He knows that he is not dreaming, but he wished he was. There is a zombie wearing a variation of his ceremonial armor, and it is standing outside his hospital room. Then, even though it didn't move its mouth, Khonshu could hear a voice coming from it.
Blasphemy…Heretic…
He knows that the words are directed at him, he can feel malice and poison in its hollow eyes..
Shit, He thought to himself, and quickly jumped off his bed. Just in time to avoid the sharp objects being thrown at him. His pillow is now torn, the feathers flying everywhere. Then the zombie Moon Knight pounced forward, holding a sharp crescent blade. Khonshu dodged at the last minute and ran straight out the door to the hallway. His hip is a little sore but he doesn't care about that. His body is running on adrenaline and the intense desire to get as far away from the zombie as possible.
He saw something zoom past his ear and he jumped sideways, avoiding the crescent darts being thrown at him. The zombie Moon Knight is now chasing him. Khonshu knows he can't outrun it, so he quickly took a left turn, on the corner, and a right. The zombie followed, but after a couple of turns it stopped. Realizing that it has lost its target.
Then he can feel something tackle him hard on his left, causing it to hit the window and out the building.
Khonshu quickly hid after a couple of turns, hoping to catch it in surprise. While hiding, he found a medical scalpel on the floor and quickly picked it up. Silently thanking the doctor who dropped it. There he waited until the zombie appeared.
Now both of them are falling from the 3rd floor window down to the parking lot.
Khonshu made sure that the zombie is below so it will soften his fall. He quickly jumped and rolled sideways. But he had to dodge again when the zombie got up and started throwing more blades at him.
"Stand down", he said loudly. But it didn't do anything as the zombie is still attacking him. Khonshu had to dodge left and right, using the scalpel he found as a small weapon. But he knows he can't keep this up. His hip is now aching, he knows he can't keep this up. So he tried again, yelling with as much conviction and strength as he can, "Heed this, my knight. I order you to stop!"
Now, it seems to be doing something. The Zombie froze for a second, shaking, before it snapped back to attacking Khonshu. It ran towards the child god and Khonshu dodged. But he wasn't fast enough and he felt a pain on his right cheek.
Khonshu jumped back, feeling the blood drip from the cut on his face. He dodged another attack, ducking in time to avoid getting his head cut off. He tried again, "I am your God and Master, You will listen and obey. STOP!", Khonshu yelled.
The Zombie froze again, and stayed still longer this time. But once again it snapped out of it and ran towards the boy. Khonshu had to dodge again, but he now noticed that the zombie is a bit slower now. He took this opportunity to duck, dodge sideways and with the scaplet in his right hand, he slashed the zombie's hand.
The zombie tried to kick Khonshu, but he quickly jumped over it and used the momentum to stab the zombie's arm using his scalpel. Pushing it as hard as he could, and dragging it downward to its hand. This caused the zombie to drop the blade it was holding. Khonshu quickly grabbed the fallen blade and transferred the scalpel to his left hand, so he is holding the moon blade on his right.
This didn't stop the zombie as it reached inside its cape and pulled another blade. Holding it in its uninjured hand and returning to try and slice Khonshu to bits.
Khonshu crouched, feeling a bit ready now that he has a familiar blade with him. Even though it feels oddly larger in his child's hands. He had to roll sideways, and backward to avoid the incoming slashes. As well as the crescent darts being thrown at him. He is able to block some of the darts mid-flight and dodge the rest.
"Cease this madness at once!" he yelled again, and the zombie froze almost immediately. Khonshu took this opportunity to slash the chest, exposing rotting flesh underneath. Then he sank the sharp tip of the moon blade in there, the force pushing both him and the zombie to the ground so the boy is kneeling above it.
But the zombie gave up, it quickly grabbed Khonshu's neck now that he is close. And pushed him down so that it is standing above the boy, reversing their positions. It squeezed harder, watching the boy struggle..
…Heretics will die…
It's undead eyes seem to say.
The mortal god can finally see the zombie up-close. The hood seems to glow with the night sky behind it, but he can also see the rotting flesh and its exposed skull. Giving it a very macabre yet surreal look. Khonshu remembered that it moves with the skills of an experienced fighter and the grace of a dancer. He can see some intelligence, memories behind its hollow eyes.
He tried to get the arm off his neck. Slashing and stabbing, but the zombie didn't loosen its hold. Instead it tightened it. The child god's vision is slowly starting to darken. His head is feeling light now, he wonders if this is the end again. Just when he survived getting shot in the head, he is now being choked to death by a corpse dressed as his knight.
.. No… He thought to himself. He just got out of that weird space prison, he is not going down without a fight.
Physical strength won't work, he knows he is outmatched. So he decided to try something else. Khonshu started to look within him, trying to find that now dormant connection. That one connection that bonds him to his knights in his previous world. He felt nothing when he arrived at first, but now that the zombie is in front of him, he tries to see if there is something. And there is, but it is oddly rotten, like it's deformed beyond recognition.
Slowly, he can feel his consciousness slipping. The edges of his vision are now darkening and all he could focus on was the white glowing hood in front of him before everything slowly went black.
Then a single dim speck appeared in the back of his eyes. It's so small, but Khonshu doesn't care. He quickly latched on to it, pulling it closer so it wouldn't go away. Trying to pour everything he has to it, nurturing it and forcing it to grow. After a few seconds of nothing, the speck starts to brighten.
Yes…keep growing. He thought as he continues to push as much of his own energy, his own heka into that speck. Watching it grow and grow until it becomes a white round disk surrounded by a thousand of white sparkling specks.
It's like a gateway is opened, Khonshu can now feel something more. It is the heka from the ground below him. Quickly he pulled as much as he could, everything he could feel, concentrating all of it on his right palm. Forming that to a fist, and punched the zombie above him as hard as he could.
This sudden force of concentrated heka, of concentrated earth energy on a single spot is strong enough to blast the zombie in the air and land 5 meters away.
Khonshu quickly took a deep breath now that his neck is free and slowly stood up. His legs are shaking and his right hand has burn marks from the sudden influx of heka, but he is finally free from the zombie's hold.
It's not over yet, He said to himself as he bent to pick up the moon blade he dropped, and took a fighting stance. Just in time as the undead Moon Knight is now up again and charging at him. Khonshu allowed himself to feel the heka from the concrete ground again, deeming it it to be hard, and cold. Then he directed that through his body using his own heka as a conduit, and to the moon blade he is holding. The blade now glowing a pale white and harder than concrete.
The zombie slashed at the boy with his blade, but Khonshu is able to hit it with his own, now enhanced moon blade. The impact of two blades caused pale sparks to fly in the air. The boy god did it again twice before dodge rolling to the side and slashed the zombie's leg. The moon blade, combined with the heka of the boy god and the concrete ground, is now strong enough to completely dismember the zombie's leg. The zombie, now out of balance, jumped backwards and fell down. Khonshu slashed again at the other leg, and its other arm.
Khonshu paused for a while, taking the time to breath and recover for a bit. He noticed that the zombie is still not dead. Only incapacitated.
He took a much needed breath and tried to empty his thoughts. The effort itself takes a lot of concentration since Khonshu is not used to having a clear mind. He rather does the opposite and thinks of something, like vengeance or justice. But he forced himself to clear his thoughts and opened his mind to everything.
As he can feel his mind calm down, He can now feel the heka of the things around him. There is the concrete ground, but he can now feel the earthly dirt underneath the concrete, the living plants on the side, the cars, the lamp posts, some of the pedestrians. Ground covered with concrete, the concrete holding the lamp post, the lamp post holding the bulb that emits heat and light, the pedestrians that receive the light and walk on the concrete ground. A cycle of energies that keeps flowing from one to another. From the ground to sky, and back again to the ground.
He can also feel the hospital building next to him, and the lost souls inside it. Khonshu opened eyes, the pale irises are now glowing bright like the moon he personifies.
Immediately he can see the soul of the zombie, but something's very wrong. He can't see the soul or the "heart", only a huge black shadow where the heart should be.
No, it is still a heart, only the shuyet. He realized. He is looking at the shuyet part of the heart. The soul's shadow, but there is no Ba, no Ren, no Ib.
No mind, no memories, no name.
Khonshu is disturbed by this. A knight, HIS knight, but the heart is so horribly mutilated that all that is left is the shadow of the heart, trapped in a hollow and undead shell. He does not know what happened to the Ib, but he only hopes that it is resting in the Duat. IF it is there at all.
Killing it, Killing this Knight…is a mercy . He says to himself, feeling pity for this Knight and decides that he should end its journey here and now.
Khonshu focused again on the Zombie, at its chest where the heart should be. In his eyes, he can see its black shadow taking the place of the heart. Looking closer, he can see the heka lines that connect the Shadow or Shuyet to the Khet, the Zombie's physical body.
Without hesitation, he slashed the moon blade across those heka lines, narrowly avoiding the zombies' attempt to bite his hand. Immediately lines broke the connection, and the shadow heart is no longer sustaining the zombie. The zombie Moon Knight immediately flinched, now sensing true pain for the first time in a very long time. Khonshu then stabbed the zombie's shadowy heart with his enhanced moon blade. It falls backwards, now truly lifeless.
Khonshu watches as the corpse glows in a pale and dim light, before it slowly turns to dust. The moon blade Khonshu is holding also glows and disappears as well. The boy god then sank to his knees, tired and sore. His cheek still hurts, and he thinks he have a cut on the soles of his feet, but he is very much relieved that the zombie is gone.
Thank Ra, it's finally over. He thought.
Then he heard it again.
Heretic…
What the..
Khonshu's left arm suddenly feels numb, then it moved in a flash. He used his other hand to hold it back. He is now struggling to keep his left hand from reaching for his own throat, its palm open, like it is in the motion of grabbing him.
You will be punished for your insolence…
It's the voice of the zombie Moon knight, but this time, it feels like it's coming from inside his head now. He quickly looked at his left arm using his god eyes and saw that his forearm is encased in black shadows. The same shadow as the zombie Moon Knight's heart.
Then he heard another voice, his own but not really.
…I SHOULD THANK YOU FOR FINALLY FREEING US FROM PRISON, BUT YOU DID A BLASPHEMOUS CRIME. AND NO CRIME GOES UNPUNISHED…
He, no… the Other Khonshu declared, its tone echoing and vibrating with each word but feels so foreign in his own ears. A more otherworldly, eldritch and alien version of his own voice. He never heard his own voice sound so much NOT like himself, but also exactly like himself.
The boy god's right hand is still holding the scalpel, but it is currently occupied so he had to carefully redirect the scalpel while holding his possessed left arm back. He poured his heka to the scalpel until it glowed. And with one quick move, he stabbed his left arm. But the shadow didn't immediately leave, it quickly moved away from the forearm and is now creeping down to his chest.
Khonshu realized it is heading straight to his heart now..
"Sorry, but this Khet, this body…is occupied," he said. A hieroglyph of a bird and a crescent moon faintly appeared on the blade as the god child positioned the scalpel in front of him, and stabbed his chest. He had to swallow a scream as he can feel the blade touch his own heart now, and for a second he felt a deep vibration inside himself, like someone is screaming in intense pain. Smoke quickly, and painfully burst out from his mouth and to the parking space in front of him. Smoke as black as shadows.
Khonshu, still on his knees, pulled out the scalpel and watched as the shadow floated until it formed a cloud of black shadow in front of him. The cloud floated for a while, not leaving. Then it suddenly moved towards him again.
"Enough!" Khonshu yelled, this time pouring out as much of his heka to his vocal cords, extenuating each word with as much force as he can. Like a general giving out commands. The cloud suddenly stopped a few inches from Khonshu's face.
"Begone!"Khonshu said again, a bit less loud but with just as much confidence and conviction as before, enough that the Shadow cloud obeyed and moved back a few meters. But it suddenly stopped and moved forward again.
…NOW!...
He yelled, his voice now echoing and deeper, like 2 voices talking at once. The shadow cloud finally stopped, floated higher until it disappeared in the night sky.
Khonshu stayed there for a while. He looked down and noticed there is not scar or blood on his chest but the front of his gown is now torn. The same thing with the cut on his face and his arm, it's now smooth and unblemished. Like there weren't any injuries in the first place.
He then looked up at the sky. Khonshu is still not sure if the shadow is gone, so he expanded his now enhanced senses to feel the heka, around him. And he can no longer see nor sense the Shadow heart of the zombie Moon Knight. He can also feel the hospital and all the people inside it, both alive and dead. He now knows they are restless souls of those that died in the hospital, endlessly wandering the halls. There are actually more of the dead currently in the hospital, than living.
Khonshu can see them as a shadowy silhouette on the windows, and he can feel their gaze on him. As if they finally felt the presence of a higher being close. And like a moth to a flame, they all went to swarm the kneeling boy god.
Their presence is even more suffocating now, like someone is pushing steel cotton down his throat and ears. He can see hundreds of shadowing figures around him. Blocking his field of vision and all of them are begging to be saved, to finally have peace. But he is too tired to move, he can only stay there until he passes out from exhaustion.