Page 23 of Enslaved by Anubis

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Anubis

I can’t really bringmyself to sleep just yet. I’m surprised how quickly Zanika got there; she must have been tired. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing right now. I cannot remember a time in my life when I have been more confused. It’s like there are two personalities in me, one is Neb-en-khata, the strong and pure Dhaarrir who has excelled in just about everything he has undertaken; and then there’s Anubis, the completely fake character created in order to further control an inferior race. But when I’m Anubis, I feel alive! I feel like everything that I have thought is dirty and impure is actually not so. If anything, it’s amazing.

I look down at this human sleeping calmly on my chest. The lovely scent of her hair, the little freckles on her cheeks, the personality inside of her, and I wonder whether it is we, the Dhaarrir, who are the ones in the wrong.

Sure, human society on Yoria is pretty fucked up. You only have to go back less than a week and this chamber was filled with instruments of sexual torture. However, aren’t we responsible for that as well? To an extent, we created this world. Everything that they do here, everything that is a part of their culture, is derived from us. I don’t know what their society was like before we came here, but I know that we introduced the pharaoh, the gods. We made up stories that encouraged them to work hard and be obedient. We made it so questioning any of these stories would make you a heretic, which is punishable by death. Who is to say the Dhaarrir would not be savages like this if we were manipulated that way?

In Zanika, I am not seeing the things that I was taught about humans. I do not see a selfish monster incapable of controlling her actions and emotions. If anything, she is better at controlling herself than I am. She is a good communicator, and I, a supposedly more advanced being, enjoy her company immensely. Sure, at first, I just craved her body more than I have ever craved anything in my entire life, but now, I feel like I actually want to get to know her more. I find her personality interesting and exciting. She sees things in such different ways to me. Even this, as an example,cuddling, I think she called it. I have never embraced anyone before in this manner, but something about it makes me feel good inside. It feels comforting to have someone so close.

Despite my mind racing, it doesn’t take me very long to get sleepy. I think it must already be getting close to midnight. Instinctively, I pull Zanika into me tighter. The warmth radiates from her to my own body and makes me feel content. I don’t know what is happening, or what I’m doing, but I know that I don’t want this to stop.

* * *

“Are you really a god?”Zanika asks, head still resting on my chest.

I open my eyes and, squinting, realize that it is already light outside. It takes me a moment to register what she has asked, but at last, I’m able to answer her, “Define ‘god,’” I reply, still in an early-morning haze. I look down at her, her beautiful, naked body wrapped around mine, but she seems pensive, although I’m not that great at reading human faces yet, so I could be way off.

“In the usual way,” she answers with a little smile.

I didn’t expect to have this conversation first thing in the morning, but it’s understandable that she’s curious, considering what we talked about yesterday. Telling her who I really am would be an egregious violation of my posting. On the other hand, I have already egregiously violated the rules of my posting, twice. Somehow, down here, my real life feels so far away. I have this craving to share things with her, to talk to her about my real life. I’m aware that it is not a prudent thing to do, but I also wonder what the issue is. Even if I did tell her, it’s not like she could do anything about it. The humans’ technology is so rudimentary that they must be at least another three thousand years away from any kind of weapons systems that could threaten us, and by then, who knows what our technology will look like. I decide to give in to my base urges. In a couple of weeks, I will be back in my old life, and this will be a warm but distant memory.

“Well, in that case, not really.”

She looks at me blankly and I continue, “I suppose you could consider me a god on the basis of the technological advancements of my species. The things that I am capable of with our technology would essentially seem like magic in your world. You would have no reference point to even begin to understand most of the core concepts of the machines we use.”

“Who is—we?” she asks, a little bewildered.

I find that I am kind of enjoying opening her mind to the truth of her existence, and I get on a bit of a roll. “Like I alluded to yesterday, the gods that you grew up with are not real. Ra, Horus, Seth, Isis, none of these are real beings. However, you are correct to believe in a higher governing entity. Essentially, your world is run, or maybe a better word would be supervised, by my species. Anubis, the lord of the dead, as you call him, was created in our own image. I think a few of the other gods were made to look like us as well, but over the decades, you humans and your wild imaginations changed up a lot of the gods to look much different to what they were designed to. We can guide you, but we can’t control everything you do, of course.”

“Are you making fun of me?” Zanika says as she gets up into a sitting position leaving me to feel the absence of her body against mine.

“Not at all. I am telling you the truth—the real truth that no other humans are aware of, in its entirety at least. I would never make fun of you, Zanika.”

“But you, Anubis, a living god, are telling me that gods don’t exist. What are you if not a god? Where do you come from?”

“Okay, so this may be the most shocking part for you. Yoria is not the only planet that has life on it. In fact, Yoria has had life for the least amount of time of the four planets in our galaxy that are known to have intelligent life on them. There may be others that we have not found yet. The galaxy is a big place.”

“You mean—you come from the stars?”

“In a matter of speaking, yes, but the stars are actually suns. There are billions of stars in the universe, and each sun has planets, like this one, revolving around them. If you looked at the sun from millions of cubits away, it would also look like the stars you see in the night sky.”

After a long pause, Zanika turns to me, almost excitedly, and says, “So, you’re telling me that… none of the gods are real, you’re not a god, and there are other planets, just like this one, with other beings on them, beings like you, and you’re able to travel through the blackness to other planets?”

“Yeah, that’s about right. I hope this isn’t too much for you. I understand how learning these things can be—”

“Too much!?” she exclaims, eyes sparkling. “I need to know more! Please, tell me everything you know. This is the most incredible thing I have ever heard in my life. You’re telling me that everything I have been taught since I was a child is basically wrong. I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to start.”

“You’re not upset?” I ask, surprised by her reaction to this revelatory information.

“Upset? No. Well, I’m shocked, absolutely, maybe even a little scared. But more than anything, I’m excited. To think that I had the luck to be here at this time and place when you were here as well. An actual traveler from the stars. I’ve always dreamed that there might be other worlds out there, and you are confirming this to me. I can’t thank you enough for telling me all of this, but I have so many questions.”

“Well, we’ve got some time. You should probably go to work at some point, though. I don’t want the other humans suspecting anything. I have to keep order.”

“Yes, yes, I will go in a moment, but first can you tell me more about your world, what it’s like on another planet?”

Her excitement is almost contagious, and as she nestles herself back into my arms, almost giddy with glee, I begin telling her about Dhaarria.

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