Rise of the Fallen Princess (Ahmanet - The Mummy)

Chapter 1 - The Forgotten Princess

Year 2023

_"Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching Baghdad airport. Please put out your cigarettes and fasten your seat belts. We hope you had a pleasant trip."

The neutral but nevertheless friendly voice of the pilot of the airliner which echoed softly in the microphone was enough to pull Mathias out of his torpor. Sitting in one of the seats in the last line where he had arranged himself to be quiet, he gently rubbed his eyes, emerging little by little from his not so restorative sleep as he would have hoped. He had fallen asleep when the plane had left the stopover in Madrid, and everything had passed like a flash. He was almost seeing himself again this morning when he got out of the taxi at Paris airport to leave for Iraq. Luckily, the flight didn't seem to last too long and thank goodness there were no screaming children or crying babies during this flight.

Breathing softly and regaining his senses a little, the young man tied his long brown hair in a ponytail behind his head. His name was Mathias Parrish, 30, from France. Blue-green eyes, a thin face, a thin body and a small goatee on the chin. Dressed simply in a black t-shirt, denim pants, black boots and mittens.

_"Excuse me sir, please fasten your seatbelt." asked one of the air hostesses politely, coming to see him.

_"Hmm? Oh yeah, sorry." replied Mathias, obeying the request and fastened his seat belt, observing that two other hostesses made the same request to the other passengers.

Once secure in his seat, Mathias waited patiently and to pass the time, peeked through the porthole that was just to his right. The plane had already slowly but surely begun its descent maneuver and it was felt. Little by little, the blue sky and the clouds disappeared to give way to the landscape of a big city. Baghdad, capital of Iraq. Mathias really had a hard time believing he was here for real, he who had never been to this part of the world before. It changed him drastically from the landscape of his little village in the French countryside in which he had lived for much of his life.

He was both nervous and satisfied to be here, but also consumed with bewilderment and questions as to why he had come here. He took advantage of the time he had left on the plane before landing to take a folded piece of paper from his pocket and reread the message that had been printed on it.

This message was an invitation, and not from just anyone. Jonathan De Mirand. This name, everyone knew it. This De Mirand was a young heir, considered one of the greatest riches in the world and currently the owner and patron of several big companies, one of which, Arkeops, specialized in the search and discovery of treasures and ancient remains around the world.

Three months ago, Mathias had received a message from this man, inviting the young man to take part in an expedition to the remote regions of Iraq in order to search for the presence of a certain legendary tomb that no one has ever been able to find. This had really surprised Mathias who was expecting a joke at first, but no, it was very serious. But why? Why calling a young amateur writer like him? What could he bring to this expedition?

In his message, Jonathan had mentioned the last book written by Mathias, which spoke of ancient Egypt, its mythology and its greatest legends. The passion and style in writing that Jonathan had felt when reading the book was enough to convince him to hire Mathias, however the young writer did not receive more information. However, Mr. De Mirand showed himself to be very generous and promised to help the young man financially in the realization of his future writing projects, to make him have important contacts and also to cite him as one of the official members of the great expedition. Knowing he had run out of money lately and wanting at all costs to be able to put himself to safety in terms of finance and wanting to make his deceased parents proud of him, Mathias ended up accepting the proposal and it was then that he received a plane ticket, information and an appointment at the Baghdad airport where a contact will pick him up.