Chapter 1: Anubis and Taiyou

The Glory of Alexander stretches far and wide, from the hills and plains of Makedon to the far reaches of the Hindu Kush of Baktria and reaching further beyond into the Indus valley. The far reaches of the Orient heard from traders and tales of travelers of a language so widely spoken and a world so vibrant that no one can simply ignore. As such, Heroes and explorers from the Orient traveled the Indian Ocean towards the far coast of a continent known as Africa.

The sun rose from the Eastern horizon, shining its ray down on the Earth below and guide the weary travelers in their journey across the Indian Ocean towards the mysteries of the African continent. Floating on the surface of the Indian Ocean was a wooden ship with three massive sets of sails on its deck, standing on the bowl of the deck was an anthropomorphic wolf with pristine white fur and intricate red runes on his face. He was dressed in a white male kimono used for traveling with a pair of red hakama trousers, though he didn't wear any footwear, instead opting for his bare feet.

He stood on the front of the ship surveying the near endless ocean in front of him as they moved ever closer to shore according to the maps provided by Arabs and Indian merchants. Soon enough, he saw the sight of land, the first thing that caught his attention was the golden sandy land of Kemet with some smoke columns rising up from a seaside settlement. As the massive Japanese vessel coming closer to shore, he saw a busy trade harbor emerging from the horizon with various ships from China, India, and various Arab merchant ships entering and exiting ports, perhaps sailing to Arabia Magna and Arabia Felix.

There was however one figure sticking out from the harbor structure, a dark figure with two pointy ears protruding upward from his head. His fur was black as night with an ashen horse to match his appearance. The equine seems to have a dark fur with a golden mane on its head, there were also golden veins on its sides and Eye of Horus symbols painted in gold on its hips.

His appearance was decidedly canid with a canine head and long muzzle and two amber eyes looking at the ship. His humanoid torso was covered in a gold armor with sapphire scales like midsection just below his exposed pectoral sections. The deity was holding a piece of paper in his canine like paws, the paper was written in Japanese Kanji characters which translated into his native Hieratic writing.

Dear Anubis,

My old friend, the world has changed and no longer can we be the frogs at the bottom of the well. My son is now leaving Nippon, from my blessing and that of his father, and bound for Kemet. You know the lands of the far West better than I do. Therefore, I need you to keep my son safe for you are the only one I would trust.

Yours truly,

Amaterasu, Origin of all that is Good and Mother to us all.

P.S.

Sometimes I wish the full title wasn't necessary. Everyone outside of Nippon knows I'm just the sun goddess of Nippon, not some 'origin of all' as if I created the world.

P.S.S.

Take good care of him. He means well, but he can be impulsive, as many gods his age are. Please pull him out of harm's way when you feel it may be beyond him. He is by no means weak, but he has difficulty realizing his limits at times.

Anubis looked up from the letter at the approaching Japanese ship as his horse stood on the dock as he waited for the crews to tie the vessel to the dock before a rampart was dropped from the ship's deck to allow the important passenger to disembark from the ship. "So you must be the boy I'm saddled with?" Anubis asked Chibiterasu as he was coming down the rampart with a booming male voice filled with sarcastic nature. "I am Anubis, Egyptian God of the Afterlife, Patron of the Dead and Judge of the Duat." Said the Jackal deity to the white wolf with red mark on his face.

"Yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you, Sir Anubis," the white wolf bowed politely. "Mother told me much about you, and that I will be in your care for the time being. Oh, and where are my manners, I am...well...I WAS called Chibiterasu when I was a child, Chibi to my friends, but as I grew older, I felt it better to take a more...proper name for a god." he said awkwardly.

"Really now? Fitting as you grow older a new title is required." Said Anubis in a stoic tone at the young wolf god's behavior.

"That is correct. As for the name I chose, you may call me Taiyou," he said with a firm nod.

"Welcome to Kemet, Taiyou. Let's get you to the Two-Lands proper then shall we." Said Anubis as he held the horse's reign in both hands readying himself to take Taiyou with him into the interiors of Egypt beyond the desert sands of the country.

"Ah, that is alright," Taiyou said politely. "I wouldn't want to impose."

"You sure won't need a ride on Ramiel?" Asked Anubis as he looked over at Taiyou's form ready to offer a seat behind him on Ramiel's back.

"No, it is alright. I am used to traveling through Nippon by my own power," he said with a nod. It wasn't arrogant, or even boastful. It was simply him stating the truth. Once he said that, Taiyou crouched on the ground and in a flash of light, where once was an anthropomorphic wolf, was now a large white feral wolf, a strong male covered in red runes, the same ones that had been on Taiyou.

Anubis sighed upon seeing this as he felt that the boy was a bit of a stickler to his prefered method of transportation. "Let's see where this will take us. Follow me, we'll have to stick to the roads one wrong move into the desert and you're dead before the winds of Set Sutekh." Said Anubis in a stern voice as he began to lead Taiyou with him from the port of Myos Hormos out to the Western highway into the interior of the country. As they passed through the city, Taiyou caught sight of the strangely out of place Greeks living in and around the place with some Egyptian natives mixed in between.

Tales have been told of Egypt being a vibrant society but he didn't expect to see two different cultures living so close together and yet they retain their separate identities in the process to the point that others can clearly tell who's who in the area. As they exited the city limits following the paved highway, the two saw various wagons, camels, horses move back and forth around the place.

Taiyou saw with his own two eyes the Greeks were heading towards the city bearing pottery, weapons, arts and crafts of all sorts to the port obviously for exports while the Egyptians native to the land haul Indian spices and Chinese silks into the interiors of the country for exotic trades. "Frogs we are not, Aristotle you may rest easy." Said Anubis as he sat on the back of Ramiel letting his trusty steed take him home with the young wolf god following him.

By taking the highway, they were able to save time and reached the first stop of their journey, Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. Taiyou himself saw that Memphis itself truly was the ancient capital by the numerous Egyptian architects such as massive temples, statues to the Gods like Ra, Horus, Osiris, Khnum, Khepri and Obelisks commemorating deeds of various deities, the most prominent of which was Anubis's deeds.

Strangely enough, unlike the sights and sounds of Nippon, Memphis was a completely different beast altogether. The city was built on various isles dotted across the midst of the Nile. Water channels and various water canals criss crossing around the city, the banks were all muddy river banks with various reeds and bushes covering the places.

Residential houses were mainly mud brick buildings typically of rectangular designs with two stories at best and a flat roof for various purposes. The city's various temples were founded on sturdier isles with some of them apparently had underwater sewer systems for the crocodile enclosures for temple of Sobek. While others like Temple of Ma'at or Temple of Ptah had cisterns.

Some of the Obelisks seem to commemorate his actions during a campaign to invade the Southern kingdoms of Blemyes and Kush. Others speaks glorified accounts of his military campaigns into the province of Assyria belonging to the Seleukidai empire, taking the all important port city of Antioch from them. Taiyou himself saw a word stood out the most from the Bilingual writings, Strategos Megas Anubis. Greek words for General Anubis the Great.

"Try not to pay too much attention to those, they're propaganda and will remain as such." Said Anubis sternly as he kept his eyes forward as they head to the northern edge of the city, passing by various Agora and Greek quarters before reaching a large expansive noble estate.

The outside of the estate had a mud brick wall surrounding the compound, inside he saw a large two stories rectangular estate with various decorations of lotuses and hieroglyphic depictions of Egyptian life. Mostly farm works and the highlife of the nobles around the Nile, Anubis was seen dismounting from Ramiel's back and led the horse into a stable where he was seen stroking the head of Ramiel.

The God was seen whistling and shushing tenderly to the horse before letting the steed rest inside the stable and came out to rejoin Taiyou. "Ramiel is my Bucephalous. We ride into battles with each other and are inseparable. So seeing me away from his back is a burden." Said Anubis as he opened the door of the estate to let Taiyou enter first.

Taiyou looked at him, before nodding, both in understanding and in thanks, before walking in. Once inside, a sheet of paper suddenly appeared, to which Taiyou wrote on it with his tail, then gave it to Anubis.

Anubis blinked and picked up the note, before reading it aloud. "May I borrow a bathroom or an empty room?" he read, before simply pointing him towards a nearby room.

Taiyou nodded, before padding to the room in question, coming out a few moments later back in his anthro form. "Thank you," he said. "One weakness of my wolf form is while my clothes and equipment go into my Celestial Pouch, they don't come out when I change back, so I need to manually get dressed," he said sounding a little sheepish.

"Very well, I'll have the servants clean you up. I'll be in the crops." Said Anubis nonchalantly as he rolled up the note in his paws and held it inside his armpit before going out to the crops to the East of the estate, Taiyou could see through the windows and the scenic views of the mansion's construction.

Anubis had a rather impressive crop of wheat stretching across the banks of the Nile, divided into square grids by the irrigation canals and water works. In other sections of his crops, he was apparently planting a variety of Greek fruit trees such as apple, olives and even oranges and grapes. Normally, crops in Egypt would have to be carefully overseen by government officials instructing farmers which specific crops to grow. But here, the sight of Anubis's farm diverse produces shows a skilled administrator and a highly efficient agricultural planner.

"Did your parents pack anything else for your entourage boy?" Anubis asked Taiyou as he was unpacking the luggage of the wolf into the mansion and checked his belongings to organize the wardrobe for the sun prince. What gave Taiyou curiosity however was Anubis's home apparent taste of decoration consists mostly of natural landscape depictions.

Most of the depictions were mainly about the Nile river itself and the fauna as well as flora. But for Anubis, what struck him the most was Taiyou's apparent luggage containing his traditional Japanese clothing with gold bars from Japan as his allowance in Egypt. The only problem Taiyou has at the moment was currency being mismatched, something they'd have to rectify soon.

Anubis held up one of the gold bar with a Japanese Yen insignia on its surface and inspect it. He can feel its weight bearing down on his hand, already he could tell, Taiyou's gold bars could easily be around the 500 to 800 Drachma mark. He brought the gold bar in his hand to Taiyou and held it out to the sun prince's face and utter.

"Your mother had you packed as a poor boy in Egypt. You'll need to have these gold bars exchanged into Drachmas in Egypt." Said Anubis while holding the bar of gold Yen. "Fortunately I know an honest treasury minister in the area to help you with that. Get your room settled so we can correct this little problem." He turned his back to Taiyou and walked downstairs.

The prince could tell the impersonal and distance mannerism of Anubis suggests someone who was light on relationships and perhaps even friends. As far as he knew, his mother and Anubis were close friends, friends with benefits in private even. But the mannerism Anubis displayed here seems to suggest a different story entirely. "I suggest you double time it Taiyou, if you want to catch the reed boat at low Croc time." Said Anubis in a more sarcastic tone as he was heard opening and closing a wardrobe downstairs.

"R-right!" Taiyou nodded before quickly moving after putting his things aside for now. There would be time to sort it out later. Anubis picked up the large crate of gold bars on the floor and sealed the wooden crate up with both hands before walking out of the mansion's door with Taiyou. "We should be able to get there in time, but when we get back there'll be crocs prowling the Nile so brace yourself for Sobek's children curiosity to exotic Oriental meat." Said Anubis with a dull voice as he led Taiyou towards the river bank of Memphis where the deity whistle at a boatman coming towards them.

The boat itself was a rather small reed boat with room for the two of them with the crate being an extra load that may weight down the reed boat. "Come on, at least you wouldn't be attacked by crocs." Said Anubis as he gestured for Taiyou to board the boat before him. Taiyou nodded and did as he was told...even if technically he had no reason to fear any crocodiles...with his abilities, any croc that tried to attack him would be bisected before it even touched him...but he followed anyway. No point in making unnecessary problems.

Anubis would follow him and sat down on the reed boat with the crates cradled in his hands before the boatman began to row the boat away from the bank. "So, what's the stories about Egypt you've been told?" The jackal deity asked Taiyou as the boat went about in Memphis riverine and canal systems.

Taiyou so far had only heard of stories about Egypt being a desert kingdom with sands and dunes covering most of the landmasses. But to see tropical like, lush green areas along the Nile and the oasis around it was mind blowing for him. To think that the desert kingdom has variety in environment and other aspects seems to shatter any outsider's preconception of Egypt. "Mainly the key things, about how the pantheon works, who is who, and a few small things. Honestly I was expecting a kingdom of mainly deserts and the like...but this is very different than what I had pictured," Taiyou admitted. "Certainly the deserts are prominent, but it's a lot more lush than I expected."

"Expectations can be misleading. The less you have, the less disappointed you'll be." The Jackal stated in a stern and somewhat cynical tone as their reed boat arrived at a river bank of Memphis, a large rectangular structure stood before the crops of the city. The structure had a statue of Ma'at holding her harp in hands, the Goddess of truth, balance and justice. This was the treasury building of Memphis with a large staircase in front of it leading into the structure while then the courtyard of the structure, like other Egyptian buildings had a wide variety of vegetations and greeneries to keep things lively.

Anubis here led Taiyou into the counter area where the priests and highly trained specialists working there began their weighing of Taiyou's Yen with their standard Nubian gold nuggets. "Can you work with this Neb?" Anubis asked the accountant weighing the Yen and gold as he seem to be concerned that the Accountant might not be able to properly weight the gold.

"I think I can, at least to an approximate. I haven't touched a single Oriental currency before so this might be a little bit of a problem to me." Said the accountant before he took the Yen aside on the table and brought up stacks of Drachma coins, all of which were in gold and some in silver to match the Yen's values. "Here you go, 3000 Drachmas. The boy here is fairly wealthy, just watch his pocket otherwise your money may find marriage in someone else's hands." Said the accountant with a joking manner and a chuckle to Taiyou.

"I'll keep that in mind," Taiyou nodded. He wasn't a stranger to the occasional pick pocket. Sure nobody in their right mind would do that to a deity, but then...when you're desperate, you don't think clearly. Either way, he turned to Anubis and said, "So what next?"

"Now comes the challenging part, navigate our way home. We need to do so without shedding the blood of Sobek's children." The Jackal stated as he led Taiyou out of the treasury towards the reed boats by the riverbank. Here, the problem was becoming much more obvious to Taiyou as he saw crocodiles swimming in the water around the canals. The strange part was that they passively laid low and float their eyes and noses on the surface, their reputation being aggressive creatures was undercut by the passive behaviors they display. Instead of actively attacking and devouring felucca and boatmen, they drifted around, letting the boatmen to do the same. "Killing one of them will bring Sobek down on us. So draw your blade after they strike first." Anubis reminded Taiyou cautiously as they boarded the boat.

The boatmen began to steer them away from the riverbanks towards the Northern area of the city, along the way, he masterfully dodged the crocs and kept his distance from them to avoid drawing their wrath on him. "Keep calm neb, you'll be safe when you're mind follows the guidance of Isis." Anubis sighed out as he reminded the boatmen, the travel was a bit audacious as the canal began to become more and more narrow and room to maneuver was closing. This was concerning Taiyou as a single croc can overturn the boat here and stun them long enough to devour one of them. And animals made no distinction of royalties or peasantry.

As they were approaching the district to the North, they felt something lurking underneath the boat, rocking the fragile reed boat side to side. Apparently with the warning of crocodiles, this might be one that's disturbing them. Of course, soon enough, the boat was flipped overboard with Taiyou and Anubis thrown on the banks, the boatmen himself was struggling to swim away in fear and panic as he was being chased by the crocodile coming closer to him. "Help! Help! I still have a son to raise, I can't die now!" The mortal screamed out as he struggle to swim ashore while the croc was closing in behind him.

"Nek! Mummify!" Anubis shouted as he fired off his stun attack at the crocodile, the bandages wrapped around the croc before diving into the water and swam towards the croc to buy time for the man's retreat.

At the same time, a spout of water shot out, launching Nek to the shore, while several more kept the crocodiles at bay. "Thanks again, Nuregami," Taiyou sighed slightly, having invoked the Waterspout brush.

The croc was flung into the air as Anubis then fired off his Plague of Locust at the crocodile, pelting it with flesh eating cyan locusts, all of which were ethereal by nature. They torn apart the carapaces of the croc before finally giving Anubis the chance to thrust his blade into the croc's exposed hides, drawing blood into the Nile. "May the Hidden One walk with you to the Afterlife, Sobek, father of the Nile is waiting for you." Said Anubis with a sigh, pity and sympathy to the dead croc.

"There are wishes to the afterlife for animals as well?" Taiyou asked. It was a bit odd of a thing to do. Sure back in Nippon some animals that are considered sacred are treated with respect and even enshrined at times, but to have a complete prayer like that was a bit unexpected for him.

"They are more than just mindless beasts Taiyou. The Nile gives us many things, life and death. All animals contributes to the life of Egyptians here one way or another. They are the avatars of Gods, respects has to be shown and observed." Anubis motioned to Taiyou as he reached up from the Nile river to the bank.

Taiyou nodded. True in Nippon life is sacred and thus should be respected, but well...it was definitely different. He'd have to be careful too then in the future. Wouldn't want to disrespect anyone unnecessarily…

As they returned to the mansion, Taiyou and Anubis had to spend the rest of the day sorting out the money and place it in safe keeping within the house. Once night come, Anubis and Taiyou were sitting by the field of reeds outside of the mansion looking up the night sky above. The diamond blue sky was decorated with the stars so bright, Taiyou would never be lost at night. Anubis pointed up to the sky as he spoke to Taiyou in an oddly father-like tone. "The sky there is Nut, my grandmother. She who holds heaven and Earth, her stars are eyes to guide us. And her body shields the Earth from Evil." Said Anubis with an index finger pointed to the sky.

His finger then traced down to the earth before their eyes as he continued. "And the Earth is Geb, my grandfather. He nourishes humans and provide us with the solid ground for homes and security."

Taiyou nodded at the explanation. "Land and Sky. It's very fitting really," Taiyou said, his tone respectful.

"Every mortals, even deities have their own constellations, a sign of their character in life." Said Anubis as he pointed again the stars above showing Taiyou the constellations in the sky. In his hands, he was giving Taiyou a papyrus scroll detailing the star constellation with the names for each one. Orion, Sobek, Sekhmet, Bast, Thoth, Horus, Ra, Anuket, and many more. And yet, Taiyou saw that Anubis had none named after him.

"...I notice your name isn't here...why is that?" Taiyou frowned. Anubis was among one of the most well known Gods, and was known to be fair and benevolent, if a bit unapproachable. There was no reason he could think of that his host WOULDN'T get one such constellation.

Anubis for a moment was silent, as he looked up the sky seeing the constellation above. He knew that there was something preventing Anubis's name to be inscribed on the tapestry of the Heavens. "I am not a legitimate son. A child unworthy of temples, and land grants, only generous loves from adoptive figures. Despite the services, I have seen no temples dedicated to me, let alone stars. Stele and obelisks can be commemorative measure. But they're merely hollow symbols."

"That's...a real shame…" Taiyou said sympathetically. "I don't think its right to exclude someone just because of how they were born. A good friend of mine has no knowledge of how he was born or where he came from...but he still chose to do good and became a great warrior. I've always believed that it is deeds that should merit recognition, not things you can't control about yourself."

"Context can influence one's life greatly Taiyou. You are but a single grain of sand in a greater ocean of life. The wind is the breath of Amun, blowing you to the next land, where your life shall be decided by you. Till one day, you will walk either Aaru, the endless field of reeds. Or Heb-Sed, the Purgatory of Memories." Anubis stated solemnly knowing full well the Underworld of Egypt can be a heavenly plain, or a hellish nightmare for those who lived unworthy lives.

[hr]

Far from the vibrant centers of Egyptian growing Megalopolises, deep in the darkness of buried temples in the deep empty deserts, a figure was sitting on his pedestal with all four hands planted on the sandy floor. His froggy mouth grinned looking at his cauldron of glowing mystical substance. He saw in it, a vision of Taiyou in the home of Anubis settling in slowly. "Soon...you will be mine, my puppet, your power will be mine to abuse. Hohohohoho. How many pseudonyms of mine do you know? None and soon you will regret it." Said the frog as he rubbed his flipper hands into one another cackling evilly.

"KEK! What's the progress on catching that boy!?" Called a furious and ominous voice from the darkness within the temple as Kek suddenly turned into a fetal trembling and shaking wreck of a deity as he slowly turned his head to face a pair of blood red eyes radiating evil and dark power. The eyes floated around in the air, flying around Kek to keep him off balance.

"Not started yet master...the boy has just arrived…" Said Kek as he held up his hands defensively while gnashing his teeth together. His eyes darted around looking for where the master of the voice could strike from. Knowing the Destructive One is not to be trifled with, any single slip ups will lead to doom.

"Then get going, otherwise I will have your soul for dinner if this fail." Said the eyes in a sinister tone as Kek bowed and scraped before his master before running away in fear. "Yes master! On my way!" He whimpered and leapt away from the lair into the desert and headed out towards Memphis.

[hr]

Getting accommodated to the different part of the world was difficult enough already, it was rather time consuming to get a room for him in the estate and some new clothing in to suit the climate of Egypt. Anubis at that time was by the riverbank, apparently hunting early in the morning to keep his skill sharp. He hide in the bushes and reeds with his compound bow in hands, on his back were arrow quivers ready to be used.

He took some tentative and cautious steps forward while keeping his profile low inside the reeds of the Nile banks. He observed the antelope that was drinking by the river and raised his bow up with his left hand, he drew out an arrow with his right and string the arrow on the bow and aimed it at the neck of the dear.

The jackal took a deep breath and held it before letting loose the arrow at the antelope, watching the projectile flying through the air, whooshing past the vegetation before lodging itself into the antelope's neck. Seeing the antelope dropped to the ground, he walked over to picked up the spoil of his hunt and brought it home to the estate.

When he arrived, he heard the sound of something being struck in the training room. Putting his hunt away, he checked the training room to find Taiyou training, dressed only in a loincloth used while a person trains, revealing his strong and well muscled form. A balanced mix of speed and strength as it was firm but not too thick that it would slow him down (and made him quite the attractive looking wolf for that matter). He was using a flaming mirror, one that Anubis recognized as Divine Retribution, or at least a version of it.

Taiyou was throwing the the Reflector, the mirror/shield impacting against one of the targets, before it came back to him, to which he grabbed hold and in a single motion, twisted and threw it again, the weapon hitting another target, bouncing off, and hitting another one and another one, before finally returning to Taiyou's hand, the wolf catching it mid-leap, before flipping in the air and bringing it down to shatter the last target. With the last target demolished, Taiyou panted a little but quickly got up, looking very satisfied with the results.

As Anubis watched Taiyou training, he sighed out remembering his own childhood when he was a young pup picking a fight with elder deities in the training yard of the palace. The scene blurred out in his eyes as he saw himself as a young jackal pup, dark as night with his scepter in hand as he attacked Khepri furiously, throwing the scarab deity around furiously like a punching bag to vent his anger and frustration.

"Your strikes could use some balancing, a bit straining on your strength there." Said Anubis as he deposited the antelope into the kitchen of his estate.

"Here boy, let me show you." Anubis came forward to the training yard of the estate as he aimed at the practice dummies in front of him, he breathed out slowly with his scepter summoned in hand. He first fired off mummification bandages and ensnare his target with ease before slamming the hilt of the scepter on the ground, summoning a portal from which hands of the dead emerged up and tore apart the dummy's lower portions.

He then puffed up his chest and opened his maws, blowing out a massive barrage of cyan ethereal locusts tearing through the dummies. Once Anubis was done with striking the dummies, Taiyou saw that Anubis didn't break a sweat in the process as he returned to his normal posture while the ethereal locusts disappeared into the thin air.

"Impressive," Taiyou nodded. While to most it wouldn't seem like too much, but Taiyou had learned a few things during his travels through Nippon, and he could tell with how easily Anubis did that, the older god was FAR more experienced in battle. "I can tell...you've been through a lot of battles to be able to use techniques like that so easily."

"I have...some of them weren't even wars, not even close to formal conflicts." Said Anubis with a dried tone as he wrapped linen bandages on his palms apparently to shield some wounds or scars that he bore from various moments in life. Taiyou himself noticed that the scepter on Anubis's right palm dissipated into a small gem, which was dark as ink and night much like Anubis's own fur and the stone itself embedded on Anubis's palm, forming a gauntlet to cover his right hand. "I can recall two wars, each comes with two battles, I won them all but never finding any interests in celebrating them." Said Anubis as he rubbed his palms together.

Taiyou didn't say anything, realizing this probably wasn't something Anubis wanted to talk about. The two soon heard the sound of horse hooves clopping on the ground heading towards the estate with Anubis's ears twitched at the direction of the approaching horsemen. He turned around and saw a courier under his command, he was an anthropomorphic jackal much like Anubis himself.

This jackal however lack Anubis's regal and noble garments and wore a white tunic on his dark grey fur, on his back was a small round shield with a compound bow on his back, on the right of his steed's saddle sat a quiver satchel to carry his ammunitions. "My lord, we have bandits in the region, a nomad tribe, possibly Hyksos is attacking a nearby village to the Northeast!"

Anubis was seen snarling, his aggression was virulently high and even worse, he was displaying a kind of hatred only seen in wars against foreign powers. "I'm on my way." Said Anubis to the courier as he gestured for the rider to head off towards the nearby garrisons to gather troops to respond to the incursion. The rider nodded and rode off from the estate into the horizon and head out to the nearby forts and barracks.

"Looks like we have some problems with nomads again...should have slaughtered the entire tribe while I got the chance." Anubis grumbled as he was putting on his armor and an armored face mask made of gold with two eye slits to allow some visibilities. The face mask was like that of a horse's headplate but had a more curvy design to fit Anubis's head and cranial section.

Anubis mounted on Ramiel's back with his Xiphos sword in its sheath, the blade was curve like a bull's horn apparently to give it maximum slash damage. His armor had an X like segment in the chest, which was designed like a pair of falcon wings. On his canine feet, Anubis was wearing a pair of combat sandals and on his back, he had a tan cape of a Strategos.

"Anubis, wait!" Taiyou called out, now back in his normal attire for his stay, which was a white tunic made from Egyptian cotton, and a pair of white trousers and a belt with a scarab symbol on it. Additionally, he'd added the Japanese Kanji for 'Sun' on the back of his tunic, a personal touch using his brush. "I wish to come with you. We must protect those people!"

Anubis signed out and looked down at Taiyou with a stern expression as he knew very well what the nomadic tribes of the Near East were like. "Boy, do you know who to protect? The first you might recognize is a mother and her child. But I know who I must protect." Said Anubis before he snapped the reins of Ramiel, causing his steed stirred up and raced out of the estate towards the Northeastern side of the Nile river.

Taiyou saw the jackal deity was being joined by various horsemen, all of whom were jackals like Anubis, an army of identical looking canine warriors. Anubis was at the front raw leading a cavalry unit known as Hetairoi, shock cavalries of Alexander's fame armed with 6 meters long Sarissa spears, on the wings there were mounted archers and javelin cavalries heading out towards the site of trouble.

Taiyou soon joined the older deity as he too got on a horse that was available. While he probably could have run there himself, it would take too long unless he was in his wolf form...which after that he'd rather not end up fighting in his birthday suit, and there were some things that worked better when he had hands...something he learned plenty of times in his first adventure as a pup. It wasn't long before the small army was riding through the desert, and towards the village in question.

As they emerged from a sandy hill near the sparsely vegetated land of the Nile, they saw a mudbrick village of Greek colonists being sacked by an army of Nomadic warriors wearing a variety of outfits and tunics, some of them were apparently armed with spears and small circle shields while others were stark naked archers with loincloths and capes on their backs. There were also hostile cavalries, apparently these were mercenaries hailing from Media and various parts of Arabia Magna.

"Nikolaos you take the right flank and cover shadow their movements. Harass them long enough to break their ranks. Ahmenhotep, you take the left, and distract their infantry. I'll punch down the middle and go for the chieftains." The two captains nodded to Anubis as they head out to the flanks of the enemy army taking advantage of their apparent preoccupation with plundering of the village.

Anubis's Hetairoi were all armed with Sarissa spears, lances if they can be called as such prepare themselves for a thundering charge. On the right Anubis's skirmishers ride down to meet their foes, raining hails of arrows on the mercenary cavalry first, triggering them to charge head on into the skirmishers who in turn ran away luring the enemies out from the main group.

On the left, Anubis's Jackal Guards forces consist of Phalangites armed with Sarissa spears marched in formations of 256 men blocks with their spears held forward to pin down charging enemies while then on their flanks, the pikemen were supported by native Egyptian warriors armed with large oval shields called Thuerophoros.

The tribal warriors charged first to face the pikemen with desert spearmen to while then on the flanks, they had mace armed warriors charging at the native Egyptians. The native Egyptians lobbed javelins at the mace armed warriors before drew out their Thorax swords to engage the enemies at melee range.

"We got them now, push forward!" Anubis ordered as he then thundered down the center right with his Hetairoi cavalries forming a mobile wedge formation, Anubis was at the front leading the charge with his right hand holding the Sarissa spear, he charged down on the enemy exposed flanks heading straight into the village.

Within the village a tribal chieftain dressed in dark garment and a golden mask was holding bundles of gold jewelry in his hands cradling them like a greedy thief. But when he looked at the direction of Anubis's cavalry charging in, he gasped with his mouth wide open under the golden mask, the last thing he saw was Anubis's spear thrust into his body, while then the Hetairoi followed Anubis's lead charging into the main body of the enemy bodyguard units, catching them off guards. This action sent rippling effects out into the enemy tribal warriors around the village, they soon panicked to see their chieftain fallen and their flanks exposed for counter attacks, they soon flee into the Northeastern routes from whence they came.

It wasn't long before they were routed, and the survivors and/or ones who surrendered were rounded up and placed before Anubis. "What is to become of them?" Taiyou asked, the wolf standing a bit to the side, and not really liking the glare Anubis had when he looked at the nomads.

Anubis made a chillingly cold horizontal hand swipe across his neck as his warriors brought the Nomads out to the desert opening outside of the village, the captives were lined up in long lines standing in front of archers firing squads, the jackal archers either stood straight up or were crouching down with their bows and arrows at the ready. "Loose!" The captain ordered and the arrows were left off their strings, piercing the bodies of Nomadic warriors, killing them instantly. "This is how we handle riff raffs of the desert. They deserve no mercy, the barbarian thugs." Said Anubis in a cold and bias tone as he watched the execution played out before him.

Taiyou winced, not exactly fond of such incidents, even if he himself had seen one or two. "Was there really no other choice?" he couldn't help but ask. It was always such a waste to end lives like that…

Anubis shook his head at Taiyou, all the while remain cold and unflinching at the gruesome sight as he kicked the corpse of the chieftain away showing that the chieftain had a pilfered golden ring, a wedding ring apparently and obviously one of Egyptian origins. "Just as I thought, he murdered an architect and pilfered the ring. The bastard got what he deserved, the next...would be his tribes." Said Anubis with an uncomfortably cruel tone towards the Nomads who had already been beaten and fled.

"Set up patrols, I want you to keep the nomads off. Put up some warning devices and sentry wards along the way." Anubis ordered the Jackal Guards captains around him as they quickly rode off into the deserts to find more of the Nomads and set up traps to stop their intrusions.

Taiyou sighed. He really would have prefered to object to the execution, hence why during the battle he'd aimed for non-lethal strikes, even when he used his Brush, he'd aimed to avoid causing permanent damage. But in the end, he accepted it for what it was. These were Anubis's lands, and from what his mother had told him, Anubis was firm...but fair. He would defer to the older god unless he did something he couldn't agree to at all.

Anubis at that moment sheathed his sword and cracked his hands looking around seeing that the village was heavily damaged and the villagers were weeping over the losses of their families and friends. Livelihoods were also destroyed and the torched houses had left them with nothing to work with other than a burned out hovel.

Taiyou looked at the scene and frowned sadly. Seeing the pain and suffering this had caused, he decided it was time for a little Divine Intervention. Looking through the village, the world seemed to stop, seemingly turning into a tapestry, before he began filling in the damaged and/or burned homes, and with it, activating one of the 13 Brush Techniques: Rejuvenation, which once the world was restored, fixed whatever damages he could find. Before long, a good amount of the village looked as if it had never been through this attack.

One of the surviving villager, a Greek colonist saw his burned home restored to its original condition in a single stroke by a white wolf, a sight that was so foreign and alien to him, his eyes widened in shock as he fell to the ground and cowered. "By the grace of Zeus my home is restored! But my wife is still in Hades!" The colonist exclaimed as he began to weep in a mixture of joy and sadness, his fate was up in the air like other surviving villagers as they saw the Jackal Guards gathering up the dead to count the dead of the settlement.

"35 dead my lord, we will have the morgue prepare for their funerals and compensations soon." Said one of the Jackals to Anubis as he crossed his right arm over his heart and bowed to Anubis, the Jackal deity bowed to him in respect for his service as they continued accounting the dead of the village and brought the deceased into a long row with white linen cloth over their faces. "Thank you Strategos Anubis, may the grace of Zeus forever shine on you." Said a nobleman of the village as he heap praises on Anubis who looked at him sternly. "You there, were you troubled by these Nomads before?" He asked.

"Why yes we have my lord, the Nomads have been probing our lands and our farmers are intruded by their filthy flocks every now and then. There was this talking she-wolf the other day told us that a massive hordes of Nomads will descend upon us and attack our village. I didn't believe her naturally and think she might just be loony, so the village kicked her out to the riverbanks." Said the nobleman which peaks Anubis interests hearing this, his curiosity grew finding that something was out of the ordinary with the mentioning of a she-wolf.

"Who was she?" He asked the man again. The nobleman looked up at Anubis raising an eyebrow to the deity's curiosity. "Well this She-wolf speaks as though she's the oracle of Delphi, a blasphemy that cannot be tolerated by either Olympus or us. Therefore, we cast her out and tied her to the riverbanks of the Nile." Said the Nobleman as Anubis facepalmed himself at the utter arrogant and callous nature of the Greek colonist.

"You what?!" Taiyou, who had been nearby overheard him. "Wha...WHY?!" he asked in outrage at the idea of someone who was just trying to help being tossed out when they didn't even bother to listen to her in the first place. "She was only trying to warn you, and her warning came true. Why did you do that for?!"

"These Greeks can make any excuses Taiyou. Best that we look into this." Said Anubis with a scowl as he turned Ramiel over to the Riverbanks of the Nile as he began to head off to find the she-wolf that the Nobleman mentioned. He and Taiyou head out to the sandy riverbanks where there were various Papyrus reeds and palm trees lying around.

"Keep your eyes peeled, there could be crocodiles and hippos. The worst case scenario is Sobek devouring her as his meal." Said Anubis as his steed slowly crept through the bushes and reeds of the riverbank looking around. He sniffed the air and his ears twitched around to pick up the sounds of anything resembling a female shriek or cry for help. None of that was heard.

"...do you think she's okay...or are we too late?" Taiyou couldn't help but ask.

"She is alive." Anubis said simply. "If she were dead, I would know." As Anubis was searching the place, his ears twitched at the direction of rustling bushes nearby, he held up a clenched fist, signaling Taiyou to stop in his steps as the deity dismounted from his horse and went towards the bushes to see for himself what was happening.

He slowly pushed the bushes aside before seeing a she-wolf completely stripped naked tied up by the riverbank with her wrists and ankles tied up in an eagle spread pose. She had a slim yet firm hourglass figure, albeit one on the medium build that resembled that of spartan women. Her fur was a darker shade of gray, with a tan underbelly. There were also frog footprints on the ground heading away from her strangely enough.

"You're here to kill me aren't you?" The she-wolf sighed out, not quite in despair, but her face was that of someone who'd long since given up on hope, resigning herself to her imminent death. Anubis then emerged from the bushes and approached her slowly, he hushed at her wanting her to be calm and quiet as he began to untie her. "Easy, you won't see the Hidden One anytime soon." Said Anubis cautiously as he worked on the ropes. They had been rather sturdily done, hence it would take a while to undo.

At the same time, Taiyou looked around from where he was, but soon found his attention on the abnormally large frog footprints. These seemed to suggest someone or something had stolen something from her and ran off. With that in mind, he examined them and picked up the tell tale dark energy that reminded him of a demon of some sort.

Frowning, he soon decided to follow them without Anubis noticing, the jackal still busy with the confounded bindings that were clearly the work of overly paranoid people. He didn't feel the need to let the god know. After all, he'd faced a great toad demon when he was a pup during his first adventure. How much different could a frog be?

The path that the tracks lead to seemed to be that of a large rock formation with a number of cave entrances, as well as a number of winding paths. Overall, the kind of place one could easily get lost in if they didn't have some kind of guide.

The only guide that Taiyou himself had was the footprint he had followed on the ground and with the ground being dry sands, he followed the trail into a cavern nearby as the dark tunnel rendered his night vision an invaluable asset while hunting for the owner of the abnormally large frog footprints.

He soon heard the frog belching sound echoed from the deepest and darkest parts of the caves, attracted by the frog's sound he came closer into the cave's dark side before finally seeing the culprit, a frog wearing a strange silo like crown on his head sitting on his four legs looking blankly at him.

"Are you the one who took something from that she-wolf?" he asked with a frown.

"Who wants to know?" the frog responded.

"I am Taiyou, son of the goddess Amaterasu of Nippon," Taiyou announced. "If you return what you have taken, I will allow you to leave here alive."

"Oh really? Then perhaps you should consider hiring a good physician for what's to come. Hohohohohohohhohohoho." Said the frog with a sinister cackle as he rubbed his hands together with his eyes fixed firmly on Taiyou's face.

Taiyou frowned. It was clear that this demon, like all the others before it, had no intention of negotiating. "Very well then, you have been warned," he said, before a glaive appeared in his right arm, while a string of prayer beads appeared on his left arm. "Be warned, I have defeated greater demons than you when I was but a pup. I will not lose."

"If you insist. Hohohohohohohohoho." Said the frog as he puffed up his chest in front of Taiyou before suddenly firing out his long whip like tongue. THe appendage was black as night as it whirl around Taiyou and slap his face repeatedly. The frog chuckle as he watched the young wolf deity being slapped around by his tongue.

"Why hitting yourself? Why hitting yourself? Why hitting yourself? Hahahahahahahahahaha! Don't you love it when you're a target practice for my liking?" Kek taunted Taiyou before retracting his tongue back into his mouth as he stood up from the stone pedestal that he stood on.

Taiyou shook his head, mentally chiding himself for not avoiding that. That was literally the most obvious move a frog would make. "Well then, I can do something like that too!" he growled and in a flash his weapons switched position, before the prayer beads lashed out like a whip, striking the frog a few times, knocking him silly, before Taiyou closed the distance, and lashed out with the glaive in his left hand, knocking the frog across the room.

The frog growled, and moved to jump to try and squash him, but the room was suddenly filled with a mist that made time seem to slow, allowing Taiyou to easily evade, followed by a cherry bomb appearing right where he was about to land, resulting in an explosion that sent the frog flying. "Had enough?" Taiyou smirked confidently.

Despite being hit by the cherry bombs the frog was far from over in fact he was grinning even more to Taiyou seeing that the young wolf was stepping up his attack. The frog was apparently enjoying the prospect of being beaten up. This was not a good sign by any stretches of imagination. Something that Taiyou noticed as well, and decided now was the time to end this quickly. Whatever the frog had planned, he wouldn't let it happen.

Kek would then hopped into the air and slammed his stomach into the ground and repeatedly made the slamming to make a mini earthquake to throw Taiyou off balance, as the wolf was off balance enough, he leaped into the air slammed his slimy slippery stomach on Taiyou's face before rolling off.

Taiyou grit his teeth and soon switched his weapons again, countering with his glaive, followed up by a series of rapid fire shots from his prayer beads. When the frog came to counter, he switched the beads with his reflector, and used it as a shield, sending the frog flying back. "This is the end!" Taiyou declared as he jumped forward, glaive at the ready to stab the frog through, ending him.

"Oh no! This the end of me! My acting awards and playwright future dashed!" The frog demon bemoaned his "Demise" with an over the top theatrical delivery as he held his left hand over his forehead and closed his eyes. His attempt to give off a "Defeated" look was so over the top that it made Taiyou hesitated for a moment, as this...was honestly new to him. He'd seen flamboyant demons...but not THIS flamboyant in the face of their impending deaths. He would soon come to regret it though.

"Hahaha! Just kidding!" Kek cackles menacingly as he then used his tongue at point blank range and threw it at Taiyou's chest, sending him flying into the wall of the cave, slamming him into place. The frog then let out a super sonic croak at Taiyou's face, the force of the sound embedding the young wolf deeper into the wall, while he howled in pain from the assault on his ears.

Once it was done, the next thing Taiyou felt was the frog's tongue around his neck. Gasping, he grabbed at the tongue, but it held fast, the wolf straining to get free, but the frog suddenly felt stronger than before, pulling him forward, and slamming him several times into the ground, the force rattling the wolf enough he dropped his Divine Instruments, before he soon found himself in the air...and headed right for the frog who'd opened his maw nice and wide.

Taiyou's eyes widened at the sight, and he quickly tried to use his Celestial Brush, but when he did, a surge of dark energy shot through the tongue, disrupting his own energy and causing the brush to fail, leaving him helpless as he was pulled into the waiting maw. The frog seemed to grow still he was large enough that the bulge in his stomach had more than enough room to house the wolf.

The sounds of painful howls could be heard as Taiyou felt an intense dark and evil power run through him, while the digestive juices stuck to his skin and fur, burning away at his clothes and causing a searing pain on his skin, even if he wasn't in any danger of being digested. After a few moments, Kek smirked, before spitting the battered, bruised, and dazed wolf out, his once pristine fur completely disheveled, his clothing completely gone, and his body badly weakened, but he still managed to get up, glaring at the frog.

"Now for my magnum opus. I should really brush up my Latin. Get it? BRUSH!" The frog laughed, before jumping forward, ramming into his chest, and pushing him off his feet, causing him to collide with the wall, and when Taiyou fell on his back, the frog soon jumped up and landed on his stomach, knocking the wind out of the young god's lungs.

Jumping off of him, Kek threw out his tongue again, and after what he'd endured, Taiyou was unable to evade, the tongue this time wrapping around his body and coiling him up inside a massive wrapping like a mummy as the frog pulled Taiyou into his mouth again and closed it.

The frog once more swallow him whole into his stomach as the frog sat down and tapped on his tummy in a bongo like manner to further annoy his victim. "Hmmmmmmm, too much fur. Should have added more salt and pepper." The frog said nonchalantly as he sat in one place silently, ignoring the pained howls that were coming from his stomach again.

The frog then waited for around 5 minutes before hurling out Taiyou on the ground, the wolf was covered in slimy innards and amphibian's strange dark substance, it was a strange substance not seen before on his fur, these were not only wet but also sinister in nature as the substance kept him weak and exhausted. "Oh it seems we've finally reached the most important part of the show.

Time for me to pull the curtains." The frog then grabbed a cartouche, a piece of stone tablet with pictogram hieroglyphs of the hieratic writing. He held the cartouche up in the air while grinning at Taiyou's weakened form, the cartouche's hieroglyphs glowed brightly as Taiyou felt the tablet leaching off his power and divine instruments.

Once it had a feel for him, the cartouche soon floated out of Kek's hand, floating over the weakened god's chest, and soon slammed down on his chest, draining his power at a rapid rate, causing the wolf to howl in agony as his body spasmed and his head went from side to side, but he couldn't move. He was too weak to resist as the stone continued draining him of his strength, his runes becoming faded before vanishing, and his fur losing the brightness it once had.

Kek was cackling at the sight, watching in anticipation for the cartouche to steal all of his power...but before it could, he felt the little charms he'd left around trigger, telling him someone was close...and they were getting closer too. Growling he looked at the wolf who was still screaming in agony. "You lucked out this time," he growled, before grabbing the cartouche and pulling it off, and while he was at it, grabbing the glaive and rosary that had fallen to the ground, before turning tail and running away, leaving Taiyou to lay on the ground, barely conscious and terribly weakened, but still alive.

[hr]

"I'll be damned if I let that boy die." Anubis growled to himself as he followed the footprints of Taiyou and sniffed the air for the scent of the wolf as he tracked the traces towards the rock formations to find the missing wolf. Outside, the weather was highly hostile and outright chaotic at the moment, with the sandstorm that was signature to the Egyptian climate blowing over him and the now covered up she-wolf in a blanket and sheet thanks to his generosity.

"He's near...but not well!" Anubis suddenly heightened his aggression as he glared at the cave systems in front of him, his sensitive nose picked up the scent of Taiyou inside one of the cave as he began to draw his Conductor of Souls sword out and prepare to storm inside. However, as the got deeper, suddenly he noticed his senses becoming...muddled...to the point he was starting to have a harder time telling which way to go.

"I see...a terrible vision, as usual. The young wolf that accompanies you, if nothing is done soon, his life will be forfeit!" The she-wolf declared holding her cheeks with both paws while her eyes had spinning vortex, a signal that she had a vision of the future, while she was pointing at a particular pathway. Heeding her words cautiously, Anubis bolted into the cave entrance and soon felt Taiyou's scent becoming stronger again, showing him the way.

He ran as fast as he could towards where Taiyou was, only he was too late, he found Taiyou on the ground, lying in a weakened state with his runes fading from his body and his clothing torn leaving him completely naked. Eyes widening in alarm, Anubis quickly ran to his side, and held his torso up a little. "Look at me! Look at me! Boy, are you alright, what happened here?" He asked concerningly as he looked around the cave trying to figure out what happened to Taiyou.

[hr]

Anubis frowned deeply as they made their way back to the estate, he was sharing his steed with Taiyou lying on the back of Ramiel just behind him while Cassandra, the she-wolf seer followed them closely on the back of a borrowed steed. Once they had returned to the estate, Anubis dismounted from the horse and held Taiyou in his hands carefully walking into the estate and set him down by a bed on the second floor second bedroom. The wolf was conscious just barely and still exhausted by the invasion.

He put a towel on Taiyou's forehead and let the boy rest there while the slaves in the home tended to him. "The physician will be here as soon as he can. I'll be informing your parents." Said Anubis with a deep and concerned tone. The deity then went out to his personal study and sat down by his desk, he had a papyrus paper on the table with a brush in hand. The jackal deity wrote down his pictogram letter to Ammy using hieroglyphic writing on the upper area of the letter before repeating the entire content in Greek, the current writing convention of Egyptians.

Αγαπητέ Amaterasu,

Λαμπρή μητέρα όλων κάτω από τον ήλιο το παιδί σας υποβλήθηκε σε επίθεση από τον Κέκ ο βάτραχος του κακού. Είναι σε κρίσιμη κατάσταση αλλά πρέπει να επιβιώσει, όπως έχω καλέσει ο γιατρός να τείνει στις πληγές και τις συνθήκες υγείας του. Ωστόσο, η κλεμμένη δύναμη πρέπει να ανακτηθεί και θα πρέπει να βγω από την Αίγυπτο για να κυνηγήσω τον Kek για να τους ανακτήσω ένα κομμάτι κάθε φορά.

Αλήθεια, ο Ανούμπι δικαστής του Duat, θεματοφύλακας του Elysium και του Aaru.

Anubis then rolled the letter up into a cylindrical pouch that can be carried by a pigeon. One of the bird was given the pouch as he let the avian courier flew into the air out to the Orient where Ammy and Kaito were while he remained in Egypt to tend to Taiyou. The deity returned to Taiyou's room where an Egyptian physician was tending to him.

Taiyou was now awake, but he was clearly still very weak from his ordeal, his once bright fur was now much dimmer than before, his body was covered in several bandages to dress the wounds that still hadn't healed yet, and even getting up seemed to be a strain for the young wolf, but he did it anyway, before offering Anubis a weak smile and a nod of acknowledgement.

"What were you thinking back there boy? You could have been killed back there without me." He scolded Taiyou sternly, almost like a strict father to his son. "Until you are able, you will stay with me, I can't have you die on my watch. Got it boy?" He stated sternly to Taiyou with his finger pointing at his face.

Taiyou wanted to retort, but fact was, he DID walk off by himself, and like it or not, he was the one in bed and weakened, not Anubis. So all he could do was meekly nod in acceptance. However, another thought crossed his mind. "How is the girl?" he managed to ask in a strained voice. He'd recover, but he never did know what happened to the she-wolf.

"She's fine...for now. Best to get to know her while we can." Said Anubis with a sigh as he grabbed a chair and sat down in front of Taiyou and slumped his face down rubbing his forehead feeling the weight of his responsibility burdening his shoulders greatly.

"Do you know what you got into back there, boy? That was Kek, the God of Darkness and member of the Ogdoad. Not your usual brand of Demons, I'm actually surprised that he kept you alive. Normally he would kill his victims." Said Anubis sternly to Taiyou as the jackal deity rubbed his forehead still deep in thought about the encounter between Taiyou and Kek.

"I don't really remember what happened. I thought I had him, but...to think he was actually another god…" Taiyou sighed. "I...remember he did something, but I don't remember what. I just feel...so weak...now…" he said tiredly.

Anubis frowned, but didn't push any further, instead simply getting up and leaving to allow the boy his rest. "Get some rest, I'll have to take you to Alexandria soon." Said Anubis as he went out of the bedroom leaving Taiyou. As the deity exited the room, Taiyou was joined by the She-Wolf they rescued. She stopped by in front of him as she panted out in concern for Taiyou.

The lycan was now given proper dresses and outfits, the female grey wolf with amber eyes and light tan fur on her lower jaw and belly was now in a white cotton dress with a head dress clearly reminiscent of the Oracles. "How is he doing? Is he in danger?" She asked worriedly as he shook his head.

"He's fine. He'll recover by the next day but don't hold illusions of him being a fit and ready deity." Said Anubis as he walked away from her leaving Cassandra to enter the room with her hands held together in a clench as she approached Taiyou. "T...Taiyou...that your name is it?" She asked him cautiously as she looked down, not meeting his gaze.

"Yes, that's me," Taiyou nodded. "What's yours? You look strangely beautiful and attractive to be honest." he said. The She-Wolf sighed out as she sat down next to him, her appearance seemed almost like a slimmer and younger version of Amaterasu, though she bears the fit and athletic appearance of a fertile female she lacks the divine red runes of Ammy. Taiyou notices that her breasts were easily around C-Cups in size with her abdomen being somewhat indent with 4-packs, a sign of physical exercises that she took, a somewhat strange sight for women of her age.

"Kassandra of Sparta. Seer of Delphi I am not." Said Kassandra as she put her hand on Taiyou's forehead feeling a slight fever developing. Seeing this, she then went over to the other side of the room to get a towel, she then dipped it into a bucket of water on the floor. Kassandra twisted and yanked the towel to dry it of water before folded it together and placed it on Taiyou's forehead. All she could do was wait to see what the god before her would do next. What he DID do though...surprised her.

"I wanted to thank you," Taiyou said, causing her to look at him in surprise. "If it weren't for you, Anubis wouldn't have reached me in time. I owe you my life," he said with a warm smile.

"What cruel irony and humor." Said Cassandra as she sighed out rubbing her forehead as she closed her eyes to sooth the mental pain. Then she looked down at his body, noticing his strong and well muscled chest as well as his athletic physique, and despite herself, gulped slightly at the sight. "The feet of Hermes have brought many to Hellas and the World. But I've not seen anyone like you before." she couldn't help but ask.

"I came from far beyond Bakuturia." Taiyou admitted with a embarrassed smile, he was barely able to pronounce the name of Baktria right due to his mother tongue's lack of phonetics. "I'm from Nippon actually," he said, before frowning.

"And don't say that. I doubt everyone hates you, and if they get problems because they didn't listen when you tried to warn them...that's their fault, not yours. I don't know you, but from what I've seen and heard so far...you've only tried to help people," he said with a gentle smile.

Kassandra nodded slowly to him before blushing at his physique finding it hard for her to contain her carnal desire for his body which started to well up. Hey, he may be a god and her a mortal, but she was still a woman. Quickly trying to push it down, she decided to focus on another desire of hers. A thirst for knowledge and a strong sense of curiosity. "Are you a God or demigod? What was your homeland like beyond the edge of the Binding Ocean of Poseidon?" She asked him curiously before sitting down on the stool Anubis was using earlier.

"Me? I'm...a demigod I think. I came from Nippon, a land beyond the Oceans and I've been traveling for a good three weeks now." Said Taiyou with a smile at her as he mused on the thoughts of his homeland, the village of Kamiki, his father's mansion and the wonders that Nippon has to offer beyond the waves but to him, Nippon was but a fraction of what Kassandra's own has to offer. "I think you would like it if you ever set foot on Nippon Kassandra, after all, it's a colorful vibrant place." Said Taiyou as he remained on his bed.

"There are lands beyond the Pillars of Herakles and the edge of Baktria? In the name of Hermes, what kind of deity are you?" She asked him again now wrapping her arms around her body to brace herself for whatever revelation that he might offer.

"Me? I am...a sun god of sort. Son of Amaterasu, origin of all that is good and mother to all Nippon." Said Taiyou with a relaxed and calm tone as Kassandra gasped hearing this finding it odd for someone with his stature would arrive in Memphis instead of being up North in Alexandria. She held her mouth with her paw and her fur stood straight up hearing his words..

"You...are the son of a chief goddess?" she asked, as even she'd heard of Amaterasu.

"Pretty much, yeah. It's...really not a big deal...okay it is, but I really don't like making a big issue of it…" Taiyou said.

"You are here for something other than luxuries and pampers of Royal Palaces?" She asked curiously to him as she scratched her head letting her veil drop down behind her back and allowing her ears to stand straight up.

"Anubis is a close friend to my mother. I don't know how they met and how they knew each other but she seems to trust him and it works well enough for me." Said Taiyou with a slight chuckle as he looked up the ceiling where the scent of burning incense was flying out of his room. The incense pan next to his bed was now burning down to its last few inches of incense and he was left with a cleared mind but his body require rest as he needed to regain his strength.

With that, a feeling of tiredness overcame him as he lay down, but not before managing to answer her last question. "As for why I'm here...well...a god is supposed to be able to protect the people. I felt that by seeing the world, I would be able to learn how to be a better god. Guess that's still a bit of a work in progress though." he managed to chuckle as he felt himself start to drift off.

"Perhaps you should put in with Hermes, his shoes should help you. Now get some rest, it's been a long day for you." Said Kassandra as she stood up and walked away from the room to let him rest. As Taiyou laid down on his bed to sleep and rest, he was left with a flustered thought about the female wolf he had met. Her beauty and overall aesthetic were like that of his mother and her tongue was as sharp as a knife. Something told him, he wanted to learn more about her as soon as possible.