Thingy

Here ya go

I don't remember dying, exactly. I was just there, and then I was here, and there wasn't any in-between. Wait, that's not completely true. There was a... a something. It was a light that went out and then it just became a song, an ethereal gorgeous song, that could never end, and then the voice cracked and coughed, and it vanished. Except all at once. And there was this really good smell, like coming home to someone baking, with fresh flowers all around the house. And then it turned rotten. And there was a sharp smell like metal, tangy, but a little sweet, and I could taste it, and it was everywhere, and someone screamed. Maybe it was me. I'm not sure. It seemed really far away. And now I'm here.

I mean, I know where I am. I learned about the afterlife and the underworld, I just always didn't believe in it. I know that's insane. I know it's revolutionary and treasonous. I just thought it was sort of crazy. I know my family believed, so they probably had me mummified. I hope they didn't, we didn't have the money, being just craftspeople. They seemed to since I had my book of the dead. I checked for all the usual things, especially the scarab amulet. I had it. I breathed a small sigh of relief.

For the first time, I looked at my surroundings. There were vast dark caverns in all directions, with flares of light that burst occasionally. This was the underworld, the duat. There were different sounds, echoing longingly throughout the tunnels. Some sounded like roars, growls, or screams. Others were something... not entirely earthly. There were little lights in many of the tunnels, things that could have been eyes, or maybe glimmers of distant stars, inviting lights in the distance, guiding the way. Maybe it was a trap. There were many glimmering gateways, some of stone, some made of fire. There was one that looked like it was made entirely of light. Or maybe it was a shadow. The whole thing just seemed... ethereal, for a lack of a better word.

I looked at the tunnels around me and picked one. It was easy actually. I wasn't sure what had happened to my normal, slightly anxious, indecisive personality. As I went, some of the gates would open for me, and some would refuse to budge. Sometimes I saw something lurking in the shadows, or a flicker of a tail, or fire shining on scales. I knew it was the serpent god, Apep, ruler of chaos and destruction. There were other monsters too, half-human monstrosities. I felt like I journeyed for many days, but at the same time, it could have only been seconds.

Eventually, I reached the Hall of Ma'at, the goddess and ruler of justice and truth. It was so huge, you could not see the walls. You could see an endless expanse of floor, mirrored by the ceiling. There was nothing, just endless space. After a few seconds, the first assessor god appeared. I bowed deeply, understanding the task before me. I must greet every assessor god by name, and tell each an individual sin that I had not committed.

"Ra, also great Atum, the burning sun, the morning and evening star, lord of the sky." I paused for a second, to think of a sin I hadn't committed.

"I have never sinned by stealing the property of the gods." Ra, the greatest of the gods, gave me a look that seemed to pierce my soul as if looking for a lie. It felt like being struck by a sunbeam. He let me pass.

The next assessor god appeared before me, Shu. He was beautiful, a creature of wind and storms, with an air of serene calm and tranquility. The eye of the hurricane, a small, peaceful island in a world of chaos. I realized that I should consult my book of the dead for sins I had not committed. I opened it, quickly looking for the declarations of innocence. I picked one at random, disregarding the order.

"Shu, the great god of wind and tamer of dust devils, lord of peace. I have never sinned by killing another human." Shu's wind tore through me, taking my breath for a second, gusting and winding behind my eyes, searching for any lie I could have told. He let me pass. Tefnut appeared before me. I'm not sure about the time after that. I went through so many gods that I don't think I remember half of them. Eventually, I reached the final assessor god. The 41st one had barely let me pass, and I was running out of negative confessions. Even without looking at my book of the dead I knew who this was. This was Osiris. God of the underworld, and lord of the dead. He was my god now. I knew I would serve him through anything. He asked me to utter one more confession. I started to talk, and I don't think I could have refused.

"Great Osiris, god of lost souls, and the weary travelers of life, I have never sinned by-

And then I froze. I could not think of a sin I had not committed. I was frozen where I stood, my mouth still partly open to speaking, my eyes still halfway through blinking. My entire Ba was frozen. I had not led a good life. I had not died for the greater good. I realized that though the amulet would allow me to lie, I did not deserve to make it to the afterlife.

"I will not lie to you. I cannot think of a sin I have not committed, and even if I could, I could not believe I deserve to pass." For the very first time, an accessor God spoke back to me. I will never repeat what that voice said, nor what it felt like. It was something that does not or even the knowledge of does not, belong on this Earth. It is something Else.

I passed through.

I entered the final chamber. It was made of ice and at the same time fire. There was a scale of pure gold. It was beautiful. Anubis waited by the scale, holding an ostrich feather. Ammit curled around his feet. Ammit was a hideous demon, a grotesque creature with the head of a leopard, the body of a hippopotamus, and the tail of a crocodile. The weighing of my heart was about to begin. Anubis reached into my chest, and pulled it out, bloody and dripping, red and blue veins, a real human heart. Any food I would have had in my stomach would've come back up but I don't think I have a stomach anymore.

He placed my heart on the scale, balancing against the feather. The scale began to tilt, one way, then the next, weighing my life. I don't know what I was hoping for, but it wasn't this. This was the one thing that wasn't supposed to happen, that couldn't happen. It was perfectly balanced. I had lived a life that could not be decided. There was too much good, but at the same time too much bad. I was equal. My life was the worst and best it could possibly be. Indeterminate.

I knew what had to happen. My Ba was fading... somewhere... it was going back to the Ka in my body. There I was, me, standing, but I was a new person. A separate person, with two bodies. I watched as my body, or other body, twitched.

It twitched. Just a little bit. A finger bent back, a little too far, and then forward again. A small unnatural movement. It was so insignificant that it would be hard to believe what was happening. There was no human mind in control any more. Just force. Animal force. In my body. Controlling my old self.

My eyes. They were... different. I mean, they were the same, but they were... emotionless and blank. Hideously blank. Then... the change started. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't even supposed to be.

It was a hideous change, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. Blood seemed to pour from every surface of my skin, and my pupils shifted back and forth dilating and contracting, ending up filling my eyes like small, black voids. Dirty ratty fur began to sprout around my lower body and I could see my bones shift and change, forcing me to drop to all fours. I saw spots and stripes emerging from the clumps of fur, and a short, plumed, matted tail bursting from my lower back. My mouth and jawline shifted to accommodate fangs, and-

And then it was over. I looked again and saw a monstrosity. A half-human, half-hyena stood before me. I stood before me. And then-

I didn't exist anymore. I was mindless. I was just a force. With an animal mind. I was here. In the present. Nowhere else. I was a pure animal. With one purpose. To kill.

I was assigned a gate. It was made of obsidian. I crouched, stalking up and down the corridor. There. The smell of blood, the flicker of movement. My first Ka. The first person to die after me. To make the same journey, hoping to reach the afterlife. I pounced. They slipped past, disappearing through the obsidian door. I needed to improve my hunting. I climbed up the shear wall, curling into a nearly invisible ball above my gate, ready to pounce.

I waited for the next person to die.