Godly Son!
From this day forward, Set has chosen to embody his divine essence in human form, a decision firmly rooted in his unwavering lingering feeling for his past life.
"Seth, what troubles you?" Isis inquired, her gaze fixed on Set whose visage seemed to shift with the passing moments.
With a dismissive shake of his head, Set deflected, "It's nothing significant. Just pondering over the sun wine."
"Sun wine," Isis responded with a sigh of resignation. "That remains a privilege unless a new main god arises."
"Indeed, without such an event, the sun wine will remain untouchable."
"Today, however, we might witness the passage of a godly son through the divine gate. Perhaps even a main god might emerge," Osiris speculated, his voice tinged with contemplation.
Nephthys, with a light chuckle, added, "Brother Osiris, none among the main gods today were born divine, everyone had to start from somewhere."
"True, each of us, even we four, ascended from demigod stature to our current roles," Isis elaborated.
Unbeknownst to Set, the conversation had steered towards the topic of a godly son. After the gods departed from the Sun City, many deities mingled with the essence of all things, fostering the birth of new godly offspring.
These godly sons were blessed with profound wisdom from birth and granted a lifespan of three hundred years. However, they retained the form of children throughout their existence, never aging, unless they traversed the divine Gate of God in the City of the Sun.
This gate, erected by Ra, bestowed upon them a minor deity status upon crossing. Yet, in Set's recollections spanning a millennium, no godly son had ascended to full divinity.
Suddenly, the sun god emblem emblazoned on the white walls of the city radiated a brilliant golden light. Golden falcons, symbols of divine presence, ascended into the sky, their cries resounding through the air. "A godly son has passed through the Gate of God!" a nearby deity, an amalgamation of deer and human features, proclaimed loudly.
Set, turning to a somewhat perplexed Osiris, affirmed, "Brother, perhaps your intuition holds true."
"Indeed, today might witness the birth of a main god."
Osiris, pausing briefly, voiced his doubt, "It seems unlikely."
"Let go and witness the truth ourselves," Isis suggested with a knowing smile, leading the way as they and the other deities hastened their steps.
In the City of the Sun, the gods, by unspoken agreement, refrained from flight. They traversed the city's grand gates, moving along wide avenues laid with colossal stones etched with vibrant red depictions of the sun god.
Temples of varied forms lined their path: a stark structure of white bones, a vibrant pavilion entwined with purple vines, and another draped in grapevines. Each temple stood as a testament to a deity's power and domain.
Set's gaze drifted across these diverse sanctuaries, finally settling on the central temple, majestically suspended over the city.
Vast stone staircases, each step etched with divine emblems, descended in every direction, merging with the earthly plane below. Towering stone columns adorned with intricate divine motifs upheld the squared dome above. Behind these columns, stone walls bore the painted visages of gods, each portrait a silent testament to divine presence.
This was the Pantheon, the sacred venue for the council of deities.
Directly beneath the grandeur of the Pantheon lay the revered Gate of God. Arrayed around this Gate were the temples, arranged hierarchically from the abodes of the main gods to those of the upper and lower gods.
When Set, accompanied by Isis, Osiris, and Nephthys, approached the Gate of God, they found that hundreds of deities had already gathered. The gods stood in small, familiar groups, the area surprisingly spacious despite the crowd.
As Set moved through clusters of gods murmuring about the newly anointed deity, his gaze fell upon a tall stone arch adorned with golden sunflower motifs.
Before the arch stood a girl, her excitement palpable. She was clad in a red straw crown and a multicolored Wessech necklace, her body draped in a pristine white linen dress, a bronze ankh clutched in her hand.
"The symbol she bears might be that of some plant," Isis remarked.
Osiris peered closer at the girl's crown. "It appears to be red moon grass," he said, though his tone held a note of uncertainty.
Nephthys opened her mouth to speak, but her attention was diverted as a goddess approached. This new figure, her hair adorned with a long white ostrich feather, exuded an aura of righteousness. Her pure white dress fluttered slightly with her movement, drawing the eyes of all present.
"It's Maat," Isis announced.
Set, observing Maat's solitary arrival, expressed his puzzlement. "Where is Thoth? He's usually by her side."
No sooner had he spoken than a figure adorned with a golden-green feather crown and a Wesekh of emerald, citrine, lapis lazuli, and gold appeared. His limbs were encircled with gold bands inscribed with sacred texts, and he wore a linen skirt patterned in yellow, white, and blue.
As this male god hastened towards Maat, Isis chuckled. "Seems he wasn't far behind."
Osiris and Nephthys joined in the laughter.
Thoth, the god of wisdom, mathematics, and medicine, known for his close bond with Maat, greeted her briefly before turning his attention to the visibly thrilled girl.
"Lord Thoth," she said, quickly composing herself to address him with the respect due to a deity of his stature.
"Yes," Thoth acknowledged with a slight nod. He then extracted a piece of papyrus and a reed pen from his attire, scribbling something before speaking. "Sangler, offspring of the lesser god Sikmo, crossed the Gate of God at the age of 290."
"By acquiring the essence of the Red Moon Grass, you've ascended to the status of a lesser god," Thoth declared as he inscribed Sangler's new divine title. He then bestowed upon her a significant honor: "You now have a place in the Pantheon. Tomorrow, you are to participate in the Council of Gods, convened by the god Ra."
"Yes," Sangler responded with a resounding affirmation, her voice echoing with newfound authority.
After their exchange, Thoth and Maat departed, their figures receding into the divine landscape. The ritual of recording the birth of a new god by the god of wisdom, Thoth, was not merely a custom but a profound acknowledgment of divine transition.
Set reflected on how Thoth had meticulously recorded every event of significance since the dawn of creation, turning these accounts into sacred texts housed within his temple, accessible to deities with his permission.
"It is indeed the Red Moon Grass," Nephthys remarked, her eyes wide with admiration as she looked at Osiris. "Brother Osiris, your knowledge never ceases to amaze!"
Osiris, slightly embarrassed by the praise yet pleased, replied, "It comes with being the god of plants."
Isis, squeezing Osiris's hand affectionately, smiled. "And that, too, is quite remarkable."
Set, somewhat indifferent to these exchanges, turned his attention to a young boy standing before the Gate of God. He appeared no older than eleven or twelve, clad in a simple skirt, devoid of any divine aura, a Godly Son.
Set noticed that aside from Sangler, who had just transcended her mortal form, this boy was the only remaining Son of God. He silently hoped the boy would succeed in crossing the Gate of God.
The remaining deities, their curiosity piqued, watched the boy intently. Isis, Osiris, and Nephthys observed quietly, their gazes fixed on him as he became the center of attention.
The boy inhaled deeply, stepping towards the gate with a mixture of determination and trepidation. But as he attempted to cross, Set saw no sign of him emerging on the other side.
Realizing something was amiss, the boy hesitated and tried to retreat, but in a tragic twist, his form disintegrated into ashes.
"What a pity, he had no chance for reincarnation," Isis murmured, her voice laden with sorrow. In their realm, once a Son of God perished in such a manner, there was no journey through the Styx to the underworld; there was only oblivion.
Set, his expression turning sour, spotted two figures approaching in the distance. Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys caught the shift in his demeanor and followed his gaze, their faces mirroring his disgust as they too saw the approaching gods.
Around them, other deities looked upon the two with a mix of respect and wariness.
"My children, the mother goddess misses you very much," the goddess of the two approaching deities said with a warm, inviting smile, unaware of the tension her presence stirred among the main gods.