In the Chamber of the Gods

Layla stepped through the doorway, and felt the temperature instantly rise by a few degrees. She looked around - the place was still vast, bearing the scars of the battle but looking remarkably intact. There wasn't rubble, but the damage was still there, missing pieces of statues and snapped thrones. It lent an almost eerie air to the place, all the signs of destruction with none of the after-effects.

Layla slowly stepped in. The place was empty, unsurprisingly; perpetually burning fires kept the place lit, but there was no sign of anyone tending to them.

Taweret was already a few steps ahead, waving back at Layla. Slowly, Layla followed her.

She remembered where she'd gone to seal away Ammit; Layla went another way, through a back corner in the council chamber. Layla hurried after her.

"Is this really in the Great Pyramid?" Layla said.

"When we want it to be," Taweret said. "Hey, look at these! Ooh, nostalgia."

The goddess waved excitedly at a wall they were passing; Layla slowed to a stop, looking it up and down. It was wall-art, ancient paintings of the gods, including a rather stylised depiction of a hippo-headed being. Taweret stood next to it, mimicking the pose.

"See the resemblance?" she said cheerfully.

Layla still looked at the wall, at the images of the many other Egyptian deities that covered the surface.

"This is amazing," Layla said.

"Aww, thank you!"

"I mean it, all of this," Layla said, quickly starting to walk again after the hippo. "I'm an archeologist, I saw all kinds of stuff like this, but never this... intact, or perfect. This is what it would really have looked like?"

"Things don't really decay in here," Taweret said. "Oh! the baths!"

"The what?" Layla said.

She quickly caught up; the smell hit her before anything else, a scent of cinnamon and a dozen other things, only a few of which she could name offhand. Perfume-scented steam filled the room, rising and drifting out into the hallways.

In the room proper, well, pool would be a more accurate term than bath. It was vast, stretching out far enough that Layla was pretty sure there was no way it could fit inside the pyramid, steam rising off the evidently-warm water, glass globes concealing firelights that illuminated the neck-deep water.

She raised an eyebrow, looking out at it all and inhaling the lovely, scented air deeply.

"Quite a place you've got here," Layla said.

"It's technically yours," Taweret said. "Mostly for the use of avatars, it's a tough job you have after all, especially in the past. It was meant to be a place to come and relax, recharge."

"Really?" Layla said. "Marc never mentioned it."

"Really? Ugh, that Khonshu really can be a mean one," Taweret said. "Sure I can't talk you into staying?"

Layla paused a moment, looking out over the baths. As she walked by them, she could feel the sheer warmth emanating from them, apparently never cooling down, nor growing stagnant.

"Not full-time," Layla said.

"Oh, alright," Taweret said.

They'd passed by most of the baths by then, reaching a cabinet. Taweret reached in and pulled out a rather long, thin, pointy looking stick of metal. Cheerfully, she turned back around to face Layla. Quickly, Layla took a step back.

"Er, what is that?" Layla said.

"The excerebrator, silly," Taweret said cheerfully. "Just a little poke, and it'll break the connection in your mind."

"A poke?" Layla said.

It was a good few inches long. She hesitated.

"Er, you said there were a couple of ways?" Layla said.

"Well, yes, but this is fastest," Taweret said. "Without directly giving the power to another avatar, and without any help, there's this, or there's the oneiromancer's path."

"That path! That path sounds good," Layla said. "I think. What does that entail?"

"Ooh, it would be a fun one!" Taweret said. She threw the unnerving hook-stick back over her shoulder and clapped excitedly. "You go into a meditative state, with the right herbs, go on a vision to where your god resides physically - that's me, so you'd be at the Duat - and we seal away the symbol of our union so that it no longer binds us. Then if you ever want to take it up again, you can break the seal, but until then you can be you."

"And there are no weirdly long hooks involved?" Layla said.

"None!" Taweret said, as cheerful as ever.

"Okay. Yeah. That sounds like the better one," Layla said. "So how does that work?"

"Oh! It's super-simple," Taweret said. "But it's not one we can do halfway - when we start, we need to see it through, okay?"

"Is it dangerous?" Layla said.

"Oh, no, no, no," Taweret said. "But the first step is to strengthen our connection, which might have a few side-effects if it's left unchecked."

"Wait, strengthen?" Layla said. "That sounds like the opposite of what we want to do."

"Only to start with," Taweret said. "I find one of my dusty old relics, it connects you to me, then when you fall asleep from a specific herb your soul will automatically gravitate towards me. Easy. Then we seal away our union, I won't be able to appear to you unless you summon me, and if you try to call the suit you'll get nothing. See, easy!"

"Okay," Layla said slowly. That did sound like what she had asked for.

Taweret's ears dropped slightly.

"You will call on me sometimes though, won't you Layla?" she wheedled. Layla let out a long breath, smiling despite herself.

"Sure. Sometimes," Layla said.

"Yippee!" Taweret said. "Okay, I just need to fetch the relic and herb. Stay here! I might be a while, but it's such a hassle to keep opening doorways."

Layla looked around - a perfectly preserved slice of Ancient Egypt. She looked past Taweret to the wall-paintings, and to the vast pillars that kept the tall roof aloft, and the expertly painted statues that the battle hadn't touched.

"I'm sure I can find something to do," Layla said.