The sand storm which had ravaged the decrepit tomb was gone and so were all the dead people, and there was no sign of the mummy. The outside of the tomb, which she had seen in one of her visions had once been a magnificent golden pyramid rising high into the sky, was now nothing more than a few worn giant blocks forming an entrance into an underground tomb. The rest of the pyramid which had been on the surface had been at one point destroyed, and its foundation buried by the sands of time. Ritualistic sensations of death and rebirth that seemed to threaten her own life, emanated from everything around her. It made her dizzy with sympathy mixed with trepidation, so Kein turned around and headed back for the door, but realized if she wanted to leave this place that kept her like a prisoner, she needed to complete her Probation Period to become a Resident.
She was a little afraid, but the burning fear wasn't present, so she managed to lift her voice and call out, "Hello... I'm Kein. I'm a contestant. I'd like to ask you a few questions. I'm trying to..."
The horrific moan she had heard from the pyramid symbol outside, wailed from the corridors of the Egyptian tomb like some specter of her own doom as something came her way through the darkness of time itself. An upright sarcophagus appeared, floating a few inches off the ground and landed in the sand just outside of the tomb as if the sarcophagus was alive and standing on its own. Kein quickly backed up from it as sand and dust kicked up into the air. She covered her mouth and nose with her jacket to keep from breathing in the particles. The sarcophagus was laden with gold and other precious stones and gems symbolizing the prosperity of the land of Egypt, and it also bore the image of a man. The sarcophagus expelled a gasp and stale hot air escaped, then it creaked open as if it hadn't been unsealed in a millennium, and Kein gulped as the mummy reached out his hand and pulled himself free of his eternal crypt. She saw his head next or maybe skull would be a better description. The dingy and aged once white line drooped around his neck as if the wrapping had once covered his skull. The mummy wore a royal headdress called a Nemes, and it had blue and white stripes with a rising gold cobra in its center. A fake beard was on his bony chin, and she couldn't tell if he was laughing or screaming in silence as his mouth lay partially opened. The rest of his body except for his bony hands and feet was covered in the aged white linen wrappings. The mummy lifted his bony left hand, the one the carnivorous scarab beetles had earlier crawled out of and devoured the poor male contestant, and the mummy reached for her as he started her way in a shuffle.
Kein slowly backed up as she said, "I'm competing in the Mortem now, and I'm here to... I'm here to ask you a few questions so that I can... I'm not sure what I'm trying to do, but survive, so..." She continued backing up as she spoke or more like blubbered on, "I have questions for you. I'd like to know... umm..."
The mummy stopped, then he stretched out his right hand and lowered his left as if he changed his mind about what sort of death he would rain upon her, and the linen wrappings around the right arm shot out like a three-headed snake and seized her left wrist. Kein let out a scream and tried to break free of the dusty strips of cloth as images of a lush Nile world quickly flashed through her mind. The wrappings lifted as if they were tentacles, and they hauled her off the ground and pulled her toward the mummy. The burning sensation of fear returned, and all Kein wanted to do was escape the room before it was too late. She closed her eyes for a long time, but then the mummy grabbed her by her other wrist, and she reopened her eyes. He pulled her close so that they were face to face.
Kein trembled in his clutches as she dangled in the air. Fear wanted to act, but she resisted its urgent need to fight back and/or run. Her heart raced, and she found it hard to breathe in the dry air as the mummy seemed to study her.
"Don't be afraid..." Kein softly spoke to herself. "Don't be afraid. Everything will be fine. I still need to ask my questions."
The mummy opened its mouth and screamed at her, and it was as if a hot desert wind blew over her, and the burning fear started to crawl up her spine again. She knew she couldn't be afraid, she had to move forward, so the only thing Kein could think of to do was to ask her questions.
When Kein thought she had enough control over her fear, she forced herself to ask, "Question one, what is your name?"
The mummy again opened his mouth and screamed, and Kein closed her eyes until he finished his horrid hot vocalization.
"Your name please," she repeated once he was done as she trembled in his clutches.
The mummy screamed again, but this time when Kein opened her eyes, his mouth was still opened, and she noticed something.
"No tongue," she uttered. "You can't speak because you have no tongue."
The Mummy nodded his head.
"Oh... How are you going to answer my questions?"
The mummy released her one wrist, then lifted his right hand, and a glowing light illuminated the tip of his bony pointer finger. He touched the center of her forehead with the light, and then she could hear him in her mind.
"I will answer your second question like this," the mummy replied, and then he stated, "And to answer your first question, my name is King Ammon."
"Second question?" she repeated, then remembered her earlier outburst, and she sighed before saying, "Oh, right... I never expected to waste a question right from the start."
"Are you the one who survived the Opening?" he questioned her.
"I am."
"Who did you kill or betray to accomplish such a feat?"
"I..." Kein started as she wanted to reply that she killed and betrayed no one, but then she thought about the man and woman she abandoned who she might have been able to save. "I was a coward," Kein finally replied. "I ran and helped no one. I let people die, and I thought only about surviving. I made it through Opening only because I was selfish and afraid."
"A surprisingly honest answer, but you are no less deserving of death for abandoning your friends and comrades."
"You're right about what I deserve. I should have helped those people. I shouldn't have run away even if I didn't know them."
"What sort of death will I give you?" he questioned her.
"I'm supposed to ask you questions before you kill and/or eat me," she replied, and then she added a little bolder, "Actually you have to answer all three of my questions before you can kill and/or eat me."
"What is your final question then?" King Ammon inquired.
Kein didn't like the way he phrased it, but she said nothing about it, and stated, "Umm... I don't know if you heard me before, but I'm Kein, and I'm a delivery woman, and I bring things to people. You received a package earlier. I brought that."
King Ammon turned his gaze to the tomb as he spoke in her mind, "I did receive a package. I was not too happy to receive it."
"Oh... Sorry to hear that."
"Ask me your final question, so that I may answer it and kill you."
"I would prefer that you not kill me."
He glared at her with his empty eye sockets that flashed yellow with anger, and then they flashed red with rage as he demanded, "Ask your question."
Fear awoke once more, more than it had done in nearly her entire life, and Kein took a deep breath, betting her life on her next words and asked, "If there was one thing that I could bring to you or one wish I could help you fulfill, what would it be?"
King Ammon peered at her for a long time as if he was actually considering her question, and then he muttered, "One wish..."
He raised his left hand close to her head near her temple to probe deep into her mind, but it wasn't necessary for him to seize her thoughts. Images common to his own homeland freely flowed between the two of them, and they were of a striking cobra and a stinging scorpion. One of those images was very strong with the human, and the other image was very strong with the one he loved more than his own life. King Ammon glanced behind himself into the tomb as if seeing someone who wasn't there, then he turned his attention back to Kein.
"Yes, one wish," she replied as fear burned
up her spine once again to the point of almost splitting apart her back as if fear would tear itself from her body. Kein knew the mummy's next answer would determine what the monster would do as she repeated her question, "Do you have one?"
"I... I would have you..." King Ammon spoke as he looked her over. "I..." the mummy started again as he lowered her to the ground, and then he answered, "I would have you bring me the Waters of Life."
"Waters of Life? What is that?"
"You are out of questions, daughter of fear," King Ammon told her and started for his sarcophagus.
"So you're not going to kill me?"
"You are out of questions," King Ammon repeated.
"Wait! How can I hear you? I thought you couldn't speak and that light thingy isn't touching my head anymore."
He didn't say anything.
"Right," Kein mumbled to herself. "No more questions." She started for the door, then turned, and yelled over her shoulder, "I'll see if I can find this Waters of Life for you, and if I do, I'll bring it to you."
She left and carefully and quietly entered the hallway looking for the werewolf pup. He was nowhere in sight, so she made her way to the door with the bat above its frame. Kein looked up at the symbol, and she thought she heard a woman laughing in a sinister way as a red mist of deceit clouded the vision. Kein entered and found the male vampire within waiting on her. The area was clear of victims and almost seemed warm and inviting if she didn't know any better. The handsome vampire had hair dark as night and eyes pale blue as the moon, and he lounged on a red velvet couch in what appeared to be a parlor in a Victorian style mansion. Oil lamps lit up the area, and Victorian wallpaper and a lavish coffee table finished off the room. The vampire wore a red Lombard silk vest, white Excelsior dress shirt with an unbuttoned high collar, Livingston black brushed cotton trousers, and an undone black Paisley Ascot. A Victorian black top hat rested on the coffee table, and a black Donavan Frock Coat was laid over the couch.
"Ma chère, I've been expecting you," he spoke with a Cajun accent. "Come... Come closer, so that I can see your eyes."
Kein took a step back and reached out her hand, searching for the door behind her.
"I've been told that you will have three questions for me. I look forward to them. I'll tell you anything you want to know, ma chère. Just come... come closer. We can become good friends."
The red mist filled with pain and misery she had seen in her mind before entering, vanished from her thoughts as a seductive sensation flowed in, embracing her as if with loving masculine arms. This new sensation entered her lungs and seemed to caress her skin. The sensation didn't make her afraid, it actually caused the opposite. Kein felt very relaxed, and she was tempted to go and sit beside him, but fear screeched out a warning, coaxed cowardice into her being, and she knew she had to get out of that room or she would never leave. Kein frantically searched behind herself and found the doorknob, turned it, and ran out without saying a word to him. She was so bombarded with desires she didn't understand and flustered over the fact that she had these desires, that Kein forgot to check the hallway before she entered, and the werewolf pup was at the door with the black arrow, sniffing around it.
"Where are you?" he angrily called out. "Where did you go?"
He hadn't seen her yet, so she crept up the hallway towards the door with the fish on it. The werewolf pup caught wind of her and turned and raced for her, but Kein ran and managed to reach the door and enter it before he came snapping near her.
Kein made sure the werewolf pup didn't follow her in as she stepped back from the door and stared at it. This door also talked to her, not in words but images. She saw a beach and the waves crashing against it, and then the imagery pulled her under the ocean and into its gorgeous depths. She saw a great city beneath the water and... the images faded in blood and fire, and she saw no more.
"A sibling is... A brother is..." she spoke softly, then turned, and faced the room.
The white fog from earlier was all gone, and Kein could clearly see her surroundings. She had stepped into what looked like a giant swamp that went on before her as far as she could see, and there were wooden docks stretched out over the murky water in no apparent pattern. She was actually standing on one of the docks, but it was up in the air about twenty feet from the water. Cypress trees with Spanish moss hanging down from them filled the swamp land along with patches of tiny islands of floating vegetation. Insects, reptiles, amphibians, and other swamp creatures could be heard croaking, slithering, and splashing as they went about their daily lives. The air was thick and muggy, and the humidity made her sweat. Kein walked to the end of the raised dock and looked at a ladder that proceeded down to a dock that was about ten feet above the water. Another dock proceeded from that one, and it was about five feet above the water. The rests of the docks, as far as she could see, were sitting right on top of the water. There were also hundreds of chests scattered around the area like one might see a pirate store his loot in. Kein decided to stay put on the dock that was twenty feet up. She felt safer there. Kein didn't like this place. There was too much water, so she hurried on with her objective.
"Hello... I'm Kein. Is anyone there?"
The murky water near a lower dock stirred as if something large swam just beneath its surface. A hand lifted from the waters like a drowning swimmer in need of help, but this hand was webbed and dark green. Another hand emerged and joined its brethren on the dock, and then a fish-like creature in human form lifted and came to rest on top of the dock. Water dripped from his form and landed on the wood, darkening the brown in spots and splashes. He wore tight fitting yellow swim trunks.
Old black and white movies came to mind, and Kein muttered, "Creature from the Black Lagoon."
The fish-like creature peered at her for a long time, and then he questioned, "Did you say your name was Kein?"
"I said that I am Kein," she replied.
"Is there a difference?" he questioned her as gills on the side of his neck flapped opened as if they breathed the air.
"I've been told it's not really a name," she answered.
"I see," he stated. "It has been a long time since a contestant survived Opening, tell me... How did you do it?"
"I never actually competed," Kein replied. "I mostly cowered and ran away."
"I see," he said. "I am still curious... Others have also cowered in the past and yet they did not survive. How did you manage to?"
"I don't know how to answer you. I actually wasn't competing in the beginning. I was only down here to deliver packages."
"So you are the one who brought me my package?" he questioned.
She nodded.
He told her, "I wish you had not brought me that package."
"I'm sorry, but I really have no say in what I do deliver or don't deliver."
"I am amazed by how quickly you have accepted your current situation," he told her as he peered at her with his large greenish-blue fishlike eyes. "Most would have frozen up or denied this was even happening by now. I remember a contestant who did survive over ten years ago, and he went insane by the time he became a Resident and killed himself."
"A grim story," she said, and then Kein stated, "I prefer ones with happy endings." She walked to the end of the twenty-foot dock, grabbed ahold of the railing that nearly surrounded it, gripped it as if it was the only thing keeping her from falling into the water, and then she said, "I've been told that I adapt very quickly."
He moved and climbed up to the dock that was five feet above the water, and then he stopped and said, "Do you have three questions for me?"
She nodded and asked, "What are you?"
"I am a Piscispopulus or what you may know as an Atlantian," he replied.
"Piscisp... Piscispopulus is a little hard for me to pronounce, so I'll call you Atlantian or maybe I could call you Flounder."
"I am not sure I understand how that name would suit me."
Kein thought about it, and then she said, "I was making a reference
to the Little Mermaid"
The Atlantian stated, "I do not remember a character with such a name in the book I read."
"You'd have to see the Disney version of the movie."
She squatted, so that she was more eye level with him, and said, "Something seems off about this place or maybe what I'm trying to say is... the two of you don't mix."
"Why would you say such a thing, uplander? Do you know a lot about my people?"
"I've never heard of your people," she answered. "I just get this sense that you don't belong here."
"You are correct, I do not belong to your world."
"That's not true," Kein spoke. "I meant this world that's depicted in here... It's all wrong for you. There should be a... a..."
"A shack?" the Atlantian inquired. "Do you believe I should have a shelter above the water?"
"No, that's not it. There should be a... an... ocean," Kein spoke as she remembered the earlier imagery. "You're from the ocean and yet they put you in a swamp."
"It is my prison," he told her, then he moved, and climbed up to the dock that was ten feet off the water.
"Would you mind not coming any closer?" Kein questioned from her squatted position. "I really don't know you, and I'm very afraid of..."
"Afraid of what?" he asked when she didn't finish.
"I'm afraid of drowning. I never learned how to swim beyond flailing my hands about and screaming."
"No one would call that swimming," he told her, and then he asked, "What does drowning and myself have in common that you do not want me to come any closer?"
"I keep seeing this image of that guy you dragged into the water," she replied. "He was up here, and then in a moment, he was gone, and I heard splashing. I imagine you drowned him."
"I will stay right here," the Atlantian told her. "What is your last question?"
Kein smacked her forehead as she said, "I did it again. I wasted a question."
"Ask your question. I would like to return to the water."
"If there was one thing that I could bring you, what would it be?"
Monster of Monsters #1 Part Two: Mortem's Contestant Page 2