I do't own Mummies Alive! or any of the characters.
I want to start giving a huge thank you to small-myth for being the first review and favorite in my story. I was itching to post a new chapter but was waiting for someone to give their opinion first.
This chapter is going to have some major changes in the order of scenes. The original episode starts with the real world and the events that lead to the bite. In this rewrite however it will start by the dream and all that happened before will be presented as a flashback.
If any part is too confusing please tell me and I will fix it.
To make things easier to undertand I marked some words:
Those in Bold are spells.
In Italic is every action and thought of Eve/Hatshet controlled by the dream.
Episode 3: Bitten to the past
I am Princess Hatshet of the Egypt. Only daughter of Paraoh Amenotheph.
...No! I am not! I am Evelyn Jones from San Francisco!
The long haired girl in royal dress ran as fast as she could from the city behind her. Putting as much distance possible between she and the capital of the Egypt.
Why am I running? I should be preparing for my studies!
...No, I shouldn't! I have to leave here! How can I leave this place?!
Her current headache was only getting worse as the two parts of her battled inside her head.
When that day started, she could swear she was princess Hatshet but... something was off. She didn't felt like she belonged there. After breakfast with her mom, something in her mind seemed to break free. It was when the name Eve stuck in her head. Soon she realized that that's who she really was, Eve. But what was she doing here?
The other part of her was still sticking to the ideia that she really was Hatshet, and that she should just keep to her day routine as usual. But her "Eve-part" wouldn't allow it. Something was terrible wrong and she needed to figure it out. Being around all those strange people didn't made her feel better.
The girl only stopped running when her path was interrupted by a river. She fell on her knees, by the edge of it. She placed her hands on her head shaking it in a desesperate attempt to ease the pain in her head.
"...What's going on?" She mumbles in her breath.
"...It's what you have to find out." A voice answers. Eve was confused, It was her voice but it wasn't coming from her own mouth nor her mind.
Her eyes turn to look at her reflection on the river, to her surprise, the image was staring back at her... with her hands crossed in front of her. It was a different pose from hers!
"You... talked to me?" After a moment of shock Eve asks the reflection.
"Four of your friends are mummies alive, you own a cat that's a mummie too also an evil sorcerer is trying to get your soul, and now you are surprised that your reflection can talk?" The reflections voice carried sarcasm.
"Well, yes. It's still weird." Eve answers as her reflection smirks in satisfaction. The reflection knew that If Eve was still being totally affected by her dream, she wouldn't have recognized that her friends are mummies in the modern days. It meant that her mind was breaking free from whatever was trying to trap it.
"...So you remember your real identity. Good. But you will need to remember more to escape this place." The reflection explains in a serious tone. It was important for Eve to understand their situation. "The only way for us to end this illusion is to know how it started."
"And how do I do that?" Eve eagerly asked, feeling hopeful.
"You need to concentrate. Desconect from everything that is around you. It was a good decision for you to leave the palace, that place was full of distractions to keep you unconscious." The reflection informed her.
"Wait a second!" Eve interrupts. "First of all, who are you? You aren't me! At least not completely. I am not talking to myself, am I?... are you the real Hatshet?" Eve wonders.
"I am not Ratshet. You are. I am just a manifestation of the part of you that remembers your past life. I am only able to appear when you are unconscious, I made you dream about our past to warn you about what was to come. Technically you really are talking to yourself." The reflection, or how Eve decided to nickname it-MirrorShet, explains.
"So the dream that I had with Ja-kal was you?" Eve asks just to be sure.
"Yes. I was trying for a long time to recreate a complete memory on your mind but the only things that I archived were flashes of sand. At least I managed to show one memory to you before the museum incident, It that was a small victory for me." MirrorShet turns more stern. "That's why I was able to recognize when another thing was trying to influence your dreams as I was. Unfortunately, I couldn't get in contact with you unless you started to break free by yourself. Thank gods you did it alone." She told the last part with relief.
"You said I have to remember..." As her question of who MirrorShet was had been answered. Eve turned back to the situation at hand.
"The only way of knowing how to end something is to understand how it started. Concentrate and remember, Evelyn Jones." MirrorShet commands in a authoritarian voice, making her seem even more like the princess.
Closing her eyes Eve took a deep breath and tried to ignore everything around her, except for MirrorShet's voice. It took some moments of concentration but she managed to clear her mind.
"Focus on your identity as Evelyn Jones and your life. What do you remember doing before waking up here?" MirrorShet asks slowly in an attempt to keep Eve calm.
Eve's face squirms as she tries to remember but nothing comes.
"I can't remember!" Eve exclaims, still keeping her eyes closed.
"Then what's the last thing you can remember?"
Eve mind went through her first meeting with the mummies and her travel with her mom and it keept going. Her days after that were calm until...
...One morning, when she heard one of her mother's phone calls from work during their breakfast. They had been eating together when someone called and her mother had to interrupt her lunch to answer. She left the table but was still on the room, so Eve could still hear her.
"No. I don't think it's going to take that long." Amanda said to someone on the phone, after the person on the other side responds she continued. "...We can talk more about this after the demolition the Sphinx ends."
For the second time on a month, Eve almost chocked on milk. Those were terrible news! The Sphinx was the only safe place for the mummies! And they had just finished fixing the place to make it their home! She couldn't let the demolition happen!
In a hurry, she finished eating her food and got up from the table as soon as her mom had finished the call. She rose and eyebow at Eve's apparent nervousness while she got her backpack.
"Where are you going?" Amanda asks.
"I have to... give Walter some homework from school he missed." Eve quickly explained. She was getting better at creating excuses for her mom. She wasn't proud of it but was necessary.
She left the house, got on her skateboard and rode it to the Sphinx. She reached the destination some minutes later.
There was a secret passage they had created close to the left back leg of the structure. It was marked by a small eye draw on the wall, it was small so nobody would see it if wasn't looking for it.
Eve's amulet glowed as a passage opened in front of her. Another precaution for nobody to enter the mummies lair was that only magical artifacts could open the passage, as the Eye of Ra.
Eve got inside and the passage closed behind her. She walked a corredor illuminated by some lights on the wall, by the end of it there was some stairs that lead to the second floor, where the mummies lived. She fastened her steps as she reached the entrance of the lair.
"Hey,guys I'm..."
She didn't got to finish as her body suddenly was thrown against the wall and something pinned her there.
"...here."
Eve realized it was Ja-kal, he was holding was looked like an arrow, ready to strike the intruder. That was until he realized I was her. His expression turned to one of regret and he lowered the weapon.
"Evelyn, it's you! Oh... my apologies Young Princess."
"Oh! No no! It's my fault! I should have knocked or something." She didn't want let him blame himself. When her words didn't work she decided to joke a little. "...Maybe we could install a doorbell or something like that."
"This new life is requiring some adjustments." Ja-kal admits.
"...It must be strange just to wake up one day as a mummy 3500 years into the future." Eve said thoughtful.
"...Yes. Everything seems to work a different way now. It feels like yesterday I was teaching you... I mean you as princess Ratshet, about the world and now you know more about it then I do. Still, we must adapt to this new world quickly if we want to be able to protect you."
"Don't he so harsh on yourself. You guys already saved me twice and nothing bad happened. As long as you guys keep hidden, everything will be alright." She remembers the reason she went there in the first place. "About that, there is something you guys need to know."
"What is it?" He asks, getting more serious.
"It's better if I tell everyone at the same time. Where are the others?"
He points to where Rath was. He apparently was fixing something on the Hot-Ra. He had been making adjustments on it since the battle in the forest, so it wouldn't stop in a critical moment again.
"Hey, Rath. The key you gave me is working great." She said while holding the amulet in the palm of her hand.
"It's not a key. It is an..." He starts but Eve rolls her eyes and talks before him. She already knew exactly what the amulet was.
"...Eye of Ra amulet. An artifact that you charged with special energies that you found on the Paraoh's scrolls. It hides my presence from Scarab and is a way of summoning you guys if I am in trouble." Rath just stared at her, a little annoyed that she interrupted him but still proud that she remembers everything he explained to her. "... But technically it's still a key to open the passage. So I wasn't wrong."
"It's good that you understand the importance of the amulet but please don't interrupt me again." Rath corrects her, sounding like a teacher instructing a student.
"...Sorry." She apologized. She wasn't trying to desrespect him, it's just that she didn't want to hear Rath's explanation over again.
"Hey, Rath. Can you hurry up a little?" It was only when he talked that Eve noticed Armon holding the back of the vehicle.
"I'm already finished." Rath simply tells him, not even looking back.
Armon immediately let's go off the car and stands up. He turns to Eve.
"Eve, did you bring the Mr. Beefy burgers?" He asks eagerly.
She takes her backpack from her back and reached on it to take out packing with a logo on it. She gives it to him and he grabs it from her hands.
"I got four of them." She starts but he only half listened as he eats all the burgers at once. "one for each... one of you..." She trailed off as he chew and swallows all of them. He was supposed to share with the others. Next time, she will just give him his part and keep another packing with the food for the others to give them later.
"...Nevermind." She prefered not to complain about his manners. But decided to give him a tip. "They teaste better if you take the wrappings of before eating them."
"Really?" He asks as he starts to take off his own wrappings from his body.
Eve let's out a giggle.
"Armon, That's not what I meant." She shakes her hand in denial.
She was about to get back to the subject of the demolition when the plataform around the car rose around them, carrying them to the next level of the structure.
"... Alright, that wasn't here last time I visited. What is it for?" She asks letting curiosity get the best of her.
"I am getting ready to test the lunching ramp." Rath explains.
They get to next floor, and Rath walks out of the plataform. Eve would follow him but she heard steps and noticed Nefertina arriving running in the direction of the car.
"Greetings, Eve." Nefertina jumps inside the car, excited for the test. " Time to rinse and repeat."
It was nice seeing that nefertina was adapting to the use of some expressions but she still was wrong and Eve couldn't help but correct her.
"That's rock and roll."
Eve's comment only makes the mummy roll her eyes.
"Whatever."
Rath activates a huge lever and the plataform starts moving again, just this time down.
Eve's heart almost jumped from her chest when the ramp plummeted abruptly.
"Nefertina!" Eve yells in worry. She and Rath look down to see if she was injured. "Nefertina! Are you alright?"
To their easement, they see her down the plataform with a smile on her face. She was totally unharmed.
"Wow! Do it again!" She exclaims holding her hands up in excitement.
Eve got all the mummies together to make her announcement, they reunited in the underground level of the lair. Finally the reincarnated princess had the opportunity to tell them the bad news.
"We have a problem. I head my mom say that the museum decided to tear down the Sphinx." She informs them.
As she expected, their reaction was of shock.
"What?" They exclaimed in unison.
"We just got used to live here and now we will have to leave?" Nefertina protests.
"I hope not. We will have to stop the demolition some..." She was cut off as the hole structure shook and a loud bang echoed around the room.
"...Evelyn, did your mother mentioned the date of the demolition?" Rath asked after a moment of silence.
"I didn't thought it would start that soon! The bulldozers must already be outside!" Eve answered in panic.
The ground shakes again before Ja-kal decided how to react. He turns serious and gives the team instructions.
"Protect the princess. I will handle those dozing bulls." He turned and climbed a ladder that leads to one of the secret escape routes they made around the Sphinx.
Eve would have stopped him but he was too fast.
"Wait! You can't just show yourself infront of them!" To her dismay he already had left.
"Don't worry, Eve. Ja-kal knows what he is doing." Nefertina said.
"I am not sure about that..." Eve murmurs as she climbs the same ladder after him.
"Eve, wait!" The others follow right behind her.
As the four of them got out, they heard screams and turned to see Ja-kal make an terrifying face and let out a roar to scare a second worker. The two workers left the scene screaming in terror.
"Okay... that's new. I didn't knew you guys could do that. Even I got chills." She admits as she felt goosebumps on the arm. "How did you do that?"
"I am not sure myself." Ja-kal answers and turns to Rath. "Rath, what happened to me?"
"It's... hum... it's too complicated to explain right now." Rath cross his arms on his chest, clearly as confused as Ja-kal.
Eve bit back a remark as she had already offended him earlier and preferred not doing that again. Ironically Armon voiced her thought.
"He doesn't know ether." Armon whispers to Eve and they share a quiet laugh.
"I heard that." Rath turns to them offended.
"We are ready to the next assault but where are the bulls?" Ja-kal said in a fighting pose. The guardians were ready for battle.
"Not bulls. Bulldozers." Eve pointed to the two machines on the ground. "They are used to demolish old or unwanted buildings." She explained.
"Just give me enough room to swing." Armon lifted his arm ready to destroy machine. Eve stopped him by getting in front of him.
"No! They will just send more. But I know a better way to save the Sphinx." Eve told them.
"How?"
Eve smirks.
"A protest."
Eve interrupts her narration as her memory starts to blurr and twist inside her head.
"And then...?" MirrorShet asks wanting more.
"It's... getting more difficult to remember." She was feeling tired after forcing her mind to remember so much. It was exhausting to fight against the force keeping her there.
"I know it's hard but you need to keep concentrating. You are almost there. Don't give up!" MirrorShet incentived her.
Eve took some deep breaths and tried to remember more. It was like something was purposely blocking that specific part of her memories.
"I can't! It's too hard!" Eve exclaims in frustration, her body yelling for her to stop.
"...You said you suggested an protest. Why?" MirrorShet asks, trying to get the gears in Eve's mind to function again.
"Because without the mummies in the exhibition, the Sphinx was the most commented attraction of the museum. Many people would like it to be kept there. So it wouldn't be hard to gather some people..."
She felt herself being pushed back to her memories of the day of the protest.
The protest occurred by the afternoon, Eve got in touch with other people that were revolted with the Sphinx destruction and they reunited to protest infront of the museum.
Eve had to fight not to laugh when other Protestants praised her guardians "costumes". In fact she was looking like a mummy too. She tied some wrappings around herself so she wouldn't be recognized by her mother. People praised her costume too, but not as much as the others. She didn't mind, it was nice to see her friends interacting with other people for once. Rath even blushed when praised once!
People kept repeating 'Save the Sphinx' over and over again. They held their signs high so everyone could see. Even the mÃdia was covering the event, a news channel crew had been filming them for sometime.
"We attack them with those wooden standers?" Armon asks gesturing to his sign as he walked next to Eve across the crowd.
"It's called a sign and you carry it. Not hit with it." Eve explains with a small smile on her face. She was content they managed to gather so many people in a little time.
"What a strange way to fight..." Armon comments a little confused.
"Trust me. It's going to work, I know it." She smiles at him before hearing a familiar voice.
It was her mother and her boss. They were at the entrance of the museum.
"Yes, Mr. Mayor. The protesters will be removed imediatatly. No one disrupts my museum. Consider it done." Mr. Hepplewhite said on the phone after he hangs up, he gave the phone to Amanda. "Here. Don't make them mad."
"Me?" Amanda was taken back as the responsibly was placed on her.
In the crowd, Eve watched in anger. That idiot was always pushing the work to her mother and when things didn't work out she was the one blamed! He leaves work early for "heath problems" and her mother have to work till late! For a second she considered hitting the idiot in the face with her sign.
"What are you looking at?" Armon was still next to her and noticed her gaze focus on a specific direction.
"... It's just that my mother's boss is making mom do his work again. I hate when he does that, makes me furious!" She confesses to him, deciding to be sincere with her friend.
Armon turned to look in the same direction as Eve and for some reason he looked shocked with something.
"That woman is your mother?" He then asks her. Eve was confused by his reaction but answers.
"Yes... Why?"
"She looks just like Ahhoshet." He answers but just makes her more confused.
"Who?" She rose an eyebow.
"Princess Hatshet's mother, the queen of Egypt."
Eve was shocked by his response. A thought came to her mind: if she was the reincarnation of the princess is it possible that her mother is...? She didn't even finished that thought, quickly shaking her head to forget it. It wasn't possible. It would be too much of a confidence to be possible.
Her mother turned to the crowd and tried to calm them down.
"Look people protesting like this won't get what you want." Amanda starts but it was clear she wasn't sure of what she was doing. "The Sphinx was never supposed to be permanent".
Eve placed herself more behind the huge form of Armon so her mother wouldn't see her. In costume or not it's better not to risk being recognized by Amanda. She flinched when everything went dark as the lights illuminating the place were suddenly turned off.
Regardless of her mother's resemblance to the queen, Armon wasn't silent as she requested.
"Ra is angry." He exclaims.
"Well, that makes two of us..." Her mother muttered and turned to one of the workers. "Jerry, what happened to those lights?"
Eve felt tired all the sudden. She yawned and turned to her friends.
"You know guys it's better if I return home... I'm too tired to keep protesting..."
She left before they could answer. Her memory of walk back to her home was vague but it probably was because she was tired. As soon as she got to her room, she took of the wrappings from her body, hid it and layed down in her bed. When her head touched the pillow, she was already sleeping.
Her memories of the real world ended there. She opened her eyes to see her reflection looking back at her.
"...And that's it. I woke up here, thinking I was Hatshet. I had breakfast with the queen, that really looks like my mom and that freaks me out, and than Scarab appeared... I think seeing him helped me remember who I truly am because just some minutes after the breakfast I came running here."
The reflection was silent for a moment.
"... You are probably still forgetting something. I can feel it. Are you sure you told everything? Nothing else to add? Even little details are important."
"Well..." Eve thinks a little, closing her eye for better concentration. "There was the mosquito that bite me. Now that I think about it, I wasn't even tired before it bit me. Maybe it's connected to this dream somehow."
MirrorShet reacted badly to that response, she got pale and her eyes widened. The reflection tried to correct herself before explaining what she knew with her knowledge of their past life.
"There is something that I remember Rath mentioning in one the classes about dangerous animals. A living nightmare scorpion, when it bites someone that person gets trapped in her own dreams, while in reality the person is sleepwalking around completely unconscious." She explains with a grave tone.
"... seems like something Scarab would use against me." Eve concludes and finally opens her eyes to look at MirrorShet. "But how do we escape from it?"
The reflection again got silent as if thinking how to tell her the answer. Eve felt that it wasn't a good sign.
"The only thing Rath told me is to not get close to the scorpion. Nobody ever managed to break free from it before the effects of the venom ended."
Eve felt hopes vanish in a second. She was really trapped here with no way of escaping?!
"No... no no no! You told me if I could remember how this started I would be able to leave!" Eve yells.
"I don't know everything, Eve. Only what you and Ratshet know. It was a shot in the dark for me too." The reflection calmly explains, not wanting to worsen Eve's state.
"That means I am really trapped here! I will be completely defenseless whenever Scarab gets to me! And the worse part is that I have no way to warn the others of what's happening!" Eve yells in frustration.
"Evelyn Jones, you have to calm down. There is still hope for you."
"How? You told me nobody escapes from their dreams before the effect ends!" Eve spats.
"Yes... and nobody ever managed to regain their consciousness during the dream before. You were the first. And you didn't needed my help to do that."
That caused Eve to go quiet.
"Just because something was never happened before it doesn't mean it's impossible. Everything that happened with you in the last month never happened before but still did with you!" The reflection looked in Eve's eyes as she told the next part. "If there is someone who can win against an Living nightmare it's you. You can do this."
She could really do this? The MirrorShet's words make sense. If she could regain consciousness maybe she could make herself wake up too. Even if she couldn't, she wouldn't give up. Evelyn Jones never gives up. NEVER.
"Fine. I will do it..." Eve said but was still partially uncertain. "...any tips?"
"Yes. Do what the dream tells you to do. There is no way to know how the illusion will react if you change anything. Just don't forget who you are and be watchful for anything that can wake us up."
Eve nods with new determination. And turned around, walking the away before she lost courage.
Unfortunately, she would have to go back to the palace and be around all those people made her feel really uncomfortable.
Letting the force of the illusion around her control her movements, she walked around for some time. To her surprise instead of going back to the palace she went to an seemly random road.
"Why am I here?" Eve wonders.
Her answer came in the form of an speeding chariot that almost ran over her before abruptly stopping just before her.
"What are you doing in the middle of the...?" The person riding the chariot starts and Eve is shocked to recognize the voice immediately.
"Nefertina?!" Eve gasped in amazement. Nefertina was wearing the same helmet as the one she wore the day they first meet in the museum but she was still recognizable. Her wrappings weren't there and that revealed her normal toned skin.
"Princess Hatshet? What are you doing here?" Nefertina, or "Nefer", ask in surprise.
She let herself be controlled by the dream to answer correctly according to the past.
"I was bored. Father is still in Nubia and my studies with Rath won't start until later." The Ratshet from the dream answers.
"Get in. I can give you a ride around the desert if you want." Nefertina offered.
Hatshet got in and the chariot started moving again. Eve could see the excitement in driving in this Nefertina's eyes too. It was still her friend, after all, just an earlier version.
"Anything wrong?" Nefertina asks, feeling the princess's eyes on her.
They were already the middle of the desert by this point.
"Can I drive?" Ratshet asks.
"You can't, my princess. You father would never allow it. Even princesses can't drive chariots." Nefertina tells her.
"He wouldn't allow you too but you don't let it stop you." Ratshet argued.
Nefertina couldn't help but smile. Princess Ratshet seemed to be the only person who really understood her. Hopefully if she became Paraoh, Nefertina wouldn't have to hide her gender anymore. She had a soft spot for the young princess so she decided to let her ride.
"Alright. You can ride, but you must follow my instructions."
Hatshet smiles and takes the whip from Nefertina, swapping positions with her.
Eve could feel Ratshet's joy as she was able to ride a charriot. Her love for ridding wasn't as big as Nefertina's but after being denied the permission to drive, finally doing it made her feel liberty.
"See, I know how to drive! Can it go any faster?" Hatshet asks Nefertina.
Hatshet was able to ride for a few more minutes before they had to head back to the palace. Hatshet was already late for her class.
They reached the entrance of the palace and Eve saw another familiar face. It was Rath, the unmumified version of him.
"You are already late, my princess. Where have you been?" Rath complains.
"We were just strolling in the desert. I even got to ride a little." Hatshet told him. She didn't felt the need to hide the truth since to her she wasn't doing anything wrong.
"Ride? By the wings of Horus you should be learning other things. Woman aren't supposed to drive chariots." As Rath tells this Hatshet could almost feel Nefertina rolling her eyes behind her. "The lessons I teach you will endure forever like the pyramids."
Hatshet gets out of the charriot.
"They seem to..." She mumbles.
As Rath wrote on a special board on the wall Eve was planning her escape. According to MirrorShet, Rath was the one that told Hatshet about the scorpion. He was the most likely person to be able to help her. She couldn't tell him the truth but maybe could ask a question like a curious student... still, that could be changing the chain of the events of the day and even make the situation worse.
In her silent discussion with herself, Eve didn't noticed Rath getting close to her ear.
"Arise oh Princess of Egypt!" He screams making her jump from her seat. "You were supposed to be paying attention to your studies, not dreaming around." He gives her the paint that was in his hands.
It's now or never.
"I was just curious about something..." She starts.
"And what could be so curious to make you distract from your studies?" Rath asked skeptic.
What exact words should she use? She was dealing with some kind of scorpion so...
"How could someone get rid of venom from inside their veins?" Eve finally asks. She hoped he could answer at least that.
Her hopes go up as Rath became thoughful.
"I don't see why you are wondering about that... but it should be useful in case someday you get stung." Rath answered.
Eve looked calm but inside she was celebrating for being able to get a tip from him.
"... normally you could use a simple healing spell to annul the effects of the poison. But in cases where the venom is not mortal, a time spell is better. It makes the effect of the venom pass faster." Rath turns to Eve. "Happy?"
"You have no ideia..." Eve admits.
"In that case, we can try I time spell when you are finished with you studies for the day." He offers, thinking that if she had something to gain after class she would concentrate more.
"Yes!" Eve practically screams. Letting Ratshet back in control, she wrote on the board.
"Let's make a simple spell to start. Turn this staff into a snake." He gives his staff to her.
Eve tensed, she never casted a spell before. Her classes with mummy Rath were still bookish, she didn't had the opportunity to practice yet. There was a first time for everything, she thought. From the small part of her still feeling the control of the dream, she knew what she had to say.
"Turn this staff be like the sacred serpent that coils under the disc of Ra." Eve said while holding the staff in one hand.
Her eyes widened when the staff glowed in a bluish tone and in it's place appeared a snake.
"I did it... I really did it." She said in astonishment.
"You do that all the time. Now, let's continue."
Eve let Hatshet in control for the rest of the class. She did eventually make the staff return to normal but they were only reading after that. As soon as they were finished, Eve asks about the time spell.
"You did great today so I will teach you a simple one. There were time spells that worked with longer periods of time but those were too dangerous to be used and one of yous ancestors decided to destroy any records of them. Bad things happen to people who mess with time. That's why the spell we will use only accelerates the caster's body some minutes into the future."
She nods at him, paying close attention at the instructions. Rath clears his throat before starting.
"Control this human body's time as the disc of Ra controls time in the land, for as that it will be able to free itself from the grasp of poison." Rath recites but nothing happened.
"So... how do we know if it did work?" Eve asks.
"The only way to be certain is to test in a victim of poisoning and we won't poison anyone just to test it."
Before they could continue, a guard walks to them.
"Sorry to interrupt, my princess. But I was sent to inform you that Armon is waiting for you for the self defense class."
"What? Can't Armon wait a little?" Eve didn't wanted to leave yet. She still want sure about the time spell.
"You can go, my princess. I must return to my duties. We can talk more about the spell tomorrow." Rath gets his things and leaves.
Eve almost told him to return but she couldn't overstep her boundaries. She was lucky to be able to learn something Hatshet wasn't supposed to originally. Then there was the problem of the limit of time, Rath told the spell only accelerated the body some minutes into the future, so she shouldn't use it until she was in the final part of the dream.
She lets Hatshet in control to get to Armon, she was curious to see his unmummied form. Hatshet reached her destination and she saw Armon waiting for her.
This Armon had a golden arm. Eve wondered how it worked but then a simple answer came in her mind in Rath's voice: Magic.
"Greetings, my princess." Armon said with a small bow.
"Greetings, Amon. What will you teach me today? Can I finally learn how to punch someone?" Hatshet asks hopeful.
"The pharaoh only wishes you to be able to defend yourself. Not offensive moves." Armon answers her, shaking his head.
Hatshet was disappointed but didn't insisted.
"Today you will learn how to fight unarmed." He glances at his artificial arm and decided to explain himself better. "I mean without weapons. Now assume this position."
He shows her a pose and Ratshet imitates without looking at it twice.
"This again? Can't you teach me something new? I have already mastered this move." Hatshet complained.
"Then let's see how you can get better." As soon as he places a hand on her sholder, she holds his arm and throws him over her shoulder using his weight against him. He landed inside a large vase and was stuck in there. Only his lower half was out.
"Very good, my princess. I think you already mastered this move." Armon admits.
Hatshet lets out a giggle but goes to help Armon detach from the vase. She tried pulling him by his leg but she lacked the physical strength to pull him out.
"What happened here?" A third voice asked. Ja-kal had just arrived in the room to see the princess trying to pull Armon out of a vase.
"Er... a training accident?" Hatshed tried to answer. A loud crash sounds when the vase breaks because of Armon's heaviness.
"I'm alright." Armon informs Hatshet.
Ja-kal smiles at them.
"Perhaps, my princess. If you are done pummeling Armon you like to test your skills as a hunter." Ja-kall offers with a small bow.
"Of course I would like to. I just have to exchange my clothes." She gestured to her dress. It was almost impossible to run on that thing.
"No need to hurry, I still have to talk to Tia before leaving." Ja-kal said, making Eve confused.
"Who is Tia?" Eve asks without thinking first.
"You don't remember? Tia is my wife, you already meet her."
Eve was shocked with his answer. Ja-kal was married?! Eve didn't knew that! He never mentioned having a family! If she managed to escape she would get some answers from her Ja-kal.
"Yes. Of course, I just heard wrong." Eve had to hide her surprise with a forced fake smile.
"You should visit to see her and Padjet sometime. My son really liked the last time you visited, maybe you can get him to say your name when he starts talking." He suggests with some excitement. He was proud of his family.
A wife AND a son?! She really had to talk with her Ja-kall after this...
"I will just go get my clothes." She decides to leave before her reactions got too suspicious.
Already with her hunting gear on, Hatshet was walking in the corredors thoughtful. This dream was being more intense than se expected, she even met the past versions of all her guardians. They were still the same people but at the same time they weren't. Nefertina was still hiding herself as Nefer. Rath was a busy scribe. Armon was a proud warrior with his golden arm. And Ja-kal was a family man. These were Hatshet's guardians, not Eve's.
Someone appeared from behind a pillar and got on her way, making her stop in her tracks.
"Hey!" Hatshet exclaims than recognizes the man. "Oh! It's you Scarab."
Scarab tried to put his hand on her sholder, Ratshet would let it, not showing intimidation in his presence. Eve however slapped the hand away felling way too unconfortable with his hand touching her. He didn't react to her action.
"Come with me at once, my princess." Scarab said.
"I am going hunting with Ja-kal." Ratshet told him.
Getting frustrated he holds her other arm making her look at him.
"Mighty Paraoh has returned from Nubia to meet with you in secret. He awaits in the desert of the Weinstein Nile." He tells in a silent tone.
"...I must tell Ja-kal where I am going." Hatshet said.
"Your guardians cannot be trusted. Especially Ja-kal. There is a conspiracy on the palace that's why your father needs your help."
Follow Scarab into the desert was a terrible ideia. Eve knew what he was capable of, but Hatshet didn't. The princess saw that as an opportunity to get proof of his evil plan against her father, she just didn't suspected that his real target was herself.
With Hatshed deciding to follow him, Eve would have to follow too, not disrupting the chain of events of the dream. She would just keep her guard up and in the first sign of trouble, use te spell to get out of there.
Nether of them said a word while they got to a charriot and drove to the desert. Eve was feeling more and more tense.
If here was something Hatshet and her could agree on is that the Pharaoh must be still in Nubia. Scarab was taking her there for other reason. Ratshet suspected It was to have a private talk with her, maybe to get her to give up her place as heir to the throne to him. People already tried that before, since her dad said that she could be the first female Paraoh ever many people where against the idea. Some tried to make her look unfit to the throne. Others tried to directly tell her father it was a terrible ideia. And the most annoying were the ones that tried to get her as a bride thinking they would be the real Paraoh and she just the queen.
Eve knew better, Scarab was after the princess soul. He wouldn't bother to try get the place as heir from Hatshet if he was already planing to kill her. This travel was seeming more and more like a terrible idea. What was Scarab's plan? Just talk with her? Probably not. He wanted isolation from anyone from the palace, especially the guardians...
Eve realized something that made her feel like her blood froze in her veins, she was bitten by a Living nightmare, right? So... what exactly makes this dream a nightmare? Until that point she just had a normal day in the princess life. Nothing bad happened yet.
Eve glances at Scarab piloting the chariot.
Is this the part that makes the dream a nightmare? What bad will happen now? Is this the day Scarb tried to kill the princess? She didn't knew much about his murder attempt to the princess, it was a dificult subject to the guardians so she never asked.
The charriot stopped close to a monument. Hatshet and Scarab got out of the charriot, the rest of the way was on foot.
"Fear not, young princess. Your travels are nearly at the end." Scarab spoke in a dark tone. He walked in a specific direction expecting her to follow him.
Yep, he is totally going to kill her. Eve couldn't wait for that to happen, she had to use the time spell.
Eve really wished to have time to practice before. It was her second spell ever casted! If it didn't work, she wouldn't knew if she was doing something wrong.
"Go on, my princess. Can't you see you father waiting for you?" Scarab talked behind her. Eve noticed that they reached a cliff, someone was standing in the edge of it. It looked like the Pharaoh but I probably wasn't really him.
Taking a deep breath, Eve slowly walked to the figure. Repeating Rath's instructions in her mind, ready to use them.
When she was a feet away from the figure, it turned to reveal itself to be Scarab. He reached to her arms, keeping her in place.
""I am the most powerful man in Egypt after you father, I should be the next Pharaoh! I won't let a nosy princess like you get in my way!" He exclaimed at her.
Instead of responding as Ratshet, Eve broke off from the "script". She took a deep breath to keep calm, focusing on her words. She closed her eyes and repeated Rath's words.
"Control this human body's time as the disc of Ra controls time in the land, for as that it will be able to free itself from the grasp of poison."
Eve felt his grasp on her vanish. And soon everything around her disappeared too, the only sound that she heard she couldn't recognize.
It was the scorpion twisting in pain as he felt his poison lost it's effect on her.
The first thing she heard was a crowd repeating the same thing:
"Save the Sphinx! Save the Sphinx!"
She did it! She was back!
But it felt like she was ran over by a truck, her body was heavy and she was feeling dizzy too.
She opened her eyes and her vision was blurry. Still, she could see that it was night and she was on the the roof of a building she didn't recognize.
A form stood in the edge of the roof.
"...I have plans for this world, Heka." She recognized the voice as Scarab's. "Those centuries I suffered locked in that tumb. I didn't simply dream of escape, I dreamt of world domination."
Eve had to get out of here. He got his back to her so she would just have to leave quietly before he turned around.
She turned around to find a escape route and was surprised to see Ja-kal jumping into the roof. The guardians must have noticed she disappeared.
Eve smiled at seeing him and the others that jumped after him. She was walking to them, but in her fragile state she stepped wrong and fell to the ground. Making a sound that Scarad heard.
Scarab turned to see the guardians ready for battle and the princess on the ground but conscious. He was surprised to see her awake. The spell was supposed to endure more time! The mummies must have woken her somehow.
Ja-kal immediately helped Eve get up, he was worried to see that she looked very weak.
"I must say. I'm impressed that you mummies managed to wake her up from the living nightmare." Scarab admits.
"You stunned her with a Living nightmare scorpion?!" Rath exclaimed in surprise and even some anger. "No wonder she is in that state! Fighting the effects of the poison is extremely difficult!
"It doesn't matter if she is awake or sleeping, I just have to finish you mummies and then deal with her." Scarab concludes.
The doors to the roof slammed open and a group of clay soldiers arrived and enclosed around the heroes.
Ja-kal was still holding Eve when she turned to look at him.
"Don't worry about me. Focus on the fight." Eve told him.
He hesitated but let go of her. She was right, he had to focus on the fight and then they could take care of her.
"We were denied the chance to stop you evil before, Scarab. That won't happen again!" Ja-kal exclaims, ready to fight.
"When my Shabti is finished with you I will use you wrappings as dusters." Scarab threatened while heka's eyes glowed.
"With the strength of Ra!" They yelled summoning their armor. With their armor on, they got in fighting stance.
"Let's kick tut." Armon yells.
They charge against the soldiers. Each guardian breaking as many soldiers as they could.
"Be gone, guardians." Scarab started shooting at them with his scepter.
All that time, Eve was trying to regain her strength. She turned to the fight to see Scarab and Ja-kal fighting. Eve shivered when Scarab landed a punch in Ja-kal's face, throwing the leader of the guardians against the edge of the roof. Eve head a loud bang when he landed head first breaking a part of the roof.
Scarab stood over him.
"When I'm through with you princess she'll have no need for guardians." Scarab said.
"Ja-kal!" Eve yells in worry.
She wouldn't just stand and watch as her friend was hurt but before she could to anything a soldier held her from behind.
It only lasted seconds as the soldier was carried by Armon, making him let go of Eve. Then Armon threw the soldier at Scarab, hitting the sorcerer on the back.
"What?" Scarab shook his head desoriented.
Ja-kal pushed Scarab back and reunited with the others.
The four stood in front of Eve to protect her against the clay soldiers left.
"Crush them. Push them over the edge." Scarab orders.
Eve looked around for something to help them and noticed they were next to the building's water tank. She had an idea.
"Hey! Beatle head! This is for the scorpion!" She uses her remaining strength to kick one of the supports of the water tank. As the support broke the structure lost its balance and collapsed releasing the water inside.
The water spread across the floor and it pushed the villains to the other side of the roof. They all fell through the hole Ja-kal made before.
With the treat gone, the guardians turned their worry to Eve.
"Are you okay, Eve?" Nefertina asked gently placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"I think so... I'm just really tired." Eve told them.
"I never heard of someone being able to escape from a living nightmare before. How did you do it?" Rath couldn't help but ask.
"Actually... it was thanks to you."
"Me?"
"In my nightmare, I lived a day of Hatshet's life. I had a class with you so I asked for a spell that could end the effects of the poison. If it wasn't wasn't for the dream version of you, I wouldn't be here now." She explained. "I just still don't understand how that version of you could answer my question."
"The living nightmare version of someone don't only imitates them but reacts as them. He just did what I would do." Rath clarifies.
"We can talk more about that in the Sphinx." Ja-kal looks at Eve. "Now we must get you to safety."
And so they left.
Eve opened her eyes in surprise. Afraid she was back in the dream se looked round. She was relieved to see that instead of the palace, she was in a room inside the Sphinx. It was a simple room with only a small wardrobe and a bed. Eve was still confused. The girl didn't remember falling asleep.
Ja-kal entered the room and saw that she was awake. His face went from an expression of surprise to relief.
"How are you feeling?" He asks, approaching her.
"Better... when did I fell asleep?" Eve still felt sleepy.
"As soon as we got back you passed out cold. Rath said you used a lot of mental effort to win against the venom and now your mind had to rest in a normal sleep." Ja-kal explained to her.
"Oh." Was her only reply. She was feeling like crap during the battle in the abandoned biulding so his explanation makes sense. She was feeling much better after resting.
"The good news is according to the magic box the Sphinx won't be demolished. Your plan really worked." He smiled at her, thinking a good news would lighten the mood.
Eve returned the smile. But then remembered something that she had promised herself to do if she saw him again.
"I learned some things from the dream...one about you." She starts before getting to the point. "I know about Tia and Padjet."
He just stared at her, speechless. Of couse she would have learned something from the dream, he just hoped it wasn't that.
"Why didn't you told me?" Eve asks. She felt hurt for learning that in some freaky dream instead of from her friend. To her it was like he was hiding it from her.
"I thought it wasn't necessary to tell you. Why would you want to know?"
"You aren't just my guardian, you are my friend. I care about you." She clarified, a little offended that he didn't realized he could be sincere with her.
"I know... I'm sorry. It's not easy to talk about them." He admits, his head hanging low.
They went quiet for a few moments before she continued.
"Do you know what happened to them after you... ?" She couldn't add "you died" but he understood.
"No."
"... I can help you find out." She offers.
He turns to her surprised.
"You can?"
"Well, your family's story must be recorded somewhere, we just have to find it. It's not the same as being reunited with them but at least you can have closure." She wasn't a hundred percent certain the records existed but it was worth to try for her friend.
"...If you give the answers I seek I will never be able to thank you enough." He told her, his words completely sincere.
"You don't have to. You just have to make me a promise."
"Anything."
"Don't ever lie to me."
He didn't expect her to ask that. It confused him.
"I would never lie to you. Why do you ask for that?"
Now she looked uncomfortable. They reached a difficult subject to her.
"I... trusted a person close to me in the past, than I realized he was a lier. Things were never the same between us. I don't want it to happen to us. I want to be able to fully trust you."
Ja-kal felt the need to ask who would lie to her and make her feel that betrayed. He knew if he found out who that person was he would make sure that person couldn't ever hurt Eve again. Even so he couldn't directly ask Eve, it would just hurt her more.
"I promise as your guardian and friend to never lie to you, Evelyn Jones." He swears.
Eve smiled at him. Deep inside, she knew he would not lie to her. But finding out about his family in the dream made her remember about... that man. Her relacionship with Ja-kal made her remember how things were between them before the truth came out. She would be devastated if things ended up the same way.
Happy to drop the subject, she asked a totally different question.
"After all, how long was I sleeping?"
"Two days."
Eve jumped from the bed.
"What?!" She exclaims, quickly getting to panic mode. "Mom must be crazy looking for me!"
"Calm down, Eve. I dealt with this for you."
"... you did? How?"
"Well..." He starts to explain what happened after she passed out two days before.
It was just a few hours after they returned from the battle, all the guardians were worried about Eve. Rath guaranteed that she would feel better when she woke up but even he was showing signs of worry too.
Armon dealt with his worry by eating a lot. Nefertina dealt with it by testing the hot-Ra, taking it for a drive.
Ja-kal couldn't distract himself so he kept checking if Eve had awoken. To his relieve she seemed to be getting better with time but still didn't woke. He was sitting close to her room, just waiting.
He head steps as Rath got close to him.
"We have a problem..." The snake armored mummy starts.
"Another one?" Ja-kal gestured to Eve's room.
"The princess 'cellphone'..." He still had trouble saying the word correctly but continued. "... keeps making sounds. If I remember correctly It only makes sounds when someone is calling to her."
Rath holds in his hands a phone. As soon as he finished talking it rings.
"It's happening again!" Rath exclaims alarmed.
Ja-kal gets the phone from Rath trying to remember how Eve used it. In the screen it said "mom" and there were some symbols beneath it. He decided to press the one in the middle. The screen changed and a voice replaced the ring.
"Evelyn Jones, where are you? I thought I said you would come back home after school!" Amanda's voice sounded from the object.
Rath And Ja-kal exchanged a look. One of them would have to answer.
"Er... greetings." Ja-kal starts.
Amanda tenses on the other side of the line, she didn't recognized that voice.
"Who is it? Where is Eve?"
"Er... I am... a friend of Eve. We are working on a..." He tried to formule an excuse but kept stopping to find the right words. He turned to Rath for guidance but the mage only shook his head. "...project."
The line went silent for a moment. The mummies hoped she would not freak out on them, it's the last thing they need.
"... Are you James? Eve told me about you." Amanda asks, remembering the talk she had with her daughter during the trip.
As they didn't knew of any James in Eve's life, Ja-kal and Rath quickly concluded that it was a fake name. Also, they didn't had a better ideia. It's not like they could tell who they actually were.
"She did?... I didn't expected her to mention me."
"Sure... but if you are really James you can prove it." Amanda said, her voice reflected suspicion. She had an ideia how to confirm his identity. "What present did you give Eve?"
Ja-kal didn't had to think much to know how to answer. There was only one 'present' Eve got since they first meet, and she wore it everyday.
"A amulet... in the shape of a necklace."
Amanda let of a sigh of relief.
"Sorry for asking. I had to make sure. I didn't knew Eve was involved on a project."
"She said she wanted it to be a surprise. She told me you worked at the museum and liked Egyptian history." The last part was true, Eve sometimes talked about her mother when she came to visit. According to her, her father is very absent from their lifes.
"I guess you could say that. Just tell her to call me when she can, okay?"
"Of course... she is just very focused on the work. It can take some days for us to finish. She will can you when she can." He kept making more excuses.
"...fine. But tell her that if she doesn't call in 24 hours she is grounded." With that she hung up.
The two mummies wished for Eve to wake up soon so she could answer her mother before the 24 hours passed.
Back in the present, Ja-kal finished his tale. Eve had laughed a little imagining how the scene played out. It still was a close call.
"Thank god I told her about 'James'. I didn't expected it to be useful." Eve admits.
"I hope my excuse of a project don't become a problem to you." He regreted not having a better reaction to the situation but he did what he could.
"I will think of something. Don't worry." She assured him. The situation could have ended really worse, her mom probably would have called the police if it wasn't for him. Even so there wold be consequences for her dissapearance. "But I will probably get grounded for a while."
That got Ja-kal to ask something.
"About that, what kind of punishment is that that envolves you being buried?"
That chapter was bigger than the others and more dificult do rewrite too.
I didn't wanted to stick too much to the original so Eve had a diferent reaction to the venom. I hope she isn't feeling like a Mary Sue, I made sure to show that her actions had negative consequences on herself and the others.
I am giving hints of some future plot points that will come back later. This story is focoused on Eve but other things from the world can change in the future but nothing huge.
The next chapter will be about "The gift of Geb".
See you next chapter, thanks for reading.