In which a less-than-touching father-son reunion occurs.
oooOOOooo
Camp
It started raining again. Like the city really needed it. The pitch-black clouds poured the water down onto the buildings, putting out or weakening the fires, soaking the little group of two humans, one cat, on mummy and one god. Cleo shook the water out of her eyes. The closer they got to the haven, the quieter it became as the other deities kept the demons away. Finally some peace!
Or not.
One moment Anubis was walking next to them in the water, clutching his shoulder, looking rather tired, beaten-up and annoyed, the next he was lying on the road, moaning and grabbing his head, eyes shut tight.
- What now?! – Tut cried out, jumping there.
oooOOOooo
A sudden, powerful burst from the invader rage in his mind, and Anubis found himself in another, pitch-black world, lying in the middle of nothing. A giant hand of crimson thick smoke reached for him, catching his head between two fingers, claws sinking into his cheeks. Anubis gasped in pain but refused to scream, even from the burning touch the smoke-hand had. The fingers lifted his head up, forcing him to look into a familiar and hated face.
The dark red fog adopted the form of Seth. The God of Chaos grinned down at Anubis, his crimson eyes blazing like small pools of lava.
- Hello, Anubis – Seth said softly, smile growing even wider. – Long time no see.
- I did not miss you, though – Anubis managed to choke out, gritting his sharp teeth in pain to stop himself from shouting. He wasn't about to give this lunatic god the satisfaction of seeing his agony.
Seth chuckled:
- Oh, that is so rude, Anubis. Is this how you greet your father?
- You are not my father! – the jackal god shouted, black eyes sparkling with hatred.
- Say what you like, Anubis, you cannot change it. Do you really think I am happy about having an offspring this weak? – laughed Seth, tightening his grip around the other's head. – But I am here to offer a solution for it.
- I don't care about your sorcery!
- Not even about this? – asked Seth softly and held up his free hand in which a bottle of blue ink appeared out of nowhere. – Soon the cure for the Ink of Banishment will be mine. Do you not want to end your miserable situation, Anubis? I know I would love to grab the opportunity.
Anubis's eyes widened.
- You are bluffing – he whispered.
- I am not – Seth's grin grew even wider. – I am going to break out of my cursed fate of banishment and I was thinking about offering you a place by my side – he leaned very close the jackal god. – Do you not want to have real power, Anubis? Both worlds will be ours, we will be on the top of it all. Would you not like that? I know you would. After all, you are my so—
Anubis spat Seth in the face, knowing all too well that is was just an illusion. But boy it felt so good to do it nonetheless!
- Go burn in a pit – the jackal growled, showing his teeth.
Seth didn't even flinch by the disrespectful act, but he did sink his claws deeper into Anubis's cheek.
- You sure have some guts, brat – the chaos god hissed, grin turning into a snarl. – Your only luck is that I am in a good mood now. I will give you some time to think it over. When I arrive to the Overworld, I want your final answer. And I strongly suggest you to choose wisely.
Anubis closed his eyes, the pain becoming unbearable. Just when he was about to give in and scream in agony, the endless black cracked and bright blue light burst into their faces.
- YOU LITTLE WHORE! – screamed Seth, letting go of his son, arm swinging in the direction of a third, blurry figure standing in the light.
Anubis collapsed onto the ground, the pain finally leaving his exhausted body. He glanced at the intruder, seeing a tall, slim, somewhat female-like creature locking eyes with the furious Seth.
He blinked and suddenly he met with the sight of raindrops falling into the shallow water that covered the road.
- Anubis, wake up already, we gotta move! – he heard Cleo scream into his ear.
oooOOOooo
Finally the jackal's ears moved a little and Anubis opened his eyes. He looked even more storm-beaten as if someone had just tortured him. Cleo immediately backed away as the god slowly pushed himself up with his arms, groaning.
- Are you okay? – she asked carefully, helping him up along with the others.
- What… happened? – Anubis grabbed his forehead, his legs almost giving in to his weight.
- You passed out all of a sudden – explained Gramps in a hurry. – We tried to wake you up but you didn't react.
- Seth… Seth will soon have the cure for the red ink! – Anubis's eyes shot open as he remembered. – If we don't do something quick—
- First we have to reach the haven! – the little pharaoh shouted, blasting some demons with his Scepter.
The enemy was closing up on them. Anubis flinched as he mentally reached for his magical energy but used it anyway.
- WATERLOCK! – he cried, lifting his arms up horizontally.
The pool covering the ground lifted up and surrounded the monsters one by one, locking them up in hovering balls of water, forbidding them to breathe. Anubis gritted his teeth in his struggle. Maybe this was not the best spell to use right now. He had to keep it up until the enemy drowned and turned into desert sand.
- Let me handle this! – rang a familiar, full-of-energy voice across the street.
Bes came to save the day with a huge grin on his face, yellow magic orbs dancing on his index fingers. Anubis let go of the magic with sigh of relief. The dwarf god shot a beam into the sky which broke into million pieces of small shiny shards, raining on top of the demons. Those monsters who survived the Waterlock were screaming in pain. The small gang ran up to Bes.
- Thank you, Bes! You are a savior! – jumped there Tut, trying to organize his soaked and/or torn bandages back in place.
- Hey, I remember your face, little one! – laughed Gramps. – From that party!
- Yes, that was a great occasion! – the god smiled back.
- Can't we have this conversation later?! – snapped Anubis, panting.
- Oh yes of course – muttered Bes, eyeing the jackal god. – You don't look so good, you know.
- Yeah, I know. Let's just go!
- Okay okay, jeesh!
Bes escorted them to the Turtle Park. Just beyond the fences the transparent, yellow wall of a giant magic shield towered, forming a cupola over the entire park. Bes opened a hole in the force field, shepherding them inside. They were safe finally.
oooOOOooo
Bastet and Horus lost track of Shadow Gobbler but they could still track down Thoth's presence so they followed that.
- When we catch up to him, how about throwing him into the Pit of Eternal Fire? – suggested Horus, running side by side with Bastet.
- Not a bad idea – agreed Bastet, eyes sparkling furiously. – And after some hundred years we should drag him to the Abyss of Torture. What do you think?
- Brilliant idea, Bastet! And then we will kill him.
- Maybe insert a few other places before that happens.
- Definitely. You know, our ways of thinking are very similar after all.
- Except the part about Anubis – Bastet glanced at the falcon god coldly.
- I'm working on it, okay?! – snapped Horus angrily. – If you haven't noticed I had been kind of busy he—
Bastet suddenly stopped dead on her tracks, grabbing Horus's arm, making him fall to ground face first. The cat goddess threw herself down as well.
- What the pit was that fo—?! – Horus lifted his head up, spitting out rocks before Bastet shut his beak with her hands.
- Can you not feel it? – she whispered, ears shaking nervously, eyes jumping from one place at another.
Horus finally felt it too: the drowning aura of Chaos itself. They were near Seth's throne.
- Oh cra— – the falcon god hissed as they sneaked closer to a bigger cliff.
Voices spoke not far from them. One of them was Seth for sure. Great. Seth was no match for Horus out in the open, because the red ink sealed a good amount of his powers away, but here many evil spells filled the area, making him much more dangerous.
Horus and Bastet would be in big trouble if they got spotted.
oooOOOooo
Anubis was sleeping soundly, sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. The magic cupola shielded the park away from the rain.
Many smaller camps were set in the area with a couple of big bonfires, survivors surrounding every one. Thankfully many humans managed to hang in the city until help arrived, but no one could tell how many had died. Everyone was either panicking or was desperate, depressed and lost all hope.
Anubis was so tired he didn't eat anything, just leaned against a tree and fell asleep on the spot. His powers were nearly depleted, thanks to the red ink that forbade him to have more.
- So… he was that Adam guy? – whispered Natasha in utter disbelief, pointing carefully at the sound asleep god.
- Yeah – Cleo looked away uneasily, messing with the corner of her blanket. – Sorry for lying to you, guys. I didn't know whether you would believe me or not.
- Well, to be honest, I wouldn't have believed it actually – admitted Jake.
Thankfully both of them, along with their parents were okay. Cleo could spot out more of her classmates and also Walter Jacobs, Horace Bedhety and Dr. Roxanna Vanderwheele in the crowds, but she didn't want to leave Anubis and Tut. The little pharaoh and Luxor were asleep as well, leaning against Anubis' side.
- So what god is he? – asked Natasha.
- He is Anubis, Guardian of the Dead – explained Cleo in a low voice. – He is the one responsible for every good soul to find peace. And he is also the inventor of mummification.
- Wow, just think about it! – said Jake in awe. – All those animal-headed dudes from the walls are real!
- Yeah, it's quite shocking, isn't it? – smiled Cleo shyly. – And they can be quite a handful.
- You are radical – snickered Natasha. – Baby-sitting gods, how cool is that?
- More pain than you can possibly think – waved Cleo tiredly.
Especially when one is always trying to take over the world, she added mentally, gazing up at the sky covered by black clouds.