Chapter Text
1290 B.C.
Three thousand years ago, the desert was still as scorching during the day as it was relentlessly cold at night, the pyramids were still being made to please those in power to show them their greatness, just as cats were revered a sacred animal, considered a symbol of magic, protection and fertility. Cats were believed to be divine creatures, capable of bringing good luck and protecting families against plagues and evil spirits.But those considered as gods among fleshly beings were those who could with a single order do whatever they wanted.The Pharaohs
The City of the Living located in Thebes, was ruled by Pharaoh Seti I, to his people and faithful followers he was a benevolent and kind man, in the same way that he was considered someone without scruples and something to be feared by his enemies. Someone who would hesitate to do anything to get what they wanted and this brought fear to everyone regardless of whether or not they were part of their circle of worship, making him hated among his chosen ones in the palace. This city was also home to Seti's highest-ranking priest, Imhotep,serving as his most loyal advisor and holding the title of Guardian of the Dead, as Imhotep had a great connection with the gods of death. But also in Thebes was the home of our last character before the great tragedy occurred.
Anck-Su-Namun,the most beautiful and beloved lover of the pharaoh, when he saw her Seti declared her as his bride, no one, no man could ever possess her because from the moment she crossed eyes with him, she would belong to him by right. As a guarantee to show others how she possessed the most magnificent of treasures, the pharaoh ordered that she be stripped naked, leaving only a thin blanket to cover her private parts, and painted from head to toe, any inch of skin that was available was painted gold.The lines were made in different styles, from the simplest lines and shapes to the most complex forms, always showing it to others as the most beautiful painting made by the most highly regarded painter. And her?
She hates it.
Oh, how she hates this.
She hated all of this, hated how the paint made her skin itch, hated how she was forced to wear nothing but rags, exposed to all those who lacked decency, and she hated this man even more, the audacity he had in taking away her right to love, reducing her to nothing but a mere object.She was not someone to be made into a statue to be admired by any pest with eyes, while she could do nothing but stay silent and pretty... no... she was a viper... the most cunning of all, always ready to kill and tear apart her prey, willing to use whatever effort necessary or not to take the life of anyone who was considered a threat.As much as Anck-Su-Namun hated the men of the palace, there was one to whom she would give herself body and soul.
Unlike the Pharaoh who showed her off to every living being, this man appreciated her, praised her, day after day, at every opportunity he had. He would make her feel like someone to be seen and heard. He would make her not hate the uncomfortable ink on her skin. He would appreciate her for who she is. He admired her strength, her poisonous spirit.Imhotep adored her every time he had the opportunity to be alone. He appreciated the ink marks, but he also hated them. They prevented him from showing all his love and devotion to this woman.Obviously the Pharaoh could not know about this, imagine, his right hand man, the priest, the man he trusted most sleeping with his lover.Even with such a possibility, it never made them give up, but tonight...that night would change everything.
Imhotep and his loyal priests sneaked into Anck-Su-Namun's chambers, as was customary for both of them, to indulge in their passion once more. Walking towards their beloved he could see, oh how can I love and be loved back by her, in his eyes she was above the level of any human beauty, no, for him she will always be his goddess of beauty. His hand came close to her gold-plated face, before they kissed passionately. The kiss was beautiful, anyone who could have the opportunity to see it would say how devoted they were to each other.As they shared the warmth, Imhotep rested his hand on Anck-Su-Namun's shoulder causing the painting to blur, neither of them noticed. By an unfortunate twist of fate, the pharaoh was approaching the rooms where they were both, he wanted to make this night fun for him and his bride, planning to satisfy her needs in bed.
Already very close to the room he noticed Imhotep's priests, he felt extremely confused because they were trying to lock the door to his lady's room. "Mah wire tafeahluh( What are you doing )". He could feel that something was not right, and he would investigate.
Entering the room while pushing the priests, he did not realize that they had locked him in there, already quite nervous, he hurriedly opened the curtains and saw his mistress, casually standing in the middle of the room while admiring the cat statue she owned. He could have let this one pass if he hadn't noticed the stain on her shoulder, the same stain made by Imhotep when he leaned on her. He couldn't believe who the scoundrel was who dared to go against his orders, who dared to touch his most beautiful treasure. "Minn aldhii lamhastak ( Who touched you )". He knew that Anck-Su-Namun had not done this because when he did it his bride ordered that she be trained to never touch herself, and they both knew it, she looked at him in fear, he was so angry questioning her that he did not notice a shadow approaching from behind, the blade at his waist had been ripped out, and as he turned to see the person responsible, he felt surprised.
"Imhotep, Kahinee (My priest)"He exclaimed in surprise. Of course, how do you expect him to react, your most loyal man going against you in such a terrible and disrespectful way? Although his sword was in the hands of this traitor Seti was not afraid much less frightened, he was sure that Anck-Su-Namun would protect him, a lady like her would surely defend him from a presumptuous idiot like Imhotep...
"GHUUuurrrg......" How foolish can you be Pharaoh?
The feeling of the sword piercing your body, the warm blood running down the open wound, he screamed in agony and despair in his last moments as he looked to his bride for help, all he could see was a deep hatred directed at him as he was stabbed by Imhotep. Anck-Su-Namun could not let this moment pass, she would make him suffer for all the time she was deprived of her freedom to be able to love, she took the dagger that her family had before they were killed by the Pharaoh for denying him the hand of his eldest daughter, all the years and anger and pain gave her the strength to stab him again...again...again...again...and again.
A pool of blood was forming at the feet of Anck-Su-Namun, while they were coming out of the effect of the andrenanila the pharaoh was already dead.
The excitement ends up attracting a lot of attention from those outside the room, causing both lovers to panic. They were the Madji, the Pharaoh's most powerful bodyguards. When they entered that room and saw their sovereign dead on the floor, they would certainly both be subjected to terrible torture.One of Imhotep's priests who managed to enter the room begged his master to flee from there as quickly as possible, he was desperate to convince him. However, he would not go anywhere without his beloved because of a mistake caused by the turbulence of emotions.
"Yjib 'an tadhahaba! 'unqad nfsck (You need to go! Save yourself)" She begged her love to leave, she didn't want him to be blamed for the moment but he refused, he refused to leave her behind, he also didn't want her to suffer just because he couldn't control his carnal impulses, but how could he resist those lips and those paintings, they drove him crazy, and that night was the trigger, he could no longer contain himself, unfortunately he could not change what had already been done.
"Ant faqat min yaquimm bhiiyayiy! (Only you can resurrect me)" Was this plan reckless? Of course it was, but she trusted Imhotep.
If they both really wanted to stay together forever they had to get around the imminent death that they would both receive from the Pharaoh's advisors and guards, and as Imhotep had a special connection with the god of death it would not be a problem to resurrect her. She would take her life so that her lover could search for her in the world of the dead. It was the only way to prevent her tragic fate, when the Madji entered the room and saw only her, they would consider her as the only one responsible, and this would give enough time for her lover to prepare everything to search for her.
"I 'atarakaka! 'aedaka! sawf taeish maratan 'ukhraa! (I promisse! You will live again!)" He promised his love as he was pulled away by his priests. At that moment the guards managed to break down the door of the room to fulfill their duty, but it was too late, their sovereign was already dead. They found their pharaoh lifeless in the middle of the room covered in blood and completely cut and above the body was Anck-Su-Namun holding a dagger covered in blood.
She stared at the men in front of her firmly, she was scared but refused to show it, her eyes only showed absolute coldness towards the situation. She raised the blade forward, this made the guards alert, but they ended up getting confused when the trajectory of the blade was not pointed at them but at herself. "Im yaiohued jasdi mueabadh! ( My body is no longer his temple! ). That was her last exclamation before stabbing herself with his own dagger, in each vital organ, so that his passage to the other world would be faster and to avoid his torture at the hands of the pharaoh's men.
Imhotep could only watch the love of his life die. The pain of losing her only gave him the strength to carry out the resurrection plan and ensure that all the efforts they had made would not be in vain. He and the priests invaded the tomb of Anck-Su-Namun and stole her body, running through the darkness of the desert, taking the body of his lover to Hamunaptra, an ancient place made to bury and honor the children of ancient pharaohs, besides keeping many treasures, but it was also known as, The City of the Dead.
Even though Imhotep was loyal to his god, he was going against him by throwing everything away for the sake of love, going against the supreme being by taking the book of the dead. Anck-Su-Namun's body was laid delicately beneath the sacred altar that had never been used, and the priests stood around and began to chant the spell and bow.For the crime committed by the Pharaoh's former bride, her soul ended up being sent to the darkest depths of the underworld. Vital organs were missing from her body. In the process of mummifying her, they were placed in four sacred canopic jars. Each jar had an animal head, representing the four sons of Horus.
°Hapy (Lungs)
°Imsety (Liver)
°Duamutef (Stomach)
°Qebehsenuef (Intestines)
As the ritual took place, Anck-Su-Nanum's rotten soul could be seen returning to her body, it really represented her well, someone without compassion, who would leave you to die of thirst and hunger even if she had enough to share, someone certainly poisonous, but for Imhotep that was just one of the many exciting details about her. Once the soul found a way to rejoin its mortal vessel, it was able to return with a desperate gasp for air.There was very little left until the completion of the ritual that would make his beloved return to him, unfortunately, this will not be his day of happily ever after Imhotep, they were found.
With the interruption, the soul of his love ended up leaving the body, transforming it again into putrid paint, sent back to the underworld.
For helping Imhotep in his plans against the rules of the gods, his priests were sentenced to be mummified alive, their tongues and organs were ripped out while they were wrapped in cloth and placed in coffins never to be released again, Imhotep could only watch each of the mummifications while he waited his turn he could hear their screams of pain and pleas for mercy as their voices faded with each closed coffin. But something much worse awaited him, he was condemned to Hom-Dai, the worst of the ancient curses, so terrible that its name made even the bravest of men prefer to throw themselves off a cliff and that would be the first time it would be used. Like his priests, Imhotep was subjected to living mummification, but instead of just closing the sarcophagus, they filled it with scarabs, but these were not at all common, they had a very great preference for human flesh. They spread out and began to slowly bite every part of the body of the former right arm of the pharaoh, he screamed in agony and pain, the bites were endless and the excruciating pain did not end, that would be his suffering, his laments were silenced with the closing of the sacrificium and when he managed to free himself from the bandages and scratched the surface in the hope of escaping that agony.
His efforts were useless, that sacrificing place could only be opened by a very special key hidden to prevent his release and that he would be kept there for all eternity, not even his soul could escape, he was incapable of reincarnation, thus remaining with his body forever. The magicians would never allow him to be freed, because even though he had gone against the gods, Imhotep had not lost his powers. They knew that if he left that sarcophagus he would bring plagues to the world, he would reappear as a disease, a predator of such strength that he had control over the sands.
He remained, waiting for someone naive and foolish enough to free him from his cycle of eternal death and only then could he bring his lover back and they could be together for eternity, he would wait and be patient.Then...
Death is just the beginning
Thousands of years later, there were wars to possess the territory of Hamaputra, all the goals driven by greed and the desire to possess the riches of Egypt that had long been hidden, all the battles ended without a winner. And so it remained as a legend until a group approached the place, some of them obviously were not from here, some of them were not even human. In the middle of the caravan was a young rabbit, his name was Usagi Yuichi, a appointed samurai from his city Neo-Edo. After all the development that occurred in his homeland, he was allowed to go on longer missions with his group, both in time and distance. The objective this time was to investigate the city of Hamaputra, but unfortunately they ended up getting caught in the middle of a territorial conflict and were forced to fight.
On the horizon he could see the enemy approaching quickly, but this did not scare him, he had already faced worse things than this army. "You have just been promoted," Beni exclaimed.
"What?" A poor man screamed as he heard the words come out.
That was all that was told to him before Beni simply ran away upon noticing the enemy approaching. If Kitsune could, she would go after him and demand a good explanation, but now was not the time. The fight was already happening. Yuichi recovered in the best way possible and began to help the men in the battle.At first, it seemed like they had the advantage, unfortunately the enemy had too many men, Kitsune and Yuichi already realized that it was a lost battle, the orders and privileges changed so that everyone could be saved, further ahead they noticed Beni using the old tunnels that had those stone doors thick enough to prevent them from being hit by bullets. Neither Usagi nor Kitsune had the intention of staying in that place, it may be extremely selfish of both of them to leave their "battle companions" behind, but they already had that experience and it wasn't fun at all.
That guy doesn't care about anyone but himself, with a mischievous smile he started to close the door "BENI I SWEAR IF YOU CLOSE THIS DOOR I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN" Kitsuni was about to call him every name possible. Unfortunately they weren't fast enough, and ended up trapped defending themselves from spears and bullets, looking at each other they nodded and took out their respective weapons, Yuichi used Willow Branch the katana that belonged to his ancestor and Kitsune their war fans. They start fighting near the walls in the hope of finding a tunnel that leads to the exit, unfortunately it is a dead end tunnel with a statue of a human and an animal, when they try to return they are surrounded by enemies, Kitsune immediately goes on the attack while Yuichi focuses on the best strategy and helping his friend.
Unfortunately they end up being overwhelmed by the number, Yuichi was very disappointed in himself, it was like that, after all the training he had gone through with Karasu Tengu, the adventures he had with his friends, he would disappoint them, he would disappoint his idol and ancestor Usagi Miyamoto, it was his fault for bringing Kitsune into this situation too. A terrifying scream was heard, he looked ahead and saw his captors fleeing, in fact the entire army was fleeing, why? Because they were leaving that land behind, it had been conquered by them so, why leave everything behind?
"Y-Yuichi what...what's happening?" She stood up with some difficulty. "I...I don't know-" he replied, both of them stood still like statues as they received warnings from their instincts. "RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN"
Placing his friend behind him to protect her, he raised his sword from where the wave of danger was coming from—something was very, very wrong. The sand began to come to life and enveloped them.If that wasn't scary enough, a face began to form in that storm, both of them couldn't believe it, that would certainly be added to the list of bizarre things in their lives. The face then roared, causing them to wake up from their trance and start running.
Far from the site of the massacre, the current Mages watched the outcome of the battle with satisfaction. "Almakhluq yabqaa makhfiaan (The creature remains hidden)" The leader spoke, wearing dark robes and tattoos on his cheeks.
"Madha ean hahih? (E este?)" Someone asked the leader as they watched the only two survivors leave.
They both manage to reach a short distance from Hamaputra. Then Yuichi has the feeling that he is being watched, when he draws the blade he already remains on guard even though he is extremely exhausted and still with his injured friend supporting him. When he finds the source he notices hooded men watching them.When they made no move, he sheathed his blade and fled across the desert with a wounded Kitsune on his back.
"Autrukh , sataqtaluh alsahra (Let the desert kill them)" The leader declared confidently, as he maneuvered his horse in the opposite direction.
But he didn't know that samurai who crossed the desert with someone wounded on his back, barely surviving when he fainted very close to a small town where they received help from the locals.Upon returning to Cario, they were accused of abandoning their battle companions, and ended up losing a good part of their valuable items to Beni's lies. Luckily, they were still able to keep their weapons. Unfortunately, they would remain trapped in that place... well... at least until they received a little external help.