Apep: Enemy of Ra

Every day for eons, the great serpent Apep lay in wait for his eternal foe. The god of the sun, Ra, made his nightly journey aboard his royal boat and surrounded by his powerful entourage.

Every night for time immemorial, Ra and his camp had overcame the forces of chaos that followed the word of Apep. Spurred on by the prayers from the mortal realm, the group had always overcame the beast and allowed Ra to be reborn, marking the start of a new day and a new cycle.

"He will be here soon, my lord," said one of Apep's commanders. After many years of trying and failing to capture the great barque of Ra, Apep had started to make changes in the underworld. He organized any of those that would listen into legions and legions of soldiers to battle Ra's entourage of gods.

"Good, let them come. This will be our victory. I have felt the prayers of the Egyptians falter as they lose their connection with the gods." Over the many years that passes since Ra's ascendance to being the god of the sun, the prayers of the Egyptians had always been strong enough to empower the gods, but now Apep could feel how weak the connection was. The mortal realm had undergone many changes and as they advanced technologically, they had left behind their old ways. Little did they know that this would spell their precious Sun's doom.

Apep took his position under the edge of the horizon, just out of reach of the rays of the sun. He will stay here until the Sun god comes around the horizon.

As soon as the Ra's ship entered the underworld, the armies of Apep descended. They gnawed and clawed at the boat but they could find no purchase. Apep had learned to not send all his minions at once. The mighty warriors aboard the ship including powerful spell casters and swordsmen. Apep knew their power and decided to pace his forces so that when Ra's forces thought they had won, Apep himself would descend and destroy them.

In the mortal realm, the human priests and worshippers prayed for Ra's safe passage through the underworld. Their numbers have been dwindling, but the priests refused to believe that they could ever fail.

They felt the trembling in the sky. Thunderclouds rushed from all sides and poured rain and crackled with thunder over the night. The priests knew that a fierce battle was being fought and they continued to pray for Ra's victory, unaware of what was about to happen.

Back in the underworld, the armies of Apep crashed against the sides of the boat. It rode on a sea of dead servants and demons. The defenders were exhausted as they approached the final hours of their journey, but then Apep wound himself around the ship and bared his fangs. The defenders lunged forward ready to stab at the Enemy of Ra and cast mighty incantations upon him. Their attacks did nothing, as their power had come from mortal prayers, but they had already used too much fighting off the hordes. They did not notice though because Apep still reeled in pain, or so they thought.

Apep's plan was to fool the others into thinking they had defeated him and it worked! As he acted like he was falling off the ship he suddenly struck and swept the followers off the deck of the boat. They fell into the hordes of underworld creatures as the great boat crumbled. Now, without foe to face him, Apep swallowed Ra and doomed the mortal realm to eternal darkness.

The next morning, the priests looked out of their temples and awaited the Sun and rebirth of Ra and warmth it would bring them. They had counted the hours go by and knew it would be soon and waited. They waited and waited. Eventually, one young priest questioned what was happening. They had been standing and watching for hours and yet nothing had happened. Then they saw over the horizon, not the glory of the sun, but a deep darkness. It swept over the thunderclouds. They could still hear the rumble, even the lightning was smothered out. All that was left was the glow from their own fires. They then heard the mighty roar Apep and an earthquake shook the temple, bringing it down and entombing all those inside.

Author's Note: This story is based off of Ra's nightly journeys through the underworld. Usually he is able to be reborn at the end of every night after passing through twelve gates where more and more monsters attack the boat. These are all, of course, defeated and Ra is rebirthed and a new day begins. I decided to remove twelve gates/walls/divisions because I thought that this would have been too much to introduce to the reader and turn the story into more of a history lesson. Apep is usually defeated when he wraps around the boat and is stabbed by the Ra's protectors, so I had Apep still be attacked at this part but fake being injured because their attacks had no effect because there weren't enough prayers. I decided to end the story with a bit of a cliffhanger because the world is being engulfed in darkness and Apep can now roam the mortal realm. This brings with it monsters and creatures that would probably attack and kill humans wherever they find them, and I didn't want to have to explain how brutal it was and instead leave it up to reader to consider it. I chose the title "Enemy of Ra" because this was the title bestowed upon Apep for attacking Ra every night.

Bibliography: "The Sun's Journey" by Donald Mackenzie Web Source: Sacred Texts Archive

Image information: Lightning Pritzerbe by Mathias Krubmholz