Beyond Death: (Open)

[Pinky_Rose]

The edge of light was fading in the mortal world...this world that had, through faith, through legend, through chance, given him life. And within the inkling of darkness that now spread through, in the sky, on the earth, nestled amongst the nooks and crannies within this world that had once held his worshipers...came the one they once held as the God of the Afterlife. Typically, the immortal came to this place to ferry away those who deserved his kindness...He had seen so many fall in the eons of this world's passing...He had witnessed countless wars, endless violence, suffering, hatred, murder, sins, and most of all...selfishness.

But the dead were beyond those things, once they came to his grasp. All that they had done could not be rewritten...only judged. Before them he had held his scales, and balanced their hearts against the weight of Order. If their blackened hearts were too heavy a burden, they were cast into the endless abyss...It was his duty only to relay the agony these mortals had strewn, not to pass their sentence.
That fell upon something even greater. It was not his concern.

The Nile God had become more and more busy as of these late decades. This world had become infested with creatures that gods had fought for eons...demons. They were not a new species to him--they perhaps changed forms and functions, but in the end, they were still the same. In the times where he had been a great God, worshiped and reveled by mortals of this planet, he had fought off their like to keep them from the dead, to keep them from devouring the innocent souls...perhaps the not-so-innocent were less likely to receive a hand from him, but that was their own doing, not his.
Even in the time where the great kingdom that had sustained their way of life had fallen, other gods had risen to fight them...those who were housed in the halls of Valhalla...the beings who dwelled in the rivers and the skies....the mighty one, whose Avatars showed mortals of benevolence and kindness...and even he who commanded the angels; they had all shared the common foe of demonic sort...

None of them had ever been successful in weeding them out entirely. Humans provided them so easy a target, that it was a wonder why the laws prevented the gods from protecting them from their ilk entirely...
But it was not his place to say. That law was out of his claws. He could do little about it, even in his own pantheon, few considered what he had to say. He was no longer the God of the Dead, but merely akin to that of Thanatos.
Quietly, he blamed his father for his treachery. He also scorned the idea of the fallen angel, who dared to house these monstrous demons in his domain, with no interference...save perhaps the warrior Danté...but he too was long gone...

Anubis did not often loathe his line of work. Each soul, every spirit, was treated with the utmost kindness...for who could solace the dead once they had passed with cold cruelty and lack of fondness? Not even the gods could be so cruel, and death was not always eternal.
So forgiving was the eternal cycle at some points that he would oft see the same souls over and over again. They would recognize him, and this gave him comfort...many of them he had seen embalmed and returned to the Underworld several times. Others had chosen to remain in the Underworld, in the kingdom of his father, where they were happy and lived eternity as the spirits of the departed...
The Egyptian God was particularly fond of these spirits. They, like him, more often than not realized that eternity could be used to benefit others. They studied together, spoke often, mingled, discussed different ideals and situations, and because of this, became wiser with every passing moment of the clock...And often, Anubis would confide in these persons. They were, after all, his only friends.

But there was an issue now.

Osiris's kingdom was becoming gorged on these spirits. They were too many in number, and these demons did not allow the populace to grow enough to send all of them back...either here in this dimension, or in others. Death was a stench that no realm could ever cleanse, but recently, it had become all too pungent for Anubis to bear. He was used to death...but even he considered this too overwhelming.
But what could he do? He was after all, a God of the Afterlife. Mortal affairs were not his specialty. Those who had been charged with such duties...were careless. They no longer loved the mortals. They no longer believed in them, simply because they did not believe in the gods. Anubis could understand this...he had been forgotten long ago...but his sense of duty rung too strong for him to simply ignore the facts.

These demons had to be stopped. The mortals were not strong enough...and Anubis himself sensed a great change in the scales: Ma'at, Order, was becoming weak here in this dimension....as well as an eclipse that was bound to overshadow all others in its wake. 
With this in mind, the Jackal-Headed God had cast himself out of the Underworld of Ma'at--the world of the dead where those who believed in the old Nile gods rested in peace--and left his post. If he continued to sit idle, if he kept on the path of sheer duty...the world which the great gods resided would end. It was not easy, to forge a new world...and Anubis was fond of the mortals, despite their flaws.

It was because of this that he took the shape of one now; a young man, filthy but well, making his way across the desert sands to a tiny villa in Egypt, cloaked in nothing but a simple jumpsuit and the cover of night. To the eyes of a mortal, he held no weapons...but to a god, they would have seen the Scales and the Spear of M'ta floating diligently beside him, ethereal to the eyes of those with such little time to spare.
Glancing around, the youth approached the outskirts, unaware of what he might find here in this little gathering of humans...he was omnipresent, but not omnipotent.

"Hello? Anybody home?"

((I like this character already...There's a whole slew of mythology references if you feel like looking, and I am having an interesting time trying to tie in the lore of these different religions with that of the site lore. Anubis is also a lot more reflective and introspective than Rosse, which is nice, because I like putting some variety into who I RP....doing the same thing over and over for seven years is boring.))

[Riley Oran]

The town was nothing too impressive. Small, remote, and perhaps at first glance deserted. The immediate outskirts of the city were whipped by sand and wood-rot, buildings rife with decay and damage. However, none of it was caused by the Amaranth. They largely avoided towns such as this. They were, after all, conquerors. Inconsequential territories never drew their eye or ire without provocation, and even then only those that were guilty of 'opposition' were killed. It was not so indiscriminate as believed, but this was mainly due to lack of communication from the outside world. It is not to say that civilians had not ever been put into the Amaranth cross-hairs, but it was hardly common. The outside world, though, never saw this.

They were too busy fumbling through a lack of communication, and worried about causality statistics from big cities. Little towns like this were overlooked not just by the Amaranth, but the rest of the world as well. Beyond that, no Amaranth had yet pushed this far. The Americans still were waiting in Isreal, with forces extending all the way back into Cairo. No, the Amaranth forces had not yet come this far. But they would be coming soon. Walking into this seemingly dead, deserted town would reveal much more life only a dozen or so yards past the battered exterior. Buildings that were almost new in appearance showed clear signs of habitation, yet all the bustle was focused towards the center of the town, where an unseemly mass of humans had gathered around something that was clearly not.

They shouted angry words and yelled at the thing, hanging upside down from the lamppost while people struck at it with poles, bats, and other blunt instruments. It was strung up by a coil of thick, brown rope, swaying with each hit against it's sturdy body. No damage was being done to the being by these humans and their instruments. That much was clear. It simply hung upside down, it's silver skin and blue, patchy fur hidden mostly beneath the fastenings. The creature;s head was in clear view, however. It was an elongated mouth, like a muzzle of sorts like one a lizard might have. However there were no scales upon the creature, just a thick and leathery hide that seemed to shine like a dull blade in the desert sun. The people jeered at the creature, mocking it with great malice as it was blown by a gentle wind, still almost as though it were dead.

This could not be farther from the truth. The creature, named Golluk, was merely sleeping. A powerful Amaranth, the battery of these humans proved more than ineffective. In a strange way, being assaulted by them was almost relaxing. So, it simply laid still, it's intentions unclear to all but itself, allowing nature to run it's course.

[Pinky_Rose]

Anubis could hear the rabble long before he approached it...simply because he did not assume his true form, did not mean that he was entirely deaf, or had such qualities of hearing that any normal mortal might. The Nile God followed the sounds of shouting and blunt strikes to the center of the little villa, where the immortal gazed upon the strange creature hanging like a pinata. If the situation were not so brutal, perhaps the God of the Afterlife would have been amused...but all in all, he detested unnecessary violence. 

No, it was no demon, that much was certain...Anubis knew the look of one when he saw it, and although this being contained features of their kind, he recognized it as an Amaranth. Cocking a hoary brow to the unresponsiveness of the beastly being, the immortal watched as the humans continued to take out their emotions on it. The scent of rage and despair was palpable, as it should have been...Anubis had not been amongst the humans in some long while, showing up only when the few who still believed in the old gods died...But he knew of the atrocities that had occurred within the realm he had once held sway upon. 

These Amaranth were as much a plague upon his precious Earth as the demons of long ago had been...but demons were, for the large majority, rather stupid and brutish. The Amaranth...were not. They were well-organized and could think for themselves. They were stronger, faster, and more potent than the fragility of the human race...and it showed.
Clicking his tongue, Anubis shook his head. If they would have only given the old gods the affection and recognition they craved, through prayers, through sacrifices...they would have been happy to aid the mortals. But alas...no attention meant no favor...

The God of the Afterlife didn't particular care for that law, but it was as it had always been--gods who were given no recognition were deemed unable to meddle directly in the affairs of mortals--when the Gods of Egypt had been discarded, the Gods of Greece rose. When those Gods had been cast away, those of Rome came to power...and when they fell...the singular came into power...and there power remained.

But Anubis was not a creature without pity, even to the invading forces of the Amaranth. They were keeping the balance, albeit rather poorly, often overdoing it on the slaying of humans...He could do as he wished with these mortals...he could have easily become their champion against these monsters, slaying them all without remorse, protecting them from their cruelty...But he was a god of those who had passed. That had always been his place. That...was his destiny.

And so, passive as he had been through the eons of his life, Anubis quietly observed the ongoing demonstration...waiting and ready should the moment come that he was required.

[Riley Oran]

A few more moments passed of these mortals pounding away at the silver, almost-reptilian thing that hung from the pole, before it yawned loudly, smacking it's jaws and revealing rows of sharp, hungry teeth. This may have caused some of the people to recoil slightly, while others began to prepare for fleeing. A few had simply had enough and walked away in a hurry, cringing at the sounds of flesh being ripped away that hadn't actually come about yet. The creature surveyed it's surroundings curiously, as the "thwack" of a bat hit it upside the head, it's eye twitching slightly.

Imagine a fly buzzing about one's head, landing on one's ear only to fly away as the attempt is made to smash it. That would describe Golluk was experiencing to a T right this very moment. He huffed, snarled, and snapped his bindings all in the same instant. He flipped in the air and landed at his feet and the entire crowd seemed to pulse outward in a single moment, a fearful silence replacing the vulgar language of before. In the front of the crowd was the person holding the bat. A small child with his skin darkened from genes and the sun, staring fearfully and teary-eyed at the predatory beast as it locked onto him and advanced.

Golluck's true height was nothing to gawk at. The ropes had been wrapped around him in a fetal position, making him appear much short and wider than he actually was. He was a very skinny creature to be sure, built like a bird of prey with his hands and feet being large and clawed with razor-sharp talons. With his full form revealed, it was clear it wore no clothing, yet had no discernible genitalia. It's body was largely scar-less, but upon it's back and near the tops of it's shoulder blades were two, large scars. If one could hazard a guess, it looked as though his wings had been clipped. The large creature menacingly advance towards the child who immediately began to cower. The crowd split away from the boy while one man, and one woman rushed towards him, wrapping there arms around him and shielding them as they all three trembled.

Golluk pressed himself into them, towering above them. His height placed him at least five feet above them in their kneeling positions-- he seemed a tall, lanky giant. A loud huff came from it's nostrils, the holes flexing from consternation as the creature reached down towards the boy, plucking the bat from his hands as he desperately grabbed after it, only restrained by his parent's prying fingers. He held the bat high into the air, as if brandishing a trophy and flexed his palm, snapping it without even squeezing. The two severed halves dropped down to either side of him, and for a moment more he glared at the trio.

Then he tore his eyes away from them, staring out over the crowd and judging them harshly. "الجبناء مثير للشفقة (Pathetic Cowards)." These words were spoken with horrifying indifference. He had told them all what they were, but then looked to the three that shook before him, now shaking slightly less. They were the exception to his statement, They knew it, too, just the way his eyes validated them. He walked around them and forced the crowd to part like some old miracle, with bodies of blood and water allowing him passage without incident. He walked through the crowd and headed towards the town's outskirts.

He had a report to make.

[Pinky_Rose]

Anubis was half puzzled, half pleased that this beast had decided to spare the little family...although, it was perhaps more along the reason that they were considered beneath him, rather than anything else. The Nile God was not particularly unfamiliar to such a point of view...although ages of humility had taught him that humans, though fragile and frail, were capable of immense power if they had the will to do so. They were a sturdy, capable race, albeit rather stupid at points...they were adaptable and cunning, strongwilled and undeterred from the inevitable future that lay before them. There were the scattered few who spread the maliciousness of humanity with their presence...but all in all, Anubis admired the human race for what it was as a whole.

After all, it was the fertility of their imagination that had set things into motion for him to exist, was it not? True though he'd been born in the same way as any other being, it was the belief of these feeble creatures that had propelled him into godhood. It was their admiration and dedication that had elevated his family, for better or for worse, into their status.
How could Anubis hate them? He had grown fond of the humans, despite everything. Their spirits lingered in his father's kingdom, where he spent time with them, learned of them, and shared the afterlife, eternity, with them. In life, some of them were too foolish to understand things...but in death, the God of the Afterlife could see how much wisdom and kindness the human race was capable of.

But death was a privilege. It was given once the mortals had passed through sufficient trials to reach it. Some were granted it early, through circumstance, or through fate...
This war was causing too much of it...and Anubis was growing weary of it.

And so when the bodies passed to make room for the Amaranth, it was Anubis who stood in his path, arms crossed, violet eyes staring unimpressed at the sheer mass of the creature looming in front of him.
"وفقط حيث تظن وأنت تسير?" He questioned. And...just where do you think you're going?
It was more of a dare, than anything else. The God was more than aware he was at a fraction of his true power...but it would be ample enough to ensure that this little mortal received a proper lesson to take back to his superiors.

Of course...his return back to the mortal world had come at a price. His father Osiris had forbidden it. Horus, the God-King, had even threatened that should Anubis go through with it, he could not return to the lands of the Egyptian Gods ever again. Isis had warned him that even a lone God could not hope to save humanity from this threat. Even Thoth, whom Anubis held great respect for, told him it would be an impossible act without the full range of his abilities...
And how he had tried to rally the others--the Norse, the Hindu, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Hawaiian, the Celtic--all of them too blind to understand the weight that humanity carried! None of them would lend their support...many of them too bitter towards the mistakes that the old had made, forgetting them, forsaking them, to see beyond it.

They worried too much about the Law. They fussed and fretted over Cain. Anubis snorted, audibly, at the thought. High and haughty Cain, sitting on his throne, thinking that his so-called order had repaired everything. Had the other gods simply risen off their rear ends, their dimension would have known peace--again, Anubis had called for such an event to take place, but the offended had argued otherwise for their own selfish reasons. That had allowed the interloper to take what wasn't his, in Anubis's view--mortals were not meant to overachieve the gods.
Certainly, they could gain rites to becoming one of their number; the Greeks and Romans were fond of that method, though the occurrences were rather rare. Still, Anubis disliked the idea that Cain ruled over them all with supreme power...and that there was very little that could be done about it.

And so if he did break protocol? The Nile God was tired of watching and waiting for others to do right. The Land of the Dead, not just for the Gods of Egypt, but all gods of all pantheons, was overflowing with the dead from this bloody era. Not even Thanatos, Hel, Kali, and Anubis could ferry all these souls to be reborn. Even for a God, keeping up with the backwash was too much to handle...and it was against their protocol to simply leave them there to wander...wandering spirits often became malignant over time, causing even more chaos.
This had been, Anubis knew for certain, the bloodiest and most destructive war that Earth had ever seen. He was certain after the Second, or even Third World War, that he would never see such destruction of humanity ever again.

How he longed to have been right...

It did not make Anubis any less a god to have given up his position as the God of the Afterlife...but the title had carried privileges that he would not longer have access to. The Nile God was aware of this, but it meant little to him--attachments were weakness in times like these. He would mourn the loss of his former life once the present had been kept calm again.

But his mind focused on the current situation. His weapons were poised should this foolish foot soldier find means to dare and strike at him, although it was more than likely he would try and flee...to which, the God mused, it would be prompt to follow him. There was more to be gained by keeping him alive, rather than sending him back to the eternal cycle prematurely. There was a dual purpose in publicly defying the Amaranth as well--to spark a flame of hope, even so far back in the world as this little villa--perhaps it would inspire humanity to rise against the odds as their battle against Apep and Set had done so long ago.

"تأتي بعد ذلك، إذا كان لديك العصب." Anubis challenged, balking at the creature's courage. He was not a fighter lest it be for the sake of protecting humanity...and although he detested violence, now, here, was as good a place to begin as any other. First he would teach this Amaranth the meaning of suffering...and then, he would move on.

For if humanity should fall, so too would the gods they had inadvertently given life to through their imagination, through their worship. Every piece, every remnant of what they had stood for, gave them purpose, gave them power...and without humanity...there were no gods of Earth.
Their destinies were forever linked. Perhaps the other Gods had severed their ties...

But Anubis would not.

[Riley Oran]

Golluk was not very prone to anger or displays of aggression, save for specific instances where they were warranted or when he felt it would be necessary to make a point. As far as Amaranth go, their scouts weren't exactly smarter than the average Amaranth, they had merely been trained to think differently. And why wouldn't they have been? The typical Amaranth, as a rule, was aggressive and greatly enjoyed conquest. Not battle, but victory and vindication above all else. Heated arguments were yet one other way these same feelings could be achieved. Intelligence gathering was yet another.

Unlike spying on other Amaranth factions as he had been trained to do though, he was scouting ahead. The conquest of this planet was a cause worth unifying for, as it expanded Orion's mighty empire into a whole new plane. She greeted the challenge with fervor and her generals followed her example, lending their armies from their various regions to the war effort but at the tip of the spear, here before even the invasion began, were the scouts. Ten years, and the same scouts had been here the whole time. Depending on the Amaranth, ten years was little more than a nusiance to spend waiting, though the scouts were far from idle. In his time here Golluk had traveled all over the world and learned several human languages.

He had no set mission, exactly. Scouting was a broad objective, requiring a broad sweep of information at first. Military might was a given, and he'd often revisit an area two or three times to get a better feel of it. But beyond that was a feel for the people in any given location. People were a part of conquest by it's nature. Humans were an unpredictable sort, that was for sure. The Amaranth weren't much better, but by the same token they were also simply superior. In nearly every respect the Amaranth were better. Even the weakest Amaranth could give the strongest human hell. The difference in power was immense. In terms of mental capacity, they seemed to be about as smart as one another and feel roughly the same emotions.

But in terms of when or how often, that varied though he conceded it was possibly a societal concern. He was no expert. He was merely task to bring data, not process it, though when information is in one's possession very seldom does one ask no questions. On the subject of humans, despite his great strength he was not a warrior. His conquering instinct was focused on dominating the secret battlefield, not the real one and he had already cast his judgement that this town was no threat or concern and should be avoided to prevent future dissent when they were finally assimilated into the empire. That is why, when he heard a voice from a small man in front he was tempted to ignore it. "مفارق برحيل (Departing)," came the reply. His Arabic was, admittedly, imperfect.

With that, he nodded to the little human that expressed it's courage, and walked around it as it strode away from the town. Even as the man called him a coward as he walked away, he offered no response. His job was not to demonstrate his strength. These humans were not yet part of their society. Even if attacked by them, only the things called bullets did any real harm. Even then, it was like a stinging insect unleashing it's fury, rather than a lethal projectile that it was unto them. Golluk had seen enough, and it was time to report. The flame of hope this individual had hoped to spark had already been lit. An entire family in his grasp, under his thumb. And he ignored them, and called out the ones that left them to die.

While yet this foolish human would yet tempt his wrath and bring further harm to the village? How horribly arrogant. Even if he was, somehow, someway strong enough to fight Golluk the others clearly were not, and if a threat existed in this village his first priority would be to escape and report it. That would mean the Amaranth military would blow through this town, and if given proper cause rend it from existence. Likely, the boy was not omnipotent and had no way to know. Indeed, attachments were weaknesses in times like this. Golluk had already learned that fewer were more dangerous than the bond one forged with personal pride.

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