I've spent weeks thinking over my decision to write the history of myself and my friends. I'd probably still be deciding if my mentor had not advised me to go ahead and write. At this moment it is 12:31 AM on November 12th, 2063. My name is Travis and I've been twenty-five for the past fifty years, how many people do you know who can say that? So lets go back to the beginning of the story, back when I was still "normal".
It was back in 2013, I'd just turned twenty-five about two months back. I still remember that night perfectly. I was driving home from my job at the movie theaters in my 1969 Ford Fairlane when I passed the bar near my home at just about midnight. I never felt to conscious about the world around me in my Fairlane since it was one of the original Muscle Cars, full steel and what not. For some reason I never considered the fact that steel wouldn't do me any good if I was nailed in the driver side door. Next thing I know, I'm staring at my car, the left side smashed in (although I was happy to see that the other car was nothing short of a crushed heap. In an odd feeling of insanity, I saw myself lying all bloody and dead-like in the front seat. So as it started to occur to me I was not in heaven or hell, I noticed a very bright, shining version of myself watching spirit me.
"It is a shame, that such great potential has been lost," the other spirit said as it wandered around the car. "But it does not have to be so. If you so wish, you can come with me and live forever."
I thought about it for a few seconds before deciding that I didn't want to be dead yet, and so I agreed.
There was a bright flash and next thing I knew, I was in an enormous desert. Now, I should probably mention that, even if I wasn't a christian, I still know that a desert is not the normal decor of Heaven, so I knew I wasn't anywhere near the pearly gates. Sand, sand, and more sand stretching into the horizon in a seemingly eternal desert. The spirit was gone but I could still hear it's voice.
"Follow the footprints to the statue of Ra, there Anubis shall lead you to the 42 Judges." The spirit said as I looked down and noticed a set of footprints that remained even as the sand blew across them. With a sigh I took my first steps into the deserts of Du'at.
Whether it was hours, days, or even years, I couldn't say. All I knew was that I had wandered the desert for what seemed like forever before I finally found a life size statue of a man with a falcon's head, the Sun God, Ra. Ever since I was fifteen, I had wanted to be an Egyptologist and visit the pyramids. I knew enough now to know that I had crossed over into the Egyptian Underworld. I realized with a start that as I had stood staring at the statue, the jackal-headed God, Anubis, had arrived, or maybe he had been there when I arrived and I had just failed to notice his presence. He never said a word, but as soon as he knew I was watching him, turned and walked around the back of the statue. I followed for a few seconds before I realized we were just walking around the statue over and over. After five times, I stood there and watched the God of Death. When he disappeared behind the back and didn't reappear, I became annoyed and followed. Much to my surprise, the back of the statue was no longer the back of Ra, but the body of the Goddess of Balance. At her feet sat a large doorway, leading down into the darkness where I could see Anubis' eyes glowing up at me. I descended the stairway and followed his eyes deeper into the sand before a torch burst into life before me, revealing forty-two men and women seated before me. The one in the center began to speak in a language I assumed to be Egyptian. As I began to wonder what he was saying, I spotted the spirit again as he began to translate.
"We are the 42 Judge of Ma'at. You have been brought before us for our decision as whether or not to allow your resurrection as one of the Undying. Let the judgment commence."
They began to deliberate, and as they talked about all the things I had ever done, I relived them. My birth, my first bicycle, my first school dance, my first date, my first car, the first time I ever stole, the day I graduated high school, getting into college. I felt pride during many of my memories and wanted to crawl into a hole to die, during some of the worse ones. After some time, I realized they were watching me silently. I looked at the spirit and he smiled reassuringly before the head judge stood up once more.
"After much deliberation, we have decided that although you squandered your gifts in your first life, you have much good you could do. Therefore you shall be allowed to merge with the Ka who brought you before us."
As soon as he was finished speaking, the 42 stood up and began to chant. As I watched, my memories became a chain in the air, rotating around me. The spirit slowly disappeared as he turned into a chain of memories that merged with my own as I felt him meld with my spirit.
What happened next was a blur. I remember waking up in my car a few minutes after the accident but having no control of my body (I later learned that my Ka had taken control so my spirit could adjust to the new arrangements). We bought a plane ticket and I found myself bound for Egypt. Three days later I was in the hands of some of Lord Osiris' followers who performed the Spell of Life on my body. A week of rituals later and I was one of the Reborn, a Follower of Osiris and Isis, an undying Amenti Mummy.