Torg Eternity – Dead Legion
A Promise of Life
Nile Empire – Royal Palace of Thebes
It was an unusual sight.
The powerful Doctor Mobius, ruler of the empire, on his hands and knees, prostrated in a worship pose before the black idol of the crocodile-headed god that was his patron, Sebek.
It was a sight he allowed no-one in his service to see. The great genius, bowing to anything, even the image of his god.
"Great Sebek," he said to the image of his divine benefactor. "Thanks to your gifts of wisdom and power, our mighty new weapon takes shape. Soon, these other 'High Lords' will regret their arrogance in presuming to consider themselves our equal."
Oh, the great Doctor was looking forward to do that. Showing those idiots who the greatest of the High Lords was. When the time was right, of course. When Mobius had secured his power base enough that he would be safe from reprisals from the other High Lords who might be loyal to the Gaunt Man.
Who would he smite first? That fat, complacent abomination Kranod, the techno-demon? Or would it instead be that proselytizing fool, Mobius' old rival, Pope Jean-Malreaux? That would certainly be satisfying, but maybe instead he should consider targeting Uthorion, the Gaunt Man's lapdog, to weaken the decayed horror's power base.
First, however, Mobius would need a mighty weapon indeed to topple a mighty evil like the Gaunt Man and other High Lords. Time to go inspect the progress on the superweapon that would give him the edge in the invasion of Core Earth.
Minutes later Mobius swept into his throne room, eyes flashing menacingly within the depths of his hooded cloak. As if a switch had been flicked, every member of the great pharaoh's staff snapped to attention. The guards held their guns tightly and their eyes scanned the chamber for any sign of danger to their mighty ruler. The scantily-clad slave girls holding large feather fans standing on either side of Mobius' golden throne put on their most seductive smiles. Servants who were passing through on their way to some other business hurried out of the room with twice the speed they'd entered.
The only one who didn't show respect for the pharaoh's presence was a man standing in the middle of the room. He was a fair-skinned American. Dusty blonde hair. Square jaw. Piercing blue eyes. Torn and stained clothes from some arduous adventure.
Mobius had seen his type countless times before, usually trying to "heroically" interrupt one of his grand plans. The fact that the intruder's wrists were bound behind his back, and he was surrounded by shocktroopers with their guns pointed at his head, indicated that was what this one had been doing as well.
Studiously ignoring the adventurer, making the best show of the prisoner being beneath his notice he knew, Doctor Mobius walked forward, turned to his throne with a dramatic swish of his cape and sat down on the seat of power. The slave girls started their duty of fanning their ruler. For a second Mobius caught the prisoner eying the girl on the left, and the pharaoh allowed himself a moment of congratulations on picking the most beautiful girls as his personal attendants.
Picking up a grape from a platter by the throne, Mobius popped the fruit into his mouth. "I see by the presence of this infidel in the royal throne room that someone has decided on my day's itinerary for me," Mobius said. A terrible hush fell over the room, as all of his staff waited for him to unleash his horrible wrath on whoever had made the blunder of going over the pharaoh's head.
It didn't come. Instead, Mobius asked in a bored tone, "Who is this pale fool and what's he done to merit my personal attention?"
"Brick Braxton," the prisoner growled on his own, "your majesty."One of the shocktroopers slammed the butt of their gun into Braxton's stomach for his impertinence, squeezing the air out of his lungs in an anguished gasp.
"Sire," the leader of the shocktroopers guarding Braxton spoke up, "This felon was caught infiltrating the pyramid where the Eye of the Sun was under construction."
"…was?" Mobius asked, and again the terrible hush fell over the room.
The shocktrooper stumbled over his words for a minute before finding the courage to deliver his report. "Mighty pharaoh, this…Braxton person snuck into the pyramid and poured some vile concoction onto the focusing mirror at the heart of the pyramid's weapon. It caused the mirror to decay and fall to pieces."
Without warning Mobius rose to his full height, his shadow seeming to blanket the entire throne room. Instead of being even more alert about their duties under the pharaoh's attention, everyone shrank back in fear. The slave girls stopped fanning and retreated behind the throne. A few of the guards dropped their weapons.
Amid the scene of terror, the only one unfazed was Brick Braxton.
Doctor Mobius screamed, "That mirror was one of a kind! To create reflective properties that potent took elements I've only found once! The Eye of the Sun is powerless without it! All that work has been for nothing!"
Infuriatingly, Braxton developed a very self-satisfied smile on his handsome face. "Then it was all worth it. I'm not the only adventurer who has it out for you, Mobius. We'll always stop your demented plans, and sooner or later one of us is going to get you."
Again a shocktrooper slammed the butt of their gun into his stomach, even harder this time. Braxton crumpled to his knees, and the other shocktroopers started kicking him with their sandaled feet. But Doctor Mobius clapped his hands, and out of instinct all of his servants stopped. Beneath his hood his eyes flashed with ethereal golden energy, and the beating stopped.
"Shall we kill this foul-mouthed scum, great pharaoh?" asked an eager shocktrooper.
"No," Mobius answered with measured slowness. "Put this one and his foul mouth in the Omegatron."
Even the shocktroopers regarded their leader with horror. The pharaoh didn't notice. Beneath his hood, he was leering in twisted delight at the look of fear that had shattered Brick Braxton's defiant expression.
Mobius sat upon his throne again, watching in impassive silence as Brick Braxton was dragged away by the guards. Struggling against them to the end, but with the fire that'd burned before gone out of him.
The doors slammed shut behind the defeated traitor to the Empire, a sound that made everyone in the pharaoh's throne chamber jump out of reflex, as if their mighty ruler was about to make another show of his awful wrath.
Instead, Mobius let out a bored sigh. "So, the Eye of the Sun is no more," he murmured. "No matter. I have another grand plan in mind, that will make the Eye of the Sun seem like nothing more than the flicker of a candle in destructive power."
"Surely, sire, no mind in all the worlds can recover from a setback like this as quickly as yours," said a minor functionary off to one side of the chamber. Mobius couldn't remember his name, but was impressed by the way he managed to keep the fear out of his voice.
"Yes," Mobius agreed. "Always awhirl with great visions, thanks to the favor of the mighty Sebek. If you have nothing but other trifles for me, I now seek seclusion to see them brought to life." He stood up, walked down the steps from his throne and back out the door he'd entered the room through. The pharaoh barely even heard the muffled collective sigh of relief from behind him. He was right: his mind was already too busy with too many other great visions, schemes, weapons, to worry about the petty fear his servants held for him.
The High Lord took the quickest route he'd long since memorized from the throne room to the wing holding his laboratory. As always, Mobius opened the doors into a room full of activity, like a human beehive. Some of the greatest scholars and scientists in the Nile Empire hurried back and forth, looking over schematics and chemical apparatus. In his boundless wisdom, Doctor Mobius had decided that as the ruler, his time was too precious to oversee every individual project himself. However, if those actually developing them knew his watchful eye was on them, speed and precision would be observed at all times.
One of these projects was bound to prove viable, it was just a matter of time. But here, on the battlefield of the Possibility Wars, Mobius had to admit that was a luxury he couldn't afford as readily as he had on his homeworld. Here, Mobius's enemies didn't consist merely of the government forces and masked heroes opposing him.
Far, far above them were the other High Lords, the only other beings with power rivalling Mobius's own. All of them plotted against each other, that was an open secret. If Mobius was going to defeat them and claim this new world all for himself, he'd need powerful means indeed.
"Sire," said a bald-headed messenger. Mobius whirled to look down at him, eyes flashing menacingly. The messenger shook and fell to his knees, looking like he was hoping to melt into the floor. Instead, in a quivering voice, he said, "Overgovernor Wu Han just called the palace, sire. He said he had made a great discovery."
"Wu Han? What 'great discovery' could he possibly have made out in the cesspool of Cairo?" Mobius snarled.
"He said you might think so, sire, and bade me tell you what he's found is…a revival ritual!"
The terrifying glow from Mobius's eyes faded immediately. He turned away and made a dismissive wave of his hand. "Return to your errands, little man. I have much greater things to attend to." The pharaoh strode quickly through the great work hall, everyone hurrying to get out of his way and not spill their vital experiments all over the floor in the same motion as he passed.
Doctor Mobius didn't stop until he was in his communications center, where he immediately started warming up the wall of radio equipment he used to reach his governors at the corners of the Empire. The process would take a few minutes, which gave the pharaoh time to ponder the significance of this report. If it was true, and Wu Han really did have what he claimed, then…
…then, that might be the edge that Mobius was looking for. After all, for all their power, none of the High Lords had ever had a partner, someone they relied on to help carry out their conquests, who they honestly considered an equal.
Mobius had had such a person.
Such a long time ago.
The high-pitched hum of the vacuum tubes in his communication bank filled the room, and told Mobius it was time to banish his longing for days gone by. He picked up the microphone and spoke into it, "Time to justify your usefulness to me, Wu Han."
"Ah, great Mobius!" came a voice dripping with a thick but indistinctive Oriental accent. "I have wonderful news! Wonderful news!"
"My time's precious, Wu Han. I have better things to do than listen to you kiss my feet," Mobius growled into the mic. "Give me the specifics on what you told my servants, and make it good."
"Then, as they say, I will cut to the chase," Wu Han replied, still sounding extremely proud of himself despite the thinly-veiled threat his master had just made. "Certain agents in my employ believe they've discovered the resting place of a lost page of the Book of the Dead. The one your esteemed highness has mentioned might be powerful enough to revive even her greatness, the late Mukamatura."
Mukamatura! Doctor Mobius almost dropped the mic in surprise. He didn't want to dare let himself think that had been what Wu Han had been calling about. Ages ago, she had been Mobius's bride, every bit his equal in brilliance and ruthlessness. Mobius had lost her to a mundane accident, yet with all the power and knowledge of the supernatural that was at his command, he'd never been able to raise her to rejoin him in his conquests.
"I'll be on my way to Cairo immediately," Mobius told his lieutenant. "I trust you'll have good news for me when I arrive."
He shut off the equipment without waiting for his underling to reply.
The scene in front of Brick Braxton wasn't very different from the laboratory of the mad scientist or two he'd encountered in his heroic career. Banks of machines covered in dials with wavering needles. Metal spikes where electric arcs ran up them only to disappear into the stale air.
In the middle of it all was a sarcophagus, with the image of a pharaoh screaming in fear engraved into the lid.
The infamous Omegatron.
"Regretting your venomous tongue yet, infidel?" giggled one of the shocktroopers escorting him.
Braxton grunted. "Not at all. Seeing Doctor Mobius lose his mind when he found out what I did was the greatest moment of my life. You gonna hit me with your gun again, now?"
Instead, they chuckled. One opened the lid to the sarcophagus, and the rest hurried out of the way as a blast of rancid-smelling wind blasted Brick Braxton in the face. It died down just a few seconds later, but a distinctly uncertain expression had formed on the adventurer. From inside the utter black of the sarcophagus came sounds of battle. Machine guns. Explosions. The roar of vehicle engines. Screams.
And a kick from one of the shocktroopers sent Braxton tumbling headfirst into it.