It all happened around 400 BC. Somewhere on the coast of the River Nile, Cairo in Egypt,
Tydeus, his two hands cuffed with heavy chains connected by a long chain cuffing his two legs, was dragged like an ordinary ram by one of the Iron Mask pirates.
“Move you rascal!” He yelled at him as he pushed other captives who were lined up at the front.
Tonight seems to be the luckiest night for the Iron Mask pirates. This time they caught lots of captives, lined them up and connected them with one long chain, marching them into their big ship.
The Iron Mask pirates are one of the most notorious criminal organizations in all of Cairo and other big cities in Egypt.
Recognized by their black and ugly metal masks, they're mostly responsible for every kidnapping, destruction, chaos, and violence in the cities of Egypt.
Tydeus, one of their long-time targets, has just been caught; this is someone who has always attacked them and ruined their ruthless operations countless times.
All the prisoners kept walking, dragging themselves onto the bridge connecting the river bank and the big pirate's ship. The pirates continued yelling at them as they moved them into their ship, maybe to throw them into the river or something.
The leader of the pirates, Galdashkeh stood at the entrance of the ship, also yelling and shouting at the captives as they walked in.
As Tydeus was moving closer to him, he shouted at one of the captives in front of Tydeus, “Move or I break your legs right now!”.
The prisoner in front of Tydeus, shaken in fear, immediately jumped into the ship; breaking his leg would be a bad idea.
As Tydeus walked, moving closer to the leader of the pirates at the entrance, the pirate's leader, Galdashkeh walked towards him in a stalkerish manner with a villainous smile on his face.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He said harmoniously, folding his hands and using his fat body to close the gap between him and Tydeus.
“The Great Warrior of Egypt? Haha!” He gave out a loud and sinister laugh.
“Look at you, I told you I'm going to get you myself. You could escape, you could kill my men all you like but one day, just one day, I'm going to get you. Seems today is my lucky day!!!” He shouted as he and the other pirates around him burst into laughter.
“Look at me!” he said forcefully, his voice laced with authority.
“I heard you killed Apophis, the great beast of the dark world; I don't care about that; I will make sure I feed you to the sharks myself”.
Tydeus, who had had enough of his insult, threw a ball of spittle on his face.
“You bastard!” Galdashkeh said angrily as he returned the favour with a slap to Tydeus's face.
*Ta!!!*
The sound of the slap reverberated from Tydeus's thick facial skin, sending his face to the other side.
“You want to die?!” The Galdashkeh said angrily, his voice laced with authority as he drew out his finely sharp and curved sword from his sheath.
The rest of the captives behind Tydeus began looking, some stretching their necks and tipping their toes. They wanted to see the scene about to take place in their front.
“Why is the man at the front getting so much attention?” an old man, one of the captives, asked another captive in front.
“Him? That is Tydeus; many people call him the great warrior of Egypt. Some say he is a god; he doesn't fight men; he fights only demons and colossal beasts”. The man responded to the old man.
“A god? In our land? What type of god would be defenceless, chained like an ordinary animal in front of a pirate?” The old man asked inquisitively.
“Tydeus, the last time my men in my gang and I heard about him, it was rumoured that he killed Apophis, the great beast of the dark world, with his bare hands”,
“I guess that's why they call him the great warrior of Egypt”. The other captive in front of the old man replied to him again.
“Apophis, the great beast of the dark world? Which the legends say Ra, the great god of light, battled for many centuries and couldn't get rid of?”
“Is that the beast you said this lowlife-looking thing killed with his bare hands?” The old man asked again curiously but this time with a little bit of irritation and disgust on his face.
“Look at me, you bastard!” Galdashkeh, the pirate's leader grabbed Tydeus's face again.
“Tonight, you're doomed; I will feed you to the beasts of Nile myself” " he whispered angrily into Tydeus's ear as he forcefully removed his hand from Tydeus's strong jaw.
Without even flinching, Tydeus stood his ground in front of the pirate's leader like the warrior they say he is, adjusting the chains in his hands with his big muscles.
“Now walk your ass into the ship before I change my mind” Galdashkeh, the pirate's leader said again, his voice mixed with authority.
“Move!” The other pirates from behind began yelling at the captives at the back as they climbed the bridge connecting the river bank and their big ship.
As Tydeus was about to enter the ship, he saw something strange, he looked up to the mast of the ship and saw one of the Iron Mask pirates staring down at him.
The stare continued as a little bird, a sparrow flew to the shoulder of the pirate like it had come to deliver a message to his master.
“Just get in you rascal! You haven't seen the sky before?!” Gryza, Galdashkeh's pirate captain, who has meant Tydeus for a long time for what he did to his arm, yelled at him.
Tydeus, who had remained speechless the whole time, walked into the ship gazing at Galdashkeh with a weird smile on his face as the pirates took all their captives into the ship and left the harbor.
“Boss! Boss!! Boss!!!”“What is it Gryza?” Galdashkeh responded to his pirates’ captain as he adjusted his native wine which was almost pouring from the table.“Boss Galdashkeh, we have just received a message from the Fortress; they are clear to receive us; the reinforcements have also arrived there”,“We can take the ship there now to draft further operations”, Gryza reported to his boss, spreading a small letter and a big map on the table.“Oh well, it seems tonight just keeps getting better and better. We could arrange all the merchandise and prepare them for sale as early as possible” Galdashkeh said, wearing a confident smile on his face as he poured some of his native wine out of the jar into a bowl.“The merchandise? I thought we had agreed to sell it to our clients over the Mediterranean Sea; they have made payments already,” Gryza interrupted.“Oh I forgot, then we can just pick up the other merchandise and prepare them for sale to other clients. You know we need money to bu
*BANG!!!!*The door of the prison in the ship was pushed open.“Move out! Move!! Move!!!”The Iron Masks pirates began bringing their captives out of the prison as they yelled at them like worthless slaves.They have arrived at the Iron Fortress, a big tower situated somewhere in the middle of the water. This is the main hideout of the Iron Mask pirates and here, all their members are present. It seems the night just continues to favour the Iron Mask.Walk faster! Faster!! Faster!!!The pirates continued yelling at their captives as they marched them from the ship to the Fortress.Gryza, the captain of the Iron Mask pirates, walks towards the main door of the Fortress, resting his back on the gigantic gate of the main entrance. He began saying to the captives as they dragged themselves into the Fortress,“The Iron Fortress will be your final stop. Only a strong ship can sail around this area and survive”“The Iron Mask ship is the only ship allowed within sight of this island, any oth
“Take it easy, old man, I get angry easily”, Tydeus responded to the man, his face squeezed like he just tasted an unripe lemon.“I am sorry, I don't just like it when people call me a wizard. I know nothing about witchery. I am just an ordinary scientist.” Apphathorus the old man said, wearing a look of apology on his face.“Oh well, that is your problem,” Tydeus responded.Apphathorus began wondering, “Out of all the people locked up in this cell, why has this man, the one who has been getting everybody's attention so far, come any close to me, let alone having a conversation with me?”Out of curiosity, he asked Tydeus “What exactly have you come here to do?”“To do something unusual”, Tydeus said as he rested his back properly against the wall where they were sitting.“Something unusual? Have you come here to kill me?” Apphathorus asked, his face covered in fear.“Maybe yes,” Tydeus responded jestingly.“Huh?! Please, I beg you in the name of all the gods. I don't have anything on
“What?” Tydeus asked the old man. Apphathorus, with fear written all over his face, asked Tydeus, “Is it true that you killed Apophis, the great beast of the dark world with…”“With my bare hands. Yes, I like it sounding that way?” Tydeus intercepted Apphathorus.“No way!” Apphathorus exclaimed gently.“So how were the Iron Mask able to capture you? If you could kill such a gigantic creature like Apophis, how in the world would it be difficult for you not to save yourself from ordinary pirates?” Apphathorus asked curiously again.“Capture me? Who said they captured me?” Tydeus said, almost laughing.“So how did you get here? How is it that you are here now?” Apphathorus asked fastidiously.“To do something unusual as I have said before. I came here to complete my job”. Tydeus replied confidently.“Job?? What job? Who comes into a prison to complete a job? That sounds like madness.” Apphathorus replied to Tydeus, his face covered in confusion.Tydeus looked at him and smiled again.“W
Only two pirates were guarding the gates of the prison.With an astounding shock, the other pirate guarding the cell's gate turned to his colleague.“What do you mean took you so lo…”Before he could complete his sentence, Rakeh, Tydeus's friend who has been disguising himself as one of the Iron Mask pirates since, threw a spinning kick to the face of the other pirate, hitting his head on the wall.Rakeh pulled off his pirate's Mask, picked up the keys from the other pirate's pocket and opened the gate of the cell. “Come on man, move out, let's go. We don't have much time anymore” He said as he pulled Tydeus and the old man out of the prison. “This pirate outfit looks good on you,” Tydeus said hysterically to Rakeh. “Oooh, spare me the crap; what the heck have you been doing in there since?” Rakeh questions Tydeus as they begin running, finding their way to the nearest exit.“I was only having a little conversation with our man; I wanted to be sure so we do not make a mistake rescu
“Oh boy!” Rakeh whispered as he held Apphathorus behind him.“Giant gate in the front, pirates behind. Good job, Rakeh!” Tydeus said sarcastically to Rakeh.“Oh brother, I don't plan on hitting anyone tonight”. Rakeh responded to Tydeus as they kept on measuring their distance from Galdashkeh at the front towards the gate and Gryza and the other pirates behind.“Hitting someone? I feel like killing someone already”. Tydeus responded as he began massaging his knuckles, getting ready to fight.Gryza, with a weird smile on his face, said, “You've got pirates behind you and this giant gate in your front,”“There's no way you're getting out of here alive. I have locked the gate and the keys…”“I have tossed it into the river.”“Good job, Gryza!” Galdashkeh responded out of nowhere.“Then we will do something about the gate”. Rakeh responded to Gryza as he kept close eye contact with the rest of the pirates surrounding them.Gryza and Galdashkeh burst into laughter after hearing what Rakeh
“If you have another way to escape, that would be better. This gate? It can't be broken. I know the metal it was made from”. Apphathorus, who was hiding near the gates, told Tydeus.“Oh really? Which metal?” Tydeus asked as if he was about to receive lectures from a physics teacher.Apphathorus moved towards the gate, feeling it with hands and said to Tydeus “It's bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. I think we should just find another route to escape.”“Old man, are you going to help me bring down this gate?” Tydeus asked with a weird smile on his face. “Uhmm, no”“Then keep quiet!” Tydeus shouted at Apphathorus who was flexing his science muscles.When it comes to breaking down a giant gate, flexing physical muscles would help faster than scientific muscles.“We don't have much time!” Rakeh screamed out of nowhere as he kept on battling with the other pirates.Tydeus, looking at the giant gate again, took a deep breath as he cracked his knuckles.Gryza, who was about to attack Rakeh
Tydeus raised his big boot and brought it down forcefully on Galdashkeh's testicles, crushing his balls. “Aaarrrggghhh! Somebody help me!” Galdashkeh kept shouting and screaming for help.Gryza immediately closed his eyes pretending to still be unconscious. Tydeus has once broken his left arm, crushing his testicles to be worse.“This should teach you a lesson. But if I ever set my eyes on you again, I promise you; I am going kill you myself”, Tydeus said angrily to Galdashkeh, who remained on the floor groaning and holding his balls.Tydeus ran outside the Fortress to catch up with his friends. The whole Fortress continued to tremble with noise coming from the inside, the prisoners continued fighting the pirates to escape.“Do you need to waste any more time? We were about to leave you behind,” Rakeh, who had been waiting for Tydeus, said with a straight face.“Yeah, I told you I needed to attend to an unfinished business”. Tydeus replied as he ran towards Rakeh and Apphathorus.“Wh
The three-headed leviathan, which had no iota of pity, rammed into the log all with all its three heads, pushing both Tydeus and a massive log out of its way. And with such a merciless impact, Tydeus was projected into the sky. For a second, he noticed he couldn't breathe.The altitude from where gravity intercepted his projection to the ground level made his heart jerk in his chest. He immediately closed his eyes and covered his face with his elbow before he fell ruthlessly to the ground, landing him many contusions.The three-headed monster, unshaken, writhed all its head of the dust from the log, trying to get sight of its prey again, but it never saw Tydeus. It continued to roar powerfully, shaking the entire jungle but still didn't see its prey anymore. Tydeus lay under the root of a big tree full of thorns; he dragged himself onto the root perfectly to hide from the monster. His eyes fell on his arm which had started to bleed heavily, with bruises all over his body.He sorrowfu
With every one of his muscles vibrating involuntarily, Tydeus's stick dropped from his hands in bewilderment at what was in his front. He let out a deep, sharp gasp as his hands went behind him, looking for what to hold on to.The creature gnarled again with a deep low noise from one of its heads. Yes, one of its heads because Tydeus also had now realized that Apophis was only child's play and the Scorpion, maybe an insect to what he was seeing before him. With its hideous hide, a patchwork of rugged scales like swords protruding out of its body, four magnanimous limbs that looked like mountains each extended with massive claws, the Leviathan's body covered the surroundings like an embodiment of primordial horror and dread.Having its triple commodiously scary heads towering with formidable horns twisted and curled, the colossal beast stretched its monstrous tail filled with rocky spikes that ran up to its vertebra and snarled at the two human prey in front of it.Apophis was actuall
“If you remember, I told you last time in the prison that the Iron Mask captured me because they accused me of stealing a map that contains the road to a treasure from them, do you remember?” Apphathorus asked. “Uhm, yeah, you said it was a treasure hidden in the Forest of Shadows, and if you find it, you can use it to save your people”, Tydeus replied.“Yes, Exactly. And that is what I have come into this jungle to find before I was trapped here”, Apphathorus explained. “Why not? You must really be crazy to come into this cursed forest in search of some treasure. What makes you think you're going to make it out of here alive? Your witchery?”“My science!” Apphathorus quickly countered Tydeus with a strict tone. “Oh, I see. Well good luck to you on your search for your pissant treasure”, Tydeus replied as he started to turn back again. “If you had the opportunity to make one wish and what you wished for no matter what it is, will be granted immediately, would you consider that as
Tydeus lifted his gaze and saw a tree a few meters away from him and a human figure trapped on the entwisted branches. He squinted his eyes and bent his back, shooting his face forward to see what exactly the situation was and who the person was. He picked up his walking stick and began to walk stealthily towards the tree, marching into the muddy and wet ground with his bare foot. Perhaps, this has got to be a trick or a prank by some of the ghosts or spirits in the forest. Nevertheless, he has to go and see what exactly the situation is before he can consider himself safe. “Thank your stars, you listened to me and didn't take any more steps in the direction you were going previously. You could have fallen into a mire under those thick bushes”, the person said to Tydeus, who continued to move closer. Tydeus processed the person's voice in his head as he continued to walk furtively to see who it was, but something was off; he realized it was a familiar voice, one that seemed like he
Navigating the forest with only one leg was very tiresome and slow, but the sunrise felt even slower as if the darkness might linger forever. Yet, at last, dawn broke through the formidable canopy of the forest.The once-silent creatures of the jungle stirred to life under the gentle warmth of the morning sun. Grotesque monkeys swung from the gnarled branches of the rugged trees, their chattering filling the air with an almost chaotic vibrancy. Nearby, a pride of elephants ambled to a murky swamp, their massive bodies creating ripples in the viscerally unappealing waters as they quenched their thirst.Tatty snakes, both large and small, slithered with a chilling grace, dragging their sinuous forms across the muddy ground. Above, the sky was filled with an array of frantic birds, darting to and fro as if searching for their next prey. Meanwhile, other four-legged creatures roamed lazily, running after the grisly insects that danced over the damp foliage surrounding them.The trees stoo
Tydeus was strong enough to endure the Stone-bane poison for almost twenty-four hours, but there's only a little a weak female like Isis could do when it comes to containing such a vicious poison in her veins. Her condition continued to get worse as the moment passed. Tydeus held her sorrowfully in his arms and stroked her hair gently. His eyes fixed on her pupils which had started to turn white. “Tell your friends. It was nice meeting them”, She said again, letting out another stern cough which splashed blood out of her mouth onto Tydeus's face.The impact deepened his grief as his tears increased. Perhaps he wasn't pained that the poison was eating deep into her veins but the fact that the young woman was dying and there was nothing he could do about it but held her in his arms weeping bitterly.She flashed her eyes again and locked her gaze on his face with a warm smile as she continued to caress his cheeks with her thumb. She started closing her eyes gradually, and suddenly, she
The Scorpiodon appeared again, threatening to take its revenge, but this time, Tydeus was totally defenceless. He was tied with a chain to a rugged-looking pillar in the dungeon. He would try to move his body but they weren't responding.Having its tail positioned for a disastrous sting, the Scorpiodon began to move closer to Tydeus, who remained helpless, chained to the pillar. As the Scorpiodon came closer, Tydeus's vision began to blur, making it look like the Scorpiodon was duplication itself.He would shout but couldn't hear himself, only the echoing roar of the monster resonating deep in his ear drum. The Scorpiodon came close and was about to strike with its tail, but this time, Tydeus summoned all the energy left in his being and yelled; now he was starting to hear himself gradually.He struggled harder, but the chains weren't moving, and suddenly the black lava-like liquid sprouted out of the Scorpiodon's tail, projecting to his face. He gasped in terror. The chain had to bre
While pulling him away from the river, Isis fell on her groins as her grip slipped off Tydeus's hands. “Ahh!” She gasped with her tiny voice. Perhaps pulling him was more tedious work than getting him out of the river.The sun had dipped below the horizon, surrendering its warm brightness to the moon's silvery glow against the darkening sky. The Forest seemed pretty much tolerable in the day, but as night fell, it revealed an eerie side.Nightfall transformed the atmosphere into something truly haunting. Strange bird calls filled the air, creating a mix of unsettling sounds. Tall trees stood like ancient guardians, their twisted branches full of sharp thorns. They cast long shadows that moved ominously on the muddy ground, one would not know when he would fall into a quicksand covered by thick underbrush.Leaning against the rugged stones and the other structures in the Forest would be a reckless gamble as large bats hang upside down from the branches like creepy decorations, their g
The day dragged on, enveloping the city in an eerie twilight. The sky was painted a striking shade of red, its turbulent clouds woven with jagged silver linings that shimmered ominously, casting a foreboding shadow over the landscape. An unsettling coldness permeated the atmosphere, amplifying the gloom that settled over the city like a thick fog. Even the birds, usually a source of life and sound, seemed to have retreated, their occasional flutters lost amidst the oppressive silence.The heavy, stifling air seemed to drain away any remnants of joy or vibrant energy, leaving behind a desolate stillness that once thrived with laughter and light.The people of Giza went about their daily lives, blissfully unaware of the impending calamity that loomed on the horizon. Though Mother Nature had been sending them subtle hints and eerie omens, darkening skies, restless winds, and nature's unusual behaviour, they remained oblivious to the magnitude of the disaster that awaited them.Perhaps n