Between Darkness & Light

A surge of energy hit me as my perspective immediately changed. I was looking through my own eyes in my body again. I smiled as I heard Ahmanet let out a scream of despair that rang through my brain. I watched Evy's face contort into confusion as she looked at me, she abruptly brushed off the confusion distracted by the plane in the pale blue sky. It had taken a steep dive as a sand wall took them out of the air. She then took action grabbing Imhotep's face and pulling him to her in a harsh kiss, she turned his body around to remove his eyeline from the plane. I understood the sentiment and applauded her inwardly for distracting him, hopefully, the plane would be able to recover. I thought through my plan of action, deciding not to give away the fact that I was back in control to Imhotep. It would make things easier in the long run. I watched frozen to where I stood as the plane's engine sputtered and the cloud of sand dissipated into nothing. The plane disappeared behind a dune, an explosion following, my heart dropped as I realized who might be on that plane. Imhotep pushed forward into the City of the Dead, my legs following without instruction. At that moment I realized I wasn't completely in control of my actions. Ahmanet still had some sort of control, how much though, I wasn't sure.

"I loved the whole sand wall trick, it was beautiful… " Beni uttered trying to please Imhotep, we just continued past him, a guttural growl settling in my throat.

"Bastard." I heard him say under his breath. We walked through another entrance that we hadn't previously known about into Hamunaptra. I wasn't surprised though this area was massive, so much left unexplored. 

"Keep moving," Beni said as he pushed Evy with his pistol. My anger for him flared up instantly and Ahmanet loosened her control not caring what happened to Imhotep's slave. I seamlessly retrieved my dagger from my boot as I stalked up to him. Grabbing his shoulder to hold him in place, I pushed him against the wall with a strength that cracked the wall behind him. I drug my blade across his throat, warm blood bursting from the wound, landing on my clothes and face. Ahmanet moved my head to look at Imhotep, he shrugged, continuing down the stairs. I could feel Ahmanet reveling in the easy kill. I let go of Beni's now lifeless body watching as it fell to the ground. Evy was stunned into silence unsure of what to do or say. I went to wipe the blood from my face, but Ahmanet stopped me, smiling at Evy instead causing her eyes to widen in fear. I could tell she was conflicted by this turn of events.

I heard a gunshot and I knew that Rick, Ardeth, and Jonathan were not too far behind us now… Alive.

"O'Connell" Evy breathed out. Imhotep cleared his throat waiting for me to stand beside him. When in position he blew a handful of sand at the hieroglyphics covering the wall. 

"Shatay wapay ku ra eck" He mumbled the spell as I watched as the priests that had been chiseled into the wall started to move and crack their way out of their places. 

"Bembridge scholars never wrote about this." Evy interrupted my thoughts as she started to back away from the wall, the priests moving to kneel before Imhotep.

"Kill them, and wake the others," Imhotep said to the now fully-bodied priests that stood before us. They hobbled off immediately to fulfill their master's wish. 

"Why don't you go with them Ahmanet? Terrorize the tourists." Imhotep ordered, I felt my face twist into a wicked smile as she nodded and we walked away from the scene before us leaving Imhotep and Evy alone. I easily traversed the passageways, my eyes adjusting to the darkness surrounding me. Ahmanet used her skills to keep me light on my feet toward my brother and the others. I climbed up to a ledge watching the three traverse through the treasure room, crouching down waiting for the opportune moment to strike as I watched the three shoot the mummies that Imhotep had sent popping out of the sand below them. I followed them down the corridor that my family had retreated through, on the path to the Horus statue.

"Hello, Horus old boy!" Jonathan greeted the statue with reverence. I watched closely, my head cocked to the side curiously as Rick lit a match on Ardeth's coarse facial hair. 

"Time to close the door," Rick said as he lit the wick of the dynamite throwing it into the passageway destroying their way into the treasure room. I settled easily at the top of the statue crouching down. I felt the bloodlust creep up suddenly as Ahmanet plotted. I watched as the carnage slowed and wondered why she hadn't made her attack just yet. 

"Patience and you will be rewarded. It'll feel better in front of an audience." Ahmanet spoke to me almost purring with excitement, knowing exactly what I was thinking. 

"Damn, these guys just don't quit, do they?" Rick said to the other two as he attempted to help Jon get the Book of the Living out from the bottom of the statue.

"Keep digging," Ardeth told them as he racked the shotgun heading toward the opposite passageway that the groaning was coming from, I watched as he ran out of ammunition after just a few shots, the click of the gun echoing through the small room. 

"The Book of Amun-Ra" Jonathan uttered out as he unwrapped the cloth from the golden book. 

"Save the girl. Kill the creature." Ardeth ordered them as he ran forward into the passageway that was littered with Imhoteps priests. Rick lit another match on his own face and then another stick of dynamite. "What are you waiting for? Get out! Get out!" Ardeth yelled. I watched as Rick threw the dynamite into the adjacent area next to the tunnel to blast the remnants of the wall onto the mummies that plagued Ardeth's escape. I watched with bated breath as I tried to push the thoughts of my husband being dead out of my mind. There was still work to be done. Immediately, a wave of contentment washed over me as I was pushed back from my present thoughts back to the window of watching my movements. Ahmanet took over as she heard the emotions running through me, she moved us swiftly through the cracks and hidden passageways back to Imhotep and Evy. 

"I found it Evy, I found it!" Jonathan yelled, distracting Imhotep from stabbing Evy with an ornate-looking knife. This gave me the opportunity to move towards Rick who was stealthily grabbing a sword from a statue. 

"The Book of Amun Ra" Imhotep uttered as I rapidly scaled down to the ground from the ledge where I had been watching the whole scene unfold. 

"Shut up and get me off here Jonathan," Evy begged him as he started down the stairs toward her. "Open the book, Jonathan. It's the only way to kill him. You have to open the book and find the inscription." She continued to instruct him.

"Well, l can't open it! It's locked or something... We need the key, Evy!" Jonathan realized almost immediately.

"It's inside his robes," Evy said, answering his question as I watched Rick free one of Evy's wrists from the shackles that bound her to the table near Anck-su-naum. Ahmanet walked me forward with a flick of her wrist, the mummies that were surrounding the table disintegrated into nothing, leaving just her and Rick. I watched as his face switched to confusion, looking towards me.

"Eris?" He asked curiously, seeing the blood that riddled my body. I advanced on him with the dagger of Set in my hand. He blocked efficiently as I made a swift jab toward him. I was proud of him for deflecting the move since swords were not his chosen weapon. 

"There are worse fates than death." Ahmanet growled out, as my body stalked toward him, my eyes now doubled and golden. I lunge my knife low towards Rick's abdomen, he blocked it with the hilt of his sword, pressing it against my forearm in an attempt to disarm me. I moved fast, jabbing the knife toward his face, he abruptly defended by swatting my arm out of the way. I bring my unarmed hand up to deflect his swing at my face, switching the knife to my left hand, keeping my eyes on him as I go. His instant reaction was surprise that I had switched hands that fast, I felt his hand grip my right wrist. I twirled backward away from him and stopped mid spin coming back toward him, slashing at his chest with the dagger in my non-dominant hand. He moved away fast, easily deflecting the move as I went in for another downward stab at his face, he blocked with his sword and twirled my dagger out of the way once again, moving the blades downward away from us so as not to cause any real harm. I could feel the anger seething from Ahmanet as she grabbed the hilt of his sword moving to disarm him. I took another downward jab at my brother, only to be surprised by another quick parry, stopping me with his forearm. We locked eyes, my hand moving to his chest, pushing him away from me with a supernatural force toward a wall where he fell, coughing up a bit of blood, attempting to catch his breath. I closed the difference between us easily, as I grabbed ahold of his shoulder holsters, throwing him on the ground and rapidly moving on top of him. 

I reared up holding the dagger, I knew this was the time to fight back. With a great effort, I pushed forward into the forefront of my brain. Ahmanet did not expect the sudden switch as I hastily took over, stronger this time. While I kept her at bay I watched Rick's eyes filled with distress. It was either me or him and I knew exactly what I would rather the outcome be. Me. As I struggled against Ahmanets hold on me, I felt the jagged edge of the dagger of Set enter my stomach, a gasp leaving my mouth as Ahmanet started to realize what had happened. 

"No! You fool, you have no idea what you have now unleashed." She spoke in my head, her power and voice fading away into nothing.

"Eris!" Rick yelled out catching my shoulders as I fell toward him. He moved me to the side, slipping out from underneath me. He held my head watching my flickering eyes, I could see the betrayal flashing through him as he debated what to do, looking at the dagger of Set and back to my face. I could tell Rick was fighting with his emotions, knowing he needed to go to Evy. I nodded urging him to go to her instead. He moved away from me slowly, laying me on the sand as he went to Evy releasing her from the table. My breathing slowed as my vision started to blacken at the edges. The darkness was pulling me away and I welcomed it, I yearned for it now, it didn't matter that I was leaving my brother and husband behind. I knew that it would protect me.

I could sense a being with me, as my family faded from view. I knew exactly who it was this time though, Set. I watched as he materialized in front of me in his jackal form.

"This is not what I expected from you, Eris." I could hear his voice projecting from the ether.

"Well, I've been known to keep the supernatural community on its toes." I brushed off the awkward comment with an awkward reply. 

"I meant that it was a selfless act that not many people would have made especially with the burden that is Ahmanet." Set explained. 

"Would you have preferred a different outcome?" I asked suspiciously. 

"No I wouldn't because I know how much losing your brother would completely destroy you. But I have a proposition for you." He started as he walked up to me in the dark room. I groaned, not really willing to hear it, but met his eyes anyway asking him to continue. 

"And that is?" I asked him giving him what he wanted, taking the bait he had laid so easily. 

"You let me be a constant in your mind, not controlling like Ahmanet. But a sort of conscience." I listened to his words that were swirling around in my head. I couldn't imagine another Ahmanet experience. 

"And who's to say that you'll keep your word?" I asked him skeptically. 

"My brother," he started before I saw a large falcon appear and land on Set's shoulder. I could feel my breath leave my lungs. 

"Horus?" I immediately knew my answer as I watched the falcon twitch its head toward me in a nod. 

"It's no surprise that we have had our troubles in the past…" Set started as the falcon screeched agreeing with him. 

"Since then we have made amends. Horus has always been the lighter side of our brotherly rivalry, if you do not trust me then he would be the one to trust." I slowly nodded,

"And if I refuse?" I asked curiously, knowing the answer wouldn't be what I wanted. 

"You will die, and I would hate to see that. You have so much more life to live and without your family and new husband…" He confirmed what I was thinking. It was a difficult decision to make, and I just wanted to die. Sensing that I wasn't going to agree he let me view what was happening now in the room.

"Keep him busy," Evy yelled to Rick as Imhotep threw him away toward a wall. 

"No problem," Rick uttered, his face in the sand, catching his breath. As Rick got up, Imhotep smacked him across the room again, where Rick fell with a grunt. Imhotep strode up to him, closing the distance between them, lifting Rick into the air a hand around his throat. 

"Now it's your turn," He says to Rick, his intentions to kill him clear. 

"Hurry, Evy! Hurry!" Jon exclaimed as he watched Rick turn blue from Imhotep choking him.

"You're not helping," Evy said in a singsong voice as she flipped the heavy pages of the book of Amun Ra in Jonathan's hands.

"Oh! I've got it." Evy yelled out in relief and then proceeded to chant "Kadeesh mal. Kadeesh mal. Pared oos. Pared oos." A transparent blue carriage materialized out of thin air, carrying Imhotep's immortal soul back to the underworld, he released Rick from his grip running after the carriage up the steps as it disappeared. Rick stood back up picking up his sword after rolling over a stone back toward Evy and Jon.

"l thought you said it was gonna kill him!" Rick said annoyed as he pointed his sword at Imhotep's stomach. Imhotep advanced on him, running himself through the blade. 

"He's mortal," Evy explained as Imhotep reached down to touch the blood, looking at it curiously. He brought his fingers up to view the crimson liquid, stumbling backward into the pool of skeletal remains holding his wound and muttering as he decomposed in front of their eyes. 

"Death is only the beginning," Evy translated what Imhotep said for the others. 

"Better make a decision quickly," Set said to me as if he knew what would be coming next. I huffed as I knew the outcome all too well, I was fucked either way. My brain worked fast as I continued to debate the decision. I knew one thing, I wasn't ready to die. 

"Alright, fine. Yes, just no possession." I uttered as I reached my hand toward him in agreement, feeling as if I'd made a deal with the devil. 

"Deal." He said as he shook my hand, I gasped awake from my position on the ground immediately attracting the attention of Evy, Rick, and Jon. 

"Eris?!" Rick gasped out as he slid up on his knees next to me. I sat up pulling the dagger from my stomach, the ruby turned black disintegrating into dust. I clutched onto the dagger putting it in my pack before looking down at my arms to see the Sumerian-translated Book of the Dead markings that had graced my arms for so long were now gone. My original Set tattoo with the pyramid only remained.

"Yeah… It's me." I sighed out in relief as I looked over to Evy and Jon who were astounded that I was alive. I looked back to Rick, our eyes meeting as he watched me carefully. 

"Are you sure?" He asked as I looked at him confused. 

"Yes, why?" I asked. 

"You're eyes… They're different colors." He said slowly, not wanting to alarm me. "One's brown like normal, the other is green…" He continued. I watched him knowing exactly what that meant but didn't want to break the news or alarm them in any way just yet. 

"How're you feeling?" Evy asked as she sat down gingerly next to me, taking the attention off of my eyes. 

"I'm alright, surprisingly…" I said as Jonathan walked closer to me, he was still clutching the Book of the Living as Rick helped me to my feet, not pushing me further for answers for once in his life. 

"Are you okay?" I asked Rick as he looked me over for injuries. I looked at him before he pulled me into a crushing hug. 

"I thought I lost you," Rick uttered his voice cracking with emotion, I had never seen this version of him before and it was almost unnerving to see now. 

"I'm here, you didn't," I reply, my own emotions breaking through. It was as if the floodgate had burst and I was finally feeling everything since the possession besides anger. Immediately my thoughts went to Ardeth.

"Is he??" I asked, before I could get it out Rick squeezed me tight.

"I'm not sure." He replied softly, pulling away to look at me. I nodded pushing down the raw emotions that were threatening to boil over. 

"Let's get out of here shall we?" Jon's voice rang out trying to lighten the mood, I cleared my throat pulling away from Rick as Evy led us through the treasure room. 

"Can we just?" Jon asked softly as he eyed everything in the room glancing to Evy for permission to take a few things. She laughed a bit as she nodded not seeing the need to rush. Jon whooped, as he took some pieces of gold, stuffing them in a saddle bag he had. I threw him my bag to fill as I went to sit on the stairs next to Evy. We sat for a moment in silence as the room was filled with the sound of Jon throwing some artifacts behind him, being careful to only pocket the perfect pieces. 

Once he was satisfied we made our way up the stairs to a corridor, where there was some sort of lever sticking out of the wall. Jon put his bag weighed down with treasure on it. An ominous sound filled the room as it creaked down. 

"What'd you do?!" Rick asked, alarmed as the walls started to move and sand began to seep through the cracks of the city of Hamunaptra. "Time to go!" He yelled as he grabbed the saddlebag off the switch, hoisting it onto his shoulder as we took off in a run through the passageway. I ran behind Jon watching the struggle of him holding onto my bag around his shoulder. I watched the Book of Amun Ra fall out of his grasp and down into a crevasse. Evy stopped and looked down at where the book had gone incredulously. 

"You lost the book! Jonathan, I can't beli–" She started to say as Rick and Jon grabbed an arm and drug her away from the area and out into the sunlight. I ran behind them as we made it out into the daylight, the pillars around the city collapsing narrowly missing us. We ran until we were out of the vicinity of the chaos. I took a second to breathe as we reached the camels that had herded themselves. My body tensed up immediately as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I reached out immediately and grabbed the person's wrist pulling it with me as I stepped to turn around, my eyes immediately locking with Ardeth's who was now on the sand instead of on his camel. Evy and Jon jumped from the scare. I heard the familiar click of Rick's guns being cocked. 

"Thank you, thank you very much," Jon yelled as Ardeth reached out a hand touching my cheek gingerly. 

"You're alright," He breathed out relieved as he quickly closed the distance between us, his lips crashing into my own. I smiled as I kissed him back easily, my fingers finding their way into his hair. He pulled away to address my family, "You've earned the respect and gratitude of my people." He said to them glancing away from me, meeting Jon, Rick, and Evy's eyes. 

"Oh well, it was nothing," Jon said as he clutched his heart. 

"May Allah smile upon you always," Ardeth said as he kissed his fingers, touching his forehead, and gesturing to them. 

"And yourself," Jon said as he tried to reciprocate the gesture. I laughed a bit watching the awkward encounter. "Yes anytime." He continued not knowing where to stop. 

"Let's go home." Rick broke the silence that had settled over us as he bent forward to capture Evy's lips in a kiss. I smiled at the two as Ardeth mounted his camel reaching a hand out toward me to help me up onto it as well. I took his hand, and he easily lifted me onto the animal, settling me in front of him. I watched as Jon mounted his own, my bag securely on his back. Rick and Evy finally pulled away from each other and mounted their own camel, the saddlebag glinting with the treasure Jon had picked out in the sunlight. We started the long trek back toward our home, trotting off over the dunes of sand that covered this area of the world.

Between darkness and light, good or evil whatever human part of her remains she'll search the world over for a way to break the curse, to find a cure. Yet evil never rests and it will call to her, always… Perhaps sometimes it does take a monster to fight another monster.