ANUBIS

The weakness really was great and indeed horrible. While I felt that Walt was in a lot of pain himself, it was as if my head was splitting in two. I heard astrange, shuffling, whispering voices that encouraged me to do things that it was easy to judge to be wrong or at least questionable. It was taking more and more of me to resist the demon or to understand what was going on around us.

I also noticed that Walt was also trying to deal with the pain and perhaps ask what happened. But, besides not being able to, he seemed to understand even less what happened.

"Who are you?!" I heard Sadie ask already preparing her wand to attack the approaching man.

"Wait ... Sadie ..." he said weakly. "This is Ninazu."

"Nina-who?" I heard Carter ask. I remember opening my mouth to answer, but the voices grew louder inside my head. It felt lke my head would explode soon. Damn Shenu.

"We do not have time for this! I have to start the ritual to get Shenu out of him!" said Ninazu running from one side to another gathering the things he needed once he noticed now what was happening inside me.

"Who the hell are you? I will not let you touch them if I don't know that I can trust you!" Sadie argued. Which made me smile lightly and hold her hand.

"U-Um ... Old friend ..." I managed to say though Walt's body.

"Now, save the effort Inpu!" said Ninazu kneeling as, I am ashamed to say, Walt and I were already thrown on the ground without strength for anything else.

It was strange to hear that name. Since many centuries ago, most of the people I knew had stopped calling me by the Egyptian name "Inpu" and began to choose the Greek name "Anubis". That turned out to become the most famous apparently. I noticed that Ninazu was already beginning with the preparations, but I shook my head.

"Wait ... H-hold on a little," I said, "explain everything and make the pain go away for a moment. I know little of the Shenu ... And the little I know let me ... W-worried about things you do not know."

Ninazu snorted and rolled her eyes. I felt that mentally he should have muttered something like "Stubborn as always." But even so, he did as I asked. He mumbled a few words in Sumerian as he held a talisman and felt the pain pass a little.

"What ... was that?" Walt's voice echoed in my mind.

"I ... I just know one part. Ninazu will explain the rest. "I replied apprehensively.

"Why it sounds like you're hiding something?" Walt asked.

"I ... I'm still not sure about what I know, so I'd rather not reveal it now. So it won't cause unnecessary pain and stress. Ninazu will clear my doubts and hope I'm wrong. "

So, I sat on the floor a little. Walt's body ached everywhere and my head throbbed. The erroneous things that the voices whispered (I recognized, now calmer, that they were whispering in Sumerian) seemed more and more like tempting ideas. That worried me.

"Sadie, Carter," I said, trying not to show that I wanted to vomit as I hoped for it to end soon, and preferably in a happy ending. "This is Ninazu ... He is the Sumerian god of the underworld and health..."

"Sumerian?" Carter asked in surprise.

"What contradictory things to be a god." Said Sadie.

"How do Sumerian gods exist, too ?!" Complained Carter.

"We've met Egyptians and Greeks, so what? That's time to be discussing, Carter! Explain to us what the hell happened or is happening!"

"This body that Inpu is inhabiting ..." began Ninazu, who was soon cut off by Walt.

"W-Walt ... My name is Walt ..." said Walt.

"Whatever. Walt. Walt's body was possessed by a very powerful, Sumerian demon named Shenu. If I were to make a comparison, I would say that a Shenu is almost of the level of a Knight of the Apocalypse. " Ninazu explained "The signs are very characteristic and I felt the aura of the monster as soon as you arrived. We have to get the demon out or Walt will die and Inpu will be contaminated."

" How contaminated?" Asked Sadie.

"Being immortal, such a demon would not kill him. But they are corrupting him. I suppose you should have a lot of headaches, right, Inpu? Listening to voices that seem ever more tempting." said Ninazu.

I noticed that the last sentence was not a question and I looked away ashamed.

"B-But ... He's a god right? Can't he deal with this alone?" Sadie asked apprehensively, holding my hand tightly.

"To defeat a Shenu, you must channel magic made of extremely pure energy. I can do rituals that use it for being also the god of health. But Inpu ... " said Ninazu, sighing at the same time that Walt almost coughed his lung out "He may be a good person ... just a bit grumpy in most of the centuries ... But ... There's no way to run away. Personality does not alter the nature of magic so much. Inpu is still the son of the Egyptian god of chaos and his magic revolves around necromancy."

"But Ninazu ... L-let me ask ..." I started wanting to stop my doubts soon. "S-Shenu is in possession of Walt's body," I said as I pressed my hands to my head, holding on to the urge to crush it."I am too a certain way. So..."

"Then the two of you are fighting over the body, and when the Shenu wins, the body will die." Ninazu said, "I have to get you both out. You and the Shenu"

" No!" said Sadie with wide eyes filling with tears and I realized, by the cold feeling that took over Walt's heart, that he also felt the problem of Ninazu's idea. That cold feeling also spread through my heart, because we knew that if I left Walt's body, he would immediately die for the curse that haunted his family since the time of Tutankhamen.

"There must be another way," Carter suggested.

Since Ninazu seemed kinda lost about such concern about taking both me and Shenu from within Walt, an explanation of the curse was briefly given by Carter and Sadie. Or rather, I think that's what they did, because the pain began to grow again showing that Ninazu's spell, which I knew would not last long, was ending. My attention drifted again and when I realized, I was on the ground again.

" No! No! I don't want to lose anyone else!" Said Sadie, throwing herself at us and hugging as her face filled with tears. It broke my heart to see her like that. At that moment I swore by the waters of the Nile that whatever happens I would take revenge on whoever sent that Shenu for making Sadie cry.

"Anubis ..." Walt's voice caught me by surprise. He had been quiet until then (and not without reason) "There ... there is no other way, right?"

"Not that I know. I'm not exactly the professional in Sumerian mythology. If Ninazu does not know, it must hardly exist" I replied.

"Judging by the pain, too ... even if I don't do the ritual I don't think it would be long before ... you know ..." said Walt.

With his hand shaking, Walt stroked her cheek lightly and tried to force a smile through the pain he felt. Something that surprised me, for I also felt the pain and I must say that doing anything but screaming was a considerable challenge.

"Hey," Walt said, "do not cry. In a way, I was supposed to be already dead a few years ago."

"B-But ... I do not want ... Right now ... T-that ... Everything seemed ... To be working ... " said Sadie sobbing as tears ran down her soft cheeks.

From that point on, everything was confused in my memory. I remember screaming in pain as Ninazu's spell finally broke. I remember a strong hug and a kiss on the forehead. I remember the voices that at first whispered, but soon they were already screaming in my head hurting my ears although this was impossible, for they existed only in my mind.

When I found myself again, I realized I was lying on the floor and my mouth tasted like earth. I didn't have the strength to move yet. When looking forward and seeing black paws instead of pale hands, I came to the conclusion that I was not only in the shape of a jackal, but also outside Walt's body. I don't know how long I looked into the void trying to find some strength to get up. Getting up was already difficult, having enough strength to change into a human form would be even more so. When I got to my feet... my paws.. I turned my face and the first thing I saw was Sadie crying and hugging Walt's body while Carter was torn between comforting her sister and crying in pain as well.