Under the Shadow of Gods
an excerpt

The goddess Nephthys sat with her head bowed over a pile of papyrus. Her slender fingers were ink-stained from the white feather quill she held in her hand. The complex schematics were spread out before her. She looked over at her notes and then back to the drawing she had so painstakingly prepared, for, well, the goddess had lost track of how many times she had drafted and redrafted the plans. Pushing a stray strand of black hair out of her face, leaving an unnoticed smudge across her forehead, she added in another set of incantations before finally nodding her head in satisfaction.
It was done.
Nephthys had been silently working on the machine for the last thousand years, ever since she happened upon Master of Works Hemiunu. She had been curious of the man who had built his Pharaoh such a grand tomb. In her discussion she had learned much of the man, his true purpose for the Great Pyramid of Kheops, and the amazing machine he had constructed for the Living Horus to reach the Great Beyond. Even then, Nephthys had recognized that what she was learning from the man would change her own fate. If only she had known then how long it would take her to make it work, she would have delayed in seeing him through the dangers of the Realm of the Gods.
Although she could do nothing once she left him at the Hall of Judgment to face Maat for the Weighing of the Heart, but to her pleasure Hemiunu had survived and was happily in the Fields of Irau. In hind sight it might have been safer if Amut had eaten his heart and his Ka had been destroyed, but she did owe him much for the information he had provided her, and what was a few millennia to an immortal being such as her? None of the others knew who he was beyond his titles, if they even noticed his passing at all, and she truly was glad he had found eternal happiness. Nephthys could only hope she might do the same.
The machine.
Oh, the lovely machine.
Hemiunu had wanted to get to the gods, but she wanted to escape them. Her family all over-looked her. She was constantly in the shadow of Isis and her siblings. Nephthys was jealous of the love Isis and Osiris shared and tired of her own loveless marriage. Perhaps it was trite of her and she knew it would sound like the same old tired cliché that brought most mortals to pray, but it made no less true. She had known a brief passion with Ra, but he was not the most discriminating of lovers and she wasn’t naive enough to fool herself into thinking she was the only one to grace his bed. Although her one joy she had gotten from him- her son, Anubis.
Nephthys knew she would never conceive a child with Set, his seed was sterile, but she had been certain her womb would give life and it had. Her son was her only source of happiness and the one thing that gave her pause in her mission, but Nephthys’ desire for a life where she had value and was loved won out. She was convinced that couldn’t get that in the Realm of the Gods. Nephthys had watched mortals and lingered in conversation with their Kas on the journey through the Trials and was certain she would find her heart’s desire on the Mortal Plane.
The goddess had spent countless hours in careful observation of her chosen host. The woman was loved and needed. Nephthys did feel a twinge of misgiving that she would be taking her from her own peaceful life, but she reconciled her guilt with the fact the woman would undoubtedly have a heart that would balance and would therefore find herself in the Fields of Iaru for a blessed eternity.
The goddess briefly wondered if anyone besides her son would even notice her absence. Perhaps Set when he desired her in his bed, but by then it would be too late. She would be gone and they would not be able to follow her.
It had taken meticulous work, but finally, finally it was done.
She could escape.
Nephthys carefully gathered up the papyrus and locked it away within the secret compartment in the wall of the chamber. She had considered burning it, but fear that she might need them again had stayed her hand. She would just have to take the risk of them being found, but of course, that would require someone to know to look and even if they did, there was an assumption there that they would want to follow her and she highly doubted that. What did they have to escape? Their lives were perfect. Well, now hers would be too.
The iridescent crystals were carefully aligned around the machine. It had taken her the better part of the thousand years of toil to charge each one, but she had managed. Nephthys had tried to figure out a way that would not require them, but she only been able to successfully do away with the blood sacrifice and scale down the required participants so she could operate the complicated technomagic on her own.
Walking to the middle of the room, she undid the straps of the simple blue gown she wore, dropping it to the floor with a rustle of fabric. Kicking it aside with a toe she turned to the machine. Bringing the humming object to life, she began to chant softly.
It was time.
Closing her eyes, she could feel the charge gathering around her. Slowly, her body began to change into the pure form of her Ka, which in turn began to heed the will of the machine.
It was working!
Nephthys could hardly contain her excitement to stay focused on the proper incantations required to fuel and control the powerful magic being utilized by the machine.
“Mother!”
The goddess faltered, barely managing to get the proper word out when Anubis’ voice broke through her chanting. Looking at her jackal-headed son, she could not stop.
It was too late now.
Her Ka had already begun to transfer.