Thoth's fingers twisted around the golden hieroglyphics floating above his desk, their form shifting as he did so. Not knowing where he was going with the spell, he continued to do whatever came naturally and hoped that he didn't accidently burn his house down again. The last home he had in human form was a small but cozy apartment that Thoth carelessly ended up flooding when the water spell he cast after the water was off to the building. Of course he eventually moved into one of the lab rooms at the University of Memphis, and being the god of wisdom definitely helped out with that, but it was times like these, times when he found himself paying more attention to whatever was on his mind, and less time on the spell at hand, which usually lead to these accidents.

Before he knew it, Thoth wasn't even working on a spell anymore, but twisting the actual hieroglyphics out of shape until they were hardly recognizable. He was squishing one of the letters between his thumb and forefinger when he heard something behind him. His defenses coming up immediately, Thoth grabbed one of his pens from his lab coat pocket, turned around, and pointed the writing utensil at the invading sound. Taking a few, hesitant steps closer, he noticed that it was sand. It fell from the air, like an invisible bucket was dumping sand onto the floor. The growing dune seemed to glow slightly and Thoth finally came to his senses and summoned a knife with his free hand. The weapon formed above his hand, and Thoth barely missed catching it by the blade rather than the handle.

A figure formed from the sand, and at first Thoth couldn't tell who it was with the glowing sand obscuring his vision. From what he could gather, she was decked in a long, Egyptian-style white dress and her thick black hair was cut just above her shoulders. The sand disappeared into the floor and the woman collapsed on the ground, omitting a slight moan in pain as she did so. Thoth dropped the knife, the weapon disintegrating into a few hieroglyphics once it hit the ground, and rushed to her side. It was too obvious, the jewelry she wore, her dress, the feather tucked beneath her gold headband...

"Ma'at." He gently helped the young goddess into a sitting position. Ma'at rubbed her temples before placing one hand on the ground to steady herself. Thoth placed his hand on the small of her back and she collapsed against his shoulder.

"Thoth?" Ma'at's kohl-lined eyes fluttered open. Thoth smiled slightly and adjusted the translucent feather so it stood up straight from behind her headband.

"You reformed? It seems like it took a lot longer this time." Unlike the other gods and goddesses, since Ma'at was linked to the principle based on her, it took a lot longer for her to be reborn among humans if she was ever reborn at all. Thoth pulled her in closer to him and pecked her on the top of her head.

"I am quite well, thank you." Ma'at's voice was frail, like an old crystal glass about to shatter. The feather adorning her headband began to glow a sickly green. Ma'at squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, her wig shifting a little. "Okay, I'm not feeling well. Reforming this time was like fighting an uphill battle."

"It must be from the Serpent's rising." Thoth spoke in barely a whisper, but Ma'at still heard it. She tensed up a bit under Thoth's arms, but the look of shock subsided into a look of defeat.

"I was expecting this." Ma'at removed the feather from her headband and slipped her thick black wig off of her head. "Chaos is too tempting; I'm afraid there's nothing I can do now."

Thoth couldn't believe what he was hearing. Here he was, seeing his wife for the first time in 300 years and she was talking about giving up and dying? Ma'at continued to twist the feather between her fingers before he delicately placed his hand over hers.

"I'm sorry, Thoth, but it's true. Somehow I know that the Serpent will be victorious." Ma'at rubbed the back of her neck and leaned against her husband.

For Thoth, the most disturbing thing about this was the fact that he knew she wasn't lying or exaggerating; the feather in her hand was still in tact. Of course he didn't want her to lie, the feather would have destroyed her if she did, but it was the nonchalant matter in which she said it. He was speaking with his wife for the first time since the last time she was able to reform in the mortal world which was 300 years ago, and she was talking about her looming death like it was just an ordinary day for her.

Of course the death of his wife would also result in the end of the life as we know it. A universe overruled by chaos wouldn't sustain itself for very long and would collapse on itself. Thoth was pulled out of his thoughts however when Ma'at lurched forward, coughing violently and clutching her stomach.

"Ma'at!" Thoth moved to his knees and placed his hand on her back. Ma'at cupped her hand over her mouth and continued to explode into a slew of dry coughs. When Ma'at removed her hand, Thoth could see a small trace of blood before she rubbed it against her sandal.

Ma'at sat back and when she turned to face him, Thoth almost gasped. While half of her body still kept its healthy glow, the other half was faded, and cracked like she was a clay pot that was hastily glued back together. Thoth slid the feather from her limp fingers and placed it gently on a nearby desk and held her close to him.

"Chaos is catching up; we need to keep our guard up."

Ma'at didn't say anything.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to fight of the serpent long enough?"

Ma'at flashed a nervous glance to the feather resting on the table.

"Yes."

...

I did not mean to submit this right before 2012. As I am typing this author's note, it's still 2011 in Arizona so to those in different time zones, happy new year.