“I would just like to point out that is was not my fault.”
“It was entirely your fault!”
“You dared me!”
“No, I said, ‘Amneris, do not start the apocalypse!’”
Amneris shot her friend Yinepu—who just happened to be God of the Dead—a sour look. “You should know better than to challenge me.”
“It was not a challenge—”
“Children, please. That’s enough.” Auser—Lord of the Underworld and self-proclaimed ‘babysitter’ of the pair—rubbed his temples and grimaced, his usual response to their arguments. “Did you or did you not weaken Apep’s bindings?”
“Accidently,” Amneris corrected with her index finger raised.
Auser merely sighed, sitting back in his gilded throne. “Did you or did you not accidently weaken Apep’s bindings?”
Amneris looked away from the God. “Maybe . . .”
Another sigh.
“But it’s not like I freed Fenrir,” she countered.
Yinepu shook his head with a scowl, crossing his arms. “Norse deities are hardly real deities.”
“You would get along with Hel. You’re both depressing.”
“I am not—”
"CHILDREN!”
Auser’s voice boomed around the Hall of Judgement. Working demons flinched or vanished entirely. One even burst into flames. Spirits waiting for their judgment flickered in fear. Ammit covered behind the shaking golden Scales, paws over her eyes and tail shivering.
Amneris and Yinepu slowly, cautiously, faced the God.
“Thank you,” he said, settling back again. “Since you were the ones to weaken the bindings, the both of you will be the ones to fix them. Consider it your punishment.”
“What! You know I can’t go that far into the Duat!” Amneris yelped at the same time as Yinepu said, “Sir, I had no part in this!”
Auser’s glare silence the both of them.
“Of course, Sir. We will fix them,” Yinepu said, defeated.
Amneris snickered. “Stuck up.”
Both Gods turned their glares on her.
“I said nothing.”
“This really is your fault,” Amneris said cheerfully, skipping along the path to the Pits of Fire. “You of all people should know by now that when you tell me not to do something, I’ll do it.”
Yinepu, sulking in his jackal form as he followed, growled.
“Oh, don’t be that way.” Amneris spun around, leaning down. “How long have we been friends?”
The jackal turned his head away with a huff.
“Exactly! Over five thousand years now. Since I died and ended up here.” She tapped his black snout. “You know me better than that.”
The jackal made to stand on its hind legs, shifting into the form of the Kemetic man he often took. “If the Serpent is free, it means all of us will die.” Yinepu placed a finger on Amneris’s lips before she could reply. ”All of us, Amneris. Mortals, Gods, demons and spirits. Everyone. That includes you.”
“Hardly,” she scoffed, able to speak again. “I don’t belong to any one Pantheon and don’t even come from this planet. I just happened to die here and end up in this afterlife. You lot might return to Nun but I’ll be fine.”
“You are such a great friend,” Yinepu deadpanned.
“I don’t know what you’re supposed to do to help, Dog Boy,” Amneris said, beginning to walk. “What good is death magic against an embodiment of Isfet?”
“Keep talking and I will show you how well it works on the undead . . .”
Ah, yes. The undead.
There were many names for Amneris’s current state and there was just as much debated over whether they were appropriate. Some said immortal. Some said undead. Some said zombie. Personally, Amneris preferred the term Akh. Half-spirit, half-immoral. The immortal self of her soul. Not entirely dead, not entirely alive. There was even more debate over whether she was a minor deity. Of course she was, minus the ‘minor’ part.
“It’s funny,” Amneris said to herself. “I’ve met Isfet—well, we call him Naka—and he’s not all that evil. Apep is more evil than him.”
“You would know,” Yinepu said. “You are friends with Ma’at.”
“Naiu,” she corrected.
As the pair walked, the essence of the Duat around them changed. The light of Auser’s realm and Aaru became darker. The air element of evil, smoke, and sulphur. Small snakes—they had anywhere between and one three heads, and many tails-slithered through the black sand.
They were coming to the edge of the Third Country, the border of the Fourth getting closer. This area was reserved for the worst of the worst. The who were pure enough in their intentions to not experience the Second Death but who still required punishment for their deeds were found here.
Amneris shivered as the darkness around them grew. She’d never been good with the darker forms of magic, even more so since dying. It put her on edge to say the least. The irony of one of her closest friends being a Death Gods who used some—she hated to admit—pretty darn powerful death magic was not lost on her.
“Did we really have to come here?” Amneris asked quietly, unable to raise her voice. “Apep’s bindings can be found throughout—”
“Here is easiest,” Yinepu answered, voice low. “The closer we get, the more we can tell how much you weakened them.”
“Again, not entirely my fault.”
“I was not the one who blasted the chains.” He stopped suddenly, grabbing her wrist. “How much has your power grown since the last time you did something?”
“We and a lot,” she said, shaking off his grip.
“How much is ‘a lot’?”
“Remember the explosion from last time? How it left a, uh, rather big crater?” He nodded. “Yeah, times that by about two hundred.”
Yinepu muttered a Kemetic curse, one Amneris hadn’t heard in a long time.
“Alright,” he said. “Try to keep it under control. I know how you get around Isfet’s power.”
“Because that’s never gone wrong before.”
This part of the Duat was dark. That may not sound like much considering how Dark certain areas of the Duat could be, but this was one of the worst. There was no sky, only black mist. The ground was covered in oily-black sand. It appeared to move whenever a well-blended snake slithered by. The only light came from the Pits of Fire, casting the realm into an eery orange-red glow.
This area was not the deepest nor the darkest, but it was certainly up there. Well, down there. The place was almost never visited, the Gods knowing better than the enter the realm of Apep. Well, most of the Gods. There were exceptions.
“I cannot believe you dragged me into this,” Yinepu muttered. “Is it so much to ask for you to fix your own problems alone for once?”
“Poor baby Death God,” Amneris cooed. “Afraid of the big bad snake?”
“I will smite you.”
“It must be Tuesday.” She smiled sweetly. “Everyone knows it’s more fun to fix problems with a friend.”
“You have plenty of friends. Ask one of them.”
“They’re busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Their jobs.”
"I have a job.”
Amneris placed a hand on his arm. “And yet, Auser said you had to come with me.”
Yinepu opened his mouth to make a comeback when he stopped suddenly, growling at the sand. “Minors are close. We should be careful.”
Amneris blinked. “The little yellow guys from—”
“No. Apep’s minions.”
"Oh! Yeah, that makes way more sense.”
Amneris unclipped what looked like a pipe with a decorative headpiece from her belt. She flicked her wrist. The pipe grew into a two-metre-long staff covered with symbols and designs from a range of different cultures, including her own far away one. She held it in both hands, a small amount of her power channelling into the blue-white crystal on its head to create light.
The sand moved around the pair, lumps approaching from all directions.
“Snakes,” Amneris said, nose crinkling in disgust. “Why did it have to be snakes?”
“Stop making references and move.”
“Fine.”
The pair made it all of three steps before being attacked.
A three-headed snake leapt from the sand, jaws unhinging as it flew. Amneris yelped as it wrapped around the top of her staff, just below the head. It spit fire in her face. She yelped again and ducked. Amneris swung her staff in a wide arc, stopping suddenly. The snake went flying.
“Fucking cheater!” she called, sending a rude gesture toward the flying snake.
Amneris spun around in time to see another snake. This one was taller than her, covered in snakes. It widened its mouth and lashed forward. Amneris flipped away. The snake took a mouthful of black sand. It growled—Amneris monetarily wondered if snakes could growl—and came toward her again.
Yinepu dashed past in his jackal form, sinking his fangs into the snake.
Amneris knocked aside two smaller ones as they made their own flying attacks, only for a third to wrap around her legs. She tripped, falling to the sand. Amneris rolled, jabbing the snake with the butt of her staff. It only tightened its grip. Distracted, three others managed to find their way onto her body—two on her chest, one around her neck—and constrict. Gasping for breath, shocked, Amneris dropped her staff to the sand. The snake resisted her attempts to pry it from her neck. Her mind began to panic—
Wait.
Amneris mentally slapped herself. She didn’t need to breathe. She was dead, for Naiu’s sake! The whole breathing thing was just a habit and she knew it.
Amneris channelled her power through her body. Blue-white lighting zapped around her form, hitting the four snakes. They turned to ash.
“Yeah, that’s right,” she gasped. “I got moves.”
Amneris rolled to her feet, grabbing her staff in the process, and sent a beam of blue-white energy toward Yinepu, who was now in his human form and struggling to keep the jaws of a very large snake open. The beam hit home, turning the snake to dust. Yinepu stumbled forward. He recovered quickly, spinning to the side as another snake attack from behind, lashing out with its silver bladed tail. Before the snake could wind back for another tack, Yinepu grasped the tail, pulled, and spun. He tossed the snake into the black mist of the sky, his Godly strength sending it further than the eye could see.
“Nice throw,” Amneris said, leaning on her staff dramatically.
“There will be more,” he sighed.
She shivered at the thought. “Let’s get out of here.”
The pair moved deeper into the Duat, the air around them turning heavy as they walked closer and closer to Apep’s realm. Amneris was beginning to feel the effects of being this deep, this far away from a light source. Her movements became sluggish, her breath came in short pants, her vision turned fuzzy. It was like walking through thick oil, each breath burning of sulphur. She wouldn’t be able to go much further. Bloody light magics. Never worked in places of darkness.
An arm slipped around her waist. “Almost there,” Yinepu said. “You can do it.”
Amneris muttered in her native tongue, saying some not nice things about how Death Gods didn’t have to deal with this, and that she didn’t need his help. Though perhaps it wasn’t the worst idea . . .
They didn’t have to worry about more snakes this deep in the Duat, only the big one no one dared go near.
Amneris clung weakly to her friend. “Can’t go much further,” she managed.
“Of course you can,” Yinepu assured her. “You are too stubborn not to.”
“Not this time.”
“Do you really want me to tell Auser about how badly you failed?”
A beat of silence.
Amneris glared at him. “Hate you. So much.”
He huffed a laugh. “Thought that might do it. Come on. It should be up here.”
She looked ahead. “What, the giant obsidian rock? Nah.”
Reaching the stone, the two stared at the faintly glowing silver chains. The faintness of the glow was concerning. More damage had been done than initially thought.
Amneris frowned. “Because that’s not a problem.”
“Auser had every right to worry.” Yinepu glanced at her. “How much power did you throw at it?”
“A lot? I dunno.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Think so.” She pushed herself away from him with a groan, standing on shaking legs. “Wait here. Don’t need to accidently kill you.”
Amneris stumbled forward through the thick, dark, burning air. Reaching the silver chain, she braced herself on it, ignoring the tingling sensation in her hands. The magic holding the chains, giving them their strength, was weak. It was a wonder Apep hadn’t already broken free! Perhaps she had hit them a little harder than first thought after all.
Amneris sheathed her staff on her belt. It would be of no use now. This was a hands-on job.
She stood upright, hands remaining tight on the chain, and took a steadying breath. Amneris felt her power flicker to life inside her. It made its way around her body. The glowing blue-white symbols of her homeworld appeared on her dark skin as the power built. Her eyes flamed white.
“Stand back!” she called, hoping Yinepu was smart enough to do so.
With a cry, Amneris slammed her power into the chains. Blue-white energy zapped around her, covering the chains, flowing tis length into the deepest parts of the Duat. The silver glow surrounding the chains became stronger, brighter. Their strength was returning. The bolts of Amneris’s energy became stronger, turning black sand to back glass, setting the surrounding air on fire. White flames licked around Amneris’s form, the chains and their anchor. She dared not look back at Yinepu. He could hold his own. She needed to concentrate. Just a little more—
A sudden burst of power threw Amneris from her feet. She skidded to a stop near her friend, the glow of her skin and eyes returning to normal. She glanced toward the chains. They let off a bright silver light.
“Fixed,” she announced.
Yinepu pulled her to her feet. “Good job. We should—” He cut himself off, sniffing the air. The God balanced. “Run. We should run.”
Amneris braced her hands on her knees. “Run? Are you kidding?” she panted. “Can barely stand.”
“Yes, well you may want to channel that power of yours into your legs.”
“Huh?”
“Your light show got the Snake’s attention.”
Amneris’s head whipped around. The air turned darker, the stench of Isfet’s power growing stronger. She turned back to Yinepu, now standing upright. “Yes, that could be problematic, but I really don’t have it in me to run!”
The ground shook.
“On second thoughts.”
As they turned to run, the ground beneath them exploded, sending the pair flying in a wave of sand. They rolled to a stop a few metres away from where they had been. A glowing red snake—larger than any of the previous ones by a long shot—towered over them.
“Though you said he couldn’t actually escape,” Amneris said.
Yinepu yanked her to her feet. “He can manifest.”
The snake, for lack of a better word, roared. The two stood their ground, barely, arms up to protect their eyes from the sandstorm.
“Ideas?”
Yinepu grimaced. “A large enough energy blast might send him back—”
“On it!”
“Amneris, wait!”
Amneris was no longer listening. She knew Yinepu’s death magic would have no effect on Apep, manifestation or no. She was weak and she knew it. Being this deep in the Duat had done a number on her but, just maybe, there was enough left in her for one more attack. It was a terrible idea but she doubted Yinepu could come up with anything better before they were both temporarily destroyed. Again.
Amneris charged her powers into her hands, eyes flaring with power, her entire body glowing a blue-white light against the red light of Apep.
She lashed out with her power, a blinding white beam of light attacking the red serpent. It held its own, pushing back with its own power. But Amneris had more. With a cry, she gave it everything she had. The beam of power it home with a BOOM!, the explosion throwing Amneris from her feet.
She had a vague sense of hitting the ground head-first, of someone calling her name, before everything went dark.
Amneris found herself waking with a sense of déjà vu. She was back in the Hall of Judgement and was almost certain this was the room she’d woken up in the first time she came to the Duat.
She convinced her pain-filled body to roll over, allowing her to see the entryway. A black jackal dosed quietly nearby. His ears flickered and he raised his head. Yinepu trotted to Amneris’s bedside, resting his head on the mattress. She laughed and scratched behind his ears.
“He carried you all the way back.”
Amneris shot upright at Auser’s voice, immediately grasping her head as pain exploded in her skull. The God was leaning in the entryway. He hadn’t been there before . . .
“You were asleep long enough to miss the Sun Boat,” Auser said, answering the question she was yet to ask.
Amneris flinched. That was a while. “Did it work?”
He knew what she meant. “It did.”
She let out a relieved breath. “Good. Won’t be doing that again.”
Auser smiled knowingly. “Get some rest. I need you well enough for work tomorrow.”
“Yes, boss,” she said with a mock-salute.
As the God left, Yinepu leapt onto the bed, curling up beside her.
Amneris snorted. “What was that you were saying earlier, Mr I-Have-A-Job?”
He whacked her face with his tail, not bothering to lift his head from his paws nor open his eyes. She didn’t miss the jackal’s slight smile but decided to say nothing. Instead, Amneris used her feet to kick the blanket at the base of the bed over herself. She drifted to sleep with a smile of her own.
