Shining Brightly

It's happening again.

His slaves swarm across the sands of Abydos like locusts. There is no wheat for them to consume here, only his Horus Guard. In ages past, the throngs of humanity was once his asset – a simple race with simple bodies, ever multiplying, providing him legions of hosts and slaves. Now, humanity's strength has been turned against him.

He watches the Horus Guard fire their ma'tok staves into the charging insects. With every blast, a slave falls. With every fallen slave, five more take his place. Their weapons are nothing compared to his – nothing more than tools used to work in his mines. But they are so many, and his guards, for all the fire they wield and the armour they wear, are still human. Their bodies, so simple, can perish so easily. From his ship, he sees his guards fall under the throngs of his workers, forever removed from the healing touch of a sarcophagus. He can imagine their blood staining the sand of Abydos. Before long, he doesn't have to imagine much, as he sees their bodies lifted into the air. They do not fly, as their namesake might indicate. Before long, their bodies are dropped back into the sands, as his slaves celebrate their 'victory.'

Let them. They will all be dead soon.

It gives him some small measure of comfort as his ha'tak lifts off from his world's landing site. In mere moments, a second sun will bloom over Abydos. Its sands scorched, his slaves culled, and not even their bones will remain as testament to their passing. It is what he should have done to the people of Earth when they dared defy him. When they stormed over the sands of his kingdom, killing his guards, and burying their stargate. Now, his children come here, seeking to murder their father, the one who rose them out of the dirt and gave them civilization. Earth, for now, is beyond his reach. But the people of Earth will be in part responsible for the murder of their brethren, when their bomb destroys the people of this world. Soon, Abydos will be nothing more than a memory. Earth a thorn in his side. And him? Ra, the Supreme System Lord? Ra, the Sun God? Ra, the Bringer of Light, the Falcon, the Hawk, Ruler of the Earth, the Sky, the Stars, and the Underworld? What of him? How will the loss of this world eclipse the light of the sun?

It will not, he tells himself. His light will shine eternal, beyond even that of the stars themselves. He has outshone dozens of challengers to his throne – the moon, the serpent, all of them have fallen. As surely as Abydos itself. From here, he will see his light and fire and-

What?

His ship's transportation rings have activated. He staggers over – is that fear, he feels? Is that why just moving this host has become an effort? He growls, his teeth beared like a snake. This muscle is failing him. His bones are aching. And through these eyes, nearly useless, he can see it. The bomb. The bomb the Tau'ri brought with them. The bomb he had intended to send back to their world to return them to the dust from whence they came. The bomb, with red glowing figures that tell him that it is indeed counting down, and when it goes off, he'll be in its epicentre.

There's no escape now. No time to eject the bomb, no time to transport down to Abydos. And for what? To be taken like a beast of burden for slaughter? He is Ra Almighty, and if he is to end in fire, then so be it. He is the sun god, the light of lights, ruler of earth and sky. His eyes flash, as his end nears, and the underworld beckons. His entire body begins to glow – perhaps he is indeed the sun god. Perhaps it is a holdover from the body he once took as a host, before finding mankind. Perhaps he truly is divine. As furious as the fire will be, it will still be as nothing compared to the sun that shines over Abydos, or any world for that matter. And what sun god is there but Ra? Ra, of whom there can be only one?

The fire comes. Ra screams. The scream of the host within this body. The scream of the host itself. The scream of a god who, as fire and time become one, accepts that he is indeed mortal. Ra, who in a fleeting moment, is turned into a star above Abydos, such is the light of the fire he created. The fire he imparted to mankind, turned against him. Ra, shining in the sky.

And then there is nothing. For even stars must die.

So too, in time, must gods.