Rise of the Fallen Princess (Ahmanet - The Mummy)

Chapter 2 - Sand and Darkness

Once having finally obtained answers on the reason for his coming to Iraq, which is moreover in a period of civil war, Mathias Parrish had begun to take the first notes for the future book he would write. In particular, he took many notes about the story of this forgotten Egyptian princess, Ahmanet. He had to admit, the fan of mythology, history and supernatural that he was couldn't help but feel this desire to discover more. Eventually, this expedition took an unexpected but most intriguing turn and Mathias was already inspired to write a new story when would come back in France, of which Ahmanet would serve as the main model for the main character.

As he sat at a small table in a corner of the military base's rest room, hunched over his notebook or his notes, while writing, Mathias thought back to Ahmanet's life. Destined to be queen but dispossessed of her status in favor of a male heir. In ancient times, it was not very surprising that men's values were absolute over women, it was their law, their standard if you could say so. He didn't really know what to think of that, he who of course had always defended the cause of equality between men and women, but could one judge and question the mores of an era that took place centuries or millennia before we were even born? Anyway, the ink was already dry for a long time.

Once after putting his thoughts in order, Mathias was warned by a soldier that the departure of the expedition was imminent and so joined Jonathan, Colonel Burns and the rest of the team on the runway where three helicopters were waiting, armed, loaded with equipment and ready for take-off. Colonel Burns will remain at the base and it is a squad of 12 soldiers, under the command of a Corporal named Campbell who will escort Jonathan's team on site.

The men, well trained and disciplined, equipped and armed, came to settle in the helicopters. Helped by Jonathan who extended his hand to him, Mathias climbed into one of the three machines and sat down on the place assigned to him, checking that the safety straps were fixed. He was also given a helmet equipped with a microphone in order to be able to communicate with the others to overcome the infernal noise emitted by the blades of the helicopters. Once the take-off clearances were confirmed, the three helicopters rose slowly but surely into the air, to then begin their flight towards the desert, towards remote and hostile areas of Iraq. Seeing the city and the military base recede behind him and the unknown looming on the horizon, Mathias blew a deep breath. The adventure had begun!

Sitting next to Mathias, Jonathan couldn't stop smiling and expressing his impatience, like a child. Mathias was also able to meet the two people that Jonathan had hired for the expedition and who were sitting on the seats opposite. The first was a woman in her forties, with semi-long blond hair and the second was a man with a medium round body, youthful chubby face and shaggy beard, glasses in front of his eyes and who was busy cleaning the lens of a camera. The woman looked up from a notebook she was reading and smiling friendly shook hands with Mathias while introducing herself.

_"My name is Sandra Winters, Egyptologist and professor at Cairo University. Nice to meet you, and this is Dexter Loomis, one of my students."

_"Yep, I'll be in charge of filming the expedition." asserted the chubby student with a certain pride.

Mathias also greeted him politely and introduced himself.

_"Mathias Parrish, writer. I have been hired to write a book that will relate the expedition. And your names will be mentioned in it of course... By the way, forgive me this question Mrs. Winters but did you know... about this princess Ahmanet?"

_"To be honest, until Mr. De Mirand comes to see me, not at all." confessed the woman. "However, and without wishing to brag, I am a specialist in ancient Egypt and its history and I can affirm that there has never been any mention of a princess of this name. If we have the proof of the existence of an unknown Egyptian monarch, it is our duty to discover it and make it known."