Anubis' Wish

Commission: Anubis' Wish (+18)

A lone jeep sped across the vast fields of the Sahara desert, with its tires kicking up the sand and creating a thick cloud of dust along the way. Although the ride itself turned out to be quite bumpy since the vehicle was driving up and down the sandy dunes instead of taking the smoothest and safest routes.

As it seems the jeep was going through a long journey, it began to slow down before stopping in front of a large, yet old stone building, which appeared to be an ancient temple. Two gigantic statues of humanoid jackals holding their cobra canes stood on guard next to the entrance of the temple. Even though the temple was built thousands of years ago, the structure remained intact like it was built recently.

The driver's door was opened before a man with a white keffiyeh scarf over his head, wearing a western-style desert clothing with a fleet jacket over it, and carrying a leather bag on his shoulder, rose up to take a look at the temple. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. The paper was actually some sort of a photograph of the identical ancient building.

"Yes, this is the place." Looking back to the temple, then at the photo one more time, Omar came to the conclusion that they both match, meaning he reached the place he was looking for.

Omar went back to the jeep to turn off the engine, leaving the headlights on to light up the entrance, before he stepped out of the vehicle and made his way to the temple. Although he noticed a chain was blocking the way, a yellow plate hung on the chain with a 'Keep Out' warning and what time the place will be open for tour, the funny thing was that there was not a single security guard to watch over the entrance. Therefore, Omar just ignored the warning as he stepped over the chains and entered the ancient temple.

Once inside, he took the scarf off his head, revealing his tanned complexion with buzzcut hair and a soul patch on his chin. 

The place was completely dark with no light source, which prompted Omar to bring out his flashlight. The young treasure hunter looked around and took a moment to gaze in awe at the hieroglyphs all over the walls of the temple, yet that wasn't the reason why he was here.

He took another piece of paper from his leather bag and unfolded it. It was a sketched plan of the entire complex of the temple with trail marks that lead to the center of the building. So he proceeded to follow the steps from the marked plan, walking through the darkest halls with his flashlight shining the way to his destination.

The walk didn't last long when Omar had reached the center of the temple, which appeared to be a courtyard. He looked up to watch the cloudless sky full of stars, as the moonlight shone upon the room, illuminating it well enough that he didn't need to use his flashlight anymore. In front of him, an obelisk stood tall over the walls of the temple. As he passed by the pillar, he found an imposing, yet ominous ceremonial altar; it was carved from dark stone with golden patterns, with two large jackal statues sitting between the altar. Atop the altar was a massive head of Anubis with a narrow snout and pointy ears with golden accents.

"That's it! That's the altar!" Omar exclaimed at his discovery, as he looked back up to see the moon inching closer to the tip of the obelisk from the angle he was watching. "I don't have too much time left, I better get started with it right now."

Then he hastily headed towards the altar.

He knelt in front of the block of stone, carved with more of logographic scripts, his eyes caught on to an opening which had the shape of an ankh, like there was a missing piece that needed to be placed there. In fact, as Omar reached into his bag, he took out an engraved golden cross with an embedded jewel stone in the middle.

Staring briefly at the treasure in his hand, wondering if he was holding the missing piece, he placed the ankh into the opening of the block. He stood up and backed away from the altar, waiting for a possible response and hoping that the piece was the right one.