After packing his things Amon went to the shrine of Bastet in his courtyard. After so many major events had happened, he had various theories and questions.The cat, once a goddess, might give him some answers.
Schrodinger certainly occupied a unique place in Amon’s territory, and everyone knew that. Amon even let the cat eat before the king of Hittite. Now in Amon’s courtyard, it could enjoy the offerings placed on the altar as it pleased. It was said that the Ejyptians loved cats, but the Supreme General was even more Ejyptian than the real Ejyptians!
Amon was not sure where Schrodinger spent its time all day long, and if he wanted to look for the cat, he would wait in the shrine, no matter how long it took. Some time ago when Amon went to Memphis, Schrodinger didn’t go with him. Not having seen the cat for some time, Amon had started to miss it.
Amon waited from noon till sunset, and he did not even eat his dinner. He told his servants not to come to the shrine. When the sky was completely dark, he finally saw Schrodinger passing through the entrance of the shrine.
Amon went forward and said with a smile, “I have been waiting for you for the whole day, why did you come so late? Even if you are playing outside, you shouldn’t miss your meals. The meat that has been roasted has turned cold by now.”
Schrodinger sat near the entrance and stretched its neck. A dissatisfied voice appeared in Amon’s self, “Why is it lamb, not fish?”
Amon apologized, “There was little time, so I could not go to the river to catch fish, sorry about that. The lamb is a little cold, let me roast it again.”
Schrodinger asked, “You have the time to wait the whole afternoon for me, but you have no time to catch fish? You were back yesterday, but you only came to look for me today.”
Was the cat throwing a tantrum or was it truly upset? Amon hurriedly replied, “Many things happened recently. I have many questions to ask you. I wanted to come to you yesterday when I returned from Memphis, but Pawara came to me. After that, I had to talk to Hardedef, tell him what to do before I sent him to look for Metatro and Lynk. There were so many issues waiting for me to deal with, I only finished taking care of them this morning. I came here as soon as I was free and waited till now. But now that you say so, next time I will catch a fish before coming.”
Schrodinger snorted. “Oh, so the Supreme General had something to ask, otherwise he wouldn’t have thought of this cat.”
Amon smiled, “That’s not true. I come here a lot, most of the time without questions. After all, this whole shrine was built for us to hang out. Do you know that the right wing of all the statues of Horus in all the shrines of Ejypt broke at the same time? That is unheard of. Don’t you think it is worth talking about?”
Schrodinger sighed. “I know what happened. But Amon, I want to ask you another question, is it worth putting in so much effort simply for the sake of a promise? You don’t know how much you are going to pay for this.”
It was obviously referring to all the hard work Amon had put in to help his clansmen return to their homeland. When in Duc, Amon was only the son of an old drunkard, and he even got exiled from the town. There wasn’t much of a relationship between him and Moses and the rest. Amon had done too much for them already, and there was nobody who could say that he owed anyone anything.
Amon smiled again. “This is not just about a promise to Mourrin, it is also a promise to Mayor Dusti in the Underworld. If I can’t even keep a promise to a dead person, how can I achieve what I have today? I may have put in a huge amount of effort, but I also received everything that I should have gotten.”
Schrodinger nodded silently, then asked, “You are not the only one who cannot give up on things they have put too much effort into. It is not necessarily a bad thing. But haven’t you thought that it could be a burden to you? In the eyes of gods, time is like the flowing Nile, while the mortals are like the water. Whatever has been done has already been done. You need to think about the future, about things other than the water. That is called wisdom.”
Amon shook his head. “I am not a god, at least not yet. Everything you just said, I have never thought about it. By keeping promises, I have loss and gain. It has been the path I’ve chosen, and the path makes me who I am.”
Schrodinger finally smiled. “You are still my little Amon, although I am not sure how much time and effort you will need at the end… If you have anything to ask me, just say it.”
The cat stood up and walked to Amon where it rubbed against his legs affectionately. Amon sat on the ground and stroked its back. Then he said, “The first thing is good news. I have passed the test, regained my power and achieved the eighth level.”
Schrodinger said in surprise and joy, “You did it? Tell me about it!”
Amon described his experience in detail, and Schrodinger replied, “Congratulations, you have indeed passed the test. However, there is still a period of growth before you truly achieve the eighth level. The path to divinity is different from the usual methods of training practised by the mortals, and the real difference can only be seen from this point onwards. What happened is that you are going through two tests at the same time.
The first test is not to lose the self despite the loss of power. The second is the rebirth of self and the understanding of power. When you truly achieve the eighth level, you can finally start helping me. I am very happy that the first thing you talked about was not about the gods but about me.”
Amon then asked, “The right wing of Horus’s statues all over the country broke at the same time, what does this mean?”
Schrodinger answered emotionlessly, “The wings of the divine eagle symbolize his protection of Ejypt. Since someone has ripped off his wing, it obviously means that Horus has been pulled off the throne. He’s no longer the king of the gods of the Ennead. I do not know what happened to Horus exactly, but in any case, this means that he lost the fight.”
Amon asked again, “The new Pharaoh changed his name to Merneptah, and started the construction of a new capital with a new shrine for An-Ra. What does this mean?”
Schrodinger thought about it for a moment before replying, “It appears that An-Ra has become the king of the gods once again, but I think Seth should be the real victor. Using the name of An-Ra, he has seized the divine realm. But I don’t know how this is possible.”
“Not even you? I thought you knew well about the Ennead.”
“I’ve been like this for like a century. Many things could have happened in a century.”
“But many things didn’t change in the past century. Ejypt was still the most powerful empire in the continent, and Horus who controlled this divine realm should also have been the most powerful god. Who would be capable of defeating him?”
Schrodinger snorted. “Horus is far from the most powerful god in Ejypt. Strictly speaking, he is not even one of the Ennead! Had he not been the king of the gods and possessed such a vast divine realm, anyone of the Ennead would have been able to defeat him.”
Amon frowned. “Then how was he able to become the king of the gods?”
Schrodinger sighed. “It was because of Isis. She and An-Ra were the two most powerful gods in the Ennead, and it was said that Isis had defeated An-Ra.”
Amon, “Then why didn’t Isis become the queen of the gods?”
Schrodinger narrowed her eyes, seemingly reminiscing about the past. “It’s been too long. We are talking about something that has happened almost a thousand years before I entered the Ennead. I couldn’t have understood what happened exactly. Not to mention that I have never met An-Ra in person. I only heard the other gods vaguely mention that it was not that An-Ra really lost to Isis, it’s just that he had given up fighting.”
Amon also narrowed his eyes, “Give up?”
Schrodinger nodded. “Yes, he gave up the divine realm and his position as king of the gods. Gods do not do meaningless things, and it was said that by giving up, he was released, freed, detached. It was about a different quest. Being defeated by Isis was also part of it, an opportunity he had been waiting for. These were the messages I overheard from the gods. I am not able to verify them. It was also beyond my level of understanding.”
Amon smiled bitterly. “If even you could not understand it, then it is pointless for me to ask about it right now.”
Schrodinger, “Yes, if you are not in their positions, it would be meaningless to talk about it. I do not know how Isis defeated An-Ra, but there was one thing that the gods were well aware of. There was an agreement between An-Ra and Isis, that Isis herself could not become the queen of the gods.
However, Isis was very clever, so she let her husband Osiris become the king of the gods. The thing is that, other than Isis and An-Ra, Seth was the one who had done the most in the cultivation of the divine realm. Naturally, Seth was dissatisfied with how things had turned out, so he defeated Osiris and seized the throne. But Isis then backed Horus to defeat Seth, and that was how Horus became the king of the gods.”
Amon blinked, “Oh, so that was what happened! Looks like Isis is very trustworthy, even though she helped her husband and son become the king, she did keep her promise the whole time.”
“No god in this world can break their promises.” the cat stroked its own tail, “One cannot become a deity if he cannot keep his words.”
“But this still doesn’t answer my question. Since Isis is so powerful, and Horus has been the king for a thousand years already, why did such a thing still happen now?”
“After Horus became the king, he naturally got more power. Together with the support of Isis, it should be impossible for the other gods to shake his rule. My guess is the same as yours. It was that strike made by Enkidu on the battlefield that has revealed his powerlessness, that he wasn’t as powerful as he pretended to be. It could be the Anunnakis who used his appearance that day as an excuse and assaulted him. And he failed to hold off their attack. He was injured and weak. Seth then took the opportunity to defy him and won.”
Amon shook his head, “But I still don’t understand, since Horus is unable to get to the throne with his own power and had only done so with the help of Isis, why didn’t she help him again this time?”
Schrodinger went silent and lowered its head without a further word. Amon waited for a long time before finally asking, “What’s wrong? What are you thinking about?”
The cat sighed, “I have been sealed for too long and missed too many events. I’m afraid that Isis is long gone. I should have thought of this earlier! Otherwise, how could Bair have possibly been able to steal the rib of Osiris and take the Adoratrice with him when he left Memphis? If Isis was still around, all these could not have happened.”
Amon exclaimed in surprise, “What! Isis is no longer around? What does this mean? Has she passed away?”
Schrodinger went silent again, seeming to have fallen into deep thought. It frowned and finally answered after some time, “She could have passed away, or something else could have happened. The power of Isis is beyond my knowledge. Now that I think about it, I should have realized that she was already absent when Bair entered the shrine. If you ask me what happened to her, I cannot give you an answer.”
Amon replied incredulously, “It has been thirty six years since Bair stole the rib and ran away with the Adoratrice. According to you, Isis was no longer around by then. Why did it take until today for something major to happen?”
Schrodinger sighed. “Thirty six years might be a long time for the mortals, but it is a very short period of time for the gods. Even though Isis is no longer around, Horus was still the king of the gods and was in control of a vast divine realm, which made him even more powerful. It was likely that the other gods were unable to tell how powerful he actually was. Therefore, if he had suffered injuries from a conflict with the Anunnaki gods, it would have given Seth the opportunity to challenge him. If he no longer has the protection of Isis, it will be impossible for him to take back the throne.”
Amon then asked an interesting question, “I know that the relationship between gods is different from the kinship between mortals. Is Horus truly the son of Isis? The old records which you told me to read had described it in a metaphorical way. Did Isis really become pregnant magically when she was beside Osiris’s corpse and give birth to Horus as a result?”
Schrodinger smiled. “To truly understand the relationship between the gods, you need to first join a divine clan. But I believe Horus is indeed the son of Isis. When he was just born, the gods had suspected that Horus was Osiris in another form. Later on, they finally realized that he was not. Osiris had not disappeared, as of now, he is still the god of Duat, the Ennead’s Underworld. It was said that Horus had been the son of Isis when she was still a mortal, and that he had been hidden in the mortal world, where Isis guided him to divinity. It was only after Seth had defeated Osiris that Horus officially made his appearance.”
It was rare for Schrodinger to say so much, so Amon took the chance and asked, “I have always been puzzled by several terms. What exactly is a divine realm? And what is a divine clan?”
Schrodinger turned to look at him and said, “According to what you call the power of the two sides, which you practise, you need to achieve the ninth level before you can understand all these. But since you need to help me with my seal before that, I will try to explain what I can.”
A divine clan was an ancient system of inheritance. The earliest gods had mastered the secrets of how to become the gods, which was the “language” referred to in the old records. They would guide certain mortals on the correct path to divinity, and these mortals were either favored by the gods or they were chosen by the gods in some ways. Among these mortals were the kin and friends of the gods as well as the strong ones among the mortals.
It was similar to the mentorship, but that was not all it was. The old gods were the guides, and one could only receive the right to join a certain divine clan if they were guided by them. And they had to abide by the rules of the clan. That was how a divine clan was formed, and both the Ennead and the Anunnaki were formed in such a manner.
Knowing how to become a god did not mean that you would automatically become a god. For example, the power of two sides practised by Amon, it was not guaranteed that everyone would be able to understand it. Even if they did, it was very difficult to pass the tests at each step of the path. The vast majority would definitely fail to make it to the very end. Gods do not guide or teach for nothing, they would only choose the ones who were most likely to succeed.
As for a divine realm, there were two meanings. The first referred to a country that is populated by people who worship a certain divine clan, and such a country was usually created by the gods of the divine clan. For example, Osiris and Seth had established the Ejyptian Empire. As for the second meaning, it was difficult for mortals to understand. Divine realms were also known as “realms which provide power”.
It was difficult to describe such a concept with words. The part of a god’s divine realm in this world is majorly the shrine where the god was worshipped. In this place, the gods would receive the offerings and prayers of their believers. It was possible for a shrine to worship multiple gods, but a god had to attach themselves onto the statues in order for the statues to signify this god.
Whenever a shrine was built, the priests would have to conduct a ceremony to give prayers and offerings, and to request the blessing of the god. Amon had felt it personally in many shrines that he visited. The statues seemed to be constantly looking at the believers and listening to the prayers of the believers. Because of that, Amon had given an order to his disciples not to pray to any other god.
On the other hand, it was necessary to have a ceremony for the gods to attach themselves onto the statues, to build the first connection.
Divine realms were often exclusive. If a certain god wanted to attach himself onto a statue somewhere as his divine realm, he had to get the approval of the king of the gods of the divine clan. This was one of the covenants between the gods. It was further divided into two situations. The first was to enjoy the offerings of the believers in the same shrine as the king’s. The second was to establish a small separate divine realm within the main divine realm.
Mourrin’s shrine in Duc or the Shrine of Isis in Memphis were examples of the second situation.
As for the Ennead, the king used to be Horus, and due to the special status of Isis, the most populated and fertile city, Memphis, had been the divine realm of Isis all along.
Mourrin’s situation was completely different from isis. Duc had been the place where the ancient gods had battled. It was abandoned and cursed. When Anunnaki broke up, according to their agreement, the place had been included within the divine realm of Enlil, but it did not become a true “realm which provides power”. Without the worship and offerings of believers, there was no real divine realm.
Duc had been surrounded by barren wasteland. Later on, Mourrin made a request to Enlil to establish her own divine realm in Marduc’s land. Enlil agreed and made some kind of agreement with Mourrin. The agreements between gods were confidential, so they were the only ones who knew about the contents.
According to Schrodinger’s guess, the Anunnaki clan was still in war back in the moment. Enlil was having a split with Marduc. As everything was in a state of chaos and there were many remaining conflicts waiting to be dealt with, Enlil agreed to Mourrin’s request for the time being. It could also be that Mourrin had made contributions in the war of gods, so Enlil had to give her a divine realm according to the agreement.