Temple of Amun-Ra, Karnak, Egypt

White Tiger made his way through the intricate labyrinth that made up the ruins of the main temple in Karnak, Egypt. Two girls were following behind him. They were walking through an underground hallway that was lined with hieroglyphs and wall paintings laced in gold. The pathway that they were trudging didn’t seem to have been touched by time. It looked as if it had been the same for years. 

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon marveled at the secret passage that was now being unveiled to them by none other than their great ancestor. White Tiger momentarily paused as he turned to the two girls. “I used to walk these halls a lot in the past…That was before I found out what I had become…” the ancestor said with a smile before continuing. 

The two girls were surprised at their great grandfather’s words. Does that mean that they were descended from the Egyptians? “Grandfather, can you tell us what happened? How did you become a vampire?” Hyoyeon asked as they followed him through the dark corridor. Their eyes were glowing a bright tinge of red as they adjusted to the darkness. 

“Well…I was born a vampire although I was slightly different from you…” White Tiger began his story.

With his powers of foresight and hindsight, the Jung ancestor engulfed the two girls in an illusion of time. Hyoyeon and Sooyoung were amazed as they watched their surroundings drift back to the time when the ancient Egyptians thrived. 

It seemed like they had travelled back in time, but they actually didn’t. They knew they were just spellbound by their ancestor in one of his illusions but this was a special illusion. It told them the story of the vampires’ origins. 
 

***

Egypt (22nd Dynasty)

In the very halls where Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, and Jung the Elder had stood in the present, a very young man with an air of a prince walked. He was Jung the Elder a few centuries back in time. The young ancestor had cold blue eyes that were marveled by everyone in the kingdom.

He approached the secret door that led to a special chamber. “Junghotep…” a voice called out to the young man. The Jung ancestor who was known as Junghotep back then turned to acknowledge the person. It was his younger twin brother who very much looked like him except for the unique eyes. Junghotep’s younger twin had gray eyes and he was always second to his brother in everything. 

“What is it, Junesret?” Junghotep asked.

“Father wants to see us…” the young man replied before turning away to lead his brother. Junghotep left his spot and resolved to open the secret passage in another time. For now, he was going to have an audience with the Pharaoh, their father. He was curious as to why their father had wished to call them. 

When the twins had entered their father’s throne room that was specially built for him whenever he visited Karnak, they bowed before the king. “Junghotep, Junesret…I wish to know who my heir to the throne will be…and I want to decide on it based on your skills as princes of Egypt…” their father announced. 

In a short while, the two young men found themselves in the middle of an arena located inside the main temple. They were going to fight for the crown. Junesret knew better. He knew that his brother was strong and was skillful in almost everything. He had lived under the shadow of Junghotep for so long and he had wanted to change all that. He thought of the sorcery he had conjured in the temple of Osiris through the help of one of its priestesses. 

All he has to do now is to pierce Junghotep with the cursed sword and everything will fall into place for him. Their battle had begun and he knew his brother would be kind enough to go easy on him. The younger twin slashed at his brother making a small cut on his neck. Junghotep had disregarded it although something strange had stirred up inside him. He found himself smelling blood everywhere. It was something new to him. 

He found his sight blurring until everything became black. Junesret knew he had won and the crowd had cheered for him while his father stared in disbelief. Just as his father was about to announce his name as the winner and as the heir, Junghotep rose and stood with a new aura exuding from his body. Everyone in the crowd cheered and urged the two brothers to continue their struggle for power. 

Junesret felt something new from his brother and it seemed like his twin was hungry for blood. He lunged forward determined to win their fight yet all of his assaults were repelled. It had seemed that his brother had become invincible after he fainted. 

Junghotep was confused. He couldn’t understand why Junesret seemed to have slowed down in attacking him. He found that the world had slowed its pace or was he just too fast? There was something keeping him from thinking clearly though. He felt he was thirsty,