(Location: Luxor Temple, midnight – present day & ancient Sumeria)
FLASHBACK – Sumeria, 2230 BC
The desert winds howled outside the temple of stone and flame.
The Princess of Sumeria, radiant and bold, stepped into the chamber where the ancient soldiers slept. She whispered an incantation of the Old Tongue, and one by one, the ten warriors stirred.
Their names were whispered in the air like prophecy: Ra, Osiris, Anubis, Bastet, Horus, Thoth, Sekhmet, Hathor, Sobek, and Ashur-Nehum — her final call.
Ashur opened his eyes first.
"Why now?"
"Because my people are dying," she said. "And I've read the scrolls. You were once gods who chose to remember humanity."
She led them out into the sun. Into the sand. Into war.
Ashur trained her men. He taught her to fight herself.
She moved like wind through flame, fierce and graceful.
He admired her. Then adored her. Then loved her.
One night, as the army slept beneath the dunes, they laid together beside a sacred fire. She touched his cheek.
"Do gods love like men?"
"We try harder not to," he answered.
They were about to become one when—
A dog barked.
Loud. Sharp. Pure.
A desert hound, thin and golden-eyed, stared at Ashur as if recognizing something in him.
He froze.
"A guardian," the Princess whispered. "He found us."
The dog joined them. Became their companion. Ashur called him Teba.
In their first battle against the black-robed Priests, Teba stood between Ashur and death.
And the Priests recoiled.
They feared the dog.
Ashur watched in awe as their battalion — outnumbered — tore through divine warriors and won.
But the High Gods saw.
And they were not pleased.
Days later, the sky turned red. A second wave of Priests came, riding flame and air.
The Princess died in Ashur's arms, her throat burned by divine fire.
He held her until the fire died out.
And something inside him died too.
He turned his back. Walked away from the battlefield.
His battalion, broken and confused, cried out to him:
"Ashur, we still fight!"
He said nothing.
He let them be captured.
He let the Priests bury them alive.
Ashur was sentenced to death.
Placed in a golden coffin, chained by memory.
Tossed into the sea.
PRESENT – Luxor Temple, Midnight
Ashur stood above ten ancient stone coffins.
Names long worn from the surface, but he knew each one by heart.
"Ra. Osiris. Bastet... I came back. I remembered."
He pressed his hand to each lid.
"Forgive me."
He began the rite to awaken them.
Nothing happened.
The symbols did not glow.
The stone remained cold.
He repeated the words. Louder.
"I was wrong. But I came back! I am not the man who failed you!"
Still… silence.
Ashur fell to his knees.
"Even in death… you choose to abandon me."
He bowed his head to the stone.
His tears mixed with the dust.
"Then I will fight alone. For you. For her. For what we lost."
He stood. One last time.
And walked toward the war.