Before there were pharaohs in Egypt there were kings, ruling and quarrelling over the north and south. The Scorpion King paved the way for unity leading to the first Pharaoh Narmer. Before the Scorpion King the beast kings ruled the land- Crocodile, Bull and Elephant.

In a primordial age as civilisation only just began forming the gods still walked the lands. It was a dark time when beings neither man nor animal held the power, jealously hoarding it for themselves as they spilt blood to keep it.

3300 BC- A period known as Naqada III or Dynasty 0

In Upper Egypt the Hedjet, the white crown, belonged to beast kings. First to claim it in his bloody hands was King Jackal, also known as Anapanebtadjeser, Anapa- Lord of the Sacred Land. When the Hedjet slipped onto King Jackal's bronzed brow the sands in his kingdom turned to black and his land became known as Amenti. His reign lasted only until the arrival of a mysterious stranger with flaming hair who called himself Setekh.

Setekh brought strife and disease to the land, where he walked flies and scarabs followed, the water he drank turned to blood and the crops he touched turned to ash.

A battle was fought for six months until King Jackal appeared to be the victor and Setekh was presumably banished. It was not so however for the beast kings were but men wearing masks and Setekh now donned the black jackal mask taking disguise as King Jackal. This new reign became one of tyranny as the new King Jackal demanded a temple built in his honour and made slaves of his people. When others came to rob him of his crown he kept it by raising an army of the dead to fight for him. Rumours spread across the land of his ever rising temple and how it contained unusual riches, and a passageway to the underworld and the gods themselves within.

All uprisings failed and even the sun hid in fear plunging the land into darkness. As the sands turned red with blood and the population dwindled the beast lords finally tired of this tyrant and united their forces.

Lords who would become known as Crocodile, Bull, Elephant, and Scorpion joined forces against King Jackal bringing floods, stampedes and poison against his forces. Eventually, after years of war and death, the beast lords found victory and Elephant took the white crown as King Jackal was banished from the land and history. His mysterious temple was sealed up and the secrets of the dead with it.

The reign of the beast kings began anew and both King Jackals were stricken from history and the temple of Amenti was lost to the sands of time. King Elephant began his reign in the domain of Qustul and the cursed city of Amenti was forgotten too and no one even asked the fate of the jackal king, little realising that two had vanished to history along with the mysterious jackal mask and the powers to raise the dead.

Pharaohs came and went and any that attempted to find evidence of the beast kings in the hopes of gaining their godly powers suffered an ill fate. Hotepsekhemwy saw an earthquake kill many under his reign, Teti, Amenemhat I, and Ramses III were all assassinated, Akhenaten was thought mad and reviled in life and death for turning from the gods, Tutankhamun died young, Necho I died in battle, and Apries fled from battle and Egypt.

Egypt, once divided and then united, fell to the Persians, the Macedonians, and the Romans, exchanging hands from country to country as rulers foreign and native took and lost the coveted throne. All the power of the gods became lost to history and the beast kings faded to obscurity.

The mysterious power over death that King Jackal had however was not quite forgotten.

So I had this up a while ago but I abandoned it but I've never forgotten it and I'd like to get back to it. It's a sequel to my fanfic The Curse of the Gods so check it out first before reading this.