The Gods of Third Earth
folder
+S through Z › Thundercats
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
1
Views:
2,377
Reviews:
1
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0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
+S through Z › Thundercats
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
1
Views:
2,377
Reviews:
1
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Thundercats, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
The Gods of Third Earth
Bast Cycle: The Gods of Third Earth
Chapter One
In the burial chamber of the Black Pyramid, daylight was rare. An open shaft in the ceiling was the only way for the sun to enter into the dark domain of the dead, and then only in the hours just before noon, and towards the end of the day. So while anyone standing in the chamber and looking up could see the rosy haze of the sky as morning approached, through the opening in the ceiling, a glance around at the rest of the room would reveal that this was a realm of darkness, not light. The expansive burial chamber's walls reached from the dusty floor to vaulted ceiling, and all three surfaces were composed of sturdy stone blocks and bricks, gray with age, and dusty with more of the same. Cobwebs trailed over various statues, vases, and jars lined up along the edges of the room, or clustered in corners. And at the four corners of the room were four statues of particular note, and singular horror. Four giants, each with the head of an animal. A vulture, a jackal, a crocodile, and a boar. The features of the statues were cold, sharp, and cruelly cut from ancient stone, time-worn and scarred. Their physical appearances alone were enough to frighten away any would-be tomb robbers relatively easily, but that was not the extent of their terrible visages. Evil itself was etched into their ancient forms, and radiated from them, swirled about them, turned the darkness of the chamber tangible as they strove to extend their grasp from the space beyond space into the world of mortals. These four statues were not merely statues, but a focus for the Dark Gods of Ancient Egypt, the being known as the Ancient Spirits of Evil. Anyone who doubted evil truly existed, and said instead that evil was merely the perception of the individual concerning that which goes against one's personal beliefs... Any such person who merely entered into the presence of these four known as Anquat, Anubis, Apophis, and Arkseht, would have such doubts dispelled instantly. There was no denying evil existed when one was faced with the Dark Gods themselves.
The four monoliths of evil stood watch over a constantly bubbling pool of green liquid at the center of the chamber. A pool which has recently had a stone sarcophagus thrown into its depths by a warrior named Lion-O. The sarcophagus was a battery and a focus for the power of the Evil Spirits, a way for them to channel their energy into their servant and champion on Third Earth. It had been damaged in combat, and its energies shocked into dormancy by the plunge into the oracular waters of the pool, but the liquid was a product of the Ancient Spirits of Evil, and thus actually helped to heal the stone, and make it whole again. Thus, even though the avatar of evil itself has dissolved into a puddle of undead flesh and dissolved, within the sarcophagus' dark interior, a horrid rejuvenation was taking place. As morning came closer and closer, the statues of the Dark Gods seemed to decide they were not content to wait for their servant to recover overtime, and their blank stone eyes lit up an intense red. Each statue then shot a pair of red energy beams from its eyes into the pool, sending the green waters in a froth before the sarcophagus was raised up on a fount that deposited the stone coffin onto the walkway leading from the pool to an alcove in the shape of a demonic skull. The sarcophagus lay still for a time, the cracks in its surface having been repaired. The oracular waters on its surface did not dry in the cool air, but instead seemed to be absorbed into the stone, making it glow faintly emerald. The beams from the eyes of the Dark Gods ceased, and the red light faded.
And then a deep, guttural voice spoke from within the sarcophagus, uninhibited by the thick stone between itself and the room into which its voice emerged. "Foolish cub..." the voice said. The lid of the coffin ground aside as a blue-fleshed hand pried it open and then wriggled through the opening made, to get a better grip. "If I have told him once, I have told him a thousand times," the dark voice continued to itself. The sarcophagus was now open enough for a figure to sit up, garbed in a ragged red cloak and hood, and with bandages wrapped tightly about its withered, blue flesh. "As long as evil exists in the universe, so too does Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living!" The head of the figure came up to glare about the room, wide pure-red eyes focusing on the destruction wrought primarily by himself during his fight with the Lord of the ThunderCats. Mumm-Ra brought himself to his bandaged feet and snorted disdainfully as he casually raised a hand and sent stone fragments flying back into place in the walls, and floor, and various decorations back into one piece. "I was careless, Lion-O. I will not be so foolish as to underestimate you again." Mumm-Ra stepped out of the sarcophagus and levitated it back into place in the skull-alcove, as though lifting the stone coffin with its hundreds of pounds of weight with a thought were but a trifle unworthy of consideration. Mumm-Ra took no more than another step, however, before he was on his knees, howling in pain. As suddenly as the pain had come, it stopped. Though he had no need of air in his undead state, Mumm-Ra inhaled greatly amounts of it, simply out of habit. His lungs had been removed long ago, and he spoke through magical means, so it was unclear even to Mumm-Ra himself what he was breathing with. However, this was not his immediate concern. That pain, however, was.
"What is wrong with me? Am I really that weakened?" Mumm-Ra asked of no one as he looked at his bandages palms, thin blue fingers tapering into claws showing no signs of shaking with dehibilitating weakness. Then the pain came again, as Mumm-Ra cried out, and forced himself to his feet, staggering towards the pool of green liquid which he had so recently been at the bottom of. As he stood at its edge, and stared into its depths, he was deluged with images in the water's surface. Images that showed the Devil Priest that he had no time to recover from his battle with Lion-O, and no time to plot out his next scheme over the course of days or weeks. Something terrible was happening. Mumm-Ra took a step back from the pool as the images vanished, but they did not leave his mind. He could see things clearly in a way he had rarely had the chance to. He could plot out in the confines of his own mind when and where it would all begin, and what to do to stop it. It was almost as if he could--Mumm-Ra suddenly glanced sharply at the green pool... The pool of waters that had the power of prophecy.
Mumm-Ra could see the future.
Under other circumstances he would have gloried in his new power, but what had been revealed to him was not what he would have wished to see. "So..." Mumm-Ra said bitterly. "It has begun again. The Bast Cycle."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, far away from the Black Pyramid, in Cat's Lair, the morning light was breaking through the windows of the building, and casting upon the supple curves and golden mane of Cheetara, a noble of dead Thundera, and a ThunderCat. Black spots dotted her hair and her shoulders and upper arms. The white blankets of her bed covered her and kept her warm, and yet she shivered violently in her bed as though freezing. Her elegant face, strong, yet soft, was contorted from its ordinarily attractive calmness, into an expression of pain and fear. Her orange-brown eyes, surrounded by red-orange "masks", shot open and she darted her gaze about wildly in confusion for a few seconds, before she realizes she was in her room. It was the morning after Lion-O's Annointment as King, and Lord of the ThunderCats. Mumm-Ra was defeated, and Third Earth was safe. There was no threat, and nothing to fear. Her heart slowed as Cheetara considered these things logically, trying to calm herself. But she knew in her soul that there was much to fear. Change was coming to the new home of the ThunderCats. Her Sixth Sense had shown it to her. It was a curse, her ability to see the future and detect danger. But she had to admit that it always showed her what she needed to know, even if it was painful. Cheetara silently slid out from underneath her blankets, her night gown rustling slightly in a breeze through the window being the only noise in her room. Getting to her feet, slender yet well-muscled limbs stretching, the only female ThunderCat aside from WilyKit sorted through the things she had seen in her dreams. She always took the practical approach to things whenever possible. Rushing in foolishly was the domain of Lion-O, after all. Cheetara shook her head, chastising herself for such a thought. Lion-O had grown beyond the mere youth he had once been. He had completed the Annointment Trials, and proven himself a worthy Lord. No, she could not fault his judgement any further, nor did she wish to.
Cheetara realized she was allowing random thoughts to side-track her. It was true that she had only just awoken, but usually she came to her senses quickly in the morning, and remained sharp and focused even when tired. And yet her visions had thrown her mind into disarray. Cheetara decided she would do things in order. She would get dressed, then she would eat breakfast, and when the other ThunderCats were awake she would call for a meeting to discuss what she had seen. She thus slipped her night gown over her head, revealing tanned flesh and enticing curves, and went to her dresser to get out her leotard and other equipment. She didn't know how much time she had left before the trouble began, but she hoped it wouldn't be too soon. Just as she was bending over and pulling open a drawer, the door of her room slid open and WilyKat burst in.
"Cheetara, wake up! There's trouble!" WilyKat didn't get any further than that before he spotted the nude Thunderan and blushed bright red, unable to turn his gaze aside as Cheetara whipped around in surprise and covered herself with her hands.
"Knock before entering someone's room!" Cheetara admonished. WilyKat swiftly turned around and ran out of the room with a gulp.
"Sorry, Cheetara! But it's an emergency!" Then the young male ran down the hallway and was gone. Cheetara sighed. She didn't appreciate being barged in on while getting dressed, but she appreciated even less that the trouble was starting already. She turned around to finish getting her clothes out of her drawer when Snarf, running by, stopped in her doorway and stood facing her, hands on his hips.
"Cheetara! You should know better than to get dressed with your door open! Why, what if someone were to walk by and see you--mmff!" Snarf's scolding was interrupted as Cheetara threw her night gown at him, and then slammed the door. The snarf pulled the night gown off his head, and frowned at the closed door, saying to himself, "No one ever appreciates old Snarf's wise advice. I don't know why I even bother."
---End Chapter One---
Chapter One
In the burial chamber of the Black Pyramid, daylight was rare. An open shaft in the ceiling was the only way for the sun to enter into the dark domain of the dead, and then only in the hours just before noon, and towards the end of the day. So while anyone standing in the chamber and looking up could see the rosy haze of the sky as morning approached, through the opening in the ceiling, a glance around at the rest of the room would reveal that this was a realm of darkness, not light. The expansive burial chamber's walls reached from the dusty floor to vaulted ceiling, and all three surfaces were composed of sturdy stone blocks and bricks, gray with age, and dusty with more of the same. Cobwebs trailed over various statues, vases, and jars lined up along the edges of the room, or clustered in corners. And at the four corners of the room were four statues of particular note, and singular horror. Four giants, each with the head of an animal. A vulture, a jackal, a crocodile, and a boar. The features of the statues were cold, sharp, and cruelly cut from ancient stone, time-worn and scarred. Their physical appearances alone were enough to frighten away any would-be tomb robbers relatively easily, but that was not the extent of their terrible visages. Evil itself was etched into their ancient forms, and radiated from them, swirled about them, turned the darkness of the chamber tangible as they strove to extend their grasp from the space beyond space into the world of mortals. These four statues were not merely statues, but a focus for the Dark Gods of Ancient Egypt, the being known as the Ancient Spirits of Evil. Anyone who doubted evil truly existed, and said instead that evil was merely the perception of the individual concerning that which goes against one's personal beliefs... Any such person who merely entered into the presence of these four known as Anquat, Anubis, Apophis, and Arkseht, would have such doubts dispelled instantly. There was no denying evil existed when one was faced with the Dark Gods themselves.
The four monoliths of evil stood watch over a constantly bubbling pool of green liquid at the center of the chamber. A pool which has recently had a stone sarcophagus thrown into its depths by a warrior named Lion-O. The sarcophagus was a battery and a focus for the power of the Evil Spirits, a way for them to channel their energy into their servant and champion on Third Earth. It had been damaged in combat, and its energies shocked into dormancy by the plunge into the oracular waters of the pool, but the liquid was a product of the Ancient Spirits of Evil, and thus actually helped to heal the stone, and make it whole again. Thus, even though the avatar of evil itself has dissolved into a puddle of undead flesh and dissolved, within the sarcophagus' dark interior, a horrid rejuvenation was taking place. As morning came closer and closer, the statues of the Dark Gods seemed to decide they were not content to wait for their servant to recover overtime, and their blank stone eyes lit up an intense red. Each statue then shot a pair of red energy beams from its eyes into the pool, sending the green waters in a froth before the sarcophagus was raised up on a fount that deposited the stone coffin onto the walkway leading from the pool to an alcove in the shape of a demonic skull. The sarcophagus lay still for a time, the cracks in its surface having been repaired. The oracular waters on its surface did not dry in the cool air, but instead seemed to be absorbed into the stone, making it glow faintly emerald. The beams from the eyes of the Dark Gods ceased, and the red light faded.
And then a deep, guttural voice spoke from within the sarcophagus, uninhibited by the thick stone between itself and the room into which its voice emerged. "Foolish cub..." the voice said. The lid of the coffin ground aside as a blue-fleshed hand pried it open and then wriggled through the opening made, to get a better grip. "If I have told him once, I have told him a thousand times," the dark voice continued to itself. The sarcophagus was now open enough for a figure to sit up, garbed in a ragged red cloak and hood, and with bandages wrapped tightly about its withered, blue flesh. "As long as evil exists in the universe, so too does Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living!" The head of the figure came up to glare about the room, wide pure-red eyes focusing on the destruction wrought primarily by himself during his fight with the Lord of the ThunderCats. Mumm-Ra brought himself to his bandaged feet and snorted disdainfully as he casually raised a hand and sent stone fragments flying back into place in the walls, and floor, and various decorations back into one piece. "I was careless, Lion-O. I will not be so foolish as to underestimate you again." Mumm-Ra stepped out of the sarcophagus and levitated it back into place in the skull-alcove, as though lifting the stone coffin with its hundreds of pounds of weight with a thought were but a trifle unworthy of consideration. Mumm-Ra took no more than another step, however, before he was on his knees, howling in pain. As suddenly as the pain had come, it stopped. Though he had no need of air in his undead state, Mumm-Ra inhaled greatly amounts of it, simply out of habit. His lungs had been removed long ago, and he spoke through magical means, so it was unclear even to Mumm-Ra himself what he was breathing with. However, this was not his immediate concern. That pain, however, was.
"What is wrong with me? Am I really that weakened?" Mumm-Ra asked of no one as he looked at his bandages palms, thin blue fingers tapering into claws showing no signs of shaking with dehibilitating weakness. Then the pain came again, as Mumm-Ra cried out, and forced himself to his feet, staggering towards the pool of green liquid which he had so recently been at the bottom of. As he stood at its edge, and stared into its depths, he was deluged with images in the water's surface. Images that showed the Devil Priest that he had no time to recover from his battle with Lion-O, and no time to plot out his next scheme over the course of days or weeks. Something terrible was happening. Mumm-Ra took a step back from the pool as the images vanished, but they did not leave his mind. He could see things clearly in a way he had rarely had the chance to. He could plot out in the confines of his own mind when and where it would all begin, and what to do to stop it. It was almost as if he could--Mumm-Ra suddenly glanced sharply at the green pool... The pool of waters that had the power of prophecy.
Mumm-Ra could see the future.
Under other circumstances he would have gloried in his new power, but what had been revealed to him was not what he would have wished to see. "So..." Mumm-Ra said bitterly. "It has begun again. The Bast Cycle."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, far away from the Black Pyramid, in Cat's Lair, the morning light was breaking through the windows of the building, and casting upon the supple curves and golden mane of Cheetara, a noble of dead Thundera, and a ThunderCat. Black spots dotted her hair and her shoulders and upper arms. The white blankets of her bed covered her and kept her warm, and yet she shivered violently in her bed as though freezing. Her elegant face, strong, yet soft, was contorted from its ordinarily attractive calmness, into an expression of pain and fear. Her orange-brown eyes, surrounded by red-orange "masks", shot open and she darted her gaze about wildly in confusion for a few seconds, before she realizes she was in her room. It was the morning after Lion-O's Annointment as King, and Lord of the ThunderCats. Mumm-Ra was defeated, and Third Earth was safe. There was no threat, and nothing to fear. Her heart slowed as Cheetara considered these things logically, trying to calm herself. But she knew in her soul that there was much to fear. Change was coming to the new home of the ThunderCats. Her Sixth Sense had shown it to her. It was a curse, her ability to see the future and detect danger. But she had to admit that it always showed her what she needed to know, even if it was painful. Cheetara silently slid out from underneath her blankets, her night gown rustling slightly in a breeze through the window being the only noise in her room. Getting to her feet, slender yet well-muscled limbs stretching, the only female ThunderCat aside from WilyKit sorted through the things she had seen in her dreams. She always took the practical approach to things whenever possible. Rushing in foolishly was the domain of Lion-O, after all. Cheetara shook her head, chastising herself for such a thought. Lion-O had grown beyond the mere youth he had once been. He had completed the Annointment Trials, and proven himself a worthy Lord. No, she could not fault his judgement any further, nor did she wish to.
Cheetara realized she was allowing random thoughts to side-track her. It was true that she had only just awoken, but usually she came to her senses quickly in the morning, and remained sharp and focused even when tired. And yet her visions had thrown her mind into disarray. Cheetara decided she would do things in order. She would get dressed, then she would eat breakfast, and when the other ThunderCats were awake she would call for a meeting to discuss what she had seen. She thus slipped her night gown over her head, revealing tanned flesh and enticing curves, and went to her dresser to get out her leotard and other equipment. She didn't know how much time she had left before the trouble began, but she hoped it wouldn't be too soon. Just as she was bending over and pulling open a drawer, the door of her room slid open and WilyKat burst in.
"Cheetara, wake up! There's trouble!" WilyKat didn't get any further than that before he spotted the nude Thunderan and blushed bright red, unable to turn his gaze aside as Cheetara whipped around in surprise and covered herself with her hands.
"Knock before entering someone's room!" Cheetara admonished. WilyKat swiftly turned around and ran out of the room with a gulp.
"Sorry, Cheetara! But it's an emergency!" Then the young male ran down the hallway and was gone. Cheetara sighed. She didn't appreciate being barged in on while getting dressed, but she appreciated even less that the trouble was starting already. She turned around to finish getting her clothes out of her drawer when Snarf, running by, stopped in her doorway and stood facing her, hands on his hips.
"Cheetara! You should know better than to get dressed with your door open! Why, what if someone were to walk by and see you--mmff!" Snarf's scolding was interrupted as Cheetara threw her night gown at him, and then slammed the door. The snarf pulled the night gown off his head, and frowned at the closed door, saying to himself, "No one ever appreciates old Snarf's wise advice. I don't know why I even bother."
---End Chapter One---