Part V:
30 June 1056 BCE
I used to know what Love was. I've only loved once. She was a goddess. A princess, daughter of the Pharaoh. Her hair flowed past her shoulders like the Nile, and her skin was as brown and smooth as the silt in its shores. She could command a room with a glance, quiet it with a whisper. So young.
I was a celibate priest in the Pharaoh's court. None held more sway or influence to a higher power. I damned myself though, couldn't control the urges. I forced myself on Princess Ananka when she would not give herself to me willingly. I thought she would give in, be as passionate as I was, she kept struggling and started to scream, I hit her. She fell down and I hit her again. I didn't know how hard, she started to run, I pounced and threw her on on her on to the edge of a stone block, she hit her neck and it snapped. The guards entered and saw what I had done.
I had raped and murdered the Princess. I suffered for my sins. They mummified me alive and cursed me to guard her tomb for eternity as a penance that will never be fulfilled, forever barren from the afterlife. I am never allowed to reunite with my Ananka.
02 February 1895
I did not meet another soul for nearly three millennia. Apparently during a wave of discovery at the turn of the mortals' Century mark many tombs of our people were desecrated by the West. This is how I met a reincarnation of my beloved, Amina Schnelppvort.
Amina was Ananka reborn truly. She had long hair, silky skin, a powerful presence. She came to me with her husband and a group of Archaeologists from England. I heard them digging for days before they found the entrance to the tomb. Had they not known I was here? They should have prepared. Albert told me that was why they had hired him in the first place. You see, when I met my first mortal I also heard of the Frankensteins.
Albert and Amina hailed from a village in Romania named Bran. Apparently they had a nasty issue with the Undead up there, creatures rising from the grave with great strength and little intellect, terrorizing the people. Albert had done well hunting and dispatching the beasts so a group of English seeking to unearth possibly cursed Egyptian tombs brought on he and his family in case the worst happened.
The worst happened. I killed all of the Englishmen easily. They even brought a Priest of the Old Religion named Yousef. His knowledge was too modern though, he could not control me, even with Tea of the Tana Leaves. Mummies are strictly bound to their Curses and to the Scent of Tana Leaves. It commands us to that location but this poor sap thought he could control me when I got there. I ripped his head off.
I approached Albert and Amina when I stopped at her beauty. If I yet drew breath it would have vanished. I placed her aside and grabbed her man's throat, ready to tear it out. He stammered and tried to make a deal.
"What do you want from us?" the mortal said.
"You have nothing to give me." I informed him.
"Money? Power? Riches, every man has something he needs or wants - name your price, man! Anything!" I put him down. I looked at Amina. I knew she wasn't Ananka. She would be pleasant, but could never be an immortal.
"Peace." I told Albert. "My only desire is to rest. To be with my love, Ananka. I require the forgiveness of a priest." I glared at him. "A True Egyptian of the Old Religion. I doubt you can grant me that. Pharaoh Mummies may rest, only those of the highest sins against the gods are cursed to remain in this world."
"But there are priests who walk again! Back in England there was a Mummy in Leeds named Nesyamun! He is what scared the Archaeologists."
"Nesyamun of Menmaatre Setpenptah, the Court of Ramesses XI, serving under Amenhotep, Priest of Amun Son of Ramessesnakht?"
"Uhhh...uh yeah! That guy. I can bring you to him, you'll be forgiven in exchange for the lives of me and my family."
"Agreed," I could not let my temporary fixation on Amina separate me from my true love, Ananka. "But I shall not wait until you go all the way to England and back, fetch him and we will fix Tana Leaves at a good half-way point to shorten his Journey."
"Bucharest is near my home, I know the area, we will be able to be discreet there. Are you sure you can leave your tomb?"
"Meh, shouldn't be a problem."
I held on to his Amina and son, Norman while he journeyed back to England on he Archaeologist's vessel. Meanwhile we made it up to Bucharest ourselves. I lay at the meeting spot with the Tana Leaves, but only Nesyamun and another awakened Mummy, Djedptahiufankh of Shoshenq arrived.
"Where is the mortal?"
"We were jumped by the creatures. They said they would take revenge on he who wronged them," Nesyamun informed me.
"Where are they now?" We crossed a few streets and attacked out attackers. They were slovenly creatures, messy hair, tattered clothing and a horrible stench.
"Where is Albert Schnelppvort?" I asked, Amina and Norman cowering behind me. The tallest one aimed a rifle at my chest and fired. He would learn better. I took hold of one of them and ripped him apart. These things who had no fear of our kind would also learn fear as well. "Where is Schnelppvort?!"
"That bastard is dead!" The gangly one mouthed. "I strangled him myself!" He could not possibly comprehend what he had done. "Now you die!" He threw some water in my face, distracting me enough with the thought of gross smelling bandages to escape. Nesyamun came to my aid.
"Where is the boy? WHERE IS THE BOY?!" Nesyamun and Djedptahiufankh looked around, they had lost them. Amina and Norman also escaped in the confusion.
"What did you want with the mortals?" Nesyamun asked. He was not to blame. This...this Frankenstein was. "Do you still seek forgiveness?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, Old Priest. Schnelppvort entered my tomb. He is cursed by me. Because he died from another's hand my curse is unfulfilled. I must now destroy all his remaining blood. My debt with Ananka for now is moot."
"Surely-" Nesyamun began
"We will destroy that family! And these Frankensteins! Gather who we can. We shall begin with the tomb next to me, it's time we unearth Nesperennub of Usermaetre-Setepenre, I heard those guys come in after the first three hundred years, what a racket. We start with him, he'll show us more. You two, remember any other cursed Mummies. We build our army today. Let we enter into Lowcountry."
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