Dream Drama: Pharaoh's Curse

Welcome to the newest feature on the Boyish Booklover, Dream Drama.  This is a bi-weekly feature where I will take a dream I have ACTUALLY had at some point, and turn it into a short story for you guys.  This is a way for me to challenge myself and my writing, while hopefully entertaining you guys.  So, without further ado, I give you Pharaoh’s Curse!

Pharaoh’s Curse

The entourage slowly filtered down the crowded hallway.  Reflections of the overpriced outfits worn by the other guests flickered in the garish golden frames that attempted to distract from the hideous burgundy-striped wall paper that plastered the walls.  Tasteless, ornate furniture filled the spaces between frames where the walls would have otherwise been exposed.  Whoever had decorated the place needed to be shot for the assault on the senses they created with this ghastly masterpiece.

I tugged on the bow-tie that had been strangling me for the past two hours while I shook hands with crooked dignitaries, smiled my way through endless talks about who added a new wing to their mansion, or who was cheating on whom.  I hated wearing dress clothes, let alone a rented tux, but that was the price of trying to fit in at this ridiculous gala.  I was getting frustrated that this much time had gone by with no action happening.  I was grateful, don’t get me wrong, but I was certain something would have turned up by now.  Micah’s visions had never been wrong.  I wasn’t about to start doubting him now.  But it was always frustrating not knowing exactly when something disastrous was going to happen.

The man leading our group through the Egyptian-pyramid-inspired building spoke in a monotone voice that made me think he’d given this same tour a hundred times before.  I sipped the champagne I’d snagged off the waiter nearest the ballroom doors as we passed and turned to follow him out onto the veranda overlooking the gardens.  My breath caught at the sight, and I tried my hardest not to cough up the sip I’d just taken all over the plump woman in the powder pink, floor-length gown standing in front of me.  The sight was awe-inspiring.

A high-walled courtyard was cut out of the side of the rust-colored slant of the building.  Cypress trees lined the walls on both sides as the courtyard opened out into the night air.  Grass covered the space between the two lines of trees, and small shrubs carved a walking path down the middle, directing the eye to the giant obsidian obelisk that had been constructed to stand a thousand feet from the main building.  The full moon lit what the lit torches lining the veranda couldn’t.  This was the spot Micah had described from his vision.  I knew this was where it was supposed to take place and my muscles tensed as they readied for what was to happen.

Delighted murmurs rose from the people surrounding me as they took in the surroundings.  I was the only one not startled by the scream that rose from the back of the crowd.  The source of the scream was cut off as a woman in a formal black cocktail dress was thrown into a nearby wall.  A thunderous crack as her skull hit the disguised cinder-block and she fell in a limp pile at its base.  The crowd parted like Moses himself had entered the room and I was able to see what had caused the woman’s ill-timed fate.

Two monstrous figures stood at the end of the crowd.  Their skin a sunken shade of rotted wood that spoke of death and preservation.  The lips had dried up and pulled away from the teeth long ago baring broken and jagged maws.  Empty sockets scanned the sea of faces as if searching for something lost.  I knew the item they were searching for was lying in my jacket pocket, but I had no intention of surrendering the little bauble.  At first, I’d thought it was a piece of junk and was preparing to throw it out when Micah caught my hand and told me of its importance.  I had been charged to protect it and keep it out of the maniacal necromancer’s hands.  Apparently he’d chosen to send goons befitting an Egyptian-themed gala.

Up to this point, the crowd sat in stunned silence, unwilling to be the first to move and draw their attention, but suddenly a frenzy hit the crowd and people scattered as screams were sent up in the night air like prayers for safety.  The two undead henchmen locked sights on me over the din and began carving their way through the crowd.  Any person in their path was swatted aside like a rag doll.  I needed to draw them away from the people so more innocents wouldn’t get hurt.  Turning, I vaulted myself over the side of the veranda, dropping nearly thirty feet into the garden at the base of the overhang.  I ran out into the center of the garden and wheeled around to face my pursuers.  I expected to see them still standing up on the veranda, but was surprised to see them rapidly scaling the walls on either side in an attempt to come at me from both sides.

Great.

I chose to beat them to the punch and take one on at a time.  I sprinted to my left to take on the mummy crawling along the wall like a giant spider out of some horrible nightmare.  As I ran, I focused until I felt the familiar pull at the back of my navel as I opened myself to the power coursing in me, and all around me.  My muscles, which were already stronger than any other man’s, suddenly surged with unbridled power.  Without slowing, I coiled the muscles in my legs and pushed off from the ground, launching myself like an arrow loosed from a cross-bow at the mummy, still perched on the wall.  Mid-leap, I pulled the heat from my surroundings until the air around my hands was roiling from the excess heat.  The forced from my launch ensured my hands not only smashed the creature’s head into the wall, but that its entire body was deflated from the force.  The searing heat instantly lit it on fire and I knew it would be only a matter of seconds before the intense heat completely obliterated any existence of the monster.

I didn’t have time to wait and make sure of its imminent demise as the other mummy was now barreling toward me with super-human speed.  Without dropping from the wall or loosing my grip on the first creature, I turned to face the other.  I extended my hand, balled it into a fist, yanked it in toward my chest, and watched as the ground in front of the sprinting demon turned to soft earth that swallowed its legs up to the knees, ensuring an abrupt change in momentum that severed its legs.  At this point the creature in my hand was no more than a pile of ash that was scattering in the wind I’d pushed out from my center.

I dropped to the ground and slowly made my way to the injured monster, now pitifully trying to claw its way to collect the trinket from my pocket.  With little more than a thought, I forced the ground to give up the creature’s legs.  I quickly pulled the molecules of water in the air and formed them into a tight sphere that surrounded the creature and its severed limbs.  The sphere lifted slowly into the air and hovered just above my line of sight.  I reached my hand up and twisted it quickly like trying to open a jar and watched as the water of the sphere began to flow in quick circular currents that began slicing away at the creature trapped within.  Cries of rage were muffled by the water that engulfed it as the water picked up in speed and intensity.  Within moments, what was left of its flesh had dissolved in the water and the bones themselves were now withering away before my eyes.  As the last of it disappeared, I opened my hand and released the water to instantly disperse into the air I’d pulled it from in the first place.

I said a silent prayer of thanks that I was able to deal with the situation quickly.  I missed Micah more than I was willing to admit, and I really, REALLY needed a hot shower.  I hate dead guys . They give me the willies.

Listening To:  ”Batman Begins, Film Score”, Hans Zimmer, James Howard