CHAPTER TWENTY
JUDGMENT
Mina curled into the arms of his god as Anubis sat with his back against the acacia tree, looking out over the gentle orange of the flaming sea. The lake of fire—the thing pastors always preached as the epitome of hell. And yet Mina had found the happiest moments of his life on its shore.
He had come so close to living a perfect life. Perfect according to standards he didn’t even believe in. Never believed in, if he were honest with himself. And he was being honest with himself, finally. He vowed never again to be anything but honest with himself.
His stomach ached at the memory of when he’d first stepped onto shore. He hadn’t been honest with Anubis. Hadn’t outright lied, but he’d omitted details, and soon the reaper would come.
Anubis squeezed Mina and looked down.
“A sadness has come over you. Some darkness clouds your light. What is it?”
“Climbing around inside my head again?” Mina joked. But it was a facade, and Anubis knew it. The god brushed a wild curl off Mina’s forehead.
“I love you, Anu. I thought I would never see you again, and I wanted to see you again so badly. I hated that you were punished for protecting me. It wasn’t fair.”
“There is no ‘fair’ in the world of gods or men. There is only what is, what happens, and what we do.”
Mina’s eyes burned, and his body trembled. Anubis was going to hate him for what he’d done. But he couldn’t hide it any longer. He needed to come clean.
“Anubis, I…”
Along the shore, the fire began to lap wildly, the edge of the green quilt of palm leaves hissing as wave after wave scorched the fronds. Anubis stood and stepped out from the shade of the tree with Mina still cradled and clutched against his chest.
A darkness grew like a storm cloud on the horizon.
A ship. Its shape was like the one Mina had arrived on, except larger than the largest ship he’d ever seen back in the mortal world.
Great black sails cut high into the blood red sky.
A sickly green cloud hung around it like a veil, and Mina knew in that moment what was coming.
Even before Anubis’s body went as rigid as stone.
Before he lowered Mina to the ground, pushing him behind his back, hands reaching around and clutching his shoulders, pressing the boy into his back as if he could merge them into one and make him disappear. Possessive. Protective.
Anubis was not going to give Mina up. The thought sated his soul even as it made him sick with dread for what was about to happen.
And then the ship was at the shore. So large and otherworldly that Mina could hardly make out the individual boards of the vessel. Could barely discern its shape from the darkness that it seemed to carry with it.
Anubis stepped back and pressed Mina tighter against his back.
A tremble. But not from Mina. From Anubis.
For the first time since Mina had known him, the god was afraid.
Osiris stood before them, knee deep in the lake of fire, neither consumed nor concerned by the flames lapping up his rotting, cloth-wrapped legs.
Anubis’s grip on Mina was almost painful, and he fought the urge to push away.
“Father.” Anubis’s voice was strong, but Mina felt the tremble in his grip around his arms. Every ounce of his fear focused there. Every fiber of his love.
“Anubis. It is time.”
“For?”
“For the deal to be complete.”
“My deal with you has been fulfilled. My exile here in return for the boy’s continued mortal existence. Surely you can grant us more time together here before he is taken back above.”
“The boy is not going back above.”
Anubis lurched forward, pulling Mina roughly behind him. “But our deal—”
“The boy struck a new deal. And as it is his life, I see no reason why it should not be his decision. He will be judged, and he will be sent to his rightful place in the Duat. And you shall be granted your post back in the mortal world if you desire it.”
Anubis’s hand slipped away, and now it was Mina who trembled. The god turned around, his face a mask of fury behind a burning veil of sadness.
“You did this?”
“Like I said. It wasn’t fair that you were punished for wanting to help me.
And you did help me, Anubis.” Mina stepped toward Anubis, reaching for his hands, but the god stepped back.
Mina faltered, but kept on. “I experienced more happiness in our short time together than I had in my previous two decades of life. And if you have an opportunity to help even one more person, I can’t let that be taken from you or the other souls you might be able to shepherd.
You love mortals. You love our world. You deserve to go back. ”
“And what about what you deserve?”
“You’ve given me more than any one person deserves. I’ll be happiest knowing you’re happy. If I go back to my old life knowing what’s happened to you, I’ll never be truly happy.”
“The same will be true for me.” Anubis softened. He knelt and took Mina’s small hands in his. Mina twirled one of Anubis’s golden rings around the god’s finger. It wasn’t fair that they couldn’t both go back to their old life together in the necropolis.
There is no ‘fair’ in the world of gods or men. There is only what is, what happens, and what we do.
Well, maybe there was something Mina could do.
He turned toward Osiris. “Why can’t we both stay here in the underworld together?”
“This is but a liminal space, a dwelling for gods alone. Your mortal soul can only pass through. You must be judged. And then you must pass to your place of reckoning. Whether paradise or abyss, that will be determined by your heart upon the scales.”
“Ok. Say I pass the test, and I go to heaven or paradise or whatever. Why couldn’t Anubis just come with me?”
“Anubis may go anywhere he pleases within the Duat. However, when a soul is judged, each one passes to a different afterlife which manifests from their own hearts. Even I cannot know what will become of you when you pass beyond. The same for Anubis. You may both cross over. But the chance that you will find each other again is almost certainly zero.”
Mina turned back to Anubis. The god gave a sad smile, knowing Mina’s thoughts, his heart, before he even opened his mouth.
“This is truly what you want, isn’t it?” the god said.
“You know me. So, yeah, you know it is.”
“And I cannot convince you to simply go back to your mortal life and enjoy your many years that remain.”
“An almost certainly zero chance to be with you is better than no chance at all.”
Osiris stepped forward and took Mina by the shoulder, his dead hands bone-chilling. “The boy’s heart is set,” he said. “And now it shall be judged.”