle maps.”
Napoleon, growing more confident in his proposition, claimed, “Clearly it was destiny that you learn French, for the fates knew you were meant to come with me to France.”
Selina looked to the sun, “…could this be the plan of Thoth?”
“Of course it is!” Napoleon did not even know who she was talking about. “The people will make me leader of France, but I will need support—a quiet network of important people to help ensure a smooth transition into power…”
She inquired, “I presume you will have me make political obstacles disappear during the night.”
Napoleon shrugged, “Not exactly. My precise need for you is of an even more subtle nature.”
This response evoked a face of challenge from Selina, “My potential to you as a Godcraft servant has been severely wasted this past year, and I cannot sit idly by any longer just learning words and playing with maps.” She bartered with great belligerence and dare, “I will only go to France with you on two conditions.”
This attempt at barter enraged Bonaparte, prompting him to launch at her and yell, “Who do you think you are!?” He pointed straight at her, “Are you truly loyal to me if you are making demands?”
She argued, “I can remain loyal to you while also remaining in Egypt and fighting off the Ottoman Empire, if you should refuse to hear out my conditions.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, “Outrageous.”
“If I am to go with you to France, you must swear to me that it is with the goal of eventually returning to save Egypt from the Ottomans.”
“Fine.”
She bowed to this with admiration. “As a second condition, I want a more active role in advancing our mission. Should we face enemies in Europe, I expect you to properly utilize my Godcraft abilities.” Napoleon growled at her, and in a rare sight she would gain a desperate look and beg, “I cannot stand wasted potential. Our victories could be so much more efficient if you trust in my abilities to make our foes suffer.”
Napoleon tried to shake her down of this boldness by glaring into her eyes for nearly a minute. No matter how hard he tried to intimidate her, she would not shatter. At the end of the day, getting Selina to accept leaving Egypt alone was meant to be a stretch, and so Napoleon did have to take a moment to weigh her offer.
“Fine,” he said again. “But, in exchange for these promises, you must promise me not to expose your supernatural identity outside of my most personal circle.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Me, my wife, my generals, and my family, I permit you to reveal yourself as a Godcraft. I expect you to keep this fact a secret from our enemies and the common man.”
“May I inquire why? It is a strength to let allies and enemy know that the gods favor our side.”
“Where you see a strength, I see a liability.” He reached a hand out, “Do we have an agreement?”
Selina gave this proposal one last thought. She would leave Egypt—her home—for France, to help Napoleon take over the country, and therefore by extension help keep Egypt under French control. Per the proposal, she would have extended responsibilities and opportunities in influencing their mission. The thought of leaving Egypt felt like a betrayal to her people and gods, yet she wondered whether refusing to help would doom Egypt in the long run. The last and most secretive wonder of hers was whether this man—Napoleon Bonaparte—was truly the one worthy of commanding her, let alone an entire country in Europe and beyond.
About a month later, General Kléber ventured the many halls of the Cairo palace alongside Menou. Neither Napoleon, his personal guards, Selina, Louis, not even Roustam could be found in their usual places, thus raising concern.
Menou carried on with some talk, “Confirmation of a small Spanish community living near Jerusalem does give us some opportunity to replenish lost soldiers. They’re not French, but our Spanish is surely better than our Arabic.”
His companion answered, “Yes, but they would not come here to us without military muscle to persuade them, and the Ottomans or Mamluks could strike from the shadows at any such point. I’d rather we recruit more locally to avoid unnecessary deaths, even if that means recruitment from unsettled, disloyal sorts.”
“It is, ultimately, the choice of Bonaparte to make.”
“Ugh…” Kléber moved away to grab a glass and beverage, “Napoleon’s ambitions make him the most dangerous kind of gambler. If he insists on recruiting these distant Spaniards, I should hope he tasks his ancient deity woman to secure them, rather than getting our men killed trying.”
Menou argued, “Selina is no asset to him, she is his trophy. Merely a dispenser of information for the museums.”
Their discussion had then been cut short, for a messenger presented himself into the room and put both feet down in a disciplined manner.
“General Kléber, sir! A priority message from General Bonaparte.”
“Oh? Let us see what dear Bonaparte has in store for us next.”
Kléber received the priority message and sent the messenger off. His eyes fell onto the words of Napoleon and quickly showed signs of distress. Menou, too, became a little distressed at the sight of his fellow general’s reaction.
“What does he want?”
The general slowly lowered the message with a horrified face, letting the news sink in for a moment.
“As of today, Napoleon and his close relations have departed from Egypt,” Menou gawked at him, “From this point on, I am commander of the mission in Egypt.”
Now it was Menou who needed a moment to let this information sink in, after which he spun around in a great panic and ran to the palace balconies. He gazed out in the direction of the sea and grabbed the top of his head.
“Napoleon abandoned us in Hell itself!”
To be continued…
Chapter 4 < | > Chapter 6
==Chapter Summary==
# The chapter starts 10 months later during the Battle of Abukir in 1799. Following several victories, Napoleon and his men pin an Ottoman invasion against the sea with no room for retreat allowed.
# Selina finds herself at the battle but merely in the war tent, allowed to analyze the battle over a map, but not make any actual decisions for the army. Napoleon enters and hears out her complaints about not having a more active role in his fight for Egypt.
# Louis, Napoleon, and his fellow generals later discuss the future of the Egyptian campaign and whether it is plausible to impose peace on the Ottomans after a year of victories. The consensus is that things are going in a bad direction and that the Ottomans are unlikely to appeal for peace.
# Alone with his brother, Napoleon admits that he has summoned for a ship to sneak into Egypt and bring them back to France, but leave the other generals behind to maintain their hold of Egypt. Napoleon states that he is mostly concerned over how Selina will react to what appears to be an evacuation from Egypt, and further if she would accompany him to France.
# Later alone with Selina and Roustam, Napoleon discovers a vandalized pro-France poster in Cairo, further cementing in his mind the need to return to France. Selina, unable to read Arabic, assumes the poster is normal.
# Napoleon appeals to Selina to leave Egypt with him, but quickly turns the blame onto the Directory (government) of France, citing their lack of sufficient support as the reason for their failure in Egypt. Napoleon insists that he can take control of the French government and wants Selina to accompany him to make this happen, claiming that when leader of France, he can easily keep the Ottomans out of Egypt.
# Selina very reluctantly presents two conditions to her leaving Egypt with him: 1. A promise to return to Egypt and save it. 2. To allow her to help more literally in his mission. Napoleon counters this by demanding she keep her supernaturalism quiet, preferably only known to close family and French generals.
# A month later, General Kléber and Menou discover that Napoleon has abandoned them in Egypt, making Kléber the new commander, thus ending Napoleon's days in Egypt.
==Author Notes==
====Digging the Hole====
This chapter, especially, marked the point in the story when I decided that the primary conflict in The Osiris Contract would be Napoleon's conflicted motives in wanting to keep Selina under his command but also wishing to pursue his own goals. In a wild departure from Selina's character in Tale of Two Godcrafts, she does not care for France—at all—only seeing France, and by extension Napoleon, as a means of restoring the Egypt she remembers. Napoleon knows he cannot simply leave Selina on her own in modern Egypt, but he also cannot make her travel to France and help him with his goals without first placating Selina and her immense desires. To this end, I discovered that the intrigue of having Napoleon walk a very thin rope and balance his desires for powers both human and supernatural to be the most interesting choice. With this said, I wanted to end this chapter in a way that clearly communicates that even though Napoleon has succeeded in convincing Selina to follow him back to France, this conflict was not over. Napoleon was now wasting Selina's time by taking her away from Egypt, and the reader going forward must be left to fear the ramifications of his dishonesty, knowing full well that Selina will take full exception to this wrongdoing if discovered.
====Chapter 5 - Leaving Egypt====
One of my great stressors when writing this chapter was the constant wonder if 5 chapters taking place in Egypt was enough to placate a reader. Selina, being an ancient Egyptian nationalist, would have countless things she wants to see and do in Egypt, and a part of me felt consumed with regret not devoting another three or so chapters of Egyptian content to the story. Years later I still contemplate if Napoleon went back to France too soon, recognizing that there is missed opportunity here.
==Chapter Illustration==
This chapter marks one of very few occasions in Siontix Realm history where a chapter was produced and released without an official illustration accompanying it. This rare circumstance was due to a brief time of artistic confusion, as a debate erupted as whether to continue doing illustrations with the simplistic design of the previous chapters, or to resume the traditional style of artwork. Ultimately, as the chapter itself was completed long before an artistic decision could be made, it was decided to post the chapter without an illustration.