I'm still working on the beginning of my stories. Some of them just suck. Hay...anyway, chapter 2 is up. Hope you enjoy


Horus and Anubis were speaking softly with each other, glancing from time to time any suspicious eavesdroppers listening intently at them. Unfortunately, they didn't notice the ghostly chicken floating quietly above them

"We've got trouble, Horus" Anubis inquired. From the top, he looked shaken up, trembling sullenly so that no one could see from far away.

"From your body language, I believe this really is a grave matter" Horus replied. His half-brother saw right through him. He put his hand on Anubis' shoulder, as if to comfort him "What is it?"

"Loki's back" Anubis answered

Horus stiffened up. He cursed softly, only audible to himself and Anubis. "First, Apophis escaped. Now, he's back?"

Anubis nodded. "Not only him. His sons, Fenrir and Jormungandr, are with him"

Horus was fairly disturbed "Where are they?"

"Tampa Bay, Florida." Anubis answered "Their essence hasn't fully formed in this world yet. Our worlds are yet to merge once again"

"Indeed" Horus turned from him "We should stop them before that happens. We don't want another war to be upon us" he began morphing into a falcon

Anubis caught him in the leg "You can't do this, Horus. Alone, for that matter. You know for a fact that Loki is still powerful even without his full essence. And you're outnumbered 3 to 1. You can't win this"

Horus scratched Anubis' hand. Anubis snapped his hand back. "I have to try. No one is strong enough to fight them but me. Their partial essence could make it easier, so I'm taking this alone. I don't want anymore godly casualties. Sekhmet's got her hands full" Horus flapped his wings and started to fly away

"But then you'll be the casualty. Even worse, you might get sent to the deepest trenches of the Duat. You know we can't let that happen"

Horus stopped mid-flight "Don't worry, I'll escape as soon as I know I can't win"

"What if you can't?"

he paused for a second "Then send the magicians to Tampa Bay. I'm sure they'll be enough back-up"

Horus continued flying until he was out of sight. Anubis looked beyond as the flying brown blur faded to the skies. He brought his head down and turned "You heard what he said. You better be prepared. He's definitely gonna need your help " He walked out without another word


"Stupid headrests!" Carter exclaimed as he woke up from his ba trip."Why do you have to be so hard!" the headrest was unnaturally hard, and Carter's instincts forced him to find a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, that position was away from the headrest, the only thing that was anchoring his spirit to stay with his body. Without the anchor, his spirit was allowed to freely roam around to wherever it wanted to drift to. And boy did it drift to somewhere...

"What happened?" Julian said as he barged in the room. Behind him was his sister Sadie, who had a concerned look on her face.

"Had another Ba trip" Carter replied, holding his head as he stood up from his bed

"You okay?" Sadie asked, shoving Julian away as she entered the room. Felix and Walt were now in front of the room, concerned as Sadie was

Carter nodded. "Yeah. The trip was...interesting"

"Care to tell us?" Walt asked from outside the room

"I will eventually. But can we have breakfast first?" he asked, seeing as all of them were in their bedroom attire.

Everyone nodded. The crowd around the room dispersed as all of them retreated to theirs. Carter made his way to the bathroom to get dressed, all the while thinking of the trip he just experienced

By the time he reached the dining hall, all of his fellow magicians were eating-scratch that-devouring their food. He wondered why they were so gluttonous today.

'Oh right. We just got back from our battle'

A fresh three days ago, Carter, Sadie and the rest of the magicians faced off against Apophis. They almost didn't stand a chance. With Apophis' awesome and destructive power, even an army of magicians will have difficulty defeating the near-omnipotent serpent, and Carter and Sadie's army weren't even close to what we could call a army. Barely even called a small battalion. They numbered about 50 magicians, not a even close to the number of magicians the House of Life could offer.

Still, Carter and Sadie's army charged Apophis head on. After all, it was the world at stake. They had a choice between living until the sun gets eaten by a large snake destined to destroy the world or risk their lives trying to incapacitate it. It was relieving how most did not succumb to the temptation of giving up

They couldn't do it without the help of some of the gods. Horus, Anubis, Sekhmet, Thoth and Bast opted to help. Especially Bast because she has grown attached to the Kanes. Set didn't have a choice, but he helped otherwise. The wind god, Shu, helped very indirectly, and so did Sobek and the other gods. But it was still a difficult fight.

Bloodshed is never inevitable in a battle. Especially a god who specialized in Chaos. Even for an enemy that was outnumbered 50 to 1, Apophis delivered a lot of casualties. Jaz nearly died during the fight, and she would've if not for the heroic act of Walt Stone. Others were not so lucky to have a knight in shining armor save them from a killing blow. Alyssa never expected it to land on her. She...died as soon as it hit her. So did the other House of Life magicians. Bast, even with her nimble feet and agile movements, got devastatingly hit by Apophis. When the dust cleared, she was nowhere to be seen. Sadie sobbed when she saw what happened. Bast was so close to them! It would take years, maybe even centuries, before she gets revived again.

Some just disappeared without a trace. They all wanted to believe that they just went away; went away from battle. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. They really died...without a trace

Carter looked at the big chair at the farthest right of the dining table, empty and gathering dust. 'Uncle Amos disappeared, too. He was nowhere to be seen'

But even with the numerous number of spilled blood, their army still pushed on. After what seemed like an eternity fighting in a one-sided battle, the tables suddenly turned. They were able to push Apophis to the center. Soon enough, they had him surrounded. With the gods and magicians having drained all but an ounce of their energy, they mustered all their strength and released their most powerful spells towards the center; towards Apophis. Being in the middle, Apophis had no chance of escaping, and neither did he move to do so. Carter and Horus tensed. If he didn't move, then he might still have the strength to dissipate the incoming spells. Or was he just accepting defeat? Both crossed their fingers as they wished it was the latter. Apophis showed a devilish grin before all the spell's made impact. Carter and Horus, the only ones able to see it, stiffened. A small, loud explosion followed soon after, accompanied by brown dust clouds that filled the atmosphere. When it cleared, Apophis was nowhere to be seen. The magicians cheered. They were pretty much convinced that Apophis was defeated; that he was sent to the Duat.

But the gods had blank expressions on their eyes and faces

'Horus said Apophis escaped...'

Carter didn't try to ponder on that fact. He didn't want to depress himself after a tiring battle. A battle they so thought they won.

They got back to the warehouse 3 days after. They didn't try to make a portal back to the 21st Nome, mostly because they didn't have the energy left. So they went back by foot. All of the injured were carried by one or two magicians. Even the gods tried to help, accompanying them all the way back. The army had a mixture of emotions. Some, though tired, had overjoyed faces. They knew that the threat of having the world be destroyed has been eliminated. Some were a lot more worried than tired, because their friends were hurt in the fight. The gods, however, had blank expressions. To be precise, they looked grim. It was as if the battle did not bear fruit, since not even one of the gods showed a sign of joy or happiness.

The magicians that made it to the 21st Nome sat in front of the dining table. It was once filled with people who conversed and laughed at each other. Now, not even half of the seats were filled. Carter could make out a few faces: Sadie, Walt, Julian, Felix, Jaz, Zia...Zia was still there. Carter heaved out a sigh of relief. Although he knew she survived, he couldn't help but relax with that fact. Zia hasn't talked to anyone after the battle. She looked depressed. After all, even she grew close with Amos, and his disappearance could've hit her hard. Still, she was taking it too far by staying silent. Carter and Sadie recovered quickly, why was Zia taking a lot more?

'Hey Carter!" Sadie called when she saw Carter standing still "Are you gonna eat or not?"

"Oh...right" Carter approached the table and took his seat. Sadie shot him a concerned look, but Carter shrugged it off. Sadie sighed and put her attention back to her breakfast.

"So...will you tell us about your Ba trip now?" Walt asked when the silence started deafening him. All of the magicians took an expectant glance at Carter. For sure the trip would be an interesting story. They waited for his answer

"In my dream...Anubis and Horus were talking to each other..."

The magicians leaned closer, gesturing for him to continue

"...They talked about...another threat in our world"

murmurs, surprised gasps, angered outbursts and depressed sighs collected inside the room

"You've got to be kidding me!" one of the House of Life magicians, Darrel if Carter wasn't mistaken, exclaimed in the uproar

"After defeating Apophis, we've got another one?" another answered

The murmurs grew louder. Sadie stood from her seat "Guys, will you please let Carter finish his story?"

Everyone nodded and leaned a bit more closer

"Anyway...they said that us magicians should get ready since Horus will be taking this alone. Horus said that the moment he couldn't fight, we step in"

"Do you have any idea who Horus will be up against?" Walt asked, waiting intently for an answer. Carter thought for a moment

"Loki and his sons Fenrir and Jormurgandr" he replied

"Who are they?" Julian asked

"Are they gods?" Felix added.

"Probably" Carter answered "I mean, they couldn't be a threat if they weren't gods, right?" everyone shook their head yes "But sadly, I don''t have no idea who they are. I don't know who the heck Horus is dealing with"

"So, we will be fighting three deities we have no idea who and have no idea what they're strengths and weaknesses are?" Walt clarified

"Looks like that" Carter agreed. "Well, we should start training right away. We don't want Horus to lose, right?" All of the magicians sighed. With only just a day to rest, they'll be off training again

"Wait, where did he say we should be going?" Jaz asked

"Tampa Bay, Florida"

"Ooh, Florida again" Sadie answered sarcastically.

After he finished, the magicians continued devouring their food. Soon enough, all of them had their fill. Once breakfast was over, the magicians went off to someplace in the house to train. Carter was the last to leave the table

He didn't mention about Apophis escaping

It was better not to tell them yet


RJS23423 here. Hay...didn't go as well as planned...

Anyway, care to review?

Signing off

Peace