Chapter 12: The Floating Temple of Alexandria Part 1

Over a day ago, the waters of Alexandria were struck with a powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake. What became the 1955 Alexandria Earthquake would result in the deaths of 18 and almost wounding about 100 people. Hundreds of homes were damaged around the surrounding area, and other nations such as Cyprus, Greece, Syria, and Palestine all felt the quake too.

Almost eighty miles from Alexandra, a floating stone pyramid was floating on the water. It was like an island that jutted out of the sea. The monument at first could not be seen with the naked eye from miles away, but as you got closer and closer, one could tell a particular field of magical energy that was blocking your vision. Unless a ship got close to this spherical shield, no one could tell there was a pyramid in the ocean.

On the bottom of the pyramid was a glowing field of energy as Taweret saw before. Somehow this was allowing the structure to float almost miraculously as the sea waves barely touched it. The sides of the pyramid were perfectly flat. There were no signs of any bricks that lined the sides. The walls were seemingly white and tan colored than the orange sands of the great pyramids of Egypt. There was only one entrance on the front, and it was the open door that Sekhmet had indicated as before. There was a teleportation flash as three individuals materialized mere feet away from the edge that would lead you to the outside.

“Whoa!” Taweret replied. “Any closer and I would have ended up in the sea.”

“It was the best I could do. Any closer inside and my teleportation spell would have been blocked.”

Taweret looked around her. She stood at the edge of the entrance that led into the pyramid. The structure, while challenging to tell from the inside, looked massive in size overall. It stretched at least ten stories in height. She saw another tiny island where she could see other gods projecting magic from their hands. She could see the massive bubble that was being used to keep the pyramid from being seen from human society. She turned around and looked at the wall by the entrance. She could see the hieroglyphics etched into the stone wall that she had seen projected from the crystal from before. Inside the pyramid, itself was dark and ominous. The smell of the salty sea water perforated the area.

“Umm ... yeah, I don’t feel comfortable going in,” Taweret said. “Why don’t we just wait for another Egyptian mythic to take the case, alright?”

Ammit shook her as she rested her butt to the stone floor.

Sekhmet looked into the cave. “Once we enter, we will not have the ability to use magic. It is designed to block any method of teleportation inside the structure itself completely. There is some sort of magical dampening field being generated in here.”

“You went inside here, Seky poo?” Taweret asked.

“Yes, but only to test to see if there was a field, to begin with. I only went so far. There is a door that is closed, but I can’t go any further than that. We can still summon our weapons if need be. We can summon our crystals, but I don’t think they will work.”

The darkness beyond that Sekhmet had mentioned made Taweret’s stomach crawl. She started to get a little bit nervous. She looked and saw three torches mounted on the wall. The wicker wrapped sticks had a guard like handle to them that allowed the user to easily hold on to them without burning the holder’s hand.

“Ah, much better!” Taweret excitedly said as she picked one of the torches. The torch magically lit up at the end and provided illumination to the dark cavernous tunnel. “I guess you don’t need any, don’t you, Seky?”

“Nah, I can see alright in the dark. Hmmm...” Sekhmet said as she looked at Ammit.

Ammit rolled her eyes as she made a deep snort and sigh. She almost pushed Taweret out of the way as her massive heavy four legged frame walked up to the set of torches. She used her front paws to perch up on the wall and opened up her powerful jaws to snatch one of the torches to carry in her mouth. The torch lit up as she got back on her all fours and looked around. The torchlight was making things hard to see in front of her. She dropped it to the ground and grunted.

“Here,” Sekhmet replied. “I will go ahead and carry it. Don’t worry about it so much, Ammit.”

“Don’t worry about it, big gal,” Taweret patted Ammit on the head with her free hand. “I know you always had the extra challenge of lacking a good set of working thumbs.”

“Come on,” Sekhmet called it. “Let’s go.”

Taweret handed the extra torch to Sekhmet. The hippo goddess looked at the dark tunnel that led to the door. She smiled and mustered the courage to walk in with them.

Ammit, Sekhmet, and Taweret all ventured into the dark tunnel. The torchlight began to reveal the darkness within. The walls were all carved stone, including the floors. The tunnel that led to the door was a simple one with enough space for all three goddesses to walk together without bumping into each other. Taweret naturally took the center as Sekhmet was to her left and Ammit on her right.

“Here is the door,” Sekhmet commented when they came to a stop. “Now here comes the question. How does it open?”

“Aww, don’t tell me Seky thought any further than this,” Taweret joked.

Ammit looked at the stone door. There was a series of six panels that lined the door. They were quite large. Her reptilian eyes scanned the rest of the entry and she decided to perch upon the door with her front paws. Her two front paws rested on the panels as Sekhmet and Taweret looked at the door.

“I tried to push the door open earlier. It didn’t work,” Sekhmet commented.

Ammit made a grunt and a sigh as she looked at the two and gestured the panels on the door.

“No, no. Big mommy gal is right,” Taweret replied. “We need to press the panels together. It said that three Egyptians must enter together or not at all.”

Taweret and Sekhmet took their hands and pressed them to the panels along with the torches they carried. Upon all six arms touching the panels, each tile began to light up. Each one began to produce a bright blue light as the entire door began to glow. Each panel then began to create an ankh above it. The three then backed up as the door turned bright blue and vanished in front of them.

“I think the door was making sure we were Egyptian, too,” Sekhmet commented.

“Yeah, score one for one for mommy Ammi,” Taweret said as she patted the demoness on the head. Ammit said nothing as she let her do it, but she did seem content, though.

As they walked past the entrance, they took note of everything. The inside passage was square like and straight forward. The tunnel depicted nothing at first, but they could see the tunnel make a 90 degree right turn. As they continued onward, they heard a loud sound behind them.

“No!” Taweret yelled as she saw the door reappear behind from where they came. The blue light fused into a solid door and blocked any light from entering outside. “Poo... , “ she sighed.

Ammit replied to her by pressing her head and snout into Taweret’s side to beckon her to continue.

“Come on,” Sekhmet urged her. “It will be like the other sleeper temples found in the past. We solve it, and we will be released. The only way to go is forward.”

Taweret shrugged as they all continued down the passageway. They reached the turn and went where the passage would go.

“Well ... seems pretty good so far,” Taweret commented.

“Almost looks like it is leading us further and further down into the center of the structure,” the feline goddess commented. “I can see stairs that lead down as we progress forward.”

“Are the stairs big enough for Ammit?”

“Yes, it is a matter of just seeing each step before...”

Sekhmet was not able to finish her sentence as the hippo goddess foot slipped on the lip of the massive slab of stairs that led downward.

“Whoa, whoa!” she commented as he crocodile tail swung around. It smacked Ammit in the face and almost knocked her to the wall. Taweret fell but recovered herself to the wall before falling down any further. She cringed and showed her teeth to her.

“Errr... , “ Ammit said as she shook off her blow.

“So sorry big gal!” Taweret replied, looking at her.

“Ugh ... just watch your step and stop pulling a Xuanwu,” Sekhmet commented.

“Awww, you should stop saying that. I know Xuanwu, and it’s not her fault for being clumsy.”

“Whatever ... wait ... I see another ninety-degree turn ahead. Just proceed down these stairs carefully. Make sure not to trip on them.”

“You got it, Seky.”

“Ugh ... I wish you would stop saying that.”

“What Seky?” she asked as they continue to traverse the steps. “Come on, you big kitty, you need to lighten up more. I don’t see you enough at my parties.”

“Because I prefer to be somewhere else instead of your stupid parties.”

“And do what? Serve in missions and fuck your husband? Or are you two taking a break from each other? I know that your new son Nefertum is all grown up now. You two planning on having any more kids?”

“Ptah and I are temporarily separated at the moment. I know he is with Bastet,” she made a small sigh.

“Ah ... I heard that.”

“Heard what?”

“That was a sigh.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Sekhmet protested.

“Yes, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t!”

“Alright, if you two are having problems in the bedchambers you can always talk to Taweret. Let me be your counselor. I am the one that...”

Sekhmet held her anger down as she gazed at the hippo goddess. Taweret simply smiled at her.

“Hey ... I am not trying to be mean to you, Seky. You are my friend, just like Ammit. I might be scared to go into these missions, but I am glad to be with those that I care about. I don’t want to see you suffer when you shouldn’t have.”

They reached the turn as they continued to climb down. The passageway was straight forward as they progressed downward.

“Well...” Sekhmet said as she seemed to calm down. “Just ... stay out my business.”

There was a grunt and a snort from Ammit as she shook her head.

“See even Ammit feels that you shouldn’t be such a hard nose,” Taweret commented to the cat goddess.

“Hey, I see something,” the feline goddess’s tune changed. “I see another ninety-degree turn, but there is an inscription on the wall.”

They approached the turn as they stopped and looked at it. Taweret began to read the hieroglyphics on the wall.

“Let’s see here ... there will be three trials to unlock the great temple.”

“Sounds like the same as the one that Ptah encountered almost thirty years ago. Continue.”

“Um... , “ Taweret explained as she read. “The temple will be a long spiral that connects each trial. We will all participate in each of the trials. Failure will either be our deaths or failure to reawaken the other mythics that are asleep. Oh come on,” the hippo goddess slapped her hips. “Why do they always have it set up this way?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the death part. Why always threaten trials and death when it comes to these temples? It’s always filled with booby traps and trial thingies that can hurt us.”

“They don’t want some human mortal to work their way in here and discover us. That’s why.”

“Yet, they have a floating temple for mortals to find that we are hiding to ensure the humans don’t see it?”

“I can’t fully explain that. Maybe they didn’t anticipate humanity’s population to explode so much in the last five hundred years. Maybe they didn’t anticipate a powerful earthquake to release it from where it was secured from below. From the look of where the earthquake hit, it was near dead center of where this quake was. I wouldn’t be surprised that the quake jarred it loose. Just like the previous temple I mentioned before. We were supposed to find it underwater after a prolonged time period, and it didn’t go to plan.”

“Those poor people ... our own family trapped in this place stuck asleep.”

“That is why we are here. What else does it say?”

Taweret continued to read it. “All that is left is that there will be three trials. One will be the trial of combat, another will be the trial of humility, and another trial will be of intelligence or problem-solving. A little bit dusty here,” she said as she wiped the etchings. “Nope ... that’s it.”

“Nothing else?”

“Nah, I don’t see anything else.”

“No order, the trials will be. Just that.”

Sekhmet nodded as she pointed the way forward. “Come on. We have others to reawaken.”

They continued their trek till they reached the next ninety-degree turn. Upon reaching it, they turned to see a vast room ahead of them.

“Alright ... the first trial,” Sekhmet said. “Be ready.”

They proceeded forward as the passageway led to the vast openness of the room. The torchlight would only go so far, and the darkroom wasn’t wholly lit.

“Uh ... I don’t prefer fighting in the dark,” Taweret responded nervously.

Ammit stepped ahead of the two as she scanned the darkness. She began to growl a little bit as she sniffed the air around them.

“I don’t see anything hostile in the room,” Sekhmet stated. “All that...”

She was not able to complete her sentence as a door slammed shut behind the way they entered. It startled Taweret as she gripped her torch with both hands.

“Be ready,” Sekhmet said again.

Suddenly a series of lights began to emerge around them. Crystals that mounted on the walls began to light up around the area slowly. The room began to pick up an illumination around them. The blue and orange glow intensified until the room was adequately lit.

“Whoa ... hey, I know this!” Taweret said excitedly.

“That is impossible,” Sekhmet said as she saw what was in the center of the room.

Ammit kept a steady stance. Her teeth were showing at the object in the center of the room. It was a giant statue of a lion with a human head attached to it. The large figure that was four times as big as the three of them looked brand new almost lifelike. It gave off a gold-like shimmer to it as the lion woman rested comfortably, staring ahead behind them.

“Sphinx!” Taweret clapped her hands together. “Boy, we have seen her since...”

“Shortly after the end of the Egyptian Empire...” Sekhmet answered with caution. “She supposedly committed suicide long ago.”

The statue suddenly seemed to stir. Her head began to turn as it looked down. No longer was it looking straight ahead but straight at the three goddesses ahead of her. The eyes even began to blink. The mouth began to move.

“You are correct, Sekhmet,” the Sphinx responded to her. “I am only a representation of the Great Sphinx. The temple is designed to ensure that the Egyptians are worthy to break the three locks of the temple. Each lock will bring you closer to the rest of the sleeping deities below.”

“What trial is this?” Sekhmet asked.

“This is the Trial of Intelligence. You must answer all of my riddles. Do you recall the story of Oedipus?”

“I do!” Taweret replied happily. “It was the story with you in it. You asked Oedipus a series of riddles so that he could pass you.”

“Yes ... and if he could not answer my riddles correctly, I would have devoured him. Thankfully that never came forth, and he answered them correctly. Such a smart man ... such a tragedy to befall him. The name is fitting for him, and the term applied after that.”

The Sphinx’s paws shifted a little bit. Dirt and dust crumbled off of her to the stone floor beneath her.

“Great Sphinx,” Sekhmet tried to appease her. “We must continue past this. May we pass?”

“I will, but you must pass the Trial of Intelligence. I will ask for three riddles. Answer all three correctly, and I will move away to let you pass.”

“And if we don’t answer them correctly?”

The Sphinx’s eyes focused on Ammit. “She is telling you the answer. I am hard as stone and weigh more than all your combined strength. Her bearing her teeth at me is all the hint that you need. Three riddles ... that is all you need to pass this trial. Let me know when you are ready to begin this trial.”

“Before we get started,” Taweret asked. “This is a group effort, right? These are not focused strictly on one person to answer all of this?”

“You may help one another out in trying to solve my riddles.”

“Is there a time limit to answering each question?”

“There is no limit, but you may not leave until you answer all three riddles and answer them correctly.”

“Riddles...” Sekhmet shook her head in anger. “It had to be fucking riddles.”

“Don’t worry, Seky poo,” Taweret waved her hand at her. “This is what I am good at. I love riddles. I am getting the point now why you need people like me to come with you on these missions,” she said as she stretched her fingers together, making a little pop sound. She licked her lips a little bit. “Alright, Sphinx, I am ready for the riddles. Ask away.”

“Very well,” the Sphinx’s eyebrow peaked. There was a small grin on her face seeing the confidence of the hippo goddess. “This is the first riddle ... there are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?”

“Ugh...” Sekhmet waved her hand. “I am not answering this one. You have this Taweret.”

“Oh! Oh! I know this one,” Taweret almost reacted, hoping off the stony floor. “It is night and day!”

“That is correct. Surprisingly, that one was the hardest question for Oedipus to answer. He spent an hour sitting by my foot, thinking of that riddle. His hand rested to his chin. I remember the long talk as he explained about the fears in his life and what he was hoping for in the future. It almost turned into a game for him. On the one hand, he seemed to know the answer, but on the other hand, he was afraid to answer it. He saw me as a talkative companion even though I promised death to him if he answered wrong. He knew that my mission would be complete once I let him pass, and I was no longer needed. Contrary to what all may say, he did not want me to perish. He looked at the sky above him and finally faced me to answer the riddle correctly. When I let him pass, he turned to me and said, ‘thank you for listening to me’ before he continued to his journey. I turned to him and told him one thing that he needed to consider. The thing that he should be most afraid of was his own mother before I flung myself into the rocks. Sadly, I don’t think he ever fully understood that until it was too late...”

“You sound like you were there. How can you be here even though you died?” Taweret asked.

“I am a facsimile of her. The true Sphinx is long dead. I am only a powerful illusion from this temple. The Sleeper Temples that you all created carry the magical properties generated by your minds. The temple is a conduit to your thoughts. Sekhmet should know this one as well.”

“Me?” Sekhmet asked.

“Yes ... your husband, to be more precise. Your husband was all about using the mind to create things. By using shear will one could envision and mold the world around them. It is terribly difficult to process, easy to understand, but hundreds of times harder to actually do it. In certain times in sleep, can this be achieved, or when the mind is absolutely calm, can this be made. There are other possibilities that shear bursts of emotion may just do it as well, but it is even harder to do so. Ptah understood this quite well, and even he admits that it was challenging.”

“I remember the times he tried to create certain objects but simply couldn’t do it. Things had to be done on such a small scale whenever he tried to craft something magically. It wasn’t easy for him.”

There was a pause as the Sphinx finally broke the silence.

“Are you ready for the next riddle?”

“Yes!” Taweret clapped her hands together. “I am ready.”

“I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?”

“Hmmm... , “ the hippo goddess snapped her fingers as she thought. She heard the sound reverberate around her. She had the answer. “Oh! I know this one. It’s an echo!”

“That is correct. Perhaps that one was too easy for you?” the Sphinx shifted her paws. “I gave many hints throughout my recent explanation of what I am inside this temple of my true identity.”

“That you were an echo of a long passed mythic?”

“Yes,” the Sphinx answered. “After you pass all the trials, I will cease to exist, and I will be no more.”

“Why is this temple floating above the sea?” Sekhmet asked her. “Even if some of the Egyptian deities are asleep here, having this temple floating for all humans to see would cause the humans to think magic exists. It would violate our rules that the Coalition of Deities stands for.”

“This temple existed long ago. It was the first temple ever to be made, long before your rules ever came into existence. Perhaps it is older than your oldest recorded civilizations.”

“This temple was a blueprint for the other ones? Interesting. Why did I not hear about it?”

“I got to admit, I have been around for a long time,” Taweret said, putting her fingers to her chin. “But, I never heard of this place either.”

“It was designed to float above the water. Created by the deities long before they ever existed, it was your husband and Thoth that discovered it first.”

“Ptah...” Sekhmet reacted with aggravation. “He was voicing his opinion about the Lintarsha Shard and that it might not work. He deliberately caused a rift in arguments of what would have worked against Cataclysm. I wouldn’t be surprised that he encouraged others to put themselves to sleep in these temples. That son of a bitch...”

“Relax, Seky poo,” Taweret told her. “Ptah already mentioned this after the first temple was found. All has been forgiven for the ones we find and awaken again. If anything, seeing more mythics that were once thought dead, I would give one of my thumbs to make sure we all survive.”

“Yeah, even though I was in that first wave to sacrifice myself against Cataclysm. That stupid dumb tortoise sent us to the wrong planet in the solar system. I spent months stuck with her and those dragons. All they talked about was glory-this and glory-that, over, and over again!”

Ammit made a series of hisses and huffs as she laughed.

“Hey, that isn’t funny!” Sekhmet pointed her finger at the demoness.

“Seky, it’s alright. We are all here now. Yeah, we are in smaller numbers now, but ... we are family. I love you like my sister. Hell, I think Ammit becoming a mother is the cutest thing ever. I babysat ... I can’t remember all your kids, Ammit, but I remember babysitting some of them. I still would never get in your way, and I think Anubis doesn’t treat you with the respect that you deserve.”

Ammit looked at her, and she looked down at the stone floor. She used one of her forward paws and pressed it to her distended belly. She could feel the life that was growing inside her. She then put her leg down and looked back at Taweret.

“Thank you,” Ammit said in her deep booming voice.

There was a pause as the Sphinx finally broke the silence again.

“Are you ready for your final riddle?” she asked the three.

“Yes!” Taweret hopped. Her tail would slap the stone floor as she landed, and her belly would jiggle.

“Very well. The last riddle. You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?”

“Hmmm...” Taweret thought. “Give me a few minutes on this one,” she said as she put her finger to her massive snout.

Ammit shook her head as she tried to think of an answer.

Sekhmet seemed to be annoyed at this as she tried to think about it more. She looked at her claws as she was anticipating a possible fight.

The Sphinx was stoic as she always was. She seemed to be incredibly patient. The hippo goddess, on the other hand, paced around. She noticed that the torch was still in her hand as she looked at it closely. The answer seemed obvious.

“I know what it is!” Taweret called out. “It’s a candle!”

“Well done. You have completed the Trial of Intelligence, but here is a question that I must ask you. What is important about my third question?”

Sekhmet walked forward as she looked at the Sphinx closely. “You made a promise for us to get by!” she protested to her.

“It deals with time!” Taweret seemed to guess.

“Yes, it does,” the Sphinx replied to the hippo goddess and seemingly ignored the lioness goddess. “When Cataclysm was arriving, the worst enemy that you had was time. You made a decision based on a singular idea. It was the idea that all the deities of Earth, when combined, can take out the superior creature that we know as Cataclysm. This was your greatest strength, but one that also left you quite vulnerable. Because a singular decision was made, it forced no other ideas to be considered.”

“That was the problem,” Sekhmet protested. “We were not informed about temples such as these, and many of us willingly decided to give our lives to try to fight a stronger foe. The people in this temple are cowards for retreating and endangering the construction of the Lintarsha Crystal.”

“Remember what I say. Time was your true enemy and not the others. That is all there is. The next trial awaits.”

The Sphinx simply looked ahead behind the three as it closed its eyes. It slowly grew more lifeless than it initially did. The eyes turned to a colorless stone, and the statue shattered into pieces. After the figure completely broke apart, the pieces turned into sand and began to disintegrate right in front of them. This revealed the path that was behind her.

“Let’s go,” Sekhmet called out.

“Awww and no praise for me?” Taweret asked as they started to continue forward.

“No,” the lioness goddess replied.

“And here we were trying to work together,” the hippo goddess trotted with them. There was a look of happiness in front of them.

As they reached the exit of the room, the crystals went dark, and the torches they had, began to relight the passageway they traveled together. Ammit looked at Taweret as they walked, and she nodded her head to her.

“See? Even Ammit appreciates what I did,” Taweret replied to Sekhmet.

The lioness goddess simply ignored her as they walked through the passageway together. Taweret seemed to be in good spirits as she held onto her torch and swayed her hips and tail around as they walked.

“More stairs that lead downward. I see another ninety-degree turn to the left,” Sekhmet informed them.

They reached the turn and continued to advance.

“So tell me, Seky poo. How is Ptah doing?” Taweret asked,

“You tell me...”

“Oh please. I know you are still married and doing it. Ammit is always pregnant and having young ones, but you, on the other hand. I know things got exciting when you two decided to have another baby. Nefertum was so cute.”

“Why do you want to ... I guess it makes sense,” she tried to answer back.

“I may be the childbearing goddess. I may be the one that enjoys life being brought forth, but I am still responsible for the well being of the others. For four hundred years, you two decided not to have kids until near the beginning of this century.”

“What about it?”

“It was the first time you had a child since Cataclysm.”

“And?...”

“Well, it is obvious why you two had a child together again. At a time when we have been reduced in numbers so much, to see you two finally have children again. It was very promising, but five years ago, you two split up again.”

“I fail to understand the point of this...” The lioness goddess said as they reached another 90 degree turn. They turned to the left and continued traveling down.

“I mean that you two are such an interesting couple. Why take a break from each other so quickly? Don’t you stay together for a hundred years and then take your break. The timing is well for the lives of being with a mortal or two, but you are back with Ptah again for another hundred years. That was custom of you two. You got together to have a baby, but that was it. You watched Nerfertum grow up to get separated again.”

“Why does my relationship seem so important to you?”

“Seky, Seky, come on. I just want to make sure everything is alright between you two. I know that your husband is banging Bastet, but you don’t have to be...”

“Shut up!” Sekhmet yelled at the hippo goddess. “You don’t have to get involved in my business all the time! Do you hear about me ask you twenty questions about your love life?”

“That is because you never do...”

“Precisely! Now leave me alone...”

“Well?...”

“Well, what?” the lioness goddess asked.

“Why don’t you ask about me? I would be more than happy to tell you about me. Here I will help you. My love life is simple. I fuck all the time. Galanthis’s brothel ... mmm the men and women they have there. They are so good. There was that one human mortal ... his name was Tim. Wow, did he give the best oral ever.”