Mask of Bastet

According to legends, Chernabog created many Darkspawn artifacts to save up his power just in case he was defeated by light. One of these artifacts was the Mask of Bastet. Seth, one of Chernabog's allies, had a hand in creating the artifact. To create the item, he kidnapped one of his fellow Heliopolisian Gods, Bastet, and trapped her in the form of a cat mask. Seth then corrupted the mask, making it evil, and transforming Bastet's soul into a dark goddess named Sekhmet. When the first cartoonian war was raged across the worlds, Chernabog searched across the worlds looking for a suitable host for Sekhmet's soul to inhabit. He eventually found that host in the form of a highly devoted priestess of Bastet named Mirage.

Back in those days, Mirage was born human, and to human parents. Her mother and father were not holy people back in that time, though they were among the 'upper' portion of Egyptian society. Certainly nowhere near the level of the Pharaoh and his family, but they were not common farmers and did enjoy some privileges reserved only for the upper class. Back then, Mirage had another name- a human name- but it has long since been forgotten even by her, and erased from records.

As a young child, Mirage had always been fascinated in those who claimed to serve the gods and goddesses directly- and achieved magical ability by doing so. From an early age, the once-human mirage developed a fixation with the more powerful of the sorcerers, priests, and priestesses- and aspired to be just like them one day.

It took many years of hard work and doing whatever she could to claw her way to the top, but eventually Mirage worked her way into meetings with the ones she held in high regard. Managing to impress them, and willing to sacrifice whatever she had to in order to be like them, Mirage was allowed to become a priestess of sorts. One of many for a certain cult devoted to the warrior goddess, Sekhmet.

Mirage became a very devoted follower, absolutely amazed and enthralled with the idea of Sekhmet's power. The lioness goddess was the one who protected their lands, slaughtered their enemies, created the desert, and presided over certain women's issues. Mirage had always wanted to do something special, but the more she spent time as a devoted priestess- the more she wanted to become something special. In her eyes, serving Sekhmet was the only way. Mirage truly believed if she devoted enough time, sacrificed everything, and gave blood sacrifices in secret tributes to the lioness goddess- that she would be seen as special and worthy, and receive the sort of power she'd always wanted.

Back then, Mirage wasn't simply about mindless chaos. She wanted the powers to be able to not only bring honor to her family name- but to do her part to protect the kingdom she loved so much at that time. Mirage truly detested invaders and the enemies of ancient Egypt, and she wanted the power to be able to give them good cause to fear the mighty empire she was a part of. ( Another reason worshiping the warrior goddess seemed like a good idea.)

She became so obsessive in her goals to work toward what she wanted, that everything else seemed to fall by the wayside. Her quest to be devoted in order to receive the speculated rewards entirely consumed her, and it looked like there was nothing else to her. But, it worked out in her best interest- she rose higher in the ranks of the female cult devoted to Sekhmet, to the highest position a woman could achieve at that time- because, as it was said, the lion goddess was pleased with her.

It seemed like it should be enough- she now had control over the particular temple and could command those underneath her position, and it was something Mirage enjoyed. She decided to enjoy the power she had at this point- still lusting for more for true power- the kind supposedly promised to only the most devoted of subjects. However, she did not want to seem ungrateful for the position her favored goddess has put her in, so she started to enjoy life a little more- relaxed, to the point she was still faithful but not entirely obsessive anymore.

Somewhere along the lines during this time of 'peace', Mirage became acquainted with a foreigner known as Phasir. Though he was not from the same empire as she was, Mirage quickly found herself quite impressed by him. He was a strange fellow, the clothing he wore- the cloth covering his eyes, but he had a powerful aura about him. And for good reason. Mirage quickly discovered he was powerful creature, capable of feats of magic that she longed for. She tried to get him to teach her what he knew, so that the magic she'd always wanted was within her grasp- but he always refused, politely of course. He rarely used his own abilities unless somebody was in dire need of it, and he always warned the young woman that power was not all it was cracked up to be. That it carried immense responsibility, and too much of it could turn even the kindest person into a power-hungry villain.

Mirage, young and impulsive as she was, never heeded his warnings for a second. Hoping to change his mind in some way, Mirage tried a different tactic. Though young in her 'career' at this point, she was a fully-grown woman, and attempted to seduce Phasir in order to extract any magical secrets she could. He did fall for it to some extent, but he was always so kind, so understanding, that eventually the 'act' turned back on Mirage, and she found herself actually falling for him. Starting to care about him so much, that she decided she would not trick him in order to obtain the magic she wanted- and instead, would obtain it on her own means. Regardless of the consequences. Not only did she still want power, but she wanted to show Phasir that he was wrong- and that she would be a better person and able to handle the magic he warned her against using.

Thus, one day, she beseeched Sekhmet, begging for strength, magic, and power- willing to sell her soul and do whatever it took to become as powerful as she'd always dreamed.

Her request was answered.

Mirage found herself with magical powers-the kind she'd always dreamed of and hurried to show Phasir. He was not excited at all by this revelation, but rather saddened- telling Mirage that what she had done would be the worst mistake of her life, and that she had sold her soul and humanity for powers that would eventually consume her. Mirage, though offended by such remarks, laughed it off and vowed to teach him that he could not see everything.

At first her powers were put to good use- how she wanted them. She served as Sekhmet's messenger, punishing their foes in violent ways and offering up their blood as tribute to the goddess who had bestowed wonderful gifts upon her. But then, as things went along...The blessing turned into something of a curse. Phasir was right- she'd relinquished her humanity for these powers.

Slowly, but surely, Mirage's humanity started to dissolve. She began to shift in appearance, to the feline creature she is now and began to grow more violent- almost as if possessed by the vindictive side of Sekhmet that often punished humanity for petty reasons.

She was thrown out of her position of power as she started to grow more violent, punishing her own friends for 'petty' things that she saw as injustice against the goddess she served. Her magic was used to hurt more than help, and the more 'evil' she did- the less humanlike she became.

Mirage became furious at her outcasting, calling the ones who did this blasphemous, and that they would pay for their sins with their lives. Some people started to believe that sekhmet had decided to visit the earth by taking over mirage's once-human body, and began to follow her with this belief. The more people insisted this was what had come to pass, the more Mirage believed it; the more she believed she was a goddess reincarnated- and she ran with it.

A cult was established for mirage- worshiping her as though she were the reincarnation of sekhmet. This carried on for quite a while, and she went through generations of followers. Until, one point, It was something the other temples did not appreciate, and they started to view her as 'evil- causing issues when finally, after so many years, they began to broadcast their feelings and show 'evidence' of her evil. And her once-human nature Issues in which Mirage reacted violently, even going so far as to kill, maim, and curse those who spoke ill of her and her followers. In this time, she also destroyed any records that referred to her old name or life., There weren't many, but she got rid of them..It was as if her old life never existed.

As Phasir had predicted, Mirage was going down a path from whence there was no return. The more violent and powerful she got, the less love she had for anybody, especially him. It was saddening, but Phasir had hope that someday she could be changed. Until then, the darkness building up in her heart had to run its course.

Ultimately, Mirage's followers started to defect- because she grew more violent, more sadistic, demanding blood tributes and punishing even those few who followed her for no good reasons at all. Her first band of followers died off in Egypt, and as she was about to take horrible revenge- Phasir stood in her way, protecting those she would have killed from harm's way. This definitely destroyed her feelings for him, and unable to match his own abilities- Mirage fled to other parts of the desert. Attempting to seek followers there to enact revenge, but she could never stir up enough. Everybody defected and betrayed her, until finally she developed a hatred for humanity in general. Using her magical powers, she created a home for herself in a bleak void she called Morbia- vowing that she would punish humanity. At this point, she was so convinced she was a goddess, she had no need to be loyal or worship the one who got her there anymore. And it seemed whatever forces granted her power did not care- deciding to use her against humanity for one reason or another.

Over the countless years, Mirage has made it a habit to terrorize humanity- especially those who have too much going for them, or who are doing nice things for others. Because of what she feels was taken from her, she does not want anybody to be happy for long- ESPECIALLY a human.

At one point, Mirage was acquainted with the force of justice known as Aladdin. Ever since Aladdin ruined a scheme of hers to crush the spirits of poor villagers, she has consistently tried to destroy the prince and his friends, crush their spirits, and even on one occasion attempted to tear a rift between Jasmine and Aladdin. ( To prove how weak a force love was, for herself more than anybody else.)

However, she has always been defeated. Aladdin and his genie managed to defeat her on their first encounter, and no matter how hard she tried each and every time following that- Mirage simply has failed in her attempts to bring Agrabah to its knees. She also has failed to teach Aladdin to fear her, as she promised him. The vindictive creature she is, Mirage is constantly looking for ways to claim revenge on the heroes of Agrabah, wanting to kill Aladdin and his friends or crush their spirits for good. She is determined to prove her superiority.

However, Mirage always has time to ruin the lives of other happy people- and she's always looking for the chance. One success among many failures puts her in a far better mood, after all. Here, where there are tons of happy princes and princesses just waiting to have a tragic ending- Mirage will probably be like a kid in a candy store.

She is, as she sees herself, Sekhmet's judgement against mankind- meant to destroy everything they have going for them- for every thing they have done. She enjoys it thoroughly, mostly because it feels like she's getting her revenge. Since people refused to worship her, she will torment them and make them regret their choices for all time. And any human in a position of power must fall- for what happened to her.

But one day, as Mirage, now in her powerful Sekhmet form, fought wickedly on the side of Chernabog, the original Phasir's soul managed to use his light powers to destroy the original Mirage, and lock her and Sekhmet within the mask, making it inanimate again.