Cairo, Egypt.
Despite the fact that it is a blindingly sunny day, people are looking out through their windows or looking up as a dark shadow falls across the city. The castle of Thamptis floats through the sky, heading for Heliopolis Palace.
Inside the room where the Call to Arms took place, a pool takes the place of where the wrestling ring was. Thamptis stands by it with Khonsu and Nebiryau on either side of him. The pool does not reflect the interior of the castle, but is a seeing pool by which the three watch as the Egyptian military scrambles jets into the air to escort them to the palace and people outside of the palace scramble to “batten down the hatches” as they do not know the intentions of the castle of those within.
Thamptis: Nebiryau, you have prepared the sunstone?
Nebiryau: Yes. It sits in the desert outside of Cairo. When you so command, it will turn miles of desert sand into monsters that the Egyptians will not be able to defeat. Cairo will burn for the crimes of their ancestors.
Thamptis: Good. We will make our demands known and then if they do not give in, we will destroy them all. Khonsu, are you ready?
Khonsu: I am, elder brother.
Thamptis: Go then, middle brother.
Khonsu leaves the room and climbs a long set of stairs to get to the roof of one of the towers where sits a dragon with a saddle. He mounts the dragon and commands it in an ancient draconic language. The dragon takes flight into the sky, bringing an immediate response from the four Egyptian fighter pilots in the sky. They peel away from the dragon, keeping it in their sights as it glides gracefully from the castle to the front steps of the palace.
It is here that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi walks out with his bodyguards, though he stands in front of them with a winning smile as Khonsu dismounts from the dragon.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: We have long awaited your arrival here since we have heard of your awakening in Tunisina. You are the middle brother, Khonsu, I presume?
Khonsu gives a short nod.
Khonsu: You have my name researched well, sir. And yours?
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: Oh, I am President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Welcome to Egypt, my friend.
Khonsu just chuckles.
Khonsu: That remains to be seen.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: Come in! Come in! We have much to discuss.
Khonsu watches as Sisi motions for him to come into the palace. He licks his lips and begins to follow the President.
Khonsu: Of that we can agree.
Inside the castle, Thamptis and Nebiryau watch as Khonsu enters the building. The vision pool changes scenes to that of the inside of the palace as Khonsu follows the President and his guard to a meeting room.
Thamptis: Once Khonsu kills the President and his men, you will release your monsters.
Nebiryau: They will regret exiling us.
Inside the palace, Khonsu sits down at the other side of a table in a meeting room where President Sisi takes a seat across from him. A sumptuous meal is brought in with beer, recipes from a bygone era from when Khonsu and his brothers lived in Egypt. Khonsu pays the fare no mind, watching as Sisi dines for a moment before the awkwardness of the situation sets in. He pushes a plate away with a smile.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: Lord Khonsu. We of the Egyptian people would like to offer our sincerest apologies for improperly exiling you and your brothers all those years ago. We would like to offer reparations in the form of a billion US dollars and citizenship in the Republic of Egypt.
Khonsu: I am insulted at…what’s a US dollar?
An advisor comes into the room and whispers into the President’s ear, who nods.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: It’s a global measuring stick of currency, my apologies. We mean to say that we will submit to you three million gold coins and our help in all your future endeavors.
Khonsu sits in silence for a long time, his hand on the hilt of his sword. The Egyptian President looks nervously to his bodyguards who are in the room, who are getting ready for a fight.
Inside the castle above the palace, Thamptis and Nebiryau watch.
Thamptis: They seek to placate us?
Nebiryau: What they offer is a lot of money and their aid would be helpful once we make our way to Rome to split the once empire apart.
Thamptis: This is intriguing. I wonder how Khonsu will take all of this? Will he be insulted and kill them all? Or-
Nebiryau: Look!
Inside the meeting room, Khonsu takes his hand away from his sword and picks up the mug of beer. He sips at it and closes his eyes, enjoying the sensations on his tongue.
Khonsu: I do not know where you were able to get this. It is as if I were sitting at the table of King Nectanebo II once again before he exiled us for our power and the supposed danger we meant for his nation. It was a glad moment when the Achaemenid Empire conquered Egypt and drove the traitorous king South into exile. Our ally, Mentor of Rhodes, helped make this happen in our absence in Carthage. Do you wish to lull me into a false sense of complacency and then exile us once again?
President Sisi’s eyes go wide and he goes a little pale at the sight of Khonsu placing his hand on the hilt of his sword once again. He motions for his bodyguards to lower their weapons and swallows hard.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: No, Lord Khonsu. We wish to undo the damage done by King Nectanebo II and welcome the legendary three brothers with open arms. We wish nothing but peace.
Khonsu smiles and takes a slice of honey and fig bread, taking a bite of the ancient delicacy.
Khonsu: Then, we are home! We do not need your support in the destruction of Rome, but ask that you do not aid or warn them as this would be breaking our brotherhood and condemn all of Egypt to the sword. Are we clear?
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: Allow me the chance to have you sit with my Minister of Defense. He can help you make the plans to destroy Rome.
Khonsu: Very good.
Inside the floating castle, Thamptis and Nebiryau watch things as they unfold.
Nebiryau: So, we are not destroying Egypt?
Thamptis: We are not destroying Egypt…for now.
Nebiryau: Then, I will go retrieve the sunstone before some foolish person detonates it.
With a crack of thunder as air fills the space he once did, Nebiryau is gone.
Thamptis watches the vision pool some more as the Minister of Defense, Mohamed Ahmed Zaki Mohamed, is brought into the room to meet him.
Thamptis: This is a curious new world. Freedoms and reparations. I should reflect upon this more.
Thamptis walks away to his personal chambers, leaving Khonsu unwatched.
