Chapter 9

Bast - Goddess of cats, protection, joy, dance, music, family, and love
Sekhmet - Goddess of fire, war, and dance
Hathor - Goddess of the sky, dance, love, beauty, joy, motherhood, foreign lands, mining, music and fertility.
Serket - Goddess of scorpions, medicine, magic, and healing venomous stings and bites
Maat - Goddess of Truth and Justice
Tefnut - Goddess of Rain, Air, Moisture, Weather, Dew, Fertility, and Water
Mut - Queen of the goddesses and lady of heaven
Isis - Goddess of health, marriage, and wisdom (wife of Ra)
Ra – God of the Sun, the major god of Egypt
Epaphus – Greek Mythology demi-god – Son of Zeus and Io and a King of Egypt
Ephus - the man, husband of Bast and all her sisters at present

Doctor Markov was staring at Ephus as if he was crazy. “Your ancestor was Epaphus. The son of Zeus and Io” Sitting with a thud the Doctor was deep in thought.

“When I asked Bast if I had powers she said, powers yes but different. She said I had the power to save the gods, that it was new to all of them. It is also apparent that Bast has been waiting for me for thousands of years.” Ephus told the doctor.

“Wait,” the doctor started. “You said she was waiting for you?” Ephus nodded and the Doctor gasp. “My god it was true then!” The doctor whispered.

“What was true? What in the hell are you talking about?” Ephus asked.

“Thousands of years ago there was a feud between Bast and her sister Sekhmet. I told you a little about that last time.” The doctor said.

“Yes, I caught a little bit of that when Hathor was admonishing Sekhmet. She told Sekhmet that she was fully here like Sekhmet was. Hathor asked if she wanted another war, something about her and Bast’s little tiff back then started all of this.” Ephus told the Doctor.

“Ok, that confirms quite a lot of things but brings up even more questions. So I noticed that you are a lot calmer now. Has something changed that has put you at ease?” The Doctor asked suddenly very curious.

Ephus smiled then took a deep breath, “you might say I made a deal.”

“A deal? What did you do?” The Doctor said, almost afraid of what the man had to say.

Smiling bigger Ephus said, “first off I am supposed to be protected by the mark of Isis as Bast said, no one but family are allowed to touch me. I just didn’t think most of her sisters would be interested. Also none of them know about my ancestor except Bast and possibly Serket, according to Serket she and Bast are close.”

“Ok,” the Doctor said taking notes. The things she was learning would help her studies immensely. “So as I said, what did you do or ask for?”

Still smiling Ephus continued, “I asked them if they all truly need me to restore the power that all of them lost in the war back then. ALL of them were shocked that I had guessed it. I told them all that I was willing to help; I just had a few requests if not demands. Hathor spoke up for all of them and asked me what I required power, fame, money.”

“That’s the standard thing most humans want,” the Doctor interjected.

“I guess but It seemed to shock them what I wanted.” Ephus said.

“I ask again what in the hell did you do,” the Doctor said her fears starting to rise again.

“I told her and all of them that I didn’t want anything as petty as that. I only asked that I be allowed to live as a man. To enjoy freedom with or without any of them. I had heard of what had happened over the centuries, humans used and discarded, used up then thrown away. I wished to avoid that, with no repercussions by them or any other including Ra.” Ephus told her.

“Pretty bold move if I do say so myself.” The Doctor said.

“Yeah I thought they were going to laugh about it. That was ‘til I told Ra I knew he was listening, as knowledge was power and he yielded the most. Anyway there was a rumbling and suddenly Ra was telling me that my point was well put. He then told me that if I provided enough power to them that it would be so.” Ephus pointed out.

“Why am I feeling that this wasn’t all that happened?” The Doctor asked.

“Oh no! Ra then asked ME a favor. He asked if I would accept all of his daughters to enable this.” Ephus said with a smirk.

“Wait accept them? What do you mean?” The Doctor asked a little confused.

“If I took them, as wives and sexually. He said if I took each one of them; provide the energy, then anything I wished would be possible. Hey the man was their father so I asked if he was ok with that, he said of course he’d partaken of each of them. Therefore he saw no problem as they each also wished to have me also. You know now that I think about it I never did give Ra an answer. Sorry for this Doc. RA! I have an answer for you!”

The Doctor looked around as there was a rumbling sound then a booming voice answered. “Good human! The energy you have provided has already freed up much of the dimension already. What say you? Will you take all of them ‘til this crisis is over?”

“I won’t stay married to them? They won’t be able to demand that I be their husband after this?” Ephus asked.

Ra gave a sigh then answered, “you ask much for a human even one that is such as you are. It is so if you do not wish to remain their husband then so be it though, each year they will be permitted to ask. You of course may refuse with no punishment.”

There was a momentary shouting then Ephus thought he heard Hathor shout. “That isn’t fair father! You should make...”

“Be quiet daughter or would you also like to be placed in the place that Bast is?” Ra answered.

A soft, “No father,” was heard.

“Good, it is all on you human. We need more energy but at least now this dimension is bearable. You have the blessings of all the gods and goddesses.” There was a pause the Ra said, “well, most of them.”

Just as suddenly as it started everything was quiet. The Doctor sat there her mouth hanging open, shocked at the exchange between the man and the god. “I have to say it again you are one bold shit!”

The man nodded, “I have to be with everything I have heard about them I only trust them a little. Better to make a deal they can’t back out of. Besides they need me, according to Bast I am the only one that can provide this energy for them.”

The Doctor was nodding her head as she started to write at a furious pace.

“By the way, you never finished your story about Bast waiting for me.” Ephus said still curious about why only he could touch Bast.

“Oh!” The Doctor said, then sat back thinking before she continued her story from earlier. “As you heard there was a war between Bast and Sekhmet. They used a hell of a lot of energy to destroy quite a bit of ancient Egypt. They also destroyed a massive number of the followers that many of the gods had. Ra was pissed at both but loved them both fiercely also. He banished Bast to the skies above the night side of earth. Sekhmet he banished to the earth on the day side.”

“Wait being this close to earth, didn’t they have any power from those humans that still believed in them?” Ephus asked.

“You would think so but cut off from the god realm they had very few powers. There are quite a few of their followers still out there. They only started to receive their powers back when Bast, I guessed marked you. My guess is she was trying to bring you out all this time. I guess this year she finally did. If I am right Bast was able to return to the Egyptian god realm for the first time in thousands of years.” The Doctor stopped a moment deep in thought.