Chapter 3: An Ancient Battle Continues

“Honey, something is very wrong. You don’t use magic,” Chloe warned. “You have to fight it.”

Elise looked to her, revealing her gold-colored eye. “I feel like someone needs my help.”

“Yeah, me! And you!”

Elise drove them to the Allen Museum of History and Science. Elise’s spells ended, freeing Chloe as she opened the driver’s side door.

“Wait, don’t go!” Chloe ran out of the car and tried to stop Elise from walking toward the museum. “Talk to me. Let me help.” She noticed Elise looking past her and followed her gaze. Four guards were on the ground, and the doors were smashed in. Elise ran past her and into the museum. “Damn.” Chloe ran back to the car and pulled a gun out of a secret compartment in the driver’s side door.

Elise looked at the ruins of the lobby. “Alive.” She observed that the guards and clerks were still breathing.

Chloe joined her and grimaced at the scene. Clumps of stone littered the ground, and the security cameras were all destroyed. “Okay, I’ll call this in. We need to leave.” Elise ran through the lobby toward the employee area. “Dammit! Elise!”

Elise kicked the doors open to the storage area and found the culprits. “Ptahmose,” she said.

“What the hell?” Egyptian statues moved crates and boxes around. She saw two people in Ancient Egyptian attire directing them all. She drew her gun and barked orders. “S.P.D.! Drop your weapons and surrender!”

They turned to face her. A man, well-built and dressed in a fine priest’s robe, spoke first. “The Supernatural Patrol Division, hmm? Not even your order can stop my ascension.”

“Ahneith!” The woman beside him, dressed in light armor, drew twin daggers from her sides.

“Kill them both!” The man ordered. “Do not fail me again, Setesh.”

“Yes, Lord Ptahmose.” She stalked toward Elise, a wicked grin on her lips. The statues turned to face Elise and Chloe and advanced on them.

Chloe pulled the trigger, firing blue magic bolts that punched through the statues with relative ease. The soldiers charged despite their damage, and would crawl even after Chloe shot their legs into pieces.

Elise took a step forward, her aura flaring up. Three weapons burst through the wooden crates that held them. A khopesh sword, a shield, and a bow flew to her, eager to reunite with their former master. “Come, Setesh,” she challenged the strange woman.

Elise and Setesh clashed blades, matching one another strike for strike. Setesh had a feral look in her eyes, an unbridled hate from someone Elise didn’t even know. She had trouble keeping up with Setesh’s speed and strength, leaving her wide open for a devastating kick to her stomach.

“Heh. This was all a performance, wasn’t it? You remember nothing of our past,” Setesh mocked her. “Though it wouldn’t be the first time you forgot about me, would it?”

Elise stood up and prepared for Setesh’s advance. She saw Ptahmose in the corner of her eye, moving a large, tall crate with magic. Her aura flared around her as she swung her sword down, releasing a shockwave that sent Setesh flying backward.

She sheathed her weapons and drew her bow. Elise pulled the string back and conjured a magic arrow. The arrow flew through the air and pierced Ptahmose’s hand, forcing him to drop the crate and set it against the wall.

“Argh!” Ptahmose bellowed in pain. He shattered the arrow and healed his hand. “A wasted effort from a failed royal guard.”

Another shot rang out. Chloe stopped Setesh from charging Elise by shooting her in the leg. “Hey, mind if I cut in? If you have business with my girlfriend, my friend and I will be more than happy to address it.”

Elise was compelled to move ahead and challenge Ptahmose. Wind ripped around her as she ran at him and leapt overhead. She swung down, her sword cloaked in energy.

Ptahmose’s barrier stopped her attack. “Poor little Ahneith. You should have died in the streets with the rest of the vermin. Pharaoh Kheperkare’s pity will not save you again.”

Elise’s left eye glowed, accompanied by an ethereal projection that wrapped around her. She wore Ancient Egyptian armor similar to Setesh’s, with gauntlets on her arms, greaves on her legs, and an ornate breastplate. “Speak not of the pharaoh you betrayed, Ptahmose,” she warned. “Ammit awaits you in the Duat.” Ptahmose’s barrier shattered under the weight of Elise’s strike.

He leapt backward and narrowly avoided Elise’s blade as it swung for his head. “Enough of this!” He raised his hand and conjured another barrier that crackled with power. A dark sphere formed above the barrier, threatening to destroy everything around it. Elise took a step back and held her sword ready.

“Break shot!” Chloe barked. A magic bolt fired from her gun and punched through Ptahmose’s barrier and disrupted his magic. Ptahmose glared at her as he tried to heal his arm. “Don’t bother, I specialize in taking down evil mages like you. Your magic won’t work for a good long while.”

“Setesh, to me. Now!” Ptahmose commanded. Setesh ran to him, ignoring the screaming pain in her leg. The two disappeared into a thick veil of darkness. The remaining statues became still and shrank down to their original sizes.

Elise and Chloe ran toward them, but they vanished. “Teleporting. I hate teleporting,” Chloe spat. “That’s why we have a guy that deals with teleporters.”

She holstered her gun and turned to Elise, her expression full of concern. “Hun, are you there?” She gently grabbed her arm, her fingers phasing through the projected gauntlet.

Elise smiled and pulled away to sheath her sword. She held out her hand toward the large crate and spoke. “Shatter.” The wood splintered apart, revealing an ancient tablet depicting a royal woman leading an army. A sekhem scepter flew out of the tablet and into Elise’s hand.

A magic array appeared at her feet as she spoke an incantation. “Awaken, O’ daughter of Egypt. The darkness has passed, and these lands need your radiance to shine down upon them. Return to me, my love. Awaken, Pharaoh Neferu!”

The tablet glowed, and a woman dressed in noble regalia floated out. Elise caught the pharaoh in her arms and held her close as the projection around her faded.