The Imagination Latibule: Moon Knight - The Rise of the Moon

Chapter 16

It was a Heka priest. A live one. Well, living dead to be accurate. Rotting flesh stunk beneath layers of cloth, and it staggered as though making sure none of its limbs fell off as it moved. As Layla sunk behind the far side of the sacrificial slab, and you and Steven cowered, flat against the floor of the scaffolding, it limped in, dragging the body of the one and only DC Fitzgerald behind him. You gulped, watching as the priest threw his body onto the slap, and grabbed a variety of instruments that all meant one thing. 

Mummification. 

A hook, a scalpel, and... "He's still breathing," you whispered as Fitzgerald groaned. The Heka priest, seemingly a lot more sensitive to sound than its other senses, whipped its head in your general direction, and you froze, not daring to even breathe. But, with more pressing matters, it continued to prepare for Fitzgerald's untimely death, shuffling around the table as it did so.

"We have to help her," Steven whispered as Layla crept around the table. You patted his hand gently and with baited breath, got to your feet.

"y/n, what are you doing?" Marc cried, at liberty to speak his mind. You ignored him, grabbing the wood with the intent of climbing down, but as you did, there was a noise like a shattering pot, which was exactly what it was. Layla had spilled what looked like thousand year old guts across the floor in an attempt to escape the Heka, and had given away her presence to it instead. The priest let out a anguished cry and lunged for Layla who dodged in the nick of time, and without thinking about your own wellbeing, you grabbed a pot and flung it at the Heka's head. 

It dropped to its knees for but a second, giving Layla time to get to her feet. "Run!" you yelled. "We'll find you!"

Throwing another pot, Layla fled down the same passage you'd come from, and the Heka was still intent on catching her. 

"y/n, the table!" Steven cried, grabbing the one that sat atop the scaffolding, and you knew exactly what he meant. You wrapped your hands around one of the legs and the two of you flipped it over and -- Squelch. 

You nearly gagged as it flattened the Heka priest. 

"We squished it. We squished it!" he breathed and you shook his arm victoriously.

"Hell yeah we did," you cried. "Now let's get what we came for and get the hell outta here."

***

You were getting mighty fed up of the same corridors, and that mouldy, musty smell that accompanied them. But you had to be thankful that aside from the Heka Priest, you hadn't had any issues. As your thoughts wandered, you walked into the back of Steven who'd frozen in his tracks. 

"Sorry my love," you said, sidestepping him, and you jaw dropped as you saw what he was seeing. A tomb encased in solid gold walls; jewels piled nearly to the ceiling, and a grand sarcophagus sitting on a raised platform, surrounded by a moat. 

"Oh my days," Steven said, hands on either side of his head in disbelief as he took a step forward. "First one in."

"a tomb fit for a pharaoh," you said, pulling a lighter from your pocket and lighting the large torch that stood guard at the entrance. It cast a warm glow across the room and both you and Steven set down your torches. He ran his fingers over the hieroglyphics with intense curiosity. 

"Thutmose II. Nefertiti. Oh, it's gotta be one of the big'uns," he said. 

 "Wow," you commented, walking past him and to the corner, where a group of ancient artifacts caught your eye more than anything else, purely because they weren't Egyptian. "Look at that. Look at all these relics. Macedonian."