Ramses

Anubis had been born without a heart. It had never bothered him throughout his existence, simply accepting it as fact.

He was the Judge of Hearts, he told himself, so it would be wrong of him to have any emotional empathy. It would cause an imbalance and could possibly help the scales tilt towards the incorrect side. He was a fair god and his duty was to look upon all hearts each and every time with a blank slate.

Set would often scoff at his job.

"Just feed them all to Ammit," he would say, "She'd love it and it would make your life easier."

"I think not," Anubis would reply with a roll of his eyes. "Then who would poor old Osiris watch over?"

Set would scowl at the mention of his brother and that would be the end of that particular conversation.

As the glory and gold-filled days of the Egyptian people slowly came and went, Anubis found himself more alone than ever. His fellow Egyptian gods had decided to hand off their duties to other deities, and retreat into the shadows, saddened by their lack of worship.

"Some of the Greek gods have taken over." Set was preparing to take his own journey, however, unlike many others, he did not give up his own godliness. "Ares has disappeared," Set had told him earlier, "I can't step down even if I wanted to."

"A shame."

"Ah well, I heard Hades took full control of the Underworld, he merged it with his own."

"It is not the same." Anubis sighed.

"No, it is not. But why do you care anyway?"

"I don't care."

"Hah! I had nearly forgotten about your lack of heart. Does that mean you plan to continue judgment?"

"Of course, if Hades allows it."

"Then until we meet again, Anubis."

Anubis continued with his judgment of hearts with Hades' blessing, though he lost track of the Greek god for many centuries once Persephone disappeared (a shame really, he quite liked her.)

Still, he continued to work. He changed his name to Ramses and blended in with the humans easily, even finding companionship in some of them. They taught him to live, really. He would partake in their celebrations and festivals, eyes opening to the hearts he merely saw as vessels of purity and sin.

He never fell in love, of course, it was an impossibility for him. He enjoyed his time with each and every companion, but with each good memory, came a bad one. Humans were beautiful but could be just as ugly. Before, he would simply place hearts versus a feather on a scale, but now, he was witnessing their sins firsthand.

They were lucky he could not simply send those particular souls to the Underworld himself. It wasn't his job, and it wouldn't be fair.

Throughout his journey, he met other deities of Death and the Afterlife, even becoming friends with some of them.

The archangel Michael, commander of Heaven, barely wanted anything to do with him. Luckily for him, Lucifer was much friendlier than his younger brother. "I always preferred Hell more anyway." Ramses would say, much to the fallen angel's amusement.

Hades, now calling himself Dante, had returned seeming more troubled than not. "Persephone was stolen from me." He told him, and Ramses promised his friend to keep an eye out for his beloved.

Shen ruled over Purgatory, his calm and pleasant demeanor constantly reminding Ramses' of Osiris. They were on friendly enough terms, but the emperor tended to keep to himself. Hearts that had weighed evenly with the feather were often sent to his colorless and downright dreary domain.

wip!!