Renunciation of Papyrus

**The Renunciation of Papyrus** (French titled *Le renoncement de Papyrus*) is the fifteenth episode of the second season, and the forty-first episode overall.

## Summary

Papyrus has a strange dream - a call from the distant past. After waking up, the little fisherman sets off in search of the abandoned village of Sunu. Here he will have to learn the terrible truth about his parents and about what black role Pharaoh Merenre played in their fate. Unable to forgive the insult inflicted, Papyrus decides to renounce his mission and leave the palace.

## Plot

The episode opens with the city of Thebes celebrating Pharaoh Merenre's jubilee. Aker is at his usual tactic and plans to destroy the fine day.

Meanwhile, Papyrus is dreaming about when he was kid a village called Sunu. He suddenly wakes up in his room and is surrounded by Théti and Tiya, Théti has woken him up and reminds him about the preparation for the jubilee.

Papyrus informs them about the dream, holding urgency to him. Théti disagrees with his sudden departure, and the two start to bicker for a short time until Théti angrily steps out the door. Papyrus is annoyed and leaves afterwards. Tiya comments the two never change.

Aker creates a pectoral that will manipulate Merenre later in the episode, and hands it down to Shepsheska.

Speaking of the latter, he walks up to a room and tells a man named Sueb To substitute the cursed pectoral for the real to turn the jubilee to a fest for Seth

Théti sits by the palace pond and admits she shouldn’t have been hard on him. She asks Tiya, who agrees. Ratoufer greets the girls and questions Papyrus’s presence. Théti informs that he has gone off to "Sunu", attracting concern to Ratoufer.

Meanwhile, Papyrus arrives at the deserted village. He meets the "messenger", who has been waiting for him. At first, Papyrus is confused, but listens to the story of the village, with Ratoufer telling Théti and Tiya the same story back at the palace.

Sunu suffered from drought and famine, and the villagers begged for help from Pharaoh, who was young and arrogant at the time and refused to listen to them. The villagers grew desperate and rose up against him.

He has summoned Ratoufer and Aker to the palace for advice. Aker suggests to kill the villagers who had rebelled against him. Ratoufer, however, advised Merenre to pity. Merenre hesitated, but Aker knew how to flatter his pride, and expelled everyone (including Ratoufer) who disagreed with his decision.

Théti is mortified at her father’s past actions, and Tiya questions what it has to do with Papyrus. Not Even Ratoufer can interpret it.

Papyrus finds it disbelieving, and insists Pharaoh is a good and fair man. He then asks how the story is related to him. The messenger adds that two villagers had a baby and feared for his life. They hid him in a little boat made of papyrus. Then they were caught and banished before they could find their son again. Those villagers were his parents.

Papyrus is eager to know where they are, but the messenger turns away in silence. Papyrus’s persistence doesn’t stop the messenger to tell him that they died while in exile, and were denied burial, their souls still wandering around without peace. Upon hearing this, Papyrus is greatly upset and left dumbfounded. The messenger adds they want to see him again, that he is their messenger.

Papyrus prepares for his trip back to Thebes and decides to talk with Merenre. If Pharaoh confirms his story, he shall return to the village and follow him to his parents.

At the palace, Papyrus angrily, yet civilly, confronts to Merenre about the story. Merenre admits his profound guilt, and cannot undo what has been done. With care, he pleads to forgive him of his sins, but Papyrus surprisingly renounces his sword to Merenre (referring to him as a murderer), as well as his mission altogether. This has everyone appalled, especially great pain for Théti.

Papyrus prepares for his withdrawal from the palace, when both Théti and Tiya try to get him to stay. But Papyrus reassures that Egypt will do without him. Tiya says she and Théti will truly miss him. Papyrus states likewise and leaves, with the girls sadly watching him.

Papyrus returns to the village, and follows the messenger to their designated location. They soon enter the Kingdom of the Dead. The messenger’s eyes glow red, he is a demon of Seth and leading Papyrus into a trap.

Théti is mourning over Papyrus. Tiya steps in and consoles her, with Théti still hurt at the fact that it’s the fault of her own father, she has never felt so alone in her life. Tiya suggests that they go for a walk to make her feel better.

As they walk around the market place, they witness Shepsheska, (he was exiled by pharaoh several times) and decide to follow him.

Merenre is still deep in his guilt and doesn’t know what to do, adding that Théti refuses talk to him. Ratoufer, however, advices him to let Papyrus go his way, and prepare for the jubilee ceremony.

Meanwhile, Papyrus continues the journey, only to be attacked by Aker with the river shifting violently. The messenger causes Papyrus’s rowing paddle to break and he soon disappears. Papyrus is caught in the ride and tries to get back on current, but is heading to a waterfall.

Théti and Tiya are at the room of Shepsheska, Théti is suddenly pulled into the room and is locked inside. Théti asks what Shepsheska is up to this time, he ominously insists on celebrating Merenre’s jubilee and locks her in. They leave afterwards. Tiya checks that the coast is clear and lets Théti out.

Merenre and Ratoufer come before the altar of Horus, Merenre salutes Horus. Aker soon triggers the dark magic of his pectoral and gradually corrupts Merenre’s words to calling on Seth. A lightning strike descends from the sky and destroys the statue of Horus, followed by Merenre laughing menacingly.

Ratoufer tries to get him to snap out of it, but Merenre, under control, badgers him to step back. Shepsheska steps into the scene and surrounds him and Merenre with fire, gloating that Seth’s magic is more powerful.

Théti and Tiya show up and are stunned to what is going on. Ratoufer informs that the magic can be stopped by Papyrus and his sword and urges Théti to look for Papyrus, that he has fallen into a trap. She must do so before the sun goes down, but there is not enough time. Ratoufer instructs Théti what to do to get to Papyrus, and find a way to convince him. Ratoufer calls on Thoth, who then stops time but not for long. Everything and everyone around them are affected except for Théti and Ratoufer. Théti takes her leave, taking the sword with her.

At the Kingdom of the Dead, Papyrus recovers from the waterfall and asks what he should do. He then meets with the messenger once again. He questions his presence out of nowhere, but the messenger shrugs it off. He offers him instructions to find his parents.

Théti arrives at a river bank and follows the streak of the road of gold by Isis. She follows the path, but time is running out.

Papyrus meets with the ghosts of his parents. They urge him to unite with them. While Papyrus solemnly does so, Théti appears before him and stops him from going another step towards the trap. They continue to toy with his heart, when Théti stops him again, that touching a lost soul will cause him to be lost as well.

The messenger intervenes and urges Papyrus to continue on. Papyrus does not know who to believe, until Théti conveys him with his sword. That even if he may not believe her, the sword would never lie to him.

Papyrus takes it and confronts the messenger with it. The servant of Seth cowers at its radiant power and quickly turns to his fiery form. He attempts to destroy the two with balls of fire. He eventually perishes when Papyrus throws the sword at his chest, causing him to disintegrate.

The visions of his parents fade away, completely squelching him, knowing they were just illusions. He grieves for a little bit, Théti walks towards him and tries to cheer him up. They return to their world.

Time has run out, and things continue to resume their course. Shepseska continues to gloat his victory until Papyrus and Théti both transit to the scene and cease the chaos. Shepsheska is defeated and Merenre returns to himself.

Papyrus apologizes to Merenre, having to be blind and influenced by his feelings, even finding his renunciation incredulous. Merenre gladly accepts his apology and reassures that everyone makes mistakes, what matters is to learn from them. He adds that he is glad Papyrus is a friend of Théti. Papyrus and Théti smile at each other.

Outside the throne room with Théti, Papyrus is in quandary, revealing his insecurity about what is true and what isn’t. Wondering if he ever really lived in Sunu, who his parents were and what truly became of them, even his real name. Guessing he’ll never find out. Théti reassures him once again that will sooner or later.

Tiya and Shepsi make a visit, with Tiya wondering why they’re inactive on a holidays. Papyrus notes that she’s right yet again, Tiya gloats she’s always right. Papyrus is greeted by Shepsi and adds that he’s glad to live in a family of his friends.

## Characters

**Main**

* Papyrus
* Théti
* Pharaoh Merenre
* Ratoufer
* The messenger
* Aker

**Major**

* Shepsheska
* Papyrus’s "parents"
* Thoth
* Tiya
* Shepsi

**Minor**

* Sueb

## Gallery

Papyrus questions everything.Tiya gloats she's always right.