On the banks of the Nile River, a dialogue that would change the fates of two worlds thus ended.
The heaven and earth deities of Hemenu, the life-symbolizing Isis, divided her authority and shared her fate with Io, also imposing one final constraint within her own power: no one was to speak of her, and the names of the deities from the Foreign Realm were to be perpetuated forever. Then she vanished into thin air, leaving only the princess from the Otherworld all alone in this place.
For a mortal to share the fate and authority of a deity was unimaginable, but as Io arrived bearing the fate of another world in place of Isis, things did not seem all that difficult. Power from the world naturally could yield before the world itself, especially when compared to Chaos, the rules of this world were greatly different indeed.
Unlike the deities from the previous two worlds, within this sand-enshrouded world, the gods were not immortal, they even aged with the passage of time, and divine power could only resist it to a certain extent, but not halt it entirely. Even their innate divine authority could be subsumed into one another through combat.
The new gods overcoming the old ones, turning the old gods into one of their avatars, and then inheriting the predecessors' followers, titles, and authority, was so commonplace in Hemenu World. This reflected the small scale and chaotic rules of this world, but it also made many things seem natural.
Just like now, since Io possessed Isis's divine power and fate, she would naturally be seen as part of Isis. Perhaps the world itself could sense this difference, but to the vast majority of native deities, they could hardly distinguish any differences.
All they knew was that, after the pursuit by Osiris, the god of plants and abundance, the Goddess of Life finally agreed to marry her brother. Although Isis seemed to have changed her appearance, character, and even often spoke odd words, none of this was taken to heart by the gods.
According to the current decision made by Ra, the Sovereign of the Gods of Hemenu, when Osiris and Isis were to marry, they would become the monarchs of the Mortal Realm, the de facto rulers of Upper and Lower Egypt. Therefore, the gods gathered in Heliopolis, the birthplace of mortal faith, to congratulate the union of this brother and sister.
It seemed as if the domain of the Nile, which traversed worlds, was about to welcome new masters, and an era was poised to turn a new page. However, just as everything was proceeding as usual, within the Pantheon, the God of Sun, Ra, suddenly awoke from a profound dream.
There was no sundial, for Ra was the Sun. Amidst the ticking of flowing water, the god awoke from his slumber.
On the highest throne, golden divine power inadvertently seeped out, gradually erasing the grand and magnificent temple inch by inch until everything returned to nothingness. In this ancient hall, only Ra's golden-cast body and the gemstone-studded divine seat beneath him remained.
At the same time, the Sun began to tremble without warning, affecting both heaven and earth. Before Ra's unrestrained power, mortals knelt on the ground and prayed, while other deities looked anxiously in the direction of the Pantheon.
The Chaos Serpent had just been slain once more, yet it had not been able to resurrect again. What exactly caused such a supreme deity to lose his composure?
"Phew——so it was just a dream..."
Opening his eyes, Ra took a deep breath on the throne. His heaving chest gradually calmed, and his intensely fluctuating emotions also settled down.
As the supreme sovereign of a deity race, the ultimate ruler of Hemenu World, there was nothing in this world that should have disparaged him so.
The world of Hemenu was nothing like the Nine Realms and Chaos; there were no Primordial Gods born with the world here, nor were there Titans or wraiths to rival the Aesir Tribe. Even the world's own facets only flashed by during creation, leaving no further imprint in the world.
In this realm, Ra-Atum, who had defeated the former God of Sun, Atum, making him an incarnation of himself, was the sole supreme being—even the eternal world-ending Chaos Serpent, Apep, could only be repeatedly slain by him.
But at this moment, when he reopened his crimson-golden eyes, what filled them, aside from majesty, were puzzlement and a concealed unease lurking within his subconscious.
"...Such a strange dream, is this some revelation from Hemenu to me?"
Remaining still on the throne for a little while, after a short time, Ra waved his hand. In silence, a transformation occurred, the external Sun returned to normal, and the power that had inadvertently spilled out was retracted by him.
At the same time, like the rewinding of time, the shattered temple restored itself inch by inch. Or more accurately put, it was a kind of 'rebirth.' After dealing with these trifles, sitting on the lofty divine seat, Ra couldn't help but recall his previous dream.
However, what puzzled him was that the dream, which had made him wary and fearful, was now a blank; he simply could not remember what he had dreamt at all. The only remnants in his mind were warnings, seemingly telling him that something terrifying was approaching, and its harbinger had already arrived.
"...A joke, what in this world could possibly oppose me?"