Anubis
NAME: Amir Masri
KNOWN ALIASES: Anubis
AGE: 30
OCCUPATION: Defense Attorney
POWERS:
- Judgment Sight
Able to perceive the "weight" of a person's soul, sensing guilt or innocence in a spectral aura around them.
ABILITIES:
- Skilled martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant
- Utilizes high-tech equipment
Amir Masri built his career not on ambition but on principle. Raised in a modest Cairo neighborhood by parents who instilled in him a sense of fairness and empathy, Amir’s path to law began with a desire to make a difference. His rise as a defense attorney was marked by an unyielding resolve to help those whom society had abandoned—the impoverished, the wrongfully accused, and victims of institutional neglect. He was the voice of the voiceless, a beacon of hope for the marginalized.
But as Amir climbed the ranks of the legal world, the bright ideals of his youth were tarnished by the grim reality of a justice system that too often favored wealth and power. Corrupt officials and untouchable elites manipulated the law to shield themselves, leaving Amir fighting uphill battles with few victories. Still, he pressed on, driven by a profound sense of duty and an unwavering belief in the possibility of change.
Frustrated yet undeterred, Amir began to see the bigger picture. The corruption infecting the justice system wasn’t limited to a few bad indivituals—it was a network, an intricate web of bribery, human trafficking, and illegal trade. Determined to expose this shadowy underworld, Amir spent years quietly gathering evidence. He worked tirelessly, compiling dossiers on corrupt officials, shady corporations, and dangerous syndicates.
His efforts eventually led him to Farouk Hasaan, a name that sent shivers through even the most hardened law enforcement officers. Farouk’s crime family wasn’t just a criminal empire; it was an institution, deeply entrenched in Cairo’s political and economic power structures. With bribes in the right pockets and fear in the wrong ones, Farouk operated with near-impunity. Amir, however, saw him as the linchpin of the entire corrupt system and set out to bring him down.
Despite numerous death threats and warnings to back off, Amir managed to gather enough evidence to take Farouk to court. The trial was a spectacle, a rare moment when it seemed the justice system might actually deliver. But Amir underestimated the depth of Farouk’s reach. On the day of the trial, critical pieces of evidence vanished, witnesses recanted their statements, and the case fell apart. Farouk walked free, his smirk a silent promise of retribution.
The failure of the trial weighed heavily on Amir, but it did not break him. As he left the courthouse late one evening, he was already planning his next move, determined to find another way to expose Farouk. But Farouk had no intention of giving him that chance.
In the dim light of the evening, Amir was ambushed by a group of Farouk’s enforcers. They dragged him into a nearby alley, their blows falling like hammers. The pain was excruciating, but worse was the helplessness—Amir, who had spent his life fighting for justice, was now at the mercy of the very corruption he had dedicated himself to dismantling.
The beating didn’t end until Amir was barely conscious, his body broken and battered. The enforcers carried him to the banks of the Nile and threw him into its murky depths. As his body sank, the world above dimmed, the water muffling all sound. In his final moments, Amir’s thoughts were not of regret but of anger—a burning, unyielding rage at the injustice of it all.
Death should have been the end, but for Amir, it was only the beginning. Instead of the eternal silence of the grave, he found himself standing in an endless desert, the air heavy and suffused with an otherworldly chill. The sky was a starless void, and the sands beneath his feet seemed alive, shifting with every step.
Amir realized he was no longer in the mortal realm. This was the Duat, the Egyptian underworld, a realm where the dead were judged and their souls weighed against the feather of Ma’at, the symbol of truth and justice.
Before him loomed a figure that seemed to fill the horizon: Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death and judgment. The deity’s glowing eyes pierced Amir’s very soul, and his voice rumbled like distant thunder.
"You sought justice where none could be found," Anubis intoned, his tone neither condemning nor praising. "You faced the corruption of men and paid the price for your defiance. But your soul is not yet ready to pass into the afterlife."
Amir, though awed by the god’s presence, was defiant even in death. “If I failed, it was because the system is broken. If justice is to be found, it cannot come from laws written by corrupt men.”
Anubis tilted his head, as though considering Amir’s words. "Mortal laws are but shadows of true justice. And yet, you clung to them, seeking balance in a world out of harmony." With a sweep of his hand, Anubis revealed a set of scales, glowing with an ethereal light. "The scales of Ma’at are imbalanced. The corruption of mortals weighs heavy upon the world, and the innocent suffer for it. The dead call out for justice, and the living cry out for salvation. Will you bear the weight of both?”'
Unshaken, Amir nodded. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
With that, the Duat dissolved into darkness, and Amir awoke, gasping for air in a hospital room, his body bandaged and weak. The doctors were baffled by the faint hieroglyphic-like scars across his torso, ones that hadn't been there before. Amir told no one of his experience in the Duat, unsure if it was a hallucination or an actual divine encounter. Was his meeting with Anubis a fever dream brought on by trauma, or had he truly been chosen by the god of the dead?
Over the following months, Amir’s doubts lingered, but strange occurrences began to unfold. He experienced flashes of heightened senses, preternatural agility, and the ability to see people's auras—truth and guilt manifesting as faint glows around them. Struggling to reconcile his experience, Amir returned to his old life but found it impossible to continue as a defense attorney. The courts were slow, corrupt, and inadequate for the kind of justice he now felt compelled to deliver....
