=== Cairo / Imhotep's and Evelyn's home ===
Imhotep still stood there, face turned to the wall and head leaned against the stone. His emotions were still on the edge, full of desperation. Right now, he was just too tired for further outbursts. Evelyn sat on the bed, exhausted and terrified the same. "Do you… really think, Ani has the full powers of the Hom-Dai? Besides the immortality?" she asked.
"Yes I do. We should not fool ourselves. The one is not without the other. I was made immortal so I could not escape my punishment via death. I got these evil powers so I could not live a normal life either. When will this ever end? When can we finally live in peace?"
He turned around towards the small statue of Osiris at the other side of the room, and he could not help but to mutter sarcastically: "I am free to live, am I? What a grace… Now I can watch my son be killed by the Medjai!"
"Don't say this, Imhotep! No one knows about Ani and his powers. He has no cause to explore or use them!"
"But when he does so… "
"Can't you annihilate the curse, with Achmad's help perhaps? We have freed you, why not Ani?"
He shook his head. "The scarab pectoral is melted, and the temple of the Keepers in the Pyramid is destroyed, the inscriptions lost. What should I do? I am HELPLESS!" he cried, again punching his fist against the wall.
This was the moment, when Ani showed up in the door.
"What's with dad?"
"Dad is not… feeling very well." Evelyn stood up and took the boy outside. "Go down into the kitchen, will you? Take some of the cookies…"
=== Foreign Legionnaires' Camp in Libya near the Egyptian Border ===
It was evening. Flies surrounded the lamp in the tent. The men lay on their camp beds, browsing old journals and smoking. In one corner, an agitated voice could be heard, though.
"Eh, Rick, look what I've found!" The man, to whom the voice belonged, was short and agile, with fierce black eyes. Some in the camp said he had been a thief – he always said he was an Italian nobleman. What did it matter? "Look! This is pure gold! And ancient! With hieroglyphs! Eh, you aren't interested in any way…"
"Nope."
"What's wrong with you, pal? There could be treasures outside, making us rich!"
"If I were you, I would throw the thing away as far as I can."
"Why? You are crazy, man! Might be something BIG under the sand outside the camp! We will be rich, having our yacht, fine Cuban cigars and lots of women! We just have to dig a bit, perhaps!"
Rick O'Connel regarded his comrade as if he had demanded of him to clear the latrines. "I had my share of digs and treasures, believe me! Have no interest in the stuff, whatsoever!" He let his head fall back on the small pillow. "Last time cost me my wife!"
Other men had known better than to bother Rick further. However, his Italian comrade was far too excited now. "Wife? Did not know you were married, eh?!"
"I wasn't. That's the POINT! She ran off with… with some egomaniac idiot, we met back there in Egypt. And now SHUT UP!"
"Ok, Ok, Ok…" The Italian raised his hands in a defensive manner. "I'll go. I'm sort of gone already… Just… Tell me, only, what this sign stands for, please. Won't annoy you again, I promise. I heard you might know about hieroglyphs…"
Sighing, Rick grabbed the item from his comrade's hand. It was a bracelet and seemed ancient, indeed. In the centre of it was a cartouche with a sun disk and… "That's a hippotamus."
"A… a what?!"
"A hippo. The sign-beast for the Ancient Egyptian god Seti. The god of chaos and destruction. - As I advised you, take it back, bury it, and forget it! And first of all, let me find some sleep…"
=== A Bedouin Camp in the Egyptian Desert ===
Gemar, leader of his small clan, had a fitful sleep. This weird dream was back again! It had been his companion since he was a child beginning to ask for the meaning of dreams. Nevertheless, he was not closer to understand these sequences than he had been back then.
…People in strange clothing… strange attires… speaking a language not his own and yet he could understand them, understand the person in whose body he was confined in these dreams…
"You are NOTHING! Absolutely nothing! Do you understand that? You are no princess anymore! You are a hostage! A slave! You are dust beneath my feet!" He slapped the young woman standing in front of him. She was barely more than a girl and half-naked. She cried now. "You have to know where your place is, Ancksunamun!"
"Yes… my Lord…"
Still, he hated something in her voice. Something not as submissive as she wanted it to look like. He hit her again, blood spattered over his hand. "You have to do what you are ordered to do! You have to come to me, whenever I want it!"
"Yes my Lord." She wept and the tears mixed with the blood dripping from her lip.
"You will not go into the temple of Osiris again! You can pray here!"
"Yes my Lord."
"Now go and clean up!"
The girl rushed out of the room. The man wiped the bloodstains from his hand and the bracelet, which showed the sinister sign of the god he worshipped so much. Seti, god of chaos, passion, but also god of bravery and power…
With the disturbing sign of this ancient jewelry in his mind, Gemar woke up. He left his tent, looked around – everything was peaceful. The animals and the people slept. Obviously, he was the only one not finding any rest. He wondered if he would ever find out what Allah wanted to show him with these dreams! He had never met the woman he dreamt of, not even one looking slightly similar. Moreover, he had never treated a woman in such a manner. And what did this sign on the bracelet mean? It was always in the dreams…
=== Karnak, small Arab village ===
The glory of this ancient place was long, long gone. Rested a miserable little village half on top of the ruins. Monday. A damn, lousy Monday again! Detective Gordon Cramer slammed the door behind him (wondering how long the old cracked thing would still take it) and took a seat in his miserable office.
I should quit, he thought like nearly every day, since his superior had posted him here. He had been chief of the police department in Cairo, however the political situation (and, as Cramer mused some of his reports 8 years ago) made his superiors think he would be better off in the countryside! Therefore, he sat here, trying to fight grave robbers, which laughed at him and just dug another gallery into the rock after he had sealed one. It was like hunting cockroaches…
This made him think of the similar black scarab beetles.
And this made him think of his two old friends Imhotep and Evelyn Carnahan. Ah… no, the name was 'Al Busiri' now. As odd as it seemed, Cramer almost longed for the thrill and action caused by this once undead creature… It was that boring and frustrating in his job! The window shutter gnashed in the hot desert breeze. He had someone to come and fix this thing or it would drive him mad! He filed halfhearted through the last report on his desk, his thoughts still with the Al Busiri-family. He hadn't heard from them for a while. Was their second child already born?
Gordon Cramer was all alone for some years now. His wife had left him, feeling bored in the dusty countryside! Pah, he thought, she left and I'm stuck here! Only good thing is that I can smoke now without her reprimanding me…
=== Two weeks later / Cairo / Imhotep's and Evelyn's home ===
It was past midnight. Imhotep could not find any sleep, as it was the case far too often during the last two weeks. He lay as quiet as he could in order not to disturb Evelyn reclined in his arms. There had been no other incident with Ani after the shootout in the streets. Nevertheless, the whispering and the glances of the people had become more intense, Imhotep thought. He and Evie had searched books and papyri in the museum and the library, hoping to find any clue for the rescue of their son. So far, they had no luck.
The sound of shattering glass stopped his thoughts and startled Evelyn. A big hole gaped in their window, and a stone lay on the floor, wrapped in a paper. Imhotep jumped out of the bed, however as he reached the broken window no one was to be seen out there in the night. As he unfolded the stone's 'packaging', he could read 'BACK OFF YOU CREEPS'.
"What is it?" Evie sat up.
"We have to leave this city", was his only answer.
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Tbc as soon as possible.