This is the first part of a two part myth creation story. This is my take on how a creature called The Salawa, or the Scary Wolf, was created.
Like always, the Egyptian desert was hot. That's how Set liked it; hot, dry and deadly. Of course he wasn't the only one enjoying the Luxor heat. But the God of Chaos and Destruction, Great of Strength, was bored. He was tired of humans asking, begging him for protection against the dangers of the desert. He was the god of rain, sand and wind storms, he liked causing disorder from time to time, but even that was boring.
The body of a rather large desert wolf, much larger than a normal one, freshly dead with hardly any bugs on it, was laying at his feet. Set sees its soul walking away with Anubis, the chief god of Death. Anubis was in his jackal form, a form more comforting to the dead souls of animals. Humans didn't think animals understood life like they did. Set watched the Jackal god and the wolf disappear into the Underworld, fading out of view, before he turned his attention back to the corpse at his feet.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be escorting the dead soul of the wolf to it's resting place?" Set asked as he turned to look at another rather large desert wolf, who was sitting nearby watching him intently.
Wepwawet laughed before turning into his wolf-headed man image.
"I trust my offspring with my friend." Wepwawet responded, coming to look at the corpse with Set. "His soul is safe, his body will go to the earth like everything else. Unless you have something else planned for your enjoyment."
"I want to create something. Something that people, human and god alike, will know that I created. Maybe making a creature in my own image will do." Set was looking at the fresh wolf corpse with a new idea forming in his mind.
"You'll need my help, Friend. I open the ways to death and life." He watched Set pick up the corpse.
"I'll call on you if I need anything." Then he turned and walked away.
It was nightfall, the stars were shining over the desert, the moon was out in her full glory. The wolf was laid out on a large bolder, near one of Set's temples. Besides the stars and the moon, there was a fire going so that Set could see what he was doing as he stood next to the bolder. WIth his new project in front of him, he wasn't sure what to do at first.
Set rubbed his hands as he looked at the wolf corpse. "How should you look? Like me, of course."
Set looked like a collection of desert animals. He had a long snouted face, like an aardvark, squared ears but still had a canine look, kind of like a jackal. Grabbing the wolf around its jaws, the God of Chaos stretched it longer, curving it slightly down like his. Then with his fingers, Set stretched its ears, squaring them like his. The legs were pulled longer and then lastly came the tail. Humans depicted him with a forked tail even though Set preferred his human body image. Splitting the creatures tail, it too now had a forked tail.
"Now what should I do?" Set asked, looking at his creation laying before him.
The fur was short but grey in color, not something he was a fan of. Going to the nearby fire pit, Set took handfuls upon handfuls of ash before he began rubbing it into the creature's fur. Large, lean and black, now this was what Set wanted. But his creation had no life, no soul. Though responsible for death, he can cause it but he couldn't create life.
"It looks like you, Set." Wepwawet said, walking out of the darkness in his wolf headed form. "But it isn't alive yet."
"I can see that, Desert Wolf." Set glanced at the other Egyptian god. "Everything has a soul, so must this thing."
"And how do you plan to breathe a life into it?"
Wind, air, to breathe one needs air. Leaning over the fork tailed creature, Set breathed into its mouth. At first, nothing happened. A few more breaths of air, nothing still and Set was starting to get angry. This was not going how he wanted it.
"Friend, let me assist you." Wepwawet said approaching Set and the stone with the body on it. "Let me open the way for you."
An incantation was spoke over the body. Then Wepwawet instructed Set to breathe into the creature again. And so he did, and with the air, Set blew into the creature Chaos and Destruction. At the end of his breath, Set watch as the creature's chest began to rise and fall. It was breathing on its own now. This elated the Chaos god greatly.
"Many thanks, Wepwawet." Set smiled at the wolf headed god.
"My pleasure, Friend. So what is it, a Set beast?"
"I don't know. Maybe tormenting the humans will earn it a name."
The creature opened it's large eyes, red-orange in color with black slit pupils. It stood five feet at it's shoulder, the size of a small horse. It looked at it's creators before loping into the night. Set and Wepwawet could hear the wolf-like howl of the creature before the distinct cry of a human sounded afterwards.
That is how the Salawa, The Scary Wolf, was created.