Afterlife

by Lindsey Fairleigh

  In all honesty, I didn’t really want to kill them. They were only following the Mother of All’s orders; they probably didn’t even know about the Mother’s true intentions with the universes she created. They didn’t know she’d become the most powerful being in all of existence by committing mass universal genocide. They didn’t know what a monster she truly was. And they didn’t know I was fighting her—and them—for their sake as much as for my own. It wasn’t their fault that we were at war.

  But if it came down to an us-or-them scenario, ignorance wouldn’t save them. I would choose my own people. Every damn time.

  The Netjers fell back as my shield closed in around them.

  But the Mother of All stood her ground.

  She extended her hands in front of her, one over the other, and a blinding beam of light exploded from her palms, slamming into my shield.

  I shifted one arm, angling it over my eyes to block the glare from the Mother’s counterattack. I could feel her laser-focused beam tearing through my shield. I wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer.

  I shouted, pulling even more energy from the universe and channeling it into the force field. I didn’t need to hold the Mother of All off forever, just for long enough that Isfet could do her reintegration thing and return at full strength to battle the Mother herself. I would back her up with everything I had, but she was the big guns. She was the one who actually had a chance at taking the Mother of All down.

  The Mother’s beam of light pushed my shield back until it was so close to me that I had to crouch to keep it from touching my head.

  “Kat!” Nik yelled. “It’s crushing us! You have to drop it!”

  I took my eyes off the Mother of All for a fraction of a second. All around me, the Nejerets were shrinking down in terror as the energy barrier pushed them closer to the ground. I had no doubt that touching the barrier would hurt them as much as it had hurt the Netjers.

  They cried out, clutching onto one another. I was the biggest threat to them right now. Not the Netjers and not the Mother of All. Me.

  Eyes wide with shock, I pulled the shield in until all of the energy flowing through my ba was being channeled into a beam as focused and brilliant as the one shooting out of the Mother’s palms, mine gold, hers diamond white. Where the two energy beams met, sparks exploded in an endless, blinding starburst. The force of the contact between the two streams of energy sent shock waves reverberating up my arms and throughout my body.

  In my peripheral vision, I could see my people regaining their feet. Impressively, they weren’t running away; they were standing their ground. They were readying themselves for battle. They were energy beings now, just like the Netjers. They might have been fish in a barrel before, back when they had physical bodies, but now they were facing the Netjers without the handicap of being corporeal. They couldn’t be hurt anymore, at least not physically. The rules of the game had changed—my people were their equals now—and from the looks of it, the Netjers weren’t too excited about the change.

  Weapons appeared in Nejeret hands all around me—not mundane, earthly weapons, but things made of pure energy. Things that might not be able to kill a Netjer but certainly could hurt one.

  At first, just a few individuals along the edges of the Netjer horde peeled off and fled, heading back to the portal that had brought them here from their universe. But their act of cowardice caused a ripple to cascade through the immortal army, and more and more followed, until only a few loyal stragglers remained clustered around the Mother of All.

  Eventually, even the loyalists fled, too, leaving the Mother of All alone in her fight.

  The Mother of All didn’t seem to care that she’d lost her army, and I supposed it didn’t really matter. Her energy beam was stronger than mine, relentlessly driving the point of impact closer and closer to me. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind—once it reached me, I would be obliterated.

  Unhurriedly, the Mother of All floated down to the ground. She landed some fifty yards away, on the far side of the canal.

  The Nejerets nearest her shrank back, repelled by the surge of power emanating from her. I knew firsthand just how terrifying the sheer force of her power could be. Even like this, awakened to my full potential after my brief union with Isfet, I was no match for the Mother of All. I was a hummingbird battling a dragon. There was no way for me to win.

  Pace leisurely, the Mother of All started toward me, and as she passed Nejerets, they drew back. But at least they didn’t flee. My people might have been far outmatched against the Mother of All, but at least they stood their ground. That was more than she could say of her Netjer army.

  My people’s courage gave me strength, and I dug deep, channeling as much energy as I possibly could into my beam, slowing the Mother’s beam’s progress. The collision point still moved toward me, slowly closing in, just not as quickly as before.

  “You stupid girl,” the Mother of All hissed as she met my upsurge in power with one of her own. “I cannot believe you actually did it—you gave yourself to my bitch daughter.” The Mother sneered, stepping foot on one of the At bridges arching over the canal as she steadily advanced on me. The closer she drew, the more powerful her beam became. “You sacrificed yourself to save this putrid universe, and for what?” She bared her teeth. “For nothing! You cannot defeat me. No one can!”

  For a long moment, my thoughts flailed as my mind tried to catch onto the meaning behind the Mother’s words. She thought I’d given myself to Isfet—that Isfet was in the process of taking me over, body and soul. She thought she was battling both me and Isfet right now.

  To the Mother of All, it must’ve been inconceivable that a lowly Nejeret abomination like myself—no matter how unique or connected I was to the universe—could have done something as immense as destroying Aaru. She had no idea that I was Isfet’s ally, not her slave. No idea that when Isfet finally showed up, she wouldn’t be limited by my constraints. No idea that Isfet would be at her full strength, soul and mind reunited, the embodiment of this entire gods-damned universe.

  And the Mother of All would never find any of that out if I failed to hold her off long enough for Isfet to show up and blow her mind.

  The point where our two beams met continued to move toward me. It was only a few yards away. It wouldn’t be long now.

  If the Mother of All succeeded in destroying me, I had no doubt that she would suck this universe dry ahead of schedule in retribution, and robbed of the vital soul-energy flowing through Duat, Isfet would perish right along with the rest of us.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.

  Roaring, I rallied, throwing everything I had into my beam of energy. I thought I’d been giving it my all before, and maybe I had, but the sudden spike of adrenaline coursing through my bloodstream allowed me to push beyond my natural limits. I was a mother lifting a car off her baby, a hunter wrestling a bear and winning. I could feel the hairs all over my body standing on end as the energy flowing through me surged higher. I had to dig my bare heel into the dry earth to prevent the force of the Mother’s beam from pushing me backward.

  But I’d be damned if that deadly starburst didn’t stop moving toward me.

  For a heartbeat, the Mother and I stood a dozen yards apart, neither one able to overpower the other. For that single heartbeat, hope swelled within me. I could do it. I could hold her off.

  The Mother of All inhaled deeply, and long strings of wispy, vibrant soul-energy flew past me and toward her. She was pulling soul-energy out through the opening I’d made between dimensions. She was feeding off my universe, right there in front of me. She was using my own universe against me, drawing strength from it. Recharging herself.

  “Anapa!” I shouted, not taking my eyes off the Mother. “Shut it! Shut the portal to Duat!”

  I felt the hole between dimensions seal shut, but it was too late. Some of the soul-energy was within the Mother’s grasp. Horrified, I watched her suck in vibrant wisps of it.

&
nbsp; She closed her eyes, a cruel smile twisting her mouth. “Mmm . . . delicious,” she said, licking her lips. When she opened her eyes again, her smug, sapphire stare locked onto me. “I feel quite refreshed,” she said, her diamond-white aura flaring.

  I bared my teeth at her, unable to divert even the tiny amount of focus it would take to respond with a biting insult.

  “I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you,” the Mother of All said, her pace increasing as she closed the distance between us. I didn’t know if she was talking about me or Isfet, who she believed to be within me, controlling me. I supposed it didn’t really matter. “I should have destroyed you then,” she said, her lip curling. “Better late than never.”

  Suddenly, her beam of energy was twice as strong, and the destructive starburst was charging toward me.

  My heart was racing, but no matter how hard I tried, there was nothing I could do to stop her. I had seconds left, only a handful of heartbeats.

  “Now who will defend this wretched place?” the Mother taunted. I couldn’t believe her spiteful voice was the last I would hear . . . that her hated stare was the last I would see.

  I sucked in a breath as Isfet coalesced out of a glittering mist beside the Mother of All. “I will, Mother.”

  32

  The Mother of All looked at Isfet, and the moment her attention left me, her beam of energy faltered. The starburst rushed toward her, slamming into her in a blinding explosion of sparks.

  I released the energy and raised my arms, covering my eyes and averting my face. All around me, the Nejerets shouted and turned away.

  Nik stepped in front of me, wrapping his arms around me protectively and shielding me with his golden aura.

  I sagged against him, drained by the sheer volume of raw energy I’d just channeled through my ba.

  Slowly, the blinding light faded, and we both raised our heads to see what had happened to the Mother of All.

  My eyes widened. She was gone.

  Isfet still stood just where she’d first appeared, and all of the Nejerets who’d been nearest her were still there, huddled on the ground, cowering from the blinding explosion. But the Mother of All was nowhere in sight.

  Had my energy beam destroyed her? Or had Isfet? Was it even possible?

  Hope swelled in my chest, even as dread settled in my stomach. It seemed too easy. The Mother of All was the creator of literally everything in existence—and the destroyer of everything, too. Beating her would be harder than this; I felt it in my gut.

  I could hear the Nejerets whispering all around me—gone . . . dead . . . safe . . .

  Slowly, fearfully, I shook my head. None of those things were true. I would’ve bet my life on it. My afterlife, too. I looked at Nik, seeing every ounce of wariness I felt reflected in his pale golden gaze.

  “Fools!” the Mother of All boomed from high overhead.

  A chorus of gasps surrounded me, and as one, we all raised our faces to the night sky.

  The Mother of All blocked out a good portion of the stars, her massive figure glinting and gleaming like she herself was a celestial body. “You think I can be killed so easily?” she roared, her voice making the earth tremble. “I am God. I am the creator of everything. I decide who lives and who dies. Not you filthy, pathetic—”

  “Oh, shut up, Mother,” Isfet shouted, launching herself off the ground with so much force that cracks appeared in the earth beneath her feet. She flew toward the night sky, and as she hurtled higher and higher, she grew until she was as large as the Mother of All.

  Isfet slammed into her like an asteroid hitting the moon, and the two tumbled toward the stars. Lightning shot out from everywhere they touched, and thunder crashed, louder than any I’d ever heard. Electromagnetic waves spread out around the two grappling gods, and it was as though the aurora borealis danced in the night sky over the Sahara.

  Isfet and the Mother of All flew farther and farther away from earth until they were little more than specks of light blending in with the stars.

  I stared up at the sky, stunned by the sudden and shocking turn of events. I felt like I should have been doing something to help Isfet, but I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t turn myself into a giant and fight the Mother of All as an equal like she could. I couldn’t fly among the stars. I had all of this power, and for what—I couldn’t do a damn thing to help. I was utterly drained, having used everything in me to hold off the Mother of All for only a matter of minutes.

  Suddenly, one of those specks of light in the sky started growing larger again. Another joined it. They were coming back. And fast.

  And they weren’t showing any signs of slowing.

  As the only person in the Oasis with a physical body, I was suddenly terrified for my life. If Isfet and the Mother of All crashed into the ground at their current speed, I feared they might split the entire earth in two. I took a step back, then another, though there was nowhere to go. No place of shelter would protect me from the fallout of their impact.

  Nik stepped up, his back to me, and raised his arms over his head. A sheet of solid At spread out from his hands.

  A moment later, Lex joined him. And Anapa and Re, Susie and Syris—everyone who had a sheut that allowed them to manipulate At. Together, the six of them created an At barrier thicker than any I’d ever seen. And they’d created it just in time.

  Isfet crashed into the barrier. The unbreakable material shattered upon divine impact, but at least it slowed her fall.

  Her landing shook the ground, sending sand spraying in a massive wave. She tumbled across at least a dozen sand dunes propelled by her momentum, shrinking as she rolled. When she finally came to a stop, she lay unmoving atop a sand dune just outside the Oasis, looking small and frail.

  Joju was already racing toward her.

  “Get up,” I whispered.

  But Isfet wasn’t moving.

  “Come on, Isfet,” I said, louder this time. “Get up!”

  The Mother of All floated down to the earth, shrinking as she descended, her expression hideously smug.

  Finally, Isfet stirred. She pushed up onto her hands and knees, head hanging.

  The battle in the sky had clearly taken a lot out of Isfet, but the Mother didn’t appear the least bit weakened. She was too strong. She had too much stored-up power—and thanks to her dutiful, universe-tending Netjers, she had an endless supply of it. Even if Isfet got up now, even if she continued to fight, eventually the Mother of All would destroy her. And she would destroy the rest of us right along with her.

  The Mother of All landed near Isfet on the dune and stalked toward her. She grabbed a handful of Isfet’s silvery hair and yanked her head back, then gripped her throat with her other hand, fingers curved into talons.

  The ivory skin of Isfet’s neck glowed a burning orange around the edges of the Mother’s hand. The orange glow spread, deepening to a blazing crimson as it moved around Isfet’s neck, up her jaw, and down her chest.

  Isfet opened her mouth, letting out a primal, blood-curdling scream.

  As the glow continued to spread, inky fissures branched out along Isfet’s skin, deeper and darker than the shell that had surrounded Aaru.

  “Holy shit,” Nik whispered from beside me. “She’s killing her.”

  33

  I swallowed roughly, paralyzed into inaction. I reached for Nik’s hand, lacing my fingers through his.

  The Mother of All was seconds away from destroying Isfet, and there wasn’t a damn thing any of us could do about it. All we could do was watch.

  Isfet was our champion. She was the only thing in this universe that could stand up to a being as powerful as the Mother of All. She was the only one who could defend us. Or, at least, she was supposed to be.

  But now, held in the Mother’s death grip, Isfet looked just as weak and powerless as I felt.

  Movement near the godly duo drew my eye. It was Joju. He was sprinting up the side of the dune, closing in fast.

  “What’s he doin
g?” I said, voice barely audible.

  “Getting himself killed,” Nik said, stating the obvious.

  Except the Mother of All didn’t seem to have noticed Joju. He was only a few steps away, but she was so focused on Isfet—on destroying the heart and soul of our universe—that she hadn’t realized Joju was mere seconds from tackling her.

  But, much to my surprise, Joju didn’t throw himself at the Mother of All. He threw himself at Isfet.

  And melted into her.

  Right before our eyes, the dark cracks in Isfet’s skin faded away, and the glow spreading out from the Mother’s hand shrank back, fading until it was barely visible. Because Joju was inside Isfet now. He was giving her his energy, making her strong enough to fight off the Mother’s attempted deathblow.

  “Oh my God,” I breathed.

  Joju had seen what I’d been blind to—the Mother of All had access to an endless power supply. She must have been refueling the whole time, feeding off her stores of universal energy to maintain her strength. To keep the upper hand.

  But Isfet had a fresh supply of energy now, too. And thanks to Joju’s quick action, she had access to the good stuff—the energy contained within one of us. Nejeret souls were as top shelf as energy could come. We were fucking immortal.

  Mei appeared behind Isfet suddenly, having teleported to the sand dune. In a blink, she melted into Isfet just as Joju had done.

  “No,” Nik said, voice hoarse as he watched his only daughter disappear.

  The glow surrounding the Mother of All’s fingers diminished further, and Isfet raised a hand to grip the Mother’s wrist. Ever so slowly, Isfet peeled the Mother’s fingers away from her throat.

  “Stay with Auntie Aset,” Lex said, drawing my attention to her. She was handing Reni to the smaller woman. “I love you more than . . . more than anything in the whole world, baby.” She kissed her daughter’s forehead, inhaling deeply. “Don’t you ever forget that.”