Chapter 13: Sometime in November of 64 AD

Rome would see its most significant shakeup in history. The fires that raged its streets were but a memory now. Only a wave of past executions and persecutions towards others was the topic of news and rumors that flooded the streets.

Renias was never able to find this Simeon Peter that the man spoke out about. She only heard a rumor that a man with that name that was tried and executed by crucifixion three months after the first initial wave of executions. She did hear of another man named Paul that led a similar group of followers that was under house arrest two years ago. Where he was, she did not know.

Unfortunately, none of that mattered right now. Even in human form, her belly was sticking out. Renias was left with thoughts of the last several months. She sat in the small luxurious home with Spiculus; she was due any day now. She sat on a large bed with an array of slaves that helped her out. She did not need food, but getting around was a little bit difficult. Spiculus was not far from the room when he came back to see her.

“Spiculus...” she called out to him. He came walking in, looking at her. “Let me ask you this. Do you still want to remain loyal to him?”

“We have been through this argument. I have not seen enough of him to warrant his madness that you claim,” he told her.

“Yet now he builds the Domus Aurea, the Golden House, a place so large it consumes almost a third of Rome to make it ... areas that were destroyed in the fire.”

“And he is starting construction of the Great Flavian Amphitheater for us to fight in. How many times do we have to argue this? You won’t convince me that he is dangerous no matter how much you try.”

There was anger in Spiculus’s eyes. Renias kept her composure. “I have to make this argument with you every day,” she told him. “I want you to be with me when I deliver...”

She stopped and looked at the slaves to wave them away. All the slaves, including their favorite Rashida, got up and left the room. This left the two alone to talk about the same argument that persisted between them for the last several months.

“I want to deliver our child away from here. I do not want him or her with Nero hovering over us so closely,” she continued.

“Why? ... I get so tired of this argument. I love you, Renias, but you understand that I ... feel like I should be here. It’s my place to feel that I have a home here in Rome. I want our baby to be here.”

Spiculus sat down next to her on the bed as he looked at her protruding belly. He put his hand to it. Even in her human form, she looked like she was ready to go into labor any day now.

“It took you four months till you finally believed me that I was carrying your child. You are so stubborn. I love you too, Spiculus, I just ... I just can’t do this. You have turned from a man that I thought would be very interesting. I saw you as not just a champion but a champion for more positive changes towards the people f Rome. A slave that fought his way to freedom, I would have seen you as a man that would have championed to have the system abolished for good. Instead, you have only embraced it.”

“I don’t hear you were saying too much about it either,” he snapped at her. “If anything, you enjoyed ones like Rashida.”

“As do you,” she smiled. “Perhaps I am not the one to champion for the good of it either. However, I will note something that you should know.”

“What is it?”

“Alexandria ... do you know of the Library of Alexandria?”

He shook his head. “No, I do not.”

“What wonderful tomes of knowledge that place has. History that goes beyond the oldest civilizations that ever existed. Civilizations that no longer exist. Do you know there are deities that are older than me? You humans would never know. It has been subject to burnings and fires over and over again, and that information becomes lost. Do you know that they have a contraption that they made that runs on steam? I saw it myself. It was a little toy that moved by itself. No magic was ever used, you humans managed to make this device move itself around using steam.”

“I ... never heard of it.”

She shook her head. “That device ... that little toy, it could be made into something bigger. It could move wagons; it could carry you human beings to all parts of the known world. You wouldn’t even need slaves anymore. I once argued to try to make that thing bigger, and you know what one of the men told me? He told me that it was cheaper to have slaves than a bigger device like this doing all the work. To think, what you humans could become in the next hundred years if all you did were to make a bigger steam contraption. Your own desires to have slaves are the doom of your lack of progress. But... , what do I know? I am just a goddess here to fix your problems when the crops don’t grow ... such a shame, really.”

Spiculus looked away from her. “I am sorry I didn’t believe you when you told me that you were expecting.”

“It’s alright,” there was a long pause in her talk. “Spiculus ... do you want to be here? Do you truly want to be here in Rome?”

“Yes, I think the Romans are heading in the right direction. They control a large vast of the world. Their civilization spans all over along with their knowledge. Nero ... he might not be the best ruler, but I think that I could follow and serve him well.”

She sighed deeply as she shook her head. “That man...” She closed her eyes. “He is nothing but a terror to the Romans. He will ensure that the people will live in terror. Assuming the Christians survive in the next hundred years, they will look at him as the Antichrist. I don’t want our child growing up under that man’s sight.”

“Then leave then...” Spiculus snapped at her.

He realized what he said in aggravation. His eyes widened as he looked at her. He shook his head as she looked at him angrily. Then the anger quickly went to content as she knew what she had to do next.

“You need space ... I need space ... I have an egg to lay soon. Spiculus... , “ she said as a small tear ran down her face. She got off the bed as she began to saunter with her eyes closed.

“Wait! I didn’t mean to say that. I am sorry. I was just tired of that argument. I didn’t mean to annoy you. I love you.”

Renias took her hands as she pressed them to her sides. Her eyes were closed as she slowly lifted them up in the air. A bright white light lit the room as her form shifted. No longer was she Renias the human but her pure form again, the shape of the snake goddess.

She turned around to look at Spiculus. She could not remain. She towered over him by two feet as her snake body slithered and maintained her straight standing. Her white tunic covered her form except for her protruding belly where her egg was at.

“Maybe one day you will sssee me again ... sssomeday, sssomehow. Take care of Rassshida for me,” Reneutet said as she lifted her hands high in the air.

“No!” he pleaded as he took off from the bed. He ran to her, but the light emitted from her hand as she said one word.

“Teleport,” she said. With that, a flash of light emitted as she vanished before Spiculus could even touch her.

Spiculus looked horrified. He lost her. She could be back soon, or she may never return. He put his hands to his head as he banged his head in disbelief. He was alone and with his slaves. The woman that had been with him ran off and left him.

But the story does not end here.

The desert winds hit Renenutet hard but did not faze her as her form quickly materialized in the Sahara Desert. The plant that she grew to provide illumination in summoning Taweret was mostly dead now as it wilted to the desert heat.

Renenutet slithered on the dirt. She felt at peace as her snake tongue flicked in the air. Another tear ran down her eye as she knew what she did.

It was as barren as it always was. It was bright daylight as the hot sun was beating down on the sand dunes. Nothing could seemingly exist. It was the perfect place to have young.

“Ssspiculus ... I am ssso sssorry,” she said out loud as she reached the wilted plant. She put her scaly hand on the brown, dead stem. “I knew what I wasss doing when I choossse you to be my champion. There are sssacrificesss to be made in having children. I have the name of our child. Boy or girl, that child will be honored.

She lifted her hands into the air as energy began to glow from her hands. The sand below her snake body began to change color. She closed her eyes as she focused hard. She pictured the perfect environment that could properly shield her and the egg. The brown and orange sand shifted to green color as the sand around her began to become fertile.

The energy circulated as the land, a circle of about thirty feet around her, formed into the fertile plot. Grass began to form around her except for a hole of sand in the center. Trees started to grow in a large perimeter at the edge of the fertile dirt as these massive arid trees began to form a fence and wall around her. Slowly the trees got bigger and bigger as the leaves sprouted and formed an overhead dome above her. The sun still came over, but the shade was noticeable.

Eventually, she ceased her magic as she looked around her. She was in a dome of shade that surrounded her. There were green and the smell of trees around her. She lowered her hands as she put her hand around her stomach. She was thirty miles away from any civilization with her own Eden around her. A little bit of magic every day, and the soil and trees could last for as long as she wanted.

“Perfect,” she said as her tongue flicked the air. “This will be my nessst. I will deposssit my egg here and remain here till it hatchesss.”

She slithered a little bit and worked her way to the small pit of dirt in the center of the forest of trees. It was purposely set in place. All she had to do was get ready to lay her egg. She kept her hands to her protruding belly.

“Jussst like I have alwaysss done it,” she said. “You will be fine, my child.” She patted her belly. The egg was ready and fully formed. The magic of Taweret was something that could never be ignored.

She closed her eyes and slithered her snake body near the pit. The soft grass below her felt like a silken bed to lay on. It was her own paradise when she wasn’t sleeping on some other mattress.

Her thoughts ran to Spiculus. She thought about him, and all the times they were together. She thought about the times they were together in battle and in bed. She even thought of Rashida and hoped that she would be alright.

She felt it in her body. She felt the urge as the egg in her body wanted to come out. It was comparable to a woman and her water breaking. She grasped her belly and went to the pit. She began to undress herself as she threw the tunic to the side. She stood naked as she could see the egg shifting in her body. It was inching closer to her cloacae opening.

“Ah... , “ her tongue flickered. “Mussst bare it. I have done thisss before ... I can do thisss.”

She leaned down and made sure again that the hole was deep. She began to claw into the dirt, shifting sand away. Scoop after scoop moved the earth as she felt the pain hit her body. It would be a matter of a minute.

“I will remain here,” she said. “I will guard my egg until it hatchesss. Ssspiculusss ... I will do thisss. Our child mussst be sssafe until we have a better meansss for usss deitiesss to sssafe guard our children. Our child will be alright.”

She finished as she could no longer hold it. She practically threw herself and placed her opening over the hole, leaning her body to it as any reptile would. There was some grass that she grabbed hold of as she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. She could feel the egg reach near the opening. She held onto her breath.

It was fast. An egg the size of a basketball stretched her opening as it pushed quickly and easily out of her. She clenched hard as the egg fell into the bottom of the dirt. She began to breathe again as a tear ran down her face. Her opening closed up again quickly as she brushed the dirt off and stood up. She began to wipe off any recess that was still on her, but there was still a tiny amount of blood or liquid.

She took her hand and pressed it to her breast as she admired her work. The task was complete. Now she had to make sure the egg was fine. She inspected it as a whole and saw that there was no damage or cracks. She then began to push the dirt over the hole as the sand fell on top of it. There was a look of satisfaction on her face. Her tongue flicked in the air again as she knew that in another four years, there would be a son or daughter that will hatch and be another part of the sons and daughters she had.