The Loyal God

Remembrance

Isis was lonely.

She had conceived Horus,

But the emptiness Osiris left behind was painful.

The once almighty god of magic could do nothing, for she had to protect her child.

In order to avoid the eyes of Seth and Neith,

Isis ended up having to throw away all of her pride as a god.

For this reason, Isis,

Despite being a god,

Had to suffer in the most wretched of places...

...For decades on end.

Seth did not know of this and believed that someone had hidden Isis away from him.

He became angry and raided all the temples of Egypt, howling at them to bring forth Isis.

However, the gods who had lost their temples became angry with Isis, not Seth.

"Why is Seth searching for Isis?!"

"It's because Isis ran away!"

"Seth's tyranny will end only when Isis is found!"

God of the sky, Nut, witnessed all of the tragedies and was utterly devastated.

Nut woke up her husband, god of the earth...

...And searched for Isis day and night.

At last,

In the lowest, most wretched of places, they were finally able to meet their kin.

Isis was found mutilated to the point where she appeared to no longer have a single trace of divine stature.

And Horus, who Isis so desperately held on to with all her might, 

Was found looking as if he had been cursed to look like a puny, underdeveloped child.

Nut, god of the sky, took them in her embrace and went to Thoth in search of wisdom.

"Please tell me how I can help them."

Thoth, god of wisdom, told her that Horus was incomplete and needed someone to strengthen him.

"Honorable Thoth, god of wisdom, the gods persecuted by Seth are putting all the blame on my daughter. Please tell my how to quell the anger of the gods."

Thoth, god of wisdom, thought long and hard...

...And told her to go to the sun god.

In the moments of Seth's taunting of Isis, Neith had noticed Anubis' faltering. She'd noticed his flickering glances, the slowing of his movements, the ever-so-slight shaking of the swings of his spear. Even further, she'd witnessed Anubis slash through the sand holding Horus in place, with his claws, allowing him to run to his mother's aid. After, he simply knelt on the sand where he'd landed, blood dripping onto his neck and shoulders from his ear.

She briefly remembered a time, long ago, when Anubis had been just a lad, when Seth had not yet been overtaken by hatred and jealousy. When the world had been whole and happy, filled with days of battle and parties and laughter in the palace. A time before the killing and conquest, when she and Seth had gone on trips through the desert just for the sake of spending time with each other, sometime taking the  young Anubis with them.

The young boy, around the age of five in mortal terms, had, in an almost fleeting manner, mentioned to his father and aunt while out in the sands of the desert that he wanted to become a god exactly like his father and aunt. Neith had smiled softly at her dearest nephew, though Seth had merely responded in confusion.

"You say you want to become a god like me? What gave you that thought? The god of war is not a particularly respectable position to be in," Seth had said.

"But father, they told me that Egypt is in peace because you and Auntie protect mother. Isn't that more than enough to be respected for?" Anubis'd replied, eyes wide and innocent.

Neith had smiled once more, for smiling had come more easily to her in those days, at the compliment, no matter how misguided she believed it was.

"...Sure. War is sometimes necessary when you need to protect your family, your land. However, you must not turn a blind eye to the manslaughter that happens within war," Seth reasoned.

"Only the water flowing through the river of Chaos had the right to deliver 'death.' Though if you escape the current an row yourself towards greed, in the end, the curse of those that have died innocent deaths will gather... and it will become your sword, destined to bestow death upon others. That's why your father's sword is the strongest and sharpest of them all. Although, that's also why it's the heaviest. The same concept is true for my bow and arrows. They always aim straight and true, hitting their marks with the force of a thousands suns, but my bowstring is threaded tight enough to be difficult to draw back and my arrows are heavy-tipped," Neith explained calmly.

To show little Anubis what she meant, Seth summoned his sword and Neith allowed her bow and sheath of arrows to materialize, the souls and dying curses of many collecting and knitting together to form deadly weapons in their hands.

"You have no need to take upon yourself this burden. When you have your coming-of-age ceremony, this father of yours and this aunt of yours...... hope that you become a god like your mother," Seth smiled, holding little Anubis close to his chest.

And in the next moment, she saw Seth standing over an older Anubis, in front of Nephthys' cage, blood splattered on his headdress. Anubis lay on the floor, injured and resting in a pool of dark blood. Nephthys screamed for her son, desperately reaching out for him, though the bars of her cage were sturdy.

Tears poured down the pale-haired god's face as her eyes angrily bore into the form of her husband.

"Anubis!! Anubis!!" she cried out.

Neith covered her ears, not able to bear the sounds of her sister screaming and sobbing, nor the sound of her nephew, panting in pain on the floor. But no matter what she tried, she couldn't block it out. She could still hear Seth's chuckles, Nephthys' screams, Anubis' pants and groans, and the ever-maddening drip, drip, drip of blood upon the floor.

"Why thank you, Anubis. To think you prepared this surprise event for me. How very sweet of you!" Seth mocked.

Tears dripped down Neith's face silently, her hands pressing over her ears harder and harder, trying again and again in vain to block out the noises, to retain her sanity.

"That's my boy," Seth crowed.

Neith gave up, her head drooping. Her tears joined in the dripping of the blood off of Seth's heavy blade.