Kahmunrah was following close to the snake so as to not hear the moronic conversations behind him. Sometimes a poisonous snake was just preferable. We must have been walking for at least an hour, this thing is probably just going in circles. I can't believe he actually asked the stupid snake to lead us to the temple! He even said 'please'! This is ridiculous. We're following this stupid serpent all around the desert, looking for some mythical temple that apparently has some ridiculous magic mirror that can...why is it stopping?
They were in the middle of the desert with nothing in sight and yet the snake was now up straight like it was waiting for something. What in the name of Anubis? The others caught up to them quickly and observed the situation. "What's it waiting for?" Lancelot asked.
"Perhaps the snake charmer has to give it a new order," Kahmunrah snapped.
The snake spun around on its scales to face the group and looked at Ahkmenrah. It focused on him for a moment before starting to dig in the sand. It burrowed deep down, popping back up once in a while. They watched in confusion until it had made a sizeable hole. Oh, well done, Ahkmenrah. You broke it. But the snake backed up a bit and seemed to be waiting for something once more. Ahkmenrah approached it tentatively and looked at the hole on his knees.
"What do you see?" Larry asked.
"It's some sort of symbol," he told them. "It looks like a beetle."
"What?"
Kahmunrah went over - keeping a wary eye on the snake - to see what he was going on about. His eyes widened. There was in fact some sort of panel there with a golden beetle facing West. "What do you suppose it means?" Ahkmenrah asked.
That earned a snort. "You're the magic snake whisperer. Figure it out."
The younger Egyptian glared up at him before turning back to the mysterious beetle. He reached out and touched it, gingerly. This is going to take a while, Kahmunrah thought, crossing his arms over his chest. "It almost looks like...if you…" Ahkmenrah reached out and grasped the beetle before turning it so it now faced North. Without warning, the ground started to shake under their feet and the snake quickly got out of the way. The sand in front of them was sinking down into a large hole that was suddenly appearing. What in the world?! All of them stood in awe, well, as well as they could stand with the quaking under them.
After a minute or two, it was finally revealed. The golden sand had given way to a hidden staircase. Kahmunrah looked inside of it but could only see a few stairs before pitch darkness. "Well," Teddy began. "Guess we found the Temple!"
"Oh, well done, Ahkmen!" Queen Shepseheret cheered, causing Kahmunrah's face to turn a bit red. Any fool can turn a beetle...that's an odd sentence.
Larry moved towards the front with his accursed flashlight in hand. "One step closer to Zalaam," he said. With that, the former night guard began to walk down the steps. Ahkmenrah followed only a step behind. Kahmunrah walked down after the rag tag group, the steps a bit precarious with all the sand, yet nothing he wasn't accustomed to. It was completely dark apart from the small beam of light from the flashlight. Step by step they traveled down deeper under the desert sand into the unknown. After what felt like eons, the stairs ended. Kahmunrah squinted in the near darkness, trying to see just what was inside the mythical temple.
"It would be nice if there was some more light in here," Lancelot stated.
In a blink, torches that were once invisible on the walls ignited in bursts of brilliant flame, one after the other down the rows.
They waited, stunned for a moment, before Lancelot spoke again. "Ha! Fire that ignites on command. Ahkmenrah, your culture is full of surprises."
Moron, Kahmunrah mocked mentally, rolling his eyes.
"Should we be concerned?" Larry asked.
"Don't do anything stupid and we'll be just peachy," he quipped. That earned a warning glare from his mother.
"No matter what caused that to happen, we can't let it spook us," Teddy said. "Whatever is down here, I think it's safe to say that anything this Zalaam has up his sleeves can do much worse if we don't stop him."
That seemed to satisfy the group and they pressed on down the long hallway. It was fairly wide with many winds and turns. The walls were made of solid stone, a familiar structure to the Egyptians. As they got farther down, a dark green curtain came into view, concealing a new room. It looked drab, plain, definitely something that didn't belong in an ancient temple. What exactly is it hiding?
Larry paused at the curtain and looked over at Lancelot, who grabbed the hilt of his sword and nodded. Without a word, Larry tore the curtain down and he and Lancelot went inside, both ready to fight whatever monster could be guarding the Mirror. Kahmunrah watched impatiently as both men looked around cautiously, then saw their eyes widen dramatically. "What is it?" the Queen asked. "What do you see?"
"Well, it's...it's a lot of- of," Larry had apparently lost the ability to form a cohesive sentence. Oh, this is taking long enough as it is! Fed up, Kahmunrah passed the waiting crowd and stormed into the room. He opened his mouth to shout, but his jaw went limp and the fists at his sides opened.
The room was massive, as big as the throne room in the palace he'd grown up in him. All around him were mountains of treasure, tributes to worship Wadjet, who had many statues scattered around the room. Golden coins, rubies the size of his palm, sapphires of all sizes, chalices, diamonds, every gem imaginable! It was all right before him.
"Well, bleach my boots, boys," he heard Jedediah say from not too far away. "We hit the jackpot!"
"Do not get so excited, my friend." Octavius began. "This is not what we came here for."
"You're right, Octavius, we shouldn't touch it. Ahk," Larry said breathlessly, having remembered basic speech skills . "Hold onto Dexter."
The cowboy and capuchin, however, weren't the only one who had eyes for the riches. By Ra, Kahmunrah thought. Had I found this when Ahkmenrah was in power, I could've bought an army! A kingdom of my own! No! Egypt itself! I would have had everything! And to think right under my feet was- No! What am I thinking? If it seems too good, it is. Obviously, this was put here just to distract from the real treasure. A mere diversion. That way no one gets close to finding-
"The Mirror!"
He turned to where Teddy's gloved hand was pointing. Above the wealth, past a smaller staircase was in fact, the legendary Mirror of Wadjet. Even from his distance, Kahmunrah could see it. It was the size of an ordinary hand mirror, one you could find on the average woman's dresser. The handle was made to resemble a golden cobra with small, red rubies for eyes. It's presence gave him an eerie feeling. Like the Mirror was looking right at him. No. Through him.
Larry began to walk up the steps as the others cheered about the discovery, but Kahmunrah remained still and silent. This seems...odd. Why is up on a pedestal like that? Even being in a hidden temple, it still should be concealed, not promoted. Who would want something so powerful to be so easy to get once you've found the temple? You may as well hang a sign that says, "Here I am! You've found me! Have fun trapping dark souls!" It's just so...simple. Why is there no-
Everything clicked in his head just as Larry's hand began to reach out for the Mirror. Panic seized him as he tried to move past the excited crowd of people who were all around the room. "Mr. Daley, don't!" he shouted, beginning to climb the stairs, nearly tripping a time or two. "Don't touch that Mirror!"
But the damage was done before he got to the last stair. Larry had the Mirror in his hands when he turned to face him with a nervous look. "What, what's wrong, what could happen?"
Kahmunrah watched in silence. By this time the rest of the group was quiet, having heard his outburst. He waited for a sound. For something to move. For anything. But nothing happened.
"Kahmunrah?" The sound of Ahkmenrah's voice behind him suddenly made him jump a bit. "What's the matter?"
"What in the world are you going on about?" his father snapped. His mother simply gave him a slightly confused, concerned look.
"Er...nothing. It was nothing," he told them, straightening. But his brain was still reeling. I thought we would have encountered at least one… His eyes widened. He'd turned around to where the Mirror had just been a moment ago. The pedestal it had been on was lowering slowly, noticing the missing weight. "Trap."
"What?" Ahkmenrah asked.
As if on cue, the temple itself began to tremble.
"It's a trap!" he yelled. And with those three words, chaos occurred. They all broke into a run, Larry somehow getting in front of both Egyptians, the Mirror still in hand.
"Hurry!" Teddy shouted. "We can still make it out before it falls!"
A sickening sound filled the massive room, even over the earthquake. Before his eyes, Kahmunrah saw the ground he'd been about to step on crumble and fall. His breath caught in his throat as he managed to stop on his heels and balance himself as best as he could to prevent falling. An orange glow filled the hole and his eyes gazed in horror at the river of red.
"Lava!" Larry shouted, having narrowly escaped falling himself. "We're over a pit of molten lava!"
"I don't like Egypt anymore!" Lancelot shouted, trying to avoid the falling floor pieces.
Kahmunrah was darting around the floor as more and more stones plummeted down into the lava below them. The mountains of gold fell through the holes or spilled onto what remained of the floor. He watched as his father raced down the hall, his hand on his mother's shoulder. The others soon followed, Larry being the last one he saw. His foot slid on a few gold coins, and for once he was glad to hit the floor. Scrambling back to his feet, he saw that most of the floor was gone. A large chasm had formed in front of him now, the red and orange light coming up like Set himself was awaiting.
Oh, for the love of Osiris, I really don't want to die a second time! Though he'd already been sprinting, he somehow managed to go even faster. Holding his breath, he jumped over the lava pit, doing his best not to look down at the swirling river of red and orange. He could feel the heat even though the lava was at least one-hundred-feet below him, and he hoped it stayed that way. His hands grabbed for the floor in front of him, gripping it tightly. As fast as possible, he began to pull himself up before the floor could give anymore.
"Kah!"
His head snapped to look down towards the voice. Ahkmenrah was clinging to a few stones on the wall of the chasm, his panic-filled eyes looking up at him. Quickly, Kahmunrah let go of the floor with one hand and reached his arm out, the muscles reaching their maximum.
He could only watch as Ahkmenrah raised his arm up, trying to grab him. It was so close, so close, but still not enough to reach.
Kahmunrah stretched as far as he could, trying to get so much as a finger, it was just out of his grasp! Sweat was building up on his neck, and worse, his palms. The second he felt skin touch his hand, he seized it and started to pull them both up. Ahkmenrah released the other rock he'd been clinging to and grabbed onto his forearm. Kahmunrah struggled to pull himself up due to the added weight on the other arm now, but after what felt like forever, he got his head over the ledge and started to raise Ahkmenrah up as well. His legs dug into the wall as he finally got onto the floor again, Ahkmenrah climbing up as well.
Quickly, he got back to his feet and yanked Ahkmenrah up, sprinting to the hallway, kicking gold coins in his path. He pulled Ahkmenrah down the hallway, his hand still on him.
A/N: Hands down one of the most anticipated chapters of my writing thus far. But just you wait! (Great, now I'm thinking of Hamilton.) Also, I know this is a bad spot but 1. I can't find a good spot to cut the next part, it's a very good chapter and 2. I'm evil. Thank you for all the comments, favorites, and follows!