Hello everyone! This is an important notice PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING!
If your interested in the various Egyptian mythology please DO NOT take everything in this chapter as gospel! I've switched somethings and I've added others to make them mesh with my story, so make sure to look them up for yourself if you are interested in them! Also yes there is a reference to LOTR for those of you who might catch it ~_~ Now onto the next chapter, enjoy and leave a review.
The pleasant darkness that was holding me as I slept was suddenly interrupted by a strong warm voice that was accompanied by a golden glow that seemed to pull me towards it.
"Come young one. There is much you need to know before you continue."
This voice seemed warm and sounded undeniably female but it was a voice I didn't know so even though I felt it was safe I remained cautious as I allowed the golden glow to pull me out of the darkness I had been resting in and into it.
The world around me shifted drastically as the golden glow pulled me into a large room in what looked like Ancient Egypt, everything seemed to be crafted out of gold and covered with various precious jewels. Glancing around in amazement I felt my eyes widen as I saw Cobra's twisting their lithe bodies around various pillars and statues.
More then a little nervous as I began to realize just how many Cobra's there were in the large room I was standing in I felt my heart began to beat rapidly as adrenaline flowed through my body. I was getting ready to either holler for help or start killing the snake's when a pair of red silk curtains opened and a beautiful young woman walked in through them, two crocodiles following right behind her.
Somehow even though she looked like she was in her late teen's I felt as if this women was in fact a LOT older then myself. Wanting answers and feeling more then a little nervous at the dangers in my surroundings I spoke up,
"Not to be rude but who are you and where am I?"
The young woman laughed the sound surprising me as it was a rich full laugh instead of the sound of tinkling bells that I had for some reason been imagining it would sound like.
"I have several names. You may know me better by the name Maat. You are currently in the innermost room of one of my temples." The young women, Maat replied her voice washing over me I recognized it, it was the same voice that had called me into the golden glow.
"Your the one who called me here. Why?" I asked curiously as I tried to place the name Maat.
"I am the personification of the concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. I also regulate the stars, seasons, and the actions of mortals and the deities. I called you here because of who you are, and who you will become. You will need the truth to guide you through the path that fate has chosen for you." Maat replied as she sat down on a golden throne like chair that I hadn't noticed until now, the two crocodiles that were following her lay down on either side of it.
"Oookay." I replied feeling my eyebrow rise as I took in her words, a slithering feeling over my bare feet caught my attention causing me to look down in apprehension, sure enough a cobra had decided that it liked my feet and it was now resting on them.
"Look not to be rude but before we have a meaningful conversation would you mind getting rid of the snakes?" I asked Maat as I kept an eye on the cobra resting on my feet.
I heard the same rich full laugh before all of the sudden the entire room vanished including the snake at my feet and I was standing in mid-air staring down at a strange bald man who looked to be wearing the wrappings of a mummy he was bent over a table and looked to be working with something.
"That is Ptah. He is the god of craftsmen and architects. He is also the husband of both Sekhmet and Hathor." Maat said from beside me as she too looked down on the strange man.
"Wait. Isn't Sekhmet and Hathor the same person? She was Sekhmet and then she went crazy so Ra got her drunk and she became Hathor. I remember reading that when I first heard Sekhmet's name." I said turning my gaze from Maat to the man below us. From what I could tell we were seeing something that had happened in the past as the man didn't give any reaction to our appearance's or our talking.
"The strange way you mortals twist and cover the truth." Maat said sounding amused and yet sad at the same time.
"Well then what's the truth?" I asked feeling slighted and a little annoyed at my lack of information in a subject I had believed myself to be well versed in.
"The truth, child, is that Hathor was the goddess of love, beauty, dancing, music, and fertility. Ptah fell in love with her and he began to court her, she accepted his proposal and they married. However because of her beauty she attracted the eyes of many both mortal and immortal. Ptah grew angry and jealous of attention that Hathor got. For you see, Hathor had the power to bring laughter, happiness and joy. Hathor very much enjoyed helping and changing others moods embracing them and loving them dearly. She could see past the hell that was placed and granted Peace to all for eternity. Everyone then became their own Ptah. This enraged Ptah because he became much less needed for healing and he began to loose his ability to walk in the world of mortals. As he went out for a walk one day by a lake that showed him the mortal world he grew vengeful at seeing all of the statues and worshipers of Hathor."
Here Maat paused and we watched in silence as the strange man finally stood up from where he had been bent over the table and we could see the jewelry that he had been working on. I felt my eyes widen and my mouth drop open as I stared at the very familiar jewelry.
"He began to craft several pieces of jewelry and into them he poured all of his feelings of injustice, hate, jealousy and all of his violent and chaotic feelings and dark wishes. Ptah then gave Hathor the jewelry and urged her to immediately put them saying he wished to see how his beautiful wife brought out their beauty with her own. She did so right away without a second thought and immediately her gentle spirit was possessed by the darkness inside of the jewelry. In that moment she became Sekhmet." Maat said as the scene down below us changed to show Ptah giving Hathor the jewelry. The change that came upon Hathor was easy to see as her beautiful heart-shaped face morphed into that of a lioness, her body was still that of a desirable woman's but the rage and bloodthirsty aura that now rolled off of her pricked the hairs on the back of my neck.
"Sekhmet was the goddess of war and fire. Over the years she became the destructive eye of the sun, and a solar goddess, and was named the 'Eye of Ra'. Almost directly opposite of who she had once been although she still had her powers of healing and she was still a protector. People were afraid of her because she was also destructive and retaliating. Sekhmet was known as the lady of life, and the lady of terror. She grew in rage and became bloodthirsty terrorizing the country of Egypt. Ra, the sun god, sent many swift-footed messengers to outsmart the female killing machine however she saw through all of them and after killing them she ate their flesh. This brought on a hunger for flesh and blood that caused Sekhmet to slaughter all who came to her even if they were worshippers. Desperate Ra dyed some wine red and poured it out in Egypt, Sekhmet saw it and thinking it was blood she drank it up only to become so drunk that she immediately fell asleep. At this time Ptah came upon her while she was sleeping and took out the jewelry angry that it had not worked as he had intended it to for Sekhmet was worshiped just as much as she had been when she had been Hathor."
The scene below us once was changing to show what had happened as Maat continued to talk and I watched as the strange looking Ptah come upon the sleeping Sekhmet and took off her jewelry. I was surprised at seeing what happened next. Instead of Sekhmet disappearing or returning to her Hathor form she split into two. One of the still sleeping bodies was Sekhmet and the other was Hathor. Confused I turned to Maat for an explanation and saw her watching the scene below us with sorrow, tears glittering in her eyes.
"Much like Isfet is my counterpart, Sekhmet is that of Hathor. However because of the way that Sekhmet came into being from one original soul, Hathor's soul, split into two parts each part incomplete causing both to remain asleep since that time even until now. For many years I have watched the world of human's searching for the one who could reunite the two halves of one soul. I saw you and knew without a doubt that you would be the one. However there is something you need to know, the one reunites the split soul will have to become whichever half is without it's soul as there must be both Sekhmet and Hathor. You must realize that whichever one you become you will no longer be who you are." Maat said as the world around us shifted and turned back into the same large golden room I had first appeared in.
"So you expect me to just do it for you? Look Maat regardless of who you are and what I've seen there's no way I'm leaving my husband and family to become something that I'm not." I replied firmly crossing my arms as I stared Maat down.
"I don't expect you to do it for me or for Sekhmet and Hathor. I believe you will do it for those that you love." Maat replied calmly.
I felt my eyes narrow in rage and I crossed the room to grab Maat by the throat lifting her half out of her throne as I snarled out,
"Are you threatening my family?"
I saw a faint flicker of surprise and fear before her face calmed and she replied as best she could with my hands still around her throat.
"I'm not the threat against your family however the Scorpion King that will raise and with him the army of Anubis that will take over the world is." Maat replied.
I loosened my hands from her throat as I stared into her eyes trying to determine the truth of what she was saying.
"My husband and family will stop that from happening." I replied finally pulling my hands away completly.
"They will try, however I have seen it. Their best chance for survival is for you to reunite the split soul." Maat replied before the world around me turned into darkness and I snapped my eyes open to see the sunlight streaming in through the window that was behind the couch that I was sleeping on.