Chapter 13: The Truth in Fire
It had taken until about midday the following day for Kratos to feel up to venturing down to Thoth's chambers. It was impossible to tell afternoon from midnight or morning of course, as the sun had yet to rise still, and the crimson night appeared everlasting.
Servants had brought Kratos and Freya their meals in the same room Kratos had found her in last night. They did not sleep much, and Kratos did not care to return to his own room next door. They stayed up for a while, just talking. She had asked if there were any more stories from his homeland he had yet to tell, the spartan knew how much she enjoyed them. They did not address Freya's confession of her feelings for him, both silently accepting it happened and leaving it be for the time being.
Atreus gave a knock on the door the next morning, just to make sure all was well. Upon quietly cracking the door, he saw Kratos fast asleep in the bed, undoubtedly at Freya's behest. The queen herself was asleep in the chair at his bedside, her legs propped up resting against Kratos' side. A few hours later, the two gods were both awake, with more energy.
It seemed the wounds inflicted from Set's cursed dagger had finally started to heal in earnest. The spartan could move around better, and it no longer ached nearly as much to draw breath. Atreus filled his father in on Thoth's statement a few days prior, that he'd be waiting in his chambers with the blades safely in his possession.
Thoth's chambers were very large, and also overwhelmingly cluttered. Parchments and scrolls littered spots of the floor. Tall columns of books were stacked against every wall besides the windowed one nearly floor to ceiling. The ceiling itself was a high, two story dome decorated with intricate chiseled forms of figures and creatures. They found the scribe god hunched over his desk, scribbling onto a parchment with a feathered quill with great speed. The pen moved so quickly Kratos had a difficult time following the Egyptian's movements.
After a subtle cough from Atreus, Thoth finally gazed up from his work and realized he had guests. An expression of joyous surprise crossed his face as he stood. "Ah! Ra be good, you are alive after all! How do you feel, my friend?"
The spartan grunted, "Hnrh, I am not your friend. Where are my weapons?"
Thoth gave a quick bow and proceeded to tear apart a pile of loose papers in a corner of the room. He withdrew the blades from the pile after a minute of digging, returning them to Kratos' hands.
"You hid them in your parchment? Someone ransacked our room! I thought you had a vault?" The goddess exclaimed with a strong air of irritation.
The scribe god only smiled. "I had them in my vault, but it appears word got out that they were here. The night after the feast, someone came here rapidly searching about while I was down with Ra. The night of the attack, they searched your room for them, to no avail of course because unbeknownst to them they were in my possession. Whoever the culprit, they were able to get inside my vault. Luckily, I had the forethought to move them. My room is not as tidy as those of my kin, and I have a few tricks up my sleeves, if you forgive the expression." Thoth loosely waved his bare arms in jest as he did not have sleeves.
"Who can get inside the vault of a god? And who can do this unnoticed?" Atreus expressed concernedly.
Thoth's aged brow furrowed, fingers running through his fluffed, white hair. "I do not know. As we told you, and as clearly evidenced by Set's betrayal, there are enemies in our own court. We aimed to bring you here as an unexpected force to catch the betrayers off guard. It seems our plan only half worked."
Kratos studied the aging god's human face. While many of the other Egyptian deities' human facades were bald or had braided black hair, Thoth's was covered with a wiry bush of snow white hair. He was a great deal shorter than Kratos, only reaching the middle of his torso. Thoth was at least a touch more imposing in his bird hybrid form.
"You knew. You knew there would be an attempt on Ra's life that night," Kratos sternly affirmed.
Freya spun to Kratos, shocked by what he had concluded. Atreus however remained still. The Egyptian merely smirked with a shallow nod. "Yes. As I told you, I am the god of wisdom, science, and writing in these lands. I have been exceptionally smart since my earliest days. I write, near constantly, events that transpired which I never witnessed, words that are spoken which I've never heard, sights that occur that I have never laid my own eyes on. I write events only after, sometimes as, they transpire. I am not omniscient, I cannot see everywhere, anytime, all at once. I must focus. Sometimes though, I get these..visions. It's as if fate is letting me look through a window into the near future, but the window is fogged. I can see forms, shades, pieces of the fractured whole. Months ago I envisioned my lord's death. When I told him, he did not fret, or weep, he merely…thanked me. Rather than try to prevent his own end, much as Odin did in your lands, he accepted his fate. Instead, he wished to establish ways to make sure those that wielded the knife were brought to justice after the fact," the god said as he returned to his desk searching through drawers.
"Ah, here we are," he exclaimed as he handed a parchment to Kratos. On it were many sentences in a language Kratos could not read. At the bottom though, was a scribbled sketch of the very dagger used to stab Ra, and wound Kratos. "I knew the event, I knew the weapon, but sadly, I was helpless to prevent any of it. Ra knew the attack would be the night of the feast. I thought it was highly unlikely, what with the presence of so many of our kind, surely the attackers would wait for a quieter night…but I was wrong. Set was skilled, but he did not act alone. Luckily for us, bringing you here did as my lord intended, and you slay the first of undoubtedly several conspirators."
"A- Loki, killed him. I did not," Kratos corrected firmly. Five years of Loki being out in the world and Kratos still would jumble the names on occasion. To the world he was Loki, Norse god of magic and trickery, but to him the young man would always be Atreus.
With a quick bow Thoth apologized, "Terribly sorry, yes, young Loki here proved to be an invaluable ally. Thank you for all the work you've done for us, my boy."
Atreus turned to his father and Freya with a look of unease. "I was there the whole night, in falcon form perched in one of the trees. I was watching Ra closely, but Seth moved so fast. I did not even recognize him, nor see him among the crowd. One moment I was looking at Ra talking to some others, and the next he was collapsing and the light blinded me as he fell. As Thoth said, he had a feeling it was coming. He didn't trust anyone in his family though. The only ones that knew were the two of us, and Bast because she refused to not be involved with her son missing. Even she didn't think the attackers would dare attempt his life the night of the party though."
"Where is Bast now?" Freya posed.
"Presumably with her cousin, Nut, the goddess of the wind here. Set was her son. Bast and I explained all that transpired to her, and she was inconsolable. Nut is a very stoic woman. In life, Set had proven to be brash and prickly in attitude, but none of us expected him capable of this," Thoth sighed heavily as he moved to the window to gaze out at the red moon. "They fear your blades, Kratos, almost as much as they fear you. That is why we brought you here. Our magic seemingly does nothing, our weapons as well. It took multiple days of Heka using his magic to try and heal those wounds from that cursed blade, when it should have been done in one. Even faster on account of your godhood. The fact that your own healing powers did not work is especially troubling. Heka, myself, and others have spent the last few days studying that cursed blade, and none of us can trace its origin. It is Primordial chaos magic, of a power none of us have seen in this plane of existence. Ra embodied the sun, and was very powerful. If that blade was strong enough to end his life, then, I shudder to think what it could do if the being responsible for such dark magic was unleashed on the world. The Primordial fire of your blades, Kratos, that is why we came to you. There are very, very few places left in this world to find, let alone wield, Primordial flame. With Greece gone, those blades you wield are quite likely the only weapon in existence to bear that power. Ra sought you out because he knew that that power would be able to end whatever transpires here, and kill those responsible." Thoth's expression was grave now, as he paced back to his desk once more. Reaching under it, he withdrew a sizable wooden chest.
"This is the blade Set wielded. Heka put a spell on the chest to keep its power hidden, and contained. I trust none of my kin with this, I entrust it to the three of you."
Thoth turned the chest around, with the lock now facing the trio of Norse travelers. Kratos shook his head and frowned. "That dagger. I do not trust it. Dark magic has a way of turning on its wielder. I would rather leave it in your keep."
The Egyptian's eyes were pleading now. "Kratos, it is not safe here. Set did not act alone. Please, take it, I would rather it be used against these conspirators then have it wind up back in their grasp. I am not a warrior god, I am a humble scribe. Of all of the gods here, I am among the weakest. I wish it not to be true, and I curse myself for my lack of strength, but you three are strong. It will be better wielded in yours."
Atreus stepped forward now, "I'll take it."
A firm hand gripped his shoulder as a soft voice dissented, "No, I will." Freya approached the chest and undid the lock. Her tattooed fingers reached down and gripped the pommel and sheath. The sheath was black leather, inlaid with golden runes and figures. No doubt it was formed here in the palace, to help seal the magic within.
"A moment ago, you said you were with your king, Ra. Is he not dead?" Kratos asked with a raised brow.
The scribe's shoulders tensed. "it is…complicated. Seeing as his power draws from the sun, realistically he should be able to be reborn anew. Twice in his long life has his life nearly ended, but after a few months in a special chamber below the pyramid, he was alive and well again. Those times though, the sun remained in the sky. This is the first instance that the sky has darkened like this, and the moon remains like this, in the history of my homeland. They are trying everything within their power, but I do not know if it will work."
Suddenly there was a loud shout, and another figure ran into the entryway. It was Bast, racing into the room looking struck with panic. "Thoth, Heka is dead!"
Thoth's eyes flashed wide with horror. "What?"
The black panther goddess nodded, "Yes, I do not know what happened, but Nut said she witnessed the killing. A figure like Set, who fled while cloaked. Only this assassin could fly and flew out through the window.. She took off immediately upon my arrival and is flying after them."
"Gods," Thoth exhaled in fright as he collapsed in the seat behind his desk. "Bast, go alert the rest. I just…"
The panther goddess hesitated for a moment before dashing back out of the chambers.
Kratos turned to face the stunned scribe. "I understand Ra, but why Heka? He's the god of magic, yes? Did they fear him developing a counter to their own magic? His work to revive Ra?"
Thoth wordlessly reached for a parchment and began quickly scribbling, almost compulsively. It took a minute before he finally replied to Kratos. "No, no nothing like that. Heka was not as powerful as my lord of course, but he had an important role. His soul was a key."
"A key? To what?" Freya posed as she came around the desk to see what Thoth was inscribing. There were more sentences she could not read, but beneath them he had begun sketching something. It appeared to be a drawing of a book, the cover dark with the logo of a scale. The book's spine was bound with twine to what appeared to be the actual spinal bones of a human.
"What is that?" Kratos sternly demanded.
"The Book of The Dead. In our lands it is commonly referred to as the instructions for proper burial, but that is only part of the truth. The page we use for burials and entombing is only a single page from this book. Its true purpose is far more sinister. Its pages reveal dark secrets that should not be set upon the mortal world. The book acts as a lock for the gates to the Duat, and other regions of the afterlife. Heka's soul.. was the final key to unlocking it. Once unlocked, if the owner had the knowledge and power to do so reading this book, they could raise the dead," Thoth uttered gravely as he sat back in his chair.
"You said Ra believed traitors to be in his midst, do you have any names? Anywhere to start?" Atreus desperately asked, trying to draw Thoth from his panicked hypnosis.
The Egyptian slowly nodded, "We did not anticipate Set, but he had an uneasy feeling about two others. One is actually Nut..the wind goddess, who just flew after Heka's killer. Obviously this suspicion brings those events into question. The other..well, truly only one being stands to gain much from the sun not rising in the sky."