"Mythic: Chapter One" by Rebecca J.R. Gordon

"Sutekh!" the voice calls clear in the Divine Palace. I had spent the morning sitting at the stream, playing magicks with the fish and practicing small tricks. My quiet morning was disrupted by the silver voice of my favorite Deity.

"Nephthys?" I found her luminous green eyes flashing like the Nile in flood time. She sat next to me, fingering a strand of the red hair everyone but her hated about me. I leaned in, towards her touch, relishing the fact that anyone would want to play with my copper locks. Her slim fingers trapped themselves within my hair for a few moments before talking. It betrayed a type of nervousness about her.

"I have some news for you," her voice taking a quiet break into awe. Her youthful voice was usually so bright and full of life, so this was a strange change. I looked into her eyes and knew what it was before she could say a word. A second light sparkled, brighter, newer and more compact in her essence. Not to say this was particularly wanted or tried for, but by FATE it would be most welcomed.

"A child, Sutekh. Our child," her fingers laced into mine excitedly. I was thrown past the usual shocked reverie and shot to my feet. Pulling her up and into my arms, I danced lightly along the banks while she blushed and giggled. I pulled her up my young, lanky body, closer to my face and kissed her. My arms so tight around her waist, I could feel the heartbeat of the child from her stomach against mine. I pulled her away, suddenly afraid to crush the babe, but she did not seem to care. She pressed up again and lay volleys of kisses across my chin.

"Oh, Nephthys," I kissed her over and over again, feverishly across her face and lips, "I promise to take care of you and this child. I can hardly wait! I'm going to be a FATHER!!! Oh, have you told Father and Mother yet?!" Words gushed out of my mouth. I was so ecstatic at the prospect of my own child. Sure, we were very young, even for Gods (especially for a Gods), just out of childhood and years younger than our siblings, but still! Oh, we couldn't wait to have our own.

She saddened and shook her head. Pulling away from me, she whispered, "Right now, I don't want anyone to know." The whisper hit louder and hard than if she had screamed it. Though we were not married, all of the Heliopolis knew we were lovers. More intimately bound than most any couple in the Heavens. What should it matter then that she carried my child? I had only one answer.

"Isis," I spat bitterly. She flung herself against me and held my waist, burying her head in my neck and sobbing. It wasn't her fault Osiris was obsessively possessive over his thrown. Or the heirs to come to it. His sons would be the only choices for the kingdom. Period. That trait had melded into Isis' personality as well, affecting my darling as she worshipped her own sister. And now, by the hierarchy of the Gods, my child would have first option at taking the thrown, should it care to. It was, after all, the first born of a generation.

"I couldn't stand Isis being angry with me," she signified to our so-far barren sister. Even though the two had been try to conceive. Nephthys respected and adored her. I loathed them both. Though Nephthys couldn't feel that same hate towards her other siblings, I knew we had a stronger bond of a different kind of love. She would stand for me before she would Isis. But still, I held this more bitterly. She would rather have Isis happy with her than proclaim my newest source of pride.

"And when the child is finally born? What then?" I let the anger I was feeling seep into my tone. I knew I shouldn't have. She was distraught enough as it was. She tore completely away from me and crumpled to her knees by the stream, her face in her hands.

One moment passed and I could no longer stand any kind of pain radiating from her. I knelt next to her and hugged her. She didn't stop me, nor did she stop crying. So her feelings against me were short lived, but something else bothered her deeply. Conveying in the language beyond words we had often spoken in, she told me of her insecurity and fears. I, in turn, told her of my love, protection and power. Only then did she quiet and let me wipe her tears.