Mummy.io Demo Ch. 1 — The Battle of Ankahur the Fallen | The Tear of Aaru story
The Tear of Aaru
There was once a city known as Nefr’Akhet meaning beautiful sunlight spilling over the mountain. The palaces of its nobles, the workshops and temples were carved in the slopes of the mountain with lesser dwellings sprawling over the deshret from which the mountain rose. From its peak, a Colossus of the god Horus observed the sunrise, while a Colossus of the scarab-god Khepri watched over the lands where the sun dipped fiery-red over the horizon, protecting the city from threats.
People from all over the land went to the temple when there was a crescent moon in the sky to seek advice from its most prised oracle, a bull known as Hapi. This bull had enormous strength and people believed it was the one holding the mountain together with its will. They had faith that Hapi’s strength could also help them weather their troubles.
The chantress Neferure presided over the rituals and offerings brought to Hapi. She bestowed its blessings to those she deemed worthy of them, advancing or cutting short the careers and fortunes of the nobles of Nefr’Akhet. Neferure appeared before the people in the temple’s courtyard on those crescent moon nights. Moonlight was refracted over her by the Tear of Aaru, a tear-shaped heavenly artefact that appeared to be made of flowing glass. Next to her was Hapi, its horns adorned with jewels and gold chains.
The Tear of Aaru had been found by Neferure’s ancestors when the first chisel started to chip away at the mountain to will it into a city. She was the last of a long line of descendants by blood, the only one who could touch the Tear and sense its power as if it was summoning something from afar. No one could decipher its magic. They had all watched, generation after generation, as the history of the city and their lives were inscribed upon it from that moment onwards as if on a stela. They had placed the Tear of Aaru in the temple’s courtyard where the eerie light and its ethereal quality produced a strong impression which ensured their power was consolidated throughout the centuries.
When the first consequences of the Clash were felt and the city was rocked by earthquakes and smothered by desert storms, the chantress and her priests decided to sacrifice Hapi to pacify the people. They devised an alchemical ritual meant to take its power as their own to control the earthquakes and save the city. Hapi felt the betrayal and tried to oppose it, but he was only a bull, despite the stories the people had shared about it.
In a cruel twist of fate, Set conquered the city and buried it under sand dunes and rocks, sparing only the ruins of the temple. The Colossi that guarded the city were mere statues — Horus and Khepri, the gods they depicted, hadn’t bothered to breathe new life into them for decades. They were too preoccupied with their own quarrels and in-fighting to care for human struggles. To mock the gods, Set diminished the statues’ size and placed them at the temple’s gate in which he trapped the khet of the city’s dwellers. Set also found it amusing to release Hapi, give it enormous power, and make it their jailer.
During the fight, a fierce power blast broke the Tear of Aaru in three jagged pieces that were propelled as far as the eye could see; their location and origin fading in obscurity. The Tear’s connection with Neferure and the inscription which attested it were lost, the flowing glass brought back to its primordial state. Still, the glass pieces, broken and unassuming, beckoned to one another and wished to be united for the stars would soon be aligned for the summoning to occur.
As for Neferure, her ancestors came to her aid during the dark hour when she had to face the god Set. They fought valiantly, but saw they were no match for the Lord of Masr and bowed to his power. Set chained the spirits of the ancestors together with Neferure as their vessel, new arms sprouting from her body seeking mercy and escape. This newly-formed creature was to guard the temple under the command of Hapi.
Dictionary
Aaru — the afterlife paradise ruled by Osiris, also known as the Field of Reeds
Ankahur — the life force or spiritual double of the god Anhur. From Anhur — god of war, one of his titles was Slayer of Enemies, and ka — one of the aspects of the soul, the life force of a person, also symbolising a pharaoh’s right to rule.
Chantress — high priestess who chanted and performed rituals before the statues of gods
Deshret — the Red Land, meaning the deserts and foreign lands surrounding Egypt over which Set ruled
Khet — the physical body, one of the nine Ancient Egyptian concepts that together formed a person’s soul
Masr — Misr is the modern official romanized Arabic name for Egypt, Masr is the local pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The oldest attestation of this name is from the Akkadian mi-is-ru (‘misru’) which means border or frontier. The name Egypt was derived from ‘Aigyptos’, the Ancient Greek name for the lands
Phiom Enhah — meaning the Sea of Hah, the Red Sea in Coptic, a language family of closely related dialects that originated from the Ancient Egyptian language
Sea of Hah — Phiom Enhah, the Red Sea. From the Ancient Egyptian root ḥ-ḥ which refers to water and sea.
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