Thoth Productions

The God’s stood in the theatre of their heavenly golden kingdom, waiting for the production to begin. Once a Millenia their brother Thoth would pen a story and present it to them to help pass the time. Life as an eternal being was boring more often than not, and Thoth’s stories were the only thing which truly entertained them now.

“Where is Thoth?” Anubis asked. The God’s were growing impatient.

“Putting the finishing touches on his production, I’m sure. You know how Thoth gets.

“He’s a perfectionist!” Ra exclaimed.

“Nonetheless, we would like to know how much longer he’ll be.” Set chimed in.

“If it pleases you, I’ll talk to Thoth, see how much longer things will be.” Ra said. The God’s agreed that would be best. Ra waved his hand which opened a portal and stepped through it.

#

Thoth was hard at work, constructing his next production. It was almost finished but wasn’t ready. Thoth’s last production received negative reviews, so the pressure for this one to be the best yet was on.

As Thoth read over the scroll he had written on, he heard a portal open behind him but didn’t turn around.

“Hello brother.” Ra said.

“Greeting’s Ra.” Thoth replied.

“How are things going? The family grows impatient.”

“Everyone in this family is impatient except me it seems.”

“True. I came to see how much longer you’ll be. Anubis and Set are complaining.”

“Anubis is a moron and Set is a lunatic, do they not have their own worlds and creations to play with? Pay no heed to them. You may tell the family I’ll be done in another rotation of planets. I’m making some final edits is all.”

“Wonderful! Not that much longer then. The family will be pleased. That is, as long as its better than your last production. Those, what did you call them? Dino somethings, weren’t entertaining at all.”

“They were called Dinosaurs.” Thoth barked back. No artist liked to be told their work was no good. “Now, I still have work to do, Ra. If you would please leave my study, I’ll see you in the theatre shortly.”

“Very good brother.” Ra reopened his portal and relayed the news to the family. They were happy to hear Thoth’s production would be ready in one rotation of planets. That was a mere blink of an eye to the God’s.

Thoth looked at the scroll he was writing on. The length of a universe it was. But with the story perfected, Thoth snapped his fingers, and the scroll rolled itself up. Thoth took the scroll in a single hand and opened a portal to the theatre.

Showtime. He thought.

#

“Ah, here he is now!” Ra cried, announcing Thoth’s entry. The God’s looked to their little brother and applauded. Thoth waved and stood in the center of the room; his family created a circle around him.

“Brothers, sisters, I am proud to say my latest production is complete.” Thoth said. Another round of applause erupted.

“Tell us about it!” Osiris shouted from the crowd.

“I’ll let the story explain itself, but what I can tell you is I heeded your advice in regard to my production of the Dinosaurs.”

“Oh good. That was not your best work brother.” Anubis said.

Thoth brushed past the comment and continued. “I think you’ll be glad to know I created a story which contains all of us to a degree. We are not in it for long, but I think you will find it intriguing nonetheless.” The family muttered with smiles of interest and wonder, Thoth had never done something like this before and their interests were already piqued, a good sign for certain. “My family, if you would take your seats, the production will begin.”

The God’s took their seats and stared at Thoth.

“I present to you: Humanity.” Thoth removed the light from the room with a flick of the wrist and held the scroll in the air. He concentrated, made the scroll float, and explode into the image of the milky way galaxy.

The image zoomed in and focused on a familiar planet. Earth. The setting for Thoth’s Dinosaur production.

“Not Earth again.” Set said from the back. He was immediately shushed by Ra. The production was on.

#

Thoth’s latest creation was entertaining for the God’s (unlike the dinosaurs) It started with the first ‘cavemen’ as the modern humans called them, and followed the humans as they grew as a species for more than two hundred and fifty thousand planet rotations. A relatively short production compared to Thoth’s last one.

They watched the first settlements being built, the first wars, the erection of the pyramids, all of it. The production even followed a few key characters such as one named Adolf, another named Neil Armstrong, and other humans which helped change the world, for better or worse.

The conflicts the humans made with themselves were also quite interesting. Where the Dinosaurs fought each other solely for food, the humans killed each other for greed, sport, and other varied nuanced reasons. An interesting plot twist, the God’s thought.

As the production drew to its conclusion, the God’s watched as the human’s greed turned their beautiful green and blue planet, into a dried out, brown wasteland. It was here when the true twist came into play. As the humans killed their own planet, they in turn killed their species.

The production ended with the last human looking up to the sun and taking her last breath as all the oxygen had faded away. The planet disappeared, and the room went dark.

#

Thoth stood in front of his family once again and returned light to the theatre. He looked around at his family who were silent. Some with their mouths ajar, but no words were spoken.

“Well?” Thoth asked.

There was no reply, but after a few moments, Ra began clapping slowly. Soon after the entire family was standing and applauding Thoth’s work.

Thoth took a bow and waited for the applause to die down before going on.

“Thank you very much.” Thoth said as he smiled.

“Thoth, that was…” Ra started. “That was a true work of genius!”

“Indeed.” Said Isis, wiping away tears. “Twas the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

Thoth bowed to the lady.

“I like how you put this production in the same universe as your Dinosaurs. It was a nice connection.” Osiris stated. “And how you put all of us into the production? A very entertaining detail. The religious aspects were intriguing. I must say.”

“Thank you, brother. I wanted to make something we could all relate too, and I decided putting us into the production as something the humans worshipped was the proper route to take.”

“I’ll say!” Osiris shouted.

Thoth, feeling extreme pride in his work, wanted to hear more compliments. “Anybody else?” He asked. It was Set who spoke next.

“I enjoyed the violence the humans made with each other.”

“Of course you did Set.” Thoth said. “I had you in mind when I wrote those aspects of human nature.” Everyone chuckled. They loved Set, but he was the violent one in the family. At least Anubis enjoyed death because he found it an art form. Set liked violence for the sake of violence. Which was why they usually played in their own little dimensions, creating and killing beings of their own creation rather than fighting with each other over how to control a species they created together.

“I loved the ending.” Anubis said. Everyone turned to him. They too had enjoyed the ending, but they almost felt it was so perfect, it shouldn’t be spoken of for fear of diluting the impact it had.

“Did you like it because everyone died in the end?”

“You know I did. But it wasn’t just the fact they died. It was how the humans demise came about.” Everyone stared at Anubis with questioning faces, Thoth included. Anubis, like Set, had simple opinions on things. But today, he had something more to say.

“Please, enlighten us brother.” Osiris said.

“In the human’s strife for wanting the best life possible, the ‘American Dream’ as they called it, the humans subsequently destroyed their planet. Their greed surpassed what the Earth was able to provide and died from the damage done. In doing so, the humans killed themselves but were too blind to see it coming. It was an impactful ending which was nothing short of true brilliance.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and applauded Thoth once more.

“Please save this production Thoth.” Ra said. “I think I speak for us all when I say we’d like to watch this one again in the future.”

“Will do.” Thoth replied. “I am glad you enjoyed my work as much as you did. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must begin work on my next production. Who knows, perhaps I’ll make a Humanity Part Two?”

One by one the God’s disappeared through portals and went back to their own little worlds. Once everyone was gone, Thoth opened his own portal and went into his study. He conjured up a brand-new scroll and began penning another production.