Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or anything like that.
Keptis
Victor Grant had been excavating in the Valley of the Kings for 13 years. He had never found anything. Victor had enough money for one more year of excavation. After that, he would have to find someone to sponsor him. And nobody wanted to give money to a loser.
Victor started work in early October, and for 3 months he found nothing. His only friend was his trusty foreman, Mohammed. In the city, he was considered a poor lowlife. It was a fact that he had no money, that he had wasted it all on a foolish pursuit of a tomb that wasn't there.
Then, one morning, when Victor rode up to the site, he saw that his workmen were not working, but standing huddled in a group. The men wore identical looks of unease. "What has happened?" he asked in Arabic. "Sir," Mohammed replied. "The workers have uncovered a tomb."
"Well, what's the problem? Why haven't you begun excavation?"
"Sir," said Mohammed. "This tomb bears a curse."
The news of the newly discovered tomb spread like wildfire. All the newspapers wanted rights to the story. Victor had more attention now than he ever had in his entire life.
The door of the tomb had been opened, but the passageway was filled with rubble. Victor gave his worker the exhausting and thankless job of clearing it. Every now and then, they would find artifacts among the debris. Small things. Broken pottery, small fragments of wood, and the like. On the walls of the passageway, beautiful pictures of pharaohs and their gods stood out as vividly as they had the day the king was put to rest.
Finally, the workers cleared all the rubble and a door was cleared. Victor found a cartouche on the door. It read: Keptis, Son of Gods. There was more writing, but it had been brutally scratched out.
Victor emerged from the tomb 15 minutes later. "Hey Victor," a voice called out. "Remember me?"
Victor looked up. A man was standing next to the entrance of the tomb. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and Victor thought that he looked vaguely familiar. It wasn't until he saw the tattoo on the man's wrist that he knew who it was.
"Hey, pal," said Victor. "Where you been, O'Connell?"
Victor and O'Connell sat on the balcony of Victor's hotel.
"So, O'Connell," said Victor. "What have you been doing since you left the orphanage?"
"Oh, nothing much."
"That's not what I heard. Last I heard, you were a deserter from the foreign legion. I thought you were hanged a long time ago."
"Nope," said O'Connell. "Still alive. Are you disappointed?"
"Why, because you're alive? I sure am!"
"Ah, shut up."
It was late. The stars shone brightly in the night sky. Victor sat outside his tomb and stared at the moon. He was restless. He was guarding the tomb from thieves. He didn't trust those incompetent morons they called guards. Mohammed lay asleep a few feet away. His snores shattered the still night air.
Victor wandered down into the tomb. He grabbed a pick and began to chip at the door. Soon, he had produced a hole about the size of his hand. He took a candle and inserted it in through the hole. He saw a glint of gold, and then a wall of sand hit him.
Mohammed awoke to screaming. Grabbing a pistol, he ran into the tomb. He found his boss sprawled out beneath the door. He was lifeless, a look of terror on his face. And clutched in his hand was a tiny slab of rock, upon which a name was inscribed: Keptis.
A few miles away, in Cairo, Alex O'Connell woke with a start.
A small boy stands on a balcony, overlooking ancient Thebes.
Keptis.
The boy only looks to be about eight or nine. On his face is a look of nervousness. He is joined by another boy of about the same age.
"What is wrong, Keptis? Are you not well?" asked the boy.
"Selkiv, my brother, father is dead. I am now Pharaoh. " replied Keptis.
"Should you not be happy? You now rule all of Egypt."
"There is unrest. Our enemies hated father. They may see this as an opportunity to invade our glorious country. I am only a child, Selkiv. I cannot defend my home.
"Do not worry. Our armies can crush anything. You will make a good Pharaoh, Keptis."
"Thank you, Selkiv."
The two boys watch the sun rise into the morning sky.
Alex O'Connell had been awake since 3:00 a.m. He had been trying to figure out his dream. There had been two boys, and they had lived in ancient times. One boy had told his brother that he had become Pharaoh. The boy, Keptis, had looked familiar.
The sun had been up for an hour. Alex decided that his parents would be up by then. He wanted to ask them about a pharaoh. A pharaoh named Keptis.
He found his father reading the newspaper. He had a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong, dad?" asked Alex. Rick looked up from his newspaper. "Oh, uh, nothing. Victor Grant died last night."
"The guy who found the tomb?"
"Yeah, that's the one. I knew Victor."
"Really? From where?"
"When we were kids, we were both in the orphanage. Victor's parents were killed in a car crash."
"Oh. Did you ever see him again after the orphanage?"
"Actually, I talked to him yesterday. I was going to bring you to meet him, but I guess that isn't going to happen."
"Oh." There was a pause. "Dad, have you ever heard of a pharaoh named Keptis?"
"No, why?" replied Rick.
"No reason," said Alex, walking away.
The newspapers had been going wild. They screamed `The Curse of the Pharaohs!' The Times was predicting that everyone involved in work on the tombs would die. As a result of this, all the workers quit. Work on the tomb was at a standstill.
"What nonsense, " scoffed Evy O'Connell. "Curse of the Pharaoh my foot!"
"What's wrong with you?" asked Rick.
"Without anyone working at or guarding the tomb, thieves could just walk in and steal anything they can lay their hands on!"
"Well," said Rick. "I was told that they installed a barred door in the passageway."
"These people can get through anything for treasure. Archeologists haven't found half the tombs these thieves have robbed. Shops in Cairo are bursting with stolen antiquities."
"What do you propose would help?"
"They need to get someone to excavate the tomb right away, so that the finds can be moved to a museum faster."
"What are you implying?" asked Rick.
"Well," said Evy. "You DID know Mr. Grant..............."
"No way, Evy, no way. I am not going to demand rights to excavate his tomb just because I knew him when we were kids."
"But..."
"No."
"But..."
"NO!"
Keptis sat at his throne. His vast army's general stood before him.
"Forgive me sir," the general said. "I tried to drive them back, but it was like they knew all of our weak points."
Keptis thought hard. The Syrians had been trying to invade Egypt for a month now. He didn't know how much longer his armies could defend it.
"How could they know?"
"I do not know, your majesty. We tried to defeat them, but they drove us back."
"Very well. Take your leave."
Keptis knew he wasn't qualified to be Pharaoh. He was only nine years old. And the entire country was counting on him.
It had been a week since Victor had died, and Rick had gotten the papers to excavate the tomb. He had finally given in to Evy's wishes to clear the tomb. Rick also noticed that Alex was acting strange. He always looked tired, and he was trying to find anything he could on someone named Keptis.
On the day that Rick was to begin excavation, Alex insisted on coming with him. Rick tried to explain that he wouldn't be allowed to come into the tomb, as it was too dangerous, and that he would have to wait all day outside, but Alex didn't care. So Rick found a spot with a little shade and told Alex to sit there.
"And whatever you do," said Rick. "Don't come down into the tomb."
Rick was busy widening the hole that Victor had made in the door when he felt a tug on his shirtsleeve. He looked down and saw Alex.
"Alex! I thought I told you to stay up there!"
"You did, dad, but I've found........."
"I don't care what you've found, get back up there."
"But..."
"No buts."
"But I found out who Keptis is!"
"See, here's his cartouche," said Alex, pointing out the hieroglyphics on the wall. "I think it says `Keptis, Son of Gods.'"
"How did you know about Keptis, anyway?" asked Rick.
"He was in my dreams. I saw him when he first became pharaoh, and in another dream, he was worried about Syrians invading Thebes."
"But you've never heard his name before your dreams? That seems unlikely."
"It's true. He..."
"Enough! We'll get your mother down here tomorrow to try and decipher some of these hieroglyphics. Right now, lets go dismiss the workmen and go home."
Evy was fascinated by the description of the cartouche. "It seems," she said. "That we have found out the occupant of the tomb."
"Mum," said Alex. "There was more to the cartouche, but it was scratched off."
"Hmm. Perhaps by enemies of the king."
"Yeah! In my dream, Keptis was worried about Syrians. Maybe that's who did it!"
"Alex, your dream was a coincidence, nothing more. It is highly unlikely that the Syrians bothered themselves with desecrating the king's tomb."
"But..."
"Just a coincidence. Nothing more. Now it's getting late. Run off to bed.
"Ok."
Alex dreamed again that night.
Fifty guards stood huddled around the young pharaoh. Selkiv stood next to the king of Egypt. Keptis held a plain, wooden box.
"In this box, there is the one thing that can save Egypt," said Keptis, opening the box. Inside, there laid a medallion fashioned of gold. On it, a lion was inscribed. "The Medallion of Selket," said Keptis, "Is the only force that can render our enemy forces helpless."
One of the guards fell to his knees. "My King, I beg of you, do not use the medallion! You will bring back the curse of Selket, the Stalking Lion. Have you forgotten the early days of Egypt, when no man would venture out of his home for fear of the beast? The streets ran red with blood! I beg of you, do not let that monster destroy the society we have worked so hard for!"
"Get off your knees!" snapped Selkiv. "You are in the presence of Pharaoh! And you dare defy him?"
"That is enough, Selkiv." Said Keptis. "My friend," he said, addressing the guard. "The Gods will be in favor of us. Whomsoever wears the medallion can control the Mighty Selket. Our enemie will lay slain on the battlefield. I suggest we all retire to our bedchambers. It has been a long and exhausting day."
Keptis stood, and the guards departed. Keptis walked in the direction of his room. But Selkiv lingered in the throne room. He inched his way towards the box, which lay on a table. Gently, he opened the lid.
Once again, Alex found himself sitting outside of the tomb. Having become bored, he had borrowed a small shovel and begun digging absentmindedly beside the tomb door. He was mumbling angrily to himself. "Too dangerous my foot! I bet I could help down there. I bet I could find something, I could..." He heard a CLUNK as his shovel hit something hard. He began to dig with his hands. He felt something square. He began to scrape away dirt with his hands.
Alex soon found a box. Obviously, the hot desert sand had preserved the wood, because the box was perfectly intact. Opening the lid, he found a circle made of gold attached to a gold chain. There was a picture of a lion on it.
"Whoa. Wait till I show mum and dad. They'll go wild!"
`But why show them?' said a voice.
Alex looked around. There was nobody around him.
`Why not just keep it?' asked the voice. `They would just shove it into a museum.'
Alex couldn't find where the voice was coming from. He looked back at the medallion.
`Go on. Keep it,' said the voice. `You know you want to. It would look good on you, Keptis."
Alex didn't know what was happening. He thought that the voice had called him Keptis. But he wasn't Keptis. Keptis lived three thousand years ago.
`Just keep it,' the voice went on.
`Yes,' thought Alex. `Just keep it. It's not that important a find. I'll just stick it in my pocket and...'
"You found anything?"
Alex snapped out of his stupor. Rick was standing over him. He looked down and saw that he had put the medallion in his pocket.
"Not much," he heard himself say. "Just an empty box."
"Well, we seem to have found the occupant of this tomb. Keptis, or whatever his name was."
"Really? Can I go see?"
"Well...Maybe tomorrow. Right now, lets go home. It's getting dark."
As Alex walked away from the tomb, the breeze seemed to whisper to him. It seemed to say `Nice job, young Keptis.'
It was late. At least midnight. Alex stood at the window, staring with unseeing eyes.
`Put on the medallion,' the voice commanded.
Alex didn't know why he obeyed the voice. But he put it on. He felt his muscles tighten, and a sort of electrical shock ran through him. `Well done, Keptis.' Said the voice. Alex heard it very clearly. It was inside his head.
Then the voice was commanding him, telling him to climb out the window. He didn't want to, but the voice was controlling him. He disappeared out the window and into the night.
"Selkiv? What are you doing?"
Selkiv let the lid of the box drop. A guard marched up to him. This wasn't just any guard. This was Keptis' most trusted servant. His name was Atiya, and he would do anything for Keptis.
"I wished to look upon the medallion," said Selkiv.
"You should retire to your bedchamber. It is late."
"Yes, Atiya, you are right. I am tired. I should sleep."
When Alex did not show up at breakfast, Rick and Evy went to his room. "Alex?" Evy called. There was no answer. Rick tried the doorknob, and found it open. They opened the door to find his room empty. A breeze wafted in through his open window.
Alex stood in a long, stone corridor. He was facing a doorway. He proceeded through it. It led into a burial chamber. Alex walked up to a stone sarcophagus. The lid had been taken off. He peered over the edge and found himself staring at the face of a mummy.
"Here, young one, you see my foolish brother. He died at the tender age of nine. But I can assure you, his death was no accident. I killed him myself. Alex looked up. The voice in his head told him to walk to the corner of the chamber. There was a pit there. Alex tried to stop his legs from moving, but the voice had total control over him. He walked forward and fell into the pit. He landed on his arm and heard it snap, but he could feel nothing.
At the bottom of the pit, there was another passageway. The voice told him to walk down it, and his body obeyed. He entered the chamber at the end. It was another burial chamber, but it looked as if it had been dug in a hurry. The walls were jagged and bore none of the paintings that the other burial chamber had.
There was a sarcophagus in here too. There was no lid in sight. Alex looked over the side and stared into the face of another mummy, similar in size to the first one.
`And here, small one,' said the voice inside his head. "Here is where they laid me to rest. You see that the going is rough. The fools hoped that no one would find me. Well, they have not succeeded. I shall once again be free. I shall once again have the power my brother stole from me!'
Alex felt a searing pain in his head. He doubled over with pain. A bolt of electricity cut through him like a knife. And, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The only pain that remained was from his arm, which had been broken in the fall.
Alex looked up. Before him stood a mummy. It was alive.
"Who are you? Why am I here?" asked Alex.
"You do not recognize me?" asked the mummy. "It is I, Selkiv, your brother. How could you not remember me, Keptis?"
"I'm not Keptis!"
"You are. Ah, Keptis, you have forgotten your past."
"I'm NOT Keptis!"
"Do not argue with me. I shall slay you, your highness."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Alex said defiantly.
"Really? Then it is time to remind you who you are!"
A blinding pain shot through him. He passed out. When he awoke, he was in his bed.
The workers had gone to the tomb, as usual. When they could not find their employer, O'Connell, they supposed he was already in the tomb. They walked into the burial chamber, which was deserted.
Then, an eerie moan drifted up from the pit in the corner. The workers had lowered a lantern to see what was down there. The dim light allowed them to see a boy sprawled out at the bottom. One of the workers recognized him. He had seen him talking to O'Connell.
They lowered ropes and brought the boy out of the pit. They had been carrying him through the passageway when they had bumped into O'Connell who had been headed into the tomb. He had been making sure that his son hadn't snuck out to explore the tomb.
Rick had taken Alex back to the house, where they had called a doctor. A cast was put on Alex's arm, but the doctor could find nothing else wrong with the boy.
Rick set out for the tomb at about noon. The workers had probably, as he put it, `robbed the place blind'.
When he reached the tomb, the workers were standing huddled at the entrance. "What is wrong?" Rick shouted.
"Sir," replied one of the workers. "The mummy is missing."
The workers led Rick into the burial chamber. One man pointed to the pit. "That is where we found your son. And here," he said, pointing to the sarcophagus. "Is where the mummy was. It doesn't appear to be there anymore, does it?"
Rick sighed. He knew that the workers had probably carried off the mummy of Keptis, but he couldn't prove it. "It appears that there can be nothing more done here. You may go home now."
A man sat in a tent. He was tall, and he wore a clean, white robe. In his hand, he clenched a golden scepter. Before the man, on a stool, sat Selkiv.
"Tell me, what is his majesty up to?" asked the man, addressing Selkiv.
"My fool of a brother enlists the help of a magic medallion. It is said that it can wipe out five hundred armies."
"And what does this medallion do?"
"It unleashes a gigantic Lion who revels in bloodshed. It is said that whoever wears the medallion controls the beast."
"And does it work?"
"I am led to believe that it does."
"We cannot have this. Steal it."
"And if I am discovered by my brother?"
"Kill him immediately."
There is a pause. Selkiv's face bears a look of surprise.
"Yes, my lord," replies Selkiv. And he walked out of the tent. The tent belonged to the general of the Syrian army.
By the following morning, Alex is allowed to get out of bed. Having checked his pockets the day before, he had found the medallion. Alex was not permitted to go to the tomb, because of the cast on his arm, or so his parents said. He didn't mind this. He never wanted to go back to that awful tomb.
The night before, he had heard his dad rant about how the mummy, Keptis, had gone missing. Alex was puzzled. Did that mean that both mummies were gone, or just Keptis? He assumed that no one had found Selkiv's burial chamber yet, so he had no way of knowing whether Selkiv's mummy was also missing.
After a quick dinner, in which Alex had eaten almost nothing, he went to bed. He was surprisingly tired. It was hard to sleep when he couldn't move his arm, but sleep finally overcame him.
Selkiv once again found himself in the throne room. He had no trouble getting in. All he had to do was slip a sleeping draught into the guards' wine. Cautiously, he crept up to the table that had the box perched upon it. He raised the lid.
"Selkiv? What are you doing brother?"
Keptis walked into the room. Selkiv cursed his luck. He prayed to the gods to give him strength to carry out his task.
Selkiv turned to face his brother. Hidden behind his back was a knife.
Alex woke at about 1:00 a.m. His brain wasn't functioning. `Why am I awake?' he thought groggily. Then the answer hit him.
The medallion
It was still in his pocket. Frantically, he tried to pick it up and fling it away.
His head snapped up. His eyes went blank. His legs started moving of their own accord. He walked like one in a trance. He was not aware that he was moving. It was like his mind was asleep, but his body still awake. Once again, he went out the window.
"Selkiv, what are you doing here?" asked Keptis.
"Ah, Keptis," replied Selkiv. "I wished to admire the Medallion. Come, look upon it."
"I have seen the medallion many times, Selkiv."
"It is magnificent, is it not?"
"Yes, it is," said Keptis, drawing nearer.
Selkiv fingered the knife. "Keptis," he said. "Forgive me."
"For what?" asked Keptis, looking up.
"For this!" replied Selkiv, bringing out the knife and plunging it deep into his brother's stomach.
When they realized that Alex was gone, the first thing Rick and Evy did was check the tomb. He was not there. They called the police, but didn't expect to find Alex in a hurry. The Egyptian Police wasn't known for their speed.
In the meanwhile, Rick was checking everywhere. The house, the tomb, and the area surrounding the tomb. He even checked the Cairo museum. But Alex didn't turn up.
Keptis sat slumped against the wall. He stared at his brother in disbelief. Keptis had drawn the dagger out of his stomach, and the wound was bleeding freely. He held his hands to the wound, hoping to staunch the flow of blood, but he knew that death was inevitable.
He watched as Selkiv took the Medallion out of the box and placed it in the pocket of his robes. Selkiv turned to address his brother.
"Eight years, Keptis. I waited eight years to become Pharaoh. When our fool of a father died, I thought I my wait was over. But no, you stole my chance. I waited another year and a half. Nine and a half years, Keptis. But I was patient. I knew my master would deal with you sooner or later."
"Master?" Keptis croaked.
"That's right, my master. You may know him. The leader of the Syrian army."
"It was you! You were passing information to them! That's how they knew our weaknesses!"
"You are very clever, Keptis. Now, I will sit here and watch you die. You don't know how long I've waited for this. And when you are dead, I shall claim that the Syrians killed you. I will use this medallion to wipe out the Syrians and take my place on the throne. You see Keptis, you were not the only one I betrayed."
"You...you shall be punished in the underworld. A dark fate awaits you."
"And furthermore, when you are dead, I shall order that your tomb be built where no one could ever find it. No one shall ever remember Keptis, who stole all the glory that was mine!"
Keptis slumped down lower on the wall.
"Ah, Keptis, are you hurting? It is time for you to go. But before you do, know this. Your tomb shall never be seen, even if I have to dig it myself. My soul will not rest if it is discovered. No man shall ever remember the name Keptis!"
When Rick had checked the tomb, he had not gone into Selkiv's burial chamber, because he didn't know about it. This is where Alex was. He had heard his father shout his name, but could not answer. He was chained to a wall, and a dirty rag was stuffed into his mouth to muffle his yells.
Selkiv sat before him. He was no longer a rotting corpse. He was a mirror image of what he had been 3,000 years before. He removed Alex's gag.
"Did you think you could get away, Keptis?" asked the mummy.
"I am NOT Keptis!"
"How sad it is. Without a past, one has no future. You, Keptis, had a past. I am going to make sure that you have no future. I told you my soul would not rest if you were discovered."
"What are you talking about?"
"Ah yes, you would not know. Well, Keptis, after you died, I was about to claim victory. I had it all. I would blame your death on our enemies, use the medallion to get rid of them, and become pharaoh. So simple, if not for your blasted servant. Atiya saw the whole thing, and ran to get the guards. They apprehended me and put me to death. They laid me to rest down here, where they thought no one would find me. Well, I had worked too hard to be brought down by that. As you can see, Keptis, I have conquered death. And death will conquer you."
"STOP!" yelled a voice.
A boy walked out of the passageway. He looked almost identical to Selkiv. Alex knew who this was. Keptis. And he knew why Keptis looked familiar in his dreams. Keptis' face was identical to his own.
A/N: Ok, I know it's long, but there's still more to come soon. I just have to find time to work on it.
Keptis
Victor Grant had been excavating in the Valley of the Kings for 13 years. He had never found anything. Victor had enough money for one more year of excavation. After that, he would have to find someone to sponsor him. And nobody wanted to give money to a loser.
Victor started work in early October, and for 3 months he found nothing. His only friend was his trusty foreman, Mohammed. In the city, he was considered a poor lowlife. It was a fact that he had no money, that he had wasted it all on a foolish pursuit of a tomb that wasn't there.
Then, one morning, when Victor rode up to the site, he saw that his workmen were not working, but standing huddled in a group. The men wore identical looks of unease. "What has happened?" he asked in Arabic. "Sir," Mohammed replied. "The workers have uncovered a tomb."
"Well, what's the problem? Why haven't you begun excavation?"
"Sir," said Mohammed. "This tomb bears a curse."
The news of the newly discovered tomb spread like wildfire. All the newspapers wanted rights to the story. Victor had more attention now than he ever had in his entire life.
The door of the tomb had been opened, but the passageway was filled with rubble. Victor gave his worker the exhausting and thankless job of clearing it. Every now and then, they would find artifacts among the debris. Small things. Broken pottery, small fragments of wood, and the like. On the walls of the passageway, beautiful pictures of pharaohs and their gods stood out as vividly as they had the day the king was put to rest.
Finally, the workers cleared all the rubble and a door was cleared. Victor found a cartouche on the door. It read: Keptis, Son of Gods. There was more writing, but it had been brutally scratched out.
Victor emerged from the tomb 15 minutes later. "Hey Victor," a voice called out. "Remember me?"
Victor looked up. A man was standing next to the entrance of the tomb. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and Victor thought that he looked vaguely familiar. It wasn't until he saw the tattoo on the man's wrist that he knew who it was.
"Hey, pal," said Victor. "Where you been, O'Connell?"
Victor and O'Connell sat on the balcony of Victor's hotel.
"So, O'Connell," said Victor. "What have you been doing since you left the orphanage?"
"Oh, nothing much."
"That's not what I heard. Last I heard, you were a deserter from the foreign legion. I thought you were hanged a long time ago."
"Nope," said O'Connell. "Still alive. Are you disappointed?"
"Why, because you're alive? I sure am!"
"Ah, shut up."
It was late. The stars shone brightly in the night sky. Victor sat outside his tomb and stared at the moon. He was restless. He was guarding the tomb from thieves. He didn't trust those incompetent morons they called guards. Mohammed lay asleep a few feet away. His snores shattered the still night air.
Victor wandered down into the tomb. He grabbed a pick and began to chip at the door. Soon, he had produced a hole about the size of his hand. He took a candle and inserted it in through the hole. He saw a glint of gold, and then a wall of sand hit him.
Mohammed awoke to screaming. Grabbing a pistol, he ran into the tomb. He found his boss sprawled out beneath the door. He was lifeless, a look of terror on his face. And clutched in his hand was a tiny slab of rock, upon which a name was inscribed: Keptis.
A few miles away, in Cairo, Alex O'Connell woke with a start.
A small boy stands on a balcony, overlooking ancient Thebes.
Keptis.
The boy only looks to be about eight or nine. On his face is a look of nervousness. He is joined by another boy of about the same age.
"What is wrong, Keptis? Are you not well?" asked the boy.
"Selkiv, my brother, father is dead. I am now Pharaoh. " replied Keptis.
"Should you not be happy? You now rule all of Egypt."
"There is unrest. Our enemies hated father. They may see this as an opportunity to invade our glorious country. I am only a child, Selkiv. I cannot defend my home.
"Do not worry. Our armies can crush anything. You will make a good Pharaoh, Keptis."
"Thank you, Selkiv."
The two boys watch the sun rise into the morning sky.
Alex O'Connell had been awake since 3:00 a.m. He had been trying to figure out his dream. There had been two boys, and they had lived in ancient times. One boy had told his brother that he had become Pharaoh. The boy, Keptis, had looked familiar.
The sun had been up for an hour. Alex decided that his parents would be up by then. He wanted to ask them about a pharaoh. A pharaoh named Keptis.
He found his father reading the newspaper. He had a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong, dad?" asked Alex. Rick looked up from his newspaper. "Oh, uh, nothing. Victor Grant died last night."
"The guy who found the tomb?"
"Yeah, that's the one. I knew Victor."
"Really? From where?"
"When we were kids, we were both in the orphanage. Victor's parents were killed in a car crash."
"Oh. Did you ever see him again after the orphanage?"
"Actually, I talked to him yesterday. I was going to bring you to meet him, but I guess that isn't going to happen."
"Oh." There was a pause. "Dad, have you ever heard of a pharaoh named Keptis?"
"No, why?" replied Rick.
"No reason," said Alex, walking away.
The newspapers had been going wild. They screamed `The Curse of the Pharaohs!' The Times was predicting that everyone involved in work on the tombs would die. As a result of this, all the workers quit. Work on the tomb was at a standstill.
"What nonsense, " scoffed Evy O'Connell. "Curse of the Pharaoh my foot!"
"What's wrong with you?" asked Rick.
"Without anyone working at or guarding the tomb, thieves could just walk in and steal anything they can lay their hands on!"
"Well," said Rick. "I was told that they installed a barred door in the passageway."
"These people can get through anything for treasure. Archeologists haven't found half the tombs these thieves have robbed. Shops in Cairo are bursting with stolen antiquities."
"What do you propose would help?"
"They need to get someone to excavate the tomb right away, so that the finds can be moved to a museum faster."
"What are you implying?" asked Rick.
"Well," said Evy. "You DID know Mr. Grant..............."
"No way, Evy, no way. I am not going to demand rights to excavate his tomb just because I knew him when we were kids."
"But..."
"No."
"But..."
"NO!"
Keptis sat at his throne. His vast army's general stood before him.
"Forgive me sir," the general said. "I tried to drive them back, but it was like they knew all of our weak points."
Keptis thought hard. The Syrians had been trying to invade Egypt for a month now. He didn't know how much longer his armies could defend it.
"How could they know?"
"I do not know, your majesty. We tried to defeat them, but they drove us back."
"Very well. Take your leave."
Keptis knew he wasn't qualified to be Pharaoh. He was only nine years old. And the entire country was counting on him.
It had been a week since Victor had died, and Rick had gotten the papers to excavate the tomb. He had finally given in to Evy's wishes to clear the tomb. Rick also noticed that Alex was acting strange. He always looked tired, and he was trying to find anything he could on someone named Keptis.
On the day that Rick was to begin excavation, Alex insisted on coming with him. Rick tried to explain that he wouldn't be allowed to come into the tomb, as it was too dangerous, and that he would have to wait all day outside, but Alex didn't care. So Rick found a spot with a little shade and told Alex to sit there.
"And whatever you do," said Rick. "Don't come down into the tomb."
Rick was busy widening the hole that Victor had made in the door when he felt a tug on his shirtsleeve. He looked down and saw Alex.
"Alex! I thought I told you to stay up there!"
"You did, dad, but I've found........."
"I don't care what you've found, get back up there."
"But..."
"No buts."
"But I found out who Keptis is!"
"See, here's his cartouche," said Alex, pointing out the hieroglyphics on the wall. "I think it says `Keptis, Son of Gods.'"
"How did you know about Keptis, anyway?" asked Rick.
"He was in my dreams. I saw him when he first became pharaoh, and in another dream, he was worried about Syrians invading Thebes."
"But you've never heard his name before your dreams? That seems unlikely."
"It's true. He..."
"Enough! We'll get your mother down here tomorrow to try and decipher some of these hieroglyphics. Right now, lets go dismiss the workmen and go home."
Evy was fascinated by the description of the cartouche. "It seems," she said. "That we have found out the occupant of the tomb."
"Mum," said Alex. "There was more to the cartouche, but it was scratched off."
"Hmm. Perhaps by enemies of the king."
"Yeah! In my dream, Keptis was worried about Syrians. Maybe that's who did it!"
"Alex, your dream was a coincidence, nothing more. It is highly unlikely that the Syrians bothered themselves with desecrating the king's tomb."
"But..."
"Just a coincidence. Nothing more. Now it's getting late. Run off to bed.
"Ok."
Alex dreamed again that night.
Fifty guards stood huddled around the young pharaoh. Selkiv stood next to the king of Egypt. Keptis held a plain, wooden box.
"In this box, there is the one thing that can save Egypt," said Keptis, opening the box. Inside, there laid a medallion fashioned of gold. On it, a lion was inscribed. "The Medallion of Selket," said Keptis, "Is the only force that can render our enemy forces helpless."
One of the guards fell to his knees. "My King, I beg of you, do not use the medallion! You will bring back the curse of Selket, the Stalking Lion. Have you forgotten the early days of Egypt, when no man would venture out of his home for fear of the beast? The streets ran red with blood! I beg of you, do not let that monster destroy the society we have worked so hard for!"
"Get off your knees!" snapped Selkiv. "You are in the presence of Pharaoh! And you dare defy him?"
"That is enough, Selkiv." Said Keptis. "My friend," he said, addressing the guard. "The Gods will be in favor of us. Whomsoever wears the medallion can control the Mighty Selket. Our enemie will lay slain on the battlefield. I suggest we all retire to our bedchambers. It has been a long and exhausting day."
Keptis stood, and the guards departed. Keptis walked in the direction of his room. But Selkiv lingered in the throne room. He inched his way towards the box, which lay on a table. Gently, he opened the lid.
Once again, Alex found himself sitting outside of the tomb. Having become bored, he had borrowed a small shovel and begun digging absentmindedly beside the tomb door. He was mumbling angrily to himself. "Too dangerous my foot! I bet I could help down there. I bet I could find something, I could..." He heard a CLUNK as his shovel hit something hard. He began to dig with his hands. He felt something square. He began to scrape away dirt with his hands.
Alex soon found a box. Obviously, the hot desert sand had preserved the wood, because the box was perfectly intact. Opening the lid, he found a circle made of gold attached to a gold chain. There was a picture of a lion on it.
"Whoa. Wait till I show mum and dad. They'll go wild!"
`But why show them?' said a voice.
Alex looked around. There was nobody around him.
`Why not just keep it?' asked the voice. `They would just shove it into a museum.'
Alex couldn't find where the voice was coming from. He looked back at the medallion.
`Go on. Keep it,' said the voice. `You know you want to. It would look good on you, Keptis."
Alex didn't know what was happening. He thought that the voice had called him Keptis. But he wasn't Keptis. Keptis lived three thousand years ago.
`Just keep it,' the voice went on.
`Yes,' thought Alex. `Just keep it. It's not that important a find. I'll just stick it in my pocket and...'
"You found anything?"
Alex snapped out of his stupor. Rick was standing over him. He looked down and saw that he had put the medallion in his pocket.
"Not much," he heard himself say. "Just an empty box."
"Well, we seem to have found the occupant of this tomb. Keptis, or whatever his name was."
"Really? Can I go see?"
"Well...Maybe tomorrow. Right now, lets go home. It's getting dark."
As Alex walked away from the tomb, the breeze seemed to whisper to him. It seemed to say `Nice job, young Keptis.'
It was late. At least midnight. Alex stood at the window, staring with unseeing eyes.
`Put on the medallion,' the voice commanded.
Alex didn't know why he obeyed the voice. But he put it on. He felt his muscles tighten, and a sort of electrical shock ran through him. `Well done, Keptis.' Said the voice. Alex heard it very clearly. It was inside his head.
Then the voice was commanding him, telling him to climb out the window. He didn't want to, but the voice was controlling him. He disappeared out the window and into the night.
"Selkiv? What are you doing?"
Selkiv let the lid of the box drop. A guard marched up to him. This wasn't just any guard. This was Keptis' most trusted servant. His name was Atiya, and he would do anything for Keptis.
"I wished to look upon the medallion," said Selkiv.
"You should retire to your bedchamber. It is late."
"Yes, Atiya, you are right. I am tired. I should sleep."
When Alex did not show up at breakfast, Rick and Evy went to his room. "Alex?" Evy called. There was no answer. Rick tried the doorknob, and found it open. They opened the door to find his room empty. A breeze wafted in through his open window.
Alex stood in a long, stone corridor. He was facing a doorway. He proceeded through it. It led into a burial chamber. Alex walked up to a stone sarcophagus. The lid had been taken off. He peered over the edge and found himself staring at the face of a mummy.
"Here, young one, you see my foolish brother. He died at the tender age of nine. But I can assure you, his death was no accident. I killed him myself. Alex looked up. The voice in his head told him to walk to the corner of the chamber. There was a pit there. Alex tried to stop his legs from moving, but the voice had total control over him. He walked forward and fell into the pit. He landed on his arm and heard it snap, but he could feel nothing.
At the bottom of the pit, there was another passageway. The voice told him to walk down it, and his body obeyed. He entered the chamber at the end. It was another burial chamber, but it looked as if it had been dug in a hurry. The walls were jagged and bore none of the paintings that the other burial chamber had.
There was a sarcophagus in here too. There was no lid in sight. Alex looked over the side and stared into the face of another mummy, similar in size to the first one.
`And here, small one,' said the voice inside his head. "Here is where they laid me to rest. You see that the going is rough. The fools hoped that no one would find me. Well, they have not succeeded. I shall once again be free. I shall once again have the power my brother stole from me!'
Alex felt a searing pain in his head. He doubled over with pain. A bolt of electricity cut through him like a knife. And, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The only pain that remained was from his arm, which had been broken in the fall.
Alex looked up. Before him stood a mummy. It was alive.
"Who are you? Why am I here?" asked Alex.
"You do not recognize me?" asked the mummy. "It is I, Selkiv, your brother. How could you not remember me, Keptis?"
"I'm not Keptis!"
"You are. Ah, Keptis, you have forgotten your past."
"I'm NOT Keptis!"
"Do not argue with me. I shall slay you, your highness."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Alex said defiantly.
"Really? Then it is time to remind you who you are!"
A blinding pain shot through him. He passed out. When he awoke, he was in his bed.
The workers had gone to the tomb, as usual. When they could not find their employer, O'Connell, they supposed he was already in the tomb. They walked into the burial chamber, which was deserted.
Then, an eerie moan drifted up from the pit in the corner. The workers had lowered a lantern to see what was down there. The dim light allowed them to see a boy sprawled out at the bottom. One of the workers recognized him. He had seen him talking to O'Connell.
They lowered ropes and brought the boy out of the pit. They had been carrying him through the passageway when they had bumped into O'Connell who had been headed into the tomb. He had been making sure that his son hadn't snuck out to explore the tomb.
Rick had taken Alex back to the house, where they had called a doctor. A cast was put on Alex's arm, but the doctor could find nothing else wrong with the boy.
Rick set out for the tomb at about noon. The workers had probably, as he put it, `robbed the place blind'.
When he reached the tomb, the workers were standing huddled at the entrance. "What is wrong?" Rick shouted.
"Sir," replied one of the workers. "The mummy is missing."
The workers led Rick into the burial chamber. One man pointed to the pit. "That is where we found your son. And here," he said, pointing to the sarcophagus. "Is where the mummy was. It doesn't appear to be there anymore, does it?"
Rick sighed. He knew that the workers had probably carried off the mummy of Keptis, but he couldn't prove it. "It appears that there can be nothing more done here. You may go home now."
A man sat in a tent. He was tall, and he wore a clean, white robe. In his hand, he clenched a golden scepter. Before the man, on a stool, sat Selkiv.
"Tell me, what is his majesty up to?" asked the man, addressing Selkiv.
"My fool of a brother enlists the help of a magic medallion. It is said that it can wipe out five hundred armies."
"And what does this medallion do?"
"It unleashes a gigantic Lion who revels in bloodshed. It is said that whoever wears the medallion controls the beast."
"And does it work?"
"I am led to believe that it does."
"We cannot have this. Steal it."
"And if I am discovered by my brother?"
"Kill him immediately."
There is a pause. Selkiv's face bears a look of surprise.
"Yes, my lord," replies Selkiv. And he walked out of the tent. The tent belonged to the general of the Syrian army.
By the following morning, Alex is allowed to get out of bed. Having checked his pockets the day before, he had found the medallion. Alex was not permitted to go to the tomb, because of the cast on his arm, or so his parents said. He didn't mind this. He never wanted to go back to that awful tomb.
The night before, he had heard his dad rant about how the mummy, Keptis, had gone missing. Alex was puzzled. Did that mean that both mummies were gone, or just Keptis? He assumed that no one had found Selkiv's burial chamber yet, so he had no way of knowing whether Selkiv's mummy was also missing.
After a quick dinner, in which Alex had eaten almost nothing, he went to bed. He was surprisingly tired. It was hard to sleep when he couldn't move his arm, but sleep finally overcame him.
Selkiv once again found himself in the throne room. He had no trouble getting in. All he had to do was slip a sleeping draught into the guards' wine. Cautiously, he crept up to the table that had the box perched upon it. He raised the lid.
"Selkiv? What are you doing brother?"
Keptis walked into the room. Selkiv cursed his luck. He prayed to the gods to give him strength to carry out his task.
Selkiv turned to face his brother. Hidden behind his back was a knife.
Alex woke at about 1:00 a.m. His brain wasn't functioning. `Why am I awake?' he thought groggily. Then the answer hit him.
The medallion
It was still in his pocket. Frantically, he tried to pick it up and fling it away.
His head snapped up. His eyes went blank. His legs started moving of their own accord. He walked like one in a trance. He was not aware that he was moving. It was like his mind was asleep, but his body still awake. Once again, he went out the window.
"Selkiv, what are you doing here?" asked Keptis.
"Ah, Keptis," replied Selkiv. "I wished to admire the Medallion. Come, look upon it."
"I have seen the medallion many times, Selkiv."
"It is magnificent, is it not?"
"Yes, it is," said Keptis, drawing nearer.
Selkiv fingered the knife. "Keptis," he said. "Forgive me."
"For what?" asked Keptis, looking up.
"For this!" replied Selkiv, bringing out the knife and plunging it deep into his brother's stomach.
When they realized that Alex was gone, the first thing Rick and Evy did was check the tomb. He was not there. They called the police, but didn't expect to find Alex in a hurry. The Egyptian Police wasn't known for their speed.
In the meanwhile, Rick was checking everywhere. The house, the tomb, and the area surrounding the tomb. He even checked the Cairo museum. But Alex didn't turn up.
Keptis sat slumped against the wall. He stared at his brother in disbelief. Keptis had drawn the dagger out of his stomach, and the wound was bleeding freely. He held his hands to the wound, hoping to staunch the flow of blood, but he knew that death was inevitable.
He watched as Selkiv took the Medallion out of the box and placed it in the pocket of his robes. Selkiv turned to address his brother.
"Eight years, Keptis. I waited eight years to become Pharaoh. When our fool of a father died, I thought I my wait was over. But no, you stole my chance. I waited another year and a half. Nine and a half years, Keptis. But I was patient. I knew my master would deal with you sooner or later."
"Master?" Keptis croaked.
"That's right, my master. You may know him. The leader of the Syrian army."
"It was you! You were passing information to them! That's how they knew our weaknesses!"
"You are very clever, Keptis. Now, I will sit here and watch you die. You don't know how long I've waited for this. And when you are dead, I shall claim that the Syrians killed you. I will use this medallion to wipe out the Syrians and take my place on the throne. You see Keptis, you were not the only one I betrayed."
"You...you shall be punished in the underworld. A dark fate awaits you."
"And furthermore, when you are dead, I shall order that your tomb be built where no one could ever find it. No one shall ever remember Keptis, who stole all the glory that was mine!"
Keptis slumped down lower on the wall.
"Ah, Keptis, are you hurting? It is time for you to go. But before you do, know this. Your tomb shall never be seen, even if I have to dig it myself. My soul will not rest if it is discovered. No man shall ever remember the name Keptis!"
When Rick had checked the tomb, he had not gone into Selkiv's burial chamber, because he didn't know about it. This is where Alex was. He had heard his father shout his name, but could not answer. He was chained to a wall, and a dirty rag was stuffed into his mouth to muffle his yells.
Selkiv sat before him. He was no longer a rotting corpse. He was a mirror image of what he had been 3,000 years before. He removed Alex's gag.
"Did you think you could get away, Keptis?" asked the mummy.
"I am NOT Keptis!"
"How sad it is. Without a past, one has no future. You, Keptis, had a past. I am going to make sure that you have no future. I told you my soul would not rest if you were discovered."
"What are you talking about?"
"Ah yes, you would not know. Well, Keptis, after you died, I was about to claim victory. I had it all. I would blame your death on our enemies, use the medallion to get rid of them, and become pharaoh. So simple, if not for your blasted servant. Atiya saw the whole thing, and ran to get the guards. They apprehended me and put me to death. They laid me to rest down here, where they thought no one would find me. Well, I had worked too hard to be brought down by that. As you can see, Keptis, I have conquered death. And death will conquer you."
"STOP!" yelled a voice.
A boy walked out of the passageway. He looked almost identical to Selkiv. Alex knew who this was. Keptis. And he knew why Keptis looked familiar in his dreams. Keptis' face was identical to his own.
A/N: Ok, I know it's long, but there's still more to come soon. I just have to find time to work on it.