The Rites of Yig

Abdul Alhazrad was exhausted, all day he had searched these crumbling ruins in the heat of the egyptian sun. He had found nothing except snakes and broken pottery. Was this this truly once a great city of lost Stygia or had he been sent on a fool's errand.
The sun was setting, disgusted with his luck Alhazrad curled against a weathered statue of a giant snake. He closed his eyes and shivered, knowing his tiny fire would do little against the chill that settled on the desert after the sun fades.

A coarse hissing whisper came from the tumble of stones,

I am the Father of Serpents

I am the deceiver

I am Lord of the Nile

I am the Feathered Dragon

I am Yig

Alhazrad cracked open one eye, beyond the circle of light cast by his fire something moved. For a second it passed closer to the light...an unholy combination of serpent and man, gigantic, with a face that spoke of ancient wisdom and inhuman cruelty.

Alhazrad spoke quiveringly, "Mercy Great father Yig, I have done no harm to thy children. Spare me and ever will I serve thee."

The scaled thing moved closer and Alhazrad squeezed shut his eyes, wincing in anticipation of a death blow. The Old One's hand touched his forehead and Alhazrad's last bit of courage failed... he sank into blackness.

Alhazrad awoke the next morning, in the warming rays of dawn he dimissed the whole event as a dream. Then something caught his eye...scrolls portruding from niche carved in the snake statue. He must have missed them the day before, truly fatigue must have dulled his senses. He unrolled the scrolls, by some miracle he could read the runes as though they were in his own hand. The scrolls spoke of rites sacred to Yig, Father of Serpents and they detailed formulae that would give a man powers of regeneration and shapeshifting. Such knowledge was worth any price.....Alhazrad would keep his bargain with Yig.

Leaving the ruins Alhazrad noticed a great cobra glaring at him, he stopped and fed to it a rat he had captured earlier that morning. Alhazrad would go hungry that night, his own provisions were gone, but he knew Father Yig would smile upon the deed.