Anubis [Egyptians]

AFTER THE GREAT FLOOD

Despite the Great Flood, the mystery of the Desert’s shifting sands lived on. The displaced Songhai in this region quickly banded together for survival. Over time, a being of mythical constitution emerged among them, ushering in an age of both prosperity and power. She would come to be known as Anubis.

As water washed over the world, Anubis awakened deep within a sacred tomb beneath the sands. It was said that this mausoleum had existed for millennia, submerged as a result of nature’s wrath. Centuries prior, The Creator incapacitated Anubis in the burial ground for eternity, citing her experimentation with death and the afterlife. The sanctity of the Great Flood had actuated all beings with divine connections. In that regard, Anubis was no different. In defiance of The Creator, she navigated the complex system of tunnels toward the surface.

When the waters finally abated, stranded Songhai roamed the sands. In search of resources, many lost their minds, their derangement enkindled by the fiery Desert. The days were scorching. The nights were numbing. As time went on, many derelicts experienced a hallucination in their dreams. Anubis’ shadowy figure visited their unconscious minds, taunting them with images of asylum and ambition. Those who awoke from these delusions began to feel followed by her presence as they traversed the barrens. They referred to her as “The Dream Protector.”

On their twenty-third day, the eldest surviving member fell into a trance and began to wander aimlessly. He murmured intricate descriptions of Anubis’ form, falling into repetition of a single phrase: “a bejeweled burial beneath a briny riverbank.” As the clan of Songhai’s dehydrated suffering only grew as time went on, they had no choice but to heed the old man’s word. He led the pack for three days. At the dawn of the fourth day, they ascended a towering dune. Below them ran a roaring river. Realizing it was not a mirage, they sprinted forward.

The old man did not drink. After a few brief moments, the group walked over to him. He was still repeating the same phrase, this time with great intensity. “A bejeweled burial beneath a briny riverbank.” He pointed at the ground below him. As the wanderers looked at each other with wide eyes, they assembled their sparse supplies and began excavating.

The party dug for two days until they unearthed the tip of a colossal pyramid-like structure. After a brief moment of pause, one Songhai man tapped the golden edifice with his shovel. The sunny world around them went dark. In seconds, the tip of the pyramid shattered with supernatural strength, sending them to the ground.

From the dusty debris, Anubis emerged, sunlight re-engulfing the sands. The Songhai band fell to their knees with praise and prayer. Their starvation subsided in her presence. She gazed upon them and uttered one word, “Follow.”

Anubis would lead them throughout the Desert, finding each lost member of their clan. Those who had perished were resurrected. Those who had lost their minds returned to consciousness. As their strength grew, the Ethereal Monarch brought them back to her luminous resting place. She tasked them with excavating it in its entirety.

Anubis’ pyramid became the foundation of Egyptian society. A limitless trove of treasures, foods, and medicines lay within its halls. From there, Anubis imparted her divine wisdom upon the stranded Songhai. They evolved in the harshness of the Desert, studying death, spirituality, and the sacred enigma of the world. Anubis led them with intellect and ire, leveraging their extraordinary power in negotiations with Bloodlines everywhere.