Chapter 2: The New Priestess

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Angel of Light

Chapter Two

The New Priestess

"So, I bet you think you know every room in this temple, don't you?" Mas-Ne- Ra asked, walking towards the towering stone building before them. The sun was at its peak, illuminating all before them and Celestia felt a tug in her heart.

Oh great and glorious Egypt, how proud I am to be part of your people, she said to herself. The goddess saw the rapture in the girl's eyes and cleared her throat impatiently. Celestia was brought back to Earth and answered quickly,

"Yes, I'd think less of myself if I didn't. In fact, I cleaned many of them." She winced, remembering the floor she was supposed to clean that was now awash in soapy water. The idea had seemed so wonderful at first, when she was intoxicated with righteous fury. Now, in the aftermath of her deed, she remembered that such acts were punished severely. Oh Ra, what possessed me to do that?

"I'm about to show you that you don't."

"What do you mean? I think that I should know everything about this temple since I've lived here all my life," Celestia spluttered indignantly.

"Well, I know all about this temple and more since I was there when they were first built. Compare the two, if you must." Mas-Ne-Ra walked to the entrance and paused. "We're going to play a little trick on the people of this place. They deserve it and more for not setting up a shrine and bringing a priestess to tend it. History will tell you the fates of people who insulted me with less insolence than those who live here. I didn't make some earthquake or something equally as horrible happen within the past ten years because you were here."

"What am I going to do?" Celestia couldn't wait to get back at them.

"You will simply walk as if in a trance after me. I will be invisible to the rest of the priests, so it will seem as though some dark spirit possesses you. If they try to stop you, they won't succeed because of me. Two steps per second should be the pace, but don't flinch if they try to perform some killing curse on you. The room I am going to take you to has a reputation for destroying the unworthy."

"Wonderful. This special privilege has a bad reputation. Just perfect. If I die because of some miscalculation on your part, I'll hunt you down in my next life!" Celestia said cheerfully. The goddess just looked at her.

"They weren't kidding when they said you were impossible to understand," she muttered to herself. Then she said more clearly, "Let's go."

She followed the goddess into the temple and followed her instructions, contemplating her future, if there was any at all. "Too bad I didn't believe the guy when he said that gods pick the most unlikely candidates to be their friends and servants.

The first person to notice her was the head priestess. "Finally, you're here! You are too late for the noon meal, but I believe the cook has leftovers for you. Celestia? Answer me!" The girl kept on walking as if she couldn't hear her. The priestess put a hand on the little girl's shoulder. At least, she tried to. "What in Isis' name?" Her hand had rose thorns embedded in them. "She's possessed!"

That's for calling me a lazy good-for-nothing in private when you thought I couldn't hear, Celestia said silently.

"Girl, you left the entire front hall swamped in disgusting soapy water!" someone thundered angrily. "What do you have to say for yourself?" he tried to grab Celestia's wrist but snatched his hand back as though it had been burned.

"Don't touch her; an evil spirit's in her!" another shouted.

People were gathering to watch the possessed girl who kept walking towards the forbidden door that would burn all that were unworthy of association with the most powerful goddess.

"Celestia! Stop before it's too late!" a robed priest shouted. The girl didn't seem to hear him. He turned to the man next to him, who was a priest of Set.

"Use the killing curse!"

"What? Are you daft, man?"

"Do it now! What awaits her in that room will make death seem like a walk in the garden! Her soul will be disintegrated at the least! Now, stop the girl!"

The man nodded and began to chant under his breath. A dark pool of energy formed in his hands."Initiate!" he shouted. The pool sped from his hands toward the girl. Ten feet away. Five feet away. It was going to hit, and then the girl known as Celestia would be no more.

In the split second that occurred before impact, Celestia whirled around and put her hands in a praying position. What happened in the time before was this:

Mas-Ne-Ra said, "This is your first spell. Put your hands in a praying position like so," she demonstrated. "Next, concentrate on an image like a transparent dome covering yourself and absorbing the curse. Okay? If this doesn't work, I'll protect you." Celestia nodded, an almost imperceptible action.

"You'd better protect me if it doesn't work," she muttered darkly, then prepared herself.

The attack hit and stirred up dust. When the confusion settled, the onlookers gasped. The image that presented itself before them was unperceived. White fire/energy was illuminated in the girls previously ice blue eyes. Her hands were glowing with the same energy and streamers of it were flowing away to form the dome that the girl had envisioned. Celestia had blocked a killing curse of great power and she was only eight!

Eventually, the color faded away and Celestia returned to her normal self again. However, the shield stayed, forming a barrier between the priests that would stop her and Celestia. The priests were too dumbfounded to pursue her otherwise. They were all privately wondering how a girl of so few years had easily mastered a protection spell that would have taken an ordinary priestess ten or more tries to even know the intricacies of a spell of such power. Then a priest voiced the answer aloud.

"She's protected by a goddess. Probably the very same one that kept her alive in the desert." It was so simple, and yet so frightening. Then it dawned on them in a strange way. The shadowy form of a Summoned Skull advanced from out of nowhere to the frightened priests. It spoke,

" My goddess is very angry with you. She trusted you to recognize divine favor when right under her very nose you attacked the most powerful being ever to be seen in this miserable temple. Hopefully, you won't make the same mistake again!" the Summoned Skull disappeared. The priests then realized which goddess Celestia was protected by and visibly paled. "Mas-Ne- Ra," ran through their minds.

"Oh Ra help us all," an acolyte whispered. The others silently agreed and moved away from the girl, who was now advancing toward the end of the corridor.

At first, it appeared to seem as if it was just plain bricks and stone. When Celestia stood in front of the wall she moved her hands and tapped different sections of the wall in a complicated pattern. Unseen by the fast retreating adults, Mas-Ne-Ra guided the little girl's hands.

"You'll have to memorize this pattern, as it is known universally throughout Egypt. This same pattern is the key to opening all of my sacred chambers." The goddess stopped and looked directly at Celestia.

"There aren't any pulleys or lever in the wall. It's all based on magic that you will soon master. This is the only room in this temple that is totally indestructible and will stand for as long as time flows unless someone breaks the spell others and I have placed on it. You can only come into this room if you are one of my priestesses. You can only touch the wall if you possess magic."

"I still don't see why I was chosen for this part," she commented. "I loved the feeling of power running through my blood, but powerful people usually have a family and a history of power in their bloodline."

"Silly. You do have family."

That statement ignited a flow of questions. "I still have family? Who are they? What are they like? Do I have siblings? Are they older or younger? What do they look like? How-"

"Silence! You still have to get through the door! I'll answer them when we're through with other business!" Mas-Ne-Ra said. Celestia muttered angrily under her breath.

"It's open now," she said. The wall flared silver and became translucent. Mas-Ne-Ra stepped through.

Celestia took a deep breath and stepped through. The wall felt like a refreshing breeze, and then she was through. She gasped.

"Welcome to the Sanctuary." Mas-Ne-Ra said. "From now on, you shall be addressed as Priestess Celestia!"


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