Assassin’s Creed: Origins
Part 4 – The Old Kingdom
This video was recorded and edited directly on my Playstation 4 with SHAREfactory™. If you’d like to see other games I’ve recently played or rated please visit Rebel Gaming Canada’s BIG GAMES LIST.
A Valuable Friendship
A gentle breeze and the smell of brine brush gently through her hair. Standing watch from the bow of a large Greek warship called a trireme, Aya scans the horizon intently. The trireme with its three banks of oars is the pinnacle of fast attack naval combat vessels and large enough to accommodate two hundred men. Somewhere in the Aegean Sea this ragged crew of sailors and mercenaries led by the Greek Admiral Phoxidas accompany Aya to a meeting of such great significance. But right now, at this very moment, these men are not the least bit concerned with that.
For now, they are completely enthralled by a boisterous game of skill. An ancient Egyptian game played on a circular board crafted in the appearance of a coiled snake in honor of the snake god Mehen. Legend tells us Mehen coils itself around the sun god Ra during the night to protect him on his journey. Mehen, a protector, is found inscribed in many coffin texts as a protective ward for the deceased. But today Mehen simply represents the chance for these men to watch an epic battle of wills. For a moment it looks as if Phoxidas will finally lose a match but in a stunning upset he declares a rousing victory to the cheers of his crew and the dismay of his challenger.
With the game over, one of the sailors opens an adorned chest nearby and removes a golden crown. He jokes with Phoxidas, “Why give this treasure away when it’s enough for us retire to the Isle of Lesbos?”
Without warning an arrow tears through the air and slams into the ships mast carrying the crown along with it. The sailor turns to find he has drawn not only Aya’s attention but also her ire. “If that chest doesn’t make it to Pompey them this ship won’t either!” She shouts, marching over to retrieve the crown. “We’ll crawl through Hades to deliver it.”
“Enough Already, back to work!” Phoxidas commands. “We’ve been hired to bribe Pompey to save a queen and to win a kingdom. The usual fair for us mercenaries.” Aya nearly smiles as she returns the crown to the chest.
As they approach Pompey’s ship they arrive to find it under attack from Ptolemy’s fleet. Using the element of surprise to their advantage, Phoxidas’ crew are able to mount a successful and deadly attack. With Ptolemy’s ships reduced to sinking heaps of charred and splintered wood, Aya and Phoxidas board Pompey’s ship requesting an audience with the general.
“Civil war in Egypt and a mercenary Trireme comes to my aid. In the midst of war with Cesar I find it odd, who in Hades are you?” Pompey asks perplexed.
“Well, we could have let you die,” Phoxidas replies snidely.
Aya jeers at Phoxidas before bowing before the general, “Pompeius Magnus. Greetings and friendship from queen Cleopatra.” Two sailors carrying the queen’s chest open it and display its contents to Pompey.
“Cleopatra offers gold to win my favour once I’ve won Rome. Is that what friendship means to your queen?”
Aya takes a gold coin from the chest and tosses it to Pompey, “Who’s face graces that coin? Do Roman women receive the same honor? An alliance with Cleopatra is one of true power. She wants more than an ally. She seeks a King.”
“A valuable friendship indeed. Agreed, my fleet will soon be ready for Egypt,” he responds.
Valley of the Kings
Over a thousand miles away, Aya’s beloved husband Bayek has reached the region of Giza, home to the great pyramids of an earlier age. But of even greater import, Giza is home to another member of the Order of Ancients, the Hyena. Here in this land of ancient lore Bayek comes to a small settlement in the shadow of the ruins of the great Sphinx. The Sphinx or the Terrifying One is ancient and weathered. Carved from limestone, the massive monument depicts a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the face of a man. That man is believed to be the Pharoah Khafre, a cruel and heretical ruler from the days of the Old Kingdom.
Here, under the Sphinx’s watchful eye, Bayek comes across one of Apollodorous’ informants, a shady merchant named Mered who claims to have information on the Hyena for a price. He says her name is Khaliset but before he will say anymore he requests a favor. His horse has been stolen by a group of bandits and he would like it returned to him.
The bandit camp is in a rock gully not far away and when the horse is returned Mered honors his word. “The Hyena lives in a cavern just over those hills. Day and night she roams the desert collecting Silica, precious tear drops of the God’s. What has happened to those that have interfered is best left unsaid.”
Riding hard across the desert terrain of the Giza plateau, Bayek passes through the ancient temple complex and looks upon the Great Pyramids of Giza in awe and wonderment. How can such structures exist? How could they have been crafted by the hands of mere mortal men? But these thoughts fade as he closes in on his prey. In the mountainous region north of the pyramid complex, Bayek finds a caged man in Khaliset’s lair. When you release him he tells you there were others but she took them away. “She kills them!” He screams. “Her hands, her hands are so bloody!”
A further search of the lair reveals a hand drawn map of Khufu’s tomb, the oldest and largest of Giza’s three pyramids and the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. A wonder which stood as the world’s tallest structure for nearly four thousand years. Constructed from over five million tons of limestone, five hundred thousand tons of mortar and eight thousand tonnes of granite hauled over a distance of seven hundred kilometers, Khufu’s tomb is a mystery inside a mystery. But that doesn’t explain Khaliset’s interest with it.
The Tomb Beneath the Tomb
Bayek circles the towering pyramid and finds the entryway marked on Khaliset's map. It appears bandits have tunneled into the structure. Maybe in search of treasure, maybe for something else. A pack of hungry Hyenas at the entryway suggest he’s on the right path.
As he enters the dank and musky old tomb a voice echoes out, “Who dares to enter here, where silence has befallen her?”
“A Medjay who has treaded many dunes to find you. Hide if you must Hyena but this tomb will not protect you!” Bayek hollers back.
“I demand you stop here and I will forgive you of this intrusion,” The voice bellows back.
“Siwa was an intrusion!” Bayek screams with such rage.
“Foolish man I am Eset, possessor of magic, the gods may be near but not you. Be gone Osiris cannot be disturbed.”
Bayek continues moving forward through the enveloping darkness and finds an old trap door. As he passes through it Khaliset delivers a final warning, “Heathen! The wakeful one is asleep. Go no further, or I will drench these arid planes with your blood!”
Soon Bayek enters a large antechamber where a sarcophagus lay in center of the room, fresh incense still burning around it. But Khaliset is nowhere to be seen. He wonders what kind of place this could be, a tomb beneath a tomb? Examining the area, he finds offerings and sacrifices to Osiris protector of the dead. It is believed that Osiris has the ability to grant life to the deceased. Bayek wonders what gruesome madness happened here in this dark place with a window to the gods.
On closer inspection he discovers the sarcophagus is decorated with goddesses of the mother. As he pushes off the heavy lid he is taken aback, “A child,” he stammers.
“My child!” Khaliset yells as she approaches bow at the ready, arrow drawn. Three hulking and salivating Hyenas follow her in tow.
“You lost your child?” He asks her.
“I haven’t, her rest is temporary. You have intervened on her reawakening.”
“And yet you aligned yourself to the order, now with this tomb, Khaliset!” Bayeks shouts.
“Don’t you dare say my name. My name does not merit your lips, you who have dishonored her. I am a good mother!” She hollars as she lets fly the arrow.
Bayek dodges as the arrow barely misses him. He charges towards her as she continues firing arrows but as he closes the distance she ignites a smoke bomb, obscuring the room and disorienting him. “You are no match for me!” She screams as she vanishes from sight.
The Hyena of Giza
As Bayek gives chase he comes to the end of the tunnel. He notices the walls pulsating with skittering insects moving in and out through distinct cracks. He pushes on the stone wall and it moves to reveal a hidden entryway. Crawling through the hidden door he continues his pursuit. In the distance he sees sunlight. The tunnel ends in a great vertical stone shaft that reaches up high to the open sky.
Climbing the shaft, he emerges to find himself back in the desert amid some old ruins as a sandstorm approaches. “Now I will show you what happens to those that desecrate my daughters tomb!” Khaliset screeches as she fires another arrow before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
“I’ve come only for you Hyena, the gods need not be involved!” He shouts.
“You have infringed upon Eshe’s place of rest trespasser. The gods are already involved. And so you will find the same fate as all the other trespassers. Death by my hand!”
Using the sandstorm as cover, a tactic he learned from the bandits near Letopolis, Bayek moves through the ruins and gains a position behind her. Catching her off guard he buries his sword deep in her chest. Slumping to the ground she asks, “Do I walk among the dead now?”
Bayek looks at her without pity and says, “You defiled the dead and enabled the people who killed my son. All on a selfish whim.”
“It makes no difference now,” She says. “I wanted to protect my daughter in life and in death. I have done neither. Osiris! Please grant me a reunion. She walks alone in the field of reeds! Am I to remain in the Duat forever? I just want my daughter back… Please!”
As she fades away, Bayek speaks, “May you find your daughter in the afterlife Khaliset. May the lord of the Duat guide you.”
To be continued…
Missed our previous part? Find it HERE.
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