Chapter 14: Back at the Party

“And that is my story and how I helped out everyone,” Taweret said to the two of them.

Fumi replied as she practically clapped her hands together to give praise to her. Taweret responded in kind by bowing her head a little bit to the rat in front of her.

“Yeah, she played a role in waking me up,” Pakhet replied after hearing the story. “It wasn’t easy for us,” she said as she looked sad. “We thought there was a lot more of us that survived. Sure, most of the mythics are the Egyptian and Hindu mythics, but in the end, we were so reduced in numbers. There were like thirty-something Egyptian mythics alone after Cataclysm was destroyed. Now there is way more than that. All in thanks to Sekhmet, Ammit, and of course, Taweret.”

There was a look of satisfaction in Taweret’s face as she took her drink and poured all of it in her mouth. Gary and Fumi finished up their glasses and put them down on the table. They looked over to see Adnoartina ultimately passed out with his head on the table.

“Husband, watch out!” Fumi yelled out too late.

Gary had little time to react as a hand smacked him in the back of the forehead. It was not a hard strike but enough to daze him a little bit.

“Oww!” he replied as he turned his head to look in the direction of what hit him. On the ground was a boney hand.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Baron Samedi replied from far across the room. “My hand slipped!”

There was a little bit of chuckle from around the room as Gary looked at the severed bone hand that belonged to the skeleton deity. Taweret shook her head and tried to hold back her grin.

“Hey, Gary! I got a bone to pick with you! Mind giving me a hand, mon?” Samedi added.

Gary sighed at the jokes of the deity. Apparently, the act was designed to do more than just grab his attention. Fumi and Gary both looked at the scene in front of them. A dragon with blue scales and wearing a black kimono was standing near the skeleton. He pointed his finger at Taweret, Gary, and Fumi, and beckoned them to come to him.

“Ryujin ... I wonder what he needs?” she asked as she got out of the chair.

Gary and Fumi got out of the chair as they walked with the hippo goddess. They walked down and passed the onslaught of all the various mythics. Gary had a closer look at the dragon. He looked similar to the green dragon he saw earlier, but this one was different. He stood about eight feet tall, but he had whisker-like tendrils that protruded from his snout. He stood on two digitigrade legs and had blue scales that flowed throughout his body. His tail had spikes that protruded, and he had two wings that were closed up. His black kimono showed a place where he usually kept what looked like two katanas stored in his scabbards in the front and side. He almost appeared to be a samurai version of a dragon. He had even an Asiatic look to him.

They walked across the large room to meet him face to face. He backed up to gesture his hand to a large round table. On the table was a blue-skinned man that had four arms. He wore a basic gold tunic, and he had a red dot on the center of his forehead. Beside him was a woman with a pale complexion. She also wore a similar Indian like style clothing. Vamana, that they already knew, sat not far from the two. The god Anubis and his canine-like looks also sat beside them quiet as usual. The god Set was standing by the table with his thumb pressed to his chin. He was thinking about something.

This table felt different than the other ones. It felt more serious and ominous to seeing these unique mythics. Gary could feel a tightness in his throat as his wife was the first one to break the ice once they stood beside them. Taweret stood beside Fumi and Gary as the mythics began to introduce themselves.

“Hello, Gary ... Fumi. My name is Shiva,” the blue-skinned deity told them in an Indian accent. “This is my wife Parvati, and this is Vamana that you already know. This Egyptian god is Anubis and Set that is standing beside you two.”

“Hello to all of you,” Fumi addressed them.

Gary was amazed that she didn’t even trip over her own words. She simply addressed herself to them. He already had known a couple of mythics here, but not all of them. Their faces described them well to him, though. Shiva had a cautious look on his face while his wife had a hopeful look on her face. Vamana already knew the two and was keeping a peaceful look on his face. Anubis and Set, however, were like the quiet men of the party. If anything, they looked like they were ready to go into a violent state.

“Relax ... Gary ... Fumi,” Vamana told them. “I can sense your fearful tendency. We are not here to cause a problem. Gary, Fumi, we are what we call ourselves, the Great Ones. We hold much weight and decisions here in the Coalition of Deities.”

“We are fully aware of your family’s decision in wanting to join us,” Parvati responded in an Indian accent. “We would be happy to have you a part of us.”

“That is great,” Fumi said, put her hands together. Her tail almost began to wag a little bit as she displayed some excitement.

Gary could see some trepidation in their faces. Vamana smiled, and Parvati seemed happy. Shiva’s face, however, seemed more cautious. Both Set and Anubis had their arms crossed and seemed more neutral and stern. The dragon, however, had a discouraging look and almost had an angry look to him.

“Fumi...” Set spoke to them. His voice was loud and deep even for a pointed snout that he had. The words came from his small mouth from his elongated nose. “We are fully aware of the Yuki family. We know everything about you and what you are.”

“Wha?...” Gary replied. “We heard others that seemingly knew about us even though we never met them. How do you know about us already?”

“Technically, we never met,” Shiva replied in an Indian accent. “Only a few of us have ever actually had a chance to meet the Yuki face to face.”

“The one noted example would be with Kuma Lisa in World War 2 before I was reawakened,” Set added.

“Yet, all of you speak almost in the familiar,” Gary asked. “It’s like walking into a house, and everyone treats that member as a well-known guest. How is that?”

“Gary, Fumi, my name is Ryujin,” the blue dragon said, introducing himself. His voice and accent were distinctly Japanese, and he also gave the same composure even though his face displayed a slightly disturbed look. “We are fully aware of the Yuki and their potential. Do you have any knowledge of the events of the nuclear holocaust of 1983?”

Gary displayed a look of shock to his face as Fumi even gave a calm but questioning look. “No ... what?” Gary replied.

“I don’t understand,” Fumi said. “How could there be a holocaust if we haven’t heard of it.”

“In reality, it never did,” Shiva replied. “But it still happened, though.”

“It would have been on the news or something,” Gary commented. “We would have heard about it or went through it.”

“It did happen,” Ryujin said. “It is known as the Month That Never Happened. Two of our mythics went through it. Their names are Theo and Renenutet. Theo is one of our time goddesses. She used her powers to travel back and undo an event that would have led to the end of the world by a rogue mythic.”

“What?” Fumi replied as she put her hand to her chin. “So, we are living in some new timeline that they helped make?”

“Yes. Thanks to them, the human mortals didn’t wipe themselves out from some nuclear war, but it isn’t to say that mortals will eventually do it anyway. They are quite hell-bent on killing themselves.”

Gary thought to himself on what he just said. If his words were correct, then it would mean that humanity virtually destroyed itself not long ago, but they managed to “fix” everything and make it better.

“I don’t understand, though,” Gary commented. “That doesn’t answer how you know about us.”

“Actually, as we said,” Ryujin replied. “I never met you two. Theo and Renenutet did get a chance to meet the Yuki in that alternate timeline. Their reports about your family were not that positive.”

“What?” Fumi said as her eyes widened. She was in complete shock.

“The reports were that the Yuki were going out of their way to kidnap, rape, and assault mortal men to turn into mates. Now, here you are talking to us...”

“I...” Fumi was almost at a loss of words. “We would never ... I mean ... husband help me out on this.”

“Fumi would have never done that!” Gary waved his hand at the five. “My wife has treated me with the utmost respect. I love her with all my heart.”

“Awww,” Taweret said. “I have sensed no hostility from these two, and even it were the case, the Coalition of Deities rules allow all past transgressions to be forgiven the moment that they join.”

“True,” Shiva said as he gestured to the other deities. “We are dealing with a unique situation that never even happened in the first place. We have forgiven everyone in the past that has joined from ourselves to demons alike.”

“In this case, however,” Set protested lightly. “That is not the issue. What is the issue is the large amount that would be joining all at once if we allow it.”

“Umm...” Gary responded. He couldn’t think of any more to say.

“I assure you that we are not violent people. We would never do that.”

“You might not do that, but your family certainly did,” Ryujin waved his hand in protest. “How can we trust and allow your family and people to join us if you are to commit to such actions in the future?”

“We wouldn’t ... I...” Fumi swallowed hard as she tried to find the words to counter it. “Maybe...”

The single word she said peaked their attention as the others thought about it. Gary stared at his wife as she seemed hesitant to answer. She turned to look at him as she nodded before looking back at them.

“Maybe you should tell them everything before we continue,” Gary said, putting his hand to her shoulder.

“Maybe...” Fumi said as she seemed reluctant. “There is a hint to that.”

Ryujin crossed his arms as the other deities focused their attention hard to the rat woman.

“Explain,” Set decreed.

“Not all my family are like this... , but we have our views on things. The great mother was born very early in the 19^th century. She was the last survivor of our kingdom. Once she was dead, the kingdom, the family, the ... race, or whatever you want to call us would come to an end. Most of us are women ... females like myself that need to find a husband. When we reach the age of fifteen, we go into heat. If we don’t have sex, it can prove fatal to us.”

“Hmmm...” Ryujin seemed skeptical as he put his finger to one of his whisker tendrils. “This would match with their reports,” he said as he looked at the other deities. “They reported that they would go and kidnap men and use them for sex. Their reports on what they did to mortal women were just as disturbing...”

Fumi sighed. “We ... we have our views on mortal women, but not all of us have such an aggressive attitude towards them.”

“It is true,” Gary added. “Her mother has been wonderful to my mother, and Fumi has always looked at her with respect.”

“Does she know Fumi’s true form, though?” Vamana asked.

“No. That is a carefully guarded secret in our family,” Fumi answered.

“I will admit that they have been careful with their true identities to the mortals,” Shiva said to the other deities and trying to defend her.

“It is our goal to be secret,” Fumi said. “We only let those closest to us know who are real forms are.”

“No different than us,” Shiva said, nodding his head. “Continue.”

“This is getting us nowhere,” Set protested. “There are so many of you, and you have a tainted history. This isn’t about forgiving a single individual of their past transgressions. This is about letting an entire group that completely outnumbers us. Even if we forgive, how can we handle the one that decides to go rogue?”

“Look,” Fumi struggled to say. “I admit that our family does have some animosity toward mortal human women.”

“Funny, I never saw that,” Gary added.

“I didn’t have a problem. I swear it, but there are reasons why my family would have it. Not all of us have it. It depends on the ones that live on the surface and the ones that live in the dens. I grew up on the surface, and my mother grew up on the surface as well.”

“And that makes you innocent? What about the ones that live in the dens?” Shiva asked.

“The problem is that I know what it’s like being on the surface. Others in my family grew up in the dens. They had everything available for them and lived a sheltered life. With me ... well, I have everything that I want, but I also get to experience what it is like being with humans. True that I can never tell them who I am, but I still get to live that life. If the others in the family had it, then maybe they would think differently.”

“This still brings us concerns, though,” Shiva stated. “If we allow your family to become a part of us, then we are responsible for their actions and have to direct them on what to do.”

“It is no different than what we normally do,” Set added, looking at Shiva. “If the Yuki went and revealed themselves to the public, then it would be our responsibility.”

“You make a valid point,” Vamana said. “In the end, we have been given a great opportunity to continue this organization that we have. We now know there are more mythics out there. This would increase our numbers dramatically. We have inherited this; we just never knew that we did until now.”

“You poor things,” Parvati commented. “So many of you and to have to go through this heat of yours. How many of your family have perished from not being able to ... copulate?”

“Three ... at least as far as I know,” Fumi said. “This was during the early days of our family. Great care is put into avoiding it at all costs.”

“All costs...” Set argued. “This is the point.”

“Yeah,” Ryujin added. “We let you be a part of the Coalition, and then what? Somebody goes into heat, and we expect just to hand some human mortal to satiate your qualms. We are not a delivery service.”

“We ... have found ways to combat it,” Fumi replied. “We just ... we have to have a husband.”

“What about the males of your family?” Parvati asked. “What about them as a source of a way to fight the heat process.”

“They can’t,” Gary replied to her. “Goddess Parvati, everyone is born from a single survivor. It would mean incest if they took up their own brothers. They need an alternative, and it is the best thing ... us.”