Disclaimer: I don't own the Riordanverse.

Serpent's Halcyon Days

Chapter 10: Trouble with the House of Life

Betas: None so far, you're welcome to apply

It had been such a great idea on paper. Go for a honeymoon to the Eastern Mediterranean. Enjoy the sights, visit and connect with the old centers of Hellenistic power. Stop by Alexandria to do some shopping in exotic Egypt along the way. Ophis and Alex had both been thrilled about the whole thing.

And for most of the trip things had went well. They'd run into some monsters here and there, but most were sensible enough to flee at the mere sight of Ophis. Others, well, Alex had never seen so many beings be vaporized before in his life before this trip. Though considering it was his wife doing the vaporizing, he found it quite entertaining to watch.

It wasn't all just monsters they'd run into though. The others they'd met along the way be it gods, nymphs or nature spirits all treated them with the utmost respect in deference to Ophis. If not for the fact that he could shapeshift, Alex was pretty sure his weight would have doubled after all the feasting they'd been treated to.

Unfortunately, things had derailed the moment they teleported into Alexandria.

They'd barely stepped out of the back alley they'd materialized in when a weird robed dude wearing a strange skull mask came up to Ophis and claimed to be a messenger from her Mother and wanted to talk.

That had confused the hell out of Alex. As far as he knew Ophis' mother was Chaos. How could an Egyptian monster, its nature unmistakable to the trained former einherji, be her representative? That said, Ophis seemed to trust him and had went off to talk, telling Alex to check into their hotel first.

Alex trusted his wife, which was why he did as she asked. He worried though and as an hour passed and Ophis still hadn't showed up, he decided enough was enough and went looking for her.

He retraced his steps to the deserted back alley in the city's slums. His movements did not go unnoticed however, and as he made his way back to where he'd last seen Ophis he sensed that he had picked up a growing number of tails.

As he finally reached the alley, his shadows finally decided to confront him. There were four of them and each of them looked like some kind of strange cross between a man, animal and inanimate object.

"Greetings Alex Fierro, Consort to Ophis," A man with a vice for a head and tentacles for limbs said as he stepped forward.

"Here to kill me?" Alex asked warily as he readied his garrote.

"No," Another monster with a flaming skull for a head and hoofed feet said. "Merely to deliver you a message from our Lord Apophis."

"Well, I don't want to hear it." Alex informed them as he lashed out with his deadly wire and beheaded a monster with a rubber duck for a head. The Consort of Ophis turned to face his remaining opponents without looking back as Mr Ducky became a mound of sand.

"Wait! We're not your en-" The last monster, one with a chair for a head said before he was sent flying by a spontaneous explosion. He was just getting to his feet when a loud voice shouted from nearby.

"A'max!" At the exclamation the chair faced monster died in a blaze of fire and its body disintegrated into a pile of sand.

Turning to the source of the magic, Alex saw a tall, barrel-shaped man with skin the color of roasted coffee running towards the fight. He was wearing a crimson suit, red-tinted sunglasses, and had garnets braided into his hair. Though what made his appearance truly outlandish was the long leopard-skin cape. Alex greatly approved of the man's fashion sense.

"The Chief Lector!" Viceface said, leaving himself open as he spun to face the approaching man in shock. Alex unwilling to let the opportunity go, morphed into a bear and bowled the wannabe octopus over before shifting back into his human form and swiftly decapitating him with his garrote.

Flaming skull reached out to grab Alex but even as he spun out of the way, the monster was sent flying by a cry of "Ha-wi!" from the magic user.

Lashing out at the last monster with his garrote even as it flew through the air, Alex cut it into pieces even before it hit the ground thus reducing it to a cloud of sand.

As the last of the monsters were dealt with, Alex and the man eyed each other warily. The magic user might have helped him deal with the monsters, but that didn't mean he wasn't an enemy too.

"So who are you?" Alex asked, readying himself to shift into another form in case he needed to.

"Amos Kane, Chief Lector of the House of Life." The cape wearing man said with a encouraging smile. "You?"

"Alex Fierro. Any ideas what those monsters were? I'm not familiar with their type."

Kane blinked in surprise at that, but seemed to recover his wits quickly enough. "Is that so? Well, I think you'd best come with me to the First Nome. It's safer to explain things there."

"And for you to ask me questions, right?"

"You've caught me." The magic user said with a smile. "So will you come?"

Alex considered his options. He could refuse, at which point he might just risk making an enemy of this man and whatever organization this House of Life he represented was. Something that would undoubtedly cause Ophis quite a few headaches down the road. Or he could play along for now and hope that they were a reasonable bunch and would let him go once he'd cleared things up. It was risky, they could try to harm him but he was confident he could take care of himself. Plus on the off chance that he couldn't, hurting him would unambiguously make them the bad guys and Ophis would have no qualms crushing them like bugs.

With that in mind, he agreed. "Well, lead the way."

Ten minutes after the fight concluded, Ophis arrived at the scene with her demon guide in tow. Surveying the area, she could not help but frown. Alex's scent was here but so was those of four demons and an unfamiliar male that reeked of Egyptian magic and the touch of a god of desert storms. All of which mixed together in a way that was unmistakably that of a fight.

"What in mother's name happened here?" Ophis asked as she turned to glare at the demon.

Flinching at her look, the skull masked demon prostrated itself before her. "Apologies Great One, but I do not know. All I know is that four of my compatriots who had been tasked to protect your Consort tried to speak to him here."

"About what?"

"To deliver a message from Lord Apophis."

Ophis palmed her face in frustration, she had a good idea what her mother wanted to tell her husband.

Great. Mum tries to give Alex the shovel talk and now he's been kidnapped. Ophis thought with a hint of annoyance. And why did Mum even feel the need to distract me with idle chit chat anyways? And why did I let her? Or convince me that I needed to speak to her alone?

Groaning at her own foolishness for going off to speak to her mother through the use of her servant as a mouthpiece and leaving Alex alone in a dangerous, unfamiliar place, Ophis glared at the demon.

"Let me guess, they weren't discrete and caught the attention of a Shesh?"

"It would appear so, Great One."

Returning to surveying the scene, Ophis took a deep breath to sample the area's scents and construct in her mind what happened here. It seemed that after defeating the demons, the Egyptian Magician had taken Alex with him.

If the scents are right, Alex used his shapeshifting. Ophis concluded. And if I was a Magician and saw something like that I'd assume he was a fellow Magician. But Alex isn't and any simple questioning will prove that, which will just raise more questions. That being the case, the smart thing to do would be to take him someplace secure and clarify things.

"Tell me. Where would a Magician take someone for questioning?"

The demon was thoughtful for a moment, before he replied. "Any safehouse would do, however my fellows have been watching all those throughout Egypt since Master Alex's disappearance and there is no trace of him. That means that unless we missed one-"

"How likely is that?"

"Slim, Great One. The Magicians are hardly as subtle as they believe themselves to be and they underestimate us. We keep a close watch on their activities, especially so since our Lord told us to prepare for your visit."

Ophis nodded, satisfied. Besides, her own scrying for Alex indicated he was not anywhere as mundane. It was clouded as if obstructed by powerful wards, but her powers showed he was in some kind of underground city.

"What about a underground city? Does the House of Life have one of those."

"You describe the First Nome, Great One. The seat of the Per Ankh's power. If Master Alex is there, rescuing him will be im-" The demon hesitated as Ophis glared at him, before hastily correcting himself. "Difficult. I meant, difficult."

"We shall see about that." Ophis said, her eyes blazing with her power.

Alex had to admit this First Nome place was pretty cool. It was a vast underground city of halls and chambers with ceilings that soared to twenty or thirty feet. Each chamber was lined with massive stone columns painted to resemble palm trees with carved green fronds at the top. There were hundreds of copper braziers of all sizes scattered throughout the caverns that provided all the lighting the place seemed to need. It had the feel of an underground 'open-air market' that was full of magicians bustling between stalls that sold things like wands, statues, parrots, cobras, papyrus scrolls, hundreds of different glittering amulets and all manner of strange Egyptian themed magical items.

It had nothing on Hotel Valhalla with its ever growing number of floors and myriad of out of this world activities or even Ogygia with its vast temple city dedicated to Ophis but it was still pretty damn amazing compared to the mundane world.

Not that Alex had been given the chance to explore it much after being frogmarched through a portal and into this place. Almost as soon as he'd arrived, Amos and a growing retinue of his subordinates had escorted him into a building at the edge of town that from the cells he glimpsed in passing, was some kind of jail. Eventually, he was led into a interview room straight out of a low budget crime drama complete with single nondescript table and flimsy looking lamp hanging from the ceiling with only Amos for company.

After that, Amos and Alex had chatted. Trying with little luck to gel their understandings of the world. Amos had explained about the Egyptian gods, the Duat and Egyptian magic and Alex had processed that easily enough. As a former einherji and a child of Loki who happened to be married to the Hellenistic primordial of Time and Space, wrapping his head around another mythos wasn't too difficult.

It was explaining that other mythos existed to Amos that was proving difficult. The man could grasp that gods and monsters from other pantheons existed, but he had kept trying to rationalize their existence into the frame of reference that he'd known all his life. As a result, he kept asking questions about the mechanics of things that Alex had no idea about.

How did Tartarus relate to the Land of Demons? Heck, if Alex knew! He didn't even know there was a Land of Demons until Amos told him about it.

At least, Amos seemed to believe what Alex had to say. So as frustrating as trying to assuage the man's curiosity was, he was thankful enough that he wasn't being regarded as an enemy to try his best to answer the man's many questions. For now.

Ophis, how long more do I need to wait? Alex thought to himself as the Magician asked yet another question.

Give me a second. Ophis' voice echoed in Alex's mind unexpectedly. These wards are tricky.

"Ophis?" Alex said out loud, looking around the spartan interview room.

"I beg your pardon?" Amos said, surprised by Alex's non sequitur.

Turning to the Magician, Alex realized he should give the man some fair warning before his wife made her inevitable dramatic appearance.

"Amos, I think my wife's found me. You might want to warn everyone not to panic when she-"

Alex never got to finish his warning before suddenly the whole First Nome shuddered. Amos immediately jumped to his feet in alarm but stopped himself when Ophis materialized next to Alex.

"Alex!" His wife cried out in relief as she threw herself into his arms.

"I'm alright. Sorry if I worried you." Alex told her apologetically as he hugged her back and rubbed comforting circles on her back.

While the couple had a happy reunion, Amos was mustering his magic. Cloaking himself in the avatar of his patron god, he prepared for a fight. He became the core of a vaguely human form that was part sandstorm and part fire. In the avatar's hands appeared a ten-meter black iron staff that he immediately leveled at Ophis.

"I don't know who you are intruder." Amos bellowed down from within his avatar even as it stood to its full height, destroying the jail in the process.

"That's cool magic." Alex noted offhandedly even as Ophis erected a barrier around them to shield them from the falling debris of the collapsed jail.

"Maybe, but he could stand to be more careful. Then again, it seems he had the sense to evacuate the building when he brought you in." Ophis noted with a frown. "Otherwise, who knows how many people would be killed when the building came down."

Ignoring the couple's byplay, Amos shot lightning at their protective bubble. "But I will not let you trespass into the First Nome without consequence."

"He's being manipulated by Set." Ophis said, her frown growing deeper as she fired a beam of energy that sent Amos flying into the cavern wall. "The Red God wants to fight me."

"Can you help him?" Alex asked. Amos might be attacking them but from what he could tell from his interactions with him so far, he was a good man. If he was being controlled by someone, then Alex hoped they could help him.

"I'll see what I can do," Ophis said with a smile as she summoned her wings and floated into the air like an angel.

In the distance, Alex spotted a large number of Magicians running towards the battle but Ophis handily took care of that by shifting the battle into a pocket dimension leaving only the two of them and Amos inside.

"Set, release the Magician at once!" Ophis demanded. "Have you forgotten Ra's decree?"

The avatar just laughed insanely as the Egyptian god of Evil and Chaos dropped the facade.

"Who cares what the old man had to say!" The god replied, his voice unlike Amos' was dark and full of evil intent. "I won't miss the chance to fight the newest, most talked about goddess in the world."

Alex shook his head, what was with warrior gods and their obsession with fighting. Having originally been Norse, he could definitely appreciate a good fight now and then, but the war gods and their lust of battle went well beyond reason.

"Then I'll just have to force you out of that body and back into the Duat." Ophis told the god, as she flapped her wings and sent hundreds of beams of pencil thin energy curving through the air towards the possessed Magician.

The Egyptian responded by slamming his staff into the ground and unleashing a storm of red lightning that arced in the air deliberately to meet each and every one of Ophis' beams, cancelling them out.

Taking the initiative, the god tossed his staff like a javelin but Ophis just used one of her wings to bat it aside. Set had used the distraction he'd created to close the distance however and with his hands shrouded in flames he reached out to pull Ophis from the sky.

Unfazed she just hit him with another large beam of energy that once more sent the avatar crashing back into the cavern wall. This time though, she didn't let up and kept the beam going. Set screamed in pain and frustration as he struggled futilely against the beam as it continually pressed him against the rock face and ate away at his avatar.

With the god immobilized and the fight essentially over, Ophis turned to Alex.

Before she could say anything though, Alex jumped in. Considering this was all her fault, there was no way he was going to let her go first.

"This is all your mum's fault." Alex accused. "She sent some of her demons to give me a shovel talk."

"I guessed as much." Ophis said with a apologetic shake of her head. "Sorry about having to put you through another one."

"It didn't even get started." Alex confessed. "I thought the demons were out to kill me or something so I attacked them. Then Amos got involved and here we are."

Ophis groaned in annoyance.

"By the way, when do you get one?"

"A shovel talk?"

"Yup." Alex said with a teasing grin. "If I keep getting them, shouldn't you get at least one?"

"I did. Magnus, Sam and your friends tried but their threats just made me laugh. Jormungand tried too, though since he'll be sleeping till the end of the world I couldn't take him seriously either."

Alex sighed. He really needed scarier friends.

"I figured it would go something like that. It's still unfair though."

"Want me to go visit your mum?" Ophis offered. "I'm sure Loki can do better."

"Please don't even joke about that!"

Ophis just giggled at his expense. If it was anyone else using Loki to joke around with him, Alex would have been offended. His wife was the sole exception, he enjoyed listening to her laugh far too much to put limits on what could be said to illicit that wonderful sound from her.

"Oh! Looks like Set is done." Ophis said suddenly, as she cut off her beam and let Amos' battered body fall to the ground. She caught him with a little telekinesis and brought him over to check him over for injuries even as she landed and dismissed her wings and the protective shield bubble keeping him safe.

The Magician was passed out but looked otherwise unharmed. Ophis nevertheless healed him with a burst of her power.

"Ugh. What happened." The Chief Lector said as he regained consciousness.

"Set briefly possessed you to pick a fight with me." Ophis informed the man with a glare.

Amos just nodded. "And likely influenced me to bring your husband to the First Nome to make it possible."

"I don't understand."

"It's simple, Alex, the Egyptian gods have by decree of their king retreated deep into the Duat - their godly plane - so they can't easily access the mortal plane anymore." Ophis explained. "But here-"

"They can." Amos picked up the explanation as he pushed himself to his feet. "This is the heart of Egyptian magic. There are few places where the realm of the gods intersect more closely with the mortal world."

Alex nodded. That made sense and cleared up why Amos had been reckless enough to bring an unknown all the way to the headquarters of his organization.

"Should you be worried about Set possessing you again?"

"I don't know." Amos confessed worriedly.

"You shouldn't." Ophis reassured him. "I'll send a missive to Ra and Horus. They'll make sure Set obeys the decree to stay away from the mortal world."

"Thank you, Lady Ophis." Amos said with a bow. "But somehow I find it difficult to accept the generosity of someone known to associate with demons."

Alex was ready to jump to his wife's defense but Ophis beat him to it.

Glaring at the Magician, she replied in a frigid voice. "It's none of your business, Magician, if I choose to work with my mother's servants. Question me on this matter again and you'll regret it."

What that ultimatum, Ophis grabbed Alex's hand and they teleported away.

After Alex and his wife had departed, Amos found himself once more in the true First Nome as Ophis' pocket dimension collapsed upon her departure and in the middle of a crowd of his worried peers. Turning to assuage their fears, he couldn't help the one growing within him. From his interactions with the young man, Alex was a good person but he was blinded by love. He could not trust the man's judgement of his wife.

Especially when said primordial had the power to toy with a god as powerful as Set. Amos was no fool and he knew full well that the Greek goddess had not taken the fight with his patron seriously at all and yet managed to almost effortlessly defeat him.

Though ironically it was this fact that allowed Amos to hide the fact that Set had possessed him once more. Instead, convincing his fellow Magicians that he'd simply overreacted to a misunderstanding. It was easier after all to accept that then the fact that one of their most powerful gods had been easily trounced by this foreign deity.

He'd nevertheless shared the truth with those he trusted most and it was generally agreed that they needed to err on the side of caution when it came to Ophis. That and have him regularly monitored for possession which was a troublesome if necessary precaution in light of recent events.

Despite that, he retained his position as Chief Lector and it was on his orders that the House of Life sent some of its best Magicians to shadow Ophis and Alex during their time in Egypt. Much to his pleasant surprise, nothing unusual happened for the remainder of the couple's week long trip. Excepting a constant guard detail of demons that followed the couple everywhere they went. Though considering the ruckus that happened on their first day in the country, Amos couldn't really blame Apophis for going out of his way to keep his daughter safe.

Now if only the others were as accepting. He'd lost count of the number of times over the week that someone proposed they attack them and if nothing else cull the demons. Nevermind the potential that had of dragging in Ophis into the fight. A fight that if that happened, they very likely had no way of winning.

As such it was with relief that Amos watched the couple's flight take off from Cairo International Airport. Amused somewhat as well by the fact that they had chosen to fly only because, if surveillance was to be believed, Alex insisted they try flying at least one way.

"Well, at least they're gone." Amos commented as the couple's plane disappeared from sight. "Now I just need to arrange with the other Nomes about setting up surveillance when they touch down."

"You will do nothing of the sort." A hissing serpentine voice said from behind him.

Spinning around, Amos found himself face to face with a tall and scarecrow skinny demon with rooster claws instead of feet. His face was that of a human's with the skin stripped away. He had beady black eyes, a fanged mouth and leathery bat wings growing out of his back.

Amos recognized it immediately. This was Face of Horror, one of Apophis' favored servants during his recent raise to power. It was supposed to be dead but the Magician did not doubt the Dreaded One's ability to resurrect it should it feel like it.

The Chief Lector tensed for a fight but the demon ignored this and just kept talking.

"I bear a message from your gods and my Lord Apophis." The demon said with a cruel smirk. "The House of Life crosses the streams at their own peril."

"What?"

Paying his confusion no heed, the demon continued.

"Your Pharoah," The demon spat the word out with disgust. "Will receive much the same message from Horus in his dreams tonight. As will all the Eyes from their patrons."

Why in the world would the gods work with Apophis? They're mortal enemies. It has to be lying.

"Also, my Lord Apophis reminds you that if you or yours threatens his daughter again, you will face his wrath."

"I have enough of your nonsense, demon. Ha-di!"

At Amos' invocation, an explosion ripped apart the place where the demon stood or it should have if the demon was still there. The moment it had finished delivering its message, it had vanished and all Amos' spell had destroyed was a chunk of masonry.

Mocking laughter filled the air as Amos glared at the spot.

"Remember my warnings well, Magician." The voice of Face of Horrors echoed all around Amos as he spun around to find its source. "Or you will face destruction."

"Show yourself!"

More mocking laughter that faded away into the silence was Amos' only answer.

Done!

I hope I didn't make Amos and Set too OOC. I haven't read the Kane Chronicles in a while and so I probably did make them OOC to a certain extent though I hope I kept within reasonable tolerances. Set's motivation here, him wanting a fight with Ophis, is probably the least plausible part of their depictions. That said, as can be seen when Amos was channeling him in the Serpent's Shadow, he did demonstrate considerable battle lust so I'm comfortable making the inference that he'd do something like he did in this short.

Another thing I want to address is power levels. Yes, Ophis owned Set. Yes, Set is supposed to be the second most powerful Egyptian god. Do keep in mind however that this wasn't Set vs. Ophis, it was Ophis vs. Set's avatar. Plus Set was deep in the Duat, like Ra's decree demanded, during the fight. Ophis thus had the deck heavily stacked in her favor. Could she have won regardless? Yes. She's a greater primordial and Set for all his power is still only a god. As the Rise of a New Power established, greater primordials trump gods in the power department. She'd have a harder time doing it though if he'd fought her directly.

And that concludes what I want to discuss this chapter

Till next time. Peace.