,,,(enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[You awaken. It is neither cold or hot. Bright or dim. Day or night.
There's a high-pitched whine, just at the edge of your hearing. You try and find it, but it fades. Like dew in sunlight.
The sky is only bright enough a shade of gray to disinguish itself from the slightly darker gray of the ground. You [[Sit up]], hoping to see... anything at all other than an endless, dusty field of gray.](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[You look around...
and around...
and around...
Nothing. Well, there is dust. And trees. And ground. And sky. But all of it gray-on-gray. It's like someone painted the most boring Dali picture in the history of everything. But at least the trees were interesting. Sparse as they were, they were twisty, mangled, reaching for a sun that refused to appear. Not enough color to be alive, but not enough wilt to be dead.
Beyond the tree you were studying, there appeared to be a crowd of people. Standing by a river that you also didn't seem to notice. You shake you head a bit, but. Maybe [[they|River 1]] knew something.](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[The closer you get, the more... transparent the crowd seemed. All of them. Shifting, living things (you //think//) with the opacity turned to about 80%. Maybe two dozen people, if you had to guess. Crowding. Mumbling. Complaining.
Seeing a couple of people ahead of them, you ready yourself to press through to the front. The hand you stretched out with just slips right through the first shoulder you reached for. Like expecting a wall, and falling through a curtian. The slight resistance on each of their forms before letting you slip though like butter helped even less. Whole new meaning to the word 'crowd-surfing'.
The semisolid crowd would have bothered you more if there wasn't also the two figures beyond the crowd. They looked... strange, to put it lightly. And they seemed to be trying to decide something or direct the crowd somewhere, but only ended up trading words and pointing. And then to see the only moderately-sized boat floating in the dock, and the mood of the crowd...
[[You wondered if you should even ask what was so clearly wrong.|River 2]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[The debate engrosed them fully. It must have been important to not notice someone walking up.
Now that you were past the crowd, you could get a better look at them...
To the left, was a tall, thin person no shorter than eight foot even. Cloaked and hooded in a black robe, dark as pitch and flowing like water, their face hidden in the even darker space in the hood. They leaned on a long, long oar like an old man on a walking stick, offering only wheezing and grunts and gurgles.
The only truly baffling thing was that you knew what he was saying anyway.
To your right, there was a young man closer to your height, dressed slightly more familiarly. Black hoodie, matching jeans, with just enough crinkle and fade on them that they were sharp, but not tacky... all sharply contrasted with only the barest lining gold-tone and yellow and royal blue.
If you were the type to say it... the man had drip.
Only out of place thing was the delacate claws on the tips of his fingers, the gray-on-dark-gray of his skin, and dog skull adorning the top half of his face.
[[They don't seem hostile, just lightly perturbed at the standstill they seemed to be parked in.|River 3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[The oarman grunted a long and languidly, waving a hand towards his boat.
A thin, bony hand. Even in the odd light, it was the most bleached thing you've ever seen.
"I know, I KNOW," huffed dogface, "But you just can't tell a crowd of spirits to wait somewhere //in Purgatory!// If they don't forget where they are and wander off and get lost or eaten, they'll peer into the river and think they see something and we'll loose them that way. We have ENOUGH problems right now without census going down in the wrong departments..."
The Oarman grunted dismissively, gesturing that his friend go do something.
"ME?!? Charon, buddy, I GUIDE spirits. Last time I guarded a spirit, it did NOT go well...
"... Oh, Hello..."
The tall man also greeted you briefly, a terse nod and little else.
You absently wave 'hello' and inhale to speak... then watched them immediately snap back to the argument.
"Listen, ashy-bones, just... just because I'm canine, doesn't... mean..."
As he trails off, they seem to have finally notice you standing there. [[They seemed stunned that you even walked up to them.|Choice 1]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[A little rude, but it probably couldn't be helped. Besides, you have their attention now. Would be a good time to ask a few questions, wouldn't it?
[[Who are you?|C1 A1]]
[[Where are we?|C1 A2]]
[[What's with all the people?|C1 A3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[With a bow, he replied, "Mon iel, this is my associate; Charon, Ferryman of the Dead."
The tall figure nodded to you again and gave a short, courteous grunt.
"And I am Anpu Hermin. But most know me as Anubis. Anubis-kun, if you're lucky~"
The dog, er, jackal-man takes your hand in theirs and gives it a gentle kiss.
"Oh, and no relation to the other 'Anu'. That's a long, LONG story."
Charon's hood shakes in a gurgling chuckle.
"Watch it, you: you still owe me obols from our last game of 'Jongs..."
The ferryman coughed himself back into silence.
You swallow a giggle, and try and think of something else you want to know...
[[Where are we?|C1 A2]]
[[What's with the crowd?|C1 A3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[They traded a short look, then turn back to you.
After a dramatic throat clearing, dogface replied, "The end of the beginning, and he beginning of the end. You, my dear, are in Puragatory. And as much as //we// should be asking why, I'm gonna let it slide for now..."
[[Who are you?|C1 A1]]
[[What's with the crowd?|C1 A3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[They both sighed. The oarman merely turned away, shaking his cloaked head. His companion takes you to the side and explains.
"We've been just the TINIEST bit backed-up as of late. Plagues and pandemics tend to do this sort of thing. Charon expects more trouble. I'm... I'm hopeful."
The wry smile on his face could only stay for a moment before being reclaimed by a blinking stare as he huffed on.
"There's already an order in... several orders, actually... for more and bigger boats and assistant ferrymen. I mean, it's what we did last time, right?... ... ... But we put those orders in months ago, though. Paperwork is just a little, uh, backed up is all. Before, I could just leave... now?
"On top of that, we're more-than-a-bit short-staffed at the moment. The Wraths and Guard-ghouls are awol, the Souleaters are extra hungry for some reason, and a disturbing amount of high-level personnel from our AND other departments are missing."
He brings you in close enough for you to smell the lingering bits of latte and tictac on his breath. Not that unpleasant, but not what you expected.
"You seem like you're, good at secrets. Listen, even the boss is missing. The. BOSS."
Anubis' hissing whisper gave you the impression that he simultaneously had been wanting to tell someone... and wanting to not tell someone.
"I'd tell my compatriot, but he doesn't take stress well..."
From far behind the both of you, a grunt sounds out a garbled "What are you two on about?"
"Nothing, NOTHING!" He yelled back to the ferryman. "ANYWAY, we can't leave these souls here, see. They need to get to the Underworld, ASAP, where they can at least get to a protected waiting area. But I also need to go get... the rest of //this// group. I have //one// assistant left. THAT'S it!
No matter how bright a soul is in life, death dulls their wits a bit and nothing is gonna keep them from... from..."
He walked off mid-rant, going on and on about census numbers and quotas, leaving you to think maybe he doesn't take stress well either.
You feel a little sorry to have dragged that out of him, but at least you know what's going on. Still, you feel like there's a simple solution sitting in plain sight...
[[Who are you?|C1 A1]]
[[Where are we?|C1 A2]]
[[Well... maybe I can help?|P1-1]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[If he had visible eyes, you feel like Charon would have narrowed them at you. He nodded over to Anubis, and they conviened a few steps away from you just as he did with you before. After a few minutes of hissing, whispering, and gestures, Anubis turns back to you.
"Okay, here's the deal; (text-style:"underline")[You don't belong here.] But you being here might come in handy. For as great as all out abilities are, we're confined to our tasks; Charon can only chart a river that technically doesn't exist, I can only hunt and gather the souls of the dead. You... You're mortal..."
There's a look of puzzlement on your face. "What's so special about being 'mortal'?"
"//Everything//. Here; take this obol," He purrs.
He removes a large, gold coin a little smaller than the surface of your palm from his jacket pocket and presses it into your hand. He coaxes your fingers to close around it, and a flush of cold runs up your arm then fades.
"Now... What was your idea?"
[[You know, he was talking about them wandering off, so why don't we just...|C2 B1]]
[[Well, the whole thing reminds you of a bus station. Maybe they need a line and mebbe an awning... ?|C2 B3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(set: $deathFade to (gradient: 0, 0,red, 0.5, black)) (background: $deathFade)+(text-color:#aab5a9)+(font:"Comic Neue")["I mean, if they're gonna run and get lost and junk, mebbe we should just..."
There were a few moments of silence. Anubis had to pick up his jaw after you opened your eyes again. Strange, you don't remember closing them...
"A box?" He gawped.
"What?" you ask dolefully.
"And how do we get them 'out'?"
You puzzle that for a few seconds... You walk up to the box, tap it a few times, feeling around a bit. It would seem that you made a soul-proof box with no doors. It's either genius, or some kind of fail.
Possibly both.
The oarman laughed long and loud, sounding like flowing water on river rocks.
Anubis looked more exhausted than amused. "Alright, alright," he said massaging non-existant brows on his face.
He summoned a lightly glowing, blue flail, reached up for the top of the box, and several golden tethers appeared along it legnth. With a swift motion, he pulled down the entire wall of the box.
Unfortunately, something they did not mention was that spirits have a bit of a thing for not being contained. The both of you could hardly hear Charon start to gurgle a 'w-wait-a-minute...', when...
They rushed forth, crowding and pushing. Panicked and hurried. Closer and closer to the river.
The River Styx has many legends. In most of them, it is said that it is made of death itself. Death, you came to find out in a second of panicked pushing and falling backward, that it felt like acid.
Instant. Burning. Death.
[[(Would you like to try that again?)|Start]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[... "I mean," you begin to mutter outloud, "Would be nice. A bit of fence, not too high. A tree or two, and some grass, to the side. Concrete sidewalk. Some string ropes in that stupid, winding, snaking pattern so that you think you're going somewhere... three... naw, four turnstyles, with a little space for them to filter into them. Four's a good number. And a ticket booth.
"And gravel a little past the turnstyles, to drain water, back into the river... And a small dock. Not that they need half of all that. But it's familiar... Just enough for them to know what to do without thinking. Just comforting enough to get them to stay."
You hadn't even noticed yourself closing your eyes. When you opened them, you saw what exactly whay you imagined, somehow sprung up, fully realized behind the three of you.
The souls even proceeded to line up between the ropes. They didn't even seem to notice how they could just float through it all. Just like you said, the familiar called to them and they arranged themselves nicely.
Charon gurgled a sigh of relief. Then moved to direct the now-lined-up masses.
"Well... interesting," Anubis purred.
As though lines and queues were something they had never heard of. [[Or hadn't seen in a while.|P1-2]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")["What's the rush?"
He wasn't quite pushing, but he did seem to want to get you... somewhere. With all haste. Almost immediately after you just apparated a boat/bus stop, somehow.
"Again: (text-style:"underline")[You. Don't. Belong. Here]," he said, low and terse. "You're alive. We're just lucky you're a human with... imagination. Rather than any other thoughts."
"It's not like I'm going to die or anything if I stay... ... ... Right?"
He doesn't answer that one. Just shudders his head, puffing a shivering breath and grimacing.
[[You didn't like the sound of that...|P1-2-2]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[Time moves funny when you're walking really, really fast on a plane of grey-on-grey. To Anubis, it seemed, there was a distinct 'this way' or 'that way'. Every once in a long and boring while, he'd stop dead, sniff the air, and drag you in what felt like a direct 90 degree angle left or right.
To you, there's nothing. No signs. Not a single distinct landmark.
Is it you, or is this the third time you've passed that tree?
And just how many of those chompy, black things are there...?
Perhaps boredom, curiosity, or just the pressing silence spurs it, but you can't help but want to... say something... ask something... anything...
[["So you're like... THE Anubis, right? Don't you just weigh hearts?"|C3-1]]
[["Not to be rude, but you are going really fast. Can we rest by the next tree?"|C3-2]]
[["... It's really that bad, isn't it?"|C3-3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")["That's earlier down the line. First they're gathered from the incident site, then judged and filtered, then moved in groups. Then they're ferried out to the appropiate layer of the afterlife. Then, as needed, souls are retrieved from these planes, blanked, then sent back for one reason or ano-"
He stopped and the lights he had for eyes narrowed. "Why am I telling you this?"
You think quickly... "Because I'm going to forget this anyway?"
There must have been too much 'cheese' and not enough 'earnest' in your smile... because he chuckled softly, sighed, and continued dragging you across the endless plane of nothingness.
"Heh... Humans. C'mon..."
[["Not to be rude, but you are going really fast. Can we rest by the next tree?"|C3-2]]
[["... It's really that bad, isn't it?"|C3-3]]
[[You continue walking without another word.|P1-4]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[Anubis sighed. "I don't see why not, nothing's found us yet..."
You're tempted to ask what that thing from before even was and what was it about to do to you... but you think better of it. You just need to rest your legs. You've never known anyone that could move that fast and not be running.
You slowly sink against the first barren tree you walk up to and close your eyes again.
This whole thing wouldn't be so bad if there was something... something to look at or even hear or see as you traveled. Grass. Bushes. Trees that didn't look like someone burned them in a coke oven. Leaves. Maybe flowers. Maybe fruits. Apples? No. Pears? No. Maybe a nice, sour pomegranate.
"Ahem."
You glanced up at your canine valet, his arms crossed and his face quizzical.
"I assume this is what you wanted?" He handed you a large, ripe pomegranate.
You shift to reach for it, and feel the soft texture of grass. Smell the blooming pollen of the now-leafy-and-healthy tree.
You suddenly remember the obol... "Oh. Sorry."
"None needed. Just... tell me when you're going to grow a forest, yeah?"
You smile, and take the pomegranate from his hand. With his hand he gently pressed you forward by the shoulder, away from the little biome you seemed to imagine out of nowhere.
Anubis's pace is still quick, but slightly slower now.
[["So you're like... THE Anubis, right? Don't you just weigh hearts?"|C3-1]]
[["... It's really that bad, isn't it?"|C3-3]]
[[You go along with it for as long as you can, but you just can't anymore. You have to know. You *have* to...|P2-1]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[Anubis stopped for a second.
Without looking at you, he spoke. "Imagine a very yummy looking pile of garbage. Every fly in the universe has been eyeing it up for months. Years. Eons.
"Imagine being charged with keeping that garbage pile JUST CLEAN ENOUGH to keep the flies away, but just dirty enough to protect and nourish the things living in the pile. So that the things in the pile can cleanse some of what makes it so garbage. Even if it's just by a microscopic amount."
His neck swiveled slowly towards you. "That is my job."
The twitch in his eye and the tone of his voice keeps you quiet for a long... long while.
[["So you're like... THE Anubis, right? Don't you just weigh hearts?"|C3-1]]
[["Not to be rude, but you are going really fast. Can we rest by the next tree?"|C3-2]]]
[[You continue walking without another word.|P1-4]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[In what could have been hours or minutes, you started to see a wall in the distance. Not a wall like a brick wall at the edge of some property, or a wall attached to a building. A wall. As though all of Purgatory were actually a room.
A wall, as you two approached it, bore a seam against the floor went infinitely left and right. When you tried to spy the ceiling, you'd catch a glimpse of it then it would vanish. Like some fleeting thing in the corner of your eye, but the top of your vision.
"It's there. It exists. You just don't need to //know// it exists."
Anubus caught you staring and squinting. You open your mouth to ask more and he continues...
"Listen, I don't mean to brag, but I helped design this place, so, sure, I'll pat my back on this one; It's not only bound to 3-dimensional space, it's also bound to the fourth dimension: time. It's just enough to keep a soul from escaping, but not enough to obliterate their minds from the mere sight of it.
This place used to be... wilder before we started building what little we could in it."
You just nod at this point. [[Who are you to question one of the death gods about their workspaces?|P1-5]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[When close enough to the wall, Anubis sniffs the air again.
He takes you left along the wall.
His pace is slower now. As he traces his right hand against the wall, you swear it sounds like drywall. Like a normal painted wall. Even though the wall itself looked like more of the grey-on-grey scenery that you're used to by now.
[[You follow him, staying quiet. For what reason, you're not sure.|P1-6]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[Exactly when he stopped, you couldn't tell. Well, you could; You did bump into him, after all. It was sudden, that's all you knew for sure.
"Mon ami~... Here."
He placed his hand more firmly against the wall. Flat, so that his fingertips and palm were spread. Anubis closed his eyes, and after some exhertion, the form of a door appeared, glowing, lines traced in intricate forms and glyphs. The glowing stopped as he stood back, arm at his side now.
At the center of the door was a large, circular indent. About the size of...
"And now," he nodded to you, "The Obol. Your... fee for entering. AND leaving."
You know that you have to give the coin to the door to leave, but... something makes you stop...
[["There... there must be some way I can help?"|C4-1]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")["You've helped enough, trust me."
"But all of the..."
"Goooo..."
"But-but-but, those monsters, they-"
"Go."
It seemed useless. It seemed to not matter if you //could// help. If there are more of those creatures from before, and they're dangerous to souls, who knows what they might do to a whole, //living// Mortal.
You turn to the door. As you hold the obol up to it, you feel that cold chill crawl up your arm one more time. It fits perfectly, then vanishes in a small flash of light. The door soon follows suit.
Turning around one more time, you catch Anubis's stern gaze. It then softens as he lets out a sigh and rolls his eyes a bit.
"IF you remember anything," he says calmly, "Tell those people up there to... to stop getting sick. Please? I mean, it can't possibly be that hard, can it?"
You get a faint set of memories and a flash of disgust in the back of your head... "... You'd be surprised, Sir."
You turn back around, walk through the doorway, and [[step into the darkness.|P1-7]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[First, you hear that high-pitched tone again. Low. Almost as if it were hiding under all the silence. Then it grew louder. And louder. It reminded you of a subway train, just barreling forward. Straight for you.
Where you thought the horizon behind the two of your was, you could see a black dot. Moving. Slowly growing, just as the sound of it did.
"Um... Anubis?"
"I know. Keep walking."
"Yeah but, what-"
"Keep. Walking."
As he dragged you along, the dot grew closer. And closer. At alarming speed. In an instant, it was upon you both, grinning with a mouth filled with a thousand needle-sharp teeth and dripping all over with a tar-colored ichor. Hungry. Greedy. Menacing.
Anubis struck, jumping in front of you, raking a glowing blue flail across the face of the thing. You fell backwards, catching sight of bright, blue-and-gold sparks flying from the impact.
You slowly... slowly look back at them. The strike seemed to capture the beast; wrapped in gold threads of light and teathered to the ground by multiple points. Held in place, mid-air. Barely.
He hoists you to your feet, minorly dusts you off and checks you, then continues to drag you toward... somewhere.
"That's why you have to go, by the way," he speaks through nashed teeth, only turning enough for you to catch his glance for a second.
You suddenly have no objections to leaving. [[At least, none about leaving this spot in particular.|P1-3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[The door shuts behind you.
You take a few steps... and then fall. And fall. And fall. Through miles and miles of dark. And somehow to almost nowhere at the same time.
The air went fuzzy almost immediately. Growing louder and louder, pressing in like suffocating heat of a muggy day, that sound. That almost-whirling, screeching, high-pitched squeal.
When you come to what you think is a stop, a singular eye gazes upon you. As gold as the obol you once held. The squeal stops as it fixes on you. All around, shadow shifting on shadow.
You immediately remember what you did. Your foolish bribe. You're surprised you're not struck down where you stand... er, float.
"(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[Very well done, little Mortal. Most amusing; for the entertainment, I shall spare you. But you lost our wager. Now it is time for you to go home...]
"(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[Unless...]"
[["I'm not done yet!"|C6-1]]
[["Send me home, Kaos. I know when I'm beat..."|C6-2]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")["(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[Stubborn, as usual,]" the chaos of the universe chuckled. "(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[Very well. Same as last time; your immediate memory wiped, your senses dulled for a short bit. Only a feeling that you must solve something. Your... charming personality will remain.]
"(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[You fail, you will lose the most precious memory you have. You win, well, perhaps we'll all win, won't we?]"
[["Agreed."|P1-E1]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")["(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[Very well. I was hoping we could play a bit more; you're one of the fun Mortals...]"
A large hand reaches out from the endless dark. Deftly, it taps your forehead, sending a wave of electric through you. You hope deeply that he takes nothing too precious...
"(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[I am finished. Trust me, it is nothing you shall miss. We must do this again sometime,]" He jeered.
[[And again, you fall.|P1-E2]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#594ef1)))(set: $wakeFade to (gradient: 0, 0,white, 0.2,grey, 0.5,black)) (background: $wakeFade)+(text-color:#aab5a9)+(font:"Comic Neue")["(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[Good, GOOD~ ... And perhaps things will be different next we meet...]"
However it happened in a void of endless nothing, Kaos had to yell over the rush of wind blowing you back.
You could feel everything rush out of your mind. Every memory, every thought. Last night's dinner. The exact amount of candles you lit that night. Your disappointment at things seeming not to work...
Purgatory. Charon. Anubis...
Anubis-kun... You hold on to that one for as long as you can, until...
...
[[Until... |Start]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(set: $wakeFade to (gradient: 0, 0,white, 0.2,grey, 0.5,black)) (background: $wakeFade)+(text-color:#aab5a9)+(font:"Comic Neue")[You fall you darkness and stars. You fall through clouds and light.
You fall...
through the roof of your house and into your bed.
With a gasp, you awaken. You scramble for your dream journal. The words flow like water. This was a good one, and you knew it...
And then... you stop.
You're a bit heartbroken that you can only remember up until you fixed the situation at the river. And even that was hazy. And those two at the river... Especially the short one. Anubis?
It had to be... It had... to be...
(text-colour:grey)+(text-style:"shadow")[Why? Why can't you remember more?]
[[(Start over?)|Start]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[You turn quickly, freeing yourself from his nudging, and hold the obol out before you. Before he could react, a wall of stone surrounded him.
"I'm sorry," you mutter, "But this is *my* dream, after all."
Or at least, you think it's a dream. In either use case, there was only one way to find out.
"... It's too dangerous!... Why would you even... They WILL find us, you know..."
[['I'm counting on it,' you think defiantly...|P2-2]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[You wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Anubis fell silent for a bit. Quite a bit, actually. It worried you, but not too much.
You concentrate on the obol again... the thick, stone walls of his prison raise about a foot higher. Just incase.
Just before you give up, you start to hear it again. That sound. Like nails on a chalkboard at about twenty octaves higher and a thousand miles an hour. Screaming in your direction, just as before.
[[There's also a sound like shifting dirt or sand. Like... digging?|P2-3]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(font:"Comic Neue")[A flash of light beneath you feet, and he was right beside you. You avoid the hole he made, but only just. All you see is flashes of gold and blue.
The obol provided you with shielding when called on, but not poise. The hits send you backward. You skid and land flat on your back.
"Why are humans so goddamned-"
The screeching. The squealing. They were almost upon you two. You could count three this time in your dazed view. You clamber to your feet and ready yourself...
Anubis sprinted toward you. He was at least a dozen yards away and closing, fast. [[But even his kind of speed couldn't stop what happened next.|P2-E]]](enchant:?Link, (text-color:#e7b279)+(hover-style:(text-color:#c6e8ff)))(set: $deathFade to (gradient: 0, 0,red, 0.5, black)) (background: $deathFade)+(text-color:#aab5a9)+(font:"Comic Neue")[For starters, you couldn't feel the obol anymore. You tried once. Twice. That familiar shock and chill of it working would not return to you. Was it drained? Wasted? Could it not be used against them...?
Suddenly... a streak of black and your outstretched hand was gone. Normally, somthing bites off your limb, there's usually blood. And maybe some pain. Here, there was... nothing.
Your other arm, your leg, you side. They ate in a clean, exquisite efficiency that would put piranahs to shame, leaving your head for last. And even as they got there you could feel your consciousness fade to only it's weakest, most simplest form. Like it needed it to stay... ... ...
(text-style:"italic","blur","fidget")[You were quite tasty. They said so. Different, you were.
Never had a (text-style:"expand")[''whole''] mortal before. Lots to eat. Plenty to feed on. Lots to grow with.
As you feel your thoughts join with theirs, you feel them consume some other being. It faintly felt important. But the sheer endulgence, the wave of pleasure from the meal overrode any regret or shame from eating the being.
Tasty. New. We should eat more... Eat.
More.
Eat.
EAT.]
[[(Nice try. But sometimes a dream is not a dream~)|Start]]]