Temples and Gods

[Amon/Alex's POV]

Not much later Amon and Merenre stepped through the temple entrance together. The smell of incense was thick in the air, but other than that the temple was really quiet.

The pharaoh was expected to visit daily, but other than the head priest and a few lower ranked clerics the temple was void of people.

Of course it was. The people viewed temples as the house of a god. Yes, that's right. Such a huge building for just one god. It seemed like a waste of space and resources.

Alex thought about how Christians gathered together for a preach inside churches. That way, the one God of the Christians seemed much more approachable than the Egyptian gods.

Although, there was this one story in which Jesus had gotten angry at a bunch of people because they'd started a flea market inside a church and ended up chasing everybody out.

Alex had always thought it to be a strange story, considering the teachings of the religion revolved around love for one's fellow-man, but that story would make sense if you thought about the temple as the house of a god.

After passing through two great halls, Amon and Merenre reached the sanctuary. It was located at the heart of the temple and was the place where the god resided. These doors were always sealed. Merenre broke the seal to enter, which was something only the Pharaoh and the head-priest were allowed to do. As soon as they were inside they both bowed in front of the statue of Amon.

Dad's favourite god.

He used to be nothing more than a local fertility god, but Mentoehotep II had magnified him in popularity to match that of the creator gods. Some people had even started merging his name with the sun god's; Amon-Ra.

Apparently, father had loved the god enough to call his first born son after him. Only privately, of course. Like a pet name, but Amon favoured it over his official title. That title really just was his father's name passed down to him.

Amon's hackles had raised as soon as they entered the holy sanctuary. An uneasy feeling overwhelmed him. It felt as if this room was enveloped by magic. As if the air was prickling with life force. As if it was much thicker here than anywhere else. Which was utterly ridiculous, since the only thing here was a statue and a rock couldn't be considered magical, now could it?

Next to him, Merenre was humming hymns, alternately kissing the ground and waving his hands through the air while reciting prayers. Amon took this as his cue to place the incense and aromatic oil at the statue's feet.

"Amon," a voice whispered.

Amon startled. Was he hearing things? When he looked up he saw cracks appear in the statue before him. The cracks shone brightly and were steadily growing.

"Merenre?" he asked as he glanced over his shoulder towards his brother. Merenre obviously hadn't heard the statue whisper. When he looked up, his eyes widened in surprise as he noticed the statue's cracking. He sprang to his feet and exchanged a questioning glance with Amon. He too didn't seem to know what was happening.

The statue burst apart with a flash of light and the room around them seemed to have vanished. In the statue's place, a beautiful woman had appeared. She was petite in stature and had a huge amount of black curling hair, neatly held into place with a golden headband. Amon noticed there was a beautiful white ostrich feather attached to her headband. He was 99% certain this woman was a goddess, but he was a little confused since there wasn't an animal head to identify her by.

"Amon," she said with all the gentleness of a mother addressing her child. "You finally came."

Amon blinked in surprise and glanced at Merenre for support but found none as his brother looked just as shocked as he felt.

"Ma'at," Merenre whispered astonished and fell to his knees, bowing so deeply his head touched the ground.

Ma'at? The keeper of balance? The one who created order in the chaos? Not a small catch. It looked like his futuristic soul had been wrong once again; the temple really is a place were the gods speak to the pharaoh.

"Y-yes, goddess," Amon stuttered as he followed his brother's example and bowed deeply. "To what do I owe the honour of your presence?"

"Raise your head, young pharaoh. You are the bridge between the gods and the humans. You don't need to bow to anyone," Ma'at said urgently as she touched the top of his head lightly and trailed her hand down to his chin to guide him back up. Amon was confused, but obliged.

"There, that's better," she gave him a gentle smile and let her hand rest on his shoulder. "I am here because I need a favour from you. But first, I feel like I need to address the turmoil in your heart."

This certainly raised an alarm in the back of Amon's mind. But he didn't dare to react in fear of doing something wrong.

"You seek the woman with the golden hair?" she asked. Amon barely managed a nod. "You are destined to meet her. Be patient for a little while longer. And please, don't go searching for her. She will come to you."

She looked worried. As if she knew something he didn't. As if she was afraid for his reaction. It wasn't necessary. Alex felt too excited for Amon's anger management-issues to surface. This was his first clue for ending this flashback and returning to his own time.

"I won't," Amon said, a gentle smile appearing on his face. "Thank you for telling me."

Ma'at sighed in relief. "No need to thank me. It's the least I can do in return for what I'm about to ask of you."

"Ah, yes. The favour you came to ask," Amon said. "How can I help you, goddess?"

She considered her next words for a second and then seemed to decide for herself that there was no easy way to say what she was about to say.

"In the near future, you will find a dying woman. She has two sons, a twin. I need you to take these boys and raise them as your own."

"Boys?" Amon asked. But Ma'at didn't explain any further.

"It is of the utmost importance that you raise them as your own," she said once more. "Don't label them as outcasts, but feed them, cloth them, teach them and care for them as if they were your own flesh and blood."

"I don't understand, but I will," Amon assured her.

"Thank you, Amon," she said with a radiating smile, truly relieved. "It has been a pleasure talking to you. I have to go now. This method of talking is very limited, but I might come to visit you face-to-face some time."

"Feel free to do so," Amon said with a smug grin playing on his face. "It would be my honour to receive a god in my home."

She chuckled.

"It's a promise then. Goodbye, pharaoh. Oh, and Amon? The next time you visit me. I would like some of the lilies from your pond, they are very beautiful."

With those words she vanished and the room warped back to the state it had been in before the statue had started cracking. An awkward silence was all that remained of the goddess's presence.

Amon looked at Merenre, who was still crouched low to the ground. It looked like a very uncomfortable position to be in. It took him a while to lift his head and come to the same conclusion Amon had.

"She left?" he asked after what felt like an eternity of silence. Amon nodded, still too mind-blown to do anything else.

"You know..." Merenre broke the silence a second time, but trailed off before he could formulate his thoughts.

"What?" Amon asked when it looked like he wasn't going to continue.

"I have been paying respect to the gods for a long time now, but this is the first time an actual god made an appearance."

"Really now?" Amon chuckled at his brother's bedazzled face. "It's my second time meeting a god today."

"Hu? Today?!"

"Uhu. Remember the bird sitting on the roof edge this morning?" Merenre nodded. "That was Horus."

Merenre blinked. Once, twice and then a sceptical frown appeared on his face. "You're pulling my leg."

"I am not! That bird was a god."

"Pssh, yeah right," Merenre huffed in disbelief. "So you're telling me that in the two years I've served under father as the head-priest, not one god appeared during his daily visits to the temple. But they visit you at home?"

Amon nodded. A warm self-confident feeling spreading through his whole body, as if a weight had lifted from his shoulders. "I would say I'll introduce them to you the next time, but I'm not sure they'll talk to you."

"Oh, come on!" Merenre grunted. "I think I liked the brooding and sulking you better."

Amon laughed. He knew Merenre didn't mean it. It looked like Amon's anger management issues would be a lot easier to deal with from now on.