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The dream had been semi peaceful, a rarity for Amos Kane in his life. It was a real dream too, not his active overworked Ba being called forth to various meetings and encounters, invited or uninvited, leaving him never truly rested.
No, this one had been a real, hippocampus original, fueled only by his personal Jungian desires and processing needs. He’d put up the equivalent of “Out on PTO for a few days, will respond when I get back.” Ba signature, and most of the Egyptian entities he regularly contacted had been respectful of that, considering the ordeal he had had recently.
Then a singular snowflake dolloped his nose.
He tried to ignore it, and return to the sweet senseless machinations that is kissing someone in a dream, but the snowflake quickly became a blizzard and he couldn’t’ ignore it.
Dream Amos closed his eyes, trying to see if whatever entity was sending the snow would give up and go to voice mail. Snow wasn’t even an Egyptian thing. Yes, the Nile had frozen over ONCE but that had been a very bad thing and…..
He groaned with the realization as he clicked accept on the wintry unknown number.
Eyes filled with flame, offset by flared nostrils met his, and his cheeks exploded with the sensation of icy/hot.
“Set,” Amos said, more bored than anything really. After having been fully drained of his magic reserves by the God previously, and living to tell the tale, there was very little that excited him about the God.
Seeming to sense his dispassion, Set smirked as he said, “See you soon, darling.” And he blew a frosty windshield full of icicles into Amos’ face, starling him awake. The room was dark, yet moonlight was an immediate cover.
He lay there shivering in his dorm in the first Nome. He was supposed to be recovering, everyone knew that.
Everyone except for Set, that is.
He’s just taunting me, Amos thought, rolling over in the warm bed again. He just wanted attention and Amos wasn’t going to give it to him.
***
Amos rose from bed an hour later with the sunrise, using the memory of Julius last words to him to drag himself to breakfast before a painful Ka revitalization session, followed by a Shuyet therapy session.
Amos had long ago learned that the process of healing is never fun, and he hated being reminded of it daily within the suspicion raising walls of the First Nome.
Michel was hovering near the coffee pot, lazily peeling an orange. He looked like he’d gotten even less sleep than Amos had, and Amos consoled himself with that thought. The two were amicable, they were not friends.
He let him pour his coffee, seeming to take a moment to notice Amos was there, before finally realizing and saying, “Amos, meet me in my office once you have had your morning….grub.” The sentence was in French except for Michel's’ mocking American English at the end. They had a game of chicken with Amos speaking Louisiana French to mock Michel’s Parisian French and vice versa.
He left, and Amos scrambled to follow, wanting to just get this over with.
Amos hadn’t been into the Chief Lector’s office in a long time, and the décor change was….drastic.
It was covered in Chinese takeout bins littered among-st thick books filled with hieroglyphs, Greek, Assyrian and any number of other languages. There were even a few stone tablets, one with a stray soy sauce packet and chopsticks laid upon it.
An odd choice for the most powerful magician in the world, but Amos wasn’t going to judge. When had he ever done things by the book?
Michel waived his hand over the desk, clearing everything into a tidy Duat box, “Apologies for the mess.”
“Michel, I have important healing to do, why I’m here in the first place so if we could get…”
“Are you aware of where Set relocated to after leaving your host?”
“No, he also agreed to be on our side on threat of his Rem so.”
Michel seems to think on this, beginning to suck on the tip of a stray chopstick.
“Is there suspicion of something to the contrary?” Amos ventured, the ice from his dream making a comeback along his spine.
“The 360th has gone quiet. “ Michel said, running the chopstick through his forked beard.
“Antarctica? Do they usually communicate with us thoroughly anyways? Also why would Set be there…” But Amos filled in the rest for himself.
Set was the god of deserts, and where was the largest desert on Earth? Not to mention the psychological potential of a Nome full of Magicians who were banished for, well, being agents of Chaos. It made perfect sense for Set to be there.
Michel nodded along to Amos’ thoughts, “Yes, so if you feel you’ve fully healed…”
Amos was normally up for any challenge. He was a Kane, one of the most powerful magicians in the world by training, only doubled by his bloodline. But he knew internally he was not healed enough for this. He shivered again thinking of the ashen eyes of Set from his dream.
“I’ll do it,” he said, betraying himself. Because he knew that if Set truly was breaking his promise to Sadie and Carter, the only real family he had left, he would never forgive himself if Michel ended up sending someone not up to the task.
Besides, he knew Set. Knew him deeper than any mortal had in Millennium. And despite himself, he was curious for more.
Michel nodded in approval, exchanging zero pleasantries before flicking a hand at Amos to leave his office. Despite their animosity, they both respected the others’ ability to just get shit done.
***
Antarctica was, as expected, colder than a magicians tit. It did not help that they simply do not make magician appropriate attire for cold weather. The whole practice was based on existing near the equator.
He tucked his braids into the thickest winter hat he had been able to find in the First Nome (a pathetic excuse really) and stepped out of the portal he had created. They had an awful old obelisk, probably one of the fake ones that wealthy roman citizens would put in their yard for decoration but that still served a magician enough energy to duat travel with simply from the inherent belief attached to them that they had been Egyptian. It made sense that this Nome couldn’t even get a real relic.
The metal door to the compound required him to pull his entire body weight backwards from it to get inside, and he could already sense blue mingling with the brown of his fingers when it finally did.
He was met by a nervous looking blonde man with wire rimmed glasses wearing a lab coat.
“Oh We weren’t expecting anyone! Welcome welcome, give me one second….” And the man dashed back into the compound, exiting to a room off to the side. The sound of some tinkering, and then an eventual sound almost like a train letting out steam before he scurried back into the narrow corridor. Amos made a mental note to investigate that room specifically.
“I’m just finishing up some….experiments. Down here at the south pole there is not much to do and…no annoying mortals to muck up the process.” And he fucking waggled his eyebrows at Amos, “The names Peter Philip, and yes, haha, two first names, I”
And Amos was really trying to let the man yammer and tell him more wow would he not stop talking. “Mortals, eh? So what’s your reason for being here?” out of all the questions he could have asked, this definitely was not one of the important ones/ This man did not matter.
“Oh. Uh. I caused the Northeast Blackout of 2003. “
Holy Shit, thought Amos. They really did send the crazies here.
Just then, another Magician floated into the room, a cloak covering their head before they pulled it down, extending a brisk hand to Amos. Her dark eyes bored into him, as dark as clotted blood.
Few people or things truly startled Amos anymore. He’d run the gambit of magical training, and met some weirdos, and he’d also spent enough time in Memphis and New Orleans to meet some characters, but this woman had such a disturbing aura he almost didn’t shake her hand.
He did anyway, noting her hands were strangely soft for someone who he knew had killed people. Many people. “Amos Kane,” He said coolly.
She shook firmly, then withdrew her hand back into her cloak. “Sarah Jacobi.”
“And what brought you to this nome, Sarah?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Amos Kane.” And she said his name like it made her nauseous.
If it had only been the blonde man, Amos probably would have told the truth, but something told him the truth would get him nowhere.
And that old yet familiar whisper of evil and chaos and yes be selfish, Amos zinged through his head, like alcohol that went down smoothly tearing into sober synapses. Amos did his best not to physically shake his head as he tried to dispel the lingering feeling of having slender fingers comb through and settle in his mind.
These thoughts had their advantages though.
“I was sent here after Set chose to posses me.” A half truth.
Sarah nodded in approval. “Welcome. We have a spare room, you are in luck. We take breakfast lunch and dinner at the same time everyday to offset the eternal sun that occurs around this time of year, and then everyone is largely free to….roam and do their own thing.” She said, as she began walking towards the center of the compound.
It was different than anything Amos had encountered before. For starters, there were no relics. Anywhere. It seemed that anything that happened in the 360th Nome was fully powered by only the power from the Magicians themselves, and their surroundings. Amos wondered if they had a library at all, as it seemed from what he had seen that the place was rather small? The grey, stainless steel walls stretched for eternity, yet made him feel claustrophobic all the same.
She led him to what was hardly better than a prison cell. A small 9×9 room with a cot, a small dresser with a mirror on top, and a singular 2×2 window outfitted with blackout curtains.
He wondered who thought it was a good idea to send all the unbalanced magicians to one of the most polarizing places on earth? To a place where they were intensely watched by Ra for half of the year, and lacked supervision for the second half?
Sarah droned on about mealtimes, and the other two members of the Nome that Amos hadn’t met yet before Amos asked, ‘So what do you do, with all the free time/” he tried to play up the role of the newly lonely and shocked member of a remote Nome, and hoped she would trust him enough to say.
She glared at him. “We keep our secrets here, as well you will quickly learn. No one who isn’t used to being misunderstood and betrayed is sent to this Nome, so trust is earned, not expected.”
Amos tried for another wire to cut. He knew he could attempt to lace his words with persuasion, as he was apt to do, but that worked better on mortals than Magicians. Sarah Jacobi didn’t seem like someone he should fuck with in that way. “You seemed pleased Set had chosen me?” And he knew he could only pass off so much as the new guy, but he had to try, the flames of Set’s influence continuing to make him more reckless than he had been before.
She tsked her tongue. “Being possessed by a god is an honor, even by a chaos god such as Set. So whatever you did to get yourself banished here, must have had nothing to do with the God, and everything to do with realizing your capabilities.”
It was a riddle that Amos himself had been wrestling with since Set first made himself known within his mind. What was him and what was Set? He’d consoled himself that there hadn’t been that many options for Set to inhabit. That him choosing Amos’ mind didn’t have anything to do with his personal suitability to house the Chaos god, but even people like Sarah Jacobi saw that in him. Was he really playing a role here? Should he be outcast?
Amos had never felt unsure of himself to this degree in his life, and longingly wished he had the nice Shuyet healer back at the first Nome to speak with right now.
“Thank you, Sarah. I hope to gain your trust in due time.” And boy did he hope that was fast. With everything going on his mind he knew he could only keep up this charade for so long before it deteriorated him beyond repair.
She nodded and left him to his devices. To roam.
The next mealtime was in an hour, but he figured he could have time to maybe walk around the outside of the compound, to look for clues. After he spent nearly fifteen minutes getting suited up in the gear he’d found in his dresser though, he realized that calculation may not have been accurate.
Nevertheless, dressed in more animal based products than he’d ever donned in his life, he waddled out into the horrible Antarctic sun.
He had his wand with him, and he cast a general trap checking spell around the compound. Nothing pinged back at him aside from the usual protective wards, that he was included in and in no danger of breaching, as he had been welcomed as a guest. There was a slight tinge of darkness to the magic, but he shrugged it off that whoever had cast it likely had been one of the clearly darkly influenced Magicians housed within the compounds walls. Potentially Sarah Jacobi herself.
He began to traipse around the perimeter, taking care to not slip in the extremely unfamiliar snow, and to ignore the harsh sting of the winter weather around him.
He was almost fully around the compound, having been lulled into a sense of complacency, when a stray penguin wobbled towards him. Weren’t they supposed to be….
And holy shit the penguin began to shift into a man. The legs sprouted first, followed by the arms and a torso till the person had the traditional Egyptian look of a man with an animals head.
The body was lean with dark muscles, and had intricate patterns and hieroglyphs inked into it’s skin that matched some of the masks Amos had seen at Mardi-Gras before, showcasing the duality between fire and ice.
He had a strange urge deep in his gut to reach out his hands and trace them along the squiggly lines that crossed the creatures chest, only to be smoothed out, a mimicry of water freezing. The only thing that stopped him was the reminder that he had fucking gloves on, and that would not be as sexy as he had imagined.
His brain snapped out of it quickly, and he began searching the Rolodex of deities he had ever present within his mind. There wasn’t a penguin god at all, nor an ice god, maybe some kind of water…
The creatures voice boomed, startling Amos, as the large hand of the creature flew to land next to his head, crowding him back into the wall of the compound. Amos felt that distinctive pang of icy hot and…
“It’s Set, dumb ass. Miss me, darling?” And Amos shivered at the contrast of the nicknames, at the sensations, at finally hearing that familiar voice again.
Finally? Was he excited to hear this voice again?
‘No, I didn’t.” He snarled, shoving the creatures hand away and attempting to stare down the penguin head. It’s hard to maintain eye contact with a creature who had such a large beak between their very spread out and almost side facing eyes. It was disorienting, which must have served Set well.
“Where the hell did the penguin come from? You’re usually some kind of dog or…”
“And why does it matter?” The Penguins rank breathe was warm against his throat.
And Amos couldn’t lie to Set, not when he had been in his head. “I just wasn’t expecting this, is all. I figured out the desert bit but…”
“Good, good. “ The penguin man huffed, clearly wanting Amos to talk more.
“I guess it makes sense. You’re a shape shifter, none of the scholars can ever really decide what your animal is, preferring to just utilize the term ‘Set Animal.” Of course you can shift into anything, and that doesn’t translate to the mind of the mortal Egyptologist. “
See, now a Penguin grinning, or at least attempting to grin, is fucking terrifying. Everyone give Amos some credit for continuing to make eye contact.
“You know me so well, Kane. “
Amos gulped, the words of Sarah Jacobi twisting like a knife in his mind. His empty empty mind…..”That’s just years of knowing Julius. “
Set tsked tsked, or as much as a penguin tongue can allow.
“No. that’s years of being you. If I was anything like my brother, and let anything of his rub off on me, neither of us would be here would we?”
Set could insult him all he wanted, but not his bro…”Where is he right now, Kane?Is he here? Did he care what the consequences would be for unleashing the Gods in relation to you? Or did he only think of that wife of his…..our sister…. “ he hissed through the pneguin beak. Set had read Amos mind, just like someone who had lived inside it for weeks should be able to. He was a God and this was his Magician, and he’d done his homework.
Homework. Amos suddenly remembered why the hell he was standing in three foot of snow pinned to the wall of the 360th Nome by a chaos god.
“Why are you here? Sadie bound you to no longer harm the Kane family? “
The penguin-man tilted it’s head dismayed a bit. “Well, why are you here?”
Amos knew a petulant, ‘I asked first.” would not work here. He knew he couldn’t lie to Set, but he really thought him and Sarah might be…
“I’m not working with Sarah.” Set said blandly.
“Stop that! “ Amos bit out, “Why even ask me a question if you’re just going to answer it for me?”
“I enjoy playing with my meals. Plus I want you to say it.”
He decided to go with the official position of the 1st Nome. “The 360th Nome hasn’t contacted the 1st in a concerning amount of time. “
“And they sent you? When you were supposed to be healing? “
Amos rolled his eyes. He knew Set could totally connect these dots on his own.
“Well. “ Set said, seemingly now very interested in his nails. “I suppose we will just see how this plays out, shall we/ Even when I was in your mind, I couldn’t do much to control you.” and he honest to Gods tapped Amos on the nose like he was a misbehaving puppy.
“Let the chaos begin!” ‘ And the penguin-man poofed out of existence, leaving Amos shivering from more than just the cold against the wall of the compound.
He barely made it back for lunch. Actually, he was five minutes late. The gruel slopped onto his plate was unidentifiable, and gross. He attempted to make chitchat with the other Magicians at the table, a sickly looking elderly man with a terrible comb over, and a middle aged stern looking Asian woman, but the only one who seemed to want to talk was Peter. Every time he began to say something Amos might have been able to use, however, Sarah interrupted him, placating Amos with more fucking riddles.
He resolved to use his roaming time after lunch to investigate the man himself, hoping Sarah would disappear for a bit to her tasks.
Thankfully, she did, and Amos subtly followed the guy back to his lab. He stood with his back to the wall outside the doorway for a bit, but quickly learned that whatever the guy was doing was too small and precise for him to identify from this far away. Fucking nerds.
The guy also caught him.”Amos, I’m a nerd not dumb.” And he really needed people to stop being in his head for fucks sake.
“Right. I’m just a little….lonely on my first day.” And he was getting so into the role of trying to bend this nerd to his will that he subconsciously went to push up fake glasses.
“I know Sarah said that honesty is earned here, but, can I help with you’re doing at all/”
Peter looked at him suspiciously for about half a second before grinning and welcoming Amos in with open arms.
Thank the gods for oblivious lonely nerdy blonde men, honestly.
But then he actually had to pay attention.
And it’s not like Amos wasn’t a smart guy. Hell, he was probably the second most powerful magician on the planet at this time, however, he wasn’t this kind of smart. The kind of smart that could keep track of variables long term. The kind of smart that utilized esoteric language in anyway beyond playing a role. Scientifically smart. He was think on his feet, smart. Magical themes smart, but not…..The gist of what the guy was saying had something to do with polarity? The poles? Amos felt like
“Annnnnddddd….well. It’s all theoretical, ya know. Like we really can’t predict when it will happen, but…what if we could and…” The guy cut himself off.
Now this was Amos’ kind of smart. Picking up on those subtle shifts.
“What? What would happen if we knew when the next….”
“Geomagnetic Reversal,”
“Yes….that. Um what would happen if we knew that” Amos asked, really hoping not picking up on the word wouldn’t undermine.
“Well, some scientists link it to mass extinction events, and some think it doesn't have much effect but may disrupt lava flow and…magically, I’m not sure. Hence the experiments.”
“I’d imagine you’d need a massive amount of power.”
“Yes, yes you would.” Peter’s mouth formed into a frustrated line and Amos grinned.
He had gotten the man to say what he needed him to.
‘Is there a library here, at all? “ He asked, trying to lean into the fellow nerd stereotype again.
“Oh Yes!” And the guy seemed all to willing to put an end to this conversation and show Amos the library.
It was a rather small room, it was about the size of four of the tiny cells put together, but it was covered in wall to wall books.
“This is all?” Amos asked. And he got a pitiful whimper from Peter.
“Yes, usually if we want a book we have to order it from a different Nome, and it takes forever and they also vet everything we request. It’s very annoying and …..actually.”
Amos could sense the guy needed something from him.
Peter seemed to be calculating multiple things in his head at once, but Amos knew that look. It was Peter trying to be the kind of smart he wasn’t. Social smart. And Amos nearly kicked his feet in the air at how much this guy was giving him.
He would fucking earn this trust, Sarah.
“You’re a Kane, right?”
“Um, yes. We’ve established this.”
“They, ah, won’t question a book if you request it…Even….even though you were also banished here, you’ve got a certain respect.”
“Well, yeah, I’d sure hope so,” And Amos puffed his chest in a way he never had before trying to convey a sense of confidence to the man, yes please tell me what book you think is suspicious.
Peter took the plunge. “I want to look at the Narmer tablet. For my research.”
Amos tried to will the shock from his face. The Narmer tablet he had seen sitting in the library of his neice and nephew only weeks ago….one of the most notable relics in a place that deliberately had none.
“Yes. I could probably request that for you. Your research proposal sounds harmless enough.” Set had made lying feel like a second hat for him and he hated how the thrill zinged through him.
“Excellent! “
And Amos was left alone in a room full of probably the least helpful and most basic books for a Magician.
He had to make the most of it though. He was sure he could find something about the Narmer tablet, or geo—whatever the guy had said. Gods, he was hopeless. Maybe he should just take what he currently had back to the 1st Nome.
NO, he shook his head. He could wade through here. Maybe he’d run into sarah again and be able to question her more.
He found a basic almost children’s book on various famous relics of the Egyptian pantheon and began to read.
Annnnnd quickly fell asleep.
At first his dreams were peaceful. Since it was only a nap, he really wasn’t trying to roam with his Ba. Visions of his REM cycle danced across his eyelids. Julius, on his wedding day surrounded by well wishers. Sadie and Carter, frolicking at their sixth birthday party. The man he had been in love with at the time standing gently beside him. The man who had left when he had learned anything about Amos’ life.
He almost jolted himself awake from what was quickly becoming a nightmare before, what the fuck were those? Penguin talons? Jerked him back into the depths of unconsciousness.
“Set, you’re not supposed to be able to…”
“Dreams, darling. I can do anything in dreams. What chaos the brain is when it’s asleep. Plus, Sarah makes shit wards by the way. You looked extra cute trying to keep yourself entertained with that children’s book, by the way.”
This was so not fair. “I know you’re behind this Peter guy, I just can’t prove it yet!”
Set leaned against the wall, his face slowly morphing from that godawful penguin head back into a handsome yet crooked human face. His jawline was sickly sharp, almost malnourished, and he had an attractive nose that bulged and dipped to a wide base, the perfect ratio below his charcoal rimmed eyes swirling with fire and ice. The tattoos on his chest rippled as he spoke, “Yes, a plan of mine would be identifiable from a Children’s book.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you, Evil Day.” And was it a dirty trick to use that name against him, and probably too early in their game for it/ Yes, but the satisfaction Amos got form the way the jackal on his arm cowered at the word was worth all of it.
Instead, Set caught him off guard. ‘Do you think Ba’s can have sex? Like in dreamland?”
“You’re the god, you should kno- wait. Back to the matter at hand. What the fuck do you have to do with Geomagnetic….ugh. You know” and Amos growled every word.
Set rolled his eyes. ‘I can’t say it either. It’s not my plan.”
“Again, don’t believe you.”
“If it was my plan why the Ammit would I be talking to you of all people to figure out my plan?”
“To torment me. To play with me. Isn’t that your whole thing?”
“Well, yes.” Set purred, as he prowled forward towards Amos, “But playing with you specifically takes up a lot of time, which is something that is precious to me.” Amos shivered at the words that were almost directly whispered into his ear. Amos could feel how the different tattoos on his body were either cold or hot based on their symbolism and he wondered if-
While Amos really was curious about Ba sex, he wasn’t sure now was the time. His time was also precious.
“Okay, if I’m suppsoed to trust it’s not you, then give me a hint of something to look into. Give me a reason to trust you.”
Set had the audacity to look hurt. “Letting me into your head didn’t make you trust me?”
“I didn’t let you in. You forced your way in.”
Set shrugged. “Tomato tomato.”
“Well?” And Amos physically took a step back from the god.
His eyes blazed with the flicker of a geiger-counter about to go off.
“You’re on the right track with Peter, but I think Sarah is the real threat here.”
“So you don’t know either?”
“No, I don’t! That stupid niece of yours ensured none of my contacts trust me anymore.I’m almost as in the dark as you are.”
“But you’re a god? “
“Even gods are only as powerful as the next powerful thing. “
What god could be stronger than Set? And then it hit him.
“Apophis. You think it’s Apophis? “
But Amos was shaken awake before the god could respond.
He was met with the soulless eyes of Sarah Jacobi.
“Get up. We only sleep in our rooms. We must keep up consistent schedules or we will develop Sun madness.” And her emphasis on the word ‘we’ was just obnoxious.
“Besides,” She continued,”The rooms are better warded to visitors.”
Shit. Amos hadn’t seen another Ba spying on him, and he assumed Set’s senses would have gone off too. He panicked thinking what if this is a trap and Set set me up for Sarah to know I’m being led to her? I can’t trust her at all?
But maybe. Just maybe. Set had been just as distracted as he had been. Butterflies filled his stomach despite Sarah’s demolishing stare.
“Right, yes. I was just trying to do some research and lost myself.”
“That is a kids book.”
“I’m broadening my horizons. Children are the most creative of us all.” He could play crazy.
She hummed under her breathe, then began to escort him back to his cell. He might as well call it that. He grabbed as many books as he could handle that looked even remotely useful, then shuffled after her. She didn’t offer to help at all, and he barely made it back to the room before they were toppling all over his bed.
“Use your time wisely, Amos. “ She said, before swishing away.
And Amos intended to do exactly that. As she had disappeared enough, Amos surveyed the room.
Fuck reading, honestly. This was a waste of time. He cast the spell for invisibility and attempted to track Sarah Jacobi through the 360th Nome.
It took him a minute to find her, and he almost walked in on some extremely frustrating bout of experimental ice magic that the other female magician had been trying to set off, but he found her eventually.
She was in the lab with Peter. He flattened himself to the wall outside Peter’s lab. Honestly, if they were trying to be so secretive they really should have left the door closed, but he supposed living out here made you reckless. He had heard things about Sarah Jacobi, and honestly, she was too smart to not be detecting him right now.
They were just discussing how a geomagnetic reversal, if done right and with enough power and conducted by a Magician versus natural causes could easily cause a mass extinction event. He swallowed, as he had truly been hoping that Michel had just been being suspicious but then..
“Amos, I think I want you to hear this part actually.”
He reluctantly dropped his invisibility shroud and stepped into the room, where a pair of blue and a pair of swirling black eyes met him; One timid and one filled with calculated rage.
“Did you request the Narmer tablet yet?” Jacobi asked.
“!. Why would I request that for you, and 2.I have no idea how you '‘request’ a book.”
Jacobi stared at him blankly. “No Wonder Set picked you, it had nothing to do with your ability to promulgate evil and everything to do with you being an easy mind to control. It is ltierally the same system as every other Nome, do you not read?”
Amos did read, he just usually was handed the books he needed, or the Nome he was in had a big enough library.
Instead he said, “Who are you working with?'“
She tilted her head curiously at him, ‘Shouldn’t you know? Chaos for Chaos? Hasn’t your Puppeteer told you.”
And Amos supposed he had, but not in specific words that is. A god is only as powerful as the next powerful thing.
“Apophis,” And he really hated having to say that name over and over again.
“I’m shocked your keeper hasn’t told you about this plan? Are they not working together? We were hoping you could have been of use?”
“He’s not my keeper” He hissed, as he silently laughed at “trust is earned.” He had done nothing to earn this and she was spilling her WHOLE plan!
“I've sensed his signature all over this compound. He's certainly interested in you.”
And why did that make Amos so oddly happy? But also. Was Set just here to herd him towards Sarah, hoping he would join or something?
“We were hoping the treat of you could sway him to help our side. While reconnecting with the old gods is despicable, Set is a useful exception.”
And then it clicked. Set really was there to…
Peter had snuck up behind him and bound his wrists behind his back, and then sarah was lunging towards him, plopping a bag onto his head. Disjointed, he flailed to summon something, anything from the duat, but with his hands tied and range of motion limited, he managed no such thing before a heavy object was taken to his head and he was knocked out cold.
He had just enough time to think, So much for healing, before his consciousness faded away
He dreamt of a menagerie of animals, but they blurred in and out of rainbow focus. They seemed to be trying to talk to him, but none of the words computed. He knew it was a message from Set, and had never before wished the god would appear to him more than in that moment, but whatever Sarah had done to his head had messed with him more than a simple knock to the head should have.
He awoke in the…..library? It was draftier than when he’d been in there before. It was Antarctica? They couldn’t have had a fucking window open?
A tablet was shoved in his face. “Good you’re awake.”
The screen blurred, and Amos felt like he might throw up. ‘What the hell, Jacobi?”
She rolled her eyes, ‘Relax, we just need you to sign for a library order.”
This couldn’t be right.”You knocked me out and tied me up so that you could order a library book?” It was ludicrous.
“If Peter is correct, then the Narmer tablet potentially stores the correct type and amount of energy to funnel the Geomagnetic shift.”
Amos made pleading eyes with a very guilty looking Peter, who was standing in the corner looking like his life had flashed before his eyes. Amos wriggled with his binds, trying to get her to keep villain monologuing.
“When broken, symbolizing the uniting of upper and lower Egypt it will trigger the next mass extinction event and Chaos, a new world order.”
“Well, if you’re going to return it damaged I don’t want that on my library record.” Amos scoffed. Whatever binds she had used were somehow magic proof, and the more he struggled the more claustrophobic he felt, sealed within his own magical signature.
“We also took you to be bait, and maybe summoning Lord Apophis would help you make your decision.” She smirked and began weaving some complex spell, but Peter had locked eyes with Amos.
Amos felt whatever bind was on his wrists began to unravel. It felt wet, and almost molecular and,
“Long term entropy will alwasy be more powerful then short bursts of energy.” muttered Peter, as Amos hands flew free.
Sarah, caught up in the machinations of her spell barely had time to react before amos was flinging open the window in the library. Cold, disugting fishy smell air whoosed into the compound.
Amos didn’t notice any of it. Because every single sense Amos posessed was encompassed by Set Set Set.
Just like the first time, his insides burned, like someone had poured icy hot all throughout his veins. He could feel every vein in his eyes, and he knew instinctively that if he opened them they would blaze red hot. But amidst all the pain, and thr rushing of his wn blood in his ears, there was also this enigmatic sense of calm. The gut feeling in ones stomach when all anciities have dissapeared. Ma’at.
The moleculues in Amos body shifted into the sand and fire avatar he had been in only a week before. The same avatar that had almost expended all of his life force. But this time he had Chosen it. This time, Set and himself were dual wielding their collective consciousness.
Amos tried not to focus on the constant mental shrieking that occurred inside Set’s head, and Set tried not to focus on the waves and waves and waves of purple grief that cascaded through Amos head. Something about mortal emotions and eternal torment disturbed both to their core.
But maybe that was the point. They balanced each other out.
Amos barely had time to contemplate what this meant, before their storm was chasing after Sarah, destroying most of the 360th as they went.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Peter….well not Peter? It was Peter, but with a massive white beard and he was wielding a massive….giant amorphis shifting triangle? Was Ptah’s weapon a fucking unit circle????? God of crafts, man.
The two godly avatars wrecked the place trying to ferret out Sarah, and the other magicians in the Nome.
They had no such luck, and Amos passed out from the exhaustion of hosting Set.
When he came to, he seemed to be secluded in a warm fiery bubble. there was no one else around.
No one but Set, that is.
“What happened?”
“I didn’t want to nearly kill you like last time.”
Oh. How thoughtful of him. “Thanks.” Amos mumbled, rolling back over in the impossibly warm,…snow bed?
It was quiet for a while, then Set started talking again.”I know what Sarah said. About me inhabiting you. And it’s not true, Amos.”
Amos’ head was fuzzy, and he definitely did not remember that conversation.
Set moved closer. He was a god, why was he being so timid? At leas the penguin head was gone.
“I didn’t pick you because you’re fucked up or something. I picked you because you were the one to balance me out the most. If I wanted someone just like me I would have battled Isis for Sadie.”
Amos couldn’t help but laugh.
“No, Set. I chose to allow you inside me, that means I want the chaos. I’ve always been second best, second loved, second ignored. Even with my niece and nephew…. I can tell they just really want their dad back. I’m the weird estranged uncle, and”
“Shut up. I literally fucked my brother in mythology, I don’t care about any of that. “
“I didn’t really say I did care about your opinion…”
Set threw up his hands.”Fine, Amos. Fine.Still insulted you think I would deign to go against binding oath and hurt your niece. Maybe you actually do get me. Or what I’m suppsoed to be.”
Amos sighed. It was quiet for a bit. But he did begin to think, inside the impossibility of his warm Snowglobe. He knew he could leave, but somehow sitting with Set was nice. Maybe they did both have a duality inside them, that could compliment each other. Evil can’t exist without good, and good can’t exist without evil. Everytime one gets out of balance, an equal and opposite rises.
He thought about his brother Julian, selfishly doing everything to bring his wife back, who now hosted Osiris, the opposite to Set. About his straight, productive, two kids brother, and about himself and Set opposite his brother and Osiris.
“Thank you. For helping me. “
‘Your welcome,” Set huffed sarcastically.
“Even if you did it in the most unhelpful way.”
Set hummed, and Amos couldn’t begin to imagine the amount of therapy the immortal personificaiton of Evil and Chaos would need.
But hadn’t Amos himself just been in intensive therapy?
“People…misunderstand my role in the pantheon all the time. “
“You make it real fucking easy.”
“At what point is not my job to perform anymore though?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mortals.” Set scoffed.
The mortal and the god.
Chaos and order.
Good and Evil.
The innocent and the accused.
Amos sighed, hoping he wouldn’t regret these words, but he needed an ally who wasn’t 14 and in need of braces. He thought about how Set had helped him. Helped him lie his way into the compound. Helped him push past his limitations. Forced him to be clever.
“I’ll be your good if you’ll be my evil/” He said it as a statement, not a question.
“I’d like that.”
“We’ll take it slow, though. “
“Oh, but I like it rough.” Set winked at him.
They both grinned at how their opposites were already clashing.
He supposed maybe Peter had caused a geomagnetic reversal today.