Chapter Two: The Coming Storm
It became apparent rather quickly to Lily as she walked that the landscape of the Duat was not easy to master. In many places there seemed to be softer ground or even mud, she'd had to skirt through the edge of the fields to make it into the jungle beyond, and in that jungle she'd found hideous rats that scurried the underbrush. They bothered her feet as she kicked them away, though they didn't seem particularly aggressive. They were all headed in the direction she was going, running at her from behind, she'd long since taken to using her training foil as a makeshift machete, it didn't do very well but it was better than nothing.
The buzzing of locusts and other insects was strikingly loud, here in this part of the landscape, and it rattled her ears so constantly that she'd wished for a set of earplugs. Anth followed along behind her, occasionally moving ahead, she assumed to check for danger. At least, that was what she hoped he was doing, considering she'd had no idea what sorts of things could exist here. She was glad she'd brought her boots, though she nearly lost one to a sinkhole, there were enough vines in the area to pull herself clear, and Anth guided her the rest of the way out.
When they finally left the jungle, it gave way to vast, rolling sands that stretched further than anything she'd thought possible. Khepri had pushed the sun far enough that she guessed it to be about "ten o'clock Duat time," though Anth had corrected her, stating that time worked differently here. It was not beholden to the rules of the sun's travel above, for example, he told of a time when Apep, the great serpent that attempted to eat Ra and the sun every so often, had come to do just that. The resulting battle lasted quite some time, evidently, before Apep had been forced to spit everyone he'd devoured back up by Thoth and the rest of the entourage of Ra's defenders. He clarified however, that Apep's defeat had meant he had left the Duat, to realms unknown even to the Gods, and so far had not return. There had been no effect on the people of Earth, evidently the sun rose and they remained ignorant of such a battle ever taking place.
For her sake, she hoped to never meet such a being, but when he described it, a massive snake, longer than anything she could imagine, she looked out over the winding sand dunes that now lay before her.
"Apep...? Does his hieroglyph look like this?" she asked, and in the sand drew a snake with four bends in it's long body, and Anth nodded in response.
"I've seen it before, then," she said, and Anth quickly erased her drawing in the sand.
"Do not ever do that again, for the sheer creation of a visage of Apep gives him power. It is also best not to ever speak his name. Instead, we use a title here in the Duat. He is the Sun Eater, and nothing more, he is chaos personified, and those who worship such an evil deity are some of the sorcerers of your world. That is likely where you have seen this image before. Now come, we must go, before Baal arrives from the east." She tilted her head at him, as Anth began to move through the sands, and she jogged to catch up.
"Who's Baal?" she questioned, and his ears flattened. She had generally taken this by now as a sign he was upset, or frowning.
"He is the Storm God, from another land, he comes here to feast on the souls of those he catches in the open. It's best we seek shelter. I can feel his presence growing." So together, they continued along, mounting a dune, sliding down the other side, Lily did her best not to get sand in her boots, but when it was everywhere like this, it was understandable that she failed in that endeavor. She could worry about it later, when they stopped.
Anth seemed sure that they would find adequate shelter in time, but as soon as she could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, Lily grew more worried. It wasn't long before the wind had picked up, and it stung her flesh with sand coming from the tips of the dunes as they mounted one after another. Eventually, she required using her arm as a shield so she could still see. If only she'd known how today was going to go, she would've brought her goggles.
The sandstorm picked up as Anth's pace did, he begged her to move faster and together they began to run, a difficult task considering all the loose sand, she supposed this was exactly why Lynn had always done sprints in sand boxes when they were younger. She wished Lynn could be here with her, now, giving her the usual pep talk, telling her she could do it, as the wind began to roar around her. She could hear the laughter of some great being coming from around her, she could only assume it was Baal.
"Over here!" Anth's mind-voice beckoned, she could hardly make his form out in all the sand. It got into her eyes more than once, and though it stung, she knew the only thing she could do was press on. She had already pulled her shirt over as much of her face as she could.
Eventually, Anth led her to safety, a cave, tucked gently underneath the top of a dune, and she slid down the entrance without hesitation, her skin pink from the sting of the sand as she finally found some reprieve. She reached into her bag for her flashlight, and turned it on. It didn't seem to work very well, the darkness was so thick that the beam didn't hit the back wall. Rather unusual.
"Seems we've found Kek," Anth mentioned as he stood atop one of the many rocks piled about the entrance, and his snout pointed inward toward the back of the cave.
"Another one of those strange beings?" Lily questioned, and Anth shook his head.
"Kek is a God of primordial darkness. He cares not to effect you like Baal might. He is a benign God. It seems part of him rests in this cave, giving it this unnatural lack of light. Best be on our guard." He walked further inside, and, not wanting to be left alone in the darkness, Lily followed him. With the storm at their backs, there really was only one way to go. If this tunnel led somewhere else, it would be nice to know.
"So... Anth," she started idly as they walked slowly through the darkness, keeping their caution about them.
"How hard do you suppose it is to get to the Palace?" she questioned, and the canid looked over his shoulder, trotting in a fairly content fashion.
"Oh, incredibly difficult," he said, and she swallowed.
"What? How so?" Lily questioned, and the little jackal barked once, almost like he were laughing.
"Why, you've got to pass the Three Gates, and their guardians, and that's not including everyone, like Baal for example, that you might run into on the way. And then, once you're there, you won't even be let in to Aaru unless your heart is deemed most pure." Lily didn't like these ideas, and she swallowed again, her throat awfully dry. She decided to quench her thirst with more of the water she carried. But then again, if her goal was to go home, what was this Aaru?
"What's Aaru, Anth?" she questioned, and he let out another canid laugh-bark. His eye regarded her from the side of his face as he turned slightly toward her, Lily choosing not to meet his gaze in favor of scanning the tunnel with her flashlight. It was hard to pierce the darkness, but she could make out that the cavern was narrowing, could see inscriptions on the walls in the ancient cuneiform from before, coupled with other various texts, including hieroglyphs.
"Why, Aaru is the paradise of the dead, of course. Once your ib has been weighed against the Ma'at feather, you will know the truth of the purity of your heart. And, if it is lighter than the feather, you will ascend to Aaru. If not..." His voice trailed off in her head and she stopped for a moment.
"If not, what?" He spun around to face her, his eyes flashing in the darkness from the light of her plastic torch.
"If not, then your ka will be devoured by the Ammit, I'm afraid, and you will be gone forever, lost to the Devourer of Souls," he stated, like it were no big deal, and she figured he'd probably seen this happen many times by now anyway, though it was no great comfort to her to know that even if she made it to the safety of the Palace, death might still find her.
Her mind raced with the possibilities, and somewhere along the line, her memory was jogged, and she saw a vision of her sister, Lucy, fending off some unseen force. She was so little at the time, she was surprised she remembered it... Lucy had known about all of this. That's why she could read the ancient text like it was no big deal, that's why she'd gotten tense at her mention of the Egyptians.
This all had something to do with Lucy!
"Would my sister be able to save me from this place?" she wondered to Anth, who shook his head.
"Afraid not. She made it here, once, but she of all people knows that to do so again would be suicide, her body wouldn't be able to handle it. The Grand Divination she cast to get here was no small feat, which is why many of us have heard of her, which, by the way, explains why you smelled so familiar to me. It was easy to find you. But your sister, that one is special. The little girl who broke the rules... It's fairly rare that we get guests like that. They come seeking the Book of Thoth, and your sister was by far the youngest witch to ever find it." Lily's head perked up slightly. Did she say witch? So that's what Lucy was... A witch. Her mind replayed that day they'd spent alone. She'd loved hearing the stories... She remembered that name, Ma'at. She'd heard it before, to her it had sounded so fantastic, so wonderful, a name which dripped pure love and strength and truth.
She needed to find this Ma'at. She would know what to do. They started walking again.
"I sure wish Lincoln were here... My brother's always got it figured out..." She sighed, homesick for the first of many times here in the Duat she was sure. Anth was silent for a time, letting her wallow in her grief at the loss of her whole world, before he chimed in.
"You could be dead you know, and what then? You have only to wait for them to join you, right? Cheer up, dearest Lily, we will find the way to the Palace yet, or my name isn't Anth. Which, well, actually, it's not, that's just a translation... But you wouldn't understand the language of the Gods so easily as a mortal anyway." He seemed amused by his own 'joke', and she sighed once more. They had come to a more narrow passage and now the walls were fully visible to them as they headed down into the endless blackness of Kek, unable to see the end of their path.
When they came to a crossroads, Lily's light poured down each of the three tunnels, and of course, they could tell not which was the correct way.
"Just great," she cursed to herself, "Now what, Anth? There's no way we can split up in all this, I'd never find you again... And I think I'd go crazy not having somebody to help me, even if you are a bit... Err..."
He gave her a flat little canine look, and she smiled sheepishly.
"Right, well then... Why don't we take a look at the markings on the walls? Perhaps they can give us some clues. I would say I've been here before, but, well, out of everyone I've guided, you're certainly the most foolish to travel through one of Baal's storms." She bristled visibly, and lifted a finger to him.
"You're the one that's guiding me! I didn't choose to-"
"Ah, but you followed. I am but a guide, I am not forcing you to go where I say. That is your choice, just as this path is yours. Now you have a choice of three paths, and which one you take will be up to you. Allow me." His claws skittered in the dirt as he loped up to the walls and began reading for any sort of clues, translating them for her and being as useful as he really could.
"There's a theme here," he said, and directed her light up to the top of the tunnels.
"It reads: follow your heart, and you shall find Ma'at. But follow your Sheut, and you shall find that Ba... Ba-Pef? Hmm..." She was at a loss. Surely, she wanted to find Ma'at, right? But what of Ba-Pef?
"Ba-Pef, it literally means 'that ba'. What ba, I don't know, but I'm sure that you'll want to find Ma'at preferably. I've heard tales of Ba-Pef, a specific ba of a human which has never left the Duat. If it really is that ba, then it's a ba you don't want to meet." Lily gave him a puzzled look and he looked back up at the inscription.
"Your mortal soul is made up of five parts," he explained, "Your ka, the part of you which is your vital spark, that which makes you alive. Your ren, or your name, in this case yours is Lily. And as long as it is still spoken, it shall never die. Your sheut is your shadow, that part of you which follows you everywhere, that connects you to Anubis, and the dead. Without your sheut I could not serve you. Never let it be stolen. Your ib is your heart, it's the part of you that you must carry as a burden to the Gods as proof you are worthy to enter Aaru. Then there's your ba. This is what makes you, you. It is your personality, your ideas, your flame. To lose your ba would be to lose yourself, and that ba... Ba-Pef as he's called... Is a lost ba. The only lost ba still around. Without his ka, joined to him in the afterlife, he will never give his ib to the Gods for judgement, and he will never escape the Duat. They say he has roamed since the dawn of time, and he doesn't take kindly to others."
Lily took a moment to digest all of that information, and she stared intently at the inscription and at Anth. Follow her heart to find Ma'at, follow her sheut to find Ba-Pef... She looked at the ground, and realized she wasn't casting a shadow. Of course not, she was in the afterlife, right? Her sheut was probably holed up inside of her, or perhaps... Her eyes widened.
"Ohhh that's not good," she said, and Anth gave her a quizzical expression in return.
"I've been following my sheut this whole time," she groaned, realizing that indeed what Anth had said earlier was true. She hadn't questioned his directions, she'd simply followed the servant of Anubis, she'd followed her sheut. Anth looked a bit upset at this realization, how could he have known they'd come to this sort of a test? He'd only been doing his job, and Lily couldn't be mad at him. But she was probably right.
"Then, Lily... You must begin to follow your heart." She took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself. She had to focus on her ib, to test herself and her ability to choose the truth over the false. But nothing was coming to her.
"What would Lincoln do?" she asked herself, and rubbed her temples. She pictured him going detective on the area, looking for clues, and using some form of completely off-based logic to determine the appropriate path, which was likely not the appropriate path. Well, that didn't help much. But it did give her a feeling, one that trickled through her veins, one that filled her with hope. Lincoln was probably worried sick for her by now, and she wanted that truth to never be reality. But it was probably true.
She felt her heart thump, heavy in her chest, and she slowed her breathing. It thumped again, and she had made her choice. She stepped forward, with Anth at her side, and took the middle tunnel. In just a few seconds, she breached into an antechamber, and the darkness floated like a cloak behind her; they'd emerged from Kek's influence. But, it would seem, he was staying away for a reason. There came a sound from the other side of the chamber, and Lily saw it, a huge, ethereal creature, half bird and half serpent, slithering around, it's wings folded under it's long, crooked beak. She ducked behind a nearby rock, Anth following, he jumped into her arms and she pulled him in, keeping them hidden.
Ba-Pef made a hissing noise as he moved about the other side of the chamber. She didn't understand, she'd followed her heart, why did it lead her to Ba-Pef anyway?
"It's Ba-Pef," Anth confirmed, his voice inside her head so she figured he need not be quiet. Convenient, really, but she gave him a knowing look, having already figured that much. Now she needed a way to get passed him. Her? It? It didn't matter. She heard the crack of bone and the slop of wet meat as the thing fed one some unseen prey, and she groaned internally. That might end up being her... She weighed her options. Did she make a run for it? No, that thing was a snake, Lincoln had said snakes were super fast. Did she use a distraction? Maybe... Lucy had done that more than once to get her attention off of specific objects or places, she figured a small tunnel on the other side of the antechamber wouldn't be too hard to get to if the Ba-Pef were focused else where.
"Anth," she whispered, as quietly as possible, "I'm going to need your help here... You've got to distract him so I can get to the other side. You're faster than me, you can catch up." The little canid in her arms quivered with fear suddenly.
"W-What? Me? And ruin this coat? Do you know how long it took to-" she pulled one of his ears, and he rolled his neck to get it away from her fingers.
"Ouch! Those are sensitive you know." She rolled her eyes, then glared at him.
"I really need this, Anth, I don't feel like dying if I'm not already dead. Or even if I am already dead!" He was trembling still, but she gave him a hug, and then set him down.
"Now be a good Ushabti." He took a step, his ears drooping, and he looked back at Lily, fear on his face. She nodded, and gave him a smile, which seemed to at least brighten him up somewhat, before she turned away and let him go.
When Anth suddenly burst from the cover, and began barking loudly, she heard the beast move, a loud hiss accompanying a powerful beat of it's wings, kicking up some dust as it slithered toward the sound. She bolted, taking off across the floor as Anth stirred up a commotion, and she watched as he skillfully lead the creature around the rocks, using his speed to his advantage and his smaller size accordingly. She supposed he didn't want to die today either.
She could see an exit, though there were a few others, she ran for it, the feeling in her gut telling her that was the right choice. She crossed straight through the room, and just before she could get out of there, she fell.
As she'd had quite a bit of momentum, when her foot caught a rock, it sent her flying. She hit the ground and rolled into the dust, losing her breath with it, and stirring up plenty of noise.
Ba-Pef reared up on his long, snake-like body, and gave a loud squawk with his beak, before he shot right toward her. She attempted scrambling to her feet, but the dust was thick and her feet didn't catch right away, so by the time she pulled herself up, Ba-Pef was upon her. It opened it's toothed beak, and snapped at her, she jumped out of the way as she'd learned to do from Lynn, but it swung its head instead, colliding into her and sending her careening through the air. As luck would have it, she rolled into a downhill tunnel, off to the side of the chamber, and fell straight down into a pool of water. The splash refreshed her attentions, her head spinning, but as she sunk she opened her eyes.
Just below her, there was a light in the water.
"Lily? Lily!" She could hear Anth's voice, faint, trying to find her. But something told her to move toward the light. She swam down, grateful she'd at least managed to have some of her breath, since the pool wasn't so deep that she didn't make it to the bottom before running out. There in the mud and clay, there was something wrapped in cloth, a faintly shimmering, blue glow emanating from between the wrappings. She took it, it was hard and long, and rather heavy, but she began to swim upward, using one hand on the side of the rock wall to keep herself from sinking back down. When she reached the top, she tossed the object over the small lip of the pool, and pulled herself up, coughing. She flopped, wet and ragged, as Anth caught up to her.
"Lily! This isn't good, it's right outside! We've got to... What is that?" Anth moved to stand over her package, noticing the light as well, and she removed her wet backpack, tossing her flashlight in the process as it had shorted out in the water.
She carefully unwrapped the object, and her eyes widened slowly, as well as Anth's, as they beheld it.
It was a sword.
The blade was golden, and had an ever so slight curve to it, the intricate handle reminding her of the ocean, it's cross-guard formed into a single wave, either end pointed in opposite directions, up and down. The handle itself had a curve opposite to that of the blade, ever so slight, and in the center, where the blade met the hilt, was an inscription.
"Ma'at," it read, as Anth translated, and she ran her fingers over the three hieroglyphs.
"I don't get it... Isn't Ma'at spelled with just a single feather?" she questioned, and he nodded.
"That it is. But this has a different meaning. You're thinking of the Goddess, Djehuty's wife, this... This means Truth, Order, Justice, the opposite of all that is Chaos. The opposite, it would seem... Of Apep." She picked up the weapon, and as her hand found the hilt, it became so much lighter, like a feather itself, and she swung it. It cut the air with a ring, and she looked down at Anth.
"I believe you've followed your ib," he said proudly, and the tremor that came after he said that shook the whole cavern as Ba-Pef slammed against the wall, screeching his displeasure.
"But, I think the sentiments can wait. Do you know how to use that thing?" he asked, and she looked to her foil at her hip, disconnecting it from her belt and letting it clatter to the floor.
"I know enough," she said, though she doubted fighting some fifteen foot tall snake-bird was what Lynn had trained her to do.
"Think you can get his attention again?" she asked, and Anth nodded. It would be a difficult slip, but if it gave her room to work, then he'd have to chance it. He ran back up the slope, Lily at his tail as she fetched her dripping bag, sans flashlight and foil, hiking roughly up the slope, slowed by her wet garments.
"Ready?" she asked when she reached the top, panting slightly, and Anth gave her a look that clearly said 'no', but she took it to be 'as I'll ever be', and then gave him a nod as the signal to go.
He bolted from the cavern just as the creature was rearing to assault their hiding hole again. Instead of slamming into the wall, it twisted in the air and came down, narrowly missing the canid as he shot for the rocks. Lily followed behind him. Ba-Pef had gained on Anth when the shaking had loosened his footing, though, and his next attack struck him, it's beak clamped down over his tail. With a twist of it's massive head, and a yelp of pain from the jackal, it tossed him against the wall, his tail ripping clean off in it's mouth.
Lily gasped, but gritted her teeth, and charged, jumping onto the back of the beast. She slashed at it's wings, and it screeched, attempting to toss her off as she gripped a handful of feathers. She cut at the other wing she wasn't clinging to, and to her surprise, found that her blade bit clean through the joint as she targeted it, severing the whole thing as it fell with a dust cloud to the dirt. That had angered it, surely, and Ba-Pef toss her off, and she rolled through the dust, managing to roll to her knee. She used the sword to steady her as she got up, and Ba-Pef charged.
It slithered side to side as it went, it's one remaining wing curled up close to it's body, making it look far more like a conventional giant serpent as it winded ever closer. She stood her ground, but her fear flowed freely now, she wasn't sure if she could stop it like this.
Right then, the inscription on the blade flashed, and that's when she saw it; Ba-Pef had a blind spot, and she was almost in it. She waited to time it just right, and when it leapt at her, she stepped just a couple feet backward, which allowed it to slam into pure earth, and as it raised it's head, it stared in her direction, but she stood, sword clutched in both hands, waiting.
It sniffed the air, and twisted its head, confused. Then it swung the other way. It blinked, and looked back to where Lily was, the angle had changed, and now he saw her. But as he went to rear back and chomp her with his fanged beak, she didn't waste that much time, and with an elegant thrust, drove her blade straight into it's abdomen. It roared in pain as she dragged it up, twisting her body and practically throwing her sword over her shoulder to complete the cut.
It began to writhe uncontrollably, slamming into rocks, shattering them, sending dust flying everywhere as she shielded her eyes and backed away. Blood spilled everywhere along the floor, evaporating almost immediately as it landed in the soil, leaving behind a strange pattern as she watched it disappear, the remnants of where it had landed etched into the dusty cavern floor.
The ba eventually stopped fighting it's own death, the massive gash up most of it's upper body was too much for it to take, the wound delivered by such a strong blade. When it finally ceased moving, Lily ran to find Anth.
"Anth, Anth! Where are you?" she called, digging through the rubble. She found him behind, thankfully not under, a larger rock, obviously hurt. She slipped the sword into her belt, and took him up in her arms. His tail was leaking blood, and he was whimpering.
"That damn thing got my tail," he said, his voice obviously pained, "I never thought I'd see the day... I think my shoulder will be alright, though... My head hurts like never before." She had to smile through all of his complaining, the poor little thing had survived, and for that she was happy. She wrapped his tail up with the cloth that had been around the sword, and carried him through the cavern, cradled in her arms.
It would be about thirty more minutes, from what she could tell, before they breached into the light of Khepri's glorious sun, now slightly overhead, and she felt glad to feel the light on her skin again. She would let it dry her off. They'd emerged back into that large desert, dotted by the ruins of various stone statues in this stretch, and she looked behind her. Baal's storm had moved on, she could see now as it hit the jungle they'd come from, and she sighed in relief.
With one challenge complete, and a new weapon to help her trials, she felt more confident in herself, though her body ached from getting knocked around. She just hoped that the next creature she came across wasn't so... Dangerous. She regarded Ra's ark as it followed the massive scarab through the sky, wondering if she would meet the Gods which rode upon it's glittering golden bow.
Onward to adventure, she thought, as she turned to continue her trek toward the Palace in the distance.
[Author's Note: YAAAY LILY. This is fun to write, maybe I should do more adventure stuff some time.]