Prologue

SAKKARA

It had been several days of constant rain. Sometimes it ebbed for a few minutes only to start with renewed force again. There were some nights where the sound of the water hitting the floor was only partially covered by the sounds of thunder moving across the sky.

The water levels of the Nile were at an all-time high, while the ocean beyond was in a state of wilderness that all ports simply decided to stop trade and transportation.

Above all that, the air seemed charged with some sort of powerful energy, something that was warning everybody to be cautious, to not leave their homes lest they upset their gods. Something that screamed of danger and destruction.

But it was not something caused by Them .

No, this energy, these feelings, and especially this storm were the product of others like him, others that are similar in nature and power, but that have their dominion beyond his land.

For a moment, Anubis felt curious. Focusing his grey eyes beyond the horizon, he wondered what exactly happened to have a reaction so violent that even lands away their ire is felt. He is also curious if his counterpart from those lands is about to have a sudden increase in workload.

Standing up from the place where he was watching the rain, he briefly wonders if this weather will continue for much longer and if they would get news of the aftermath of whatever is happening across the ocean.

With a last glance to the stormy horizon, he turns around and goes back to his temple. He has his own duties to perform.

One day, sometime during the night, the rain finally stops. Most Egyptian citizens didn't notice since they had been holed up in their homes for a while, some sound asleep while others were too immersed in their activities that they never noticed the change outside.

The only ones that noticed were those in charge of the ill, or those that were guarding the temples during the night.

They were the ones to sound the alarms when the earthquake began.

Earthquakes were not a common occurrence in Egypt; in fact, the last one to actually hit them was on Nubia several years back, and it was so small that Nubians barely felt it.

This one however, was not a laughing matter. The earthquake lasted for several minutes, and it was so powerful that several houses sported cracks in their foundations afterwards. When the second one hit, everybody started to gather things as offering to their gods, not knowing if this was a punishment or if they somehow got upset with them.

The third one was milder than the others, making them believe that the gods were no longer mad with them. Almost nobody noticed the last one, just before sunrise, when everybody was finally contemplating going back to their homes.

However, what everybody noticed was the rise of twin suns on the horizon, making them think that perhaps Ra and Hathor were giving them their blessings and that something good would finally come from these long days of darkness.

Near the Nile, a silent figure clad in gold and black was watching the rise of the twin suns too. His impassive stance not betraying his thoughts, as this special phenomenon had not happened since the beginning of the time.

Tuning out the sounds of the people near him, Anubis quietly contemplated what to do next. He knew that there was not a thing he could do here anymore, and thanks to the earth movements from the night before, he would soon have some work to do.

Just as he was turning around to get back to his temple and pose as one of his own priests, Anubis saw a strange glimmer coming from the Nile Shore.

Curious as was his nature, he decided to walk to the shore and investigate. There, with the strange, shifting light still surrounding her, was a girl with long light brown hair styled in a rather loose way. The shimer soon gave way to clothes that were completely soaked, probably a product of the river, or maybe because of the rain the night before. She was missing a shoe and seemed to be holding something tightly on her hand.

The girl was unconscious and the dried blood on her forehead hinted to some sort of head injury that was not visible from where he was without touching her.

Without much thought, he carefully picked her up and began to walk towards his temple, all the while shifting his appearance.

By the time he reached the temple, the girl had curled up a bit on his arms, as if knowing she was safe with him. With an amused smile, he put her on a small table before looking for another more comfortable area to place her.

Atem, the main priest of the temple and someone that Anubis could easily label as a friend, quickly caught on what he was trying to do, and helped him settle the girl down. Once done with that, and knowing his friend was dying of curiosity, Anubis decided to share what he knew.

"I found her not too long ago near the Nile shore while I was tending to some of the people of the city" Anubis, now as Khaba, said. For some reason, he decided not to share the strange glow that surrounded her moments before he found her.

"I think she might be missing from somewhere after the storm and the earthquake" Atem mused while looking for supplies and some fresh clothes for the girl. Giving them to a young apprentice with precise instructions, Atem turned back to Khaba. "Maybe someone will look for her in a few days"

Mirroring his pensive stance, Khaba asked "what if nobody does?"

"Then we take her in, and care for her as our own" was Atem's answer, that was met with a great degree of approval from the disguised god.

HARDAI

Days quickly turned into weeks, which in turn quickly became months, and before anybody noticed several years had already passed.

Still, nobody asked for a girl who went missing during tempest week.

Anubis tried to gather information in this regard with the other gods and in other cities to no avail. Apparently, nobody actually misplaced a girl, and if the ones in charge of her died during that week, they certainly failed to mention it during their trials.

In fact, the only interesting bits of information that he managed to find, were rumours of a sinking city beyond the ocean. Apparently, they managed to piss a god enough that it was decided those people were not meant to be saved, but instead eliminated.

Hence, the strange energy he felt at the time.

Still, he took that information with a grain of salt. He instinctively knew that the storm was not a natural one, but the more he heard about this mysterious city, the more he was convinced that half of those stories were shrouded in fantasy and the imagination of the teller.

Rumours went from waves as high as the sky that were in the shape of a giant hand, others claimed that there was thunder that deafened every creature that heard them, so they did not notice how the island suddenly broke down. Others said that stars fell to the island, burning everything and destroying whatever was not incinerated already.

And then there were those who were so out of logic that he, an actual god, struggled to understand.

As for the girl, for a moment, he actually feared that he would have to take her to his own halls of judgement. She spent at least a week after he found her in an unconscious state, with burning fevers that came and went with no real pattern that only disappeared once he convinced Sekhmet to lend him a small vial of medicine.

Three days later, Atem decided to name her Massika, since she came to them during the rain.

They discovered that once she was free of illness, she was a really bright and bubbly girl, that her hair was not brown but something resembling the rays of the sun and that her eyes were as clear as the sky.

But she had no recollection of who she was before.

They then decided to test her regarding priesthood activities to see if she had any affinity to them, especially since Atem wanted to train her as Priestess of the temple.

That is how Massika's time as a Temple Maiden began.

NOTES:

So, here we are with a new story. Just as last year, this is the result of my participation in the Reverse Senshi Shitennou Mini Bang for 2019; and like last year, there is beautiful art attached to it (it's beautiful and it was made by Artimas. Go check it out! artimas dot Tumblr dot com /Post/ 188757079490 and Post/ 189026945665.

Also, Almost all of this fic was written while listening to "Vovin" from Therion. You might find the background music interesting.

And, Just in case you missed it:

Atem: Artemis.
Khaba: Kunzite
Massika: Minako