The Thanatos Prophecy #1 [Rewritten As The Shroud Of Sharayar]

Night XXI

Night XXI
Blinded by Reality

Shifting in his seat slightly, the Pharaoh leaned on his arm, calmly listening as Mahad tried to explain Anubis' crazy tale to him.

"...and then she brought him here," the redheaded male finished finally, "At least, that's the short version."

Exchanging glances with his advisor, Amenophis held his chin in thought, finally shifting from his now uncomfortable position.

"I see..." he nodded, brown hair swishing back and forth slightly with the movement.

"That does appear to be rather problematic," the ruler continued, eyebrows furrowed deeply.

"Yeah," Anubis agreed tensely, wondering what his opinion was on the matter.

The man seemed to size up the Aegean with his powerful gaze, tilting his head as if to determine whether to believe it as truth or not.

If worse came to worst, he'd probably end up bursting into laughter in his own unusual humor as he ordered the servants to slice off his head.

Anubis happened to prefer his head on a lot.

While Anubis may not have shown it upon his discovery by those taxmen, he did want to stay alive, as long as it was within possible reach.

It was under unavoidable circumstances that would cause him to simply accept his own fate; such as the law, for example.

A bad habit that he had cultivated over the years. Countless failures led him to believe that all good things would come to an end eventually. Anything that could go wrong most likely would.

It was the reality that life had imprinted on his world.

Which made it so difficult to predict whatever it was that their present company was thinking, whether civil or not.

Anubis wasn't sure what to think about the Aeiytian Pharaoh. Yes, the man had helped them a lot. From solving his debt feud to healing his fatal injury, it all seemed to form a sort of ploy to get them to trust him.

Something that Mahad most likely would have seen, if he wasn't too busy idolizing him.

The Pharaoh acted too nice. Far too friendly with the group in order to extract something from them.

The question was: what was it?

"You say that you were attacked by a member of the Shahzaman?" Amenophis questioned seriously, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, well- that's what I was told..." Anubis confirmed, nodding slightly.

That name again...

"Is that so? Is there any reason why that group would want you dead, of all things?" he interrogated.

"I don't know," Anubis shook his head, "I mean, I don't think I've done anything to deserve being targeted."

The Pharaoh leaned forward in interest.

"Really?" he asked skeptically, "Any sort of personal background that you may have with them?"

"...No," the black haired male tried to think of anything that linked him to them.

"Say Anubis..." Amenophis thought aloud as he glanced up at the golden chandelier.

"Yes?"

"What is your last name, anyway?" the leader of Aeiytia queried pointedly, giving him a calculating gaze.