THEBES- 1290 B.C
Thebes, city of the living, crown jewel of Pharaoh Seti the First. Home of Imhotep, Pharaoh's high priest… keeper of the dead. Home of princess Nefertiri and her sister, Aaliyah, high priestess of Isis, firstborn of Seti I and future Queen of all of Egypt.
Nefertiri and Aaliyah walk out onto the balcony and looked at their home.
"One day, sister," Nefertiri said to Aaliyah," One day this will all be yours. You will be the greatest Queen that Egypt has ever known!"
She looks to Nefertiri and said, "If the gods will it and then it shall be so."
"Perhaps the Goddess Hathor shall will Ahkmen," Nefertiri teased.
Aaliyah couldn't help but smile at the name of the man she loved.
Birthplace of Anck-su-namun, Pharaoh's mistress.
As they stood there, Aaliyah and Nefertiri saw Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep in their father's chambers. To their further shock, the two embraced and kissed passionately.
No other man was allowed to touch her. But for their love, they were willing to risk life itself.
Imhotep's priests went to shut the doors but then suddenly Pharaoh Seti I pushed the doors and they quickly broke apart and separated.
"What are you doing here?" He asked the priests, but they did not answer, and they quickly move to close the door as he walks to the curtains and throws them back. Seti I sees Anck-su-namun standing, alone, by a cat statue, looking down before looking up to meet his eyes.
The Pharaoh then sees the paint on her arm is smeared and points at it, "Who has touched you?!"
She glances at it, her eyes widen and she looks back up at Seti I before looking behind him. The Pharaoh turns around to see Imhotep, who takes the Pharaoh's sword from the scabbard, intending to assassinate him.
"Imhotep?! My priest!" The Pharaoh exclaimed with shock and confusion.
Aaliyah and Nefertiti tremble in terror and shouts down, "Medjai! My father needs you!" She points to where they need to go and the Medjai run to save the Pharaoh's life. Anck-Su-Namun stabs Seti I with a dagger in the back.
"FATHER!" Aaliyah and Nefertiti cried as they continue to watch and hope the Medjai would save their father as he screams in pain. Imhotep then stabs the Pharaoh again with his sword.
"NOOO!" Nefertiti screams, she leans over the balcony causing her to fall.
"SISTER!" Aaliyah cried as she tried to reach for her sister and saved her but it was too late. She cried at the sight of her sister's body lying lifeless on the ground. She looks up to see Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun standing next to her father's lifeless body, who soon heard footsteps echoing through the halls and getting closer, and heard ramming from the other side of the doors.
"Pharaoh's bodyguards," Imhotep warned.
"You must go!" Anck-Su-Namun begged, "Save yourself!"
"No!"
"You are the only one who can resurrect me!" She told him.
Imhotep's face became filled with despair as his priests run up and grab him pulling him to safety as the Medjai storm the residence.
"I won't leave you! Get away from me! You shall live again! I will resurrect you" Imhotep shouted as his priests pulled him away from her.
The Medjai throws back the curtains and discovered Seti's corpse and Anck-Su-Namun with a dagger.
"My body is no longer his temple!" Anck-Su-Namun said before she stabs herself in the stomach with the dagger used to murder Seti.
To resurrect Anck-su-namun Imhotep and his priests broke into her crypt and stole her body.
They raced deep into the desert… taking Anck-su-namun's corpse to Hamunaptra, City of the Dead... ancient burial site for the sons of pharaohs… and resting place for the wealth of Egypt. For his love, Imhotep dared the gods' anger by going deep into the city… where he took the Black Book of the Dead from its holy resting place. Anck-su-namun's soul had been sent
to the dark underworld… her vital organs removed and placed in five sacred canopic jars.
Anck-su-namun's body laid on an altar dress in black, canopic jars laid beside her, and Imhotep's priests circled around the altar chanting.
Imhotep began reading from the book of the dead and from the moat filled with black water a spirit emerged and moves towards the altar before sinking into Anck-su-namun's body. Then her eyes opened and she pants and trembles.
Anck-su-namun's soul had come back from the dead.
Imhotep raises a dagger to complete the ritual.
But Pharaoh's bodyguards had followed Imhotep and stopped him… before the ritual could be completed.
The Medjai, who had followed the priests as they headed to Hamunaptra, storm the chamber where the ritual is being performed. The Medjai grab Imhotep and surround the altar preventing anyone from escaping. The soul of Anck-su-namun leaves her body screaming as it returns to the underworld.
"No!" Imhotep cried.
Aaliyah walked down the stairs and stood before Imhotep with anger on her face.
"Former high priest Imhotep for your crimes against the throne and blasphemy before the gods I hereby commend your priests to be mummified alive but you shall suffer the Hom-Dai," Aaliyah ordered.
Imhotep's priests were condemned to be mummified alive. As for Imhotep… he was condemned to endure the Hom-Dai… the worst of all ancient curses… one so horrible it had never before been bestowed.
Imhotep and his priests were taken back to Thebes and sent to the sah-netjer. The cries of the priests were heard throughout the room as they were mummified. Four Medjai hold Imhotep down to his knees as one embalmer hold out his tongue while another cuts it off.
He is then bound tightly in wrappings and is placed in a sarcophagus. A man wearing a jackal headdress carries a large pot filled with flesh-eating scarab beetles and pours it into the sarcophagus. As the scarabs slowly eat Imhotep alive, the lid is placed over the sarcophagus and sealed with a key resembling a puzzle-box. Aaliyah read the incantation from the book of the dead to curse Imhotep with the Hom-Dai. The sarcophagus is carried and buried beneath the feet of Anubis.
He was to remain sealed inside his sarcophagus- the undead for all of eternity. The Magi would never allow him to be released… for he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind...an unholy flesh eater with the strength of ages… power over the sands… and the glory of invincibility.