The Flower of Anubis

Chapter I : The Graveyard Shift

| >>•<< London , England >>•<< |

Mina stared down into the street from her window. The rain was coming down hard in London. The wind rattled the old glass. "That's him?" she asked, voice heavy with exhaustion and husky in sound.

"Yes," came the dark yet calm growl of a voice - Anubis' voice.

"Okay," Mina said. She looked back into the darkness of her apartment, the figure of Anubis staring at her from the edge of her bed. His long snout lifted up slightly, sniffing the air.

"His death is near," the Egyptian god announced.

Mina looked away from him and down into the street once more. The man she had seen walking down below had turned left and around the corner. A flash of lightning lit up the sky. She looked towards the dark clouds, eyes hard and chest swelling with anxiety. She closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing.

One . . .

Two . . .

Three . . .

BANG!

Mina opened her eyes at the sound, the awful sound that she could never truly get used to. She stared down into the street again, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"His soul is ready," Anubis declared.

Mina looked back at Anubis, a hard look in her eyes. She wiped the tear from her cheek, staring at the black form of the anthropomorphized jackal. She nodded.

She stepped forward then, opening her arms slightly at her sides, fists tight and ready. "Go on," she permitted.

Anubis stood.

The feeling was something that Mina would never be completely accustomed too. It felt like heat and ice cold all at once; life and death coming together into her body. She clenched her teeth hard, feeling the form of Anubis suck down into her entire being. She opened her eyes, feeling numb.

"Walk," Anubis ordered.

Mina did as she was told. She walked forward calmly, the world around her now black and gold and shadowy. She stepped out of her apartment door, the halls dark and lifeless. She was on the other side. She looked down at her feet, her black flats that came from Anubis' ceremonial robes soaked in the water that filled the halls.

She closed her eyes, concentrating on an image of her gliding through the floors. When she opened them she was on the ground level of the building. She stepped forward, walking through the doors and out into the night. It was always like this, cold and dark and shimmering in soft gold lights from the lanterns of the dead. There was always water on the ground too, the waters of the Nile River flowing into the after life.

As her feet waded through the ankle deep water, she listened for the always panicked sound.

The man ahead of her was freaking out, no doubt confused and terrified of why the world looked the way that it did.

"Stop," Anubis' voice said from within Mina's head.

She did as she was ordered, watching as the man fell out into the street in front of her, the black water sloshing around him. He whimpered and got back up, looking around. He froze as he saw Mina, eyes wide and afraid at the sight of her.

She stepped forward, dressed in black and gold silks, a gold and black crown wrapped around her head with a pair of jackal ears pointed sharp on each side of the band. She looked at the man, calm and collected. She held her hand out. "Do not be afraid, human," she said, speaking for Anubis. "We will guide you through the Duat."