Key of the Serpent

Disclaimer: Mozenrath, Xerxes and Aladdin are property of Disney. However Nefret is my own. Inspirations for this story come from the ancient Egyptian legend of Ra and Set, and the shows Outlaw Star, and Key the Metal Idol.

A soft noise, reassuring and warm in its steady rhythm. A noise that meant life itself, the sound of breathe. Slow and deep as its owner slept. Mozenrath listened to Nefret’s breath as he stood over her bed pondering the sagacity of his plan. Could he really do this to Nefret, could he really take this chance? It was a high stakes game, but the reward. Oh the reward was so tempting! He looked at the jeweled headband in his hand then back at his sleeping minion. Slowly he reached out to slip it on her head, but a small secret smile graced the girl’s lips and he just couldn’t bring himself to go any farther. Turning suddenly he walked out of the room pushing his thoughts aside, willing himself not to turn back.

Unlike his servant Mozenrath found little sleep that night. He kept running his plan over and over in his mind. Who else could accept the key? This land was devoid of almost all life. He could find some poor streetwalker, someone no one would miss. But he didn’t know if he could trust a total stranger with work of this importance. ‘It must be a woman’ he reminded himself. And though he ran the gamete of woman he knew through his head, Nefret kept coming up as the most logical choice. But what if things go wrong? Could he live with himself if he had been the cause of her death, even if indirectly? Was it worth the small chance of failure and death? It was all he had ever wanted, and all he would ever want. Complete and total power over the 7 deserts every piece of ground the suns rays touched.

Everyone knew of the eternal struggle of good and evil, the loved and the loathed, the light and the dark. It was a tale that transcended languages, lands, and cultures. The Egyptians had the most complete outlook of it. Embodied by the quintessential gods Ra and Set. The god Ra was the sun, rising each day despite Set’s attempts to stop him by becoming the snake Apofis. But each day Apofis failed to swallow the sun before it reached the horizon. And the whole of the world expected it to continue that way.

But Apofis was weak and incomplete. He needed the Key of the Serpent, in the form of a woman who wore the serpent’s jewel around her head. It would be Nefret who completed Set, or so Mozenrath had planned. If he could only bring himself to do it!

With a sigh he placed his head in his hands and thought. The secret of the house of Ra, known to a select few, was the theory that in the house of the god’s, light and dark, good and evil, Ra and Set were one force. Therefore, if he controlled Set with Nefret he would have the power to black out the sun or bring it to scorching glory at his beck and call. What wonderful power! What complete control! His thoughts were broken with a familiar voice. Or rather the voice of a familiar.

“Girl wakes. Wait for Master.” Xerxes hissed. Mozenrath nodded with a determined look on his face. Nothing would stop his quest, not even his own fears!

“Good morning, my lord.” Nefret greeted him as she contently piled a plate with breakfast pastries. Then she noticed the dark circle under his eyes. “Or is it?” She backed up as he approached her, fist balled, an indomitable look in his eyes. “Wha….” She managed to whisper out as he pinned her against the wall, making sure all her escape routes were blocked. “What the hell are you doing!” she demanded.

Mozenrath soften a bit as if to say it was nothing bad. “I want to give you a gift. The gift of a goddess.” He whipped the head ornament from behind him and placed it on her head. A shearing pain ripped through her as the circlet made a mechanical noise and contracted. A sharp needle like implement from the jewel imbedded into her forehead. “Don’t worry, it’s just for a little while. Then I’ll make things right.” Those were the last words she heard before she was heaved into darkness.

Mozenrath knelt by the collapsed form of Nefret, the marble burning cold on his knees. “Nefret, Nefret? Oh Allah, was it the wrong choice?”

****

“Sweet, sweet flower. I have waited so long. Oh so long for someone. For you. My dear girl, you are now mine, and I am yours. You will complete me and I shall complete you. Together we shall rule over men and gods forever.” The words were so seductive as they whispered themselves inside Nefret’s head. But they were not the own, no, they came from the jewel that had invaded her skin and her mind.

“No, no. I’m not meant for this.” Nefret cried weakly. But the sirens song was so consuming it was hard to resist. How long could she remain separate from it? It wanted her, needed her, and part of her wanted to be with it. Wanted to become one with this power, just to let go…“NO!” she cried.

“Little flower.” The thing seemed to think for a moment. “My Nawayra.” He whispered. How dare he use that name! It was so cruel to use a name that meant so much to her. It was cruel to be so seductive. All her inhibition, her fears, her strength drained from her and she was swept away. “That’s it, come to me, we shall be one forever. Just come to.”

***

Mozenrath watched eagerly as Nefret’s eyes opened, the lined lashes parting. She turned away and stood, Mozenrath following suit. “Nefret? How do you feel?” Nef turned her head. Mozenrath blanched at the eyes that regarded his. Nefret’s once warm eyes now only held an icy glaze that froze the sorcerer’s blood in his veins. Black pupils had turned narrow, and the irises yellowed. “The snake!” He hissed stepping backwards.

“I am neither Nefret, nor am a I the snake. I am the key of the serpent. The woman chosen to complete Set so he and I may become Apofis, and swallow the sun. I am the answer to death and life, I shall unlock the universe and all that lies in it shall be at my feet. Nefret no longer exists. She has formed into me, and I into her. We are one, and she is more than just you minion now.” That voice, it was so cold, so inhuman. It would break the ears of any man with lesser will than Mozenrath.

“Oh god no! You weren’t to overtake her completely!” He grabbed the thing, for after hearing her voice and seeing her eyes, he hardly considered it to be Nefret anymore.

She looked at him, her pupils contracting angrily. “You dare to touch me? You are nothing!” She knocked him to the floor in a show of strength Moze hadn’t expected. “I know your plan. You thought since she was your underling if you turned her into the key you would control the power.” The thing laughed, a harsh hissing sound. “FOOL! I am your master now, just as I shall be to the whole world. Your blood will run at my feet and will know the pain of a thousand deaths for you insolence!” Cobra-like fangs sprouted between her teeth and the Key lunged at him. But just as she was about to fall on her first victim the Key threw her weight to one side, forcing herself to fall. “Run!” Nefret’s voice broke through her throat, struggling for power of her own body. As soon as Mozenrath had disappeared behind his cape Nefret gave up the struggle and let the Key consume her, mind, body, and soul.

***

Xerxes wrapped himself around his master’s arm. The sorcerer stood in the desert, closer to Agrabah than his own land. “This wasn’t the plan. The key wasn’t supposed to possess her totally! I’ve created my own death. Oh god, I should have known better.” Rage built in him, he had lost his hope for power, he had lost his minion, and he had left the world in the hands of Set and his new Key. He screamed and dropped to his knees. Slowly he calmed, coming to his senses. His head turned toward Agrabah. Yes, he was going to need help, any help.

“What the hell have you done!” Aladdin lunged at him after Mozenrath had explained the situation. The hero grabbing him by the shirt, but Mozenrath made no attempt to remove him. He only regarded him with a cold glare. “You’ve killed Nefret! You’ve killed us all!” Aladdin was livid.

“Maybe not. We may be able to stop the Key. We may yet live. As for Nefret.” Moze looked away angrily. “She was able to break through once, but by now….. She’s almost certainly gone.” Aladdin released him appalled “So now, do you wait for the Key to rain down on your head, or do you fight?” Mozenrath inquired. Aladdin scowled.

***

If the Citadel had been a dark place before, it was a positively sinister place now! All the lights had been snuffed out throwing the halls into complete darkness. Mozenrath and Aladdin crept through the velvety black in search of the thing that had once been known as Nefret.

“Rats for the snake?” the voice set the hairs on the men’s neck standing. “Have you come to witness your destruction? It will be a marvelous show. Unfit for mortal eyes, but I’ll make an exception for you.” The Key appeared from the darkness, not even sparing them a glance as she walked out the door unto a balcony. Aladdin’s heart nearly stopped as he saw he. Nefret bared little resemblance to the girl he had known. Her purple hair pulled to a tight ponytail, the jewel of in her forehead shone a bright bloody red. She wore little, and what did cover her was black and velvety. Nef was no longer the sweet figure of a young woman, instead she was the snake-like Key.

“Nefret don’t do this.” Aladdin pleaded running unto the balcony with her.

Key regarded him with amusement. “There is no Nefret. Not now and not ever again. There is only me. Nothing else matters.”

“Don’t bother talking to her Aladdin. There is no humanity in her anymore.” Mozenrath joined them.

“The pasty boy isn’t as dumb as he seems!” She smiled and sauntered forward with the slinkiness of a true snake. “He knows the truth. He created me, made me what I am. I really must thank you. And Nefret… Well Nefret, and all of humanity, will curse you!” She whipped around and raised her arms to heaven. “Let Set be given unto me! To be my son, and dwell with me!” She began. Mozenrath lunged for Aladdin’s sword.

“NO!” Agrabah’s hero refused to relent his weapon. “You can’t kill her!”

“What choice do I have? It is the lesser evil!” He hissed.

“He shall thunder in the sky and be feared!” Key finished. Clouds began to roll in and thready light rippled over the sky. The Black sand whipped up into a cloud that slowly took the form of a man with the head of a strange animal that was a cross between a donkey and a camel. He towered over the Citadel. “I am the Key, your wife. Claim me my husband!” Key pleaded to Set. The evil god reached out and tenderly picked her up in his hand. Mozenrath and Aladdin could only watch as the sand figure brought Key to his chest. The black sand parted there and he placed her inside the cavity. A scream rang out, not that of Key, but of Nefret as the sand engulfed her. Her arm reaching out in enraged desperateness before she completely disappeared into the form of Set.

“She’s still there.” Mozenrath whispered completely stunned.

A roar ripped through the desert as the form of Set twisted, becoming long and smooth. His limbs disappearing and his head becoming square. A forked tongue escaped his mouth in a quick flicker as his hood formed. The sand blew away leaving shiny mulit-colored scales. Apofis undulated and writhed, coiled into a tight ball and fell silent. The two men crept to the edge of the balcony and looked. The great serpent spoke then. “There is no lesser evil!”

“It’s to late.” Aladdin groaned.

“No, not just yet.” Mozenrath suddenly got an idea and ran into the Citadel. “Wait for me down there by the serpent!” He yelled over is shoulder. Aladdin was hesitant to approach the thing, but it seemed more intent on the rising sun than the hero. Mozenrath appeared a moment later caring a spear and small statue of Horus, taken no doubt from Nefret’s room, tied to it. “Now, your blood will run at my feet for your insolence!” the sorcerer yelled as the snake spun around. He eyed the weapon.

“Horus! He killed me once with his spear. Do you think you can do it now?” Apofis hissed rising to his full height. That is to say well into the sky. He uncoiled and whipped his tail around the sorcerer, cutting him off from Aladdin. “Than try Mozy. What are you waiting for? Kill me! Kill me!!!!!!” He taunted. But something else was in his voice. Nefret’s voice clung pleadingly to the edges of each hiss. “Take my life. Come on, do it!” Mozenrath nodded and broke into a full run, launching the spear at the thick cord of Apofis’s body. It broke the skin, but it was like spitting in the ocean. With a laugh the great serpent shook the puny stick off and coiled tighter around Mozenrath. “Your a spirited one. Isn’t this what you wanted? To see the great Apofis swallow the sun? Isn’t that why you sacrificed your minion? I shall grant you that wish.” The snake’s eyes turned to the sun as it hauled itself fully into the sky. He coiled, tightening like a spring, than he struck. Flying through the air to the golden orb of the sun.

“Noooo!” Aladdin cried. His voice mixed with another sound.

Apofis suddenly reared back in surprise. His mouth was moving, but it wasn’t his voice! “Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows.” Nef’s voice began. “Masked in the river of time. In darkness I pledge myself to the ring. Let the fools that stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I posses! ABDUL-ADHAM!!!!!!!”

There was an explosion as the last scream echoed around he citadel. A gaping whole appeared in the serpent chest, cutting him into halves. The hot blast had cauterized all wounds nearly instantly. Sieving this chance Mozenrath grabbed the spear and took careful aim. The spear bulleted though the air and into the windpipe that now shone so clearly at the end of the severed body. The weapon took a life of it’s own inside the body of the snake. It convulsed and gained speed, rushing up the throat, puncturing through the roof of the mouth through the pallet and into the cranium. It wedged there, turning a few times like a screw. Apofis let out an ungodly hiss and spun around, coiling and uncoiling in a desperate dance of pain. He rose into the air and stopped dead as the sanctuary of his skull was invaded. The sand around him crept up his body, coving him inch by inch. He gasped desperately as the black sand covered his eyes and snuck over his nostrils. Once completely covered Apofis was still and silent. And just as silently the sand lost it’s shape and fell into a mound. The jewel of the serpent fell on top of the pile. Mozenrath and Aladdin climbed the dune and looked down on it.

“That’s it.” Aladdin sighed. “It’s over.” He was soon proved wrong as the black sand began to shift. Aladdin looked on in panic fearing a snake would emerge from under the sands. But Mozenrath only grinned as he bent down and dug his hand into the sand. He grasped what he found there, a groping arm. Al watched in relief as Mozenrath pulled a sputtering and cursing Nefret to the surface. A river of blood trickled down her forehead, across the bridge of her nose and down her cheek, commencing from the puncture wound the jewel had made in her brow. Moze cleared the trail with a swipe of his thumb. The wound wasn’t as bad as it looked. In a few months no marks would be left to mare her face.

She caught his hand and gave him an evil glare. Nefret whipped her right hand into the air inches from his face. “Darkness beyond twilight…” she grinned as he smiled crookedly. It wouldn’t work on him, the ring never could, no matter what she knew of it.

***

Aladdin had been sent home, a little confused, but alive. Mozenrath and his minion sat in the dinning room staring at each other, a thousand questions between them.

“I could ask why in the hell you put me in that situation.” Nefret stabbed her chicken with force.

“And I could ask you how you knew of the Abdul-Adham. The most powerful spell the ring can produce. Ten times as affective as those little fireballs you’ve been toying with.” Moze breezed as he to sliced vigorously at his meal.

Nefret’s lips puckered into a sour look, she could bitch about how he used her, but if she did he could nail her ass to the wall about reading his books without permission. “So how’s your chicken?” Nef asked, agreeing to the concord

“Tough.” He snorted and looked Nefret. She looked ashen and was trembling a bit, minor side effects. “Oh, and don’t use the abdul-adham. Its not healthy for you.”

“Since when did you care about my health?” Nefret indicated the past events. No she wasn’t bitter, not a bit! Mozenrath rolled his eyes. Nef sauntered out of the room, but stopped at the door. “Oh and Mozenrath, no more presents. You snake in the grass.” He turned to her. Nef crocked her fingers into the visage of snake fangs and gave two sharp hisses. Mozenrath snorted is disgust and turned away.

Nefret walked down the hall to the lad, not thoroughly by will, something was calling her. She flung the door open and strolled in, clasping her hands behind her back. The jewel of the serpent sat on the table. The stone seemed to light up in recognition of the presence in the room.

“Oh my girl.” The words whispered in her ear, so lightly that they might not have even existed at all. “My love, I knew you couldn’t abandon me. I knew you wouldn’t just leave me here!”

“You are right.” She bent down to stare at the jewel with something that looked like lust, but of a different kind. “I’m not going to leave you like this. I shall leave you in a million scattered pieces!” The look was now recognized as blood lust, the lust for revenge. She pulled her hands from behind her and above her head, readying the mace.

The jewel flashed a bright color. “My Nawayra!!!!” the name didn’t crack her time, and the heavy spiked mace came crashing down. The table gave a keeling splintering sound and gave way. Nefret stood wide-eyed and heaving, almost afraid to lift the malice. So she didn’t, instead Nefret let go of the handle and let it fall to the ground. The spikes grinded against the marble floor once more, and the jewel shattered at this final force. A misty image of a half formed snake woman slithered into the air. Nefret’s nostrils flared at the hideous sight, but she soon felt a strong presence by her side. She looked over to see Mozenrath standing to her left.

“Go now and join your husband. Let see if he wants you now.”

The demon looked herself over. “I am incomplete! I need a body!” wild eyed she grasped bits of the jewel and pieced them together then leapt quickly at Nefret and slammed the red stone against her forehead. Everyone stood frozen in shock and waited…. Waited for what never happened. With an annoyed growl Mozenrath flung the demon off Nefret violently. The Egyptian woman ran a hand over her forehead in search of new wounds, there were none.

“It’s over. You’ve walked on earth long enough. Go to hell.” Moze ordered coldly. The demon hugged herself as if she had caught a sudden chill. She sunk slowly through the floor, to the second level, though the dungeon, and then into the very mantel of the earth itself.

Nef and Moze sighed simultaneously. The girl bent down and grasped the mace and picked it up. Almost as an after thought she gave the headband a few more good whacks for good measure and walked out of the room, letting the malice pass dangerously close to Mozenrath as she did.

Xerxes, who had been hiding, made his appearance. Narrowly avoiding being pounded as Nefret turned the corner sharply. He slid over his master’s neck. “Xerxes, I have a feeling I’m going to be in the dog house for awhile for this one.” He sighed. The eel looked at him dumbly and Mozenrath chuckled and gave an indifferent shrug.