Father of Ra

He was a man, strong, confident and powerful beyond his years and yet, seeing the man in front of him; Ra's lip trembled.

His breath caught as he visibly shook with the effort to squeeze out the one word that would answer his questions.

"...Dad?"

The man smiled, he nodded. Like a flash, Ra had tackled the man who had only recently stood a full head taller than he. They lay sprawled on the ground for several moments before Ra managed to raise his head, countless questions filling his eyes.

The man seemed to sense this desire but all he offered was a word, "Later," he said, and motioned for Ra to stand. "And who is this beautiful young lady?" he asked, his gaze had fallen upon Solara.

Solara felt conflicted, she would prefer to not be seen by any human other than Ra, however, this man clearly meant a lot to Ra, so grudgingly, "Solara," she responded sweetly. 

"Duat," he offered in return, and his eyes shone with magnificent power, his eyes so much like Ra's, and an unfathomable strength was evident in his aura. Solara looked at him with newfound respect. "Mortal God?" Duat offered a small smile but said nothing, Ra however, grew curious at this laconic exchange, "What's a mortal god?" he asked, directing his question towards Solara.

She snorted, "Nothing you need to be concerned with, not yet even a Godling!" she spat disdainfully. Ra looked at her curiously, and then glanced at his father, "Careful, Brat," he said, adoration suffusing his tone, "that one...she's scary." laughed Duat. Ra grinned as well, "I know, she's pretty great." he said, running a lock of her hair between his fingers.

Solara blushed and turned away from the pair, "all you two know is flattery," she muttered, but secretly, her heart felt warm.

"A Mortal God," she said suddenly, and Ra snapped to attention feeling pleased.

"is a realm above Full God," she shot a glance at Duat who nodded, seeing this; she continued. "Beneath Full God is Major God, then Minor God, God, Half-God, Nascent Godling, Full Godling, Half-Godling....and you." she sneered at the end of her list, raking a scathing glare over his face. Ra felt slightly ashamed, Solara was clearly comparing him to his father, and after that immense gap she had recounted, Ra was able to see why.

He looked at his father with some awe evident on his features. He had thought himself to be pretty powerful, meanwhile, his father was so strong.

He had only one question, "How?" 

Duat shrugged, "Some mixture of luck, accidents, and fortunate encounters." he said dismissively, Ra gaped. "Luck? You got lucky?" he was in the process of choosing a swear word he could use without being disrespectful. Duat laughed, "Well, I was on a planet in the realm of elements, which is a plane of existence home to elemental races rather than magical ones," he said, explaining, "so anyway, I wound up in the realm of elements completely by accident, I was on the run from the personal army of the Barbarian King, nice bloke, you'll want to meet him, and one of them was a particularly powerful magi, you don't have those here, nasty fuckers, real powerful. He sent this spell at me, but he must not have mastered it or made some sort of mistake because this did not go as intended, I'm telling you, we were in space! not space, space of course but the space between realms! and he tore a space! in space!" Duat roared this last line as if it was the funniest thing he had ever said, Ra felt a grin creeping up the edges of his mouth as well. "So, big ass hole, right? The Magi is panicking, his captain is yelling at him to close the damn hole, and he can't figure out how to do it, so, I think I'll slip away in the confusion, right?" Ra nodded, "Wrong! This dumb Magi casts another spell while I'm attempting to skirt the edge of this goddamn army and make my getaway, im sucked into the hole, the thing shuts behind me and I find myself on an island that is nothing but raw energy." Duat said shaking his head, Ra was enraptured, "Then? what happened next?" Duat shrugged, "Hell if I know, I woke up a month later after being knocked out by something in one of their cities, Storm Elementals? yeah, not friendly, very cautious about their secrets, I stole that one," he said, stabbing a thumb over his shoulder at the still crackling remains of the Suahc corpse.

Ra gave his father an accusing look, "Hey, they tried to kill me!" he said defending himself, adopting a hurt expression. "And how exactly, did they do that?" Duats eyes flickered between the expectant gazes of Ra and Solara, he sighed, "Well, you see, it's not...look! the elementals have no laws, at least not any we're familiar with, I say stole but the truth is they don't have rules against thievery, they just don't like to share!" Duat almost sounded like a child as Ra shook his head at his father, clearly he had been tempted by divine powers he was not allowed to have. "Nevermind, nevermind." he said waving his hand in defeat, Besides, I left behind something I deemed of equivalent value, and in truth, they did not truly 'lose' all I took was the knowledge, I learned their techniques, and to them, that is unacceptable, so I am now being hunted across the realms by both the Barbarian King and the Storm Elementals." he said sheepishly.

Ra was almost afraid to ask, "and what exactly did you do to offend the Barbarian King?" he asked softly.

"Well that is a much easier question to answer," Duat saud brightly, "Because the reason for that is your mother!" Ra did not expect that, "My mother?" Duat was now wearing a proud grin, "Indeed, your mother is the Barbarian King's adopted sister, and might I add, a great beauty!" he said slyly, licking his lips. Ra was still somewhat confused, "What does my mother have to do with your feud with the Barbarian King? If anything the two of you are practically family." Duat smiled, "And therein lies the problem..." he said softly, "they like marrying family, Barbarians, and the King, well he had his heart set on your mother you see?" Ra took a moment to take this in, "You stole the wife of the Barbarian King." he said quietly. Duat did not betray the merest shade of regret for his actions. "Do not talk about your mother that way," he said quietly, "I did not steal her, she...well..." Ra was slightly taken aback as his father pulled out two pictures and handed them over. "You can see why it wouldn't have worked out." said Duat, grinning.

A look of pure revulsion came over Ra's features when he glanced at the picture and dropped it to the ground. Curious, Solara glanced down and had the same reaction. No longer able to bear seeing the photo anymore she ground it beneath her

heel and clamped a hand to her mouth. 

She would never lower herself to do something as unsightly as vomiting, however, she was immeasurably close to doing just that.

The second picture was undoubtedly a vast improvement, a beautiful, raven haired woman in yellow seemed to stare back at him from the picture. She looked proud and regal, however, Ra could also detect sadness in the visage she portrayed, though she hid it well.

Without another word, Ra returned the picture to his father, Duat shook his head, "Keep it." he said, pushing Ra's hand back and closing his fingers over it, "My memories serve far better than any picture." Ra glanced at the picture again before stowing it. "I'll be destroying this one," he said, pointing at the dirt covered image on the ground. Duat shrugged, "As you wish." he laughed softly. Ra nodded, "Solara," and as if she had been dealing with the immense restraint to avoid doing so, Solara wasted no time consuming the image in blazing flames. Even Duat was forced to take an impulsive step backwards, as the intensity of the flames were potent enough to burn him. "Humph!" Solara was pleased with herself, glad to have ridden the world of the scourge of that photo.

Duat had a pondering look on his face and then a slow smile spread across his features, "Young lady, how about some clothes?" he said amiably. and without waiting for a response a red dress appeared in his hand, he tossed it to her. "Father, No!" Solara's eyes glowed and brilliant white flames erupted and assailed the garment, intent on burning it to ash. Duat's smile did not fade, as the dress continued forth unharmed, Solara took an involuntary step backward in surprise and caught it. She kneaded the fabric between her fingers, "It's...warm." she said.