Faith In The Old Gods The Ending

She squirmed beneath the onslaught of pain tearing through her body. Everything felt different, she didn't even feel human anymore and that alone scared her, her clothing was shredded to pieces, littering the ground around her form. She didn't want to think, she didn't want to feel but she couldn't stop the transformation and she couldn't hide her panic. Finally she let out an agonizing cry that didn't sound even remotely human. Her body shook, the pain died away. She grew still as she fell to the ground for what felt like days, trying to understand, trying to feel one trace of humanity left in her. 

Slowly she shifted her head, her ears pulled back as she sniffed her paws. She smelt the sand, the stagnated air, and she could smell another creature that carried a different scent from her own. Her ears perked up at the sounds of slick claws moving over soft sand and stone. Her aching bones protested to her sharp jarring movement as she got to her feet, jumping around to see who had dared to approach her. Her teeth bared, a snarl carried up her throat as she started at the jackal before her.

She let the growl drop when events started to make sense. If she was once human, could this jackal be far behind? And then it hit her, and she remembered her companion. Comprehension dawned on her animal features. Her ears visibly relaxed, her tail fell, and she ceased baring her teeth. She tried to speak, but nothing but stupidly strange sounds came from her reworked jaw. She couldn't hide the disappointment and sunk down, whimpering.

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Had he wanted any of this to happen? Did he really want her to suffer the same fate as him, is this a worthy punishment for what they have done? All of this floats in his mind, but none of it can be answered, what has happened has happened, there was no way around it now, they broke into this place and like all the others, like the people before them they paid the prize for trying to take what should rightfully remain here. This is not a place for mortals, this is not a place for humans, that is clear to him. His yellow eyes narrow as he watches her, her once elegant form has been changed in minutes, everything that had once made her who she is has been stripped away from her, just like him nothing human remains, well all of what made her human rests at her paws now.

He watched as she fell down on all fours for the first time, he could see it she was shaken, she was terrified, that was as clear as day to him. She was now just an ordinary jackal, nothing on her made her any different from the common scavenger, she was just like him and like him they are just like everyone else that came here, cursed to walk on all fours for coming into this place.

Her ears pulled back as she looked down at herself, standing on shacking legs and sniffing her paws, he merely moved closer, knowing that now she must who he is, yet when her ears perked and she turned around to stare at him he got the reaction that he expected. She stood her ground and bared her teeth at him yet he did not do the same, he merely whined in protest, words where not able to pass out of his muzzle, this was the best that he could do.

Then it hit her who he was and she fell to the ground, she whimpered and buried her muzzle into the sand, he could not speak, but he knew what she was going through, they had been friends for years, and this would not change anything, they where still friends. He walked up to her side and nudged her with his muzzle, he wanted to tell her everything would be fine, but he could not, instead his tail dropped and so did he, dropping down beside her and lying there, knowing that they both need one another more than ever now.

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Cursed. That was the only word she could think off. All those old stories of the mummy's curse and the dead coming back to life were just stories, nothing could have prepared her for this, nothing could have given her warning, could have told her to stop. The scratches on the walls started to make sense, the dedication this tomb had towards Anubis was a clear ringing bell that knocked some semblance of sense back into her. She gazed over at her, her eyes as black as coals glistened in the fallen torch lights. She shuffled over to you, gently nuzzling you with her head. They went mad, She thought trying to make her companion rise to all fours once more. The scratches on the wall must have been excruciating to endure. If we don't leave this place we'll end up like them.

She was a jackal, but she could still think, she could still feel, and there was a small trace of rational thought that pulled her out of her terrified state while the animal inside of her urged her to move. You got up at her summons and she nudged you to follow her. Her padded feet cantered across the floor at speed. They could smell the fresh air and they both followed it, winding their way through the maze of corridors, every now and then feeling the shiver of power radiate from the statues of Anubis that balefully watched them as they raced across the stone floor. Intense light burst through the entrance and she felt the thrill of relief and quickened her pace.

They both skidded to a stop just outside the doorway, feeling the hot sand in their paws and the fresh scent of daylight. The moment passed as quickly as it had come and slowly this time, they made their way up the dune that settled directly above the dune. The sun was fading low onto the horizon. The sky turned red with the intensity of fire. The sat there under the dying light, their eyes reflecting the end of their human days. Neither knew what to do, neither know what to think. Humanity was slowly leaking out of them, setting with the sun. Dimly she wondered if she would feel human again with the coming sun the next day. Her head bowed, her eyes shifting to the jackal beside her: her friend, her partner in adventure... and in crime. Silently she thanked him for being there with her, alone she might have gone crazy but together, they stood a chance at surviving.

In the later decades that came to the desert of Egypt, beneath the dunes of the desert sea, two deathly still and pale bones of foolish jackals sat at the entrance to the cursed Tomb as a warning to those who, like them, thought little of the power of old curses. Their bones decayed by time, their fragmented clothing nothing but a relic of a different time and a different life, and the ache of the life lost and the knowledge that it could never be returned.