literature

Risen: A Tale Of The Gods: Playing For Time

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Literature Text

Crystal Moon stood out like a jeweled spider amongst the darkened city. Music could be heard from it two blocks or more away, and closer yet could be heard the shouts and murmurs of gamblers.


Thoth strode in without so much as a glance from the bouncer; a short, muscular amn currently talking to a homeless boy who couldn't be more than eight.


"How many do you have now, Bes?" he asked softly.


"Fifty-three and counting. All great kids, you know."


Thoth smiled at that. Tawret and Bes ran the only orphanage in this end of the city that didn't double as a slave market-they'd adapted well, no doubt about it.


Thoth sighed, and plunged into the sea of colorfully moving bodies. Slot machines rattled like sistrum beads, briefly reminding the god of older times, when he had been honored. They had been honored.


Showgirls, however, were no improvement to the beautiful dancing priestesses he had once seen.


In the center of it all was Khonsu, larger than life.


He was a wiry man, wearing a long white coat, navy blue pants and dress shirt, and two silver rings. The buttons on his shirt and jacket were also silver, though rather small and unassuming.


Thoth bowed to the cheerful moon god, who only laughed and offered a hand.


"Thoth! By the gods, it's rare to see you here! But then, we are the gods, aren't we?"


"Certainly."


"What brings you to my humble home?"


"I felt like playing."


"Well, then!" Khonsu laughed, waving his arms to take in the room. "You've come to the right place. Take your pick!"


Thoth wrinkled his nose. "I'd rather play something a bit more…traditional."


"Anything for an old friend."

'Draughts. In your office, if you don't mind."


The office was, of course, somewhat futuristic in appearance, with Khonsu's desk serving nicely as a board. Thoth waved a hand over it, and the smooth wood became the familiar symbols of Egyptian draughts-a game somewhere between Monopoly and checkers.


Oh, and the old Senet, of course.


"What'll you bet?" Khonsu chuckled, beginning to arrange the pieces.


The bird god's fingers fluttered. "My pay is quite small, Khonsu. The best I can manage is a panel from my manuscript for each of your wins."


"Fair enough. And should…other things occur?"


"A bit of your light, nothing more."


"Why not?" the moon god smiled "Let the games begin!"


The first round Thoth lost intentionally. Khonsu was a clever gambler, but was quite obvious, if examined by, say, the god of wisdom.


Thoth gave up a minor spell regarding debt service, and the two began to play again.


By the end of the sixth game, Thoth would have normally been sick of Draughts. The game was easy to win, the strategies set by Khonsu nothing short of pathetic.


Then he thought of Nut-poor, beautiful Nut-wasting away, and he began to play again.


Ten games, Thoth had won, before he had enough light.


Ten games, twelve hours of light won each time.


Five day's worth of light.


He left Khonsu examining the pieces for markers, cheat codes, something to ease the pride at having been blown out of the water by a nobody professor.


Not in the day, nor in the night, either, Ra had said


That was then.


This is now.







 


 


 


 


 


 


</SPAN>
As this is the birthday of Seth, I decided it would be a good idea to enter the second chapter of RISEN today.

About this chapter: It was mainly taken from a paragraph in Roger Lancelyn Green's "Tales Of Ancient Egypt". The section is as follows.

"Nut consented readily to this, and Thoth soon devised a clever scheme. He visited Khonsu the Moon-god and challenged him to a game of draughts. Khonsu was a great gambler, and very soon the stakes were high indeed-but highest of all on the Moon's side, for he was wagering his own light. And he had no chance of beating clever Thoth, who went on playing-and winning-until he had enough of the Moon's light from Khonsu to make five extra days."

The description of Khonsu is highly influenced by Rick Riordan's portrayal of him in "The Throne Of Fire".

For the clarification of readers, non-readers, and me, RISEN is not a Pesedjet fanfiction. Pesedjet belongs to Inonibird, and RISEN belongs to me. The appearance of Thoth and the soon-to-be-revealed Seth were taken from her sketches; therefore she inspired RISEN. Some of it. But not everything.

Thank you, everyone who read the first chapter. All 36 of you.
Thank you for commenting. All two of you.

Much obliged.
© 2012 - 2024 kuanyin501st
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