The hot Egyptian sun slowly sank into the horizon and the night sky began to appear. A light breeze wafted over the land and stirred the papyrus reeds in the banks of the mighty Nile. Light from a torch flickered in the distance. As the flickering light came closer, a form of a man could be seen, slowly walking on the sands.
The man was a bronze-skinned, tall and strong if no longer young. The white headdress bearing the insignia of a cat was melded to his skull and the linen skirt was like a second skin as he entered the temple. A small, lean, furry form entwined about his ankles as he walked. The priest put the torch into a notch in the wall and approached the altar. Upon the raised platform was a full-sized gilded statue of the goddess Bastet.
Her lapis lazuli eyes seemed to twinkle from the torchlight. A multitude of offerings from the few loyal Bastet worshippers was gathered around the base of the statue. An identical twinkle came from the cat who padded silently towards the statue. The cat briefly sniffed at one of the offerings before settling herself down at the statue's side.
The priest approached the statue and kneeled before the great Bastet and sang in a low measured tone. Speaking a tongue that would disappear into the mists of time. He raised his eyes to the statue, steeling himself for his fateful task that night.
Despite the greatness of Bastet, her worship has declined. The priest's petitions to the Pharaoh Rakutanan for more money to recruit new followers and entice men to become priests proved futile. The priest had searched amongst the hidden, sacred scrolls of the library of Alexandria for an otherworldly solution and had found a long-buried scrap of paper that proved to be auspicious.
He had gathered all he needed to perform the spell and gazed fondly at the most critical part of the spell, the sleeping form of the cat. This particular cat came from the Pharaoh's own litter. The priest selected this particular cat while still a kitten and bound her to him with caresses and choice tidbits of food. The special markings on the cat's face made her unique among all the cats of the Pharaoh's palace.
The priest stood up and turned around. He picked up the basket of ingredients he placed there earlier in the day. It was only the cat he needed to lure here. He went over to a table with all the necessary implements to prepare the special potions for the spell. Mortar and pestle ground the herbs and dried animal organs. Pure water from a sacred spring was boiled and poured over the herbs to steep. Other unnamable concoctions joined the mixture as the priest spoke the necessary words to embed the final ingredient of ancient magic.
He poured the mixture into a small, shallow bowl and placed it before the sleeping cat. The cat's nose twitched, causing him to open his large blue eyes. The cat cautiously sat up and sniffed the contents of the bowl. She dipped a tentative tongue into the bowl and at first taste, began to lap in earnest. A blazing blue flame appeared in the cat's eyes as she lapped the last of the mixture. The priest gently picked up the cat and held it before the apparently unseeing eyes of the statue.
Suddenly a sparkle of energy shot out from the eyes of the cat and into the eyes of the statue. The eyes of the statue glowed an incandescent blue and generated an energy of it's own and shot back into the cat. While this circle of energy flowed between the cat and the statue, the priest started to chant the remainder of the spell, sweat beading from the effort to remain standing from the heat and force of the energy and with the dangerousness of the spell.
At once the energy stopped and the cat leaped out of the arms of the priest and landed on the head of the statue with supernatural speed and energy. It drew itself erect and although no light could be seen in its eyes, a new kind of energy could be seen and now felt. A distinctly evil energy that appeared to be bottomless and timeless.
The priest fell down and prayed before the new living goddess, offering himself as the first sacrifice among many. He again began chanting, this time requesting the blessing of the goddess before his journey into the afterlife where he hoped to be rewarded for his efforts and sacrifice. The cat gazed down and the priest and raised a single paw, unsheathing her claws before preparing to leap into the air and down to the priest.
---------
Tuthara stood on the banks of the Nile, the wind blowing her long, straight, black hair around her face. The simple shift she wore gave no indication of the suppleness and strength of her body. She was merely a simple slave girl until a vision came to her from the gods on her 15th year saying she has been chosen to fight evil. The gods flooded her body and mind with new skills, new memories and a new purpose. In her mind's eye she saw her first task and knew that it would take her and countless others that would certainly follow her to face the newest manifestation of evil, whose eyes glowed and claws glittered.
Back to the Fanfic Index