Chapter 1
It was late at night in Luxor city in south Egypt, at one floor old house where a woman in her late forties called Farida was living alone. It was 3 am when the woman woke up at a voice coming from her kitchen. . It was a voice of things falling .at the first the woman thought, she was dreaming as she was asleep but after few seconds, she heard the voice once again. What came into Farida’s mind is one of the chickens that her neighbors raising up on their roof got into her house with a way or another and after hearing the voice for the second time, Farida decided to get up of the bed and have a look when Farida entered the kitchen, she got surprised when she found out the reason after the voice. There was a big turkey in her kitchen; she didn’t understand where it came from. It can’t enter the house except from her neighbor’s roof, but her neighbors were rising up only few chickens. She was sure; they don’t have turkeys and while thinking where it came from, the bird turned around and once it saw her .it started running toward her. Farida got scared , she felt it will attack that she quickly grabbed a water pottery jug that was on a small table in her kitchen and threw it on the turkey which fell on the ground almost died, but what happened at the same moment of killing the bird made Farida get into a panic . The ground started shaking and the middle part of the kitchen’s floor crumbled, Farida couldn’t understand what was happening but the fear made her heart beats very loud and actually the crumbling of the ground wasn’t the reason .The real reason was a shade of a man which appeared in the dust that was flying everywhere because of the floor crumbling. The shade started moving slowly toward her. Farida couldn’t stand still at her place while watching the man shade getting closer. She ran as fast as a woman in her age can, until she found herself out of the house, running at the street to her son’s house which was at the same neighborhood, and when she was there she started knocking on the door loudly until Sami, her son opened the door and took her inside the house where she started telling him and his wife about what had happened with her.
Her son Sami couldn’t understand what her mother was talking about but as she was very serious, he decided to leave his mother at his house with his wife and son and to go to her house and have a look. Sami reached his mother’s house and found the door opened as his mother left it, and once he entered his full body shuddered maybe because he remembered what his mother said, but he kept on walking pulling himself to the kitchen until he got rooted at his place when he saw inside the kitchen a man with pharaonic clothes a short kilt to his knees, thick wig on his head and a slipper while wearing nothing on his top part except a big golden collar Egyptian necklace. The man was standing near a huge square rock with pharaonic inscriptions and drawings engraved on it. This rock was in the middle of the kitchen, and it was surrounded by the shattered floor. The man started walking toward Sami who was scared, but he was more excited as he had known that he found a pharaonic tomb as he heard before about tombs open up at the same way after killing a bird or an animal like cats he heard people saying that the souls of the tomb’s guards appear in these creatures and if you kill the creature. The soul of the guard will be freed. For few seconds, he was silent until the man became standing in front of him.
"I am Khenso, the guard of the tomb." the man said.
"Did you kill the bird?"
Sami paused for a while thinking why the guard is asking about the bird killer and if he should lie and say that he killed the bird or to say the truth and tell him that his mother is the one who killed it but all of this thoughts were interpreted when the guard continued,” who killed the bird and freed my soul from the bird’s body will own everything inside the tomb.
When Sami heard that he made up his decision that he will lie and as the guard is asking about that; then, he don’t know who freed him.
"I have killed the bird." Sami lied.
"Who freed my soul will have everything inside the tomb but he will have to send my soul first to the other world." The guard said. "You will have to give me two sacrifices."
"What sacrifices?" Sami asked.
"Your first sacrifice is gold."
"Gold……………."
"Sell everything you have and give us gold." the guard repeated. "Believe me. It will be nothing compared to what you will find inside the tomb."
Sami’s desire of being rich was so powerful that it could totally control of him, so he thought about selling the only thing he has ‘his house’.
"I will give you gold." Sami said.
After the guard heard that he disappeared and Sami went back to his house to find his mother and wife his still awake. Sami didn’t want to tell them about what happened, he was scared that more people may know about the tomb as the authorities will consider it as illegal digging up, and he may be arrested ,so He decided to lie to them and to convince his mother that all she had seen were elusions so he told her that he found nothing, then he insisted on her to stay with them for few days, and she accepted his offer as she was still scared and didn’t want to go back to her house.
At the next morning Sami woke up early and went to his neighbor and offered him to buy his house where Sami, his wife and son were living .His neighbor accepted his offer and they signed a contract then they went together to the bank. Sami took the money and his neighbor gave him one week to evacuate the house. Sami took all of the money and bought with it gold jewelry then he went back to his mother’s house. Once he entered the kitchen. He started looking around until the guard appeared near the big rock.
"I brought the gold." Sami said.
"Put it on the ground and move away." Sami did as the guard said .
few seconds and Sami found the huge rock moving and he could see a long dark passage with long stairs. He couldn’t see what it was leading to. He was so excited. He thought that now he can enter the tomb and own everything inside it but he shivered with fear when he saw orange shadow lightening up the long passage then he found fire rushing out of the entrance and flying very quickly toward the gold on the ground. The flying fire surrounded and covered the gold which disappeared. It was like the fire swallowed the gold as Sami couldn’t see it after the fire started flying back to the tomb which closed once again.
"Why did it get closed?" Sami asked with anger. "I have nothing else to sacrifice. I gave you all I have."
" It was the first sacrifice and that gold is not the only thing you have." the guard said. "Now, I will tell you about your second and last sacrifice, your wife, son and your mother, we want them. Their souls are your last sacrifice."
"What are you saying? Are you asking me to kill my family?"
"You won’t kill them. We will take their souls .It will be like natural death." The guard said.” Sami, we know, you don’t love your wife also you can have another kid and your mom is very old and sick woman. There is no much time left for her. Just bring them to me.”
Sami’s mind got paralyzed this time. He couldn’t think. That is why he answered the guard and said quietly, "give me time to think."
"We don’t have time .you freed my soul from the turkey’s body but if you didn’t implement the sacrifices, my soul won’t be sent to the underground world and as long as I am in the human world this tomb won’t be opened. The second sacrifice must occur at the second day of freeing me. It must occur tomorrow. Make your decision."
The guard said then disappeared. Sami didn’t know what he should do; he just left the house and started walking at the village until he reached a field. He sat on the ground under a tree and started thinking what will i do now? His internal desire of getting rich was so powerful that deep inside him he was ready to sacrifice of them and losing his house was another powerful motivator .he spent an hour under this tree absent minded thinking of all of this and about what the guard said. Sami was greedy and selfish man. he felt that the guard was right in every single word. Sami left the field after he had made up his decision. He will sacrifice of them.
Sami went back home at that day and found his mother talking with him once again about what had happened with her and insisting that it was real and not elusions . At this moment Sami felt that he found the way to take them to his mother’s house as he told her that all of them are going to spend the day, tomorrow at her house and she can see with her eyes and believe that all of this wasn’t real.
Sami couldn’t sleep that day and at the mourning he was avoiding speaking or even looking to their eyes maybe his conscience was scolding him but he didn’t retreat, His desire of wealth was much stronger. They changed their clothes and went together to his mother’s house. Once they entered. Sami walked toward the kitchen, he was walking nervously and his wife and son were following him while his mother was in the back walking slowly and shaking a little with fear. Sami was taking the lead and that is why he was the first one who could see inside the kitchen. The tomb entrance was opened this time and the guard was standing near it , before they even enter the kitchen ,Sami could see the fire that was rushing out of the passage very quickly like what happened before. It dispersed and passed around Sami’s body without touching him then it gathered once again and started passing through his wife, his son and his mother’s bodies and taking their souls with it until the four of them fall on the ground dead. All of this happened in few seconds, they didn’t even have the chance to scream. Then, the fire went back disappear inside the tomb and this time the entrance didn’t close. Sami didn’t know how he should feel, now? Should he feel happy as the entrance didn’t close this time, and he can enter the tomb and own everything inside it but how he can feel happy while the bodies of his son, his wife and his mother are lying on the ground dead? Sami sat on the ground. He didn’t shed a tear or utter a word.
"Stand up, Sami. You can enter the tomb now "The guard said while walking toward Sami.
Sami didn’t answer the guard. He was in a shock, but he sacrificed of everything. He wanted to know for what he made all of these sacrifices? And did it deserve all of this? That is why he stood up of the ground and entered the tomb for the first time. The long passage was really dark but once he entered, the pharaonic inscriptions and drawings on the walls started shinning up with bright yellow light which lighted up the long passage. This light was very similar to the light of the fire. Sami was amazed with the shinning drawings on the walls.
"Sami, hurry up," The guard said after he appeared at the end of the passage at another entrance that was almost leading to another room. The guard entered the room after saying that, while Sami started walking as quickly as he could until he was at that entrance .Sami gasped when he saw what was inside the room; a lot of paranoiac status with different sizes, gold jewelry, animal made of gold, colorful stones and much more precious pieces all of this were surrounding a mummy box on the middle of the room.
"Sami….." the guard called him from behind. Sami turned around.
"There is one last thing I should tell you about it," the guard said.
"What is it?" Sami asked.
"You can’t deceive a pharaonic guard." the guard said with angry look.
Sami got scared he couldn’t understand what the guard meant but he tried to not show his fear and said," I can’t understand. What do you mean?"
"You lied to me and said that you are the bird killer. I know, she was your mother," the guard said.
" You chose to be the owner of the tomb, you lied to me, you deceived your mother and told her that I was elusions and you deceived all of them and brought them to me, and now I will let you stay at the place you loved the most and sacrificed everything for it."
After the guard said that every inscription and drawing on the wall turned off gradually releasing the small yellow fire flame that was making it shine up , these flames gathered together until the huge fire which was talking the sacrifices formed to pass through Sami’s body who fell on the ground dead.
