Scott's Campaign against The False Priest

Chapter 16: As Above So Below

Scott's eyes slowly opened, and he could see he was back in Ahm Shere. The calcite pillar had shrunken, but it still stood tall over him. There was no sign of Setinef, nor any hint to the calcite book. Just the slightly shorter calcite pillar and the endless white desert...and a small red gemstone. Scott slowly sat up and reached for the gemstone. It was a blood red in color, warm to the touch. It seemed to pulsate with a soothing energy, but other than that it looked like a normal red gemstone.

Perhaps the gemstone was not meant for him. Scott placed the gemstone back into the sand, then looked on in shock as the sand seemed to swallow the stone up. Scott heard someone unfamiliar calling for him to wake up, and Ahm Shere was disappearing into darkness.

***

"Come on now, you can't give up. It's not your time yet." Scott groaned, feeling a sharp pain in his back and legs. Right, Colin had pushed him, and the pain was most likely his body trying to recover from the impact. "That's it, slow and steady." Scott slowly opened his eyes, being met with a light grey jackal.

Scott managed to pull himself into a sitting position, getting a better look at the jackal. It didn't take long for Scott to realize the Jackal was another Egyptian god. "How long was I unconscious...?" Scott asked.

"I stayed by you for a few minutes, but I found you that way after hearing the ground shake," the light grey jackal replied.

Scott tried to think of which god this was, but so far he was having trouble based off looks alone, "What's your name?" Scott asked.

"Wepwawet," The jackal replied, and it clicked for Scott who the god was.

"You're the brother of Anubis...!" Scott exclaimed, "Why are you down here?"

Wepwawet flinched a bit at the question, "I was, unfortunately, the victim of a cruel trick. Centuries ago, one of my scrolls was taken here. The mortals used it to summon me into this old tunnel, thinking I would grant them powers of destruction. But, I was not the right god. And when they realized this, they left me and the scroll here behind some runes they drew up. I've been stuck down here ever since."

Scott perked up slightly, "Runes? I can scratch them off."

"If you do, then I will owe you a debt," Wepwawet said, "But can you stand?" Scott decided to try, but a sharp pain in his ankle kept him from getting far. "Ah, I feared that would be the case."

"I might have a different solution..." Scott said, grabbing the Staff of Set. The ruby gem had a slight crack on it, and Scott felt no power coming from the staff, "Or not..."

"Perhaps my scroll has something to help, let me bring it to you," Wepwawet said, trotting off further into the tunnel. With Scott left alone, he looked up to where he had fallen. It was too dark to see the top, even with his torch lighting the area up. Scott was surprised to see the torch still alight after the fall it took, but he was glad and quickly reached over and grabbed it. If Jimmy or Mafdet where shouting for him, Scott couldn't here it. Then again maybe they were too busy dealing with Colin.

Scott sighed, leaning against the rock wall. At least Pix was right in that a scroll was here, but he never would have expected a whole god to be trapped down here, let alone someone related to Set and Anubis. He wasn't alone in his thoughts for long as Wepwawet walked back over, a scroll of Waset in his jaws. Scott took the scroll and read through it. "All of these spells are meant to power the manacle of Osiris, other than the summoning spell..." Scott frowned.

"Well then, we do this the old fashion way," Wepwawet hummed, and Scott watched as he transformed into his true form, "Lean on me, I will show you where the runes are." Scott did so, wrapping one arm around Wepwawet as he carefully helped Scott along. As they walked, Scott could make out some old carvings, but not nearly as old as they could be.

As the tunnel began to slope upward, he noticed one path that seemed to lead deeper. "What way is that?" Scott asked.

"One we will not dare touch," Wepwawet frowned, "It is an old maze, guarded by an ancient beast. I have seen travelers in the past take that route, but none return. Our path is up." The two continued to walk up, higher and higher, until Scott noticed light from outside, as well as old runes scattered on the wall.

"Get me as close as you can, I'll scratch them out," Scott said. One by one, Scott used the end of the torch to scrape away a line in each rune, slowly breaking the seal keeping Wepwawet trapped. As soon as the last rune was scratched up, a large, green hued seal appeared, only to shatter in seconds.

"I'm free!" Wepwawet cheered. As both he and Scott exited the tunnels, Scot realized they were just outside of Paris.

"I found his scent! This way!" Scott recognized Mafdet's distant voice. Wepwawet carefully placed Scott at a nearby tree before changing back into his jackal form.

It didn't take long for Scott to see Mafdet in her cheetah form and Jimmy riding over. "Scott!" Jimmy shouted, spotting him and racing over. Jimmy halted the horses before running over, "I thought you died!"

"I had some help," Scott said.

"Wepwawet?! I haven't seen you in so long!" Mafdet said as she walked over to Wepwawet, "You've been here this entire time?!"

"I had been trapped by mortals of the past, but Scott here broke the seal and freed me," Wepwawet replied, "I missed the open air."

"Will you two be fine alone? I should help Wepwawet get back to Ahm Shere," Mafdet asked.

"Go ahead, we'll be fine," Scott replied as Jimmy helped him up.

"Call on me any time!" Wepwawet stated to Scott before both he and Mafdet disappeared through blue veils.

"What about Colin?" Scott asked

"That idiot was chased into a lake," Jimmy replied, helping Scott onto his horse, "We won't be seeing him for a bit."

"Good, I could use a break," Scott chuckled, although he knew a break wouldn't happen anytime soon.