"'I know the god who dwelleth therein.'
Who is this?
'It is Osiris.'
…Praise be unto thee,
O Osiris, the Lord of Eternity,
whose forms are manifold, whose attributes are majestic."
- The Book of the Dead

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11
God of Life and Death
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Yuki was dreaming. It was a remarkably odd dream, involving a cat that asked him politely would he please get up because they really did have to fight now which was most decidedly difficult to do with him lying down like that. It struck him as odd because, in Yuki's experience, cats were not particularly polite creatures.

He tried to stand- unlike most cats he knew, Yuki always tried to be polite- but found himself unable. He apologized to the cat and asked if they could possibly postpone their altercation as he was rather indisposed at the moment.

The cat's eyes started glowing and he bared his teeth and bit Yuki on the hand as he said in a far ruder, but infinitely more familiar voice, that they didn't have fricking time for the damn rat to feel like it, he had to fight now.

Yuki felt his lip curl in irritation, but it wasn't physical and his body seemed distant. This cat, he knew. He tried to get up again but still found himself unable to move. He responded to the cat that if it was in such a hurry it could find something useful to do instead of just standing there and yelling about it. Oh, but he forgot, cats were not useful, just loud and stupid…

The growl that issued from the feline in question certainly didn't feel like a dream. It rumbled through him and he could feel it in his bones.

It was the kind of thing that one would think would wake them from a dream, if indeed the dream they were having was a dream.

"It is a dream," a voice said, "but you are not asleep."

Yuki tried to frown but found his body again strangely unwilling to comply with movement. "How is that?" he asked. "I feel like I'm asleep."

"Not asleep," the voice responded. "Dead."

Well, that was nonsense. "I most certainly do not feel dead."

"And how did you imagine death to feel?" Yuki got the distinct impression that the voice was laughing at him. "I can assure you cousin, you are dead."

Yuki felt suddenly cold. What was going on? Where was he anyway? "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" the voice echoed back. "Osiris."

Yuki was confused. "Who is Osiris? Are you Osiris?"

"The time is near."The cat lashed its tail."Rise, if you wish to save them."

"We've been through that already. I can't." Yuki frowned."Who needs to be saved?"

"Him," the voice said. "And the others."

"I thought you said I was dead?" Yuki responded. "How can I save anyone?"

"Death stops nothing. Life continues. Life is a cycle, death merely a step in it. Know this. I have this power. You have this power."

Well, as far as mysteriously voices went, this one was not particularly helpful. He thought he heard a sigh, and then it felt like someone touched him on the forehead, between his eyes, and suddenly he could see, see everything, things he never thought he could see… It wasn't like being in an airplane or looking down from a building at people, but rather that he was right there with them, with everyone, as their lives happened to them. Thousands, millions, of faces flashed before his eyes- men, women, old, young, dark skinned and light, eating, sleeping, talking, doing millions of tasks in millions of different places, different times, and suddenly some of them looked familiar… Shigure, Kyou, Tohru… Tohru… And he yelled at Osiris, "STOP!" Remarkably enough,he did.

Yuki reached out to the image of Tohru, and almost as he formed the thought What is happening to her now? he suddenly knew, and that fed back into what had happened to him, and suddenly he remembered everything- even more, he knew everything. He knew why Harakhte had done what he had done, and suddenly, seeing it again, he knew what was wrong with Ayame when he had seen him in the desert.

"Seth," the voice of Osiris said.

"Seth," Yuki repeated, "and Horus. This is for Horus…"

"Yes."

He glared at the voice- he wasn't entirely sure how he accomplished such a thing, seeing as it was rather hard to glare at something that had no physical form- and said, "It was your problem. Why did you drag us into it?" The question he really wanted to ask was, why did you drag Tohru into it, but the voice answered him once for both.

"It was not I. It was not chosen to be you. And it is your problem, more than you know. Harsiesis brought your family into this, but you cannot blame him either. It was not his fault, when the people fell away from the old religion. They forgot the power of what they had worshipped, and though a few always remembered, they were never enough. Not enough… to hold against Chaos. So perhaps Chaos brought you here, and you can lay your censure there without any misgivings for he loves the bitter taste of blame."

Yuki shivered. The voice showed him as it told him, and he wondered how such power had ever allowed itself to be forgotten.

The voice shrugged. "The people choose. It is their right. Their choices may not be correct, or wise, but they choose. Else they would not be the people- only beasts."

As if in answer to Osiris' words a shudder ran through him- and not just through him, but, it seemed, through everything, through the very fabric of existence. Something in him woke at that moment, and suddenly he blinked. Blinked real eyes that weren't part of a dream, and his eyes focused and he was looking up at rock, he was lying on rock, and he could hear physical voices.

"Horus is before Seth,"a voice said, and it didn't feel like Osiris, but rather like the cat from his dream. "The boundary is passed.The time is near. Rise."

"I can't," Yuki said, but he tried and found he could twitch the fingers of his right hand. The arm wouldn't rise, and he couldn't do anything else, not even turn his head. I'll be able to, he thought, but not soon enough. He could feel an urgency pounding at him, pushing him to move faster.

Osiris unexpectedly soothed Yuki's urgency. "Peace. All is a cycle. If not now, then in the next passing of the circle will it happen."

Yuki grit his teeth. "You were the one who was after me to get up."

" Not I. Harsiesis. Have peace, and you will achieve your goal. And if you find yourself in need, do not forget you have allies." And with those words, Yuki suddenly felt a furry back under his fingers.

The soft squeaking of rats filled his ears, and he would have smiled if his body was listening to him. "Seth," he thought at the creatures. "Poison." They moved all around him, and abruptly one bit him on the arm. "Ow," he thought, but he could feel more of his arm now. "Alright, try that." They swarmed thicker, burying him with their bodies, and a sudden but welcome pain shot through him from numerous, sharp little teeth. He gasped, his back arching, rats pouring off of him as he sat up. He was shaking, from pain and nervous energy and perhaps the last shreds of the paralyzing poison Seth had immobilized him with, but he could move now, and he turned his head to look around the room.

Ayame- no, Seth- was standing near him, his back to Yuki, looking down, and Yuki followed his gaze to see Kyou and another man- Harakhte- standing on the near side of a river. As he watched, Kyou fell to his knees screaming. Tohru was across the river and she was screaming too, shouting out Kyou's name in terror, running toward him, to help him, only to stop on the bank of the river, and look across in sorrow. She looked around desperately for a way to get across, but Yuki's attention returned to Seth.

He had to defeat Seth somehow. Seth was the key, the one running this show, and if he could somehow…

"No. Horus must defeat Seth. That is the way of things."

Yuki's expression was one of contempt. "And what, I sit here and do nothing waiting for that stupid cat to get it together? He asked for my help, remember?"

Osiris seemed to waver, but repeated, "That is the way of things. You were brought here to restore this way."

"No one asked me if I was interested in restoring any ways," Yuki responded, getting down from the altar and stepping firmly toward Seth. "He is my brother," he said softly, and suddenly Yuki wasn't sure if it was him talking or Osiris. "I would not wish harm upon him."

He felt Osiris stir, and a power filled him. His hand rose, apparently of its own accord, and when he looked at it he could see power gathering, running like purple light through his veins. You have this power, Osiris had said. The power of life and death; the power of the cycle… A lambent light shone from his eyes as he smiled. Taking the last few steps, he came up behind Ayame, and grabbed him by the wrist.

Seth turned to glare at him from Ayame's eyes, but Yuki only tightened his grip. "Brother," Osiris lamented, sorrow filling him. Yuki raised his other hand and placed it on Ayame's shoulder. The snake hissed at him.

Eyes glowing, Yuki opened his mouth, and Osiris commanded, "Awaken. Remember."

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