Prologue
If you happened to be outside Memphis University that summer night, you would see clear stars dotting the horizon, blazing brightly and as fiercely as they had ever been. The streets were silent, you could drop a feather and nobody would've noticed. The nocturnal bugs lay lazily on the grass, content on only finding the next meal for the day. Of course, there was the occasional hum of a car every now and then, but not as much as a regular night.
No one noticed that all, except for a worn-out and slight demented looking man looking out the window. He had a white lab coat over a disheveled looking polo shirt, and you could barely see the brown leather pants that hung bellow them. Glasses were perched over his nose, and he looked slightly out of this world. But of course, you would never tell that to his face.
He slowly turned from the view of the window to his computer, finger hovering above the keyboard. The usual help of animals were on their day off, too tired to type thousand word reports. Now what was he going to do-finish the essay on Shabti rights or submit the new law about burritos to Horus? He settled on Shabti rights.
When he was about halfway through the paper, writing a persuasive argument why shabtis needed pension, the knock of the door interrupted his chain of thought.
"What is it?" The man asked with a resigned sigh, still typing. "I'm busy."
"Argh!" One of the baboons yelped outside the door.
His fingers froze above the letter H. The silence seemed for eerie than usual, the slightest act of noise committed would've echoed loudly across the room. Why would she be here? He wondered to himself. "Let her in," he said calmly. After all, it wouldn't hurt to see what the big picture was.
The door opened. There was a brown baboon out there, looking annoyed and slightly furious. Beside him was a mousey brown haired woman, wearing a brown dress that resembled a librarian's, and dark shades covered her eyes. She had a coy expression on her face, looking like as if she had done something wrong and she knew it. Although her appearance was far different than her true personality, the man knew who she was. He could sense it from her aura, and the way she carried herself. Like a regal goddess.
The man nodded at the baboon to leave. Once the creature was away from the room, he cleared his throat. "Hello Serqet," the man said calmly. "I've seen you've collected a new host. From where, the Wal-Mart on Brook Avenue?"
"Actually, Target. The one across the street," Serqet answered, matching his tone evenly. "But we both know that's not the point, is it?"
Thoth raised an eyebrow. His color-shifting eyes seemed slightly bemused. "Okay, good to know. Now who in the blazes let you in here?"
"I have my ways," Serqet said slyly. "Trying to change the subject? You know I wouldn't allow it."
"Well, if we chose it to be, yes." The man turned to face her straight in the eye, without any humor or sarcasm in them. It was time to handle the real business. "Fine. What do you want?"
Serqet purred. "Thoth," she started, obviously trying to sound convincing, "You know that Apophis is rising. But what you might not know is that this time he will be successful. He will rise to power and take the throne. Not only will all the gods and goddesses supporting the other side will be vanquished, the people on our sides will be greatly rewarded for their services. I have seen that you have remained on your own side throughout the centuries. Now is the time to choose. Would you rather be on his side and receive riches beyond what mortals can perceive, or face his-and my-wrath?"
"Well, what do those mortals say?" Thoth racked his head for an answer. "Oh, that's right-whatever." He sighed loudly. "Take your scorpions and leave, for I am far too busy to bother concentrating on more important tasks than to entertain petty requests like yours."
"What, so the law on serving tea the proper way is important?" Serqet hissed, exasperated. "Well, maybe it was useful, Bast always insisting on putting too much milk in them in every meeting was annoying, and had to be sorted out-but still! This is more important than you and your trivial matters. And I know you know too."
Wrong move, old friend. "Apophis will not prevail for long. You know history repeats itself more often than not, and this will have been the third time that Apophis has risen to be beaten back by Ra. Besides, me being on neither side, I am still mediating on a solution to the conflict." The words 'chaos', 'order', and 'balance' kept reappearing on Thoth's lab coat, flashing on at the time, and disappearing once more. Personally, he hated these conflicts. Hated petty squabs over power. He was one of the few in the balance, the thing kept chaos and order equal and not let either get the upper hand. He had to keep helping suppress chaos because if it won the battle of the two forces, Ma'at would break, and chaos would rule the world with no hint of order.
Serqet's eyes blazed with a sudden fire, probably because of his fashion choice and his words. "Are you sure? How do you know he will not come to power this time? Because now Thoth, we have a base. Firmer than the red pyramid could ever have been. And now the enemies of Apophis will be how he gets his real power." She stood her ground, tense and waiting for his reaction.
"Serqet, you know even if I wasn't so disinclined to take a side, I would always refuse. I keep the balance within chaos and order, I make them equal. Chaos is always in civilization, as long as there has been a world there has been chaos, so order is constantly striving to keep the scale straight. Chaos on the other hand, chaos just keeps adding up and needs to be put down, it is always trying to tip the scales. I'm one of the people who go beneath the forces Serqet, hoping that people like you won't destroy the harmony that mankind has now- although still somewhat-achieved. You're asking me to kill or seriously ruin myself. What do you think my answer is, and always will be?"
She scowled. "Fine, I admit, I knew what your answer would be. I was just giving you a chance-but now you've wasted it. Go ahead, and watch the precious world you've worked so hard to build get torn up into tiny bits. And it would be a lie for me to admit that I'll be enjoying it all, sitting right beside Apophis, gloating over the victory that the future generations will come to praise and worship me again for."
Serqet spun around, heading towards the door, when she suddenly turned back for a moment. "And be expecting Sekhment." Serqet strode out the door, slamming it.
Thoth stood there for a moment in his chair, doing nothing. "That parting remark will cause you many sleepless nights…" he muttered, although he knew that it was useless. She was probably gone right now; maybe she had teleported to the Duat. Closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them, Thoth stood up and walked to a wooden closet. He opened it.
Inside were about a thousand miniature shabtis, made so well that they could pass off as he deemed so: from a magician to a monster, switching up their personalities and looks too. He murmured a short spell, speaking so low that no one could hear it.
Then, twelve shabtis sprung to life, rising from the closet. Their eyes glowed a dull silver, and they kind of looked like zombies in a miniature way.
"Find Serqet and harass her ceaselessly," Thoth ordered, a sense of authority in his voice. "Banish her into the deepest parts of the Duat if you are able."
With those words, the shabti shifted. Their looks varied, the one in the center turned into a bald old man with a fat stomach, while the one on the left morphed into a six year old girl with blonde hair and an angelic smile, holding a lollipop. The rest turned into people of various ages and races, looking different from one another. But they had the same expression on their faces: blank and dull. Upon hearing Thoth's order, they nodded without any hint of emotion, and stepped out the closet. He had to take a footstep back to avoid them treading on his toes. Like a pack, they went towards the window, three opening it and climbing out, the rest following in swift pursuit. And then they were gone.
Once they were gone, he sank back into his chair, exhausted. The events of the night were rather peculiar actually, more different than an ordinary night. He decided to ponder upon it.
He knew that only the Chief Lector was the only one who had the power to summon Sekhment, and that was only once in his life. Either she was bluffing, or she had managed to find out a way to get the spilt-personality goddess. They were gods after all, and they could twist, kill, bribe, and do other things to get their way. But what could they do to stop her?
Sure, the Kane's were doing okay-for their age at least. Settled down, had raised several initiates, but that wasn't enough. No, they needed more people. People outside the Brooklyn territory, some who could raise different forces. Not like the ordinary magicians in the First Nome, unwilling to trust the gods and to help them restore order to the world.
Most of all, they needed balance between the two forces. A thing that was so easy to say, but so difficult to rise.
He could only shake his wizened head and continue typing, knowing the perils that would lie ahead, but unable to do anything about them.