Chapter 4: The Story on the Wall
With the reunification of Egypt by the Eleventh Dynasty kings, a century of disorder ended and the Middle Kingdom is considered to have begun…And in general we know this period best through other sources of information then through it's architectural monuments. There are several reasons why, the first and foremost being that they were largely destroyed. Then, too, the kings of this epoch- in particular, those of the Twelfth dynasty, the most representative of the Middle Kingdom- pursued a different policy in their relations with the various forces in the country and, in so doing, did not inspire the construction of temples and other fine buildings…As for the temples, if those of the Old Kingdom were badly preserved, those of the Middle Kingdom are all but unknown…This is because the succeeding period, the New Kingdom, (in particular, the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties) was one of intense building activity, and very often the older structures were profoundly changed, incorporated into new buildings, or even demolished. (Barocas pg. 49) In what historic-political situation did the Middle Kingdom pharaohs develop? The Eleventh Dynasty kings who founded the Middle Kingdom, the Mentuhoteps, in their successful attempt to strengthen the central power that could support an effective royal presence in the country, had to begin on a substantially different political basis that that of the Old Kingdom…As far as we can deduce, the Mentuhoteps met this challenge by taking advantage of the inevitable conflicts that arose between one principality and another. The Middle Kingdom pharaohs' final victory must have been essentially military. (Barocas pg. 50)
This structure was unlike anything else Champollion had ever seen. It was not a temple, nor was it a tomb, but somehow some strange combination of the two. And corridor after corridor was covered with writing, row upon row of hieroglyphs and illustrations. The Professor translated as much as he could in his head, and what he could not translate he made rubbings of to translate later. And the story they told was nothing short of incredible…
It was true; the Eleventh Dynasty Pharaoh's reclaimed their power through a good deal of political cunning. However, their founder, Mentuhotep I, was not a royal by blood. He was a scholar, a scribe-in-training, and he was a master of the ancient texts. He read scroll after scroll of powerful spells, and became a mighty sorcerer, although he was forced to pursue his studies in secret, because he was not a priest, and the secrets of the magic world were not to be opened to him. However, with the discovery of a hidden library within an Old Kingdom tomb, he found secrets beyond his wildest dreams; the location of Narmer's tomb. There were scrolls of ritual, instructions on how to tap the power of Narmer. There were warnings there also…dire ones, which spoke of great disaster and urged the power of the shadow realm never be released again, lest it consume the world. Giddy, ignoring the threats and with the forbidden spells to guide him, Mentuhotep located the ruin of the tomb, half within the real world, half out of it. There he performed the long, difficult ritual that unlocked the fabric of reality, and opened the porthole to the dark way.
The monsters engraved on the tablets in the Temples across the land began to move, fight. With no one to command them, they flew through the halls of their temples, little more then phantom banshees. However there were those that were strong enough to perceive the single call. They followed it the way a blind man follows a guiding voice, and when the appeared the sorcerer enslaved them, binding them to his will so they could be summoned at any time.
At first the sorcerer was ecstatic with the results of his spells. His magic webs had snared the most powerful monsters in the land; there were none who could stop him now! His enthusiasm faded a little when he saw that although the monsters were effective against each other, even the strongest monsters had little had over inhabitants of the real world, in particular, humans. Still, on this night the sorcerer-scribe's power had just opened the dark way, and could do whatever he pleased for a short amount of time. The phantom creatures came from all over the lands to answer his call, and his power was such that…
"The sorcerer called Ra from the heavens, and in the form of a huge golden dragon the god annihilated the old palace, and the weak pharaoh…and it was declared the will of the gods that this man should be king, and took the name Mentuhotep, out of respect for the city of Menthos, capital founded by Narmer himself."
Champollion was enthralled. Sarah and Alex's eyes were very big. Going through the temple was slow, because they stopped to read every single inscription.
"Is this a legend, or a history?" asked Sarah.
"This is nuts…" muttered Alex.
"Sarah, monsters coming to life? A little hard to believe, I think this here is a legend," said Champollion, moving on to the next wall. "There's more…"
The texts on this area spoke of how, with this newfound power, the new Pharaoh eliminated most of those who worked against him, replacing them with second-sons who feared his power and owed him their positions. And Mentuhotep continued to seek out the most powerful of the shadow creatures. A law was passed that all monsters with an attack above a certain level fall under the direct jurisdiction of the king and must be given to His Majesty as a gesture of obedience and goodwill. For those courageous few who resisted, there was one alternative. The nomarch could challenge the Pharaoh to a "duel," his strongest magics against the King's. If the nomarch won, the king would grant whatever request the victor might have. If the king won, the nomarch and the oldest son and daughter of his family would be sent into the chaos of the shadow realm forever, and all the dueling magics in the nome would be offered to the pharaoh in peace tribute. In this way, all those who would oppose the new rule were banished into darkness, and with every soul imprisoned the power of the king and his monsters grew greater.
The three moved on to the next wall. This one was a recounting of the origin of the dueling magics.
They were as old as Egypt itself, called from the shadow world by the great magician Narmer.
"Narmer was the first king of unified Egypt!" exclaimed Sarah.
Alex was spooked. The feeling that he knew this story was getting stronger and stronger every second.
"Yes…" mused the professor.
Apparently, Narmer had been a Borderline, a person who existed on both the human and the shadow plane. He had found a way to ensnare the powers of the shadow realm, summoning huge monsters of battle to his aid. However, after the unification of the North and South was complete, Narmer placed the monster-stones used to call upon the power of the shadow-beasts in the floors of many temples throughout the land, and forbid the people to even touch them. They were soon forgotten.
Until Mentuhotep I unlocked the shadow gate.
"This cannot be," said Champollion, "if these stones do exist, why have we never found them in any of the other temples?"
"Keep reading," said Sarah. "Maybe it explains."
They however, they had finished reading all the walls in this room. Time to move to the next one, and see what secrets that one had to divulge…
What else was this place hiding?
Upon the bluff, the young man with the hieroglyph tattoo was livid. Turning to his companion, he said, "You are just going to let this happen? You are going to let these thieves take it? Take him?"
The man in the turban slowly opened his eyes. His black eyes seemed to probe deep into the soul, unforgiving and fierce. "The pharaoh is stirring."
The tattooed man gave a start. "Wha-what? He's waking up?"
"I did not say that," said the turbaned man. "No, he sleeps still. However, he is responding." He was quiet for a long time. Then, "If it is truly the will of the Pharaoh, then these are no thieves. If not, kill them."
The tattooed young man, scarcely more then a boy, turned back to watching. His deep blue eyes were on fire.
"Mon dieu…" exclaimed Professor Champollion for what felt like the hundredth time, staring at the next enormous obstacle: the heavy stone door, bearing the symbol of the eye, decorated with the insignias of strange monsters.
Sarah looked at Alex. He met her gaze, sighed, and rolled up the sleeves of his khaki shirt. "Guess it's my turn," he said. "Step away doc."
Confused, Champollion stepped aside, watching.
The youth approached the door. He inspected it for a second, spat on his hands, rubbed them together, and gave the "iris" a hearty shove. It moaned, creaked, then the door opened with much rumbling of the earth.
Up on the bluff, the turbaned man held his ankh. "So, it is true then. They have found him at last."
Exactly what they had "found," was a truth and a story more soul shaking then anything anyone could have imagined.
(End chapter 4)