Nader stammered: "Well... where should I begin?"

Ali, chewing his food, replied: "We have plenty of time. You can start from the day you were born."

Nader: "Well... my mom used to say the day I was born was difficult..."

Ali interrupted him, shouting: "I didn't mean it literally!! Get to the point, and stop saying 'well'."

Nader, flustered: "Well... sorry... sorry... I'm just excited I can talk about myself without hiding the truth. Well... in my childhood, I was a little different. I was withdrawn and didn't have many friends; in fact, I didn't have any friends except for one, and no one else could see him."

Maryam: "You mean an imaginary friend?"

Nader: "That's what my family said, but I don't think he was imaginary. I mean, he was very real to me. I kept seeing him until middle school. He wasn't with me all the time, but he was often around."

Maryam: "Then why did you stop seeing him?"

Nader: "After I got my first ordinary friend in my life."

Ali: "Yes, and that proves he was imaginary. Anyway, what did he look like?"

Nader: "He was like a shadow. His body was like a human's but solid and featureless."

Ali, surprised: "And did he later turn into this 'Hushmat' or what?!"

Nader: "It's not like that. My life completely changed after I met that new friend I told you about. He was a new student at school, taller and bigger than me in general, but he was in the same class. Our classmates liked him because of his excellent athletic performance. One day, during break, I was sitting alone in the soccer field as usual, watching the others play, when the ball accidentally veered off and hit me in the face. He rushed over to check on me, and then asked me why I didn't play with them. I stammered as usual and couldn't answer, so he dragged me with him onto the field to join his team. I couldn't refuse, but I couldn't play either. Still, in the end, I was very happy."

Ali: "And this friend of yours is Hushmat?"

Nader: "His name is *Sekhmat*, and no, he's not... My friend was named Marwan. I don't know what he saw in me, but from that day on, he accompanied me everywhere, and we became close friends."

Maryam: "Very cool, but what does all this have to do with you and Sekhmat?"

Nader: "Marwan and I were cursed, and from there, Sekhmat and I became stuck together forever."

Maryam: "Wh... what?! Why did you skip over it so easily?"

Nader bowed his head and ruffled his hair, saying, "I don't know, I felt like I was boring you."

Ali: "You told us the details of a whole movie and skipped the most important half hour! Please continue as you were."

Nader: "Well... The real change in my life began when the school announced a trip to the Pyramids. Everything was normal that day until we entered one of the pyramids; as soon as I crossed the pyramid's gateway, the ground split beneath me and Marwan, and we fell into a sealed chamber. I was crying and screaming for help, but my friend, as usual, was strong. I don't even remember him being scared. He immediately started exploring the chamber, but in vain. It was just an empty stone chamber with small lights flowing from the upper edges of the room. A few moments passed before the ground in the middle of the chamber split open and a golden plate came out of it containing..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Maryam jumped from her seat and the ground collapsed beneath them; Nader quickly transformed into Sekhmat. The pit was huge and filled with lava, so Ali and Sekhmat quickly jumped to safety.

Maryam: "That bastard overstepped his bounds down there."

Youssef emerged from the heart of the lava; his skin peeled from the heat; then he quickly jumped out of it. Maryam looked away from him in the opposite direction.

Ali: "You jerk, you can't come out naked like that!"

Youssef, sarcastically: "Next time I'll make sure to drown them in lava before I come out."

Sekhmat, addressing Nader in their shared consciousness: "We greatly underestimated them. He exceeded my expectations. Aside from his ability to melt this amount of ground in moments, his pain tolerance is exceptional! His regeneration ability doesn't stop his pain, yet he acts calmly despite half his skin being peeled off... Whatever kind of training he's undergone has made him a high-level fighter."

Ali: "Are you going to stare at him that much? Can't you get him some clothes?"

Sekhmat opened a small portal, reached his arm inside, and pulled out a clothes hanger with a suit on it, throwing it at Youssef; the other raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Sekhmat: "I'm not your personal valet. Don't expect me to choose your clothes. Just cover that body of yours."

Ali: "But it doesn't even have a shirt."

Sekhmat: "You asked me for clothes and I brought them. Besides, what's the use of a shirt if it's just going to burn anyway."

Youssef put on the suit. The pants were loose, so he used the tie as a belt, and of course, his friends collapsed laughing.

Sekhmat transformed back into Nader and said: "I'll prepare a new stove. I can finish the story if you want."

Ali and Maryam helped him while Youssef lay on the ground. In the end, they sat down again, and it was sunset.

Nader: "I don't remember where I stopped... Oh, right. A golden plate came out of the ground with two cubes inscribed with hieroglyphs on their sides. One cube had the engraving of a hawk on its surface and the other had the shape of a wolf or a fox. I was afraid to approach them, but my friend, as usual, was brave. He grabbed one of the cubes and started examining it, then said: 'Didn't we learn some of these letters in school this year? I think pronouncing the letters is... A..S..K..M.. *Askam*.' As soon as he uttered this word, the engravings on the cube glowed, and a part of the Devil's Gear flowed from it and entered his body immediately, causing him to fall to the ground. I asked him, terrified, what happened to him and how he felt, but contrary to expectations, he felt better."

Maryam: "Don't users of the Devil's Gear go through the first stage of using the Gear? That's strange."

Youssef: "It has nothing to do with the type of Gear. I didn't go through it either. Some people just have the talent."

Ali: "Do you still have the ability to be pretentious in your current state?"

Nader continued: "My friend suggested I try the same thing with the other cube. I was scared, but I tried in the end. The letters were... S.. KH.. M.. T. As soon as I said it, the same thing happened to me, but unlike my friend, I felt intense pain, my body began to glow with a green light, and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in the hospital and couldn't move. They told me they found me and Marwan unconscious. After a few hours, my body started moving again, but I wasn't the one moving it; my body was moving and talking on its own, and I was just watching as if it were a 3D movie. When I returned home, I sat in front of the mirror and my body talked and said: 'Stop screaming inside my mind. Your little brain still can't hear me, but I hear your screaming. Stay calm and everything will end quickly.' These words scared me so much my eyes started to tear up. I remained powerless for about two days, until my body decided to steal from my parents and run away from home. It took several different means of transportation before reaching its destination: (Abu Simbel Temple). And there I met my friend Marwan, and his condition was like mine. There were many tourists waiting for the sun to align with the king's face, and as soon as what they were waiting for happened, my body and my friend's body began to grow and change, and that was the first time in my life I transformed into Sekhmat."

Nader was looking at the ground as he spoke, and when he raised his head to take a look, he found them amazed by what he was saying, their mouths even hanging open.

Maryam: "You mean this isn't just a mask? You transform into the same shape and size since you were in middle school?!"

Nader: "Yes, but I return to my normal age each time."

Ali: "That's amazing!! This is supposed to be a science fiction story, but your story sounds like fantasy. Your story is very impressive. With some adjustments, it could be a good movie on its own."

Nader's cheeks reddened with embarrassment, and he looked at the ground while ruffling his hair.

Youssef in a low voice: "Seeing a big bearded man like him squirm like that disgusts me."

Nader transformed into Sekhmat and said angrily: "Say something like that again and I'll make you regret being born in the first place."

Maryam: "I apologize on his behalf. Can you finish the rest of the story?"

Nader continued: "The teleportation power I use isn't ours, but the power of Askam's Gear. We use the green biological Gear, and I think you've noticed that, but Horus and Set agreed to create tools that allow Sekhmat and Askam to exchange powers. For example, this necklace I'm wearing allows me to use a small part of Askam's powers in places where the seeds we touch first exist, and Askam similarly had something like this."

Maryam: "What I understand is that you possess a tool that allows you to use a small part of the abilities of one piece of the Devil's Gear, but using your own Gear."

Nader: "Yes. Of course, creating something like this requires using the Devil's Gear itself to make it, and that was done under the agreement of Horus and Set. The original Gear's abilities have broader capabilities and almost limitless boundaries in use. For us, bringing all of you here was very exhausting, but Sekhmat doesn't show it. Anyway... Askam and Sekhmat moved to the Pyramids, and there Askam performed what he called Set's Curse. This curse was supposed to move the pyramids slightly until they aligned, then open portals in the spaces between the pyramids, and an army of the living dead would emerge from them. We were supposed to lead this army to control the country and punish the corrupt."

Ali: "Well... punishing the corrupt isn't a bad thing."

Nader: "If we used Set's definition of corruption, we would have killed 99.99% of Egyptians."

Ali: "That 'Set' must have the heart of a cleaning products company then."