STELLAR: World on Fire

Chapter 9: History Rewritten

      Ben put on his vest, loaded his rifle, and holstered his glock 17 sidearm. It was nightfall and his team awaited him in the hanger bay. This was going to be a simple intelligence gathering operation. Nothing more nothing less. They were going to investigate the scene, talk to locals, and see what information they careen find. That was it, and Ben hoped it would stay that way.

      Ben and his team loaded the cargo into the back of the plane, got inside, sat down and strapped themselves in. The back door of the plane closed and the plane began to take off. Deep inside, Ben could feel that something big was about to go down. He did not know what it was but he could feel as though Greed had something big planned, and that it would be catastrophic for both Earth and Starlight.

     Meanwhile back on Planet Starlight Kate found herself taking a walk among the common folk of Starlight in the city. She walked through the city's marketplace where the people would try and sell goods. Kate could not stop thinking about the bodies of the men who died at the hands of Greed. She kept having flashbacks of seeing one of them fade away before her very eyes.

      She decided to stop by a vendor and purchase a book. The title of the book was Osiris. Kate did not really think much of it other than the fact that it seemed like a really interesting read. Moments later she was joined by Nightstorm. "You ok?" Nightstorm asked. Kate turned to face him. "Yeah I just needed some air. Any word on Deadbolts whereabouts?" She asked. "We've chased down a few leads but we haven't gotten anywhere close to finding him." Nightstorm explained. Kate nodded her head in understanding. "We should probably get back to working on finding him." She said.

        Meanwhile on Earth, in Cairo, Ben was meeting with the Egyptian National Police. "My name is Ben. I'm here with my team to survey the scene." Ben said, introducing himself. The officer of the Egyptian National Police shook his hand as he introduced himself as well. "My name is Asad Bashir. I'm the officer in charge of securing the scene." He stated. The man was dressed in a black long sleeved police uniform, with an M&P 357 handgun in his holster which was attached to his duty belt. He also wore a black beret and black aviator sunglasses. He had a small mustache over his top lip.

      Asad escorted Ben and his team towards and inside the Pyramid of Khafre. As soon as they walked inside, Ben was hit by the strong odor of blood. It was a very strong and metallic smell. That was the most peculiar of it all. It was not the fact that the blood was purple or that it had been splattered all over the place. It was the odor. Usually, the smell of blood did not fill the space of an entire room. However, this one did.

      There was a trail of blood leading to a body that had seemed to be missing a heart. Ben and Asad walked over toward it and examined the body. He wore armor similar to that of a Dark Rider. There was chains around his wrists and attached to the ground on which he lay, but these chains looked as though they had been there for a hundred years. So did his scars. However, the open wound in his chest looked as though it happened weeks ago. Which meant that nobody chained him to the ground recently, he was already there. "Who is he? How long has he been here and why would someone carve out his heart?" Asad asked. Ben shook his head. "I have no idea." Ben said. Ben looked around and saw on the wall an inscription. What was stranger about the inscription was that Ben could tell it was not in Coptic, which was what the ancient Egyptians spoke at the time the pyramids was created. He knew because he studied and familiarized himself with this language and Arabic because certain classified missions with the CIA required him to do so. In fact it looked as though it could be in Akkadian. It translated into the following: "Here is the prison of the Forbidden One, The Cursed One, and The Great Betrayer. Whosoever disrupts the imprisonment of The Forbidden One shall shift the tides of oceans, tip the scales of evil, free the wicked, and unearth the rested."

        Ben walked toward the writing and further examined it. "Has that been there before?" Ben asked officer Bashir. Asad took a look at the writing and did not recognize it. He shook his head. He had often been tasked with guarding the pyramids and so he would walk with the tour guides while they gave sightseers a tour of the place. "I've never seen that in my life." Asad told him. Ben informed his team to take pictures of the crime scene and of the writing on the wall. He also told ordered them to collect the body so they could investigate further back in the US. "We'll investigate and take over from here. I reccomend that you clean up the scene and if the news media or any citizen asks, it was a hoax and just plain vandalism by some teenager." Ben instructed the officer. Asad was hesitant at first but then nodded and told his team to clean up the scene. Moments later Ben found himself and his team on a flight back to garrison. He could not help but try to wrap his head around everything that he's seen. He could feel as though something was very wrong. Something just did not seem right with the situation. He would have to present the intel he collected to Jack and see what he thinks of the situation.