Shfters, Lycans, and Werewolves

            I’ve read many books that have lycans or werewolves and shape shifters. I love the classic Wolfman movie and other werewolf movies. Somehow all of them were based or originated in Europe, and I thought surely there must be werewolves elsewhere as well as shape shifters. I’m a fan of Egyptian mythology, so I started playing around with my own origin story about them. I’m working on a writing project that has lycans and shifters. Here goes. Shifters and lycans are technically the children of the goddess Sekhmet. They share her blood. Because of this, lycans and shifters are practically immortal.

            When Sekhmet was a lioness and Ra’s wrath, she was tricked into drinking beer the color of blood. As she slept from her bender, two priests/magicians, identical twin brothers, took some of Sekhmet’s blood. The brothers were named Nour and Sabra. They used their knowledge of magic and herbs to change Sekhmet’s blood because the blood or gods and goddesses is volatile and deadly to mortal humans. Nour and Sabra tempered the lethal aspects of Sekhmet’s blood and drank it. After consuming the blood, the brothers were able to change into animals like lions, jackals, leopards, hyenas, wolves, etc. Sabra’s favorite animal was the wolf. (It seems that wolves live or lived in a lot of places) The brothers were ready to battle Sekhmet and stop her killing rampage, but she was transformed into the goddess Hathor when she awoke.

            One night, while in his shift as a wolf and running with a pack, Sabra was bitten by a snake, who was actually the god of evil and destruction, Apep, the arch enemy of Ra. Sabra was poisoned by the snake’s bite. He managed to get to his brother, Nour, and collapsed at his door. To save Sabra, Nour invokesd and implored the goddess of healing, Isis. Isis calmed the poison, but it was still active in Sabra’s blood. It created a rage and kept him from shifting into any other animal besides a wolf. Isis, to tame the poison, tied Sabra and Nour to her, for she was the moon goddess. Nour became Sabra’s guardian and if Sabra ever lost control, Isis gave Nour the power to stop his brother. (This is where I’m going to try to incorporate the silver vulnerability) Isis recognized the power that the two brothers had due to their abilities and made them vulnerable to one of the celestial metals, silver. When Sabra was sick and fevered with Apep’s poison, he was restrained using silver. Isis also tied a vulnerability to silver to Nour. So, shifters and lycans can be killed with the metal.

            Only Sabra, who is the lycan, is more tied to the moon and its cycles. Lycans can be born and made (because of Apep’s poison), but shifters can only be born of other shifters. Both beings were born from the blood of Sekhmet. This is my first try at an origin story. What do you think?