Chapter 11: July 19th, 64 AD

It was later that night. The dinner in the villa was extravagant as it always was. Spiculus was fast asleep in the bed with Rashida wrapped around one of his arms. Renias was out of bed after another romantic encounter with him. She knew what she wanted to do next, but to do it would involve doing some actions the humans could not see and perhaps something that Spiculus might not consent to. She had made up her mind after several months of being together that this was time to do it.

Getting dressed, Renias made sure to be quiet as she walked to the large room where people would relieve themselves. She stepped inside, knowing that it was quiet and where she could be undisturbed.

“I must do this,” she said quietly. A small amount of light began to radiate from her hands. The light picked up in its illumination as it reached a bright light. The darkness was disappearing as the light fill the room. She concentrated on where she wanted to go. She pictured the scene well. It was a place no one would go to.

“Teleport,” she quietly said as the energy surged in her hands. A bright pulse of light consumed her body as she dematerialized in the room. The room fell to darkness once again as she was heading to another place on Earth.

The shifting sands of the Sahara Desert remained quiet in the night sky of North Africa. There was a small pulse of light that hit where she teleported to. Renias opened her eyes as she saw nothing but sand all around her with the sand dunes illuminated by the stars above her. It would have been cold for her if she was mortal, but even the environment could do little to hurt her. Her feet felt the dirt below her as she sank into place.

“Home... , “ she said. “It is the perfect place away from everyone. Human mortals hate being here, and it will be the perfect place for me, but first, I need to shed this form.”

Renias lifted her hands straight into the air and brought them together as a light radiated from her form. After the light faded, her body reverted to her real form. Her body was once again the body of the snake woman that she always was. Her long slender body held her upright in the sands below her as her hands opened up. Her tongue flicked out in the open again, tasting and sensing the air around her.

“Ssso beautiful,” Renenutet remarked, looking at the environment. “No humansss for the eyesss to ever fall here.” She looked at her hands but had a hard time seeing. “I need the right sssetting to take placcce for thisss to work.”

She held her scaly hand open as a pulse of light radiated from her hand. “Grow... , “ she said as she concentrated on what she wanted.

Magic radiated from her hands as a small green plant began to grow from the desert sands. A place where not even a plant could grow was made possible by her magic as the green stem overgrew until it reached the height of her chest. There was one budding flower that grew from the stem as the flower began to open. She ceased channeling her magic as the flower opened up.

The flower was like no one had ever seen before except for Renenutet. Technically no flower like this should have existed, but the Goddess of the Harvest had her ways. The flower was fully opened as bright white and blue light radiated from the pedals. The luminosity was so strong that she could clearly see her hands in the darkness now, along with the sands all around her.

“Perfect,” she said. “Now to sssee who isss available,” Renenutet closed her snake-like eyes as she began to concentrate. “I am alwaysss told that human ssseed doesss not handle well with ssshifting formsss. I will need the best there isss that can help me.”

Renenutet clasped her hands as magical energy began to radiate from her hands. “To all the dietiesss out there, I call upon one to help me in my time of need. I call upon the greatessst of the fertility dietiesss on Earth, one of my own people of the great Egypt. I call upon you, Taweret. Come here and help your friend Renenutet.”

She ceased her magic. She knew she did everything that she could, and now she had to wait for her to come. The hippo goddess came at her own leisure, but even then, it all depended on what was happening or what she was doing at the moment.

“Hopefully, that fat sssack of lard will come. Ssshe usssually will,” the snake goddess said as her tongue left her mouth and tasted the night air.

Renenutet looked at the sky. The moon was only half full as the air tasted like sands and dust. There was a peacefulness to the environment. The sand dunes were calm and tranquil. While extremely little life existed in this terrain, there was still the occasional insect or remote wildlife that flew around. It was dead quiet.

“Sssomewhere I wasss born here,” she said. “I wisssh I knew where...”

Before she could say anything more, a bright light appeared not far from her location. She began to materialize as the light lit the surrounding area for a moment before it ceased. This left the snake goddess to look at the bright flower as it continued to illuminate the area.

The silhouette in the darkness stepped closer until she walked up to the lit flower.

“Wow!” a large billowing female voice called out. “I didn’t know that I would be summoned by my old pal Ren. How are you, you old snake in the grass?”

Renenutet knew it was Taweret all right as the goddess walked into the light. Taweret was almost a one of a kind in the Egyptian deity realm. She was essentially a 90% aspect of a walking talking hippopotamus. She stood in two sturdy legs with her arms crossed. She had gray skin with a fat belly that protruded from her body. Her long pronounced snout looked like she could crush a man in her massive jaws. However, in all aspects, she gave off the friendliest of personas. Her aura was cheerful as she looked at Renenutet. Her long black hair came down from the top of her head and ran down her shoulders to even her vast chest. The fat naturally ran to all the right places on her body. Behind her was her more unique feature in that she had a long alligator-like tail instead of the typical tail of a hippopotamus. The tail was long and stiff like, but she could still swing it around with relative ease. She wore a brown cloth that covered her massive chest and a brown cloth that covered her crotch area. All of this was in her massive eight-foot-tall frame that rivaled Renenutet’s height.

“Taweret,” Renenutet said as her tongue flicked the air. “I am ... I need a requessst.”

Taweret came up and hugged the snake goddess. Her massive arms and four-digit hands engulfed the snake frame of Taweret before she let go and backed to look at her. “Name it, my friend. You don’t have to ask me, tell me what it is that you need it.”

Renenutet knew her personality well. Taweret was the friendliest of the Egyptian deities. She had a few powers, but the powers she had were exceptionally well and better than most goddesses she knew. Even Heqet, the frog goddess of Egypt and Ariadne, the goddess of weaving, could never rival her power. She was the best of the best when it came to this particular magic.

“I wisssh ... to become a mother again,” Renenutet told her bluntly. Her snake-like eyes looked at the dirt below before she looked at her again.

“Oh,” the hippo goddess reacted. A big smile appeared on her face as she rubbed her finger to her chin. “You and Sobek trying to have another child again?”

The snake goddess shook her head. “No, not thisss time. There isss a human whossse ssseed isss inssside me. I want to have hisss child.”

“Hmmm ... I know you and Sobek have your flings together. Does he know?”

“He would not care,” Renenutet replied. “He isss with women that he hasss fun with.”

“I do recall Heqet telling me something about that big crocodile having a child with some mortal woman two hundred years ago. I was nervous that you two were in a big fight, and he was knocking up some woman to get even with you.”

Renenutet waved her hand at her. “Sssobek told me everything that happened and asssked my permission before going further. I acccepted asss long asss I could have children with human men that I desssire.”

“I see,” the hippo goddess nodded her head. “I missed you old friend. Things have not been the same since the Egyptian Empire collapsed. We all went our own directions. There are gods and goddesses that I have not seen in years, even hundreds of years. It’s like we all decided to live new lives with the humans in disguise or simply live isolated lives in the other realms. Such a shame.”

Taweret’s words echoed in Renenutet’s mind. She was correct on such things. With times where the Egyptian Empire ruled the area, people widely worshipped the gods and goddesses alike. With new religions coming and going, these gods and goddesses were simply no longer worshipped. There would eventually be a time that there would be fewer and fewer people like Spiculus that even knew what the snake goddess even was. It was infuriating and aggravating, but regrettable truth in human society. Most simply had to accept this new system. It was not like there were other deities that faced similar situations. One goddess she knew came as far back as the Sumerians where nobody knew who she even was, but it did not stop her either.

“So, you wish to have another baby?” Taweret interrupted her thinking. “I can understand that. I am happy for you. Let’s see what is what? Sixth child you will have in the last three thousand years?”

“Yesss,” her snake tongue flicked in the air.

“Ha,” Taweret chuckled as her fat belly jiggled. “Even if it was thousands of years, you two are still productive as the other deities. I heard my distant cousin Ammit was interested in having a large family one day. Before you know it, she will have baby fever and start spitting out babies left and right. Me though...” she took her hand and smacked her belly. “I like helping others have their children, I will help raise their babies, but I don’t feel much in the mood of having them grow in me lately. Maybe one day, I will change my mind. I mean ... I am the Goddess of fertility and childbirth after all.”

“Will you help me?” the snake goddess tried to be direct with her.

“Of course I can,” Taweret said, snapping out of her thinking. “Hmm ... you are going to make this a little bit challenging for me, aren’t you? Human and snake goddess pairing...” Taweret said, snapping her fingers as she began to think carefully. “I suppose it will be easier than you and Sobek. Has your human companion put his seed in you?”

“Yesss.”

“May I?” the hippo goddess gestured with her hand.

Renenutet had no objections as the hippo goddess stepped close to her, took her giant hand, and pressed it to the snake goddess’s stomach area. She adjusted the fabric cloth of her clothing to allow her hand to push against the soft underbelly of her front freely.

A small light emitted from Taweret’s hand as she closed her eyes and concentrated. She then removed her hand and looked at her.

“Did you shift forms before or after he released in you?”

“Before...”

Taweret shook her head. “We keep telling all the deities. Stop changing your forms if you want to get pregnant from human mortals. Human seed does not handle well against the shifting forms of our bodies when we go human form and back.”

“Can you do it?”

“There is a little bit of his seed still alive in you. You are lucky you have one of the best with you if you want to get pregnant. The question is, do you want to do this?”

There was little hesitation in Renenutet’s eyes. She nodded her head.

“Did you ask your ... mate on this?” Taweret asked with a smile on her face.

“I want this. He will accept it whether he likes it or not.”

“Typical ... so typical to hear you say that. It reminds me of your third child. You didn’t even bother asking Sobek when it came to those two. He didn’t seem bothered by it, though. You might be surprised that humans can get upset over such things.”

“Humansss never get the choiccce. They get pregnant without the ability to choossse.”

“True,” the hippo goddess nodded. “But if he ever found out, then he might be upset. In the end, it is your body and your choice. Are you still sure about this?”

“Yesss.”

“Alright then,” Taweret shrugged.

“Do you know the gessstation processs?”

“Hmmm ... I would assume it would be similar to you and Sobek. Heqet is a little bit better when it comes to reptilians, but with humans, it should be the same. You would begin growing an egg within you for about six months, and then you will need to lay it into the nest. The egg should hatch in four years.”

“No differenccce between Sssobek or humansss?”

“Well ... with Sobek, some of his features came through on the children. With humans, we have not been seeing a lot of features from the human parent. The child will most likely look just like you, whether the gender will be male or female. Obviously, their human forms look very much like a mixture of the human form ... yours ... and the other human parent put together.”

“I am ready,” Renenutet told her.

“Very well, I want you to close your eyes and think of your child. Imagine what he or she will look like.”

The snake goddess closed her eyes as Taweret approached her and pressed her hand to the soft underbelly of the snake goddess’s stomach. Renenutet began to concentrate hard as the thoughts formed in her head. She remembered her past children well, and how much joy they provided to her while they grew up till eventually, they were able to take care of themselves.

A white light began to grow from the hippo goddess’s hand as the light permeated into Renenutet. She was used to this by now from her past pregnancies. Despite all the efforts, Sobek’s seed was not compatible with her body, but fertility magic was considered one of the greatest magic ever to exist. While utterly useless in combat, people wanted to have children, and without that magic, some of the gods could not reproduce. Long ago, humans in the Egyptian Empire that could not conceive could rely on the great magic of Taweret and the other fertility deities to assist in the problem. They became the miracle to life. Thanks to Taweret, Renenutet was able to conceive many times over. This would be no different for her.

The light shaped the seed that sat in the snake goddess’s womb. The energy circulated over and over again until finally, the light came to an end. The hippo goddess’s hand ceased glowing as she lifted her hand away. There was the same smile that Taweret had whenever she completed it. It felt reassuring to her whenever she did it.

“It’s done,” Taweret said. “Congratulations once again, my dear friend, you will be a mother.”

There was a shine of happiness from Renenutet as she grabbed her hood with both her hands. She smiled with the biggest grin as her tongue stuck out. She shifted her body around in place, giddy with glee.

“Ah ... I love it when you do that,” Taweret reacted as she gave a big smile. She shifted her tail hard as it smacked the sand knocking the dirt into the air.