=== 13. century B.C. / Hamunaptra / Underground ===
A small figure cowered behind one of the huge pillars in the shadow, trembling and desperately trying not to chatter his teeth or make any other move which could betray him. Mentechepre felt sick and angry for his helplessness. His eyes burned but he couldn't turn them away, fearing if he allowed himself to close them only for an instant he would die. He had been back in the sanctuary near the shrine as the Medjai had burst in and arrested Imhotep and the other priests, among them his father Sennufer. A short pleading glance of his father had told him to stay back, whatever may happen! The boy had obeyed … and watched all the following awful rituals. He saw his friends tortured to death, his father and at last his revered teacher Imhotep.
The air didn't smell anymore of embalming tissues, oils and incense in preparation for a good afterlife, it smelt of pain, blood, tears and death.
Right across from Mentechepres hiding place still stood two of these Medjai. The boy hated them with all his heart and soul. The two men were right next to the sarcophagus in which they had enclosed Imhotep shortly ago. Not to let him begin his journey to the afterlife, but to further torture. Mentechepre was schooled enough to know what the Hom-Dai was and what it would do. He saw one of the Medjai placing the metal key on the lid of the sarcophagus and sealing it. His comrade said something, nodded and headed for the staircase upwards. The other warrior folded the key to a tiny little box and tossed it in the air like a toy.
This was the moment, when Mentechepre couldn't hold out anymore. He was fourteen years old, but anger and grief gave him the strength of a man, as he lunged forward, a cry of fury on his lips. He crushed the Medjai against the sarcophagus, and before the warrior could react, the boy had stabbed him with his own sword. Then he lifted the little key-box from the floor and turned to the sarcophagus. No, now he couldn't do anything! The Medjai and the Pharao were still outside, and some of them had taken the 'Book of the Dead'.
"I will come back. I promise", Mentechepre said and placed his hand on the cover stone on which no insignia and no protective spell was engraved. Then the boy vanished in the darkness of the underground corridors towards the secret exits to the mountains.
...
=== Same time / Hamunaptra / Outside the Temple of Osiris ===
Ramses had left the underground vault of the 'City of the Dead'. The strange dizziness which had engulfed him while being there slowly vanished. He frowned and sat down on one of the stone benches in front of the temple. What had he done down there? His revenge for the assassination of his father, yes… It had been his intent to catch the responsible, High priest Imhotep, and to bring him to justice.
Justice…
Ramses stretched his hand out to the sandy floor, took a hand full of the grains and watched as the wind blew them away. Had he done justice? Musing about this, he felt as if a faint ghostly whisper and laughter reached his ears and he jumped up. Who was mocking him?
….You have done well… so well….
The hand of the young Pharaoh fumbled over his scarab pectoral. He remembered. I have given him the Hom-Dai! The Hom-Dai! The horror of this seized his mind and the ghostly laughter was to hear once again. It was not a happy laughter, it was something evil. Dark.
Justice?
No, he had not served justice. He had served someone else! Someone, something far more dangerous, more evil than this fool of a priest or this whore Ancksunamun ever could have been!
The Pharaoh gestured over to his chief Medjai. "Come! I have to speak to you!"
The man hurried at the side of his sovereign. "Speak, my Lord!"
"This whole place, this city is forbidden territory from now on! It is cursed altogether with …" He couldn't speak the name anymore. "With the One, who shall never be named again!"
"Yes, my Lord!" The Medjai bowed his head acknowledging the will of his master.
"No one will ever again set foot in this temple or in this city! It has to be destroyed, every record from it, every trace everywhere", Ramses continued. "It shall be buried under the desert for all generations!" Still, it wouldn't be enough! "You and your most trusted friends will guard this place for all time! With your life! You will protect its secrets by any means! This is my order! And for I am the ruler of Egypt and son of Amun-Ra, you will fulfill it!"
"Yes, my Lord!"
Ramses grabbed the warrior at his shoulders. "Do you understand? No one must come back here, never! All what is buried beneath must lay buried, for all times!"
The Medjai had never heard such a fear in the voice of the young Pharaoh. He seemed so much older now, changed. What had happened down there in the preparation chamber while he stood guard at the outside? His comrades would tell him soon… However, he wasn't sure if he was ready to hear it!
"Swear the holy oath", Ramses demanded, "In the name of all the gods!"
The chief Medjai raised his arms and repeated the words spoken by the Pharaoh. "…and if I fail, I shall be damned to the darkness of the underworld myself and never find entrance to the afterlife! My body shall be prey for the vultures and my soul bound to torment," he finally finished.
Ramses seemed to relax a little. After the other men were back again he would burn and destroy Hamunaptra. Would it be enough, he wondered again.
But somewhere outside the world of the mortals some dark shadowy entities began to rejoice. They had put the iron in the forge ... now they would wait ... until the time had come for THEIR revenge on the gods.
=== 60 years later / Thebes / Palace of Pharaoh Ramses ===
Ramses slowly went over to the balcony with the view over the river. With the years passing it cost him more effort to walk straight, but still he could manage it without help from a servant. This was a grace of the gods. Nonetheless, he felt old and weary. He had lived out some of his children and his wife, had survived battles and intrigues and assassination attempts. He had brought the land peace and prosperity. He had declared his father Seti god amongst the other gods of Egypt, had given him the most sumptuous grave ever accounted in history. He had ordered the building of temples all over the land, but… the memory of the long gone day in Hamunaptra still haunted him. In some nights he believed to hear the last painful cry of the cursed High priest again, along with the strange whispering voices, laughing at him… And the key to Imhotep's sarcophagus had never been found again.
*** THIS IS THE END .... AND THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER STORY ***
(the conclusion and what happens to the mission of Mentechepre is to be found in "Death Wish")
