Sands of Time

Lost Legend

Many centuries ago, when Egypt was full of nothing but great leaders in its pharaohs and queens, there lived a very powerful King named Amethu & his kind Queen named Merel. They ruled Egypt with grace and care, making sure to listen to their citizens if they had any complaints and helping those less fortunate than them, and their citizens loved them. A few years after they became Pharaoh and Queen, they were blessed with a son who they named Husani. As Husani grew up to become a well-educated and multitalented prince, people everywhere in Egypt adored how kind & helpful he was to everyone, regardless of their age or class. While everyone in their realm of Egypt adored his kind heart & handsome features, with his hair as black as his mother's royal eyeliner and eyes as blue as the Nile, there was one soul who wasn't a fan: Khuity. Khuity was once an extremely powerful magician known for his tricks including shapeshifting and fortune-telling, and he used to work for the royal family not too long ago, but everything changed when Husani came into the world.

Though his tricks brought delight to all both in and out of the kingdom, Khuity slowly realized that he was slowly becoming a second-rate character in everyone else's eyes, especially as Husani grew up. Pretty soon, Khuity's magic started reflecting how dark his jealousy made him, with the clever tricks that made everyone love him turning into heartless schemes that turned public opinion away from him. Frustrated at what was going on around him, he asked Amethu & Merel if he could meet with them, & they agreed. Not only were Amethu and Merel confused by how Khuity could be so envious of their son, especially since they believed his tricks were getting old and boring, but they were also certain that Khuity was simply overreacting and laughed at his complaints. Their mockery only made Khuity hate Husani more, and as they sent him away mid-laughter, he bestowed a curse upon the royal family's precious son: before sunset on Husani's 24th birthday, Husani would get bitten by an enchanted Asp and die.

Upon hearing the terrible plot to end their son's life, Amethu and Merel immediately went to the royal temple and made a sacrifice to their gods, which surprised those who ran the temple. Seeing that their ruler and Merel required help, since everyone else in the kingdom usually went to them for blessings or assistance, the keepers of the temple watched as Amethu and Merel pleaded with their gods to change the curse's fate. Sure enough, Amethu and Merel watched as their sacrifice was exchanged for a blessing from their gods, the latter in the form of a scroll that contained the change to Khuity's curse: instead of dying, Husani would lie in a restorative slumber in his own sarcophagus, waiting for someone both curious and respectful to wake him from his cursed sleep. Feeling better about their son's future, they left the temple and went back to their home, where they made sure to keep their son away from physically interacting with all Asps for his own safety.

Of course, Husani didn't mind being away from such dangerous snakes, since he knew how dangerous they were after one of them had killed his somewhat distant cousin Cleopatra. With that, he made sure to stay safely away from them but admired them from afar, which was what unfortunately led him to his downfall. Since Khuity had found out about the curse's ending being changed, he wanted to find a way to bring his curse to fruition, so he waited until Husani had turned 24 before sneaking into the kingdom and changing his form into that of an Asp. After managing to avoid getting noticed by the royal guards all day, he slithered his way into a scroll that was being carried to Husani's room before he smiled as Husani innocently opened the scroll. Within an instant, Khuity lashed out and bit Husani on the wrist before slithering away as Husani instantly passed out on his bed, and Khuity was caught by the guards while Husani's parents mourned the passing of their son.

While that was going on, Khuity managed to escape the castle in his serpentine form while the guards tried to chase him, but they soon lost track of him after he snuck into the royal garden. After changing into his human form, he rejoiced at his own triumph and was thinking of going back to his good magic again, but he hardly had the time. As it turns out, a group of local slaves were hard at work on building another pyramid when they heard the news about Husani's tragic end, and since their supervisor noticed Khuity changing from Asp to human form and recognized him, the slaves charged upon him like a wild gust of wind before he met his demise. When Amethu and Merel heard that Khuity had met his end thanks to the slaves, they made sure to pay them & their supervisor for their assistance, but they knew that the curse was still placed on their son.

Remembering the change of plans in the curse, Husani's parents took his body to the embalmers & specifically instructed them not to remove his organs, and the embalmers understood before simply wrapping the Prince in royal burial linens and laying him in a bedazzled sarcophagus. As a way to repay the royal family for their rewarding payments, the slaves and their supervisor offered the pyramid they were working on to be Husani's resting place, and Amethu and Merel agreed before they even helped place their son's sarcophagus into the burial chamber. After paying a scribe to write Husani's story in hieroglyphics on the walls of the chamber, Amethu and Merel decorated the tomb with beautiful artifacts from his time, including his royal headpieces resting beside his sarcophagus for when he comes back to life. With that, they wished their son farewell before trying their best to rule without him in their lives, which proved to be nearly impossible without the help of their citizens.

A few years passed before Amethu and Merel died, and they were buried in another chamber in Husani's pyramid, so he could be close to his parents in both the living world and the afterlife. Unfortunately, several years passed before the idea of Pharaohs and their Queens became a thing of the past, and the sands in the desert shifted things around as time slipped by like an hourglass. While other pharaohs had their burial places discovered & the sphynx became popular for his riddles, the pyramid that held the tomb of Husani & his parents became a part of Egyptian folklore, some even claiming that it's lost to time and undiscoverable by everyone but those who are worthy. After many discoverers tried to find the mystic pyramid, it was at least five thousand years after Husani's death that the desert sands found one who they claimed to be worthy, almost as if the gods had been waiting for them to arrive: one who was both curious and respectful, as the new prophecy declared... Audra.