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Sam - The Legend of Serphent
Courage Against Chaos

Courage Against Chaos

After nearly an hour, an entire army is ready and waiting for confirmation from the mighty king and sun god Ra. Ra wears his majestic costume that he used to wear during the old times of war. He has never been seen wearing that costume in thousands of years. Kemet had been living in peace for a long time, and there was no need for war. Ra’s smart tactics and smart leadership made him the unbeatable ultimate ruler of his time. No one dared face him, and since then he has never set foot in war.

Once Ra got out of the castle, the talks started to spread. From house to house, then from city to city. Apparently, it looks like Ra getting ready for war won't be a secret anymore. Citizens rushed to their houses, afraid that they might be harmed by the mysterious war they knew nothing about. Anhur looks to his father and says, "I am sure your brother must have known by now that you are going to some kind of war, and it won't take him long to realize that you are going out for him. I really hoped we would have sneaked into his house by using any of your magical gifts."

Ra replies, "I am not a coward, Anhur. I don’t want my brother's last memories to be of me killing him and his infidel family cowardly. We will go to where he resides, and he better be ready because this time I won't treat him as a younger brother anymore..."

Using his mighty powers, Ra summons a colorful mini-pyramid and throws it to the ground. Once thrown, the mini pyramid transforms into a huge pyramid with wide, open gates. Ra and his son Anhur pass through the gates, followed by more than a million royal soldiers, knowing that they might die during this holy war. Their main objective is to be remembered as the royal heroes who fought beside their mighty leader Ra and get the chance to be buried in fancy big pyramids with all the gold they are promised, so when they go to the other side they will be financially stable.

Once he arrives, Ra looks around and finds the city empty of its citizens. Ra questions himself and wonders how an entire city lost its people. His son Shu was there that morning, so there must be something mysterious happening.

Anhur says, "Father, it must be your brother! He must have known about your arrival and killed everyone."

Stepping down from his winged horse, Ra replies, "This is nonsense. My brother might be a wicked bastard, but he would never kill for fun. On top of that, he knows that won't really affect me. My brother's actions are precisely made to push me off the edge."

As they spoke, a fatally injured warrior staggered toward Ra as his life ebbed away. Interrupting their conversation, the warrior forced out his last words.

Ra's voice thundered with rage.

"Where are Osiris and Seth? Did I not charge them with protecting this city from corruption? Where were they when you and my son were attacked?"

The wounded soldier spoke tremulously. "Forgive me, God Ra. I was sent only to deliver this news. Osiris and Seth were gravely wounded. Your son Shu lies at death's door. There was nothing I could do to stop your brother...have mercy, my great god Ra..." The soldier fell to his knees.

Ra's voice softened. "Rise; I require no worship from you now, soldier. Go, tend your wounds, and rest. I shall take matters into my own hands from here."

The soldier nods his head, showing respect, then walks away in surprise, wondering at the sudden change in Ra's actions. Using his mighty powers, Ra tries to find where his brother might possibly hide, but to no avail. For the first time in his life, Ra couldn't feel the mere presence of his younger brother.

Ra ordered the soldiers to search every corner of the city and surrounding areas. No mistakes would be tolerated; they had to look for any clue, no matter how small. Unfortunately for Ra, it was to no avail. The soldiers searched for two full days but found nothing. There was no evidence of death or escape; it was like his brother had vanished into thin air. Receiving this news after waiting so patiently for two days made Ra angry and furious at his brother. He feared his younger brother might have planned to kill all the gods to easily seize power over Kemet for himself.

Getting annoyed that this had gotten so long, Ra called all the powerful gods who worked under his name. And through his powerful summoning abilities, all the gods arrived at his place in no longer than a day. After their arrival, Ra explained what should be done to protect this kingdom from the evil of his brother, but amid their talk, the blue skies turned gray. Hundreds of large clouds covered the sun, making the day a black night.

Once that happened, Ra bled from his nose and eyes and fell to his knees. Anhur hurried to the rescue of his father and shouted to the surrounding gods, "Prepare for battle! Our king is under attack!"

Listening to the sudden commands of Anhur, every god prepared themselves for war against Ra’s brother. The skies were raining heavily, and thunder kept striking the houses of the nowhere-to-be-found civilians.

The traitorous brother of Ra appeared in his ancient, magnificent armor in the midst of the assembled gods. All gazed at him in equal parts awe and terror. None had ever been able to challenge Ra's dominion over the sky and the sun. Some gods feared for their lives and bowed before Ra's brother.

Anhur, in anger, spoke rashly: "Those who bow to this traitor know not that he broke our sacred covenant. This cowardly god wed a mere mortal woman of Kemet and begat a child with her. When my noble brother Shu learned of his base deed, he imprisoned him and harmed both Osiris and Seth. Who knows if they still live to this day? We cannot permit his treachery to weaken and fracture this kingdom, destined one day to inspire the entire universe. Those who choose the side of this traitor shall be damned forevermore!"

Hearing this, all who had bowed rose to their feet and rejoined the righteous cause. None would submit to Ra's brother's mercy, and all would perish in this battle if it meant saving their kingdom from falling.

Ra's brother laughs as he removes his snake-silver mask from his face. He looks to the over million soldiers surrounding him and says, Traitor, Ra's brother, and the lord of chaos. These are the names given to me by my brother, his children, and his blind followers. My name is Apep. I am an equal god to my brother, and you could say that we are equally strong, but I relied on myself rather than my godly powers. That's why your biggest hero, your mighty king, is bleeding, and I am standing here willingly ready to face the million soldiers—whether mortal Kemet soldiers or gods with powers."

While bleeding from both his eyes and nose, Ra replies, Brother, you have always hated everything I have done, so don't act like you are accused of being evil. Countless innocent humans have lost their way because of your manipulations. For hundreds of years after I first ruled this kingdom upon my father's death, you caused trauma and horror! All that is okay to you? I understand you have been out of my path for five hundred years, but that does not give you the authority to marry a mortal human!"

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Apep speaks in arrogance: "Still, you call me brother and refuse to call me by my real name! You have always been the same, the older, greedy brother. My lovely wife is none of your business. My children and their generations will prove my point that all rules set by previous kings were meaningless. Look and learn from other parts of the world. The Greek gods, though greedy and arrogant, married mortal humans. There were no plagues, floods, or wars. Everything is at peace, but you are blinded by our father's fairy tales. And today will be the day I finally fight for what's right: my family!"

Anhur replied suddenly, "Family? Your child will be weak, regardless of gender. They'll not match our wisdom and might. You begrudge only my father's success. I swear I shall avenge my brother and those who have fallen before him!"

Apep laughed, saying, "Come, and I'll send you to the afterlife. Yet fret not when it is dark and full of serpents!"

Anhur takes his mighty sword, and before he runs towards Apep, Ra uses his powers to freeze Anhur in his place. In shock, Anhur looks back at Ra and says, "Father, what are you doing? Let me end this."

Ra replies hardly, "I am your king, and you shall listen to my commands. I prohibit you from attacking Apep. I am not ready to lose another son."

Watching from afar, Apep speaks, "Come on, brother, send him. Let's see how strong he truly is. I have heard you have given him the title God of War." And I have heard he is undefeatable in battle. Why are you so scared of letting him battle me? Let him face me, and don’t underestimate his powers as you did to me."

Anhur speaks angrily, "Father, Lord Ra, let me battle him. I have the power and strength to defeat him. His manipulation won't work on me."

Before Ra speaks, Apep walks slowly toward Ra and his soldiers. He looks at the scared and confused faces around him and says, Don't worry, I won't start attacking right now. I will just give my brother a reason to allow his son to battle me. I am known for liking challenges. But unfortunately, my brother has made sure that no one even knows my real name."

Apep pressed his palms together forming a triangular shape. As he did so, a bizarre portal shimmered into existence. Hundreds of serpents swirled in a blur, conjuring the gateway from nothing.

Once open, an enormous serpent emerged vomiting forth Shu, Osiris and Seth. The snakes had milky eyes and fangs the size of swords.

The enormous snake towered over the battlefield, threatening doom. At the sight of it, hundreds of mortal soldiers fainted while others scrambled for cover behind the mighty gods.

Anhur struggled to escape his father's grip and pleaded, "Father, this war is not for mortals. Apep will crush these men as if they were insects. Let me lead the charge! I may stand a chance of victory."

Having no other option, Ra removed his blessed blood and marked Anhur's forehead. He floated slightly higher as he spoke, "My lovely son Anhur. my dear, close gods whom I consider more than loyal protectors Horus, Hathor, Thoth, Isis. - fight for the light. I will ascend to the skies to protect our sun, our source of power, our hope. Fight for this kingdom, fight for our honor."

Between the black skies and the dark atmosphere, rain poured down as Apep stared up at his flying brother and said, "Try as hard as you can; my darkness and my chaos will not be stopped. I will kill all those you have sent to stop me. I will show you what living in darkness is!"

"Stop this nonsense, lord of dirt! Your time has come to an end!" Says Anhur optimistically as he runs toward Apep with his mighty spear, flail, and shield.

Horus ran behind Anhur, saying, "I'll rescue Shu, my father, and Seth. I'll get them to safety while the other gods aid you in battle."

Isis, Hathor, and Thoth attempted to open portals around Apep using their great magic, but each portal was destroyed in a horrific manner. When a portal opened, thousands of snakes poured out, consuming it from within. Baffled, the magical warriors stared at each other, confused about how Apep had destroyed their own portals.

Anhur approached Apep and jabbed with his spear, hoping to blind the chaos god. But Apep dodged the attacks with his vast battle experience. Even as he fought Anhur, Apep's magic destroyed the portals forming around him. His power was so immense that the brave mortal soldiers who decided to join Anhur in battle got swallowed by the snakes.

The monster seemed unstoppable, destroying even the magic of mighty gods. But the divine warriors would not surrender; they fought on, hope flickering against an encroaching darkness.

Anhur remained standing for hours, badly injured but defiant. Meanwhile, Horus and the other gods tried every trick in their arsenal to trap Apep in darkness, but nothing worked.

Lying on the ground, injured in his hands, Anhur is unable to hold his weapon as he used to. Apep summons four large serpents, each moving by his side to protect him from any sudden attacks. He looks at the injured Anhur and says, "I can see your father from here trying to battle my dark snake that will forever hide the sun from this kingdom. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't know that his god of war is losing his powers in front of me."

Anhur gasped for breath and replied "At least I will die defending my kingdom, unlike you - a corrupt usurper god fighting for your illegitimate son."

Apep raised his hand, and Anhur found his mouth sewn shut, tears streaming down his face as Apep chuckled, "Endure this pain for your foul words. I would have killed you, but that would be no fun, nephew."

As the battle raged on, Seth was bitten by the huge serpent but did not stop fighting. He endured the pain and illusions, eventually severing the serpent's head.

After countless attempts, the other gods finally succeeded in trapping the remaining serpents in portals and destroying them.

The gods rejoiced, thinking they had defeated Apep. Meanwhile, Apep acts as if he is surprised his snakes got killed. He removes his snake-shaped golden helmet and says, "That's the problem with you all. You celebrate before knowing anything. I haven't even surrendered. Look at your armor and weapons. You are all no match for me, and if I wanted to kill some gods in order for you all to fear me, I would gladly do it, but that is no fun. I am waiting for my brother to beg on his knees, and hence I will go away and leave this kingdom forever."

With his hands bleeding severely, Anhur stands and holds his shield, trying his best not to give up in this holy war. He tries to cut what is holding his mouth shut, but every time he cuts it, it gets sewn shut again. He tears in agony and pain as Isis and Hathor try their best to heal him from his suffering.

After healing from his severe wound, Osiris wakes up, finding himself amidst the big battle. He sees his brother in bad shape, and he sees the skies as black and raining. He looks around him and finds Shu still unconscious but covered by large healing leaves that belong to his wife, Isis.

Osiris, in his torn clothes and covered in blood, summons his mighty flail. As he touched the earth, his skin took on the green hue of new growth. The soil drank the blood of fallen soldiers and burst forth with blossoms and towering trees whose leaves healed anyone who partook of them.

Realizing the huge green lands that are emerging, Apep looks around and finds Osiris using all his powers to heal all of the soldiers and gods that fell during the battle. Apep summons hundreds of large serpents and commands them to eat only mortals.

Seeing the large serpents, Osiris closes his eyes and calls for help from his powerful friend Ra, who has been absent in the skies for hours. Ra answers the desperate calls of Osiris and says, "My dear friend, I will give you the powers that will help you endure the battle for months. I will give you infinite strength, and you will stop my brother for a while. If I couldn't make it and died fighting this darkness shaped as a snake, you shall be the one who would die next to free our kingdom from my brother."

Once he hears that in his head, Osiris finds a huge lighting hitting him out of nowhere, giving him power that he couldn't have imagined having. All his wounds get healed, his clothes return brand new, and the green lands flourish more than ever since his powers were modified by his mighty friend, Ra.