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[Mar. 28th, 2005|05:44 am] |
Even before the coming of the Goddess Ammut, I had been a strong and courageous warrior. When I had ridden over the sands, all foes fell before me in battle, crushing skulls with my swinging mace, trampling the bodies of my enemies beneath the wheels of my chariot; I waged war mercilessly upon my opponents. I was a stalwart of stone on which other men broke themselves. But I would have died, struck down early on if not for her intervention. The Goddess had come to me, saved me from a mortal death, but in so doing, exacted a terrible price, the loss of my hand to the mighty crocodile spirit. It had happened when the raft I and a few men had taken to meet up with a battle down river was attacked. The hippopotami had risen from the depths and struck with terrible ferocity, splintering the raft and spilling its contents into their gaping maws. They had set upon my men like animals possessed beyond all reason. I myself had fallen beneath the behemoths’ crushing feet, battered and beaten against their raging bodies and unable to draw breath. I had expected death at any moment and made a silent prayer. Of all the deities I could have called upon, I called out to Ammut, the Devourer of Sinful Souls. I called on her to spare me if not in this life, then in the next. If I must die now let me pass on to The Field of Reeds. Through the tumult about me, I felt a sharp tug, a piercing pain, and saw the toothy jaws of a crocodile clamped upon my arm. The reptile had slipped in among the lumbering hippopotami, snatching me from their path, and dragged me from the melee.
I awoke on the river’s bank in a pool of my own blood, my left hand gone. But I survived. None of the other hapless souls on the raft that day did. The crocodile had taken my hand in exchange for my life.
I recovered, replaced my lost limb with a deadly sharp iron hook, and became even more feared and ruthless in battle, a prayer to Ammut upon my lips as I forged ahead. And then I had found her hidden crypt, appearing before me through a driving sand storm. Taking refuge with its mud brick walls I found her sitting as a statue on her throne. I brought her sacrifices, men captured in battle, and she came alive for me. I took her from the crypt and she traveled with me and my army. She stalked over the battle fields at night preying on the injured and dying, taking her fill of blood and hearts. She would come to me in my tent and lay with me among the furs. To my men, she was but a consort but they had their suspicions and it was apparent to them that I had dark forces at my bidding. They feared me and obeyed me, not questioning too closely the source of their success.
She promised to make me Pharaoh, divine ruler of Dnalreven if I built a temple in her name and fed her the tainted of heart. She exacted worship from me, and in return gave me the means to control the land. She put the Sphinxes under my command so I could crush my enemies and she gave me the key to lasting control as well. She gave me The Wheel, the device that brought air into this realm and sustained it.
Under me, the great Pharaoh Kooh’s iron claw, the many splintered tribes and their settlements were united into one kingdom. Revolt was dealt with harshly and definitively. My rule was stern but the land was not without benefit. I pressed the populace into the building of roads, and the establishment of more secure trade routes, commerce flourished in the land like never before. I organized the creation of an extensive canal system for the irrigation of crops using water from The River. Food production and efficiency increased many fold. Sellers sold their wares in the markets of my cities and buyers perused under the watchful protection of my powerful army. I patronized the building of temples to house the priests, and to support the training of scribes and of an elite artisan class that lived within their walls.
The land and people prospered but a dark shadow hung over them. A shadow cast by the immense temple erected in the name of the demoness Ammut and the constant press of sacrifices from them to feed the monstrosity. I claimed that only the tainted of heart were taken but the pall of fear and oppression the tribute exacted sat heavy upon their minds.
Ammut has been gone from this land for many years now, her temple collapsed with her presumably interred within long ago. I dug into the deepest bowels of the earth to find her again but she had gone from the land and abandoned me. I ruled on however, with my loyal army and the priesthood still behind me, and built another temple to honor Ammut. It waits still for her return. |
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