There was so much blood; Ziara was certain that the Nile ran red from it.
She rose to her knees, panicking. Her arm trembled in front of her, disappointed but not surprised that the fire did nothing for her. The scene played out exactly as how Abraxas had shown her with Akhenaten.
The face was destroyed to eradicate their identity and ability to communicate in the Duat, the chest was pried open so the heart could be removed and replaced by a stone. For a moment, Ziara thought she was still under Abraxas' hallucination.
The tears spilt over as she watched the knife repeatedly come down. Despite having her being ripped apart, Ziara stood and cast her arms wide; she couldn't withhold her anger anymore. Carn immediately dropped the knife as it radiated with a blistering heat. The surrounding Sons of Horus screamed and yelled as their weapons melted and left them with severe burns.
Hatem tossed his bow aside and rubbed at the reddening flesh on his palm.
The torches ignited again in response to Carn's laughter, taking to Harry Massit's body with his hands.
Ziara screamed again, feeling the blood drip from her nose.
Suddenly, a dark void enthralled her arms and torso. It felt like a thousand needle pricks against her flesh, but it was almost welcoming, it distracted her from the macabre in front of her. A familiar bandaged hand covered her mouth and nose, "Enough."
Ziara tried to kick him in the crotch but Anuka tightened his grip around her waist, constricting her.
He hissed gruffly in her ear, "I know you would prefer the tall, dark and handsome Head Son instead. . .but it would be a help if you didn't try and get yourself killed, I still have to name that reward for our deal."
She bit down harshly on his hand, drawing blood, "I'm sick of the Sons of Anubis deciding when they get to play God."
What I hate is the man who calls himself God.
Ziara was fuming, she could feel the heat build beneath her cheeks and radiate over her body as if she were going to implode. She wanted to reach down Carn's throat and pull Abraxas out by his tongue, she wanted someone to comprehend the crushing guilt splitting her chest in two—there was only so much one person could handle.
Anuka blocked a pulse of air with a wall of linen, "It was too late, from the moment we were given life, your father's fate was sealed. Prophecies are inevitable and unavoidable, we have to make a choice in the future—Seth or Abraxas, he had to rise."
"I had a choice," Ziara's nails dug into her palms. "I should have left Patrick to rot in that alcove forever or killed him, but some naïve part of me thought I could cheat this. . .I thought he wouldn't betray me. I had a choice. . ."
The torch flames darkened to a purple hue and with each rotation of the fiery pillars, grey hieroglyphs spewed from the smoke. The glyphs floated around the circle, bearing Abraxas' seal. They reminded Ziara of the multicoloured sigils at Hermopolis but these were far from harmless. Carn was about to break the Forbidden Art.
"Get the Sons out of here," the atmosphere was disturbed. Ziara pushed at his chest. "Anuka, do it. This is on me; I have to end this myself."
Anuka growled low in his throat at her defiance. Linen curled around her arms and legs as she walked towards Carn. With each step she took, the bandages caught fire and were reduced to ash.
Ziara tore free of them and went to step at Carn. However, the purple flames encased him in a wall of heat, making her step back. Carn's fragment of victory was short lived, the flames slowed their rotating motion and solidified into a shadow-like figure behind him. The fire passed through Carn's body like smoke and continued to take form. As a result, his eyes dimmed, and he collapsed over Harry's brutalised corpse.
"I–I–I. . .I don't. . .un–under. . ." he winced.
"Ret han wn yut, Sekhum ratum?"
Do you think an Ungifed is enough?
Anuka grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him as red flames ringed the silhouette like shackles. Following Abraxas' formation, the grey hieroglyphs moved sporadically. They burst from their idle positions and thrust into the bare chests of the Sons of Horus. As each glyph burned into their skin, the seal shone white—their bodies thinned like mummified remains until there was no more life left to suck.
"Down!" Anuka pulled them to the ground. He signalled at the other Sons of Anubis who'd emerged from the Nile to do the same.
Frantically, Ziara slammed her hands against the sand, "Ta!"
A wave of sand swelled and arched over the Sons, Elijah and Lacy. The hieroglyphs bounced off as they tried to absorb the hekka in her incantation. Ziara focussed on her hands which dug into the sand and she hoped it wouldn't collapse. Over her shoulder, she saw the Sons of Horus collapse—though, Hatem bound over and slid beneath the wave of sand, away from a rogue glyph.
"Mummy Man get your leg off me," Nathanial winced.
"Both of you get your arses out of my face!" Lacy squealed.
Rolling his eyes, Anuka pulled himself from the tangle of shivering bodies and kept low under the veil of sand.
It is time for me to take that papyrus back.
It felt as if Abraxas had whispered in her ear. She rubbed her ear to find the frond still secure and slightly warm.
"What is it?" Isfet crawled to her side.
"A. . .Abraxas."
Ziara's voice trailed off as her eyes rolled back into her head. The protective veil of sand dissipated, raining down around them. Without the need for Carn to be the physical medium between them, Ziara detached from reality.
Abraxas summoned her to the hypostyle hall of Akhetaten. There was no corpse to greet her, just an empty courtyard pond. She wandered through the lotus columns to the mouth of the temple where the alabaster stairs descended into nothing.
"Nyt," Abraxas pressed his ashen palm against the back of her head.
Kneel.
Abraxas crouched behind Ziara and covered her Eye of Ra with one hand and her mouth with the other.
"War," the void shimmered and warped into images of every battle in Egypt. Sesostris I and the Hyksos, the siege of Rameses, Djoser and the Hittites, the Kush Rebellion and Sons and Daughters constantly fighting. "Egypt was feared, renowned for its military and resources. However, one man ruined it."
"Akhenaten," Ziara mumbled beneath his hand.
Abraxas chuckled, "He eradicated the cosmogonies, and even after his rein and the resurrection of tradition, a whole new era of weak rulers called themselves Pharaoh and weakened Egypt to its knees. My renewed purpose is to ensure that it will never happen again."
Ziara watched as Rameses rode across the void on a chariot driven by four stallions. The blue Khepresh glimmered and soon discoloured as he beheaded enemies. He was aided by Sons of Ra who commanded fire and burnt all in Rameses way.
"My dream is simple; wouldn't you agree?"
"I'd rather not keep false faith in the back of my mind. Your union of the Old Ways might have reunited the Upper and Lower in the Old Kingdom, but you are centuries too late," Wraith hooked the Khepesh around Abraxas' throat.
Abraxas hummed, "The Eye of Ra, Wadjet and Eye of Truth. . .Head Son. Anapa's idea to create Sons and Daughters was to protect Egypt from threats foreign and local, however he couldn't anticipate the Ungifted's rebellion. A Son never became Pharaoh and a Daughter could never marry into a bloodline, so the crown remained impure. But if I am Pharaoh, I will bring peace beyond Egypt."
"Why the Head Son of Horus?" Wraith hissed.
"I needed a sacrifice to break me from Sekhmet's isolation. She barred me from reclaiming the Wadjet and he failed its retrieval more than once. . .so, I needed more sacrifices," Abraxas cooed in Ziara's ear. "I will be needing that Eye soon; Sekhmet cannot protect you forever."
"Don't count your breaths," Wraith said.
Ziara gasped and sat up.
The fiery hand fisted in Carn's hair and pulled him from Harry's body. Ziara did not scream or flinch, she knew that Abraxas would do anything to reinstate the Old Ways. Ziara had to detach herself from Carn, he wasn't the aspiring Egyptologist who'd listen to her rambling over drinks, that boy had been dead long before Abraxas found him.
Ziara rolled onto her knees and coughed, "Egypt is in the midst of a civil war, the height of chemical and guerrilla warfare. Not even you, an old wives' tale can eradicate a corrupt government or two opposing branches of Islam."
Abraxas' grip tightened, "Man is destined to destroy each other. Ungifted were designed as martyrs by Amun-Ra, Sons and Daughters are eternal."
Carn moved like a zombie and staggered towards the remaining Sons and Daughters with a stoic expression. His eyes remained vague as he struck with speed and malice. However, before Ziara could jump to the offence, Wraith was one step ahead. Carn was predictable and reckless; Wraith easily ducked and deflected his punches and he captured Carn in a headlock.
Carn tried to regain balance and clawed at Wraith's forearms. He kicked out Carn's knees with the toe of his boot and contorted his body to face the Sons and Daughters.
"I–I. . .I can't. . ." Carn gurgled.
The tattoos on Isfet's knuckles flared gold as he threw a papyrus at Carn. It burnt up as it touched the invisible barrier. Isfet's nostrils flared in frustration, "Nobody knows Abraxas. For all we know you are just an Ungifted man using unconventional means to replicate talents of Sons."
"Ah, the intellectual, Isfet. I am still astounded as to how you were deemed a Son of Anubis. You have the pathetic personality of a Son of Thoth with no combat abilities or confidence. You stand with those that cower," Abraxas snarled. "You are the kind I must destroy; I do not care for weak links in my kingdom."
Isfet tensed as he eyed the apparition, "I am one of the Arts, I have no need for combat when I can reduce Sons to dust without lifting more than a finger. Pray tell, how do you know my name? I wasn't that famous in the Eighteenth."
The fire spread its arms wide, "Has my identity not been obvious? I certainly left more than one clue."
"Dude, we didn't even know you existed 'til a few days ago," Nathanial cracked his knuckles.
"Hmph," Abraxas grunted. "Your arrogance is an obvious flaw."
One of the red chains flickered and struck like a harpoon. Wraith pivoted on his heel and shoved Carn in front of him. The chain pierced Carn's throat; he fell forward as more blood stained the sand beneath Ziara's feet. Red, red, red.
Carn clawed at his neck and gasped for breath. As the chain retracted, Carn's Wadjet dimmed before fading into the white of his sclera.
Ziara's fingers twitched. Instead of a lifeless corpse, a smiling young man stared back at her—the same one which called her most nights to discuss work, her closest friend who'd get legless with Den and the other guys from the museum. . .Carn was no longer the corrupt Head Son of Horus.
A strange noise escaped her lips. It wasn't a sob or cry; she could only describe it as a gasp for breath as if she'd been held underwater the entire time.
The chains around Abraxas dissolved with a muffled poof and the flames solidified around the shadow, forming a body. Ziara's eyes threatened to fall out of her skull when Abraxas hardened into the cloaked figure from her subconscious. The ashen hand gained an ounce of colour as he opened each deity's head, consuming the organs within.
Qeubhsenuef's top rolled across the mastaba as the intestines were pulled into a distended string and eaten. Duamutef was thrown into the Nile as the stomach was carved up with the knife. Imsety was used as a cup as the liver was slurped and chewed whilst Hapi was crushed in a bloodied fist once it was empty. The heart was savoured, Abraxas delicately cut around the tissue and groaned as he gorged.
Satisfied, Abraxas swept his hand into the void of darkness beneath his hood to wipe the blood. He then cast his hand out towards Ziara, the papyrus frond tore itself from her ear and found its place back between the teeth of its master.
Abraxas then flicked back his hood and disrobed.
Ziara's eyes widened, she only knew that face from a memory. The only physical remanence remained idle in the Hall of Remembrance. A man bound by a black kilt, straight hair characterised with linen to keep it from his eyes—Ziara hadn't anticipated this at all, there were no warnings, no hint was good enough.
Their destroyed was a Son of Anubis.
"Akhuya, did you miss me?" he grinned at Anuka, adjusting his hair to distort the empty socket.
Asemonekh.