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confusedgoldenflower · 3 years

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An Aftermath Etched into Souls

Fandom: Ancient Egyptian Religion

Relationships: Ash/Set (Ancient Egyptian), Horus/Set, Seth/Heru, Setekh/Heru, Nebuty/Setekh, Aset/Wesir, Ash/Horus, Nebuty/Heru, Ash/Seth/Horus, Nebuty/Setekh/Heru

Characters: Ra (Ancient Egyptian), Horus (Ancient Egyptian), Set (Ancient Egyptian), Ash (Ancient Egyptian), Thoth (Ancient Egyptian), Nephthys (Ancient Egyptian), Isis (Ancient Egyptian), Osiris (Ancient Egyptian), Wesir | Osiris (Ancient Egyptian), Setekh | Seth (Ancient Egyptian), Heru | Horus (Ancient Egyptian), Nebuty | Ash (Ancient Egyptian), Aset | Isis (Ancient Egyptian), Nebet-Het | Nephthys (Ancient Egyptian), Djehuty | Thoth (Ancient Egyptian), Ap/o/phis (Ancient Egyptian), Shu (Ancient Egyptian), Tefnut (Ancient Egyptian), Nut (Ancient Egyptian), Geb (Ancient Egyptian), Anubis (Ancient Egyptian), Yinpu | Anubis (Ancient Egyptian), Ammit (Ancient Egyptian), Heru-Wer | Horus the Elder (Ancient Egyptian), Horus the Elder (Ancient Egyptian)

Other Tags: Soulmates, because why not, I'm spicing up the fandom, LMAO, Slow Burn, ? - Freeform, Idk I have no patience though, we'll see how it goes, Natural laws mean nothing, they're gods, I ain't gonna tell them no, Post Contendings: Ancient Egyptian Mythos, Ancient Egyptian Literature & Mythology, Ancient Egyptian Deities, Ancient Egypt, Wing fluff, Wing Grooming, Wings, Magic, Transfiguration

Summary: After the Contendings between them, Heru (Horus) and Setekh (Seth/Set) go their separate ways. Heru goes to his father's throne, and Setekh tries to consolidate everything that has happened in the last few centuries; what happened prior to the birth of the five siblings. There is much to reflect upon and the past decades left lasting damages of various kinds for everyone. Ra sees this and makes an executive decision on how he thinks they can heal--or heal one another... binding two souls or hearts together.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32563603

Chapter One: Reunion of Hearts

“You’ve returned....”

Setekh turned from the blood stained sunrise to look at the temple oasis he had found himself not able to approach any further. The voice was gentle. Oh, so gentle. It had been that way for so long even in his vague glimpses of memory.

“I thought you’d forgotten about me… us…?”

He smiled kindly, or as kindly as he could for as far as a deity of bloodshed and burning sand is capable of gentleness. His heart wavered.

“Nebuty, I… glimpses, only, but I remember. I only want to know how you are and then I will be off.”

The figure a couple dozen paces away stumbled forward as if pushed. He stepped closer, but his outstretched arms caught nothing in the air.

“No, stay! If you can… I would like that.”

The Great God of the Sahara never found himself at a loss for words but…, “after all that has happened and all I have done?”

There was a lapse in spoken words as their eyes bore into one another’s. The wind stirred the sand forward. Surely the Lord of Oases had overheard the gossiping of travelers by then.

“You don’t remember our last night together? I know that even reborn as you were, you would never do something like that--or anything else. It is the humans and their scribes and their allegiances to stories.” Setekh couldn’t bear to stare into those eyes and so he looked away. The figure moved, bare feet against the limestone and then gently crunched on the sand. A warmth took over his hand.

“At least stay today? Please?”

An exhale akin to a sigh and dying breath left him then and the corners of his lips turned up. Setekh was pulled into Nebuty’s temple without struggle.

Frankincense and sandalwood wafted beautifully strong through the limestone corridors. It made the dry heat tolerable, at least that’s what a human may say, but for the specific deities of the desert and the oasis, this was ideal. Nebuty, however pleasantly thriving in such a state well into the desert, did not look over the many humans that kept up the temple and devoted themselves to him. They were all so very dear to him; such special spirits that were free to take from his oasis what they would. They also shied away from the villainous red haired god of calamity, eyeing him warily as he walked with their lord.

It didn’t go unnoticed by either, how the humans reacted. Setekh pretended he didn’t see any humans at all and Nebuty’s heart was saddened as he recalled the desecration of Setekh’s own temples generations ago. No human would be old enough to remember it. Not now. But gods remembered and gods could be hurt by men.

He swallowed hard as his temple faded to heaps of burnt offerings, incense and objects alike aflame with broken chairs and tables, even effigies of Setekh. What wasn’t able to be burnt was looted and subsequently melted down or otherwise brutally disfigured. He’d knelt there and wept and lost all notion of time before a cousin came to rouse him. That had hurt even more for his dearly beloved’s name had been spat in hate already. So much so that he couldn't even recall the exact god that came to him. Shouldn’t they have known?

“Nebuty,” a chest thrummed deeply like the whirling thumps of a distant sand storm. He blinked and registered his home and his beloved who looked back at him with a face that had learned to color such emotions as concern. He merely nodded and offered a smile for them both as he shuffled a bit closer. Setekh didn’t protest or push him away.

As a singer’s ethereal voice reverberated off the painted plastered walls and ceilings, he led the other to the rooms where he liked to stay. The temple attendants were ushered out. Then they were alone.

Nebuty stared into Setekh’s blood red eyes, the color he painted the morning sky after slaying the truly evil serpent bent on utter destruction of creation. His skin prickled and he fought the urge to sway on his feet like an uncertain adolescent. Why was this silence so… wrong?

“We have much to talk about?”

Setekh sighed heavily and let his eyes close as he looked away, “I have grown so weary of talk; that is all they do!” He growled while stalking away then stopped abruptly. Nebuty stepped toward him.

“It isn’t my intention to bring this into your temple,” but those eyes still hadn’t come back to look into his. He missed that boring depth. That perfect but miniature reflection of the desert.

“I brought you into my temple and so I have brought your troubles here as well. Stay,” he added quickly, before Setekh could make argument and leave, “let yourself be rejuvenated here.”

Setekh nodded silently. Nebuty grabbed some wine as he led the other to the richly decorated, sha-headed couch.

“All this time, how have you been?”

He smiled quietly to himself, Setekh never was good at serious conversation.

“It’s lonely out here but it is home… you make it so.”

Setekh was silent, staring at nothing. Those swirling red eyes were shining with thought. Neither of them ever really needed much conversation anyway, and so Setekh vaguely felt himself pulled down to sit beside Nebuty.

“You want me to stay?” The words were certain, almost harsh but he had long ago hidden his heart away.

Nebuty leaned against him even in the sweltering heat, “of course I want for you to stay with me… again.” The silence stretched long. The singer had long since passed over the first song. Eventually, he allowed himself to relax against the other and, “breathe in such bliss after so long.” Nebuty didn’t risk injury to Setekh’s scattered emotions by telling him he had spoken allowed, only basked with him in one another’s company.

~~~@%*^*%@~~~

“Yes, yes, I am well aware we are all exhausted from recent events,” Ra began with a brief pointed look at Heru, “but I have decided something. And while it is my doing, I do not have dictation over it; no one does.”

“Well?” He questioned in the height of Ra’s summer heat grabbing them even in the shade of the stone ceiling.

“I have decided to tie souls together.” Ra paused without elaboration. He was no doubt where Setekh inherited his, albeit enhanced, air for dramatics. A hush of steely whispers passed over the assembled deities.

“So if one of the souls dies, the other does as well?” Setekh questioned, seemingly bored. He had his head rested on a hand and the elbow on the table. He hadn’t touched his wine. Heru had, it was the only thing that was borderline cool. Ra regarded his distant offspring with what could only be described as an air of some sort of affection.

“No. Merely, souls that have been aligned; I know not who neither can I transfer nor repeal it. But each of you will know. I see my grandchildren Nut and Geb have-.”

“And yet you separate us!” Came the son’s envenomed words, “but the space between earth and sky must remain.” Shu, their father, interrupted, unperturbed.

“As I was saying,” Ra regained the conversation and Heru imagined the feathers of the solar disk bearing falcon to be ruffled and hassled in annoyance. A sip of wine hid his small smile.

“You will know when you know. It is to be happy, children, all this strife and violence has greatly weighed upon me and I have little doubt, you all as well. So I made a solution. What say you of my ingenious idea, Setekh?”

“I’m not sure, allow me to ask Pharoah,” Setekh smirked pettily as he turned his head to Heru who took in a breath and set down his goblet, he could feel his mother’s dissatisfaction radiating off of her form, though he had no choice but to agree.

“I am not sure as of yet, this is new and quite impulsive,” he jabbed at Ra.

The elder creator deity chuckled, “More so than you questioning the wisdom of those older than you? I have been thinking on this for a very long time.” Djehuty nodded his approval from nearby. Setekh’s eyes shone with a certain sort of amusement.

Heru’s eyes narrowed, “and the point of this? How could forcibly tying us together possibly see an end to violence.”

“Mated souls,” was the only reply.

His mother raved audibly when they left and returned to their new home, the royal palace. He listened silently, taking note of everything she said. He spoke when her acceptance of a ripe fig gave pause to her ranting.

“Can you feel who you are attached to?”

Her brief pause in chewing gave indication of her thinking, “...your father.” He smiled.

“We did not need Ra’s bizzare intervention to tell us that we love each other,” she remarked quietly.

“Does he know?”

“Oh, yes, I told the winds to tell him what happened earlier.”

Had he been too caught up in thought to have missed that? He had been sure he had been listening attentively but….

“This is just a ploy for Ra to stay relevant, there is nothing to worry for.” She sighed out, fire gone.

“Come now, you still have meetings to attend, my son, the day is not yet over.”

He obeyed and saw to his duties, but he did feel as if there was something to worry for. The air was hot and his body was sweating, yet he felt oddly cold. Like being alone without anyone around to offer even so much as just their presence. It chilled his bones.

“Mother,” he asked when they were finally left alone, “how can you tell it is father that your heart is tied to?” Her head tilted slightly, a tick that his father once told him endeared her to him beyond reason.

“It is a softness… a lingering… somehow so difficult to describe. But… I feel almost wrong here and know that I would be perfectly content with his company.”

“I see.... I think I will go for a walk.”

She revered him for a few seconds, “alright. Be safe, my son.”

“I always am. I love you.”

Her smile stretched almost triumphantly like it had when they’d won over Setekh, “I love you more.”

He transformed into a falcon and departed her company. Aimlessly soaring through Shu’s separation almost stripped away the day’s trials and tribulations. How many days had it been anyway? Since he’d been fully blessed with his father’s inheritance…. No matter, he was doing well under Aset’s careful tutelage and the country’s people were satisfied with their new monarch. He watched them, his people, moving around on the ground. Adults were working still as there was some light yet left and small children ran about, doing away with their last energy stores to be put to sleep easily. It made his heart happy in a way that filled him so much that he couldn’t breath almost.

Temples and Faiyums passed below him. Rich and poor alike were blessing the incoming night and burnt offerings of resin were already being lit. An air currant brought him down to zip between the mud brick houses. Although he was not recognized in such a form without great procession, the children shrieked with delight. Some dogs gave chase, and the cats could hardly care about him in favor of the vermin that were ruining food stores. He rode the current down to where he no longer had any lift, then transformed back into his humanoid form.

“Here,” he whispered as he touched a column in the shade of the stone structure. So many memories… so many-.... just, so much. He hadn’t cared to hide himself from the view of mortals for they knew better than to enter even the radius of the place.

“Are you looking for Setekh?” Heru jumped at the sudden and unfamiliar voice, “he is not here, and it may be best to leave him be, at least for quite some time.”

He stared at the other deity, sure he had had some sort of knowledge about their entire and sprawling family by then, but he could not identify the other.

“Oh, pardon me, Pharaoh.” The other added with his kind face and soothing voice.

Heru finally came out of his shock, “and you are?”

“Nebuty.”

“Beloved of Setekh,” Heru thought aloud.

“Yes,” Nebuty smiled. Silence lapsed between them as the shadows stretched further and further on the limestone floor.

“You do have eyes like the Great Green Sea beneath a bright sky,” Nebuty finally said, seemingly impervious to the awkwardness of their transaction. It was then that Heru realized that the sun must have been shining off of one of his eyes as it sank below the Western sands.

“Thank you…. Ah, I am not familiar with you…?”

A brief look of panic, realization and shock passed over the other’s face, “I stay in my temple within the sands of the desert. I came out for… the first time in a long time to see everything even if it hurt….” Nebuty’s voice trailed sorrowfully off as he turned to stare in the western direction despite the still blinding solar disk.

“Within his desert? It pains you?” Something akin to a mounting dread weighed Heru’s stomach down and bound his feet to the floor.

“Yes, well, it is good to see Kemet in good order. The people are happy and the harvests seem bountiful. I am glad.” Before he could think, he found his hand closed around the other’s arm as Nebuty had turned West to return to where he claimed he came from.

“Wait… how can you be in Setekh’s desert?!” He motioned towards said landscape to give emphasis to his words but nearly stopped short when his keen eyes noticed a roiling tension.

“His anger has been peaked by today’s meeting, you cannot go now!” He continued.

“It may also be because you grabbed me,” Nebuty returned calmly. Heru blinked a few times. This was so beyond anything he had experienced up to that point.

“You need not fear for my well being,” Nebuty pulled Heru’s hand off of him, “I am actually safer within those fiery parameters he lords over.” Heru watched Nebuty, the one that was the beloved of Setekh, walk away and disappear into the darkness both of night and the sandstorm.

He shook himself from his shock and resolved to focus on promising punishment if the storm came into the Black Lands and harmed people or farms.

Yes, that would have to be sufficient… but then why was there such a deeply set chill that night?

~~~@%*^*%@~~~

“Anything of note?” Setekh asked immediately in the shelter he made for them in his sand storm.

“The people are happy and the country is protected,” Nebuty returned. Setekh gave a curt nod before beginning their way home. Only then did it occur to him that what he had said had offended the other. I know you are a fine king. But he knew better than to press that particular matter.

“Any trouble?”

“No, I hid myself from the humans’ gaze. However, I recognized Heru.” Setekh stopped and whirled around. The storm around them spiked in veracity.

“He came back to the meeting place. I know not why but assumed it had to do with you, considering the place’s utter emptiness and all but certain locations for everyone else but you.”

“What did he say,” Setekh demanded and if it wasn’t for those decades they had spent together and the longing in his heart, he might have flinched.

“He was confused and did not know me, then was worried for me when I had to depart. Perhaps he went back to try and make sense of Ra’s declaration? Humans often say it helps to be in the location where something happened.”

Those fiery eyes that somehow reflected light well into the darkness of night looked beyond him then, squinted. He took a clenched fist into his hands.

“Come, I am sure we are both tired from today’s happenings.”

The other bodily folded around him then, “you spent too long away.”

“Hmmm,” he responded and closed his eyes into the embrace. This was where he belonged, and where his heart was whole.

#Egypt fanfic #Kemet fanfic #Set #Heru #Ash #Nebuty #Setekh #Horus #Have a good day and stay safe #friends!

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anastasiaoftheironwood · 7 years

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Today’s Read: The Well of Remembrance by Ralph Metzner

The Well of Remembrance: Rediscovering the Earth Wisdom Myths of Northern Europe

Author: Ralph Metzner, Shambhala Press, 1994

I picked up this book at Moe’s Books in Berkeley one quiet afternoon. I was not familiar with Metzner’s work, but the title intrigued me, so I bought it. The majority of the text is written by Metzner, with a few chapters contributed by Bärbel Kreidt, Norbert Mayer, and Christian Rätsch. Published in 1994, this book is very much a product of its time, and has not aged well. The text also has some inaccuracies and omissions which make it difficult to take the work seriously as a whole, although the parts where he discusses psychology are interesting, and his discussions of the need to address social ills are unfortunately still relevant.

A psychologist and (now retired) professor of psychology, Metzner quotes Jung extensively, as well as the usual sources—Tacitus, Saxo Grammaticus, and Snorri Sturluson. He also name-checks Marija Gimbutas, who wrote the foreword to the book shortly before her death.

Like many (white, male) authors, he has much to say about Freyja, who is mentioned on 30+ pages, as well as having an entire chapter of her own. However, Frigg is mentioned all of three times: once as “Odin’s wife and Balder’s mother”, once in the story of the mistletoe, and once in this dismissive summary on page 154: “Frigg is a form of Freyja, adapted and adopted into the patriarchal family structure of the Aesir gods.”

Compare this to the author’s rhapsodic descriptions of Freyja, coming to this summary (also on page 154): “Freyja and Odin came to be regarded as divine consorts, guides, and teachers of sorceresses and seeresses.” But Frigg, Allmother and Queen of Valhalla, merits only three references, and is easily dismissed as merely an aspect of Freyja. The objectification and erasure is infuriating, and sadly, not atypical. (The winner in this particular category is Paul Rhys Monfort, who in his book Nordic Runesdismisses Frigg as “Odin’s rather less glamorous wife” while spending entirely too much time describing how attractive Freyja is.)

Three times, Metzner refers to one or more of Loki’s children—Hel, Fenris, and Jormundgand, and he refers to them as the offspring of Loki “and a giantess” (when he bothers to mention their mother at all). Her name is Angrboda, and that information is easy to obtain, so why he couldn’t be bothered to include her name really bothers me. Even if I were not one of her devotees, the omission of her name and the subsequent erasure is offensive to me as a woman. Three times. That’s not an accident, that’s an intentional choice. Montfort does the same, refusing to name Angrboda and simply referring to her as “a giantess”. Why is it so hard to use her name?

Then there’s the genteel attempt at Othering the Jotnar that rounds out the work. His discussion of the giants sounds like a your clueless white friend who insists that they can’t be racist because “I have a black friend”. Having spent chapters discussing the divinity and general wow-ness of the Aesir and Vanir, he presents the giants on page 205: “think of the giants as nonhuman forces and agencies that are not unconscious, but that have a consciousness that is different in quality and scale from human consciousness.” Just like the Aesir and Vanir; like, gosh, what distinguishes gods and humans? But the Jotnar do not have the general wow-ness that the other gods do, so they are merely giants, and not gods. Unlike Montfort, at least Metzner does not cast them as evil stereotypes, but he doesn’t do much to make the reader curious about them in any positive way.

Then there’s this error on page 257: “The ancient Europeans believed that an ocean serpent, named Midgard, surrounds the Earth island.” Oh, surely that must be a one-off error, thought I. Oh, no, it’s not. Every reference to “the great serpent” is by the name “Midgard”. The name “Jormundgand” never appears in the book. Seriously. Did anyone who actually knows Norse mythology do a beta read on this book? I’m guessing not.

Lastly, the self-indulgent tone of the personal experience pieces—as well as Metzner’s constant interjection of himself into what would be (and should be) a direct statement becomes tiresome. Page 247 holds one such example, as Metzner is going on about Ragnarok and the Volúspa, and gifts us with this sentence: “According to the tradition, both seers and poets were ecstatically inspired by Odin—as I have been myself.” That’s nice, dear, but what does your ecstatic inspiration have to do with the Volúspa? We’re discussing Ragnarok here.

Writing and researching this book was clearly a profound personal journey for Metzner, but that aspect should have been separated out into another book. The lack of balance between personal and universal in the book makes it difficult to appreciate either Metzner’s specific experiences or the larger ideas he presents.

The book is not a total loss. Metzner’s discussions of psychology and social ills could be the basis of a different (and much more interesting book). His prior and subsequent books are in the fields of psychology and ecology, which are more aligned with his strengths. I wish this had been the book the title promised. The book is moderately interesting if the reader is unfamiliar with the Norse mythos, but the inaccuracies and exclusions detract from the content, and the reader is advised to approach this book with the understanding that it’s very much a personal approach rather than reference material.

#book #book review #Ralph Metzner #The Well of Remembrance

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