Yay!!! I finished it!!


Egypt Buring VIII



Anubis climbed the stairs to the Chamber of Judgment. He knew that Ammut would be there. Around his neck the Ka Crystal of Shai’nefer still dangled. Osiris had pleaded with him to help Isis, to save her from Ammut. However he had also warned that Ammut was not to be harmed. He had then vanished.

The Jackal God was unsure if he would be able to restrain himself when he faced his traitorous Servant. His blood was boiling with rage at the thought of what she had done, and his teeth thirsted for revenge for Shai’nefer’s death.

Stepping into the grand Chamber Anubis scanned the ornate room with his glowing green eyes. Ammut was sitting on the floor with the Scales before her. Scattered around her were the nearly countless Ka Crystals that Rehema and the others had collected for her.

Upon the Scale was a bright silver Ka Crystal being weighed against a glowing white feather. Anubis’s blood froze as he saw how unevenly tipped the Scale was. He gasped as he realized that the Crystal belonged to Isis herself.

Ammut looked up sharply. Tears were streaming from her golden reptilian eyes. She leapt to her feet and ran to Anubis. She threw herself into his powerful arms and wept bitterly against the soft fur of his chest.

“Oh, Father...what have I done?” Ammut whimpered in misery. “Mother Isis...she has not passed the Test! How can this be, how can the most pure and innocent among us fail?”

Anubis instinctively embraced the creature he had given life to from the desert sands. She shook with her tears as he smoothed out her lion mane with his padded hand. He realized that Osiris had been right, something more was happening here. Ammut was not the heartless creature he feared her to be.

“Hush, Child.”

“I can not do it, I can eat her Soul.” Ammut wailed. “She is more deserving of peace than any of the others! What sin could she possibly be punished for?”

“It is not sin that weighs upon Mother Isis’s heart, my Child.” Anubis said gently. “It is sorrow that binds her to this world.”

“Sorrow?”

“Yes. You have only recently tasted Love, in the soul of your Mortal. It is not something you understand, and that is my fault.”

“I do not understand.”

“I did not create you to Love, and I did not think you would ever find it. But I was naive. It found you and you’ve been completely transformed by it.”

“I have changed from a beast into a Monster!” Ammut cried.

“No...you are a True Child of Egypt now. Mother Egypt wanted this to happen, Osiris has told me so and I believe him now.”

“Mother Egypt wishes to destroy Mother Isis?!” Ammut gasped in terror.

“She wishes only to reunite her two favored Children.”

“How? How can Isis be returned to Osiris after what I have done?”

“Break the Crystal.”

“But...I do not know what will happen if I do!”

“I do not know for sure either, but I feel in my own Soul that it is the only way to free her.”

Ammut nodded, tears still slipping down her scaled face. She stepped over to the scale and lifted up the delicate necklace. She stared at the glittering Crystal for a moment and then dashed it upon the marble floor.

Anubis held his breath as he watched. The silver within the Crystal rose up from the floor in an increasingly violent whirlwind of mist. Ammut backed away, seeking shelter in Anubis’s arms once more.

From the mist a blue and yellow flame sprang to life. The flame spread into the wings of a great bird. The rest of the pale silver mist solidified and the sprit of Isis stood before them. She was so beautiful to behold that tears slipped from Anubis’s eyes.

“Ammut Soul Eater,” Isis said softly “Anubis Lord of the Dead...the last Children of Egypt.”

Ammut fell to her knees, weeping bitterly once more.

“Forgive me, Mother Isis!”

Isis stepped closer and knelt down in front of the miserable creature. She brushed her ghostly winged hand under Ammut’s toothy jaw. Ammut gazed up at her, trembling with fright.

“Do not be afraid, Child.” Isis smiled. “All of this has happened for a reason.”

“Are we truly being punished for failing the Mortals?” Anubis asked respectfully.

“We have failed more than the Mortals...we have failed ourselves and one another.”

“I don’t understand.” Anubis admitted.

“As the centuries have rolled by the Children of Egypt have strayed so far from their Path that we have completely lost our way. We have let Power and Greed over come Love and Mercy. Even you, Lord of the Dead, were being forced to hide your pure Love for Shai’nefer. Mother Egypt wishes to call us Home so that we might have peace once more.”

“How can you know this?”

“She had told me.”

“What does she wish of us now?” Anubis asked humbly.

“Break the Crystals, free her Children to the world Inbetween where they can hear her call.” Isis instructed.

With those words Osiris appeared. Isis’s entire image brightened as she ran to him. She enveloped him in her translucent wings and he took her into his arms. For a moment they seemed to become one and then with a swirl of wind they vanished.

Anubis left Ammut on her knees and stepped up to pile of Souls that lay trapped in their crystalline prisons. He held his hands above them and closed his eyes. With the power of his will he sent a shock wave down upon them that turned the Crystals to shards.

From the sparkling dust the multi coloured sprits rose as one, swirling, mixing, and separating again. They did not take form as Isis had. They heard the call of Mother Egypt and they went to her. When it was over Anubis and Ammut were alone.

“What is to become of us, my Lord?” Ammut asked.

“Your Fate at this moment must be yours to choose, for Isis did not instruct me to kill you. I also feel that your heart will always belong to the Mortals not the Gods.”

“I...I can not continue my work.”

“Perhaps you can if you truly understand it.” Anubis said with a sad smile. “Osiris told me something that I had never thought of. He told me that the Souls you eat are not destroyed.”

“What?”

“All those who fail the Test fail because they are not *ready* for the Afterlife, not necessarily because they are undeserving of it. Your Mortal Failed not because he was so burdened with sin, but because he had not finished what he had started. You are not the Ammut the Soul Eater...you are Ammut the Gateway to Rebirth. You are the true caretaker of the Dead.”

“What of you? Will you stay to help me?”

“No...you no longer need me. I have my own path to follow.”

Anubis walked up to his golden throne and picked up a silver dagger that he kept there. He turned and smiled at Ammut before sinking the knife into his exposed stomach. Ammut gasped as he cut the Scarab that allowed him to ender the Shadowlands from his belly.

Anubis tossed the gory Amulet to Ammut, she would need it now. Falling to his knees Anubis reached up to his throat and ripped the Ka Crystal he wore free of its chain. With his last breath he crushed the bright green Crystal in his powerful grip.

From the shards of the Crystal Shai’nefer rose once again. Having passed into the Spirit World Anubis stood once again, a figure of dark shimmering purple. Shai’nefer cried out in joy and wrapped her slender arms around his neck. Anubis smiled and embraced her tightly. From the shadows Rehema and Kafele materialized and came to sit at their Master’s feet.

Reunited once more they followed the others Home.

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