Not even sure anymore what to say, Yeosang lay sprawled on the altar. He still felt the marks Anubis left on his neck and perhaps Seth and Apep could recognise them, knew the god had his fun before they snatched Yeosang up. They stung with a different betrayal. With disappointment.

Yeosang caught the gaze from those gleaming eyes when Anubis came closer to take in their handiwork. He looked most natural in this darkness, with this crowd.

Silent, Yeosang snapped his eyes toward the undulating shadows on the ceiling. He watched them shift, unwilling to look at yet another god who regarded him as a meal. Almost every single person in his life had betrayed Yeosang. He had enough of the games. At least these last few moments could be his own.

"He really liked that human you played, you know? He always kept giggling about every word you told him," Anubis sighed as he waited for Seth to finish the wards and set up a few candles around the altar. Seonghwa's eyes looked positively ravenous, unveiling the monster lurking beneath his skin. He skimmed fond fingers through Yeosang's hair, making him shudder.

"Look at him. So foolish, so dear. Falling for two lies at the same time," Seonghwa giggled, so amused by their game. Tricking humans was something they did for aeons, and it never lost its charm. Though they were even more prideful now that they discovered Ra in his hideout.

"Did you get bored with playing with him?" Anubis wondered, and Yeosang bit back another sniffle. His chest felt tight again. He had been a game for the gods all along. A snack, then a challenge, now the key to ruling the world.

Yeosang didn't want to cry and get cooed over. His love had run cold.

But this new pain hurt all the same. Anubis' betrayal, his nonchalance towards these two villains. Yeosang never deluded himself. He knew they were on opposing sides, knew Anubis cared little for his fate.

It still stung. All those evenings spent together at home, arguing and laughing and trying to understand each other. Their shared night, even when it was never meant to be anything but two bodies seeking warmth.

None of it mattered to him.

"On the contrary. I would have liked to find out just how foolish he could be. How far he would go for love. But others, just like yourself, have been growing impatient. So I needed to act," Seonghwa said, responding like some saint who listened to their struggles.

Yeosang wanted to scoff at that bullshit, but he had no energy anymore. He just wanted it to be over already. Wanted to see if he had any way to reunite with Wooyoung after his death. Perhaps some god had mercy and assigned them to the same corner of the underworld? Now that gods were real, their concept of death also was.

Anubis attended with crossed arms as Seth retrieved some other items from a basket. Fruit and vegetables that they liked with their meal, sorting them neatly around Yeosang's naked body. They brought a new sensation of coldness and goosebumps covered Yeosang's skin.

How macabre of a moment. He was terrified what would happen, but he also wanted to laugh at this picture he painted.

He was born and lived as a human. And because of Ra hiding inside him, he now was served on a platter.

"You didn't warn him who I was. Why? I thought you knew when you interrupted us. For a moment, it looked as if you would betray us for him," Apep wondered while Seth finished up.

"To what end? So he could hide until you found a way in anyway? Also, he doesn't believe me a thing. I had my suspicions and told him about those. Said you weren't who you pretended to be, but I had no reason to expose you to a human. After I realised who he was, he didn't listen either. So I hid your identity from darling Ra so he wouldn't expose himself to you, but he just loves that human too much to be cautious. Feel like I should have tried something else," Anubis explained, bothered by Yeosang's permanent ignorance.

Funny how he had the gall. Of course, Yeosang wouldn't have believed him because he had no reason to and Anubis acted like a petty child trying to get Yeosang's attention.

What, he knew what would happen? And didn't do anything?

Whatever chaos Yeosang had going on in his chest, it sorted itself out. The confusion, the fear, the upset, it all coiled into a ball of seething hate. And finally, it found its target.

"So you betrayed me? Have you never been on my side this entire time? Not one second?" He bitterly asked Anubis and Seonghwa glanced between them with glinting eyes, relishing the rare bite of Yeosang's voice.

Anubis was calm, studying Yeosang's grimace of rage. Ever so elevated like the god he was.

"I tried to warn you many times. You didn't listen."

"You sold me out to them," Yeosang hissed. Anubis masterfully played his neutral role. Profiting off his friendship with Yeosang while never losing his standing with those who would rule the world. The perfect balance. Brushing off all responsibility like the coward he was.

"You got everything you wanted from me and then you dropped me like a used rag," Yeosang continued, full of hostility now.

But he only made Seonghwa laugh as he lay sprawled on their sacrificial table, figs and oranges around him to add to the taste of his flesh. He was yapping at them like a puppy at a lion and nothing he could say would gain him any pity from these monsters.

"Oh? What do I hear? Impossible. Ra and Anubis?" Seonghwa snickered with his perfectly manicured fingers before his lips. He pretended to be surprised, but Seth and he probably had their bets on whether Anubis would fall into Ra's spell or stick to their side.

Being neutral in this case meant picking the bad guys. Enabling their terror.

"You picked the side of those monsters," Yeosang gagged out, ever hoping Anubis might have human feelings like regret and empathy.

But of course not.

It was so tiring. Yeosang liked being an optimist. He liked seeing the good in people and believing they could change for the better. He was like that both as the human Yeosang and in whatever part of his spirit was Ra, who cherished his creation.

Now, with these snickering hyenas leaning over him, none of it seemed to matter. There was no point in doing good if the good side didn't win. In the end, none of it helped him win.

"It's not the same for gods. Picking sides, mongering war. You still think about it like a human," Anubis said with as much understanding as he could muster. Because to them, it was easy. It meant nothing to play their games.

"Of course I do! First and foremost, I am human and I will always be! You only ever saw me as your great creator whose presence I never asked for. But you kill people! Who feel and think and love and it's all part of your sickening game!" Yeosang roared as Seonghwa picked up his knife, finally ready for the grand end. Fear crept up in Yeosang's limbs, numbing his body. The glinting blade drew closer.

"I did not. I never killed anyone," Anubis argued back, irked at being thrown into the same pot when he claimed to be neutral.

To Yeosang, it didn't matter. Anubis stood by and watched. He was just as bad.

"You are. You are killing me right now, even if you aren't holding the blade. Didn't I help you? Shelter you when people locked you up? You damned god, everything is always just about your fun," Yeosang spat at him. Maybe he should have been angry at Apep instead, who tricked him into loving Seonghwa, but Apep wouldn't listen anyway.

Yeosang had expected better from Anubis. But such was his fatal human naivety.

He snapped his head around to look at the other wall, done with this. Seth's tail swished past his field of view. Amused by the show, he just stood by and watched.

There was no arguing with them.

"Enough of this. We are all ready, so let's feast before he ruins the mood with his righteous lecture," Seonghwa suggested, trying to get closer, but Anubis' growl interrupted him.

"Not yet. I'm not done with our conversation. What makes you think you can talk to me like that, human? Shouldn't you be begging me for forgiveness? To help you out of your shackles? One of us is naked and slathered in honey while the other walks free."

Yeosang sent him a glare before he snapped his head back around.

"Me? Asking you for help? Never. Neither does Ra need to kneel before you meagre little embalmment god, nor do I care for you anymore. I thought we could be friends, but apparently not!"

Anubis' chuckle was sinister.

"I must have treated you too well. You get some attention from a god once and suddenly you think you have any power. If Ra is ever so asleep inside you, then you want to watch your words, human," he threatened, the growl of his voice deep and laced with fury, but it only made Yeosang scoff. Bitter laughter bubbled in his throat.

He had nothing to care about anymore.

"As if. I won't respect you bastard for all your awful decisions. I hear Ra inside my mind now, you know? And he's infinitely disappointed what a bad child you are. He expected better from you," Yeosang lied, on a roll, and Anubis' shadow loomed over him, tall and threatening. A snarl made some of his saliva drip on Yeosang's chest and he made a face, but angrily stared back to hopefully hurt him back.

"Just let me slice his throat. He'll be quiet and we can talk," Seonghwa threw in, annoyed by the jackal blocking him.

Seth stood at Yeosang's feet, not intervening and enjoying the chaos.

"You promised me something in return for my support," Anubis growled at Seonghwa's smaller human form, barely containing the storm he wanted to unleash on them all.

"Oh, yes. Take all the lands you want. This world or ours, I don't care. I have the universe at my disposal. Tell me which parts you want and I can call back my storms and my floods or have them create another landscape for you."

Anubis pointed his claw right at Yeosang.

"I want him. He will regret what he just said. Leave him to me."

Yeosang shuddered. He didn't want to imagine how Anubis would take him apart organ by organ while Yeosang watched. But his zeal burnt bright, so he didn't apologise.

"You know I can't. I need to devour Ra to start our kingdom," Seonghwa reminded him with a click of his tongue, as if Anubis forgot. "You can have anything else, though."

"Then back off," Anubis hissed, reaching for Yeosang's shackles and his claw cut through their hard material as if through paper. Spooked, Yeosang tugged his arm to his chest, worried he had been injured, but not a line marred his flesh.

Seonghwa's eyes flared.

"What are you doing?! You are disturbing the plans for your own kingdom!" He shoved against the jackal's chest, making him stumble back, but then Anubis lifted to his full height over him, glaring down at the smaller human shape. Speechless, Yeosang stared at them as a threatening rumble sounded from Anubis' chest and resonated around the cave.

"I have to teach him a lesson, so hand him over. I won't let any mortal speak to me that way. He should know better."

A spooked mouse in their midst, Yeosang glimpsed at Seth, still just watching and not making a move for the knife or to help Apep.

"You can have anyone, Anubis. Anyone but him. Death will teach him his lesson. Don't become my enemy now. Move out of my way," Seonghwa hissed at the tall jackal, not intimidated by him, but Anubis didn't spare him a glance as his glowing eyes settled back on the only price he wanted.

"I don't care. Give him to me or die," Anubis barked back at him, his ears flattening and teeth bared as he was ready to attack.

Apep didn't allow his taunting anymore. The hiss from Seonghwa's lips was inhumane, trying to will Anubis to submit, but the jackal didn't care. He shoved him back, making Seonghwa drop the knife and topple into a wall.

It was the final push they needed.

The snake finally burst out of Seonghwa's skin to lunge at Anubis, and Yeosang's startled cry drowned in the noise of their bodies slamming into each other.