Author Games: The River of Night

Task Three Entries: Of the Underworld

Anka Tahirah

The River of Night truly lived up to its name.

She stood alone, arms wrapped around her body, desperate for any spark of warmth to thaw her freezing skin. The darkness and coldness of the underworld sent shivers down her spine, for the air reeked of death and decay while unanswerable questions gnawed away at her brain. And now, with the ship having run aground on the icy shores, she feared that their expedition had come to a standstill. While a part of her was glad that she need not set foot into the depths of Hell, another part of her, a bigger part, remembered the absence of Ra and how she was chosen to "save the world." Without a ship, their journey had ended. Without a ship, there was no way to cross the river. Without a ship, the world was doomed, and even if Anka Tahirah may have escaped the jaws of death now, she would perish eventually, like all mortals do.

She was a priestess of Osiris.

She should've been more than willing to die for her god.

But yet, she couldn't.

An exclamation from one of the other expeditioners snapped the woman out of her stupor, prompting her to briskly cross to the other side of the ship, were most of her fellow chosen had gathered. There were swift whispers exchanged and soft words murmured, followed by one of the men leaning over the side of the ship and pointing at something below. With only one remaining torch, Anka could not initially make out what the man was pointing at, until Lucius, most likely seeing her confusion, turned to her and explained quickly, "There's a hut. Someone is beckoning to us."

"A hut?" She struggled to get a better look, but her eyesight had never been the best, and the fact that there were multiple people standing in front of her did not help. "Who? Who is –?"

Her last sentence was cut off by a cry of, "It's coming!", followed the sudden mass of people backing away from the ship's side, as if they were all following the same command. Nearly losing her balance from the unexpected withdrawing wave, Anka Tahirah scrambled back just in time for a creature to appear over the rusting railings. She let out a soft gasp, while someone towards the right of her actually let out a small shriek of terror, for the creature in the hut was like nothing she – nor any living man, she expected – had ever laid eyes on before.

It was humanoid in shape, slender and tall, towering high above all of them. At first glance, it was difficult to discern the creature's gender, but as it stepped into the flickering light cast by the weak flame, she realized that perhaps it was genderless. Its face was hidden by the shadows casts by the silver hood it wore, but the amber, feline-like eyes were enough to send goosebumps prickling on her skin. For what seemed to be an eternity, the creature stared at all of them, and all of them stared back. Neither of them made a move. There was no sound except for the ragged breathing of fifteen terrified expeditioners, all praying to the gods that their time on earth would not be over so quickly. At least, that was what she was doing, moving her lips in a silent prayer, clasping her hands so tightly together that she grimaced from the pain. She had no idea whether the gods were listening, and if they were, whether they cared for the life of one feeble woman, but she had to try.

She was a priestess of Osiris.

She had dedicated her whole life to serving her god.