Thousands of years ago, a land of heroes made of peace was written, those who lived in it had gifts unknown to mankind, it was said to be a fantasy world but that was not true. The truth was that twelve individuals lived to be the legends that they were and it had come to a time where they would pass on their gifts to their children. However, one hero known to few as a god did not have any children due to the inability to have them so they were essentially an outcast but that never stopped them from living the life they wanted. Even to the point they travelled through the stars, planets, and what was known as the universe, of all space and time.
However, it came to a point where travel was not possible as thousands of years passed and planets began to pop up through one of the twelve’s powers and one planet in particular needed the god’s powers to keep the planet living so in the god’s final moments, they transformed into a rock so powerful that it would shine a light in the darkness into the night sky of the planet known to many over the years called ‘Earth’. It was a small planet in which its inhabitants had mutated over the years into what was now known as humans.
Compared to the rest of the heroes, the god was constantly keeping an eye on what it was looking after even to the point of watching the humans pass onto the afterlife, some joined the gods while others went elsewhere.
“Altalune, it’s time. You must pass your powers onto another being before your time is up”
Those words were ones that the twelve heroes disliked, Atalune could only nod at the glowing golden light that vanished as they looked through the possible individuals to take the powers. Atalune knew one thing, they wanted one who was pure at heart and could take the powers for a long time. A smile appeared on their face as they came across a family who was in mourning after losing their princess, deciding on his last decision, he decided to surprise the family by turning a gift into a miracle child. With one last word Atalune sent his gift to an unborn child who would be the one to decide the future of his light.
For years he watched the child grow up from the small baby who was said not to survive to the young child who stopped to show kindness to those who were even mean to him. It was clear the boy was the best choice he could have chosen and on top of that the boy spoke to the moon when he was sad calling it Khonsu leading to Atalune to have a nickname. It made the god feel special. Normally the gods wouldn’t stick around but Atalune just couldn’t leave the child, instead the boy felt like his own so he made sure to watch over him all the way until his death.
Sadly where the boy lived it wasn’t the best for children living past the age of sixteen but for his own brother to murder him, it broke Atalune’s heart seeing the broken look on the elder brother's face who sobbed holding his baby brother close. A dark set of laughter brought Atalune to the attention of two heroes turned villains of the twelve, the twin destroyers. Deciding on playing around with fate and causing some trouble, Atalune powered the two brothers with the tablet which belonged to the younger brother as in a sense he adopted the brothers as his own and wrote their future out making sure no one else could touch it. Atalune sealed it with his own blood before falling into a sleep knowing the brothers would awaken in the future and only then would Atalune appear again. But for now he would sleep to stay away from the other eleven gods who didn’t deserve the moonlight powers, a light in the darkness.
When he next woke up, it was to learn of the brothers fate. The youngest brother had been reunited with the tablet but had been trapped in his own tomb for thousands of years, coming alive in the sarcophagus only to learn to never be let out. He was only let out to be studied in a place he knew as Cambride, the poor younger brother was tortured when he wasn’t able to answer any questions by what Atalune knew as electricity. It made him want to explode seeing what his son was going through, yes his adopted son was going through torture until he wasn’t needed and was shipped off to another museum where humans stared at the sarcophagus and shared silly stories unaware of the actual truth.
For years he watched his son suffer inside the sarcophagus alive while his other son remained in a sleep far away from his younger brother. Until one day a young man and his son were in danger and without hesitation the night guard removed the lid helping the younger brother out. Atalune knew one thing: the bandages definitely hid the tears of the youngest brother as he helped save the museum and earned freedom he had craved for years.
It wasn’t until a few nights later when Ahkmenrah soon became aware of the tablet's inner voice, the younger son of Atalune soon learned a language unknown to mankind, one unknown to anyone but the gods above. Ahkmenrah could hear the whispers of what he knew were those watching over them, so he wasn’t surprised when he connected with one god who warned him of the moonlight's effect on the tablet. But even though Ahk tried to empower it, at the time the museum was splitting in half and the capuchin had stolen the tablet. Atalune was forced to watch as Ahkmenrah fell into a sleep while Kahmunrah had been copied, the wax figure of his older son had locked the actual sarcophagus which held the elder brother and had the intention of bringing the underworld into the actual world. Atalune knew this couldn’t happen so he contacted another god, one the underworld who made sure it wouldn’t happen and helped Atalune with the elder brother's situation by transferring him to the museum his younger brother resided in, years after the tablet had almost died. Yes when that happened Atalune almost lost his connection to not only the tablet but Ahkmenrah.
During this another god had attacked Atalune and he was forced to give up some of his power which instead of going to his attacker was sent straight to Ahkmenrah, the younger brother saw visions of powers that shouldn’t have been possible. It was clear to Ahkmenrah on what he had to do and he knew one thing, his heart would be broken in the end and he would pass on. However, one thing became clear. The museum would live with the memories but not the actual people who lived there. A darkness was coming and only he could stop it. Ahkmenrah of the Egyptian Royals had been chosen by Atalune otherwise known as Khonsu, the moon guard to carry out the plans of the light in the darkness.
An event happened which consisted of Nick and Octavius dying, Ahkmenrah knew one thing he was able to bring them back but at what cost, well he found out straight away. In order to save them, he had to pass a power on to Nick who wouldn’t know about it until the time was right and Ahk prayed he wouldn’t be upset about it, it was only right that the others lived, they deserved to be human again. The museum deserved a new light, so the Ahkmenrah who was once a Pharaoh made the ultimate deal with the gods.
In order for his family and friends to survive, he would sacrifice his life for them all…
“No!” Nick shouted in a sharp tone as he interrupted Atalune, the man sighed looking down at his adoptive son who was pale almost grey in Nick’s arms.
“I’m sorry son but you must choose” Atalune said in a soft tone while looking up into the blue skies and white clouds.
“But he…” Nick gestured down to his unconscious partner.
Atalune only flickered his hand and soon chocolate eyes opened making Nick gasp as Ahkmenrah woke in his arms, “You have five minutes, spend it well” Atalune said softly, his eyes blinking slightly before he walked off giving them some privacy.
“Ahk, why would you?”
“Nick, they deserve a better life and so do you”
“But without you…”
“You will find someone else Nick”
“I don’t want someone else, I want you…Ahk, I love you”
“I know you do but Nick you must choose the museum because if you don’t you don’t only lose me but your dad and the others since Tahmunrah has them trapped in eternal darkness. They will not wake without the tablet, you need to turn the centre piece and press the buttons in the pattern before your eyes. Everything will be okay, just please save the others” Ahk whispered, leaning upwards to kiss Nick who eagerly kissed back. Ahk was lifted slightly into Nick’s arms, the two unaware of the bright gold light in between them, filling Ahk’s eyes, neither of them noticed as their eyes were shut while Atalune watched with pure shock in his features. It was clear fate had other plans.
“Time’s up”
Nick and Ahk were pulled away from one another only to see Atalune walking towards them, he reached down only for Ahk to clasp his hand in his own.
“Take care of them Nick”
The night guard could only allow silent tears to slip down his face as he watched Ahk be led away from him, his lover gone maybe forever. A golden glow appeared in his vision as he landed hard on something or more like someone.
“Finally, it’s mine. I can rule the world!”
Hearing the cold tone, Nick blinked awake seeing Tahmunrah in the main lobby surrounded by the bodies of his family, all of them stuck in a dream state including the miniature Octavius who Tahmunrah was holding upside down and teasing, the small roman who was one of the few not asleep. In the arm of the egyptian brother was the tablet which had turned a blue colour, Nick knew one thing he needed to grab the tablet and get into moonlight as well as keeping it away from Tahmunrah. But, how was he going to do that? Thankfully the gods heard his prayers as a few of the former exhibits woke up and the animals from the lion pride stalked towards Nick only to race down the stairs and pounce on the startled egyptian brother. In the process the tablet slammed into the ground and landed not far from Jedidiah, the cowboy groaning awake only to gasp seeing Tahmunrah throw some small object where a small scream had Jed recognising it and on his feet. Within seconds, Jed caught the small object which ended up being his partner who was awake but looking sickly, the cowboy could only smile cupping Octavius in his hands knowing the roman would eventually settle.
“Jed! Grab the tablet!”
Nick’s yell had the cowboy pocketing Octavius before he ran for the tablet and listened to the younger boy’s orders. Tahmunrah looked up in frustration only to call upon a few bears which listened to him and attacked the lions. The Egyptian brother grinned running for the tablet only to tackle the cowboy who had just managed to secure the tablet.
Nick winced when the tablet bounced but Jed managed to grab it unaware of what had just occurred in between the tackle. Nick ran over ready to take the tablet when laughter turned attention to Tahmunrah.
“What are you laughing at?” Jed asked only to gasp in shock when Tahmunrah held up a small figure by the cape.
“Hand over the tablet or I kill your pathetic little roman” Tahmunrah held a lighter he had stolen from the desk and lit it beneath the half-awake Octavius.
“Jed, give me the tablet. I can save us all” Nick pressed, he knew with Octavius' life being in danger, Jed would be more conflicted but Nick knew Octavius could be saved via the tablet or so he hoped.
“No, hand the tablet over to me otherwise we will all see how far back the roman can bend” Tahmunrah grunted out squeezing Octavius who yelled out in agony, Jed’s eyes flickered in between the two. Nick smiled at him while Tahmunrah just squeezed the tiny roman harder in his hand, Octavius tried to keep his shouts to a minimum but he was seriously in pain from being manhandled.
“I’m sorry Nick, Octo comes first” Jed said in a sad tone, he took a step forward to hand over the tablet.
“No! It’s a trap!” Nick yelled just as the tablet came in contact with Tahmunrah’s hand, the egyptian brother grinned looking down at the roman in his hand.
“Now hand over Octo” Jed pressed, he was so worried he never saw the blood pouring from Octavius’ nose.
“Sure, catch” Tahmunrah threw him over Jed with speed he didn’t know he had caught his partner who was a bloody mess when Jed got him. The cowboy sank to his knees only to sob, Octavius wasn’t breathing.
“You never said alive” Tahmunrah teased, he moved to place a code in the tablet when the whole museum started to glow gold and the egyptian brother whipped around only to gasp as Nick's eyes glowed gold as did the rest of his body.
Several gasps rang out as the others woke up with the power of the museum coming back, Nick smirked as he felt ghostly hands on his shoulders as he tackled Tahmunrah and fought the man with a familiar Khopesh that Kahmunrah recognised, his brothers death blade, looking around Kahmunrah noticed the lack of his brother. A sob to the side had him turning to see Jed cradling the small Octavius in his palm, the roman wasn’t breathing and it was clear he was gone to them all. Sacagawa could only wrap the cowboy up while Teddy looked on sadly holding Dexter closely.
“NO Give that back!” Tahmunrah yelled only for Nick to swipe the tablet with Attila and Lancelot’s help, he ran for the window that directed Khonsu’s light directly into the lobby and he watched the tablet glow, he wasted no time inputting the code into the gods tablet. A smile fell on his face as the tablet and museum reconnected and everything came back to life including Rexy, the dinosaur who made sure to trap Tahmunrah who glared at them all. The egyptian brother was corroding in front of them before he vanished and reappeared in his sealed sarcophagus, it would seem Kahmunrah’s wish was over.
Once the light died down, Nick turned to face the others who gave him a variety of expressions, Jed didn’t even look up as he held Octavius tightly to his chest unaware of the golden glow shimmering all over the roman…
Apologies for the delay! I will try and get the next chapter up within the next two weeks!
Thank you for all the feedback! Much appreciated! Your comments have been interesting! :-)