A God's Bargain (EgyptianGod!Brothers and Reader)

Chapter 3

Since it was still morning, there was a chance that the priests were performing their duties in the temple, so I turned my thoughts on exploring where I was allowed within the palace grounds.

Gathering up my shawl and calmly walking through the sun-soaked hallways, I wandered from the inner chambers to the outer walls of the palace, lightly running my hand over the smooth white-washed stone slabs that created the protective barrier around the Pharaoh's home. I closed my eyes briefly to remember the ruins of Memphis, feeling a swelling sorrow in my heart as I opened my hues once more to look around the beautifully carved stonework.

To be standing in the White Walled City in its heyday...any archeologist would've given something significant just to be here for only a moment.

The courtyard was busy with politicians from different places, their clothing marking them from neighboring countries or different regions within Egypt, all of whom went about their business and paid me no mind as I walked through the large gate leading to the palace. Large stone statues of the more common deities, along with one carved in the likeness of the current Pharaoh, sat with their gazes transfixed onto the city before them as their backs nearly rested on the large walls protecting the palace. With two towering obelisks pointing skyward, every inch of their viewable surface covered in hieroglyphs, I couldn't help but feel a sense of respect and awe for both the architects and builders that had created the area around me.

The city of Memphis, or Inebu-hedj, sprawled out in front of me, with the homesteads of the Egyptian people spreading out along the wide riverbanks of the Nile as the greenery continued from the crafted farmland into wetlands as the river widened into unsuitable grounds for building. Breathing in the fresh air that carried the smell of water and horticulture, I clenched my fists as I gripped my shawl tightly.

If I really wanted to do this, then I'd be alone in a city that I only had future knowledge of. My mastery of Coptic was far from complete, there was no one that I really knew within the city, and not everyone approved of my presence here.

"Why do you hesitate?"

A voice pulled itself from the mumbling crowd around me as I focused on where it was coming from, my hues falling down towards the ground as I watched a tiny creature stumble towards me through the throng of people passing by. Its humanoid shape resembled that of a baby, not nearly grown enough to be standing on its own two feet yet, and its mud-like skin somehow sloughing off and falling to the ground.

Blinking several times in confusion, I could only watch as the thing staggered closer and looked up at me with wide-open eyes that were full of curiosity and wonder.

"Staring at me will make the others start to think that you're insane," Despite the childish exterior, the creature's voice was deep and methodical, completely ruining the look of childish wonder that was being portrayed, "For someone guided by Thoth, you're really stupid."

"Who are you?" I took a step away from the toddling creature, its hands reaching out towards me as it tried to grab where I once stood.

"This vessel has no name yet, but you may call the one controlling it Khnum."

Not another one...

I mentally moaned as I heard the name, familiar with the deity associated with the Nile and was believed to be the 'creator of children' by creating clay dolls from the mud of the Nile river and placing them in women's wombs.

"Then, Khnum, what do you want with me?"

"Satisfying a momentary curiosity," The response was brief as the doll managed to stand still, its large eyes looking up at me as the muddy skin began to slop off of its form less as the sun baked it, "Called by Set and guarded by Thoth. You are indeed a creature to be wary of."