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8
Anubis
I’m notsure what that was. Something about the way that female looked made me react strangely. I felt a profound pity for the position that monster had put her in. I felt ashamed myself at seeing her like that. But I could not avert my gaze. Her smooth brown skin, deep brown eyes, and long curly hair had some kind of magical effect on me. It was as if I was in a trance. Once I had freed her, I could still not take my eyes off that beautiful face. I just had to touch it to see what it felt like.
I have never had such an impulse in my life before. I imagine that it has just been the long day of witnessing untold depravity that has put me into a strange state. I also do not relish taking the lives of numerous living beings, humans or not. I give my head a little shake and forget about the whole thing as I return to the business at hand.
I pick up the mask of the slain Anubis impersonator and march back into the palace. I see that no one has dared to move. I throw the bloody mask onto the floor in front of the bowing cult members. All six raise their heads slightly and see what I have presented to them. I bellow, “Anyone caught worshiping a false idol again will face the wrath of thereallord of the underworld.”
“Yes, my Lord,” all of the humans say, foreheads still pressed against the stone.
“Rise!” I command the females who are bowing to me all around the room.
The males in front of me raise their heads and I step forward angrily. “Not you, scum!” They quickly place their faces onto the ground, once again.
The females slowly lift their heads and rise up. I quickly count twelve clothed ones in chains, and eight naked and abused ones have now been freed from their horrible fate. I look back and see that the female from outside has followed me in. Her dress is ripped, and her hair covers half of her face, but she looks at me with an interested compassion. I have not seen this kind of emotion on a human’s face before. She looks at me as if I’m a long-lost friend. For some reason, my heart rate rises when I see her, and I, irrationally, feel like I can trust her, even though I know that she is just one of these savages as well, capable of all the horrors I have witnessed today. I just find it hard to believe when I look at her that she is no more than an empty shell. Logic triumphs over whatever these sensations are as I recognize that she can only be marginally different from the other humans. However, I do have a good feeling about her, and I need someone to organize the humans.
“You,” I say forcefully, pointing at the lone female I saved. “Come here,” I command.
She immediately walks over to me and kneels before me. “Yes, my Lord,” she says, looking down at my feet.
“Do you have experience working in a palace?”
“Yes, my Lord,” she answers.
“Good. I need you to get these females clothed and their medical needs seen to. After that, I want the palace returned to its former glory. Any remnants of the false idol’s reign should be removed and destroyed. Am I understood?”
“Yes, my Lord,” she says again, but this time slowly raises her eyes, meeting my gaze.
Our eyes link and it’s as if I can read her whole life story from her expression. I can tell that she has suffered much in this life.
I snap out of it again and say, “Good, get to work.”
She rises from her kneeling position and walks toward the group of females, but before I can stop myself, I have already said, “Wait, what is your name?”
She turns back, black hair flowing down her shoulders. “Zanika, my Lord,” she says and runs back to carry out my command. I see her kneel down by one of the more injured women and place a hand on hers. She has such tenderness towards her kind. Such a contrast to the brutality I have witnessed. The chained women pick up the key that has been dropped on the floor and start to uncuff themselves.
I turn to the males and finally command them up from their positions. “As for you. You will have to work for the forgiveness of your god.” None of them dares to look up at me, which makes me happy. Unfortunately, I can’t disembowel them like their leader. I will need them to complete my mission. I should not have really killed so many to begin with, but I was unable to contain my rage.
“We will start by rounding up the rest of your sort and bringing them back into line. Then we will clean up this city and wash it of the nightmare that you created. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, my Lord Anubis,” all of them say in one voice, as if rehearsed. I feel confident enough in my power over them that I order them to pick up their weapons and lead them out of the palace.
As we enter the gory husk of a city, I find myself still contemplating Zanika. Something about her just won’t leave my mind. I’m hoping that the next few days (if I am lucky enough to finish this first stage of my mission that quickly) will clear my head of all the ridiculous thoughts. I take my new team of pathetic deviants and head out to recruit the rest of them. Ra help anyone who dares to defyAnubis. I laugh.
