Anubis was slowly dying from Apep’s venom, as were the other gods lying prostrate on the surface of the waters, including Lily’s Amon. Asten was nowhere to be found, but I sensed his energy drifting somewhere around me, spinning and nearly unrecoverable.
Hovering around were terrible beasts born of darkness. They suffered in a way no creature born of the physical world should. Their bodies phased between life and death. Every movement was agony for them. They had no freedom, no choice but to obey the one who’d fashioned them from bits and pieces of both planes of existence.
Pursing my lips, I took in a deep, steadying breath and blew gently. A brisk wind rose from my mouth, sending all the half creatures back to the unseen dimension they belonged to. What was left of their physical forms changed into pure energy and drifted down like snow onto the Waters of Chaos. I knew this act would strengthen the one I’d been summoned to fight, but there was no helping that now.
When they were gone, I took a step forward and grunted, finally becoming aware of the injuries to my own body. One wing dragged the ground—the bone had snapped in two, and a jagged piece was visible just over my shoulder. Dark infection pulsed in my leg and arm where the creatures had bitten and scratched.
Raising my arms, I closed my eyes and pulled energy from the Waters of Chaos. It licked at my feet and rose up my legs. Soon my whole body pulsed with it and I could feel each cut, each bruise, and each wound stitching itself back together with power and health. “That’s better,” I murmured.
With my body healed, I could tend to my duties, the first of which was to take care of Apep, who even now glided toward me, mouth wide-open. “Stop,” I said, lifting a hand. Knowing I didn’t want to be distracted from my work, I used the energy from the water to form a bubble around Seth, Isis, and Horus. Seth was busy trying to unmake Horus, and the god seemed resilient enough to withstand a few more moments. Isis looked up and cocked her head in my direction, but she just gave me a slight nod. She continued speaking to Seth, distracting him further.
Apep didn’t notice this. He surged forward even faster. Now that we wouldn’t be disturbed, I closed my eyes, reached for his true name, and found it. It was almost too easy. Smiling, I said, “Thoho, you will hear me and obey.”
The snake immediately stopped. Coiling into a large ring with his head resting on his body, he stared at me with glittering eyes filled with hate. Who are you? he said. How do you know my true name?
“How is it that you do not?” I asked. “You have forgotten yourself. You have been told that you are the creation of Seth. This is incorrect. Seth lied to you. Took advantage of your fragmented mind and made promises to you he could not keep.” The snake stared, but I could see he didn’t understand. “Perhaps you will remember when I reunite you with your twin.”
It is not possible, the snake said. He is lost to me.
“Tshamut!” I cried. “I grant you escape from your prison. Come to me from the Isle of the Lost and be reunited with your brother!” There was a rumbling like an earthquake, and the surface of the waters tilted sharply one way and then righted itself. Out of the dark hole in the center of the waters, a head emerged. The snake’s body glided toward us then it reared up as if preparing to attack its brother.
“Tshamut, settle yourself.” When the snake came closer, angling so that it could keep one eye on its brother and the other on me, he stopped moving. His long body stretched across the waters. His scales were a light gray and his eyes yellow. A startling contrast to his dark brother. “Tshamut,” I began. “When I met you in your cave, you agreed to release the Sons of Egypt in exchange for revenge upon the one who trapped you. The time has come to fulfill my promise.”
Throwing back my head, I shouted into the dark skies above, “Abject Anthropophagus! The end of your days is nigh. Come to me and accept your punishment!”
A moment later, an object flew up from the dark center of the Waters of Chaos and drifted overhead in an arc. I spotted a thin filament of a web trailing across the sky. A giant spider landed softly on the surface of the waters, its long legs finding purchase despite the slick plane.
“Have you woven your tapestry?” I asked quietly.
I have, mistress, the spider replied.
“Then look around you. This is what your actions have shaped.”
This is not all my doing, said the spider. You cannot blame me for the choices others have made.
“Ah, that is where you are mistaken.” I turned to the two snakes watching me with interest. “This is the being responsible for your separation. Once you were Nommo, the twin creator gods that guarded the poles. Your duty was to protect the Waters of Chaos. Your long bodies wrapped around it in an eternal circle. The hunger was balanced because Thoho’s head bit down on Tshamut’s tail and vice versa. As you moved, you kept the cosmos in alignment.
“Because of this cosmic spider’s greed, the web connecting all things was weakened. But she couldn’t consume you. Instead, she uprooted you, tore you apart, leaving the waters unprotected. Then a storm came and a mighty stone plunged into the waters. This was the birth of Amun-Ra. The Waters of Chaos attempted to correct the shift by granting one of the gods the power of unmaking, but the two gods could not come to terms on how to balance the great powers of creation and obliteration. The chaos worsened.”
Can this be repaired? Tshamut asked.
“Some things can be repaired. Just as the Akh locks the Ka and Ba together to create something new, I can bind the two of you again. But to do so, I will need to give you a new name, a ren, by which you will henceforth be known.”
I turned to the spider. “Abject Anthropophagus, as your penance for the terrible deeds you have wrought, you will be transformed. You will join these two and trail in their wake as a shuwt—a shadow, a mere reflection of the being you once were. It will serve as a reminder that greedy ambition is a seed sown in the blackest of mires and only evil fruits can grow from such a planting.
“It will be said of you, ‘When the shadow of the spider haunts the moon’s light, it is a dark omen of chaos.’ Mortals will look up and know that to continue along such a path is a folly most dangerous, for it would mean the destruction of all things.”
Raising my arms, I chanted a spell, and the trembling spider screamed as her body transformed. Its depth and substance melted away. When nothing was left but a shadow, the creature slunk into the darkness beneath Thoho’s coils.
“It is done,” I said. “Now let us deal with the others.”
I turned my back to the snakes, who followed closely behind me and knelt briefly by Ahmose. Passing my hand over him, I willed enough energy into his body to heal him. “Tshamut?” I asked. “Will you give of your venom to heal the ones injured by your brother?”
I will, the snake said. As gently as a cosmic snake could, he carefully bit Anubis and then moved on to Amon. The venom he injected hissed and bubbled where it met the dark venom of his twin. The two canceled each other out, and victims began to heal.
When Tshamut finished Amun-Ra and Nephthys, I raised my arms and lowered the bubble. Horus’s eyes were glazed over. He was missing an arm, a leg, and half of his other leg. Seth was bent over him, sweat pouring down his face, his breaths coming in great, gasping pants as he struggled. Isis chanted feverishly over her son, her lovely hair tumbling across her face.
“Seth,” I said. “You will stop.”
Seth looked up, his brow lowering in confusion, taking in both me and the addition of the second snake. “What is going on here?” he asked impatiently.
“I am the Liberator,” I said quietly. “I have been summoned by the stars to bring the cosmos back into alignment. A grave mistake brought you into being, and my duty is to correct it.”
Seth spat angrily, “I am not a mistake! I am the most powerful of the gods. The only mistake is that I’ve had to take the honor that should have rightfully been given. There is no one who can defeat me!” He gestured wildly to the gods around him. “Not even Amun-Ra is a
s powerful. All creation must bend to my will.”
“No,” I said. “You will bend to mine.”
I said it so softly that Seth cocked his head unsure of what he’d heard. He studied me, and I saw the moment his anger turned into unmitigated delight. “It’s you!” he said. “The one meant to be my true queen! I’ve sensed your absolute power in my dreams, and I thought the sphinx was the one that wielded it, but it was never her. It was always you. You’ve come to me at last.”
“How woefully wrong you are. You insult me with your assumptions. I am the Liberator! You think I have come to liberate you, when, in fact, I have come to liberate the cosmos from you!”
With a roar, Seth turned his power on me. I could see the force of unmaking filling the air. It rippled in the space between us, transforming the matter it touched into pure energy that drained down into the Waters of Chaos. Holding out my hand, I cupped the energy and held it in my palm. It was beautiful. As glorious as the waters. I let it trickle through my fingers and glanced up at the young god.
“Who are you?” he asked, taking a step back in shock at seeing how easily I countered his power.
“This body once belonged to Lilliana Young. She was the adder stone. The light that pierced the darkness. I was drawn to her and saw the world through her eyes. Her gift gave me the ability to enter your realm. Your Nephthys glimpsed me through the veil of the stars, and I was able to guide her over the eons. It was your first wife who helped bring me forth.
“I have many names. I am known as Wasret, the Liberator. Some have called me Qetesh, or Hecate. Others have referred to me as the three furies, the Moirai, or as the Siren Who Sings to Men and They Must Obey. All of these are true. I am the mistress of the cosmos. Its caretaker. And I have come to make an accounting of your works.”
Licking his lips, Seth narrowed his eyes shrewdly. “If you truly watch over the cosmos, then you know that I’ve been unfairly treated,” he said. “My own family locked me away for centuries. Surely you cannot discredit me for reaching out for what I fairly deserve.”
“You are not wrong, Seth. Your ambition was fueled by hurt and misunderstanding, but you had the opportunity to rise above it and chose to steal from others rather than working in earnest to build up yourself.
“You have seen the choices you’ve made, but you shut out your son’s true power. Now you will see it. Behold the Dreams That Could Have Been!”
I drew from the energies that swirled around the Waters of Chaos and showed Seth his most cherished dream. The outpouring of love he would have received from his brother and sister gods made him tremble, but it wasn’t in self-reproach, it was in fury. He was angry that his dream hadn’t been realized in the way he wished, and he blamed others for his own failures.
Channeling Ahmose’s power, I showed him each forked path he’d walked and how each would have led to a more pleasing end. When it was time to show him the revealer’s power, I sighed, knowing it would change nothing. But Seth needed to see it. To help him understand all that he’d lost, the happiness he’d let slip through his fingers, would do more than any punishment I could mete out. When it was done, I said, “Now you know. Your sons, dreamer, pathfinder, and revealer, were given to you to guide your footsteps. To make you take stock in your choices.
“Every thousand years, the exile you suffered could have been alleviated if you had taken heed to their warnings. Instead, you pushed away the very beings you’d once longed to embrace. You attempted to create your own impossible triangle, thinking to draw its power into yourself, but instead, it acted as a gateway, giving me access to your realm so I could fix what has been broken. There is no balance in this, Seth. I hold you in reproach for your actions.”
I sensed the awakening of those who had fallen. Amun-Ra took Nephthys’s hand, lifting her to her feet, and the two of them approached. The goddess smiled and knelt at my feet. Anubis crouched down by Isis, taking the dying Horus from her trembling arms. Then Ahmose and Amon came forward and stood alongside me.
“Lily Young was the key that finally woke me,” I said and was very aware of Amon’s sharp inhale. “She locked the Sons of Egypt, your creations, together. The fairy gave me wings to fly from my place of rest to your realm.” This time it was Ahmose who stiffened at the mention of the one he loved. I paused only a moment. “And the lioness gave me her strength, that I might do what I must.”
Seth’s hands clenched into fists, and he ground his jaw. His stubbornness was irritating me. “You talk of what’s fair. Of what’s owed to you. I will tell you now that these six beings deserve more respect than you. They have used their powers selflessly out of love for one another and love for the beings that inhabit the cosmos.”
Turning to Ahmose and Amon, I said, “I am sorry for your loss. But the time has come for you to make your final sacrifice. You have given over your hearts already,” I said, indicating the three scarabs that ran shoulder to shoulder. “Now I would ask for the hearts you hide within you.
“Before you do this, you must know that once I possess these hearts, I will steal from you your lives one final time. Your physical forms will dissolve, joining the Waters of Chaos. You will be no more. This energy will align in me in a perfect syzygy so that I might have the power to restore balance. I will not force this decision upon you, though I could if I wished it. I would rather have it freely. Ahmose, Amon, will you do this?”
Ahmose was the first to respond. Placing his hand over his heart, he brought forth Ashleigh’s heart scarab. He pressed his lips against the green gem and then quietly handed it to me.
“Thank you,” I said. With the snap of my fingers, a tiny piece of Ahmose’s hair lifted away and dropped onto my palm. “I have chosen you to be my companion, Ahmose. Your body will die, but I will fashion a new one for you when my work is complete.”
Ahmose looked like he wanted to say something, but paused. He looked at his brother for a long moment and then turned back to me and nodded. It pained me to know that he wasn’t as enthusiastic about the idea as I had imagined he would be. I tried to comfort him by saying, “It is a great honor to serve alongside me. There is much of the cosmos we could explore.”
“Yes,” Ahmose said. “It is an honor.” He bowed his head deferentially, but something about his demeanor felt out of harmony. It struck a sour note that, try as I might, I couldn’t dismiss. Still, there were other matters to attend to.
Amon drew out Lily’s scarab, but instead of looking at it, he looked at me, scrutinizing my face as if searching for his lost love.
“She is not here,” I said gently. “I am sorry, but I have not chosen you. My selection was based upon which brother would live most amicably with me.”
Ignoring my last statement, Amon asked, “Will I see her again?” He took my hand and cupped it in his warm ones. “Will she be in the place I will go?”
I offered him a sad smile. “Even I do not know all things, Amon. But the two of you are joined. If I succeed in bringing back balance, then your energies will be drawn together whatever you become and wherever you go.”
Amon nodded and handed me Lily’s heart. I pulled Tia’s heart from inside my belt and opened both hands. The heart scarabs belonging to Tia, Ashleigh, and Lily, lifted into the air, spinning faster and faster, each gemstone glowing, the light streaking until the three balls of light became pure energy that shot toward my chest and disappeared.
I took off the strip of leather that hung tied to each shoulder. Embedded in the material were the three heart scarabs belonging to the Sons of Egypt. Anubis nodded to both young men, his eyes brimming with emotion. Amun-Ra was tight-lipped while Isis looked grave and Nephthys smiled tearfully. With the hearts of the three girls inside me, my emotions roiled. I attempted to tamp them down, knowing this was what I must do.
Before I could begin the process, Seth threw out a burst of power and transformed himself into a dragon. You will not take what belongs to me! he cried. I stood calmly as the dragon beat his mighty wings, rising in
to the air. He circled once while I looked on. Amun-Ra and Nephthys leapt back with cries as Seth blasted the air with fire. On his next pass, he opened his mighty jaws, the flames igniting within as he angled himself directly at me.
Then you have made your choice, I said. Prepare yourself for the consequences. I sucked in a breath and whispered Seth’s true name directly to his dragon mind. Ascalon.
At that moment, the dragon screamed, not only because I’d used its true name but also because Amon had taken one of my spear-knives, extended it, and leapt into the air, piercing the dragon’s hide in the vulnerable spot beneath its wing. The dragon fell in a heap, its powerful chest heaving, my spear still imbedded in its side.
I crouched down, looking the creature in the eye. “Your young men were the key to your defeat. You gave them your own power, thinking to take it back, but Amon has unmade you as surely as you were going to do to him. The cosmos had gifted you with so much that only one of your own making truly had the power to harm you in this way. It is unfortunate that it has come to this. But I will finish the task he began.” Lifting my arms, the three remaining heart scarabs rose in the air.
“Wait!” Nephthys said. “Amon must return the Eye of Horus first.”
“And the…the golden falcon,” Horus added, barely getting the words out. “She is more than just a symbol.”
I nodded. “Very well. Amon, will you come forward?”
When he did, Horus, panting with pain, wove a spell. Light rose from Amon’s body and took the shape of a winged bird. I heard a screech as the light transformed into an actual falcon made of gold. It flew to Horus, who caught it on his remaining outstretched arm. He brought his lips to the top of the bird’s plumed head and kissed it. “I have missed you terribly, old friend,” he said.
“Now the Eye,” Nephthys said. “Amon cannot excise it himself. Horus will have to draw it back on his own.”