Tree of Wishes

The Doggone Mystery: An Anubis Perspective

One time, Eddie asked, "Do you prefer bein' a human or a dog?"

I answered, "Dog, obviously. Being human is sad and complicated."

"Ha! You've got that right."

That's why I don't get why the tree gave me this power. It doesn't feel like it belongs to me. More like I stole someone else's body and molded it into my own. If the tree wanted me to talk to people, couldn't it have left it at that?

When I brought this up with Cypress, he said, "The tree acts on a mere whim. At best, it's a benevolent deity, but at worst, it's a sadistic monster. There's nothing that can be done about it, and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we can move on."

Yeah, it's pretty bad when even the head honcho isn't singing its praises. Then again, I think Cypress would be the 'Lawful Neutral' type. I learned that from playing paper games with Eddie. I like when I roll high numbers.

"You're supposed to play this with a group, but we can use NPCs to cover that for now," Eddie said. He then grinned with that impish vibe of his. "Maybe you can get some of your canine friends to come over for some poker."

"I don't have dog friends," I said while doodling on the back of my character sheet. It was supposed to be a cool dragon barbarian, but it looked more like a newt wearing cardboard. Drawing with paws is hard.

"Really? Guess I'll have to take you to a park sometime. Do ya at least have a type?"

"I like calm ones, especially if they're smart."

"Daaamn. Those are some high standards for a dog."

I stuck my tongue out at him. I wasn't really worried about dog friends since I had plenty of human friends. Human friends are better anyway since they give you pets and treats, so I would have been fine without one. Or so I thought.

One sunny afternoon, a boy came to the gate not with offering, but a question.

"Um... excuse me," he said while fidgeting with his red t-shirt, his curly, brown bangs falling over his equally brown eyes. "What do I need to give to uh... learn how to talk to dogs?"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that," Cypress kindly explained. "While the power granted is based on the offering, there's no guarantee it will be the power you wanted."

The boy's head sunk lower from having his hopes crushed, and my nose could pick up on the salty tears he was holding back. Something was really bothering him. Cypress left to resume what he was doing, but I couldn't walk away that easily.

"Do you need help with a dog?" I asked as I approached in my usual dog body. "If the tree can't do anything, maybe I can."

The boy perked up when he spotted me, and when he realized I was talking to him, his attitude pulled a 180 as he shouted with glee, "Woah! A talking dog! This is perfect!" He then kneeled down to my level, his eyes sparkling with hope once more. "Can you really help me, boy?"

I nodded, wagging my tail with confidence. "Of course! Just tell me what to do!"

"Yay! Thank you!" he said as he pulled me into a hug, and I could tell how experienced he was from how well he handled me. He was a good kid.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar imp groaning in the distance. "Are you seriously going to waste your time helping this kid?"

I popped out of the hug to gaze up at the source. It was Eddie hanging on top of the wall like a cat, being a total jerk for no reason.

Annoyed by his attitude, I said, "Yeah. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," he replied. "If he had powers anyway. If he's a normal human, he can deal with his own problems."