Nephilim Quest Book 1: Shadowhunter

6. Going Forth by Day 2/2

So my mother's viscera have now been removed for embalming, and they will now continue, with her body on the embalming bed, the men squatting around it to perform their sacred duties. Mother of the King, Tiye - life, prosperity, health - has given part of the necessary ingredients so that mother can raise from the dead in seventy days as Osiris was resurrected by Isis. Her ka and ba will be united and she will become an akh, a living soul . She shall never roam the earth searching for peace. The right words will be spoken for her, the Opening of the Mouth performed by me as the law dictates of the heir of the dead and offerings shall be made for her for all eternity.

There is palm wine to wash my mother from the inside and the outside. There is fine linen thread to sew the incision together and a golden plate to cover the wound. There is divine salt, netjry, for the preservation of her body. There are onions to fill mother's eyes and legs. There is lichen to fill her body cavities and sacred bees wax for her mouth and nostrils. There are sweet spices and Mother of the King, Tiye - life, prosperity, health - has even sent sacred incense of Punt and juniper oil of Byblos to make mother's body smell sweet eternally. There is resin to make sure she will be preserved forever.

Bandages of fine linen are waiting - mother made them herself while still alive, and gave orders how they are to be used - exactly as she says. They are covered with sacred writings in her own language, in a language no one understand, except me, and you, my father, nearest her body. I shall be observing the wrapping to see it is properly done. All the secrets of the times to come are written in the outer bandages, in a language the guardians of her body understand. And what I know of the times to come fills me with great sadness and fear. I see kingdoms fall into pieces, I see great wars, illnesses and famine - but I also see great hope for mankind.

And so I have seventy days to finish the scroll of the Going Forth by Day for her - exactly the way she told me to do it. I will not let anyone else do it for I, a woman, have learned to write like the scribes - they paid for my knowledge with their own secrets. It is my duty as her daughter to prepare for my mother the path through the shadows and dangers of death. I have the papyrus, I have the reed pen and red and black ink. I have plenty of oil for my oil lamps. The pictures have already been painted according to my mother's advice, by a scribe in the House of Life of Amun before Aten's people attacked to destroy every memory of the great god, when people still had an afterlife, and were not made to suffer all eternity in their dark tombs at Aketaten at night and flock to the offering altars of the great temple of the Aten by day.

My mother will not be advised to flock with them. She will go forth to the day of the Field of Reeds the way people of Kemet have always done. She will have her heart weighed at the final judgement against Maat's feather of truth, and her heart shall be found light and pure. Her voice shall sound true in front of the gods when she denies having done the forty two evils and they will believe her, my beautiful mother, true of voice. I will see to that by writing the texts myself, above these beautiful pictures, and I shall place her scroll into her hands, inside her coffin at the end of these days.

And I shall make a copy of her scroll to you, my father, and send it to you by messengers my mother chose, even if it means I will not have time to rest for seventy days. She wanted it, my mother, true of voice. She wanted you to follow her path to eternity, so that you too would know your steps in the land of eternal life, and meet her there when the time is right. You will see the pictures in her scroll give the advice you need to walk the Path of the Dead to her. She said you will understand what you see in the pictures.

I am to leave this letter for you in the trustworthy hands of the ones mother chose for the task. Mother told me how to send you a message so you will find its hiding place. I shall do as she told me. I shall walk into the mist, following the path she advised me to take, even though I have never had the courage to step there before. I shall speak the words she told me to say, to the ones who shall write it down. My message will be safe, because when I say it, the old ways will have been forgotten, and no one will understand it until the time is right again. But you, my father, will understand the words when you hear them, and find this letter, and the first clue to the secret path to the place where mother has been prepared for eternal life, and where the secrets of creation are hidden.

Others, chosen by mother, will try to reach you through different paths, to ensure somehow her message will reach you, following the advice she gave to them. And we pray the gods some message will reach you, and you will find this letter, even though the journey is long and dangerous. We know we shall be hunted for the secrets we carry, mother warned us of this.

So please, my goodfather, walk the path to find my mother's scroll and go forth by day with her