When The Moon Falls On The Nile

When the Moon Falls in the Nile

My mind fills with questions about my surroundings. I don’t know where I am. I was supposed to wake up in my palace, greeting my family and servants. I would get served breakfast while supervising the work on the pyramids through my window. My step-son would run down to play with his friends from the village while I sat and watched with my husband. 

Instead I woke up in the middle of an oddly colored forest. Palm trees, covered in handprints of brown and red. They reminded me of the trees the children would paint on near the river. I wonder who the hand prints are from and what they’re painted in. Nevermind, I don’t want to know.

The sand that would replicate my footprints as I walked through Egypt was replaced by dirt. The filth covering my body left me wishing I was back in the sand dune. There was nothing like this back home.

I can barely see because of the mist. The clouds above me indicate it’s probably going to rain soon. I need to get back to Egypt before I’m soaked.

I start looking around to see if there’s any kind of civilization. And there is. A lantern, hanging from a low branch. The metal was curled and straightened as if someone resembling a human made it. The wick looks like it was recently lit, too. I don’t know if this should excite or discourage me. Will they be welcoming? Hostile? Will I even find them? But they’re my best chance of getting out of here. I’d rather die from an angry mob than suffer in here all by myself.

A path! Finally! The mist makes it impossible to see more than 3 yards ahead, but a path wouldn’t come out of nowhere, right? There’s got to be something. There’s nothing left to do but see where it leads.

A boat, it leads to a boat. How wrong of me to get my hopes up. I was expecting life, people, food, warmth. At least I’m getting somewhere.

I walk towards it, but stop. There’s someone on the boat, wearing something resembling a Nemes headdress. They’re watching me as if waiting for me to get on, resting the paddle they’re standing next to on the side of the boat. Eventually, they gesture for me to set foot in it. Maybe this is just what I needed.

I step inside the boat. “What’s going on?” I wobble on the floor trying to catch my balance. I can hear him chuckle a bit behind his mask. I can’t tell if it’s because I looked ridiculous or if he found my question amusing. But I’m not humored.

“You died in your sleep,” he responds once I’ve gained my balance. He starts paddling. “You’re on your way to get your heart weighed.”

“And who are you?”

“I’m your escort. I’ll be guiding you until the gates.” At this point it started to rain. There’s a little shack in the middle of the boat, but it wouldn’t conceal me completely unless I step inside. The escort is getting completely soaked.

“Where are we now, then?”

“Duat. There’s supposed to be lots of monsters coming for you, but they don’t like the rain,” he reaches his other hand out to feel the rain drops. “You know, not many of you talk to me,” he comments. 

“And why’s that?”

“They’re scared. You’re very brave, you know?”

Why’d he bring that up? “Um.. yeah, thanks,” I don’t know how to respond to that. “Aren’t you supposed to be here to talk to?” I brought up.

“Not necessarily. But some think it’s better to not know what’s going on than do, just in case they can’t handle it.”

The conversation ends after that.

The rain turns into a bit of a storm. Quiet thunder with heavy rain, no lightning. The sky got much darker. It looks about sunset. “What time is it?”

“You sure ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” the escort chuckles. “Don’t you have a watch or something?”

“A watch?”

“A little device that tells the time that wraps around your wrist.”

“I’ve never heard of it before,” I say, a bit puzzled. The escort shrugs to dismiss the idea. 

I look down at my wrist. I’m wrapped in straps of linen, about 5 centimeters thick. And not just my wrist, my whole body. It feels coarse and rough, like it’s been here for a few days. The scratches and tears I got running through the forest resulted in it starting to drape from my body. Pulling the straps back feels like ripping off skin. I tried licking the drapes then sticking them back to the rest of the linen to find that I don’t have saliva. If my cuts were deep enough, you could maybe see a bit of flesh, but there was never any blood. But I can breathe. 

“You didn’t notice that before?” the escort buds in. He didn’t look at me, just kept staring forward. Was I really phased out that long? It’s quite darker than it was before.

“I guess I didn’t,” I answered. I’m not even sure if he’s talking about the linen or not.

“Do you want more mummy glue to seal the ends?” He asks. Mummy glue. I’m a mummy. It feels weird to hear that outloud. I never actually considered this. What am I supposed to do? 

“Um.. sure?” I responded hesitantly. “How does it work?”

“Imagine if you’re taking water and applying it to the drapes. Then stick them to your body. It’s in the shack, on the shelf. Take as much as you need.”

The door to the shack was unlocked. Right on the shelf. “Mummy” and “glue” written in hieroglyphics. I put some on my hand and lathered it on the draped linen. I stick a few back, but I’m called outside by my escort. There’s still straps draping.

“We’re here,” he calls out once I’ve left the shack. I’ve been in there so long it’s stopped raining, and looks way darker. The escort’s boat has come across shore, and I’m presented with several large golden gates. They’ve got to be at least 3 times the size of me.

I step out of the boat undismissed and stare at the gates in awe. “Bye,” the escort says. 

“Bye,” I repeat, not looking back. He’s already gone.

There’s lanterns lighting up the path. The mist has cleared. The doors are very heavy, it takes a few attempts to get used to the weight of it. There’s no one guarding anything. I kind of miss the company, how I could ask questions. Here I’m all alone. It’s not bad. Just different.

I’ve counted at least 20 gates, but kind of got lost at 16. I’m still surprised I haven’t seen anyone yet. It’s now night time, the stars and moon are out. Around 25 gates, I see through the top of the great door ways a dark building lined in gold. It’s like a castle. That’s it! The place my heart’s weighed! I can’t help but feel anxious, but I start running anyway. 4 more gates. 3 more. 2. 1.

There’s lynx statues with the same color scheme as the castle. Lanterns like the ones I saw in the forest were everywhere, all over the building. There’s guards, lots of them. On every balcony and entrance. The main door has at least 6.

“What’s your name?” one asked me.

I’m practically shaking, but no one seems concerned. “Hatshepsut,” I answered hesitantly. They all shuffle to one side to let me through. I hold my breath.

I immediately recognize the faces once I walk in, although the room is barely lit. The hieroglyphics that were painted on the walls of my house. They were alive, right in front of me. All 42 of them. All God’s I’ve ever heard of surround me. Not just that, a giant golden scale was looming over all of this. It had a delicate feather on one side of it.

Osiris, the god of life and death, was standing directly in front of me. His skin was green, dressed in white clothes lined in blue and gold. I open my mouth to speak but he stops me. He started to answer my question before I even asked it.

“You will be put to sleep. Anubis-,” he gestured to the man in a black canine mask “will surgically remove your heart from your body. Then Maat-,” Osiris put his hand down and raised the other one, pointing to a young woman with bird wings instead of arms “will take it and place it on the scale behind me.” He gives me a moment to gaze at the instrument. 

“The feather on the scale is the feather of truth; representing balance and purity,” he gestured to the feather. Without touching it, it feels gentle. “That will be put on the scale with your heart. If your heart is lighter than the feather of truth, you will go onto Aaru. If your heart is heavier, it will be eaten by Ammit,” he points to her, “sending you to the underworld.”

Ammit is very unsettling. She has the head of a crocodile, the maine of a lion, torso of a leopard, and back legs of a hippo. I don’t know how the gods tolerate her. 

I don’t think about the underworld that much, I pretty much never did. I didn’t think it would be a possibility. I can’t recall anything I ever did to deserve a life like that. 

“Are you ready to begin the ceremony?” Osiris asks almost immediately.

I think for a moment. Should I? Am I ready for it? There’s nothing more to wait for. “Yes, I am,” I’m not sure if I’m shaking from excitement or anxiety anymore. Osiris snaps his fingers, and I go unconscious.

I woke up where I was when I fell asleep. Anubis glanced over my body a few times to make sure he did everything right, then backed away. The linen where my heart should be was fresh and new, much cleaner than the ragged straps that were there before. I wish they replaced all of them. At least half of the pharaohs who make it here are covered with filth. If they could’ve changed it the whole time, why wouldn’t they? 

My heart isn’t on the scale yet. Instead, it’s in the hands of Maat. She’s standing near the instrument, ready to start the ceremony when commanded. I can see Ammit drooling on the other side of the scale.

Osiris claps, which I assume is Maat’s signal. And it is. The ceremony has begun. 

The scale. It’s broken, tilted to one side. How did this happen? How did I not notice this? How did they not notice this? Who would have done this? Are they purposefully trying to make me suffer? What did I do? This must be a mistake, no one would ever rig such a life-changing thing like that. Unless there was something in it for them.

What am I waiting for? 

“STOP!” I scream, “WAIT! SOMETHING’S WRONG!” I don’t think they believe me. No one stops a muscle. It’s almost like they don’t hear me. But Osiris is shaking his head. 

“We can not end the ceremony,” He’s staring at me blankly. “It will only be concluded when we have our res-” Osiris is interrupted by Maat. “Osiris? She’s failed.”

Everyone in the whole room looks disappointed, but Ammit looks very excited. Osiris turns back to look at me. My heart is heavier than the feather. The plate with my heart on it is visibly lower than the one with the feather. “No, take it off! It’s rigged, I swear!” I can feel tears forming, falling down my cheeks. Osiris shakes his head, then snaps. 

Ammit steps forward, drooling. Should I let her eat it? I’ve made it this far. I can’t. I instinctually snatch my heart off the scale and run towards the entrance.

I can barely hear what the Gods are saying through my heart beating. But I do catch Osiris screaming Ammit’s name. Her paws start stomping towards my direction. She’s breathing almost heavier than I am. 

I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. When I run past the guards, they do nothing to stop me. I assume they think Ammit’s got it covered. But I don’t think she does. She has the legs of a leopard and a hippopotamus, and while I guess leopards can catch up to me, her hind legs are really slowing her down. I can keep this up for a while if I wanted to. But I can’t swim through the river I came here from when I get there. The linen I’m wrapped in will be really heavy if it’s wet. The river’s very thin, though. I should be able to run around it. I’ll have a better advantage over Ammit, too, if I’m on land.

It’s very dark without the lanterns illuminating everything. I’m relying on the light of the stars and moon. I can’t use the light that’s bouncing off of the river, because if I’m anywhere near it. Ammit will swim through it if Ido, since she knows she’s a stronger swimmer. I was never too threatened by spooky stories of her from my older siblings and parents, but now that she’s here a few steps behind me every second, I can’t help but be terrified. It’s even more stress-inducing when it’s as dark as it is right now. If I turn around, I can only see her eyes. Her pupils get bigger the closer she is to me. 

My goal is to lose her. Either by zig-zagging through the tree’s until she gets confused, or hiding behind something so she doesn’t see me. Maybe then I can build a little cottage to live in for a few years. Hopefully they can forget about me and I can warn other pharaohs of the rigged scale. Am I immortal in duat? Is Ammit eating my heart the only way to die?

I’ve been running for at least 10 minutes. I’ve been keeping my heart close to my chest this whole time. I’m out of breath. Ammit keeps finding me. How long can I do this? 

The boat! Oh my gosh, the boat! Is the escort still there? Can he help me? Maybe I can hide in it. I think I see him- he’s sleeping in the shed. “HELP!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “ESCORT!”

He wakes up and notices me right away. He was about to come off of the boat, but then shouted something at me. I don’t know what it was exactly. He sounded very worried and concerned. I could make out the words “linen” “bush” and “loose strap”, because those are the words he shouted the loudest. Something about my appearance.

I yelped in pain. A piece of linen I didn’t have the time to glue back to my body at the boat caught on a bush. I could hear Ammit’s footsteps pounding towards me. I clenched my teeth and pulled on the loose linen. I wouldn’t have time to detangle it from the bush, I’d have to rip it off.

I put my heart down in front of me. 3.. 2.. 1..  I scream in agony. The linen rips off my flesh. There’s still no blood, but that doesn’t make it feel any better. I try to lick my hand and apply it to the wound but remember I don’t have any saliva. 

I start running towards the boat, as fast as I can. Ammit was just a few steps behind me. But she stops chasing me, then bends down. What is she doing?

It clicks in my head right before I pass out. I forgot my heart near the bush. 

I’ve never had the desire to drink, eat, or sleep in duat until I arrived in the underworld. My throat hurts from dehydration, my stomach hurts from not eating, my head hurts from not sleeping. I guess all the things I was supposed to feel on my journey came back all at once. But I only didn't eat, sleep, or drink for one day. My ripped arm is a hundred times worse than what it was.This feels like I haven’t taken care of myself for a year, or maybe longer.

Did Osiris say anything about the underworld being this torturous? I feel like if he did I would have tried harder to run away. I do remember though, considering this to be the only way to die. But I’m not unconscious. There’s no one here but me, at least I think so. It’s too dark to tell. 

The dark! I’ve never been afraid of the dark. The underworld isn’t even that dark either, I can see blinding flashes of light now and then. I’ve always been told I’m strong and dependable by everyone around me. I can handle whatever is going to come after me, especially in the comforts of Egypt. But here it’s unexpected and suspenseful. Maybe Osiris kept “the underworld” vague for a reason, to keep me on my toes. If any monsters do come for me, I don’t know how to fight them because I never encountered one in duat. 

The more I think about it, the more I keep seeing images of different types of demons in my head. Colors of red, green, orange. Scales, feathers or fur. I’ve never seen anything that resembles them. Why am I thinking of these? I can’t stop.

I hear hissing. I looked around, panicked. Is there something here with me? I hear hissing again. This has got to be my mind messing with me. Nothing would be here. The Gods aren’t that destructive-

It gets louder, like it’s getting closer. There’s a flash of lightning. Then I hear it again. Then another flash of lightning, but this time I see it. I squeal and curl up in a ball. It’s not in my head. But more noises come, and whenever I look up, the lightning shows a different monster every time. Different threatening sounds with different animals all linked to them. Why aren’t they hurting me? They’re supposed to be vicious beasts. 

I have the courage to stand up to one. They don’t hurt me. I inch closer. Still don’t hurt me. What’s wrong with them? I reach out my hand. Another monster appeared, but they phased through it. They aren’t real, my mind’s making them up. Do the God’s have control of my mental state? Have they always? That’s scary to think about. 

It still frightens me whenever I hear the hissing or see one of the beasts up close, but they're less scary. Are the Gods watching me now? I hope they’re not. If I show that I’m immune to them, the God’s might give them matter, make them actually cut and scratch me. But I don’t have much control of it. If they are the ones behind this, can’t they just read my mind and know I’m faking a reaction? It’s better to let it play out. 

I can’t help but feel that this shouldn’t be happening. I’m supposed to be out in Aaru, dancing in the reeds with my ancestors. Is there a way to bring me back out there? Maybe Ammit has something to do with it. Like, feed her something disgusting to make her through up? I don’t like thinking of Ammit much though. The first time I saw her in person she unsettled me. I know she was designed after 4 of the most threatening animals in Egypt, but something about her felt wrong. Maybe she looks very excited for every new pharaoh, because it’s only a meal she gets around every 25-50 years. I wouldn’t be that excited if only half of the pharaohs don’t pass, though. I can’t help but blame her for the reason I’m in here, but I know she’s not exactly responsible for it. 

The scale. It was bent to the right, just enough so it’s not visible at first glance but enough to tilt it so hearts will look heavier. This wasn’t an accident. It was perfectly formed to trick pharaohs, and maybe even the Gods. Why, though? Why would someone do this? Is there something I’m missing? I go through every single God, all 42 of them. I can’t think of a reason for any of them to do that. Does Ammit count? I guess she’d be the 43rd, if she did. I can’t imagine calling her my higher-up, but she does live in the hall with the rest of them. I bet it would be nice for her, too, to have a guaranteed meal every 25-50 years without having to wait in suspense along with the pharaoh. And now that moral codes are increasingly being presented to the people, Egypt’s rulers are being more righteous, resulting in less food for Ammit. 

I’m frustrated, but also not. She could have been as hungry as I am right now. I can’t say it’s not her fault, but at least she can say it’s justified to an extent. It’s not ethical, but neither was an “innocent” animal starving, right? Assuming that the God’s do not feed her, which they probably don't. How long has this been going on, anyway? Months? Years? Decades? How many other pharaohs have fallen victim to her as well? No use dwelling on it if we can’t do anything now, though.

I feel awake. I feel hydrated. I feel well fed. I can see color, though very faint, after my eyes have been through so much torture. The rip on my arm has been covered in new, fresh linen. Once my eyes readjust, I see an endless ocean of reeds, flowing in the wind. I hear birds chirping. I smell fresh flowers. What is going on?

I’m greeted by Osiris. “Hello, Hatshepsut.”

I look around. “Where am I?” I ask.

“Aaru” Osiris smiles, “We brought you back.”

I look around, then back up to Osiris from where I’m sitting on the ground. “Why?”

Osiris’ smile disappears. “We found that one of our associates has bent the scale your heart was weighed on. My apologies,” Osiris looks very disappointed in himself. “Since you were only in the underworld for a few hours, we were able to cut open Ammit’s stomach and retrieve your heart. It is now being carried in a glass box in our hall, with all of the other innocent pharaohs, where it will never be touched again.” Osiris bows his head and fades away. 

I see my parents running up to me. I start crying tears of joy. My family gathers around me, relieved to see I’ve ended up in Aaru. I got swept away in a world of happiness, and I’ll never have to go back to the underworld again.