5/14/21
11 Reviews, 7 Favs, 3 Follows
(Silver's POV)
The next morning I was reading a book about the Egyptian gods and their ancient history. What I found here is about Ammit, a demoness with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile; the three largest "man-eating" animals known to ancient Egyptians. A funerary deity, her titles included "Devourer of the Dead", "Eater of Hearts", and "Great of Death". Ammit lived near the scales of justice in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. In the Hall of Two Truths, Anubis weighed the heart of a person against the feather of Ma'at, the goddess of truth, which was depicted as an ostrich feather (the feather was often pictured in Ma'at's headdress). If the heart was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, and the person undergoing judgment was not allowed to continue their voyage towards Osiris and immortality. Once Ammit swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever; this was called "to die a second time". Ammit was also sometimes said to stand by a lake of fire. In some traditions, the unworthy hearts were cast into the fiery lake to be destroyed. Some scholars believe Ammit and the lake represent the same concept of destruction.
Jeez, that's one ugly demoness to feel hungry for hearts. Eating a heart would be like permanently destroying the soul of the deceased.
But it also says if your heart is lighter, you're innocent. But if your heart is heavy, that's guilt and it will be devoured by Ammit.
They say when you die, you go to the underworld where Osiris judges you.
"Those are interesting facts to know." I kept reading.
Only sins can make their hearts heavier but being pure and innocent will make your heart light as a feather. I just hope Iblis doesn't try anything to bring a beast to life. It might go after those who have dark hearts like Eggman or even the other enemies Team Sonic has faced.
"Still reading again, Silver?" Blaze asked.
"It's a hobby of my own," I said.
"What are you reading?" She sat next to me.
"About Egyptian gods," I said.
Blaze peered over my shoulder and saw what I was reading about, "Ammit?"
"The heart-eating demoness," I said.
"I've heard about her." Blaze said.
"You have?" I asked.
"At my dimension in the castle, I read in the library." Blaze said.
"Sounds like we have something in common about reading books to understand history," I said.
"Books preserve memories of the history." Blaze said.
"Yes." I nodded and kept reading with her.
"Ah, there's the god Osiris." Blaze saw a picture of Osiris.
"The god of the afterlife," I said.
"Yeah, like Hades is for the underworld in Greek myth." Blaze said.
"There's a lot of cultural underworlds. But in America, they call it Hell." I shuddered at what Hell looks like.
"Yeah. Where damned souls rest." Blaze replied.
"Or restless when they are tortured for eternity," I said.
"And people think saying the word Hell will get them damned to Hell. Not always." Blaze said.
"I say Hell most of the times out of anger, frustration, or a joke," I said, closing the book.
"Aside from 'It's no use'." Blaze reminded me of my catchphrase.
"Ha ha very funny." I rolled my eyes.
"And everyone never forgets that." A familiar voice startled me up which made my wings spread.
"Aaahh! God almighty, Shadow! Don't do that! My reflex on my wings would've smacked you!" I panted from my heart racing.
"Heh, I follow the meaning of my name and you have been hiding from the public for two days," Shadow smirked.
"Don't get me started, Ultimate Lifeform. I don't wanna attract attention because they think I'm a dead angel when apparently, I'm alive. They don't believe I'm alive." I crossed my arms.
"Angels don't always need to be dead. God has servants who are angels." Shadow said.
"Were you in heaven when you died to save the world?" I asked.
"I wish I could answer that, I didn't die though," Shadow said.
"Oh right. But I presume you wanted to see Maria again?" I guessed.
"Yes, she was like a sister to me," Shadow said.
"The only human that made you happy. I wonder what you were like when you had that happiness." I snickered to imagine if Shadow did have kindness back then.
"I'll explain later, those memories are too emotional," Shadow said.
"Very well. I understand trauma." I said.
"At least we have something in common, angel boy," Shadow said.
"That we both have a sense of justice? I know that." I crossed my arms.
"You boys sound like you are father and son." Blaze was not amused.
"Heh, if he was my biological son, he wouldn't have my Black Arms DNA to stay young forever. But Faker did once tell me the story of how he got sucked in that King Arthur book. I was Lancelot, you were Percival, and Silver was Galahad." Shadow chuckled darkly to believe I'm his son.
"Oh please. I'm old enough to take care of myself, Dad." I smirked at Shadow.
"Funny. But you are not my son. Even if you were, I would have a fathering instinct to be overprotective of you." Shadow glared.
"Awww...are you afraid that your descendant will die?" I laughed.
"Just shut up would you?!" Shadow gave me a cold glare.
"Okay, father and son. Both of you need to get along more often instead of killing each other." Blaze got in between us.
"Hmph. Right." Shadow and I said at the same time.
"And talking in unison too," Blaze added.
"Okay then," I said,
"We better work together, boy," Shadow said.
"Angel boy. Still young to be dead when I'm technically alive." I said.
"I know that." Shadow shook his head.
"Thanks, dad." I teased him again but he just ignored me on that.
We went out of Notre Dame without anyone seeing us. I hear some kind of angelic choir coming inside the cathedral but Shadow and Blaze don't hear it. Could it be something deep in that cathedral that only angels can hear? I wonder if it's a signal or something.
"Come on in," I told Blaze and Shadow.
We got inside and found the large hall where every ceremony is held, it was however still under repair from the fire. But many things were still intact. After five years all will be good as new. We walked up to the large cross in the cathedral.
Out of respect, I did the sign of the cross gesture, "Dear Lord, may our good deeds these last few days be honored in the future."
"Silver?" Blaze noticed me pray.
"Just showing respect to the house of God," I said.
We then continued to look around the building seeing some structure being replaced. I'm just glad they are doing their best to preserve it. The archdeacon is nowhere in sight. I heard the angelic vocalizing again like it's coming from the statue of the Virgin Mary. Could it be a secret passageway? I walked up to it and touched it. A bright light came from the statue out of nowhere. And out came no other than Gabriel's horn, if I blow it the gates to heaven open.
"Gabriel's horn? It does exist?" I said as I grabbed the horn.
"Wow cool." Blaze saw it.
"No wonder why Iblis wants this so he can take over heaven, earth, the universe. Especially the angels from heaven to come down to his hellish realm. We cannot let him get his hands on it. It will unbalance the souls trying to find the light to heaven." I said, holding the horn.
"You must keep it safe at all cost," Shadow said.
"Yeah. If the souls can't reach the heaven gates, they'll be stuck in the afterlife." I said.
"Exactly. I just hope I get to see Maria once this is over." Shadow said.
"We shall see," I said.
We head outside the cathedral only to be surrounded by devil dogs known as hellhounds. They have the same red lava eyes glowing.
"What the hell are they?" Shadow asked.
"Hellhounds. Get ready guys!" I said with my defenses ready.
They don't look anything possessed because these are actual hellhounds. I bet their bite is hot as hell to burn your skin to death.
"Let's do this! CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow shouted.
"Dogs may chase cats but cats can scare dogs!" Blaze heats fire from her hands.
The hellhounds barks and charges at us but I levitated them out of the way. One of them sees I have the horn but they could not get past my angel wings because angels are stronger than demons.
"HEADS UP!" Blaze threw her flames at them.
"Blaze! Demons are immune to flames! They're from Hell!" I said.
"Guess I'll have to outwit them!" Blaze said.
"Just find a fire extinguisher in the cathedral or something!" Shadow getting frustrated while fighting a hellhound trying to bite him.
"Roger that!" Blaze ran inside the cathedral.
Shadow grabbed one hellhound and chaos speared through it.
"Mortal weapons don't work on them but I hope water can cool these dogs down!" I said, psychic blasting them away from getting close to the horn I'm holding.
Some fell into the river nearby as I could hear splashes. It was whimpering like an actual dog begging for life but I am not falling for that because they are hellhounds.
Shadow was circling three hellhounds to make his tornado move. Blaze got the fire extinguisher and sprayed it on the hellhounds trying to go after me.
"Keep going! I'll try to hold them off!" Shadow shouted, "CHAOS BLAST!" He blew some hellhounds that came near him while Blaze and I flew to higher ground.
"It's like they're undead and cannot be dead," I said.
"Blow the horn, Silver! Maybe it can send those hellhounds back to Hell!" Blaze said.
"Good idea!" I took the horn out and blew it, the hellhounds began to groan in pain.
"I can't hear anything," Blaze said.
"I guess only angels can hear it," I said as I kept blowing the horn to send those hellhounds back to Hell.
A portal to hell opened to suck those hell hounds back, "Get back to your hell hole you mutts!" Shadow kicked one of them at the portal.
Then the portal closed into flames and then there was nothing, "Thank goodness." I said.