The Mummy
Rating: M (to be safe; gore, language) Main Pairing: Kristanna
Summary: Hamunaptra. A place filled with history, legends and mystery. A place Anna Arendelle had only dreamed of finding since she was a little girl. When it seems faith supplies her with the opportunity to find this hidden city, she jumps head first at the chance to find it. But a revengeful mummy, an apocalyptic curse, a deadly adventure (and possibly love) where not exactly on her list of things to discover.
Previous Chapters: [ P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
Chapter 10
“Oh, I have dreamt of this since I was a little girl!”
“..you dreamed of dead guys?”
Anna rolled her eyes, “I think you are beginning to pick up bad habits from my brother” , eyeing a grinning Kristoff.
“I wouldn’t say sarcasm is necessarily a bad habit.” Sven said, eyeing her across from the black sarcophagus propped up before them. “I’d say it’s a healthy hobby.”
“Healthy?”
“Yes,” Sven said, raising his head a bit higher, nose in the air, “A healthy dose of sarcasm keeps one humbled.”
“Are..are you saying I’m spoiled?”
Sven feigned being hurt, hand across his heart and an expression of hurt on his face. “Oh, I would never do such a thing.”
Kristoff chuckled, earning a glare from Anna. “You both are terrible.”
“As we have been told.” Sven said.
“More so you than me.” Kristoff said, leaning against the black stone. Sven glared and it made Anna giggle.
“Ok, let’s actually get to why we are here.”
Anna turned to look back down at the sarcophagus before her. She couldn’t help but nervously fidget with the item in her hand, the key she believed would reveal who exactly was lying within the dark stone. The believed key had fit perfectly within the star like indention or lock on the side of the sarcophagus.
Anna knew it fit, knew it had to be a key to this person's final resting place, but she was puzzled as to why. For the last day she had wondered, questioned why the people had decided to lock this person within their deathbed. She recalled what she had read, the history she knew so well. Most were buried to ensure a good afterlife, to be guided by Anubis to a peaceful place with their most treasured items, pets and family. There were methods to the burial to ensure safe passage to such, to ensure they would find the peace they deserved.
Looking down at the artifact in her hand once more, turning it in her palm, she wondered. The sarcophagus had been designed to keep the person within, to forbid them from ever leaving. The usual sacred spells to assist one in having a peaceful, happy afterlife had been chiseled off the top of the tomb, leaving behind dark indentations on the stone. Was it simply to keep them from entering the afterlife, condemning them not only in this life but the next, or something else? The idea of the curse entered her mind, something she had so easily pushed off as being nothing more than lore to keep others away; forbidding curious people from opening the condemned individual from ever leaving their dark fate. Sealing the person to their destined doom as they had deemed they would suffer through for eternities.
Then again, Anna couldn’t help but feel as though opening this tomb would lead to more than just a simple discovery of a mummy. That something else could potentially lie within this dark casket, something more vile. That the reason the men had been so desperate to get a hold of what seemed like a simple trinket was more than just for financial benefit.
As though everyone seemed desperate to prevent anyone from doing exactly what they were about to do.
Anna shook her head, ridding herself of the thought and looked back to the sarcophagus. For years she had spent wanting, hoping, craving for this moment before her. No fear of some potential curse or condemnation would keep her from that.
Her fingers found the small button along the artifact, opening the key and Anna moved to place it back on the lock. For a moment, she hesitated, taking a breath before turning the key.
A loud hiss echoed in the room as the top of the casket popped open ever slightly.
A feeling of relief washed over Anna as she stepped back to let the men remove the top. Sven and Kristoff groaned as they lifted, trying to move the slab that had sat concealing it’s guest for hundreds of years. A moment, Anna thought the slab was stuck, refusing to move and then with one large push from the men, the slab fell away.
Anna jumped, yelping in surprise as the mummy within fell slightly forward out of the sarcophagus.
“Gods, I hate it when they do that.” Sven said, clutching his chest and trying to catch his breath. Anna couldn’t agree more, moving forward as she worked to steady her heart beat. She looked to Kristoff to laugh at his own reaction but she saw not a look of surprise or shock, but one of confusion.
“Are they supposed to look like that?” Kristoff asked, never moving his eyes from the mummy.
Confused now, Anna looked back to the mummy before her.
She blinked.
“No,” Anna said, curiosity filling her, “No, I’ve never seen a mummy who looked like this.” In all her time with her parents on sites, even within the library, Anna had viewed her fair shares of mummies. From royals, priests, wives, children, even cats; she’d seen them all. All were carefully managed, taking nearly one hundred days to perfectly mummify them. Vital organs, including the brain, were removed to ensure nothing would rot within the now departed human. The key step within the process was the embalming. They would cover the entire body in salts, ensuring the body would be dried out completely of all moisture. Then, the body would be wrapped carefully for burial, some using hundreds of yards of fabric to do so to ensure every inch of the person was covered.
What they should have found was a completely dried, mummified corpse.
“He’s still…still..”
“Juicy.” Sven & Kristoff said together.
Anna nodded, puzzled at the nearly unwrapped, very moist corpse before her. “This doesn’t make sense.” She said, looking over the mummy. Or what was supposed to be. The being’s jaw hung open, as though caught in mid scream, their arms hanging beside them and not in the usual crossed pose. The bandages that were supposed to be tightly wrapped around them were torn, bits only managing to stay on them. “They must be more than 3,000 years old and, well, they look as though they are still…decomposing.”
This made absolutely no sense. How could that even be possible?
Buried beneath a statue of Anubis, this person had been put in a securely locked tomb, with a key that was disguised as even being such, with the blessings completely chiseled off of his tomb and no evidence this person even existed within this site or burial area.
Just who exactly had they uncovered?
“Anna,” Kristoff called from behind her. She turned, finding him looking over the top of the sarcophagus they had just removed. Anna came over, Kristoff pointing as she came beside him, “What do you make of these?”
Along the underside of the lid, there were lines scattered across. All were in sets of four or five, scratched deep within the stone. For a moment, Anna pondered what they could be and with a gasp, she realized.
“My god.” Anna said, “These marks were made with…” She reached out, running her own fingernails across the lines.
“Fingernails.” Kristoff said dismally.
“Wait,” Sven said as he came over, “They were buried alive?”
“Yes.” Anna said, looking over the lid. What could they have possibly done to deserve such a terrible ending to their life? Something caught her eye, something that was most definitely not fingernail marks. “Look…” She leaned forward, recognizing the marks, “I think he left a message.”
Anna ran her hands over the marks, understanding of what this condemned being had carved into the stone, reading it aloud: “Death is only the beginning.”
---
“Oi, Bjorgman.” Kristoff looked up, eyeing the Americans as they came up to their camp fire. “What do you think these babies will be worth back home?” The blonde, Isaac if Kristoff remembered right, waved what looked to be a canopic jar. As being a part of ancient Egyptian history, they were a bit valuable.
Thing was, having no name or more importantly title for the person whose organs were within the jar, there was a good chance the jar would get them a couple hundred if that. If it had been a pharaoh, it would easily have been thousands, if not more. With no title or significance found for the mummy feet below them, it wasn’t as pretty a penny as they thought.
Then again, if they had all the jars, which as he saw Dan and Burns holding the other jars, they were in for a good reward.
“We hear you boys found yourself a nice juicy Mummy.” Burns said with a laugh.
Kristoff said nothing, looking back to the flames. Though they may not have found anything as valuable as the Americans had, the day had been one of the better ones Kristoff had had in a long while.
Seeing the smile & excitement on Anna’s face as she had been able to use the tool kit in the mummification room they’d discovered the day before had made it worth it. After the awkward events of the night before, he was unsure how she would be. The near kiss, the close moment they had nearly shared that Kristoff had absolutely ruined had eaten Kristoff alive all night. It was a relief Anna seemed perfectly cheerful the next morning as though nothing happened. However, there was a slight ping of disappointment that Kristoff wasn’t able to place.
After opening the tomb of the mummy, they had moved back to the preparation room. Sven & Kristoff had assisted where they could but it was all Anna who worked around he room, using every item in the tool kit she had. There was not a glimmer of sunlight in the room but Kristoff swore Anna’s eyes had sparkled when she had looked at him in pure utter glee.
Her smile was worth more than some organ jars.
“We did.” Sven said from his spot next to Kristoff, “Was quite interesting actually.”
“Oh, well congratulations.” Dan said with a grin, “I’m sure if you dried the sucker out, you might be able to sell him for some good firewood!”
The three of them cackled with laughter, but still Kristoff stayed quiet. This was why Kristoff hated excavations more than anything; the greedy bastards who were in it for only the potential gain. Nothing more. Weasel, who sat beside the cackling crew, was laughing right along with them. It came as no surprise Weasel would fall in with such a lot.
Idiots.
“Look!” Kristoff whipped around, seeing Anna walking to them quickly with something in her hands. She looked absolutely ecstatic over whatever it was she had. There was that smile again, the bright, beaming one that made Kristoff’s heart flutter. Without a thought, he moved to give space between himself and Sven to give her a seat.
He didn’t miss the small grin from Sven as he did so.
“I found something.” Anna said as she sat between them, oblivious to the slightly blushing man beside her.
Kristoff tore his gaze from Sven and looked down to what Anna was holding. Black shells of what looked to be some kind of bug, some larger than others but none bigger than a small shallot. Kristoff grabbed one, eyeing it over as he tried to ignore the brief contact his hand made with hers. Instead, he looked up as Anna continued to speak.
“Scarab skeletons.” She said, “Flesh eaters.”
“Where were they?” Sven questioned.
“Inside our friend’s coffin. They can stay alive for years, feasting on the flesh of a corpse.”
Kristoff grimaced, “That explains why he looked how he did. But that means--”
“He was very much alive when the bugs began to eat him.”
Placing the skeleton back in Anna’s palm, he frowned as he spoke, “So, someone threw these in with our mummy, and then they…slowly ate him alive?”
“Yes,” Anna murmured, “Very slowly.”
It was suddenly very still at Anna’s words, even the Americans had quieted down at the realization. Kristoff looked at her, a bit of excitement still on her face but also of great concern as he was sure she was wondering the same as he was.
“Wasn’t a very popular fellow.” Sven joked, breaking the silence.
“That’s an understatement.” Dan said.
“Well, according to my readings,” Anna said, looking at Kristoff, “it seems our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient curses, one reserved only for the most evil of blasphemers. Thing is…” Anna paused, “I never found record of the curse ever actually being performed anywhere.”
“Is it that bad?” Weasel asked in a small voice from across the way.
Anna shrugged, “They never used it because they feared it so. It’s written that, if a victim of the Hom-Dai was to ever arise, they would…bring with them the 10 plagues of Egypt.”
“Bullshit.” Isaac called. “Just some more stuff to scare us away from the treasure.”
Anna glared at the man, “The Egyptians were very sacred people, to call their ways bullshit--”
“Why else create these big stories?” Isaac continued, “I mean, there is no curse. They just don’t want us to find their stuff.”
Anna’s hand had balled into a tight fist, her jaw set tensely as she watched Isaac continue to blabber on about the Egyptian ways. Without thinking, Kristoff placed his hand on hers, causing Anna to look at him.
“It’s not worth it.” He whispered.
“But--”
“Trust me.” Kristoff said, shaking his head, “A lot like that are in it for one thing and one thing only: money. Arguing with them about this would be like arguing with a wall. Save your energy in case the plagues come.”
That earned him another smile to save to memory.
---
She shouldn’t be doing this, knew all too well what she was doing was wrong but Anna didn’t care.
The moment she had spied the book, she had known, knew what it was.
Holding it now in her hands, the weight of what she had was slowly beginning to hit her.
She walked quickly through the sand, careful to not make too much noise as she passed by the other tents. The night was early still, only a whisper of a breeze to disturb the peace surrounding her.
Everyone had fallen asleep a while ago, but Anna had evaded sleep. More so, her mind wouldn’t let her sleep. It kept thinking, pondering, wondering if the stone book she had seen the man trying desperately to pry open earlier that evening was what she had been longing to find.
She had seen it after she had found the scarabs. Having been looking them over in her hands, she had nearly missed it if not for the sound of the man groaning. Anna had looked up to see one of the members of the American party trying desperately to pry a black stoned book open. Anna had stood agape for a moment, shocked and slightly amazed at what she was seeing.
The man had looked up then, and Anna had looked away quickly. She smiled to herself, realizing the man’s attempts to open the book were futile as the same lock that was on their mummy’s tomb was splayed across the front of the book.
It would never budge without the key.
The key Anna just so happened to have.
Getting the book had been simple enough, the man had been fast asleep and completely unaware of her pulling the book from his grasp as he snored.
Her heart pounded as she saw their campsite, Kristoff and Sven lying fast asleep around the still burning fire. She quietly approached, gently placing the book on the log near the fire. Sighing as the weight left her arms, she moved to find the key.
“That’s called stealing, you know.”
Anna jumped slightly at Kristoff’s voice, though she continued to dig for the key in Sven’s bag. “According to you and my brother,” Anna said, pulling the key from the knapsack, “it’s called borrowing.”
Moving back to where she laid the book, she felt and heard Kristoff come and kneel beside her as she did so with his rifle in hand.
She saw Kristoff’s head tilt as he eyed over the book, “I thought the Book of Amun-Ra was made out of gold.”
Anna nodded as she held the key up, searching for the button along the side. “It is made of gold, but this isn’t the Book of Amun-Ra. This is something else.”
“What?”
“I think this may be the Book of the Dead.”
“The Book of the Dead?”
There was a click as the key opened and Anna wasted no time in placing the key on top of the lock. “The Book of Amun-Ra is filled with incantations on how to take life, while the Book of the Dead,” another click was heard as the book was unlocked, “brings back life.”
“...Are you sure you want to play with something like this?”
Anna looked up at Kristoff. He was looking at the book, his brows furrowed in concern. “It’s just a book, Kristoff.” His gaze moved to hers, “No harm has come from reading a book.”
He sighed, and Anna turned back to the book. Holding her breath, Anna placed her hands on either side of the so-called cover of the book and turned the page.
As the page fell, the soft breeze suddenly turned into a sharp wind. The sand blew up, the flame before them dwindling. It was brief, only lasting for a moment as it returned to the soft breeze once more but it was enough to give Anna pause. A chill ran down her spine as the flame in their fire recovered from the sharp change in the air.
Suddenly, a hand rested on her shoulder. Looking over, Kristoff was looking at her. The uneasy feeling within her left the moment her eyes met his. It was a comfort, him there with her, and his face seemed to say keep going.
So she did.
The book itself was beautiful. Hand carved hieroglyphics spanned the page, done so with great care. The binding of the book was made from what looked to be pure gold, an intricate spine that held the heavy pages perfectly together. There were images included with the writing, what looked to be Anubis standing over a body.
Quietly she began to read over the page, the realization hitting her that she, Anna Arendelle was reading from the Book of the Dead. A once myth she had only heard from legend, now completely proven to be true.
Anna could cry.
“What does it say?”
Anna cleared her throat, hoping Kristoff could not see the tears filling her eyes. “Amun Ra. Amun Dei.” Anna read aloud, “It speaks of the night and of the day.”
She continued, slowly reading off the first page. She spoke slowly, wanting to ensure she spoke each word as clearly as she could. The ones who had created this book, who believed the power it held, deserved to have it read aloud with near perfection. As she neared the end of the page, she realized what it was she was saying: the one who had fallen to rise, to return to this world once more.
“NO!” a cry echoed across the camp. Anna looked up to see the man whom she had taken the book from running towards them. He looked at her with absolute horror, “You must not read from the book!”
The change came immediately.
The wind picked up once more, slowly growing and whipping the sand around them as it did so. This time, it did not seem to settle back down. Tents and coverings rustled in the wind, fires dwindling as the wind struck it intensely. The camels nearby became restless, grunting and tugging frantically against their bindings as though they desperately wanted to leave. It wasn't the wind that had spooked them.
It was then that she heard it.
A soft, barely there buzzing caught Anna’s ear. It seemed far off in the distance, but it was unmistakably there. She stood, Kristoff following her as she eyed the vast desert before them. Anna moved forward, squinting to understand what she was seeing.
In the distance, a sudden black cloud had begun to grow over the desert, hovering just above the sand.
As it grew, Anna realized that it wasn’t just growing but moving. Moving towards them.
Others around them in the camp began to awake as the buzzing grew louder, the wind whipping faster. Sven himself had now come to stand behind them now. “What is that?”
As the vast form of darkness neared, Anna noticed how the cloud seemed to separate. It was not one large cloud but it seemed to be several small things hovering together; moving as one massive vessel. It rose up into the moonlight, and briefly the light caught one of them just well enough for it to be revealed.
By the time Anna realized what it was, it was far too late.
Locusts.
Hundreds of thousands of them were flying right at them in the largest swarm she had ever seen. There seemed to be no end in site to just how many of these creatures were heading straight for them. They moved quickly, coming up and over the camp and descended upon them.
As the locusts rained down upon them, Anna felt a hand grab hers, pulling her away and Kristoff yelling desperately,
“RUN!”
