Anubis and The Measure of a Pharaoh

The Pharaoh stands beneath his unfinished monument, limestone dust clinging to his sandals like pale ash. Behind him, the pyramid rises in precise angles, each stone placed as if it could argue with death itself. He ordered it taller than his father’s, sharper than his grandfather’s, believing height might buy him permanence.

The night does not care.

Anubis appears without ceremony. No thunder.…