//------------------------------// // Return to Hamunaptra // Story: The Mummy // by Lady Umbra //------------------------------// Discord, Zephyr, and Zecora walked across the desert dune with the airfield behind them, the trio stand before Wind Ryder as he listened to his record on his gramophone "Morning WInd" Discord greeted with a wave. "We've got a problem and a job for ya if you're interested" "So what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corp?" Wind Ryder asked setting down his cup "Last time I checked," Discord said with a smug grin. "Not a god-damned thing." The Veteran Pilot looked at the trio, intrigued. "Is it dangerous?" "Well, You probably won't live through it," Discord admitted bluntly Hearing this Ryder leaned forward in interest. "By Jove, do you really think so?" "Everybody else we've bumped into has died," Zephyr admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "why not you?" The Veteran nods his head as he slowly rises to his feet "So what's the challenge then?" "Save the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, and save the world." A slow grin spreads across the veteran's face before giving the trio a snappy salute. "Wind Ryder at your service, sir!" After making their preparations, Discord and his team took of in Wind Ryders old biplane and flew across the desert with all haste. Discord sat in the rear gunner seat while Zecora and Zephyr were buckled onto the wings of the plane. "Are you alright?" Discord shouted to Zephyr who was gripping the wing for dear life. "DO I BLOODY LOOK ALRIGHT?!?" Zephyr yelled while rolling his eyes. "FWEEP! How you doing?" Discord shouted to Zecora who seemed to be having the time of her life while flying through the air. As they raced across the desert, Ryder noticed a sand twister flying by but for some reason it seemed off. "See that? I've never seen one so big!" He shouted to Discord as it passed by. "Never?" "No!" Down on the ground, the sandy whirlwind came to a stop and began to dissipate. Fluttershy and Golden Bit are suddenly ejected out of it, they roll across the sands as Golden Bit lands right on top of Fluttershy. "GET OFF ME" Fluttershy smacked the shifty man off of her Bitty rubbed his cheek as he let out a groan. "I need a new job" The swirling sand condenses before the sands took shape of High Priest Sombra, the high priest shakes off the sand as he walked passed the pair. Fluttershy looked around only to gasp in shock, off in the distance Fluttershy saw the City of the Dead. "Sweet Celestia" Fluttershy gasped out. "We're back at Hamunaptra" Sombra froze when he began to hear a loud buzzing sound in the sky, everyone looked up and found a biplane soaring around in the sky. "Discord" Fluttershy whispered with a growing smile Sombra glares at the plane as power surges in his eyes, the high priest lets fly with another one of his horrible shrieks as a massive wall of sand rises up out of the desert. "Oh. My. God...." Discord said in fear as he watched the sand begin to chase the plane. "HEY RYDER! PEDAL FASTER!!" "Hang on!" Wind Ryder shouted back as he pushed the throttle further The plane dives over the side of Hamunaptra Unfortunately, as Wind Ryder levels the plane out, the sandstorm continues to chase the biplane. The sand wall was getting closer and closer, Discord looked back into the blinding sand and saw part of the sand turn black as a giant face forming inside the sandstorm. "Fuck this" Discord grabs the mounted machine gun, cocks the bracket and started to shoot the sands The bullets blast away at Sombra's giant face inside the sandstorm, Sombra's face begins to laugh before his jaw unhinges and swallows the plane. "Stop it!" Fluttershy turned to the high priest. "You'll kill them!" "That's the idea" Fluttershy pushed Golden Bit out of the way before stopping right before looking back to the twisting plane, The biplane spun inside the blowing sands, the engines roaring out of control as the howling wind tore through the metal. Zephyr and Zecora both screamed in fear as the pilot simply grinned at the situation. "Here I come, laddies!!" Wind Ryder laughed as the plane started to fly upside down Sombra was savoring the kill to come when out of desperation, Fluttershy kissed him and broke his concentration as the sandstorm suddenly dissipated and the trio escaped but her success was short lived as she watched them crash behind a sand dune. Feeling satisfied with his victory as well as the kiss, Sombra grabbed Fluttershy and proceeded towards the city unaware that his foes had survived their ordeal. "I love the whole sand wall trick it was beautiful...bastard." Bitty said while following. The entire front half of the plane was buried in the sand as the group began to regain consciousness and stumbled to their feet save for Zephyr who was still stuck to the wing. "Uh excuse me?" He called out while struggling to get loose. "A little help would be useful-IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE!!" "Yeah, yeah I gotcha." Discord said as he unstrapped Zephyr while Zecora pulled the machine gun free from the plane. "Ryder? Hey Ryder!" Discord tried to shake his friend awake but got no response and only after a few seconds did he realize he had perished in the crash with a smile plastered on his face. Without warning the plane suddenly began to sink and Zecora pulled the two men back in a hurry. "QUICKSAND!! Get back! it's quicksand!!" She said as they got to a safe distance and watched their friend be buried with his plane. In the true fashion of a soldier, Discord gave the old pilot one final salute as he was buried beneath the sand. "Let go," Discord said slinging his sack over his shoulder as Zecora followed behind the pair with the plane's gun in her hands Fluttershy follows Sombra into the underground cemetery, She stops at the sight of all the big hairy rats scurrying through the mausoleums and over the gravestones. However, Golden Bit shoves her back and pushes her forward, she turned back to the man and glared at his grinning face. "Keep moving." Golden Bit said pushing her again Fluttershy however just gave him a dirty look. "You know, nasty little fellows such as yourself, always get their comeuppance." Golden Bit suddenly looks worried. "Yeah?" "Oh yes," Fluttershy said with a growing smile. "Always." Discord and Zecora are busy digging out a collapsed doorway as Zephyr were giving them instructions, but in reality, all he was doing was irritating both of them. "Start with the bigger stones first" Zephyr advised the pair. "No pull from the top otherwise the whole thing will collapse" the man continued angering the Medjai the most. "Come on put your..." Zephyr lets out a yelp as he ducks to avoid a sword that was wielded by Zecora, the woman inched the blade closer to Zephyr's face which quickly shut him up. "Zephyr" Discord said glaring at the eldest sibling. "Shut up before I take that sword and kill you myself" "You know what now that I think about it" Zephyr whimpered as Zecora pulled her sword away. "You two know what you're doing" The Medjai returned her sword back to her belt before she and Discord went back to clearing the doorway, as the two worked Zephyr takes notice of a jewel on the far wall. "I say, look at that." Zephyr walks over and jiggles it free. "You guys should come and have a look at this." Without warning something inside it starts to wiggle, and the wiggling continues until a scarab breaks out of its cocoon and instantly begins to burrow into Zephyr's palm. Zephyr starts to freak out and starts screaming, the blonde's scream alerted the pair causing them to drop the stone. "Give me that sword!" Discord said reaching for the blade. "MY ARM!!!! MY ARM!!!" Zephyr screamed pointing to his shirt sleeve. Discord runs up and rips the arm off Zephyr's shirt. "Woah!" Discord shouts as he spots the scarab moving up Zephyr's arm. "Hold him!" Zecora grabs hold of the blond as Discord whips out his butterfly knife, snaps it open, and grabs Zephyr's arm. "NO! NOT THAT! NOT THAT!!" Zephyr screams louder as the knife digs into his skin Discord flicks his hand causing something to fly through the air, the scarab hits the floor and immediately starts scurrying back toward Zephyr with the intent on finish the job. "I've had just about enough of you" Discord pulls out his gun and blows it away The shot rang out through the tunnels when Fluttershy smiled, realizing her friends had survived. "Discord." She smiled before Sombra pulled out some strange dust from one of the jars and blew it onto a set of hieroglyphics as he chanted some sort of spell. The two figures on the inscription suddenly came to life, making Fluttershy jump back as she realized they were men who had been mummified and buried in the temple walls. "The celestial scholars never wrote about this..." she said as they two mummies shambled forward and bowed before Sombra. "Kill them." He said in the ancient tongue, directing them to Discords group. "And wake the others!" the Trio continues further into the temple until they arrive at an altar, Sombra begins to prepare the altar while speaking in Hebrew, Golden Bit looks to the woman and translates his master's words "Prince Sombra wants your heart." Golden Bit said causing Fluttershy to blush "Well Tell him, I'm truly flattered... but that it's already taken." Sombra continues speaking while laying the four jewel-encrusted canopic jars next to the shattered one. "He wants your heart and your brain, your liver, your kidneys..." Golden Bit causing Fluttershy to glare at the man. "Basically your organs" Fluttershy's eyes widen as she furiously turns to Sombra. "You only want me for my organs?!" Sombra looks at her and grins before he lifts his hand and strikes her face, Sombra's strike throws her off her feet and into one of the walls. Fluttershy's vision goes blurry before she passes out, Sombra lifts the woman onto the altar before dismissing Golden Bit. Discord and his team journeyed through the labyrinth of tunnels with Zecora's guidance since the Medjai had more knowledge of the city. They came upon a darkened room where Discord noticed a mirror slightly out of alignment with the sun. With one well placed shot, the trio found themselves standing in the legendary treasure hoard of Hamunaptra itself, piles upon piles of gold and jewels laid before them as the treasure glittered in the dim light. "Can you see?" Zephyr gasped while they walked passed the enormous hills of wealth. "Yes." Discord replied in a more calm tone but even he was a bit dumbfounded at the treasure hoard. "Can you believe?" "Yes." "Can we just-" "No." Discord spoke more firmly, not wanting them to get sidetracked when suddenly several hands bursted from the sand and they found themselves surrounded by mummies. "Who the hell are these guys?" He asked Zecora as they closed in. "Priests, Sombra's priests." Zecora said while aiming her gun. "Okay." KABLAM!! Discord and Zecora rain bullets and buckshot on the undead, Zephyr joins in by grabbing both of Discord's pistols ad firing on the mummies. Even though they had the firepower to blow through them, the mummies simply outnumbered them and continued to inch closer to them. To make matters worse the disemboweled body parts started to move, turn over, and crawl toward our heroes, who start to back away. All three turned and started to run through the gold-filled room, Zephyr slowed down to grab a golden goblet Until the flat of Zecora's sword smacked his hand causing him to drop the gold. As the trio was being chased by the undead priests, Golden Bit ran into the room and let out a giddy laugh as he marveled at all the gold. Discord and Zecora covered the rear as all three ran through the temple passageways, Zephyr ran ahead into the large open room with a wide smile on his face. "I found him, He's in here!" Zephyr shouted as he lit the mounted torch in the room. "Hello Horus old boy" "Keep them busy for a sec," Discord said running to the torch with a stick of Dynamite in his hands Igniting the fuse Discord turned toward the doorway. "Time to close the door!" Discord said as Zecora and Zephyr took cover behind the statue of Horus. The gunman hurled the explosive and quickly ran for cover, the dynamite exploded destroying the majority of the mummies and sealing the passageway in the process. "How more of those have you got?" Zephyr asked "Just one" Discord said picking himself up. "Now let's get this book and send this freak back to hell" While the men were busy with the statue, Fluttershy awoke to find herself chained to an altar when she felt something crawling on her stomach and looked down to see a huge rat. Her first instinct was to hold back her scream as she gave a few frightened gasps and quickly rolled over to get the rodent off her but as soon as she turned over, she found herself lying next to another mummy. "AAAAAAAH!!!" Her screams were drowned out by the sound of gunfire as Zecora emptied every bullet she had just as Discord and Zephyr continued to struggle with the secret compartment, when at last they had found their prize. "The golden book of Amon Ra..." Zephyr gasped in astonishment just as Zecora ran out of ammo. "Save the girl." She told her new friends. "Kill the creature! YAAAAAAH!!!" "NO!!" Discord shouted as she charged the remaining mummies and forced them back. "What are you waiting for?!? GET OUT!! GET!! OUT!!" Zecora shouted while desperately holding them back. With no other choice, Discord used his last stick of dynamite to create an escape tunnel, leaving their friend to her fate as they raced towards the ritual chamber. Outside, Golden Bit staggers across the sand with a saddlebag filled to the brim with treasure. He throws it over the rear of a camel before he starts to climb up, Golden Bit hesitates as looks back at the temple door. Licking his lips, his greed gets the better of him as he quickly scurries back toward the temple for more gold. Chained tight to the top of the altar, Fluttershy hopelessly struggles to free herself. She stops as Priest mummies start surrounding the altar, Fluttershy is horrified as the hideous mummies kneel down and begin to chant despite the lack of tongues, jaws, and mouths in the room. High Priest Sombra steps up carrying the black Book Of The Dead, His hand reaches out and lovingly caresses his beloved's decayed cheek. "Chrysalis" Sombra said before using the key to unlock the black book After stashing the key within his robes, Sombra begins to read from The Book Of The Dead. "Discord!" Fluttershy called out in desperation and fear. "Zephyr!" Sombra stopped reading as he looked ahead and saw a large swirling hole starting to open in the detritus bog, Sombra smiled as a strange mist wafts up out of the swirling hole. Fluttershy's eyes widen in amazement and horror as the strange mist travels through the sacred jars into Fluttershy, the pink-haired woman jerks as though she's been electrified before the mist leaves her body and into Chrysalis. The priests and Sombra's chanting reach a crescendo Chrysalis lets out a deep inhale and her empty eyeholes pop open, Fluttershy lets out a scream as the mummy turns and looks directly at her. "With your Death" Sombra said in the ancient tongue as he revealed a ceremonial blade in his hands. "Chrysalis shall live" the high priest raised the dagger to its peak. "And I shall be invincible!" "THE BOOK OF AMON RA!!" Zephyr shouted from atop the staircase. "I found it Flutters I found it!!" "The book of Amon Ra..." Sombra gasped as he stopped the ritual midway and began marching towards Zephyr. "Shut up and get me out of here Zephyr!!" Fluttershy shouted as her brother retreated into the corridor. "Open the Book Zephyr" Fluttershy commanded. "It's the only way to kill him" Sombra left the blade next to his beloved as he continued after the blonde. "You have to open it and read the inscription!" As Fluttershy was instructing her brother, Discord was approaching from the rear with one of the statue's mounted swords in his hands. "I can't it's locked," Zephyr said flipping the book over and recognizing the lock. "I need the key Flutters!" "It's inside his robes!" However, Zephyr took one look at the mummy and immediately turned tail and ran with the book in tow. Once Sombra was a good few steps up the stairs, Discord rushed in and slashed Fluttershy's chains off. Sombra whipped around and found the black-haired man freeing his sacrifice, the mummy scowled as he raised his voice to his priests "Destroy Him!" Discord made quick work of the priests as he began hacking them apart in a somewhat comedic fashion as one tried to catch its head before it was swatted away like a baseball. When the last of them was cleared, he scoffed thinking it was the easiest rescue he ever attempted as Fluttershy gave him a smile of admiration. "Mummies." He chuckled before something pulled him down and he fell dropping his sword. Discord was brought to the ground and restrained by two priests who had their lower limbs severed from their bodies, the gunman struggled to get them off but found their undead strength too much. "Discord!" Fluttershy called out as she struggle to pull the last chain from her wrist The black-haired man's attention was drawn to the approaching mummy who was holding a large stone slab in his decayed hands, Discord desperately tried to reach for the sword but found it Just out of his reach. Discord's eyes soon darted to a severed hand that was reaching around for his sword, the hand grabs the weapon's handle as the priest lifts the slab and laughs. "Thanks!" Discord said grabbing the severed hand and swinging the blade through the priest's legs. The priest's laughter was halted as it began to tilt backward, the mummy let out a brief scream before its head was crushed by the stone slab. Discord quickly killed the last two priests before helping Fluttershy with the last chain, elsewhere Zephyr started to translate the cover of the golden book "Let's see...Rasheem...Rasheem Muno...Rasheem Muno Kashka!" Zephyr shouted in excitement until he started to hear the sounds of marching A platoon of undead tomb guards began marching out in formation, cutting of Fluttershy and Discords escape as they formed a line and readied themselves for battle. "Ohh yeah this just gets better and better..." Discord said as he readied his sword.