American Mage Werewolf In Ghost Shipyard

[Ouroboros General]

Anubis was waiting at the docks of the ghost shipyard, as the strange note that he had received had instructed. He stood at the edge of the dock in the dead of night, peering into the endless depths of the river with his cane propped up to his right. He had been there for over an hour now, and it was freezing. The Special Armani suit that he always wore barely protecting him from the cold. Being a dignified gentleman though, he made sure that his facial expression and body language never betrayed his discomfort.

Anubis brushed back his short hair with his hand, a nervous gesture meant to comfort. Sighing he looked at the Topaz ring that he wore on his left ring finger and asked it "How long do these things usually take anyway? Master Darkriver knows I hate waiting." Anubis glanced at the note he was holding in his right hand. "In fact this note barely says anything...just that the old man recomended me to some school and that I should wait here for someone to pick me up. But why does the old man even want me to go in the first place? I already graduated college after all. What do you think?" The gem gleamed for a moment as a hoarse voice came from the ring.

"You expect ME to know? Why the hell should I even care! I HATE that old man...if he hadnt given you those petty trinkets I would still be feeding on....chicken...lamb...pork...and the sweetest meat of all...human WOMEN! I must feed! You must release me! I promise I wont go out of control! I can be a good boy!"

Shaking his head, Anubis shoved his hand in his pocket. "If your just going to whine I suppose youll just have to be alone for a few days more. Hmmm....I think someones coming." Anubis waited as the ship pulled in front of him.

[demonfire]

The boat pulled up to the dock, however, its sleek Egyptian design didn't seem to fit in with the generic feel of the lake. The ebony gloss of the boat caught and hoarded what little light could squeeze its way through the mist. The oars moved with ghostly monotony as the dead men rowing them ceased and stopped the boat. The "men" (if they could be called that) ranged from humans, to jackal men, and beyond in the undead spectrum. Scorpions, maggots, cobras, and other unwanted creatures crawled through the collapsing corpses as they went on with work from some unknown master. The mast came down, anchors were thrown, and ropes were tied down to metal objects protruding from the dock. A gangplank came across to the pier as the undead entourage began to line up as if making a way for a king.

A man came up from below deck in a slow and paced manner. His face was concealed with a helmet that was of Anubian design. It came down to his shoulders, and seemed to be of the same hungry black color that the boat was. The eye holes were covered with a crimson filter, completely obscuring any hopes of recognizing the man's face. His exposed and tanned upper body was covered in tattoos. Some were random lines and others of creatures: scorpions, locusts, snakes, and other pestilent creatures. He was well built. The tattoo man showed a lifetime of work, pains, and struggles through his other tattoos--scars over his body.

His lower-half was covered by a fiercely crimson robe bottom that seemed to be folded on top of itself. It was gilded with a rich gold color that seemed as if it were pure gold itself. On one side it was held together by a simple piece of apparent jewelry that was of the ebony black this man was apparently so fond of.

All in all, his entrance was grand. A dignified, royal air seemed to surround him, coupled with an air of chills, mourning, and death. As the man crossed the gangplank to Anubis, the only noise made from him was the muffled breathing underneath the helmet, and the soft thud of his bare feet upon the wooden surface. He approached Viktor, and when he was within arm's length, the man abruptly stopped dead in his tracks. The man just stared at the mage, and registering everything he saw, heard, and smelled about the boy.

[Ouroboros General]

Viktor Krieg's face betrayed nothing to the strange man with the anubian mask. All it showed was the same thing it had shown ever since he had been kicked out of the family. A pleasant smile, Milky Blue eyes empty of any emotion, and an aura of completely false harmlessness. And that was Anubis's greatest weapon. Noone would think that he, with his skinny height, armani suit, cane in his hands, and harmless facade, would pose any threat to anyone. How wrong they would be. Of course part of the reason for this facade was so that he would be able to avoid confrontation.

While the man in the mask studied him, Anubis did the same to him and his strange egyptian-era ship. If Anubis had to guess, he would say that the man was also a Lycan. He had met enough Lycans over his years as a detective to know the feel of them. Further speculation would surmise that (unlike Anubis himself) he was in harmony with the bestial side of his nature. Anubis envied those Lycans that were just one person. He had the unfortunate luck for his beast to become an violent brutal thing completely unlike his true nature...or perhaps it was just the side of Viktor that was more....primal. In either case Viktor knew he must never again try to embrace his beast. He had tried numerous times and every time he had tried... people had died. And so he used the cane and ring, to lock the other side of him away.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Anubis grabbed his cane and flipped it over his shoulder with his left arm. He extended his right arm for the masked man to shake. Still wearing his own smiling mask he then said "Hello. I asume you are the one who is supposed to take me to the Academey. My true name is Viktor Krieg...but I prefer the name Anubis. Not to impose good sir...but...exactly who are you and why was I accepted?"

[demonfire]

The necromancer grabbed Anubis's hand firmly and shook it. His voice seemed to fade in, although it was not just his own. Higher and lower pitches seemed to resonate under the surface of the strange necromancer's tone, "I am Anpu. I will be your Master Teacher at this school." Anpu seemed threatening and harmless; hostile and pacified at the same time. He was a physically eccentric lycan. From just the stench of him, one could smell that stench of raw flesh, as if Anpu had just finished eating.

"You've been accepted here because you show promise with your strengths," he said, with his multi-vocal voice as strange as always. "And to help harness some of your weaknesses," Anpu said, as if one could tell that he was looking at Anubis dead in the eyes.

[Ouroboros General]

Shaking Anpu's hand firmly, Anubis cocked his head to one side. Finally showing a different reaction then mere pleasantness. Once he let go of Anpu's hand he placed his cane firmly on the ground, holding the intricately carved wolf's head handle with both hands. "Weaknesses? As far as magic is concerned Im fairly competant. Perhaps not as strong as some but I do know the basics and I excell in electrical magic..."

Viktor's head snapped up in realization. Two seagulls started fighting over a fish not three feet away from them. Viktor looked at them, appreciating the irony. "Oh I see....you mean THAT. Harnessing...him..." Anubis sighed and his smiling mask sobered into a mealancholy expression. "Im not enteriely sure im up to that master... As you probably know I try to avoid confrontations...especially with myself."

[demonfire]

Anpu let go of Anubis's hand, "Peace gives us rest, pain and suffering create us. The dead know many a tale about wasted experiences because of a fear of confrontation." He obviously seemed to coerce with his semi-living crew, maybe a bit too much. "You must be hungry after a long journey," Anpu said as he snapped his fingers. Some of the crew men scurry-limped down below the decks of the boat, after which they returned with a meal that didn't seem appealing to most, but to Anpu it seemed to be quite a delicacy. The meat of the rabbit seemed to be freshly caught, but it looked, smelled and was completely raw. Anpu had his reasons for giving Anubis raw meat, believe it or not.

[Ouroboros General]

Anubis stared at the undead crewmen holding the plate of dead rabbit that was offered to him. In certain restaurants this had happened to him before...back when he was not disinheirited. Except that it usually been lobster or sirloin steak instead of rabbit and instead of zombies it had been normal human waiters. Not that the rabbit was without its charms, in fact it looked highly appetizing, mouthwatering even. But Anubis knew these thoughts were not his.

Sudenly the topaz ring on Anubis's left hand glowed fiercely and the rough, uneducated voice shouted out RABBIT! A juicy, juicy rabbit for me to feast upon. Let me out, I Neeeeeed it....let me out, let me out!" Anubis' eye twitched at the unwanted response. Viktor mumbled something in latin, and instantly the ring returned to normal, and remained silent. He had not had to do something like that for quite some time...Anpu was more informed then one would think.

"Sorry to dissapoint...but if your trying to make me lose control youll have to do better then an uncooked rabbit, Master Anpu."

[demonfire]

"You'll do well," Anpu said, "But I myself am hungry." Anpu took off the Anubian helmet with a fluid movement of his arm, revealing a plain man of most likely Egyptian descent (but I guess you had a hunch on that one) with long, raven hair. He put the helmet underneath his left arm and grabbed the rabbit with his right. Anpu began to greedily dig into the meal that he had before him. His teeth seemed to outstretch into canine fangs, as if a slight transformation to a more bestial counterpart of the man.

Despite the speed and ferocity of his eating habits, their was relatively no mess besides the small splatters of blood on his lips and cheek that he wiped off. Bones dropped to the ground, some connected by leftover ligaments, and others crunched to pieces.

"I always get stuck with the wild ones. One almost killed himself when I showed him the meat while trying to contain it," he said as his teeth retracted to a normal state and so did his voice. Apparently, his helmet seemed to create the ghostly sound that was his previously assumed voice.

"Good to see you have some self control; although your little ring buddy--not so much," he said as a joke as if to alleviate the melancholy atmosphere.

[Ouroboros General]

Viktor couldnt help but laugh at that. "Ha Ha Ha... you have no idea how right you are. what do you think the ring is for? Certainly not a fashion statement. The idiot has been nothing but trouble ever since he woke up." Viktor's eyes bulged open, remembering the first night that he had been contacted by the "Beast" Not one of his favorite memories.

Sighing, Viktor scratched on one of the almost invisible runes on his cane, another nervous gesture. "If I had had a choice in the matter...he would have never existed in the first place. He is everything I am not. My antithesis if you will. And he gains complete control over this body should I ever allow myself to change form." The pleasant smile had returned as he continued "I know that some lycanthropes gain an advantage by accepting what they are...but there is just too much risk involved for me to ever try that. I hope you understand that."

[demonfire]

"Well, if you do insist..." Anpu said as he shrugged his shoulders and licked his fingers of any leftover morsels. "If any of us had a choice in our matters, we'd all be nothing," the lycan said, "Like I said earlier, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Anpu, seeing that his meal for now had been finished, slipped the Anubian mask back on.

"You can accept what you are without being engulfed by it," he said as his voice faded in and out of existence, coupled with the underlying tone of others'. From one of Anpu's scorpion tattoos came crawling out what looked to be a deathly black scorpion with cracks in its shell and other physical impediments. It crawled atop Anpu's shoulder, halfway 'out' of his body. The lycan whispered something to the creature, before it scurried off to the boat as fast as it could move itself.

[Ouroboros General]

Viktor whistled as the scorpion scuttled back to Anpu's ship. "Nice trick. A summoning spell worked into the tatoos on your body right? Impressive... I doubt even the man who gave me this ring could pull that off."

The corpses that had served Anpu the freshly caught rabbit were still kneeling, holding the plate, as still as statues. waiting for their master's next command no doubt. The two seaguls had wound up killing each other, the fish that started the argument flopping hastily back into the sea. Ah, you could almost taste the irony. Anubis then said "Um....what did you ask it to do anyway?"

[demonfire]

"I told it to ready the boat," Anpu said to Anubis. Anpu said something in a language that seemed Arabic in origin at the undead mean that had brought the rabbit, who began to run as fast as their dilapidated legs could take them to the boat. "You wanted to get to the school, correct? Or was I wrong?" Anpu sarcastically asked, which sounded as odd as a rock in a tree by the effects of the mask.

Anpu turned his back to Anubis and began to walk towards the sleek, greedily black boat. His feet made soft thuds that were eerily reminiscent of his entry to the docks of the self appointed proving grounds. Judging by his slow pace, he wanted Anubis to follow him, because it wasn't the best thing to do to leave your student on the docks.

[Ouroboros General]

Anubis still wore the pleasant mask even after the sarcastic remark. Somewhere inside of him the "Beast" growled in anger. Flipping his cane off the ground and onto his shoulder, Anubis followed Anpu into the ancient ship. Inside of which were the jackal men, zombies, and human servants rowing the boat as a zombie beat a drum.

Anubis snickered. "Like to do things old school huh? Where the hell did you get all these followers in the first place. Judging by the zombies id say you were a necromancer...but that still doesnt explain the other crewmen and why they are so....how shall I put this...dedicated." ((sorry for shortness)

[demonfire]

"Some that fear the stomach of Ammit come to seek to forestall judgment, so they bargain with me," Anpu said, "And I just fill the empty seats with some zombies." The dead scorpion that had delivered the news to ready the boat found Anpu once again. It acted as if it hadn't seen the man in ages, and while exuding ecstatic emotions, climbed into Anpu the same way it had climbed out of him. One of the small scorpion tattoos seemed to gain more color out of the rejoining of the two.

And as if nothing had happened and the scorpion was as natural as the air itself, Anpu continued talking, "They work, and they have seven years to redeem themselves in the eyes of Ma'at."

[Ouroboros General]

Viktor winced slightly as Anpu explained the true nature of his students. As they both walked into the bowls of the gigantic ship, Anubis put 2 and 2 together. "Some that fear the stomach of Ammit come to seek to forestall judgment, so they bargain with me...... "They work, and they have seven years to redeem themselves in the eyes of Ma'at."

Viktor remembered his eygptian mythology class back in college. Ma'at was the egyptian goddess of truth and justice. It was said that (the real) anubis would take a feather from her headress, and measure a persons soul with the scales of justice. if the soul was heavier then the feather...they were fed to a monster known as Ammit which literaly meant "Devourer." Although some of the mythology he had read stated that sometimes Anubis would make deals with the guilty...but then that would mean... The mortal once known as Viktor Krieg shivered in fear as he realized who his master really was.

Suddenly Viktor stopped walking, holding out his hands he then said "Wait Wait Wait. Let me get this straight. I know Anpu is just another name for Anubis, the egyptian god of the dead...but you cant mean that your the real...and that these people are....what the hell are you?"