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Anubis is meant to be the god of funerals, among other things.
As the previous Guardian of the Overgrown, they have more than enough experience with them.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Anubis was born on the surface.
They had no memories of their father and barely any of their mother, not that they minded. Anubis had never needed much. They were content with being in the Overworld sun. Plants seemed to thrive in their presence. If they concentrated, Anubis could’ve sworn they heard tiny voices calling out to them by a different name. But they’d never spent enough time around them to really figure out if it was real or not, and the voices were too warbled and faint to understand. They had found their Guardian, but she could not hear them.
Osiris told them Nephthys was their mother, and he claimed she had left Anubis with him and Isis so they would never know their father.
Anubis thought she just got tired of their strangeness.
Newborn gods tended to be very scattered until they got their domains. So many possibilities, so much power, so many domains pulling at them until they chose. They tended to do reckless things until they settled.
Anubis had always been a quiet child. A bit too quiet sometimes, a bit too odd. When they were young, sometimes they’d find themselves crying over nothing. You held a deep sadness in your heart, Isis told them. For whom, however, I do not know.
They didn’t know either. But they felt like there was something they were forgetting, something that would explain everything. Everybody told them they were imagining things, but Anubis didn’t think they could imagine the hole in their heart and in their memories, like a story without a beginning. Like a queen without an empire.
Isis and Osiris were both surprised when Anubis became the god of funerals, of death. When prompted, both admitted with your propensity for plants, we thought you’d become a god of nature. Anubis understood. Only she knew how fitting the title was. People used to call rulers gods, until they watched her plan their funerals. Losing everyone and everything she loved and leaving wasn’t that different to making a funeral to herself.
When Osiris left Anubis in charge of the Hall of Ma’at, they felt the responsibility fall on their shoulders like a familiar weight. They promised themselves to guard the Hall until Osiris came back. She would not fail again.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Centuries passed- or maybe only days? No, the coming and going of lost souls searching for judgement proved that time passed outside the Duat. The repetitive motions of caring for the Hall and for Ammit the Devourer were the only things Anubis could be sure about. They couldn’t control when Osiris came back, or the judgement of the souls, or the slow deterioration of the Hall, or the destruction of her empire, or the deaths of her friends, bodies shrouded and buried in the soil but they could do their best nonetheless. The days always followed the same pattern, blending together. To die was to cease growth, to remain unchanged. Of course the afterlife would be the same.
Or so Anubis thought. Until the day a small green vine crawled its way into the Hall through a crack in the wall.
It's not breaking anything, they thought. So they let it stay. She missed taking care of living things.
From the vine grew a flower, a bright pink colour with white stigma. Compared to the decaying Hall, it was a burst of colour and life they hadn’t even realized they missed.
The flower kept growing. The vine kept expanding. More vines and ivy extended over the Hall, flowers and foliage beginning to bring life back into a world Anubis had forgotten could be so beautiful. The god began removing weeds, rerooting plants, and collecting herbs. The process was second nature to them, something tied to their very soul. She’d done it so many times it was as natural as breathing.
It took a while for them to realize it, but slowly the places where the foliage grew didn’t seem so random. Cracks were stuffed full of flowers, ivy stabilised pillars, even the grass that had begun to grow covered loose flooring. Even with the scales, there had been an unsuccessful attempt to keep them together.
For a god of death, Anubis had never felt so alive.
The first flower that had grown in the Hall was larger now, almost twice the size of their jackal form. Pollen floated from it, augmenting the growth of the garden that had made its home in the Hall of Judgement. The parts of Ammit’s small body that were furry often found themselves covered in the stuff.
Osiris probably won’t like this, Anubis thought, as they watched a massive lily begin to grow on the throne.
They couldn’t bring themself to care. It felt petty, but Anubis was angry that they’d been left behind. Every Empire she passed was an empire where she’d find another friend who’d left her behind. It wasn’t fair. They’d done everything Osiris asked of them- they just weren’t enough to save her empire to keep the Hall running.
Their head throbbed. The flower had grown again.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Anubis watered a group of small dandelions, careful not to drown them. They had adjusted to the new soil pretty well.
The god turned to water the next patch when they heard voices. Not dead voices- someone alive is approaching.
Transforming, Anubis approached the voices, their paws silent against the grassy floors. The lake’s mist concealed them.
“... this place is a lot more colourful than I remember.” An older sounding voice was saying. Anubis could smell the cat fur on her, immediately recognizing Bast. They bared their teeth.
There were two others with her- both smelling quite familiar: Isis? And… Horus? What?
“Stay alert,” Bast stopped. “They’re close.” She must’ve smelled them.
““Who?” a younger, painfully familiar voice asked. Her voice made Anubis’ head throb.
They were going to approach more amicably when they heard Bast answer.
“The Dog.”
Excuse me? They snarled, jumping out from their hiding spot in the mist onto Bast.
She rolled around before racing off, yowling. Typical, Anubis growled.
They transformed again, thin black fur becoming dark skin as they took on a human form.
“I am not a dog,” Anubis said as they turned to Bast’s two companions- and froze. The girl spoke up, bewildered.
“Katherine?”
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
‘The Spring has spoken to you.”
'The discovery of this land makes you Guardian of the Overgrown.’
ঌৡঌৡঌৡঌৡঌ
“The Overgrown…The flowers… they’re all burnt.”
“Goodbye flower forest. I really did try my best.”
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Their ears rang, and they sank to the floor gently, sitting on the grass. Anubis let out a soft sound, like the air had been sucked out of their unnecessary lungs.
Someone shook their shoulder, muffled noises that they were unable to comprehend.
My people… they must have survived.
“-rine!”
The Overgrown… it came looking for me.
“Kath-”
my kingdom… How did I forget all of this?
“Anubis!”
They snapped back into focus, jolting at the feel of someone’s hand on their arms. Anubis looked forwards, shocked by a pair of dark blue eyes.
“Are you back with us?” Pearl asked, though she did not look exactly like the Pearl that Anubis had known. Her hair looked straightened, but the coloured streaks she favoured had remained. Instead of bright blue, her eyes had deepened into a darker shade. She looked younger and some small features looked different. Her large golden wings were missing- but if Anubis looked closer they could see small golden feathers beginning to grow out of her tanned cheeks like freckles.
Noticing she was waiting for an answer, Anubis cleared their throat. “Ye- Uhm. Yes. I’m back.”
Pearl grinned and offered a hand to help them up. Leaning on her, Anubis looked to the boy who’d arrived with her.
“Pix! You’re here too!” The boy’s face twisted into a smile, but his eyes were indecipherable. He looked younger, just like Pearl. They looked similar now. Carter’s skin was darker, his curly hair cut short. Compared to his past self, he wasn't that different. Both of their clothes looked strange- they were unfamiliar with them in this life and the last.
“Hey Katherine. It’s… been a while.”
Anubis looked at the two in what felt like awe. It had been so long since they’d seen either of them- Pix had gone missing months before… and Pearl had died.
They pushed off Pearl’s shoulder to steady themselves. “How are you both even here? How did we even get here? The last thing I remember in my… first life? Is leaving the Empires.”
Pearl and Pix shared a look. “We don’t know either.” Pix began. “We started remembering after an… incident with our father in a museum. There’s a mission we’re on, and we need the feather of truth. “
Anubis focused on the first part. “Your father? As in both of you?”
“Yep.” Pearl said. “We were reborn in this world as siblings. Did that happen to you too?”
Something similar, they told her. Except they weren’t born a mortal.
Pearl then stared at them assessingly. Even with the darker colour, her eyes were just as bright as they’d ever been as they crinkled in a smile.
“What’s your name now? I’m Sadie. He’s called Carter.”
“Anubis.”
“Like the Egyptian God?” P- Carter asked.
They looked at him with a mischievous look in their eyes. “You just saw me turn into a jackal and attack Bast.” Carter laughed, sheepish.
Finally, they remembered what Pe- Sadie had asked for earlier. “You need the feather of truth? For what?”
The two quickly summarized the events, including their father becoming the host of Osiris (?), them being hosts of Horus and Isis, the House of Life being after them, and Set being released and planning to turn the entire world into a desert (?! “Why didn’t you start with that?”).
Anubis sighed, extending their palm. In a flash of light, the feather of truth floated over it, glowing faintly.
“Normally, I would begin a series of three questions to prove your honesty.” Anubis winked. “But I think I know you both well enough.” They passed it to Sadie and she closed her fist, making it disappear. “Just be sure to return it.”
The two looked saddened. “You’re not coming with us?”
Anubis looked longingly back at the Hall. “I wish I could. But I swore to guard this Hall until Osiris returned.” They bitterly stared at their feet. “I already failed once. I can’t fail this time too.”
Carter looked like he wanted to object to that, but Sadie gave him a warning look.
“Okay. Will we see you again?” She asked, eyes shining. Anubis realized that for as much as they had missed their friends, their friends must’ve also missed them. All of them had spent a long time without memories- and if Sadie and Carter had reincarnated, that meant the others must have as well.
They smiled at her, “Of course. The moment Osiris comes back, I’m taking a long overdue vacation.”
Carter laughed. “We can go search for the others together.”
“I’d like that.”
Suddenly nervous, Anubis quickly leaned over to wrap their arms around their necks, eyes watering. They’d missed them and everyone else so much- even through their lack of memories, that empty feeling had never faded. Being lonely after losing so many friends felt worse than being lonely and never knowing anything different. After a long while, they let go.
“I’ll see you soon.”
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Anubis watched Sadie and Carter leave, waving back to them. Turning to the Hall of Judgement, they approached the first flower that had bloomed.
They brushed their fingers softly against its petals, inhaling the sweet perfume it radiated, and listened.
“Hello! ”
“Hi, Hi!”
“Hello!”
“Guardian!”
Anubis smiled as voices began filling up the room, all the words they’d been unable to hear before now as clear as a still lake.
A shadow suddenly passed over their face, and they leaned in to whisper “I don’t deserve to be your Guardian again.”
Something moved within the crack that the Overgrown had used to enter the afterlife. Slowly, a vine pulled something through- a book.
Anubis opened it, throat tightening at the words written inside.
It wasn’t your fault.
It’s alright.
You’ll always be deserving.
We chose you.
Hundreds of pages of words, written over the course of the thousands of years Anubis had been in the Duat as the Overgrown rooted itself in the earth until They reached Their Guardian.
Anubis cradled the book, and their heart felt lighter.