[center][h1][color=a0410d]Gotham City, New Jersey[/color][/h1][/center]

[center][h3]Downtown[/h3][/center]

Khnemu had been wandering. The pyramids still stood, that was good, the world was much larger than what he had remembered seeing, that was still good. The land was still there, more good. He had seen great wonders and more beauty than he had thought he would ever see in Egypt. Thoth had taught him many things after awaking him, things he needed to survive, Thoth was too weak to help him any longer though. One thing Thoth had taught him was that human language had changed, more had emerged in the time he was laying, he had been taught each one of them, but even that weakened the god, and Ra's hatred of Khnemu only made it harder for the knowing god to aid him.

Due to the knowledge of Thoth, he had seen many things, conversed with never-seen tribes in the Amazon who still hid from that which they didn't understand. They thought he was a god, and he had the strength to prove it. He had seen creations of man so large that they towered over the land he was sworn to protect, a good place to watch from, he noted when he had seen the first such building.

He had rode the wind over sea and sand, over trees and rocks. Yet when he approached Gotham, he could no longer ride the winds at the speed he once had. He was slowed by black clouds that smelled sour, like rot. Could this be a curse on the land? He could not just sit idle while the earth he had sworn to protect was choked under soot and smoke.

Even as he walked, the people of the city dressed in garb so odd he could not have imagined it in his dreams, he could not see the poison that had settled itself into the very land, that had consumed the air, and corrupted the people into hiding in the darkness and taking what wasn't theirs. Khnemu could not but feel disgusted by what had been wrought over this land he had never seen.

Eventually, he found it, the sorcerers who had done it. Dressed in bright orange and yellow, wearing hats of many colors, presumably to distinguish between the ranks of their cult. They held weapons, on them written in one of the many languages, the word "stop". Perhaps it was some form of charm, to keep opponents from moving while they belted them with their dark magics. Behind them, towered beasts, growling and groaning faceless beings, yellow in color, with the word "Cat" written on the sides, another charm. They lifted the very dirt from the earth and dumped it away into large piles with their one skeletal arm, all the while spewing the same blackness that filled the skies. There had been beasts before, crowding the paths, but they had been beasts of burden, tamed to carry the people within. These beasts were unlike anything he had seen before. Some lifted the land while others collected the scrounged dirt on their backs and carried it away, converting it all into the same cursed smoke.

What was this? Why had these men cursed the land so? Khnemu approached with intent to discover their motive.

"What have you done?" He asked the first cult member he came across, a man singing a hymn, probably to his dark gods.

"[i]Shake it off, shake it-[/i]" The man leapt high into the air when Khnemu spoke to him. The man laughed a second before coughing and putting on a frown. He looked up and down Khnemu's body, his face flustered and confused.

"It's not Halloween yet is it?" Khnemu had no clue what the man was saying.

[color=Blanchedalmond]"Whatever you are doing here has to stop, I demand it."[/color] The cultist rolled his eyes.

"Oh great, a hippie. Listen pal, this area is construction, you aren't allowed in here without a hard-hat." He said, rolling his eyes once more. "You're going to have to leave, we're kinda building the new LexCorp office here." The cultist continued.

Khnemu furrowed his brow and unwrapped the bandages on his wrists.

[color=Blanchedalmond]"You will leave, or I will make you."[/color] He said, not looking at the man. The man gave a look of utter confusion.

"Listen, bud, you can't 'make' us do anything, so get out of here or the cops will 'make' you go to a nice cell!" The cultist said, pointing aggressively at Khnemu. At this point, the other cultists had wandered over to see what was happening.

Khnemu rotated his neck once, then took off at a dash. He leapt into the air at the man, who grabbed him around the waist after a moment of staring wide-eyed. The others approached and attempted to pull him away, but Khnemu simply wrapped one of them and tossed him over his head. This caused the others to stare in fear and confusion, giving Khnemu enough time to smash both fists across the first cultist's face, sending him stumbling.

"Call the cops!" One yelled, running away. Let him run, Khnemu thought, he knew never to harm this land again. As all of the cultists stared with wide eyes, Khnemu had begun leaking sand from beneath his bandages, as it collected on the ground, he blew into the new pile, sending up a blinding cloud which he used to hide his approach to one of the beasts.

Tossing his bandages around its one massive arm, he pulled it off with a soft tug. Surprisingly, the creature did not bleed, instead growling as it was pulled apart. Eventually, he noticed a water-like substance dripping from the stump, the beast's blood. Pulling the arm along the ground, he tossed it towards the clear dome-like object which he assumed to be its eye. The arm smashed through with a crash, and he heard a loud human-like scream from behind him, presumably the beast's soul fleeing. Khnemu stared a moment, proud of his work, before blowing into the ground and flying away, aiming to find one of the beasts which had fled during the battle.