Hope, with a pinch of Madness

[Doggy II]

Chapter One: A Strange Discovery

Paris, December 20, 1827

Toulouse de Coubertin: It’s amazing to think of everything I overcame. My friends, along with the love of my life and my family, have all been taken from me, as if it was my destiny to loose everything I care for. And now, we sit here in Paris, our last line of defense against those beasts. Our generals try to give us hope, but I’m sure that all of us have been lacking hope for a long time. Nevertheless, I still have hope. After all I’ve been through, I still think that we can prevail once more and restore the greatness of us human beings.

Charles Hamilton: You’re crazy, mate. I’ve seen what those things do. They aren’t scare of fighting. They won’t stop until their hunger is ceased. They aren’t human.

Toulouse: They are indeed human. In fact, most of them fought alongside us.

Charles: What are you saying?

Toulouse: You heard me. They are humans, humans brought from the dead.

Charles: That is madness!

Toulouse: Perhaps it is. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we must give a last fight for out lives in order to avoid becoming one of them.

Charles: You speak nonsense. Anyways, rumors are starting to arise. They say the emperor plans on leaving us here, like he did on the Egypt and the Russia. They say that he will go so a safe house underground and leave us here to falter. They say that Paris will fall, and that we are all doomed.

Toulouse: Let them say what they want. I still have faith in our emperor. He has leaded us through tough situations and has managed to make us achieve glory with his leadership. I believe that he will not fail us this time.

Charles: Whatever… if what you say is through, do you have any idea how all of this started?

Toulouse: Actually, I was there from its origins. In fact, its creator was a dear friend of mine. If you want, while we await them, I can tell you the story.

Charles: Proceed.

Toulouse:

Egypt, August, 1798

We were at the pyramids, days after the infamous Battle of the Nile. Adrien Durand, Dr. Pierre de la Rue and I were looking for treasure and other antiques. Adrien and I were Soldiers of the 6th Regiment of Grenadiers. De la Rue was some kind of doctor or scientist, but he was always addressed as Dr. He was looking for something else and for our misfortune, he found it.

Toulouse de Coubertin: It’s been a while since we found gold in these pyramids. There isn’t anything but a bunch of tombs and bugs. Why are we still here?

Adrien Durand: Hey, at least we were able to obtain new mathematical knowledge and Egyptian antiques.

De la Rue: Don’t worry boys, we’re almost there.

Adrien: Dr., what was it that we were looking for?

De la Rue: It’s classified. Sorry, but it’s a direct order from the General Bonaparte. Nevertheless, I will tell you that it’s a power source that will make the impossible, possible.

Adrien: Fair enough.

We kept walking, until we reached what seems as a wall made out of Gold rocks.

Toulouse: What now? There doesn’t seem to be anywhere else to go.

De la Rue: Don’t be so sure.

De la Rue managed to open a secret passage by pressing a hidden button. From that moment, I knew that we were looking for something dangerous. As we entered the passage, a strange and strong wind blew us to the ground. It sounded as if something, or someone, wanted us to go back, to stop our search. I then saw a painting on the wall that resembled a dead man coming back to life.

Adrien: What was that?

Toulouse: I don't know, but I got a bad feeling about this.

De la Rue: Don’t be afraid! The Egyptians made this place to scare away intruders. That won’t be a problem to us. We are men of the Directory, of the revolution. We were able to destroy Tyranny, so we won’t falter because of a silly wind. Alas, we have reached our destination.

We reached a black coffin with more paintings of men coming back to life. It also had an Egyptian inscription on it.

Adrien: What does it mean?

De la Rue: It says: “Only death awaits those who dare open this coffin and take its content”

Toulouse: Dr., I think we should leave it closed.

De la Rue: Don’t be superstitious, de Coubertin. These people wrote that to scare intruders as well. It’s all in your head.

He opened the coffin, and inside laid a mummy with some red-orange rocks.

Adrien: It’s beautiful! Let me take a closer look.

De la Rue: Don’t touch it! We mustn’t touch it with our bare hands. It will contaminate it. We must pick it up with forceps and place them in a bag.

Adrien: Alright. Toulouse, pass me the forceps and your bag.

Toulouse: Here you go.

We put the rocks in the bag and left quickly. But, after what I had seen, I no longer trusted the Dr. We reached El Cairo by nightfall, where Adrien and I got separated from the Dr. as we went to the barracks. We arrived just as a messenger was calling out our names.

Adrien: A letter from the General himself? This is strange.

Toulouse: I got one two, as well as a letter from my love, Angelique Bonnet.

Adrien: You really love her, don’t you?

Toulouse: With my heart. I can’t wait to finally se her again. The only bad news is that we don’t know when our expedition here n Egypt will end.

Adrien: Let’s see what the General has to say.

The letter goes:

Greetings, Soldier of the Republic,

As much as it hurts me leave, I must do so for the sake of the Republic and that of France. Nevertheless, I plan on taking back the best men I can carry, for later campaigns. For your excellent performance and bravery on the Battles of the Pyramids and the Nile, I have personally handpicked you to accompany me to France. We shall part tomorrow late at night, as we must leave unseen. Be warned, soldiers who have not received this letter do not know of my departure, and thus must not know nothing about it or about this letter. They will indeed know about it afterwards, but for now, let’s us keep it to ourselves, for the sake of France. Be glad to be one of the chosen ones, as I do not take mediocre soldiers on special missions. We shall all meet tomorrow night. See you then.

Adrien: Are you leaving as well? With the General?

Toulouse: Yes. I shall finally be reunited with my love.

Night time of the next day came. All of the chosen soldiers met with the General at the Dockyard.

Gen. Bonaparte: Gentlemen, it is a pleasure to meet you all. As you all may have noticed, you’re all from the 6th and 7th Regiment of Grenadiers, the brave soldiers who, with their great courage, stood their ground and made those Ottomans run away like chickens on the Battle of the Pyramids. I can assure you all that I will forever consider you the best of the French Army, and for your bravery, you will be highly rewarded. The 6th will go on my ship, and the 7th will go on the other ship. Aside from that, I would like you all to meet Dr. Pierre de la Rue. He has recently discovered different antiques, as well as gold and mathematical knowledge. He will go on the ship with the 7th of Grenadiers. And with this said, get on your respective ships, and may luck be with you all.

He then left to his ship. The road to France was a nightmare. We had a total of two storms and three pirate raids. After three weeks of sailing, we finally arrived at Marseille. I met with the doctor one last time before his departure to some place on Netherlands, and I said good bye to him. Adrien and I continued alongside the general on our way to Paris. That was the last time I saw the doctor, at least, for a while.

[xFierce_Fighterx]

I love how this story is in the Napoleonic era! Is this going to be continued, or remain a short? [brains]

[Doggy II]

I love how this story is in the Napoleonic era! Is this going to be continued, or remain a short? [brains]

I'm working on the next chapter. All the fans of the Napoleonic Era will be entertained by it.

[MyLittleHellhound]

Awesome writing Doggy, an awesome read as well. Keep it up!

Just a couple random mistakes in there. ;)