Having narrowly escaped Prodigium, Mathias and Ahmanet now found themselves in the sewers of Paris, through dark, dank tunnels, walking in stagnant water that came up to their ankles. The princess's wound did not seem to want to heal and this greatly worried Mathias who continued to support her to help her move forward, Ahmanet struggling to remain conscious. They had been helped by this mysterious man dressed in black and with his face hidden under a scarf, who had now been guiding them through the sewers for several minutes.

_"Hey! Who are you and are you taking us?!" Mathias then asked while following him.

_"In a safe place." simply replied the stranger, who dodged the first request.

More than suspicious, Ahmanet broke away from Mathias' help and despite her injury, quickly moved to grab the stranger by the collar, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing and suddenly pinning him with his back against one of the walls. Unceremoniously, she tore off the scarf, revealing a face that Mathias immediately recognized with great amazement.

_"Loomis?!"

It was him, Dexter Loomis, the young student and cameraman who was present during the expedition to Iraq. Mathias had no further news from him following this mishap. Loomis raised his hands in surrender, remaining very curiously calm despite the presence of Ahmanet right in front of him and openly threatening him. Mathias reacted, however, and stopped the princess's hand.

_"Ahmanet, no! Don't hurt him, please. I know him."

The princess felt the urge to get rid of this stranger, but once again, she decided to trust Mathias and with a certain frustration she let go and took a few steps back, leaving Loomis to readjust his shirt collar and reassured to see he would not be killed. With a look, Mathias thanked the princess for not having reduced him to pieces but that in no way explained his presence here in Paris.

_"Loomis, what are you doing here?" asked Mathias.

_"Look, I'll tell you everything but not now, we have to..."

The student was immediately interrupted by Mathias who, at the end of his patience, blocked him against the damp wall of the sewer and almost threatened him with Set's dagger that he had kept at his belt.

_"No, that's enough now!" demanded the young man. "I've been patient enough like this but now I want answers! You're going to tell me what you're doing here, or I'll let Ahmanet finish what she wanted to start."

Behind them, Ahmanet, although injured and covering his wound inflicted by Set's dagger, showed a sullen expression towards Loomis. He swallowed and finally agreed to explain his presence, Mathias letting go of him.

_"After the Iraq expedition, me and Professor Winters had returned to Cairo University. But for some time now she had been acting really strange, and so I decided to follow her discreetly when she got on a plane to Paris, for no apparent reason. That's when I discovered that her job as a professor was just a role she played and that she was working for this organization, Prodigium."

_"And how does this concern Ahmanet and me? And how come you know the name of this organization? Who are you in the end?" Mathias asked, Ahmanet right behind him.

Loomis seemed hesitant, biting his lip, but knowing in advance that the couple would not give up on having answers, he knew he was stuck now. Sighing heavily, he agreed to reveal his secret.

_"I know them..." Loomis revealed, looking them straight in the eyes. "...Because they have been hunting me for years for what I am."

With these words, the irises of his eyes changed drastically, turning yellow and taking the shape of those of a canine, or more precisely... a wolf! Opening his mouth, he revealed sharp wolf canines, and also his nails gradually becoming black claws, and an abnormal amount of hair growing on his forearms under his sleeves.

Seeing this, Mathias opened his eyes wide and took a step back, surprised, while Ahmanet, emitting a suspicious growl, placed himself in front of Mathias to protect him, although Loomis did not show any hostile behavior towards them, on the contrary looking at them with a certain shame.

_"You are... a werewolf?" breathed Mathias, stunned.

_"Exact." Loomis admitted bluntly. "And my real name is Lawrence Talbot. I was born in 1871."

These other revelations left Mathias even more stunned, but he still held Ahmanet by the arm to prevent her from attacking him. Ahmanet for her part knew that she was right to be wary of him, having felt from the start in him a tenuous but nonetheless present dark presence, different from her own, more animal.

_"You too..." she breathed darkly, observing him. "You also embraced the darkness and surrendered your soul to the monster that lived within you."

_"Let's say instead that it's an inheritance." Loomis revealed to the princess and Mathias. "Lycanthropy is a curse that has pursued the males of my family for generations. For a long time we were hunted by the church, until I finally managed to put the bestial part of me to sleep. I am the last Talbot still alive and within me lives the blood of the wolf."

Mathias didn't know how to react to this revelation, torn between surprise but also fear. Ahmanet stayed close to him to protect him but Loomis, or rather his real name Lawrence, made them understand that he did not wish to attack them and managed to return to a human aspect.

_"Doctor Jekyll did not lie." Lawrence said. "It's a world of monsters."

_"But... in this case... how many are you?" asked Mathias.

_"Impossible to say." admitted the werewolf. "We are scattered across the world, living like outsiders, in constant fear of being discovered. Since the dawn of time, humans have constantly tracked us down, killing us, until finally believing they have exterminated every last of us. But that was not the case... we remained hidden, and waited, again and again..."

It really was a crazy story, Mathias thought while having to assimilate all these revelations. It was Ahmanet who in turn spoke to the werewolf.

_"Waiting for what? Tell me." she demanded.

_"You." Lawrence replied bluntly, looking at her with respect, then humbly knelt in front of her. "You, Princess Ahmanet, first born in the darkness that gave birth to us through millenias. We all know your story and your martyrdom. We were lost without you, but we waited in the hope of your return and thus allow our people to find our freedom to live."

Mathias raised an eyebrow, perplexed but saw clearly that Lawrence remained on his knees before Ahmanet, like a servant before his sovereign and had even bowed his head in submission. Ahmanet said nothing at first, not appearing too unsettled, and remained solemn. She read the werewolf's mind and saw that he was only speaking the truth. But suddenly, distant noises were heard, seeming to come from another sewer tunnel. Immediately, Lawrence raised his head and like a stalking animal began to sniff, while Ahmanet glared in the same direction and took Mathias by the hand.

_"They are there." the princess hissed with hostility.

_"Who?" asked Mathias.

_"Prodigium. They are looking for us." replied Lawrence immediately. "Come on. I know a safe place."

With these words, the werewolf firmly grabbed a rusty valve of a plumbing pipe on the wall and used his extraordinary strength to be able to turn it fully to the right with a shrill squeal. Then, before Mathias's stunned eyes, a section of the wall of the nearby sewer slowly slid aside with a light noise of mechanisms. A hidden passage! Lawrence invited Ahmanet and Mathias to enter first. The young man was really hesitant at first, but the Egyptian princess, still holding his hand, reassured him with a look, assuring him that as long as she was with him, nothing would happen to him. Trusting Ahmanet, Mathias entered the passage with her. Lawrence brought up the rear, checking that no one was coming, then closed the secret entrance to the passage with the same mechanism. Once the wall was closed, he pulled a flashlight out of his coat, turning it on and motioning for the couple to follow him.

They walked for what seemed like an eternity through a labyrinthine maze of dank, dark sewer corridors and tunnels, inhabited only by mold and rats. While walking alongside Ahmanet, Mathias watched over her and her rib wound, but fortunately it no longer seemed to bleed and the princess no longer looked too weakened. Lawrence walked ahead with the lamp, guiding them confidently, seeming to know the maze like the back of his hand.

Where were they taking them? That was the question but he had remained rather vague on the subject, but they would surely have the answer soon. Soon, the brick walls of the sewers and the humidity gradually gave way to galleries with stone walls, rough and irregular, as if they were now in caves.

_"We are now in the catacombs of Paris, at least a remote area." Lawrence said. "Don't worry, this section is isolated and no human ever comes here. We are the only ones who know of its existence."

_"What do you mean by "us"?" asked Mathias.

_"Me and my friends, of course." Lawrence added without turning around.

After a few more minutes of walking, the trio arrived in a much larger space, almost like a really old and half-ruined crypt, but lit by candles and candles that seemed to have been lit recently. There was a special atmosphere, heavy but reassuring at the same time, almost like in a cathedral. A partially ruined Christ altar stood at the back of the crypt, and behind it a kind of fresco representing a stained glass window and the Templar cross.

_"Welcome to the outcasts house." Lawrence said. "No one knows the existence of this place anymore, but some old legends claim that the Templars once spat out the holy grail here. It is even said that it is here that the last Templars came to take refuge during the collapse of their order, in order to pray to God to grant them another chance and to forgive them. Cruel irony, isn't it? This is a bit of what we are experiencing today, in our own way, but if God refused to answer them... will he do it for creatures like us?"

Lawrence gave a smile and a cynical chuckle after this statement. Mathias and Ahmanet, still side by side and holding hands, shared a perplexed look and said nothing. Lawrence then looked around the great crypt and called out.

_"It's safe, all of you can come. It's me, Lawrence."

Suddenly, from several dark corners of the crypt, cautiously but surely other people, or rather, other monsters, appeared.

From a hole in an ancient tomb in a wall, came a woman appearing to be between 20 and 25 years old, very beautiful, with a Gothic look, black hair like her lips and blood red feline eyes that were almost glowing in the darkness. Sitting in an almost cat-like stance, she watched and lightly revealed sharp canines in her mouth, revealing her vampire nature.

From the entrance of a tunnel, a man, thin and tall, entered, wearing a large closed brown coat, leather gloves covering his hands, and the most disturbing were all his bandages completely covering his head and his glasses black ones acting as eyes. He remained suspicious but nevertheless assured in his posture.

Another girl appeared, very shyly, from the entrance of another tunnel. She looked like a girl of 12-13 years old, with short, wavy, messy gray hair. She was dressed in simple, loose-fitting clothes, but the shocking detail was the very visible seams on her neck, as well as her elbows, as if the parts of her body had been attached to each other. There were also scars on his face and two kinds of large steel nails going through each side of his neck. She stood back, very shy, almost like a child, and held a dirty old doll against her.

And finally, from a large hole of stagnant and murky water located in a corner of the crypt, slowly emerged a humanoid creature with a strong body, whose size exceeded two meters. It looked like a mix of human and fish, its scaly skin a grayish blue-green color, gills clearly visible in its neck, bulging yellow eyes, a massive jaw filled with thin, sharp fangs, hands and webbed feet and a sort of fin running along its back. The thing gave a deep guttural growl and took a few steps forward, dripping water and emitting a strong fishy odor.

Mathias and Ahmanet observed all these creatures showing themselves in the light of the candles, although the vampire seemed to prefer to stay at a distance from them. The girl with the stitched limbs and holding the doll walked towards the man with the bandages and hid behind him like a child hiding behind her father. The fish man approached and noticed the presence of the couple. However, he expressed a fierce and hostile growl as soon as his fish eyes landed on Mathias. The young man was not reassured but Ahmanet remained close to him.

_"Lawrence, have you gone crazy?! You brought a human to us!" said the man with the bandages.

_"Let's kill him! If he goes to Prodigium, we're screwed!" added the vampire woman fiercely.

_"No, my friends, wait..." Lawrence wanted to say.

But too late, the imposing amphibious creature advanced, ready to grab Mathias to harm him, but Ahmanet intervened and with her superhuman strength violently pushed the creature backwards, which flew several meters and hit one of the walls, under the stunned looks of the other monsters. The fish-man quickly got back to his feet, growling furiously but Lawrence stopped him by holding him by the arm and signaled the others to calm down.

_"Calm down for five minutes and let me explain, damn it!" he ordered them. "They were both prisoners of Prodigium, I saw it. Besides, you should rejoice because on this day, my friends, the one who was promised has finally returned. Here is Princess Ahmanet."

Faced with the announcement of this name, the other monsters immediately stopped their hostile glances towards Mathias and appeared in shock, all their attention being focused on Ahmanet, who, suspicious and protecting Mathias, made them understand by her expression that she would kill the next one who would try to attack her Setepai. Then, under the couple's gaze, the other monsters, in silence, placed one knee on the ground and bowed their heads respectfully.

_"We salute you, Princess Ahmanet, first born of the darkness and queen of the monsters." they all shouted in unison.

The queen of the monsters? Indeed, as Jekyll had said, Ahmanet was the oldest supernatural entity ever discovered by Prodigium, which made her somehow the first born, the queen. Mathias remained a little behind, contemplating without saying a word this most surreal spectacle that he was witnessing, and focused his attention on Ahmanet, who in perfect silence, nevertheless remained erect, firm and solemn in the face of these beings who now seemed entirely devote themselves to her. A slight smirk formed on the princess's pale lips, and in the irises of her monstrous eyes, a spark of flame was rekindled.