At the entrance of the ruined Great Temple of Abydos, members of the press and the Egyptian Police were trying to understand what just happened to one of the most celebrated and visited places in all of Egypt.
Kurou's snarky attitude towards a reporter garnered nothing but suspicion on his involvement with the tragic events that had just happened.
Out of patience, the Egyptian police raised their weapons and pointed them at Kurou.
"Freeze! We will shoot!", one of them shouted, most probably their sergeant.
"An Egyptian descendant, I see", Kurou mumbled to himself. "Good, maybe I can reason with him so I don't have to kill him".
The policeman looked nervous but kept his Glock pistol pointed at Kurou and Riddle.
"I'm holding a rare animal here, you know?", Kurou protested, looking the policeman in the eye. The sergeant trembled at the sight of Kurou's red irises, but stood his ground.
"You are under arrest. Put the animal down and keep your hands where I can see!", the sergeant shouted again, his voice hesitant.
"If you're going to shoot, officer, please aim for my head", Kurou said and smirked. "You don't wanna hurt this innocent jackal".
"Shut up, you crazy bastard!", the officer said. "I don't have time for your nonsense. Drop the animal, now!".
Kurou was already annoyed and seriously thinking about killing the policeman when he spotted a familiar face standing out in the crowd.
"Mahmoud?", Kurou asked.
"Officer, please have patience with that man. He's not good in the head", Mahmoud said.
"Thanks for that, old man", Kurou said, vexed. Mahmoud took advantage of the officer's moment of distraction and gestured for Kurou to run for it.
"I can't risk Riddle taking a shot in this state…", Kurou thought to himself. "How do I get out of this now, for fuck's sake?".
He thought of an option. It would be risky, but still better than being arrested and separated from Riddle. Not that Riddle would be in too much of a trouble, since he was Anubis' avatar after all, but the truth is that Kurou grew attached to the jackal/god, and wanted to protect him in his moments of vulnerability. Also, being in jail in Egypt was a bad idea, even for a Post-Mortal. Some things are worse than death, a wise man once said.
So he used his shadow projection to send a mirror image to the opposite direction, taking both Mahmoud and the police by surprise, and started running for his dear life before they could catch wind.
"Stop!", the sergeant shouted, but Mahmoud got in front of him.
"I vouch for his innocence, officer", he said.
"And who are you?", the policeman asked, still holding his gun up.
"I'm just a humble servant of the Gods", Mahmoud answered, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. "And as such, I advise you to not give chase to that man. He is kind of a favorite among them".
The sergeant gave him a suspicious look, then sighed and lowered his weapon.
"You religious people are really a pain in my ass, you know?", the officer said.
"Please consider your words, officer. The Gods do not deserve that kind of treatment", Mahmoud warned, smiling lightly.
"We are not giving up on interrogating him, do you understand?", the sergeant replied. "Now leave, this is a crime scene and I have a lot of work to do".
***
After running for a couple of minutes, Kurou looked back and realized no one gave him chase. Mahmoud managed to stall the police long enough for him to escape.
"Those fuckers were really willing to shoot, huh?", Kurou said, looking at the unconscious Riddle. The jackal was fast asleep and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, apparently.
"Okay, so…what now?", Kurou asked himself. Set was out there and he had no idea what the god of storms would do next. Ramses fled like the coward he is; the Pharaoh's only chance of staying alive was if Amon-Ra forgave him for his betrayal, and that was quite unlikely since he was co-responsible for Tutankhamon's premature death.
And even if Amon-Ra was kind enough so as to forgive Ramses, Set would probably kill him and reap his life force in order to complete his grim resurrection. The sacred energy that feeds Egyptian Gods is provided by the life of their subjects, but a certain ritual is required in order to prepare that energy for absorption. Just like animals digest their food before their body could put it to use, so the Gods have to observe a proper procedure before using that energy to their ends.
On the other hand, Akhenaton was loose, and with an agenda of his own to pursue. Although not as cunning as Ramses, the Heretic Pharaoh was a dangerous and powerful variable that should not be underestimated or ignored even by the Ancient Egyptian Gods.
Kurou had no idea where Hatshepsut and Ankhesenamon had gone to. Revived Pharaohs had this strange urge to go back to the locations where their tombs or temples had been built, and that's comprehensible, since those were the only places they still felt at home, with their writings, drawings and atmosphere of yore.
Kurou had been lost in thought for a couple of minutes when Mahmoud's voice was heard in the distance. The old man walked slowly and Kurou's patience was short, so he walked towards the Egyptian instead of waiting.
"Thanks for that, I suppose, old man", Kurou said. Mahmoud gestured for them to keep walking.
"You don't have to thank me, Kurou". Mahmoud answered. "I just did what I had to do".
"Why do you keep helping me?", Kurou asked. "I've done more harm than good ever since you've met me in that small town".
"I don't think you're to blame for all the calamities this country is going through, Kurou", Mahmoud replied. "Quite the contrary, you've actually managed to avoid a greater tragedy from taking place".
"I'm not sure I follow", Kurou said, confused.
"Sutekh lost his chance to obtain full power due to your interference in the battle", Mahmoud pondered. "I'm not saying that Ramses fleeing was a good thing, but it's definitely better than an unstoppable god ravaging this land".
"I honestly don't understand how you can know so much about the facts without even being there", Kurou mocked.
"Rumours spread fast", Mahmoud said, laughing. Kurou kept a flat face, so the old man went serious again.
"All right, now listen. In the old myths, Horus is regarded as the Avenger, the Falcon God that represents the triumph of life after the treachery of Set that culminated in the death of Osiris", Mahmoud said.
"Right. He told me something along those lines", Kurou said, disinterested. Mahmoud frowned. "Have you actually spoken to the God Horus?", the old man asked.
"Yeah, and he was quite the character. Told me to stop being a prick. Can you imagine that? Those Egyptian Gods are unbelievable".
"Look who's talking", Mahmoud said and smirked. "Seriously, what did he tell you?".
"Oh, that boring stuff about Ammit trying to devour my heart, and about me being a Post-Mortal, and Set being his mortal enemy, and that I should not side with him, also that everything that's happening was supposed to stay in the myths", Kurou answered.
"Interesting. It's certainly a mystery how Gods and Pharaohs are simply coming to life after all those millennia. It has become an international affair, Kurou. You are on the news worldwide".
"Good! Now at least my family will see what I'm capable of. Had to remove mortality out of the way for that to be possible, but still", Kurou said dismissively.
"You don't seem to be on good terms with them", Mahmoud pointed out.
"I'm not on good terms with anyone, old man", Kurou said. "I don't even know why I survived that plane crash".
"I don't have the answer, but I'm sure there is one", Mahmoud replied. "Now get in the car, we are going to Edfu". Mahmoud gestured for Kurou to enter a red Suzuki vehicle. He was about to ask how could a one-armed man drive such a simple car but he quickly realized it had automatic transmission.
"A Suzuki Alto?", Kurou asked.
"It's economic and has an automatic transmission. That's all I need. What did you expect, a Mercedes?", Mahmoud inquired.
"Not expecting anything, buddy. Just surprised to see a Japanese car here in Egypt".
"Wonders of the modern world, my friend", Mahmoud said. "Now buckle your seat belt, I'm hitting it".
************
The road to Edfu was bumpy and poorly maintained. All that shaking caused Riddle to finally wake up. He opened his eyes slowly and yawned, then suddenly realized he was on Kurou's lap. Upon realizing that, he barked and lashed out at Kurou, ripping his left ear off. Then the jackal jumped to the back and spat his ear off the window.
"My ear, you ugly mutt!", Kurou yelled. The jackal answered with a high-pitched bark.
"Hey Kurou, that jackal is sacred, you know? You shouldn't treat him like that", Mahmoud admonished.
"I know, but he's always on edge with me, so he sees it coming", Kurou replied, looking at Riddle. His relationship with the animal was quite unique, in that they would pick on each other all the time but also got each other's back when push would come to shove. Almost like siblings.
Riddle snorted and looked out the window. After a couple of hours, they arrived at the Temple of Edfu, the same Kurou had visited.
He was in broad daylight this time, so a couple of measures would be needed for him to get inside the Temple without being noticed. One of them was a hat, and that was already a problem since Kurou hated hats. Mahmoud offered him a rural-styled straw one that he was used to wearing, and it looked absolutely ridiculous on Kurou's head. The old man laughed at such a sight.
The other was money, but Mahmoud had some tickets with him. Now they only needed to choose whether to take Riddle with them or leave him at the car. Animals were never allowed inside Egyptian archeological sites and if the jackal managed to sneak past their security so many times it was only because of his own ingenuity. Not that the Egyptian security was really that tight to begin with.
Kurou didn't even have to say a word, Riddle darted out of the car and went into hiding. Kurou had known the jackal long enough to understand he would sneak in when the opportunity presented itself.
Kurou and his absurdly ridiculous hat was standing in line when Mahmoud tapped him in the shoulder and gestured for him to come straight towards the entrance. "This is attracting more attention than we wanted, old man", he said.
"For a scholar like myself, to stay in line attracts even more attention", Mahmoud answered.
"Scholar, you?", Kurou asked, surprised.
"What? Never seen a one-armed old man with a PhD before?", Mahmoud asked with a laugh.
"Okay Doc, we can talk about this later. Let's go in".
"As you wish, my dear student", Mahmoud said, amused, and gestured for Kurou to go on first.
"What have I done to deserve this...", Kurou mumbled.
Once more Kurou walked through the large courtyard filled with columns on each side, and beautiful falcon statues that represented Horus.
"This temple was built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC", Mahmoud lectured. "The inscriptions on these walls give important information on language, myth and religion during the Hellenistic period in Egypt."
"Old man, stop trying to teach me", Kurou growled.
"Just shut up and listen. These inscriptions provide details of the construction of this temple, and also preserve information about the mythical interpretation of this and all other temples as the Island of Creation".
"Island of Creation...", Kurou muttered to himself.
"Here, there are also important scenes and inscriptions of the Sacred Drama which relate to the age-old conflict between Horus and Set", Mahmoud stated.
"Sacred Drama, huh...I guess that's an accurate description", Kurou mocked.
"Pay attention, Kurou", Mahmoud exhorted. "There are answers to our problems here that you won't find anywhere else".
"Okay, can you sum it up for me?", Kurou said, impatient. "I'm not really the scholar type and I don't think we have time to study the temple walls".
Mahmoud sighed. "All right, listen. The Sacred Drama is a depiction of how Horus defeated Set in the myths. Maybe the only way to defeat Set now is to follow those same steps he took".
"Great, good to know. They must have those documented in English somewhere, right? I want to speak to Horus, like right now", Kurou said, walking towards the inner chamber.
As soon as he got into the main chamber, the falcon head resonated with him.
"Post-Mortal", the powerful voice ringed inside his head.
"Good morning, Horus. Good to see you", Kurou said, trying to be polite.
"Get everyone out of this building. Now", Horus ordered.
"But...I wanted to talk to..."
"NOW!", the Falcon God resonated so loud that Kurou's head hurt.
"Mahmoud, get out of here now. Quickly. Horus demands it", Kurou said, worried. Mahmoud's eyes went wide and he started gathering people towards the exit.
Kurou went back to the inner chamber. "That man is right, Post-Mortal. The Sacred Drama can give you precious insight on the method to defeat Sutekh", Horus said.
"But isn't it easier to have you brought back like Set or Anubis had?", Kurou asked. "You're the Avenger, after all. If a monster is on the loose, what can we regular people do against it?".
"You're not regular people, Kurou. You can talk to me", Horus retorted.
"So please tell me what I have to do. How can I defeat Set?", Kurou asked.
Horus had no time to answer. A violent gust of wind started blowing inside the temple, and rainy clouds formed above it. Powerful lightning struck the building, causing its walls to crack. A very heavy rain started falling, and quickly the water started shocking against the walls and artifacts still present there.
"A storm", Kurou mumbled. "Damn you Set!".
The storm had become absurdly violent, to the point that Kurou had absolutely no chance of escaping the temple anymore. Walls started to crumble and a column fell on top of his leg. He screamed because of the excruciating pain, but the main problem was that his only means to talk to Horus or read the inscriptions were being destroyed right in front of him.
Set was watching Kurou. Instead of sending Ammit after him, he chose a demoralizing approach. Knowing that Anubis was protecting the Post-Mortal, he thought it would be a lot more strategic to just eliminate his chances of contacting other gods than a direct confront.
Kurou was pissed out of his mind at Set's miscreant attitude, but he had no time to think about it. The temple was collapsing, and he had to leave in order to find Mahmoud and Riddle, and make sure they were okay.
He wouldn't have that chance. Two columns fell directly into his face and all he could say before everything went dark was:
"Shit".