[DISCONTINUED UFN] BENEATH SANDS OF BLOOD ⟶ THE MUMMY 1999/2017

-𝐢𝐢 ⟶ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐠𝐲𝐩𝐭

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"The Dark Creature and the Lady of Set — before they were evil, they were human. Good. After the Creature died, his sister rewrote her own story and made herself the darkest sorceress who had ever walked the earth."

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THEBES, 1289 B.C.E.

THE MARRIAGE OF THE NEW PHARAOH HAPPENED an exact year after the death of the old king. One year after Seti I had been laid to rest, his elder son Nebchasetnebet took the throne - and a Great Royal Wife by the name of Ahmanet. It had come as a shock to many, and a perceived near sacrilege, when the High Priestess of Isis, the most holy of all Priestesses and the most devoted, wed the new Pharaoh in a wedding of the century. Thousands flooded into the City of the Living, desperate for a glimpse of this new queen, who had been crowned so recently after the death of Crown Princess Nefertiri.

Some said she had died in a horrible accident, while others said she was poisoned. No one except those who resided in the royal palace truly knew, but none was more suspect than Ahmanet herself. Whispers rippled through the crowd that she had gotten rid of the late Pharaoh's only child to give herself - and her new husband - the crown, even as they stared up at the balcony where their new rulers were to appear to them.

Obligatory cheers rose from the crowd as they did so in a shower of pure gold. There she stood, head raised proudly at the right hand of the Pharaoh. Raised hands waved to the cheering crowd below them - but the cheering seemed to be muted in the glow of the sun even now. Perhaps that was due to the fear that the queen would be struck down for breaking her vows to Isis and marrying in her mortal lifetime. Love? Love and lust were allowed, but marriage was taboo to a Priestess of the goddess. To Priestesses of many goddesses, in fact - even Hathor, who was the patroness of love and marriage.

They demanded complete obedience to their vows - break them, and the wrath of the deity was said to come swiftly and painfully, a lesson for anyone else thinking of disobeying them too.

Ahmanet had not been struck down yet, however.

When she disappeared from the balcony, she followed her new husband into their palace. Servants and guards alike bowed to them, including the Medjai. She had a special hatred for them - they had condemned her brother to a fate worse than death. And Anck-su-Namun - Ahmanet wasn't even particularly sure what part of the desert her soul must be roaming now, only that it was and that she was far from resting peace.

But none of these embittered thoughts left her painted lips that curved into a smile as she glanced sideways at her new husband.

It wasn't that she didn't like men - she had slept with both men and women before. It was that her heart was captured, but the holder of her heart was buried somewhere in the burning sands of the desert and she would have to wait for years to even attempt any sort of resurrection. But soon, she vowed to herself as she followed Nebchasetnebet into his bedchambers and let servants begin undressing her for their wedding night. Soon.