I only knew her for the yearly slain;
and wept and weep until she comes again

Once upon a time, the world had been a very different place. Rife with struggles of utilizing the land and the raw materials around them, people were very different. Their life spans shorter, their work completed harder, and there were a variety of barriers that these people had to break through, allowing the brick framework to tumble down shamelessly as they placed people of color in power, women aggressively worked for equality, and countries were deemed inferior if their barriers weren't broken. But these barriers had existed for centuries, millennium â€" all of time, really. There were barricades against innovation â€" this was, indeed, an older world compared to the one we know now. However, who is to say that it's more progressive? Women may be able to have careers and jobs, but they do not compare to the fierce queens and priestesses of the old world. The soldiers and militaries now do not have the spine and skeletal framework of the ancient armies of true warriors. As if some secret to all of this was lost in the ages, women's place in the world faltered. Perhaps this is merely my opinion, ,considering the source of all of my beliefs in the first place.

From Egypt, my beloved home, I was raised from a line of Priestesses. Don't think average, now. Think on a grander scale, one where these priestesses were entrusted to keep their civilization safe. These fantastical women were aggressive, authoritative, dominant, and most importantly? Effective. Their tasks were completed with an efficiency that the Council of Sacrosanct should study in order to improve their own efficacy. While I have and have never had any intention of enlightening the council of their ravaging stupidity â€" it does me well to think of the tremendous aid I provided to my home before. There's always a "before". There's always an after. Before the collapse, before the war. After being discovered, after being freed, after rebirth. See? There is always a before and after. And they're both incredibly important â€" maybe more important than the now. With Alexander standing sentry beside me, I was allowed to bask in the hazy swirl of the Before, before when my mother's dark hunter name for me befell her lips. When my name was chanted when I made my first kill. These things were far more important than eyes remaining locked on the 'prey' Alexander and I had both been given.

"Well, Alexander the Third, it surely is a pleasure," I replied, acknowledging the grandeur of his name with a nod of my head. The gentile way he regarded me allowed my lips to curl upwards at the corners, hinting at a knowing smile behind a guarded exterior. His title was impressive, and to my Gods who I have never abandoned â€" I would be lying if I said I didn't remember it. Because the striking man had come to my home before with his reputation ravaging a path before him. My opinions on what he was as a human would never leave my lips; what business did I have caring about the civilizations he and his band of brutes conquered? It was far more interesting understanding that he, too, would understand the divide of the before, after, and the now.

The now wasn't something I was continuously worried about. Immortality struck me as fickle, and that perhaps I wouldn't find my end in this city and time would go on and on and on with me stuck in it's folds and wrinkles. Would that be such a terrible, terrible accident? Either fate?

"I am Anubis Anuket of the Kingdom of Upper Egypt," I introduced myself, allowing the accent that has wriggled away over time to dispel in its entirety through my words. "High Priestess to the Pharaoh," I added, touching my lips with a finger as if lost in thought. "You came through my kingdom, before though I doubt this is any surprise to you," I began, looking towards the pair of targets as they slipped away from us in the cover of night. "I had no intention of dealing with them, anyway. Meeting an old man like you strikes me as a far better use of my time."


Anubis Anuket