The Cursed Pharaoh's Bride

Chapter III

Carolina

The walls in this hallway is even more decorated with images than the last one. Though instead of repetitive images of Horus, there were several images and hieroglyphics about a singular pharaoh. Well, it’s probably his tomb so of course there would be a lot of images of him. 

I stop abruptly when I notice a strange eye symbol engraved in gold in the center of what looked like a sun. I makes me feel as if the wall is watching me. 

I jump when I hear Jay calling me. “Carolina? Are you okay? You kept staring at that thing,” he says. I blink in confusion before taking a step back from the wall. 

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” I reply, “Um, I’m just wondering what this is.”

“Well, it looks like the sun is shining over the pharaoh, who I’m guessing is El-Hasekrah,” Jay says. 

“What makes you say it’s that demigod pharaoh?” I ask. 

“Cohen had told me a bit about him once. His mother had been murdered by Set out of spite so he had tried to get revenge only to fail. He went to Rah to ask for help. Rah said he would only aid the worthy so he gave El-Hasekrah seven seemingly impossible quests to complete in exchange for godly power. El-Hasekrah was able to complete the tasks and was able to defeat Set before starting his own kingdom,” he explains, “The man standing under the sun must be El-Hasekrah, who is asking his grandfather for power.”

I just nod, not really knowing how to respond to his story or interpretation. 

“Myths are pretty cool, I guess,” Jay continues before leading me through the hallway again. “Whatever we find today might prove El-Hasekrah really existed. Not as a demigod though, obviously.”

“Right, of course,” I agree. I think nothing is cooler though than finding out that someone from a legend actually existed as a person. Whoever this El-Hasekrah was must have been an influential pharaoh if he actually made his people believe he was a demigod. 

We soon make it to a small yet open room at the end of the hallway. So basically, we are at a dead end. The room, like the hallway, is full of images. One wall in particular had many suns, eye symbols, and images of the pharaoh. 

My eyes immediately go to a large eye in the center of the wall. The longer I stare at it, the more I feel like all other images are getting blurrier, and what I’m assuming is Jay’s voice is starting to sound more and more far away. As if my mind was no longer in control, my hand moves upward and my fingertips run along the grooves and carvings in the wall. My finger stops at the pupil of the eye and firmly presses into it. 

The walls suddenly start shifting and a hidden door opens revealing a pitch black room. My legs slowly start to move, bringing me into the dark chamber. Once I’m in the room, I find myself turning around slowly. It’s not until I see Jay running towards me and the door creaking shut when I finally snap out of my trance. 

“No, no, no!” I yell as I leap towards the doorway, only for the door to shut in front of me. I bang my fists helplessly against the brick wall. “Dammit!”

“Carolina, how did you open this door?” I hear Jay’s muffled voice coming through the wall.

“The eye,” I shout as loudly as possible, “There’s like a button in the pupil!”

“Carolina? Can you hear me?” I hear him shout. 

“Yes, I can! Jay!” I shout back. I hear him continue to call my name and bang on the wall. He can’t hear me.

I let out a groan as I slide down the wall. This is what happens when we go exploring when we shouldn’t. But if I’m stuck in this room, I might as well see what’s in it before I figure out the hard way. I am almost positive I hear something crawling on the floor and the last thing I need is a thousand scorpions suddenly surrounding me.

I shine my flashlight on the floors and walls. I’m in part surprised that there are no images or symbols on the walls. But I’m even more surprised to find that the large room was filled to the brim with gold, amulets, vases, jars, and just about anything you could imagine a wealthy pharaoh would have. I even see a bunch of scrolls and fragments of hieroglyphics lying around. As I walk deeper into the room, I notice what looks like a stone tablet in the center of the room. On top of the stone tablet is the mummy’s coffin. 

I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding as I stand over the coffin. I can’t stop myself from running my hand over the image of the pharaoh. The condition of the coffin is virtually perfect. It is mostly made of gold it seems so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. 

I shriek as I suddenly feel what looks like a large beetle crawl onto my hand. I try to shake it off my hand but it just keeps crawling up my right arm. I stumble back as I try to swat the insect off my body with my other hand. Instead of flying off, the beetle transfers from my right arm to my left hand. 

It doesn’t stop scurrying until it settles itself on my left middle finger. Once it stops, I try to flick it off my hand but it just stays put. I look closer and realize the beetle doesn’t look like a normal beetle. It was all gold except for its backside which was simply a giant diamond. I try to grab it off my finger and am surprised that it feels both hard and smooth like metal feels like. The harder I try to pull the strange beetle off, the harder it starts to squeeze my finger. I let out a cry as I feel its legs dig into my skin. I let out a grunt as I finally give up. Now the stupid beetle looks like a stupid ring that won’t come off.

The sound of a loud clang distracts me from my glare off with the stupid beetle. A chill runs down my spine when I hear shuffling behind me. I don’t know why, but something tells me that’s not Jay. For starters, he would have said something if he had figured out how to get into the room.

I don’t want to turn around and yet I find that I am slowly spinning around. My heart jumps out of my chest when I see a dark figure sitting up in the coffin. I feel my blood pulsing throughout my body. My mouth is hanging open but no sound is coming out. I suddenly feel like I can’t breath. This, this can’t be real. This has to be a hallucination. That beetle has to be a hallucination. That thought starts to dwindle away as I feel a sharp pinch on my finger where the beetle ring is clinging to. I feel my fear rise up as I see the white diamond nestled on the beetle’s back turn a dark blood red.

The scream finally escapes my lips when I look up and notice the figure’s head turn towards me. It’s not the movement itself that scares me but more so the blood red eyes that are glaring at me through the bandages. 

My screams don’t stop.

I dash towards where the door was and start banging on the wall furiously. 

“Jay! Jay!” I keep yelling over and over again. The sound of loud and quick footsteps coming from behind me only prompts me to scream louder. I feel my voice start to c***k and my throat start to feel soar. I think my voice is dying.

Arms wrap around my chest and pull me back.

I let out the loudest, most blood curdling scream.

The monster throws me onto the floor behind him and I shuffle as far away from him as possible. I’m shaking and sobbing as I see him walk closer to me. I make the mistake of meeting those blood red eyes and my blood runs cold.

I see him start to move his mouth. Unknown words come out as if he’s trying to tell me something but I have no idea what. Seeing him trying to speak only makes me cry harder. I jump when he yanks me by the shoulders closer to him. The sobs intensify.

Close up, I can smell death roll off of him in waves. I can see the semi-decayed flesh underneath some of the bandages and I can see the glowing red eyes staring into my soul. His eyes flicker away from my face down to my left hand. He stares at the beetle ring for a long time. I think I’m holding my breath. I bite my lip as he brings my hand to his face. I immediately cringe at the feeling of the bandages and his rough flesh on my skin. I roughly pull my hand away and push him away with all the strength I could muster. 

While he was down, I run to the door again. “Jay! Jay! It’s the pupil! The pupil! Open the door!” I sob.

I hear footsteps and a groan. I turn around to find the monster immediately behind me again. He roughly grabs my face and brings it roughly to his. His eyes close for a minute and he takes what seems to be a deep breath before his eyes snap back open and look deep into my terrified green ones.

He mumbles some more gibberish before he whispers something that vaguely sounds like the word “soon”. I shake my head as I try to pull away from him again but his grip tightens and I yelp in pain.

“No! This isn’t real!” I cry as I place both my palms on his bony chest and push myself away from him. The force sends me flying back. I feel something slip under my heal and I lose my balance. The feeling of falling always feels heart stopping, even if the floor is only a short distance away.

The next thing I feel is the force of my head smacking the floor. There is no immediate pain. Just fading light. And now, darkness.