RA, of Egypt

"I am the Sun God! I am Ra! Children of the Nile valley, come to me."

Ra stood resplendant in his crimson tunic. Gold thread of an elaborate design depicted Egypt with the eye of Ra overhead. On Ra's feet were the softest of calf's leather made to fit his heels and toes exactly. The silk laces which gracefully arched their way up his perfectly tanned legs and were tied off with exquisite satin bows of matching crimson just behind his knees.

Two small children, twins by birth, approached Ra. They were pale skinned with dark, expressive eyes and rosy lips.

"I bid you come, children. Look upon my face and love your God! Come, children, closer to me, closer to Ra." He looked to his aides who politely urged the children forward.

His emperious wave urged the youngsters to his side. A boy and a girl child, both dressed in rags but clean from head to heels move forward. Dark eyes looked into his and he stopped for a moment, drinking in their innocent addoration before he clapped his hands. Their sweet smiling expressions sent a thrill through Ra and he clapped his hands loudly together.

"I will be alone with the children of the Nile!"

Silently the guards padded out of the chamber followed closely by the preists, aids and other worshippers. As the last of them filed out, the doors were tightly closed sealing the three inside the massive throne room. Tall marbled collumns spiraled into the heights throwing shadows upon the granite floors. Billowing white satin draperies hung from the pillars and cascaded delicately throughout the pristine room.

Scented candles filled the air with tantalizing aromas of exotic spices and wax, the flames flickering and sputtering as the wicks slowly burned and shed golden light throughout the room casting strange shadows upon the slowly moving drapes.

Ra bent at the waist and lowered himself to the children's eye level. He smiled benevolently at them then held open his arms wide, inviting them into his embrace. Without hesitation the children folded themselves into his encircling arms. He bent his head down to them and gently kissed each before he stood and carried them toward the low table behind the throne itself.

"It is time again, to renew ourselves for Egypt, my land, my people," he whispered in their ears, "Time grows short for this life and we must prepare for the next."

His sandalled feet made no sound and the children stirred not from his breast as he set first the boy then the girl on the flawlessly clean marble slab. Between them, the eye of Ra was deeply etched into the white marble.

"Ra is the Sun God! I am Ra! Do you love your God?"

Both children silently nodded their heads in the affirmative.

"Good! And Ra loves his Children, too!" At this, Ra flung aside his crimson robe and stood before the altar where the children sat. His body was bare but for the sandals and these he roughly pulled off his feet and legs until he stood as he had been born.

Ra gently took a hand from each child in his own and slowly traced the symbol in completeness. When the fingers reached the mutual point of the etching Ra released their hands.

"Continue, children, trace the symbol of my name upon the Altar, pray to see what Ra sees!"

At his soft command, they did as he asked, tracing with their own hands the great eye of Ra and praying aloud.

After three times tracing the eye, Ra kneeled before the pair and placed two small, ornately jewelled daggers into their tiny hands. These the children took and grasped lightly as they watched Ra climb upon the Altar and spread himself wholly upon the white marble save for the small area occupied by themselves.

The male child stood and gingerly stepped over Ra, careful not to tread upon him or bruise him in any way. Now, with a child on either side of him, Ra gave his command.

"Love me! Worship me! Share my blood! Drink of me!"

The children plunged the daggers into Ra over and over again until the deep etching of the symbol of Ra had filled with his blood. The sound of hard metal stabbing into soft flesh echoed round the cavernous room. The twins stopped simultaneously, then bent their tongues to the marble, licking and sucking lightly at first, then hungrily until the blood flowed no more onto the cold slab. Ra had bled all he could, every drop, for Egypt. Sharp, fanged teeth traced white lines on bloodied lips as they drank their fill.

Two identical smiles met as the children began to worship the body of Ra placing bloody kisses on each of the stab wounds they had placed upon him. Each kiss miraculously healed the wound it touched and soon there were no more noticeable marks upon Ra's body.

The girl then held out her hand so that the boy would strike her as she did the same to him and thus with both bleeding palms, they annointed Ra, starting with his open lips, his chest, his stomach and then his feet, repeating their earlier prayers once more.

Ra's body stirred and the breath of Life flowed into him once more. As he sat up, he grasped the palms of the twins and sucked the blood gently until their wounds, too, were healed. A small bowl sat upon a dias at the head of the alter and Ra stood still while the children cleansed his body of any traces of blood. Then he wiped down the altar and turned to the pair.

"Come, my little Children of the Nile, it is far past time we dined!" Ra stood from the marble altar and replaced his cloak upon his shoulders then sat himself upon his throne.

"Refreshment!" he commanded and in moments the doors swung open once again as several trestle tables were set up along the far wall. Two infants and a young woman were made to lay upon the trestles then secured to them with sturdy bindings. Silent slaves kept their eyes downcast, not wanting to rouse the ire of their living God. Hurriedly they completed their tasks then returned from where they had come, closing the doors once again from outside prying eyes.

Ra stood and padded to the trestle with the infants and watched as the twins each took one soft arm and bit into the tender flesh with razor-sharp teeth and began to feed. First one baby then the other turned from healthy pink to blue as their blood slowly drained. At the last possible moment, Ra sliced his own palm and let droplets of dark, red blood flow into the mouths of each babe for some minutes each before he licked his wound and watched it heal.

As the babes began to stir again, the twins took one infant each and placed them at the breast of the young woman and with the small daggers made jagged little cuts which the infants were made to nurse their fill of.

After all the children had drunk their fill, Ra approached the pale woman. She stirred only slightly as he looked upon her, the potion the priests had given her to calm her had done its job well. He bent over her, then viciously tore at her breasts with his sharply gleaming teeth until the essence of the woman was no more.

"Come, Children, tell me what you see!"

The twins, still carrying the infants, approached him reverently and placed the wriggling bundles on the floor at his feet.

"I see a great monument in honor of You, Ra! It has three sides and climbs into the the very sky." said one.

"I see a flood coming and hunger for Egypt. I see a great tide of sand, wind, and change."

"I see an invasion of Egypt, Ra! But I see You victorious in Your way."

"I see a new Pharoah, with new ideas and an ignorance to the Old Gods."

Ra listened with his eyes closed and as each child took turns speaking, he saw their thoughts. He very much enjoyed the view of the monument and the strange visions of gleaming metal structures, but the other sights troubled him.

"I see what you see, Children of the Nile. Take these babes and raise them as you were raised. Teach them the Old ways and keep them pure. In one life's time, I shall summon you again and will look forward to their participation."

They bent over and retrieved their charges, stopping only to grab two little silken purses filled with assorted jewels and flawless gems. They quit the throne room quietly, still smiling benevolently at the God Ra.