Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, Stargate SG-1, Reign, or anything else I reference.
Chapter Seventeen: Ancient Creatures
(Kleak, France)
"Please save our lives." The man named Robert Smith pleaded as he knelt before him.
His other partners Simon Martins and Joseph Moore were doing something similar.
Qetsiyah and her witches had found the thieves that had woken Imhotep from his slumber. He had the witches place them under a cloaking spell so Imhotep could not track them and brought them here for questioning with an Al'kesh. The Englishmen were now telling him the story of how this mess had begun. T
They had been peasants in a simple tavern when a strange man had come to them offering to buy them a drink and told them a story of vast treasure waiting to be taken. They had set camp in the abandoned village during the night and during the day walked through the tomb searching for the fourth day they found a secret passage that led to some. In that room they found a crate. They opened it and found the black book of the dead.
"Who read the words in the book?" Danny asked as he looked at them.
One of them had to be a witch to cast a spell.
"The Egyptian did something to us, and we could speak the words even if we did not know what we were reading." Simon said.
"None of you thought that was weird or tried to run?" Danny asked just to be certain.
"It was like how we found the book. Once we knew the words, we just had to speak them aloud. It was if we could not stop ourselves." Robert said. "It was like he was acting through us."
"How much treasure did you guys take from Hammunaptra?" Danny asked.
He was going to check their gold to make sure that there was no curse on it that would ruin their lives when they returned home. The life of peasants was hard enough without an Egyptian curse following them.
"If you want the treasure, you can have it." Joseph Moore said.
"Just give me the book and I will save your lives." Danny said.
"We will do anything." Joseph Moore said.
"You can stay here until this is over." Danny told them. "You will be safe."
Normally he would have kept them to figure out how he was going to punish these fools. They had brought an annoyance to him during his vacation. However, he was a duplicate. Focusing on punishing them was just a waste of his time.
0-0-0-0-0-0
(Khmunu, Egypt)
"What are you planning to do with the chief of the Medjai?" Qetsiyah asked.
"I doubt he is going to want me to know where the book is, so I was planning on taking the knowledge from him. If that does not work send him to you so that you can summon up his knowledge." Danny said as he walked through the abandoned ruins.
He had enough vampire blood. Two victims later and Qetsiyah could know everything he had done since he had said his first word.
It is early in the morning. Going by what he was told the loner Imhotep ran about as a pseudo-mummy the worse the situation would get.
Darkness would cover the land. Rivers would flow with blood; severe weather problems and plagues would follow. Eventually people would start dying.
The ancient city of Khmunu had been in the middle of Upper and Lower Egypt. There was only one man who lived here now, and he knew the direction he needed to go. He was racing against the clock so he did not let the sight distract him as it would normally. He could take his time exploring the history of this place after all of this was done.
"I know that you are in there." Danny said standing in front of one of the houses that looked like it was abandoned.
Other people may have been fooled but he knew better. Above the house was a barrier that had Egyptian writing on it. He did not know the specifics of what the images meant but it was better to be safe than sorry when it came to ancient Egyptian magic.
He wondered what would happen if he threw something passed the barrier?
"I know of you. You are the one that robbed the pyramid in Giza." Bianti said glaring at him.
"I like to think of it as freeing ancient treasures being hoarded by corpses." Danny said as he walked up to the hut while making sure to stop before activating the trap. "Bianti my name is Daniel and I have come to bargain with you."
There was too much knowledge that had been forgotten because people decided they wanted to take it with them to the afterlife. He knew why the show had to be the way it was but for the actual world to render its history to myth and the ramblings of crazy people was something that he did not want to accept.
"What have you come for?" Bianti asked while reaching behind his back to draw a weapon out of its sheath.
"I have come for information." Danny said. "I want you to tell me about the traps in Hammunaptra."
Mynar's story held the truth. He had read the book and found out that The Book of The Dead had spells that gave him the ability to raise and control the dead. So, he had started to believe that to kill something that had been risen by it he would need its opposite.
"I can assume that you are the reason that Imhotep has been raised?" Bianti asked.
"You can assume that, but you would be wrong." Danny said. "I also would like you to tell me where to find the book of Amun-Ra."
"You know of that as well?" Bianti asked. "I assume that you learned of it from the men you tortured. I had hoped my younger brothers would have killed themselves before they told their captor anything, but it looked like it was not to be."
That is rather harsh. This man just jumped from one plate of conclusions to another like he was at a buffet.
"Let's just say I asked them some questions." Danny answered.
"Why would I do anything to help you with what you have admitted?" Bianti asked.
"Because you do not wish for Imhotep to bring death and destruction down upon the world." Danny said. "I would like to hope that the medjai and I could work together for a bit to save this world."
He wished that they were in front of a fire so that he could shift the colors while an ominous wind blew around them.
It would have made a fine match with the night sky around them and the stars above.
"I am not going to tell you anything." Bianti said.
"You sound rather brave from inside the house." Danny said. "Why don't you come out and say that to my face?"
The moment that he did he would place him in a forcefield and take him to the Al'kesh that was flying above the city. He could then extract the man's memories to learn everything he needed about Hammunaptra and the Medjai.
"Why don't you come in then?" Bianti asked.
"Because I am not sure if the moment, I step across the threshold of your house that I won't be burned alive." Danny said. "I would prefer that you would come to me."
"I am good right where I am." Bianti said. "All you need is to make a gesture of trust."
'There is no way that I am going to do that.' Danny thought.
He only had so many days to exist, and he was not going to risk it because he wanted to make an old man feel better. Since they were at an impasse, he used telekinesis to pull the man out of his house. He saw the barrier around the house flash, but nothing happened. Probably because it was Bianti that walked across the barrier.
"Die." Bianti said as he tried to stab him.
"And you wonder why I did not trust you." Danny said as he used his powers to activate the gauntlet he was wearing and trap Bianti in a barrier. "Dima send down the transportation rings."
Good thing he had other duplicates doing his other tasks because this looked like it could take a while.
"They are on their way my king." Dima said.
"Take him to laboratory five and set up the equipment." Danny said the moment that rings brought them to the ship.
The Jaffa placed Bianti onto the hover-table and started moving him.
"Dima take the Al'kesh into space." Danny commanded.
He did not know how far the Medjai witches could reach or see but he was going to make it as hard as possible for them to reach him. If they tried to rescue their chief, they were going to have a very hard if not impossible problem of how to get back home.
0-0-0-0-0-0
(Hammunaptra, Egypt)
"What do you think is in there?" Danny asked looking around the ancient city.
Binati's memories had described the tomb being full of monsters and traps. The problem was that descriptions of them had been rather vague given the medjai rules. They had been tasked with making sure no one entered the tomb, so they had not bothered exploring what traps their ancestors had placed inside. Not to mention all the other traps the ancient pharaohs had put in them when they ruled over the place.
"Do you want my honest opinion?" Qetsiyah asked looking at him.
"Yes." Danny said.
He had to go in there to find The Book of Amun-Ra. It's not like the truth could make this quest more difficult. He knew it would just be another story the original would tell his Jaffa.
"I think inside the tomb are nightmares that should have been lost to time." Qetsiyah said.
"At least I will have something to look forward to." Danny said looking at the tomb.
The abandoned city gave him a terrible feeling. It was like standing around a meteor storm. You could feel the tension rising as heavy rocks crashed around you, but you were unsure of where to move to safety.
"Is this about your museum?" Qetsiyah asked.
"I will admit that the original will probably take what is in there and pace them in one of them." Danny said as he looked at the statue of Anubis.
It was only the top of the statue as the rest of it was buried underneath the ground and into the pyramid. At the feet of the statue is where Imhotep's sarcophagus should be. It was hard to say if that was still true given, he was somehow freed from it when he was locked inside and unable to escape it when he was alive.
"After you have found what you have come for you should bury this place beneath the sand." Qetsiyah said.
"That is going to take time." Danny said as he took a seat on a broken statue and looked at the hieroglyphs carved upon them.
His Jaffa would be arriving soon and then they would explore the inside of the pyramid. He could use the time to think over what he had learned from the sirens through his duplicate.
0-0-0-0-0-0
(Flashback Begins)
(Rome, Italy)
"You must be King Daniel." The person on the left said from under the cover of the robe.
"I am and you are?" Danny asked as he looked at his escorts.
Sybil and Seline were the servants of Arcadius that Qetsiyah had told him about. He was just not sure which siren was which.
"I am Sybil." The siren on the left said.
"And I am Selene." The siren on the right said. "You are certainly reckless."
"What do you mean?" Danny asked as they moved away from the gate and through the city.
"We could have met you in another city, but you want to walk through this city as if the Pope would not order you to be captured the moment, he learned of it." Sybil said.
"There is little that he can do to harm me." Danny said as he sat down on a by a fountain and looked at the people walking through the ancient city.
What he was not saying was that he had already gotten someone to take the Pope a message. Just a little something for him to worry about until his Jaffa showed up to attack the city. Until that time though he was going to relax. There were many placed in the country that the original wanted to see when he got the memories from Qetsiyah. The Roman coliseum, the leaning tower of Piza, the home of Batiatus where Spartacus lived while a gladiator, the path Spartacus took after his revolution began, and all the other places in between.
"We still must keep a low presence. We are not vampires that drop bodies wherever we go." Selene said.
"I will try not to make trouble for you. They will never know that I have met with you." Danny said.
"Good. Sybil and I will take you to the estate and you can ask her your questions about Imhotep." Selene said.
"What about you?" Danny asked.
"I stayed up late hunting last night. I need my sleep. The only reason that I am still up was to make sure that we met you and make sure you do not cause problems." Selene said.
"Thank you then." Danny said.
It was no big deal. It would allow him to focus on just one siren.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"So, what does your master know of Imhotep?" Danny asked while he took a sip from his teacup.
As he hated tea, he had transmuted the liquid to cranberry juice. They were in her estate so beyond the servants she had no one would see him here. The estate was full of treasures that they had acquired in their lifetime. Paintings, jewelry, and the like. The Vikings would have loved to raid this place if they were still around.
So would the original.
"We have been told that he is threatening the world. That he is looking for ancient powers that should be best left alone." Sybil said.
"That is barely more helpful than what Qetsiyah told me. I thought your boss Arcadius would have more information to give since he is older than her." Danny said.
"Just because he has been around longer does not means he knows everything. Arcadius was not watching while Imhotep was buried and the people who performed the act did not end up with him when they died." Sybil said. "I do have something else to tell you though that you may be interested in."
"What?" Danny asked curious.
"Give me your hand." Sybil said extending her open palm to him.
"Can we not write what we want to say to each other instead if you want it to be secret?" Danny asked.
"I would prefer for us to be able to speak openly without hiding secrets." Sybil said.
"That seems ironic." Danny said.
This was how most people got manipulated in stories when they made deals with demons.
"Come on." Sybil said impatiently.
'Very well.' Danny thought to himself before he put his hand into Sybil's.
'Where is the original?' Sybil thought to him.
The first thought he gave to her was that he was just a duplicate.
'He is busy with other business. I and the others do the work that he needs done.' Danny thought to her.
'That is a useful power.' Sybil thought to him. 'We could observe and collect many more souls if she and her sister could make duplicates of themselves.'
'I think so. Now what did you wish to talk about?' Danny thought to her.
'I wish to tell you, our story.' Sybil thought to him.
'Very well.' Danny responded as they began to travel through Sybil's memories back to a time long before she was a Siren.
When she was just a little girl that had been abandoned by her family. Her father let her be taken despite her mother struggling to take her back.
'Why did they do this?' Danny thought.
'In my time it was tradition that when a child was shown developing with psychic abilities they were to be abandoned on a desolate island and left to die.' Sybil thought.
'That is terrible.' Danny thought to her as he realized what happened to his people's descendants.
So that was why it was so hard to find people with the ATA gene in this time and possibly the SG-1 show.
'This is where I met Seline.' Sybil thought to him as he watched as the two girls grew up on the island ignored by the rest of the world and forsaken by their fellow villagers.
'Where did the meat come from? I thought the island was desolate?' Danny thought to her.
'My sister had told me that it was supplies from the ship that we caused to crash on the rocks." Sybil thought to him.
'I am guessing that is not true?' Danny questioned her given the way that she was, feeling.
'It was technically true, but she did not tell me that the meat was actually from the men that had been working on the ship.' Sybil thought to him.
It did fit with the whole Siren myth. Women that caused sailors to crash upon the rocks. The cannibalism was a surprise, but it served as a good explanation for why.
'You tried to kill yourself?' Danny asked her.
'After learning the truth how could I do anything else?' Sybil thought as they watched her jump from the top of a cliff.
'What happened next?' Danny asked given that she survived for centuries after this.
'Seline could not handle my death. She prayed for someone to save me while I prayed for death and unfortunately Arcadius was listening.' Sybil thought and they watched as a man with dark skin, bald hair, and wearing a toga appeared before Seline. It was a surprise that he had dark sin. Probably would not help race relations if the people of this planet learned the truth.
'What type of being is he?' Danny asked wondering what type of creature he would be making a deal with.
'In the story Seline told me he was the first psychic in our lands. The reason that we were sent to that island. He had tried to help the people of this village with his gifts but because he told the wrong person he was aware of his secret he was burned alive.' Sybil thought.
'How did he create his own dimension then?" Danny asked.
Not even the original knew how to do that. He just drew in power from the ghost zone.
'When he was burned alive and smelled his burning flesh, in his hatred he released a blast of psychic energy that covered his village. Now whenever he forms a link with the souls of the wicked, he can drag them to his realm for eternity. His favorites are the villagers that burned him' Sybil thought.
'Wow.' Danny thought.
That was a kind of petty that a Goa'uld would love. 'Why are you telling me all of this?'
'I want my freedom.' Sybil thought to him.
'You wish to die?' Danny thought to her.
'No. If I did, I would just end up being resurrected by Arcadius.' Sybil thought.
It was how she had become a Siren in the first place. Arcadius used his power to change her and her sister to serve him better. On the chance that they did die he would put their souls back in their bodies and bring them back to life.
'What do you wish me to do then?' Danny thought to her.
'I want you to kill Arcadius.' Sybil thought back to him.
'You want me to kill the devil?' Danny thought to her.
'I could give you the weapon to do it.' Sybil thought to him. 'A blade forged in the moment of hell's creation. One correct stab with it and Arcadius would die.'
'I will think on it.' Danny thought to her.
He could not make such a promise for the original as he was not sure what type of consequences there could be for such an act. "I still have plans in this country. Would you like to join me?"
"Where are we going?" Sybil asked.
"Not far." Danny said as he stood up and held his hand out for her to take.
"Where do you wish to go?" Sybil asked him.
"I wish to see the coliseum where they used to have gladiator fights." Danny said.
"At this time of night, it will be hard to get in. The guards patrol it as lots of kids try to sneak in." Sybil said.
"That's fine. Between the both of us we can take care of them." Danny said taking her hand teleporting them away.
(Flashback End)
0-0-0-0-0-0
He was not sure how to react to her request of killing the devil.
Was his life now an episode of Supernatural? He believed that she was honest in her desire to be free from having to eat human flesh. That did not mean however that he had to help her. Arcadius has already marked her soul and starting a war with the devil at the moment did not seem wise. Arcadius may not know much about Imhotep but he is still older than Qetsiyah and may have information that the original might want.
He should not risk losing this dimension until he had a better understanding of what is on the table.
He was already planning on creating new bodies for the Mikaelson vampires and it would not be too hard to make one for Sybil. That way she no longer had to eat people.
He watched as the Jaffa landed and started moving into formation. Waiting for him to give them their orders.
"We are here to save this world from a monster." Danny said as he looked at the twenty Jaffa. "An undead abomination desires to sink this world into chaos. We will not let fear halt our army. The divine will of Nirtti will protect us. Let's us march forward see what is waiting inside.".
All of his group including himself were wearing environmental suits for protection. Usually, it was only worn when they were working in space but given the traps that could be inside, he figured they would be necessary. The equipment would also allow him to conserve power while inside.
"For the glory of Nirtti!" The Jaffa shouted as they slammed their staff weapons upon the sand.
"You really know how to motivate them." Qetsiyah said.
"I have had lots of practice." Danny said as the Jaffa turned around and walked in front of him.
"Which way should we go my king?" Raios asked the moment they came upon a hallway that had three doors.
"I will check." Danny said as he used his suit's x ray vision to look deeper into the pyramid. "It's this way."
They then moved down on the passage to the left. The one in the left led to a pit of filled with spikes. The one in the middle led to a dead end with arrows waiting to be launched at intruders. The one on the left was the only one to continue.
"What kind of creatures are these?" Igdu asked looking at the walls.
"Let's see." Danny said looking at the images.
The suit also allowed them to flip through multiple frequencies and still retain colors as if their eyes were not being covered.
"This is amazing." Danny said as he walked through the pyramid and looked at the images that were carved upon the walls.
"What do these images mean?" Raios asked as he walked behind him.
"I have no idea." Danny said pausing as he looked at the image of the monsters that were carved on to the stone. "Jaffa move back."
He could feel the unsettling feeling he felt earlier rising again.
"My king?" Jarra said as she looked at the stone that began to glow.
"Something is happening." Danny said as the creature on the wall became solid.
The creature looked to be an alligator, but it was covered in golden armor. "I was not expecting this."
The monster that was before them was radiating the same feeling as the lands around them. Its beady red eyes held malice in them, and it looked like it wanted to take a bit out of them with its sharp teeth.
"Gggrrrr." The creature growled at him.
"We can protect you, my king." Igdu said.
"This is not a good space for that." Danny said not to mention he had no idea of the ability of this creature.
It was too much of an unknown. Those claws could have poison, its voice could be deadly, its eyes could see through the dark and its body could move through the shadows. It would be best to deal with this thing as quickly as possible. He raised the pistol that was attached to his hip. A beam was fired at it and the creature blew up into shadows before it could get any closer.
"This is what I was talking about. Ancient monsters that should have been destroyed and forgotten." Qetsiyah said.
"Now that I think about it the scrolls that I found in Giza talked about ancient pharaohs that would turn their people into monsters." Danny said.
No wonder people put so much stock in the rumors of the Spear of Osiris if this is what they dealt with in those times.
"And this creature is one of them?" Qetsiyah asked.
"I believe so. I also wonder how those villagers from England managed their way through here." Danny said wondering what else was waiting inside to wake up and attack them on their adventure.
"My king." Jarra said as she looked down at the ground.
"I see it." Danny said as he looked down at the glowing circle.
He could also see the sparks of fire that were beginning to grow. "Activate your barriers and increase the force of gravity on your mag-boots."
He watched as the suits projected barriers around him and the Jaffa that protected them while an inferno of fire formed around them. It swirled and surged as it reached up to the ceiling. When it was finished, he looked up to see not even scorch marks were left behind on the rocks. It was impressive as the suits registered the heat to reach 2500 degrees Fahrenheit (1370 degrees Celsius).
"Thank you for saving us my king." Raios said.
"It was no big deal. Let us move forward." Danny said looking at the walls if there would be any more creatures coming from it.
As they got closer to the treasure there would probably be more dangerous traps waiting for them.
"Get in position. I want you to blast them to pieces before they can even form." Danny said looking at the two statues above them.
The one on the left was that of a panther that stood as if she was a person. She held blades in both of her hands. The one on the right was that of a mummy. It had a cloak and mask on. It had two blades stretching down its arms and was connected by two bands.
"It is not working." Igdu said.
"Fine. I want you to form two groups and support me and a duplicate as we fight." Danny said.
He had hoped that he would be able to refrain from using his power, but it seemed as if it was not to be.
"AAAHHHH." The monsters growled as they appeared before him.
"Let's finish this fast." Danny said as he looked at the female panther and drew out the blade of Telchak.
"Alright." His duplicate responded as he conjured two swords and faced the mummy that was walking towards him.
"This will not take long." Danny said as he used a combination of super speed to move around the female panther.
It tried to keep up as he darted in and out of its eyesight but failed. "You should have let them destroy you."
As their blades clashed his cut through hers quickly leaving her defenseless for another chop to the head that turned her to dust.
"That took you a while." The duplicate boasted as it stood among the dust of his foe.
"You say that but all you did was hold the creature and let the Jaffa shoot at it." Danny said before he absorbed the creature and sheathed the sword of Telchak.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"We are near the end." Danny said as he looked at the room ahead of them.
The chamber held the treasure of all the kings since the time of Sargon.
"I can feel something is about to happen." Qetsiyah said.
"Things seemed to be going too easy." Danny said.
The doors shut and two magic circles appeared. One on the ground and one on the ceiling.
"It seems that they intend to drown us since we made it this far." Igdu said.
"Not so simple. Look up." Danny said as he looked at the circle.
He felt the electric power rising. It seemed that once the chamber was filled, they were to be electrified to death. Whoever came up with this was certainly a cruel Pharoah. Probably be good friends with Thomas Edison.
"Can we get passed this room?" Jarra asked.
"It is no problem." Danny said as he caused the treasure chamber's walls to become intangible. "Hurry up everyone."
"What you have come for is straight above." Qetsiyah said as she pointed to the book that was resting upon the pillar.
"Great." Danny said while focused upon the treasure and scrolls around them.
Maybe some of them would explain what these creatures were and how they were made.