Renewal

Well. That was...

I ran back to my post and shouted for Kennedy to shoot the big snake. It had snared Hal in it's gaze, threatening to make us leave him behind in retaliation for the hurt Hal put on it. But Hal and Andrew told Kennedy to shoot HIM instead, to break the hold. Ballsy, but he nearly lost his leg for that move. At least it worked and he got back on the boat.

In the mess the canopic gods needed to hold on to more power to keep the spells going. Claire was away from her post at the wheel and Lexi scrambled for her sax. I wasn't expecting it and oh god did it hurt. I haven't felt pain like that since the Sun Temple. I held it together, though and we made it through the maze.

Some hard turn later and we were before the scales of Ma'at. Our little godling charges put their hearts, contained in canopic jars, on the scale. Each one passed and came back stronger. It felt good to see them progress and make this trip worthwhile. Then it came to be our turn. All we had to do was step on the scale and be weighed.

Andrew, as expected, didn't even wobble.

Hal's dipped slightly, but not much.

Lexi got her feet wet as the scale dipped down to the water below (and she walked away glowing like her mother).

Claire and Kennedy were dunked up to their chests, but were otherwise fine.

I ended up dropped fully into the water.

I can't describe to you the pain I felt. It was as if my whole being was being seared away to nothingness, crumbling away in that blackness. Then I heard a voice. A voice I can only assume was Ma'at's. She told me that I had a chance to be redeemed. I had to give up a part of myself and let someone else pay the soul tax and I'd be allowed to live. I felt that this was a test and I could give up a bit of myself, but I couldn't let someone die in my place so I could go on, and I refused.

The next thing I realized I was being lifted from the water, laying on the scale. I no longer hurt and I felt so much stronger than I did before, but I was still wracked from what I went through. Hal helped me to the boat and I heard Andrew's voice in my head, telling me he was proud of me.

I feel very different, now. I don't feel the call to battle as strongly as I did before. I no longer feel compelled to strike out at evil in honorable combat. Instead I feel an overwhelming desire to seek balance. Balance in myself and balance in the world around me. Its... oddly comforting. Something else feels different, that darkness that tainted me is no longer there.

Now that we'd all gathered back on the barque, a certain jackal-headed god appeared. He told us our journey through Duat was complete. We had the allegiance of the Pesedjet and that he was proud of our actions, fighting as a group on behalf of another we owed nothing to. The final leg of the journey was Imhotep's to make without us. He spirited us away to the final gate where the battle raged on.

I'll be glad to leave this place behind.