The Loyal God

Outside Help

One of the giant snakes lunged at Horus, the man only escaping by a smidge with the help of his wings.

'Wing? What an idiot! He's no duck. Wings underwater will only get in the way...' Seth though, a smirk gracing his face from where he stood on the giant crocodile's head.

He was proven wrong when, as the giant snakes lunged at him again with the speed of the strongest wind, Horus used his wings to propel himself to safety with one mighty flap, much like the fins of a fish. It was suspicious, though impressive that he was able to move himself such a great distance in the weighing water when his wings were surely soaked through.

'Are those actually fins?!' Seth gaped.

His triumphant grin morphed into a sneer of unadultered rage.

'What are you doing?!! Hurry up and finish him!!' Seth mentally commanded his sand creations.

The snakes surged forwards once more, coiling and snapping their powerful jaws. Horus merely flapped his wings, evading the snakes' gaping maws with a practiced and unafraid ease. It resembled a dangerous dance of death. The snakes would whirl and twist their bodies, their deadly fangs aiming at the son of Osiris, and the man would twist out of the way, shooting himself backwards.

'Are we not underwater right now? How is that possible?' Seth pondered, his face falling.

He did not relent, sending his snakes to attack again. He had yet to attack himself, merely seeing fit to remain standing upon the giant head of his sand crocodile, his arms directing the snakes as if he were the director behind this morbid dance, which, in a way, he was.

'How is he able to swim around like that underwater?' Seth questioned himself, before and even more pressing issue caught his attention.

'Wait, how's he been holding his breath for so long when he's not even a god? He's not breathing air?' Seth thought to himself, his expression settling into something almost... emotionless.

'What's his deal? What is he breathing then?' Seth asked himself, stumped for the first time since his coming of age.

Up above, Isis sat in her throne shakily, sending quiet prayers of summoning to Khnum, the god of the Nile river. Neith remained in her kneeling position (though she had seen fit to lift her head as much as was possible), the chains cutting into her skin, the ropes drawing more blood than the metal did, which was uncomfortable for her human form, but she was close enough that she could hear and see what was going on.

"Khnum," Isis uttered.

Water began to spurt out through the cracks in the bricks behind Isis' throne, forming into a vaguely humanoid shape, a crocodile mask resting in the approximate area of the face. Khnum. The god of the Nile.

"Without letting anyone know about it, join that river to the Nile. I'll take care of things myself," Isis spoke coldly, all her trembling gone.

Neith paled once more at the revelation that Isis intended to cheat, possibly to kill Seth in favor of her precious son. Or worse, simply to see him suffer.

Back under the water, Horus sensed the current change as the river merged with the Nile. It seemed as though Seth was too wrapped up in his anger to notice much else.

'What's this? The water current has changed,' he thought to himself.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Seth grabbing one of the large primary feathers at the end of his wing, that served to generate thrust, to lift him up off of the ground. Seth, while grasping Horus' wing, seemed to realize something that made him very angry. He had gotten an idea of why his opponent had not given up yet.

'His wings aren't wet.'

'Seth...' Horus thought, his facial expression carrying disdain.

Seth suddenly lunged for Horus' throat in a bout of anger. There was a brief flashback to Seth smirking and saying, 'What are you doing? Hurry up and come here,' almost patronizingly, before Horus was brought back to the present with Seth's furious cry.

"What have you done?!" he roared, his hand closing upon Horus' throat.

That motion seemed to have confirmed something, a suspicion that Seth had gathered when touching Horus' wing.

'This bastard... is breathing air,' Seth realized.

'Could it be..!'

Seth sealed his mouth over Horus', causing the man to let out a gasp of air, which Seth inhaled. It seemed, in inhaling the air, he was able to realize something more.

'This is Shu's air. Aah, I see. Shu is looking out for him. And are Tefnut's powers keeping his wings from getting wet? I see you guys had it all worked out. Being so free underwater. He could've won just by dragging out the time. Was this all planned out? He's like a hero that's been blessed by the gods,' Seth sneered, his hands not leaving Horus' face.

All of a sudden, Seth was torn away from Horus, sucked down towards the bottom of the river by an unseen force. Horus seemed shocked, but, as Seth was pulled downwards and his creations were destroyed, the god of sand merely looked pissed. His body, made of the sands of the desert as it was, was being ripped apart by the vortexes of water that were pulling him down and tearing apart his warriors. It was clear that Horus had found the favor of yet another god, who had seen fit to use force to destroy Seth, to drag him down and force him to give up for want of air. It normally would have been so simple to reform his body and be done with it, but in the waters of the river that dispersed the grains of sand, mixing them with the river muds, it was nigh impossible for him to do anything other than allow the waters to drag him down and think hardly about what to do next.

Who is is this time?!

Whose help are you receiving now?!

Horus looked surprised from his place up above Seth, his wings spread to their full entirety as he looked upon the angry and accusing face of Seth.

'No, this isn't my doing...'