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Cleopatra - The Mummy - A John Storm adventure with the Elizabeth Swann

 

 

A story as old as time, Cleopatra is returned to life, after her tragic departure.

 

 

 

 

<<<<<< ACTIUM RETREAT

 

 

On an overcast August day in 30 B.C., sun streaming through the clouds to strike golden relief on Palace architectures, the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra VII locked herself in her mausoleum, one that she’d built on the palace grounds in Alexandria, grief stricken.

 

The Goddess Isis reborn thought back to when she'd spread a rumour about the Palace of the mood of the queen, that all therein supposed she had gone to kill herself. And that much horrified at such news and thinking only to give weight to such whispers, Mark Antony immediately tried to follow suit, stabbing himself with his own sword, but then learned the messages were greatly exaggerated; his dearest was alive. Managing then to survive long enough to struggle to her side.

On learning of Cleopatra's survival, Antony attempted to stand, as if he had still the power to live, but had lost much blood. Despaired of his life, he besought those bystanding to carry him to the monument.

 

Though Cleopatra had shut herself in her mausoleum with two handmaidens, Iras and Charmion, he gained access. 

 

There, Antony died in her arms. She relived these moments of tortuous love lost, and again the tears flooded her features. She longed for blessed release. But oh for the tools to achieve her end. Long in the planning, and impatient to see her plotting supply her the means.

 

 

SERPENT'S KISS

As the planned day of her departure approached, a sense of peace washed over her. The basket contained the live serpents, had eluded the Roman guards, as she thought they might.

 

She had loved fiercely, lost deeply, and fought valiantly.


Yes, she had lived a life of passion, power, and tragedy.

 

Now, she was ready to face her destiny. She had played her final role, the role of the dying queen. She reached deep under the figs in her daily basket of fruits, and found two Asps there under. Bringing one close to her bossom, the other wrapped around her arm. Both serpents struck, one after the other. The first bit her breast, stinging a little and with quite a forceful bite, that would cause bruising. The other Cobra's fangs sunk into her arm. The 39 year old queen had surely killed herself. The mischief would be swift.

 

And as the poison coursed through her veins, she closed her eyes, her mind filled with visions of the afterlife.

As the darkness enveloped her, she whispered a final prayer, a plea to the gods to guide her soul to the afterlife. And with a sigh, she slipped slowly away, leaving behind a legacy that would echo through the ages.

With a final glance at her beloved Egypt, she closed her eyes. The asps, silent assassins, delivered their fatal kiss. As her life faded, she imagined herself ascending to the afterlife, where she would be reunited with her beloved Mark Antony.

 

The day of her death arrived. As she lay dying, surrounded by her loyal servants, she thought of the life she had lived. A life of passion, power, and ultimately, tragedy.

 

In these last moments and in her mind she re-imagined Antony in her arms, and dressed in her formal robes and jewels, playing out the part again, the queen grasped a writhing asp that had been smuggled to her just as those from the fig basket, bringing the serpent to her bare breast, the Egyptian cobra administered the fatal bite, the other missing the intended target and biting her on the arm.

 

These were her last imaginings. A final replay of her finest hour.

 

Her final defiance. Her bravery.

 

She owed that much to her beloved Antonious.

 

DIVINE INTERVENTION

As the poison coursed through her veins, Cleopatra's consciousness began to slip. Yet, in the twilight between life and death, she found herself in a serene, ethereal realm. A soft, radiant light enveloped her, and a gentle voice, soothing and familiar, called out to her.

"Cleopatra, my child," the voice of Isis, the goddess of life, echoed through the celestial expanse. "Fear not, for you are not alone."

Cleopatra, her spirit lifted by the divine presence, prostrated herself before the goddess. 

 

"Oh, Great Isis," she pleaded, "protect me in the darkness that lies ahead. Guide me to the afterlife, and ensure my body remains undisturbed."

Isis, moved by the queen's unwavering faith, nodded understandingly. 

 

"Your devotion to Egypt and your love for Antony have touched the hearts of the gods. Anubis, the guardian of the underworld, will watch over your mortal remains."

A shadowy figure emerged from the darkness, a jackal-headed deity with a stern yet compassionate expression. 

 

"I shall ensure your journey to the afterlife is smooth, Cleopatra," Anubis declared. "And I shall protect your body until the time of your rebirth."

 

THE SERPENT'S KISS, THE QUEEN'S LAST BREATH

 

The heavy, perfumed air of the queen's chambers hung thick with the scent of decay. Cleopatra, her once vibrant eyes now clouded and dull, lay upon her gilded couch, her breath shallow and ragged. The asps, their venom coursed through her veins, had delivered their fatal kiss.

Beside her, Isis, the goddess of motherhood and magic, stood, her serene countenance etched with sorrow. She reached out, her ethereal hand hovering over Cleopatra's brow, a gentle energy flowing from her fingertips.

"Fear not, my queen," Isis whispered, her voice a soothing balm. "Anubis awaits you, ready to guide your spirit into the afterlife."

As Cleopatra's breathing grew weaker, a shimmering figure emerged from the shadows. Anubis, the god of death and mummification, stood tall and imposing, his jackal head crowned with a golden diadem. He approached the queen, his eyes filled with a solemn compassion.

"Your time has come, Cleopatra," Anubis said, his voice deep and resonant. "Let go of your earthly form and embrace the eternal."

With a final, labored breath, Cleopatra's eyes closed, and her body stilled. As her spirit began to ascend, she felt a sense of peace wash over her. The pain and fear that had consumed her were replaced by a serene tranquility.

In the distance, she saw the spectral forms of Charmian and Iras, her loyal handmaidens. They had not been embalmed or mummified, and their spirits had lingered in the mortal world, unable to find peace until their queen's departure.

"Farewell, my beloved," Charmian whispered, tears streaming down her ethereal face.

"Rest in peace, Cleopatra," Iras echoed, her voice filled with sorrow and love.

As Cleopatra's spirit ascended higher, she felt the comforting presence of Anubis guiding her. Together, they crossed the threshold into the afterlife, leaving behind the mortal world and all its sorrows.

Meanwhile, in the grand temple of Amun-Ra, the last Pharaoh of Egypt, a solemn-faced priest watched over the queen's sarcophagus. He knew that her journey had only just begun. For centuries, perhaps even millennia, Cleopatra's body would lie entombed, waiting for the day when science might evolve to bring her back to life.

 

Anubis, the god of the dead, appeared, his jackal-headed form imposing yet comforting. He extended his arms, and Cleopatra's spirit slipped into his embrace. A sense of peace washed over her as she felt herself being drawn into the underworld.

 

Cleopatra, overwhelmed with gratitude, thanked the gods for their mercy. As her spirit began to ascend, she felt a sense of peace and tranquility. She knew that her legacy would endure, and that she would one day return to the world, reborn in a time of light and hope.

 

As the last vestiges of life left Cleopatra's body, a divine energy enveloped her. Isis and Anubis, moved by her courage and faith, watched over her, ensuring her safe passage to the underworld. And there, in the realm of the dead, she would await her chance for rebirth, a chance to return to the world and continue her eternal journey.

And as she gasped her final breath, she found solace in the knowledge that her spirit, along with Mark Antony's, would live on forever.

 

CHARMIAN AND IRAS SHARE THEIR QUEEN'S FATE

 

And as the poison invaded Cleopatra's veins, her loyal handmaidens, Charmian and Iras, stood by her side. Their hearts were heavy with grief, their spirits broken by the loss of their beloved queen. They knew that their fate was sealed. Octavian, in his ruthless pursuit of power, would not spare those who had aided Cleopatra's defiance.

 

But their grief for their queen surpassed their fear of the future. Cleopatra, the epitome of grace and strength, had always inspired them. She had taught them the true meaning of loyalty and the importance of standing by one's convictions.

Charmian, the elder of the two, spoke softly. 

 

"We cannot let them take us alive, Iras. We must join our queen in death."

Iras, her eyes filled with tears, nodded in agreement. 

 

"We will not be slaves to Rome. We will share her fate."

Together, they turned to the asp, the silent serpent that had claimed their queen. With trembling hands, they picked up the creature and, without hesitation, pressed it to their lips.

 

With trembling hands, they reached for the vial of poison that Cleopatra had thought to use to ease the pain. A bittersweet smile played on their lips as they raised the vial to their lips. A single drop, a silent prayer, and they would be reunited with their queen, forever bound by their loyalty and love. A painless release, sent them sprawling, a noisy uncontrolled crashing aside their Queen.

 

The Roman guards, alerted by the commotion, stormed into the chamber. Their faces hardened as they saw the lifeless form of their captive queen.

As the poison took hold, Charmian and Iras felt a sense of peace wash over them. They would join Cleopatra in the afterlife, forever bound by their loyalty and love. In their final moments, they thought of their queen, her beauty, her intelligence, and her indomitable spirit. They had been privileged to serve her, to witness her triumphs and her tragedies.

 

As they closed their eyes, they imagined a peaceful afterlife, a place where they would serve Cleopatra eternally, free from the shackles of mortality. Their deaths, though tragic, were also a testament to their unwavering devotion to their queen.

And so, the two handmaidens, faithful to the end, joined their queen in death. Their story, a tragic tale of loyalty and sacrifice, would be forever intertwined with the legend of Cleopatra, the last active pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.


Charmian and Iras, Cleopatra's loyal companions, watched from the shadows, their spirits still bound to the mortal world as they had not been embalmed. They felt a pang of sadness at the loss of their queen but also a sense of relief that she was no longer suffering.

As Cleopatra's soul disappeared into the depths of the underworld, the last Pharaoh of Egypt prepared for her eternal slumber. She knew that her body would be preserved, a testament to her reign. But she also knew that it would be centuries before the science of medicine advanced enough to bring her back to life. And so, with a heavy heart, she closed her eyes, ready to face the long sleep that awaited her.

 

A tragic end to a golden reign. 

 

The queen died in an honorable way according to Roman standards. Cleopatra’s final act was her finest one.

 

After, a note was delivered to Octavian reminding about her burial requests.

Whereupon, Octavian wavered between awe and anger much vexed at the death of the woman who was the bane of Rome, at once anguished, though admiring her lofty spirit, tempered with excessive grief upon hearing the news. Unexplained, for he now abhorred the girl he took a shine to when a vixen.

Cleopatra had captivated the two greatest Romans of her day, and because of the third, she destroyed herself.

The only marks on her body were slight pricks on her arm and breast. Asps had been smuggled in to her in a water jar, though not successfully.

Neither spot nor other sign of poison broke out to spoil her body. The reptiles escaped the chamber unharmed, heading to the sea.

In Egyptian mythology the asp was a symbol of royalty. Thus, a fitting way for a queen to depart, eased by a mixture of wolfsbane and opium for the pain, that never touched her lips.

 

 

TSUNAMI 365AD >>>>>>

 

 

 

NOTES

 

[Captured so well in 1607 by William Shakespeare's Antonous and Cleopatra first performed at the Globe Theatre.]

 

Alexandria and Thonis soon fell into ways unbecoming their former glory.

 

For the next four hundred years, the city and satellites lived it up, then an earthquake struck, followed by a devastating tsunami. Alexandria and Thonis were washed into the sea, not to be seen again for over a thousand years.

 

It was thought by UNESCO and Blue shield, that these two important historic municipalities were safe from looters, being underwater, but the advent of SCUBA gear and lack of regular security patrols, were weaknesses that even sports divers were able to exploit.

 

 

 

 

Cleopatra takes her own life with a poison asp, Egyptian cobra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROLOGUE    INNER CIRCLE OF SIX - Nazi funded medical human research laboratories Joseph Mengele's Fourth Reich escape to Brazil reserve plan.

CHAPTER 1.  THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM - Queen Cleopatra retreats leaving Mark Antony to lose against Octavian and seek a new deal with Rome

CHAPTER 2.   THE POISON ASP - Hotfoot from Actium, Cleopatra's plan to seduce Octavian backfired leading to a suicide pact with Anubis and Isis

CHAPTER 3.   WRATH OF THE GODS - 365BC destruction of Thonis and Alexandria, Anubis and Isis watch on in horror as Cleopatra is submerged

CHAPTER 4.   NEW WORLD ORDER - A Neo-Nazi plan to regenerate Aryan supremacy, for doing good

CHAPTER 5.   THE AFTERLIFE - Cleopatra's tomb lay lost for centuries submerged and out of sight with little change of discovery

CHAPTER 6.   CYBERCORE GENETICA - Nano computer technology is purchased at an auction by a semi religious sect, New World Order

CHAPTER 7.   INCUBUS - Roberta Ferrara secures the expertise of Franco Francisco for knights of the New World Order: Neuwelt Rittertum

CHAPTER 8.   SPLICE - Klaus and Eva von Kolreuter find a way to live forever using cloning technology; Genonimo Investments, Geneva

CHAPTER 9.   TREMORS - Cleopatra's feels vibrations after a shift in the tectonic plates triggered a tremor off the coast of Alexandria.

CHAPTER 10.  PANAMANIAN RUNNING MAN - The secret is out, an enhanced human is spotted running at unbelievable speeds

CHAPTER 11.  THE AMAZON - Charley agrees to meet John & Dan at Manaus, but is a little too inquisitive

CHAPTER 12.  TOMB RAIDERS - Safiya Sabuka and Musa Bomani dive among sifting sands to discover precious artifacts and golden treasures.

CHAPTER 13.  SCOTLAND YARD - The famous London DNA database is stolen, the biggest data heist to date. The Yard initiates a cover up

CHAPTER 14.  OPERATION ALEXANDRIA - Neo-Nazi occultists recover Cleopatra's sarcophagus from underwater tomb near Palace.

CHAPTER 15.  KIDNAP - Charley is taken prisoner but John rescues her, in the process becoming injected with a serum

CHAPTER 16.  UNESCO - Catholic Church fear grave desecration heritage theft, asks agencies for help. Interpol issue Red Notice.

CHAPTER 17.  REPLICANT - The Society reproduce Cleopatra using Francisco's RepliVator™, uploading synapse sequence and implanted memories.

CHAPTER 18.  FULL STEAM AHEAD - Storm speeds to Thonis, then uses the Swann's AI sensors and the Ark database to find tomb has been plundered.

CHAPTER 19.  RITUAL SACRIFICE - The Baron prepares a drugged Cleopatra for ceremonial impregnation.

CHAPTER 20.  SANCTUM INTERRUPTUS - John finds secret Nazi hideout near Alexandria, disturbs ritual - rescues Cleopatra, arresting conspirators.

CHAPTER 21.  THE CHOSEN ONE - The reincarnated Cleopatra falls for her rescuer. John comes under her spell, despite her being a replicant.

CHAPTER 22.  MILITARY INTERVENTION - The military detain Cleopatra to appease stakeholders, despite media & medical protests. Storm distraught.

CHAPTER 23.  BATTLE ARMOUR - Thanks to some unexplained divine intervention, Dan Hawk talks John Storm into wearing a bullet proof suit.

CHAPTER 24.  DÉJÀ VU - History repeats itself, military lock up technology as gross violation of human rights, John left disillusioned:  FINALE

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

GRAPHIC BRIEF - SUGGESTED LAYOUTS/ FORMAT

 

CHAPTER 1.   THE POISON ASP - Overwhelmed by grief, Cleopatra poisons herself with a cobra bite in her mausoleum

CHAPTER 2.   WRATH OF THE GODS - The destruction of Thonis and Alexandria

CHAPTER 3.   NEW WORLD ORDER - A Neo-Nazi plan to regenerate Aryan supremacy

CHAPTER 4.   CYBERCORE GENETICA - Nano computer technology is purchased at an auction by a religious sect

CHAPTER 5.   INCUBUS - Franco Francisco accepts offer of employment from Roberta Ferrara

CHAPTER 6.   SPLICE - Klaus von Kolreuter perfects a method of gene manipulation

CHAPTER 7.   TREMORS - Cleopatra's tomb lay lost for centuries, until shift in the tectonic plates trigger tremor off the coast of Alexandria

CHAPTER 8.   PANAMANIAN RUNNING MAN - Marjorie Boyle videos exceptionally fast athlete, Sam Hollis investigates

CHAPTER 9.   AMAZON QUEEN - Elizabeth Swann navigating river and docking at Manaus

CHAPTER 10. TOMB RAIDERS - Safiya Sabuka and Musa Bomani dive among sifting sands to discover precious artifacts and golden treasures

CHAPTER 11. SCOTLAND YARD - London's secure DNA database is stolen

CHAPTER 12. OPERATION ALEXANDRIA - Neo-Nazi occultists recover Cleopatra's sarcophagus from underwater tomb near Palace

CHAPTER 13. KIDNAPPED - Charley is taken prisoner, John, Dan and CIA rescue her

CHAPTER 14. UNESCO - Catholic Church fear grave desecration heritage theft, asks agencies for help. Interpol issue Red Notice

CHAPTER 15. REPLICANT - The Society reproduce Cleopatra using Francisco's RepliVator™, uploading synapse sequence, implanted memories

CHAPTER 16. FULL STEAM AHEAD - To Thonis, then uses the Swann's AI sensors and the Ark database to find tomb has been plundered

CHAPTER 17. RITUAL SACRIFICE - The Baron prepares a drugged Cleopatra for ceremonial impregnation

CHAPTER 18. SANCTUM INTERRUPTUS - John finds Nazi hideout near Alexandria, disturbs ritual - rescues Cleopatra, arresting conspirators

CHAPTER 19. THE CHOSEN ONE - The reincarnated Cleopatra falls for her rescuer. John comes under her spell, despite her being a replicant

CHAPTER 20. MILITARY INTERVENTION - Military detain Cleopatra for stakeholders, despite media & medical protests. Storm distraught

CHAPTER 21. DÉJÀ VU - History repeats itself, military lock up technology as gross violation of human rights, John left disillusioned

 

 

 

 

 

 

POISON ASP, EGYPTIAN COBRA BITES QUEEN OF THE NILE ON HER BREAST AND ARM, KILLING THE PHARAOH - THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN STORM: CLEOPATRA & THE MUMMY REBORN OF THE AFTERLIFE

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The rights of Jameson Hunter and Cleaner Ocean Foundation to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. This website and the associated Cleopatra artwork is Copyright © 2024 Cleaner Ocean Foundation and Jameson Hunter. This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the authors' imaginations, and any resemblance to any person, living or departed, is entirely coincidental.