Atem honestly hated his life. Almost as much as he had hated it in the afterlife. There were differences of course there were, but there were also similarities. Pretending he was fine with his situation was the largest one he could think of. He detested being Pharaoh and he was put right back in the same damn position was soon as he took his place in the afterlife. Still he assures Mahaad and Set that he was fine. Never better even! He was fairly certain Mahaad saw right through him but then again his priest was never one to shirk his duties so why would he ask Atem about being unhappy about his position when it was clearly his duty to lead them?
Now he was doing all over again, only this time he was lying to himself. He tried to pretend like what he was doing was for the best, but he was also no closer to finding the person he heard call out to him while he was in the afterlife.
But everyone was safe, and that was the most important thing. Malice could threaten him all day but it meant little as long as the people he cared for were safe. At least that’s what Atem kept telling himself.
Once again he found himself outside in the middle of the night, his own thoughts weighing heavily on his mind. Who was the person who called out to him? What was Anubis’ endgame? Why was Malice a part of it? There was too much racing around in his mind for sleep.
That’s probably why he wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking. That was probably exactly way Atem’s foot caught a bit of the old worn road he was walking on. And it was exactly why he found himself on the ground swearing a streak of ancient Egyptian. “Dammit to all the gods!”