Even If It Means War || Ennead

Festival

Just a couple of days later Seth and Zeus had to leave and go look for more souls. The sooner Seth was able to clear them of the curse the sooner Anubis might remember him. Although he had said himself that he would accept any punishment the Ennead would give him...the unknown made him anxious.

He could feel the pain in his chest like a ball of a thousand needles piercing him from the inside, making it hard to breathe.
For the first time, he was actually glad to have Zeus around. The foreign god kept talking on about how great Hellas was, how rich their wine tasted and how much Seth would love it there.

Seth imagined a place filled with people that looked like Zeus, big and hairy, drinking wine and eating foreign food.
He wasn't sure he'd ever fit in with those kinds of people. Let alone gods from a different land.

Egypt had been his first love and she would always be that. His sand covered her from one end to the other, he used to be able to feel everything that touched his sand. Now he couldn't even feel his own feet on it.

Everytime he picked up a handful of sand, a sense of grief washed over him. He couldn't control it anymore, couldn't feel the life in it. It was like a part of him had died that day.
And he deserved it, he knew that. He wasn't allowed to pity himself and he couldn't accept pity from other people.

Not that anyone took pity on him.

Zeus looked ahead of them, a happy sigh leaving his lips. "We're finally here!"
Seth squinted his eyes to see what he was talking about. They arrived at the border of a city called Thinis.

It was one of the few cities that was mostly spared by Seth's tyrannical rule due to the fact that it barely had any of Isis' temples and was home to some of the richer families in Egypt.

"We have to keep going, this place won't have any souls for me to free." Seth shot a quick glance at Zeus who looked disappointed.

"Oh come on, we've been looking for souls all day. And I heard there's some festival going on at this time of the year. Aren't you curious?"

"Curious about a festival celebrated by humans? I have better things to do." Seth rolled his eyes. He used to sneak out to festivals with Isis when they were young, way back then.
It was Osiris who scolded them when they returned home drunk and drugged up. Nut couldn't care less about the things Seth did but always made sure to express her disappointment towards Isis.

Zeus must've noticed something in Seth's face when suddenly he grabbed his hand and started dragging him down towards the city.
"Come on, it's going to be a blast! It's not like the souls are going anywhere and it's already getting dark so we should probably rest."

"You're a god! Gods don't need rest." Seth commented while being dragged closer to the town. He hasn't been to Thinis in years, didn't really have a reason to visit since no one had spotted Isis there.
The closer they got the more he could see the warm light emitting from the lanterns the citizens of Thinis had hung up all around the town.

"No, but you do. And I want to see this festival everyone kept talking about so it's a win for both of us." Zeus explained when they finally arrived at the foot of the town.
It looked just like Seth remembered it from centuries ago. And somehow he was glad that he hasn't touched this town during his time as pharaoh.

He had tried so hard to erase all signs of Osiris that he didn't realize how he was destroying not just the bad but also all the good memories.
There was music coming from inside the town and of course Zeus started dragging Seth towards it while admiring the beautiful lanterns.

At that point Seth gave up and let the foreign god pull him into the center of the town.
"Look, these people are dancing. Is that some sort of traditional dance? Seth?"