Grim: Apotheosis (preview)

Tidir floated over the sands of eternity. She was not certain how to have a revelation and Thoth assured her it was not something that would be brought about by her will.

Wanting to discuss her role as a grim, she willed herself to find another deity. She instantly appeared beside Anubis. Tidir was taken aback that she had somehow mastered the teleportation ability with little effort. Anubis stared into a room in the mortal world. Confused, she moved closer to what was apparently a window. “…What is this?” she whispered.

Anubis jumped, surprised that anybody had joined him. When he recognized Tidir, he turned away from the window. “This is how we gods look down on the mortals, oversee the affairs. This is the all-seeing eye.”

Tidir hadn’t seen Anubis since her meditation had begun. He appeared more humanoid now than he had before. His jackal head was only a pair of ears, and he otherwise was a muscular, handsome man adorned with gold jewelry. “And what were you watching?” she whispered.

“An embalming,” Anubis answered. “What did you need?”

Tidir remembered her conversation with Thoth. “Oh, Thoth has a theory about my domain. He thinks I may be some sort of portent of death.”

Anubis stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm. You did pass abruptly,” he said, mostly to himself. “I guess that would make sense.”

“Well, what do I do about it?” Tidir asked. “Do I sit, meditating somewhere? Do I project these visions to people?”

“The book of fate is not written in gold,” Anubis said. When Tidir gave him a confused look in reply, he continued, “that means humans are only bound to death in its finality when it happens. The fates exist, but they are malleable. You may be a part of that with psychics among the humans and others more sensitive to those of us beyond time.”

Tidir tilted her head. “So psychics exist?”

“Of course they do.”

“And how do people become psychic? How do they become sensitive to those of us beyond time?” Tidir asked. She looked at the embalming Anubis had been overseeing. As a human it would have been gross and overwhelming to see such a thing happening to a person, but it somehow felt normal and natural as she looked onto the process as a grim.

“Many pass on, then are brought back. Some are descended of the gods themselves. Some use magic to invite the magic beyond time into their lives,” Anubis explained. He signaled for Tidir to follow him. Anubis led her from the all-seeing eye to a looming black gate.

“And what is this?” Tidir asked. Her eyes moved up and down the ebony-colored pillars and metallic bars.

“What do you feel?” Anubis asked. “Think on it. You know these things.”

From his confident tone, Tidir thought she might have read about the gates beside them. “It’s obviously a gate,” she muttered.

“Yes, you passed through this gate yourself,” Anubis confirmed with a nod.

“I did?” Tidir asked. She looked at the tan brick road beneath them. Her eyes followed the road. “Those bricks are the color of the pyramids,” she remarked.

“Indeed.”

Tidir nodded. “This is the gate to the afterlife.”

“Yes,” Anubis confirmed. “This road leads to the trial.” He turned and pointed with his ankh staff, “Near the trial is the lake of fire and darkness.”

“I remember that,” Tidir whispered.

Anubis turned to face Tidir. “And as you have learned, we can move anywhere in the afterlife with a thought.”

“Did this tour have something to do with my purpose as a grim?” Tidir asked. “You mentioned the fates, psychics existing…” she shrugged her shoulders unknowingly.

“Yes, it was that you will just know things,” Anubis replied. “The way you just know who wanders the area around these gates. The way you innately knew that we would meet while you still breathed air and knew time.”