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The oxen—two beasts as black as Nut’s belly at night, carried the sledge bearing the mummy. Each wore a wreath of lotus blossoms around its horns, a symbol of rebirth.
The High Priest’s deep chant started low and gained in volume until it swelled and echoed through the valley. He swung a censer back and forth, cloaking the breath of the Gods with the heavy scent of precious incense.
The rest of the Priests followed regally, their black-dyed kilts the same colour as the fertile soil of Egypt. They reeked of death and wisdom. As the Controllers of Mysteries, their hearts and minds were filled with the secrets of mummification that no other Mortals were permitted to learn.
The treasures for the afterlife they carried glittered under the scorching sun. Furniture and art to keep the dead comfortable in Amenti, senet boards to occupy their endless days and crates of blue faience shabti statues to come to life and serve them in the Field of Reeds.
An ebony chest in the shape of the Jackal God carried the four precious canopic jars that housed the Wix’s internal organs. It was almost time for the mummy to take its place in the older-than-time, perfectly choreographed dance of death.
When it was time for the Priests to weigh the Wix’s heart against Ma’at’s feather, Osiris wondered if it was lighter than the Goddess’ feather making him worthy to step into the glory of his realm.
Unfortunately for the dead, the heart was too heavy. The beast Ammit would gorge itself on it tonight.
The Wix’s family shuddered at the thought of the slavering monster; a fearful combination of crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus and their tanned cheeks became streaked with rivers of kohl and tears.
The mournful melodies did not move the God of the Underworld. He looked at the sun as it prepared to set and spend another night in Nut’s womb before it rose tomorrow.
Nothing mattered anymore, not even the trappings of mummification he wore from chest downward that hindered his movements and reminded him daily of his brother’s barbarous treachery.
Fresh pain tore across the cuts on his body, dropping pearls of blood into the golden sand. The fourteen fragmented pieces of his torn body, joined by his beloved, ached as if they were cut anew by Seth’s blade.
The two feathers adorning his Atef crown, courtesy of his favourite ostrich, burned signalling the end of another day.
Disheartened by the reminder that he was yet to be united with his beloved, Osiris exhaled.
He understood the heartache his parents went through and why Nut’s tears drenched the soil. He could not fathom the pain she’d been enduring for eons, forcibly separated from his father; Geb.
The breeze carried the murmurs of the dead and the musky scent of Anubis.
The world went black for a moment before Anubis appeared, still reeking of incense. The precious smoke had already travelled into the sky to guide the dead’ ka up an invisible ladder formed by the Amun's outstretched arms.
Contrary to popular belief, Osiris did not hold Seth’s crime against his nephew.
Anubis was benevolent and clement. He had helped and comforted Isis when she started the arduous task of searching for his body. When they found all the pieces, he invented the art of embalming and mummification so that his uncle could live again and reign in the Realm of the Dead.
“You threw another heart to Ammit,” Osiris said coolly.
“According to the Great Balance, he was not pure and honest and free of sin. Ammit deserved the little treat,” Anubis’ said stoutly as his shrewd eyes flickered to him. “But that is not why I am here.” He opened his mouth to speak then changed his mind and clasped his jaws.
Osiris stood motionless when Anubis hesitated. “Say what you need to say. Nothing you share could hurt me anyway.”
“I found Isis,” he rasped in a worry-tinged voice. “She’d been reincarnated in a foreign land unblessed by Amun’s sun.”
Osiris’ spirits soared the moment he heard his beloved’s name. “Isis?” His heart began uttering feverish, pleading, disjointed prayers.
Anubis offered a single nod.
In the tense silence that followed, afraid to hope and unable not to, Osiris clenched his hands in tortured misery.
When his beloved defied their sacred laws and brought him back from the dead, performing a forbidden ritual, both knew she had to be severely punished.
He was exiled to the Underworld required to live the rest of his endless existence away from Amun’s morning light while Isis’ fate remained undisclosed.
A part of him recognized her essence in the very air he breathed. He knew she was alive but no matter how many dead he asked, no one had heard of her.
She simply vanished.
He closed his eyes tightly, searching recollections of the woman he loved since they were twins in Nut’s womb. But there was nothing except a black void. No husband could forget the woman who sacrificed everything to save him. No husband could forget being loved by a woman like Isis, it just wasn’t possible.
Except that, Seth made it possible.
“Her name is all that I have left,” Osiris admitted in a rare show of weakness. “I cannot clearly remember her face.”
But the pain of the loss lingered.
The pain of being torn apart from his beloved. He would gladly trade his throne; his birthright for a day with her.
He pushed the thoughts of a past he would rather forget to the back of his mind and looked into Anubis’ obsidian eyes. “Where is she?”
Anubis looked pointedly out the window, at the position of the west. It was ludicrous to imagine his beloved in a foreign land.
“I was ordered by Amun to keep the secret but tonight, Isis’ seventh life ends. She will be given a choice to either go back to the Mortal Realm or reunite with you.”
Osiris’ voice lowered to a whisper. “A choice?”
Anubis nodded. “Worry not, Osiris,” he averted his gaze. “Shai foretold Seth’s end. Chaos and turmoil would befall Egypt followed by prosperity as soon as you are reunited with Isis. Shai spoke of a falcon who will roam Egypt’s skies bringing with him healing and knowledge and protection.”
Osiris prayed with a renowned fervour for Amun to grant him strength. The notion of losing Isis again was inconceivable.
Anubis offered him his hand and he froze. “Come with me, Osiris. Amun has granted you this mercy.”
⋅⋅•⋅⊰∙∘⚜️☽༓☾⚜️∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Isis Potter’s knees were quaking so bad that she could scarcely stand. Gazing into the obsidian eyes of the man with the head of a jackal, she wondered if she made a grave mistake by listening to Dumbledore’s speculations and giving up on her life to save her friends.
Anubis was waiting for her.
Either way, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like the God could murder her again.
Voldemort, so graciously, saw to that.
As his eyes started swirling wildly, hypnotizing and ensnaring at once, memories started flooding her mind.
She gasped and clutched her head with trembling hands.
Remember me…
Mourner, Protector…Mother…
Isis squeezed her eyes shut.
Two maidens toiled to prepare their queen for her wedding night until every goddess would envy her beauty. She was drenched in gold from head to toe. Golden earrings in the shape of ankhs, the symbol of eternal life, hung heavy from her ears and gilded bracelets snaked their way up her arms. Her sheath was shot through with so much gold thread it cascaded like a waterfall of molten metal down her body. Even her skin shimmered with precious gold dust imported from Nubia.
The scent of myrrh was thick in the air as she eyed the leopard skin draped across the Priest’s shoulders, the cat’s mouth frozen in a yawn of death.
Everything was perfect but most of all, the smile on the face of the regal God looking at her with so much love and tenderness.
She started shaking her head vigorously when more vivid scenes followed.
Seth getting jealous and slaying her husband.
Seth tearing the corpse into fourteen pieces and flinging them all over Egypt.
Nephtys taking pity on her sister and helping her find and bury the pieces.
Seth finding out about his wife’s betrayal and punishing Isis….
Isis placed her hands over her heart as if trying to protect that most precious organ, the centre of her being.
Her eyes; not the emerald green of her Mortal mother but the exact green of papyrus reeds filled with tears.
“Seth…What have you done?” She whispered brokenly.
A gentle hand clasped hers and on impulse, she took it. Isis lifted her head and for a moment, she saw the world she had always wanted through her husband’s tormented eyes.
Unlike her brothers and sister, Isis had always wanted a future without responsibility, a future of doing as she pleased when she pleased: such was the life she had envisioned for herself.
Yet everything changed when she understood that her future lay with Osiris. Their souls, their hearts and their magics were one and the same and if being near him required the small sacrifice of living the rest of her days sitting on a throne immersed in politics and likely never able to taste the small pleasures commoners enjoyed, she would be content.
Her hand fluttered to her eyes, searching for the kohl that used to make them look regal. They came back clean and empty.
She wore no golden headdress or double crown to proclaim her position. Nothing remained of her past life.
Nothing at all but the harrowing memories….
“Your life had been hard, beloved,” Osiris whispered as he helped her to her feet.
“Osiris,” she looked to the linen swathing his lower body with a pang in her heart. “I-I left you behind and forgot everything…”
Isis sobbed quietly and wrapped her arms around him. She pressed her face into his neck treasuring the smell of death on his cold skin. His face was smudged with green, a testament to his perseverance.
Green; the colour of life.
Green; the colour of rebirth….
Her lower lip trembled when he kissed her eyelids. “You are a fighter, beloved. Everyone should envy your strength and courage.”
“But I left…”
“No,” Osiris smiled, his dark eyes glittering like onyxes. “You were fragile, your core depleted after you used all your magic to bring me back. Our past life bruised us...battered us like a toy ship in a storm. But you—” He gave a wan smile. “You thrived on its challenges like the wonderful, glorious woman you are. Even in a land far away from home, you saw to justice and protected those in need.”
Isis nodded and drew her husband closer. A part of her she couldn’t ignore had always been fascinated by Egyptian Mythology.
Sirius had divulged that Lily dreamed of birthing a daughter called Isis long before she conceived.
At times, she had the most wonderful dreams of visiting Egypt and all the temples and valleys she read about.
When she found out that Bill worked in Egypt, she pursued him relentlessly, hounding him with thousands of questions.
Charlie had joked that he had met someone more obsessed with the Ancient Gods than Bill.
“Isis?’' Osiris spoke softly and she blinked. “What path do you plan to take now?” he averted his face. “You can go back to the life you forged in this land and….”
“No!” she shook her head vehemently.
He seemed taken aback but his eyes were so sad. “You know I can no longer step under Amun’s sun. I’m bound to the Underworld. I cannot bind you to a life without warmth.”
She laid her hands over his face and pressed her forehead to his. “How could you think I’ll leave you after I found you again? Without you, I merely existed. I wouldn’t call what I had a fulfilling life. Wherever Osiris goes, Isis follows. This is a gift from Amun after so long. We will be never separated again.”
“But I thought…I thought after all this time—” Osiris gave a wan smile and couldn’t get the words out.
Isis touched his cold cheek with her trembling lips. “I love you.”
The moment the words left her mouth, the linen wrappings swathing his body melted away leaving sinewy muscles and free limbs behind.
The sound of loud steps heralded the return of Anubis who had made himself scarce previously.
His voice was solemn when he spoke. “Congratulations. You passed Amun’s last test, Isis. You proved you love and for that, you shall be united with your husband and rewarded beyond imagination.”
Osiris lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. His gaze was piercing like an arrow when he drew her closer. “There is nothing we need other than being together.”
Anubis, however, dared her with his keen eyes. “Your wife thinks otherwise.”
Isis huffed and thought of all the years her husband spent alone, his freedom, his hopes and his life obliterated by Seth’s greed.
Seth…
Regardless of how or why this happened, her brother must be rooted out and utterly destroyed.
The air became charged like an afternoon sky before a thunderstorm all of a sudden.
“Isis?” Osiris arched a brow even though he could read her like no other.
“And revenge you will get, Isis,” Anubis nodded. “The falcon will come soon to the nest and bring with him the might of Egypt.”
“The falcon?” Isis chocked weakly, her heart thrumming wildly.
“You son,” Anubis cast a sly glance at them. “Horus.”