Chapter #6: Bastet and Ptah
Bastet ushered Mara into the living room of the small looking stone structure. Just like her own home, Bastet’s home was bigger on the inside than seemed possible with ordinary techniques. Sitting on a sofa playing with a small ball and watching something on it was a green Exarch with black eyes. Mara recognized him as Ptah. Ptah glanced up and saw Mara. He waved his hand over the ball to cease playing the holographic recording of something and sat the crystal ball down on the floor just before he rose, “Hey Mara,” He greeted, “I wanted to apologize.”
The comment caught Mara off guard. She remembered his interference with Iliana’s and her own adventures when they were on Earth. She stood there with her arms crossed and nodded, “Go on.”
“I realized that Anput is a good Exarch. She has done a good job both at the academy and in her other duties. I was wrong and I wanted to apologize for the things that I have done.” He explained.
Mara nodded, “Apology accepted.”
Bastet could sense the tension filling the space between Ptah and Mara. She crossed the distance to Mara, interposing herself between her child and her partner, “Mara, how about we head downstairs to my work chamber, and we can get started with your lessons?” She suggested.
Mara nodded, “I am fine with that.” She replied and followed Bastet downstairs. They crossed the downstairs expanse to a large and expansive room that housed Bastet’s crystalarium, “Do you want to tell me about what is bugging you?” She asked when they entered the expansive chamber.
Mara looked for a chair and shrugged when she found one, “He had done his best to stop Anput from returning here, going as far as killing her in one timeline. I remember that timeline and I was able to reverse it, but he pulled me through, and I had to find my way back to my own timeline. He caused a lot of problems for me, kept me from saving some of the people I wanted to save along the way.”
“You have to remember that he was once a part of the faction that didn’t want Anput to join the Exarchs. It didn’t matter that Thoth had given her a Spectra and that you were in love with her, what mattered back then was the war with the Maldeveckians and her role in stopping it.”
“She stopped the war for us, she didn’t hurt us in the process,” Mara contested.
“I know, but other Exarchs saw her as a race traitor,” Bastet nodded, “They were afraid that if she could betray her own people that she would also eventually betray us.”
“If you were so afraid of that happening then you should also be afraid of what any Exarch would do given the right circumstances,” Mara mentioned, “Given the right push, anything could happen. Just ask Set about it sometime.”
“Set is a traitor—”
“To whom? To my grandparents? That happened before I was born, when Horus was still young and before he was joined with his consort! Anyone ask Nephthys about how she feels about it? Has Nephthys moved on?” Mara retorted.
“Nephthys still loved Set,” Bastet nodded, “Still visits him in the den of traitors regularly. But he did kill Osiris.”
“Something undone by Isis finding his pieces and using her Sarcophagus technology to bring him back just like Prima right now,” Mara mentioned, “The humans killed an Exarch with their knowledge of Arcane magic, they weren’t killed one and all.”
“My sister’s cataclysm,” Bastet nodded in response, “I remember it well.”
“Anyone ever ask Set about his side of the story?” Mara questioned in response.
“It is history,” Bastet mentioned, “Once he is able to repent, honestly where Ra can sense it, then he will be released from the Den and able to rejoin his consort.”
Mara rose from her chair, “How about we visit Set and ask for his story?” She questioned in response.
“I don’t think—”
“I thought you were an Exarch of Love?” Mara cocked her head in response, “What better love is there than forgiving someone of their crimes and understanding their position in it?” Mara questioned in response.
The question caught the elder Exarch off guard. She blinked in surprise, “You’re right.”
“Maybe it will help me to understand where Ptah came from by understanding why Set did what he did,” Mara suggested.
“Their actions are not the same,” Bastet mentioned in response.
Mara walked towards the door, “You can either take me there or I will find my own way there.”
Bastet sighed and rose to her feet, “I will take you, but Ptah will be coming along. There are more things in the Den of Traitors than just Set.”
Mara sighed, “Does he have to come along?”
“He has spoken with Set before. If anyone can get him to open up it will be Ptah,” Bastet nodded.
Mara shrugged and her shoulders slumped in surrender, “Fine.”
Bastet moved to the entryway to her chamber, “Follow.” She said, looking back at her child.
Mara nodded and followed. They headed up the stairs and to the main level and into the living room. Ptah had again picked up the orb he was using before and mara realized he was watching someone. The moment he noticed her gazing in his direction, he waved his hand through the holographic image, shutting it down. He also noticed that Bastet was looking his way, “Come on, husband, we are going to see Set.”
Ptah sat the orb down and rose to his feet with a befuddled look on his face, “Why?”
“Mara wants to hear his side of the story himself. I am sure Mara will eventually see her grandparents after this to see if she can get the other side of the story,” Bastet retorted, at the same time sending a suggestion to Mara.
So, I can get the truth, the real story, Mara surmised and said nothing. Ptah shook his head, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Which part?” Bastet cocked her head in response, “Mara going to the semi-regular dinner the Ennead have, or seeing Set?”
“Seeing Set!” Ptah mentioned, “No good can come from that.”
“Mara wants to hear her side of the story and she made a convincing argument. The threads of fate shown that to be true,” Bastet mentioned, “As a member of the Ennead family, she has a right to see her kin.”
“I don’t want her uncle to corrupt her!” Ptah grumbled.
That’s right. He is my uncle, Mara thought as she watched the argument unfold. Her thoughts in perfect lockstep with the conversation, The Nekomatis never talked about him and neither did the Ennead. Yet he is in the Den of Traitors for what he did to his brother before I was born.
“Knowledge does not corrupt,” Bastet shook her head in response, “Thoth taught us both that.”
“All he will do is spin fiction!” Ptah spat back.
Once I get both his side, Horus’s side, Isis’s side, and Anubis’s side, I will have enough to peek into the past to see, Mara thought, Time is my domain which means I will be able to see if nothing else. Mara reassured herself.
Bastet crossed her arms as she responded, “Mara knows the story. There is nothing wrong with Mara going there and getting Set’s side of things.”
Ptah let out a heavy exasperated sigh, “Fine. Let’s go.”
Bastet nodded and without further word she led the trio out of their home and towards the gate. Once she got to the gate, she held her hand out and a portal appeared with a warning in Egyptian. Mara quickly pulled out her Crystalarium disc and pointed it at the warning before waving her hand over the crystal to see the warning translated in Ogham saying, “Warning, this area is not protected by the same magic as other places in Avalon. Restricted area, containment magic in effect.” Mara cocked her head as she waved her hand over the link crystal to silence the display, “Containment Magic?” Mara repeated as she pocketed her link crystal.
“The Magic in the Den of Traitors is meant to confine the Exarchs and Exalted in there so they cannot hurt the rest of the population. There isn’t protective magic there to whisk you away to a safe place,” Bastet mentioned, “The Warning is in Egyptian as opposed to Ogham because this portal is in the Arcadia Gardens.”
“Still want to go, child?” Ptah questioned in response.
“Yes.” Mara nodded in response, “One question, however.”
“Ask,” Basted glanced back to her daughter.
“That warning is there in case something goes wrong. If something does go wrong, will I be able to use my magic?”
“Using magic in the Den of Traitors is discouraged,” Bastet answered.
“But not forbidden outright,” Ptah mentioned then rubbed his neck, “Each Exarch and Exalted in there is fitted with an obsidian collar. The Collar blocks their magic and can only be unlocked using a Dark Spectra.”
“Like the one Thoth has,” Mara nodded, “So not something your run of the mill Exarch will have.”
“That’s right,” Bastet nodded while offering a glare to her husband.
Something happened regarding that in the recent past, I take it, Mara thought to herself. Instead of saying anything she looked at Bastet and said, “Lead the way.”
She nodded and stepped through the portal, followed by Mara and finally by Ptah. In the entrance to the den there was no Divine Spectrum shining light to anything there. In fact, Mara felt a little weaker without the light of the Divine Spectrum shining on her. There was artificial light, tubes of halogen gas lining the ceiling of the corridor they stood in as well as the adjacent corridors embedded in the granite. The lack of noise, garish glare of the halogen tubes, and the dank smell left a foreboding feeling to the Exarchs standing at the entrance.
Ptah placed a hand gently on Mara’s shoulder, “Always can turn back. This is the corridor that leads to the cell block corridors.”
“Not until I talk to Set,” Mara shook her head in response. Bastet nodded in response and led them down the main corridors.
Halfway down the main corridor, Bastet took a left. Mara and Ptah quickly followed. Bastet led them down to the end of the hallway where they took a right, going down a smaller and darker feeling corridor. At the end of that corridor was a cell which housed an Exarch in their natural form with four green eyes and red skin. Unlike every other Exarch Mara had seen, this one had no glow. It seemed like the stone black collar at his neck was sucking the light and thus robbing him of his natural power.
Bastet led the trio, all of them in their human forms. The four eyes glanced to each one, “Oh look, it’s show and tell for the young one.” The man in the cage said bitterly.
“Set, this is your grandniece,” Bastet mentioned motioning with an arm to Mara, “Her name is Mara of the Nekomatis.”
“I’m not a Nekomatis, I’m an Ennead,” Set hissed, “You must have come across the wrong cell, Lover Exarch.”
“Horus is my father,” Mara mentioned and strode forward. The red Exarch shifted uncomfortably, he’s afraid, Mara thought to herself, is it because we are in our human constructs, and he lacks the power to summon his own? She held a hand out and wisps of time sensitive Nwyfre reached out to him, hugging him as he shifted to try to move out of the way. Once the wisps of temporal energy wrapped around themselves around his torso, arms, legs, and neck, Mara closed her hands. In a flash, his Exarch form changed to a human construct with dark, sun darkened brown skin, black hair and brown eyes.
Bastet and Ptah gasped as they saw the transformation take place. Set blinked and looked down at his arms and legs, blinking in surprise. He glanced up at Mara with an unsure look on his face. Mara smirked, “Better?”
“What kind of Exarch are you?” Set questioned in response, “I haven’t seen this form, nor have I been able to summon it on my own for Ages.”
“Mara is an Exarch of Time,” Ptah mentioned, “She used her time powers to apparently change an event to make it where you were in that form and merged it into our understanding.”
“Exarch of Time…” His voice trailed away. Mara could feel that he was lost in ancient memories for a moment. He glanced back up to Mara, “Why do you want to see a traitor to your family, Exarch of Time?”
“I wanted to hear your story, what happened that led you here,” Mara answered.
“I am sure you know the story. Usually, all stories about traitors are remembered and passed down through the ages, from one generation to the next,” Set answered carefully. Occasionally during his explanation, he would glance to Ptah then back to Mara. Bastet missed it, but Mara did not.
“Stories get lost or distorted through the ages,” Mara stated, pretending not to notice the subtle looks between the two Exarchs, “I want to hear your side as I fear that it may not be told a lot.”
“Or at all,” Set mentioned with a nod. He cleared his throat, “Very well. I will tell you my story… if the other two leave.”
“I don’t think that’s wise, Mara,” Ptah mentioned.
“Confused, why do you two care so much about this Exarch?” Set questioned in response.
“She is my daughter,” Bastet mentioned.
“But then how is she Horus’s daughter?” Set cocked his head in confusion. Slowly a smile crept to his face, “Who is this one’s birth mother? Sounds like a lot of side sleeping had been going on.”
“Thoth is her birth mother,” Bastet grumbled.
“So now Ptah is just supposed to accept that you have a daughter and raise her like his own? That seems very telling.” Set chuckled at the end of his statement as he gave them both scrutinizing stares.
“Thoth raised Mara,” Bastet hissed.
“Touched a nerve, have I?” Set chuckled. He glanced back to Mara and cleared his throat, “The offer still stands, Mara of Time, if you are willing to be alone with me, I will tell you my side of the story.”
Mara glanced to Bastet and said, “I will be okay if you want to wait for me in the Main corridor.”
“Mara—” Ptah started to protest.
“Okay,” Bastet nodded, cutting off Ptah, “Stay safe.” She led Ptah back along the corner, eventually disappearing from sight as they rounded the corner.
“Sit, child,” Set mentioned.
Mara sat down on the floor and watched as Set made his way to the bars separating them and sat down, “First, tell me what you have heard about what landed me in here.”
Mara shook her head, “That wasn’t the agreement.”
“I want to know what is being said about me. I will tell you my story if you tell me what you heard,” Set mentioned in response.
Mara leaned back against the dark granite wall, “Okay. Legend says that you coveted Isis, so you killed Osiris to have your way with her. Her children found the pieces of him you scattered while Horus fought and defeated you.”
“That’s what they have been saying? That my motive is I wanted Isis?” Set cocked his head in response.
“I spent a lot of time in a multiverse that the Exarchs visited,” Mara mentioned in response, “I never heard what other Exarchs say about you, only what the humans had been told.” Mara nodded as she answered.
“Someone took the meat of the story and left the humans with the bones of it,” Set mentioned in response, “Because that’s a very short story and doesn’t fully address our motives.”
“Humanity is primarily a binary gender society,” Mara mentioned in response, “I know a lot of them don’t see Intersex Exarchs as Intersex, instead just mentioning it in passing while assigning a binary gender to them.”
“I am sure there are people like Aphrodite that would love to hear about that,” Set mused, “So they only see males and females reproducing and twisted what they were told over the time they were with the Exarchs into this story of unrequited lust and betrayal.”
“It didn’t make sense to me because I’m intersex and I was continually born intersex on Earth,” Mara mentioned in response.
“Funny how multiverse after multiverse the Exarchs eventually end up on a small blue world named Earth,” Set stated.
“We don’t visit other worlds?” Mara cocked her head in response.
“To be fair, we do,” Set mentioned, “At least we did when I was walking among the Ennead. But Earth still popped up an inordinate number of times as opposed to other worlds like Stryka or Oberon, other common names for worlds we visited. See its significant deviations in the norm that interest Exarchs in the lower universes themselves. Usually there is more variety in Mega-verses, and Giga-verses. But still, Earth shows up a lot in the multiverses.”
“All of which is a distraction from telling me your story,” Mara mentioned trying to bring the imprisoned Exarch back to the arrangement between the two of them.
“Very true,” Set mentioned, “Still, every bit that I don’t tell you the story is another moment I am not sitting alone in a cell with no one to talk to.”
“I may come back in the future depending on what I find out,” Mara mentioned in response.
“Find out about what?” Set questioned in response.
“Well, I figured first I would ask Osiris and Isis about the story, but I wanted to hear it from you first. That way I can stare and compare,” Mara mentioned in response.
“You mean you hope to get enough information to get a temporal fix,” Set smirked in response. He saw Mara’s shocked expression and added, “You aren’t the first Exarch of Time that I have known.”
“Oh, so you know Ophiuchus?” Mara questioned in response.
“On a professional level,” Set nodded, “The Elysian family and the Ennead and the Nekomatis are all really close.” He shrugged and leaned against the cell, “But he wasn’t the only Exarch of Time that I have known.”
“So, you talk with a lot of families,” Mara nodded, “What does this have to do with the story?” She asked in response.
“I was hoping you would have a memory of it,” Set mentioned in response, “That is something you should ask your father about some time.”
“What do you mean?” Mara questioned in response.
“The other Exarch of Time that I knew was in your family,” Set added, “Apparently you aren’t her and no one talks about that Exarch.”
Mara sighed, “Maybe you won’t tell me your side of the story.”
“Time isn’t linear,” Set mentioned, “You know that better than anyone else. You should ask yourself something; why aren’t there more Exarchs of Time?”
Mara shrugged, “There are quite a few that have time powers.”
“Time powers yes, but they don’t rule over the entire college of time like an Exarch of Time. Love Exarchs like your mother, Fate Exarchs like Atropos, all of them control portions of Time Magic. Not like you where you can evoke memories of the past at will and bring them forward,” Set mentioned in response.
“Fascinating,” Mara mentioned and leaned forward to get to her feet.
“Where are you going?” He asked as he noticed her push-up against the wall rising to her full height.
“You don’t want to tell me your story, so I am going to go home and resume my training,” Mara mentioned in response.
He reached out and grasped her shoulder. Mara jumped then she realized that he wasn’t grabbing with malice intent, only to get her attention, “Please, stay. I will tell you, my story.”
Mara shrugged and leaned against the wall, “Okay, but no more wasting time.” She mentioned in response.
“First, who are Wepwawet’s parents?” Set mentioned.
Mara pushed herself off the wall, “Okay, that’s all she wrote.”
“It’s important to the story,” Set growled.
Mara sighed, “Okay. The humans recorded that you and Nephthys are his parents.”
“Then why does he look like Anubis?” Set questioned in response, “Also, who is his third parent?”
“Ah,” Mara nodded, “I think I see now. That is why Nephthys is recorded as the mother of both while Osiris is the father of only Anubis. Are you saying all three of them is from the pairing of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys?”
“Nephthys identifies as female, but she is intersex. Capable of carrying a child,” Set nodded, “They had me raise Wepwawet as a modification to a deal made between the four of us.”
It was starting to click into place in Mara’s mind now. Why he did what he did. “You and Nephthys were supposed to have a paring with Isis to conceive your own child!”
“Yes,” He nodded, “When Wepwawet was born as a twin, they decided that Nephthys and I could raise him thus having our own child which defeated the purpose of why I allowed it.” His face darkened with anger, “However, my brother got his way and his children then decided that I couldn’t have Isis to help me, and Nephthys conceive. When that happened, I became angry and battled with my brother. If he had given up and surrendered, allowing the three of us to pair, I would have relented but he never did. I removed him from my obstacles and went after Isis. That is when Horus became angry and used his limited fate magic to set us on a collision course to battle.”
“You couldn’t find another female Exarch to lay with?” Mara questioned in response.
“Ask your three parents why those three decided to come together to create you,” Set hissed, “They knew they were going to create an Exarch that had time powers when they made you. Think of it, magic and wisdom, justice and flight, and love and protection. I would have been surprised if you weren’t an Exarch of Time.”
Mara blinked, “I could think of other things I could have been.”
“Oh please, do tell,” Set chuckled slightly, “It has been a while since I heard a good joke.”
Mara rolled her eyes, “I also know Love and Fate magic, as well as Spirit magic.”
“You wouldn’t be an Ennead if you didn’t have some sort of Death magic under your belt,” Set laughed, “But enough of that. I was hoping to make a creation Exarch, considering that Protection and Spirit are two of the purviews of Nephthys, I thought that it would have been good if A protection and death Exarch be the female. I am only an Exarch of Power. It feels like Father certainly slighted me when I was born.”
“Doubling up on purviews gets you a creation Exarch?” Mara’s brow raised in curiosity.
“I don’t know. No one knows what makes an Exarch of Creation. Ptah might know, he came from the Spectrum. Of course, that just means is from that magic trio of Geb, Nut, and Ra.”
Mara was taken back by the amount of hatred he filled into the name of the originator of the Exarchs. Her eyes widened, “I think you killed the wrong Exarch.”
“No one can kill Ra!” He laughed, “He possesses a Dark Spectra. He is Divine to the power of Divine. To take him on would be madness!”
Nine to the ninth power? The only way he could get that power is through the use of Shaman seals and Spell circles, Mara thought to herself. Still, what he was saying was essentially correct, his Dark Spectra would ensure that no one could use a normal Spectra to summon enough power to take him on. Dark Spectra cancels the call of normal Spectra users for the magic needed to overcome a challenge. He smirked, “I could tell from your power that you are far stronger than anyone will give you credit for, and you are only tapping into a fraction of it right now.”
Mara paled; does he know I still have access to my shaman seals? Mara recovered quickly with a slanted look, “What do you mean?”
“Don’t go for a Dark Spectra if you get the opportunity,” Set replied, dodging the question, “Doing so will set you on a collision course with Ra. One that you may not survive. I do like you, grand-niece, and I don’t want to see you disappear and be forgotten like another person I was close to.”
“Who?” Mara cocked her head in response.
He rose from the ground and walked to the back of the cell, away from Mara, “You have some questions. Ask Horus about the one I mentioned, I would be interested to know what he has to say about it. Ask my brother about our feud. Ask around about where Ophiuchus is.”
Mara nodded. The list of questions she had was only growing. It was getting to the point where she needed to keep a list and consider bringing in outside help.
