Kicking at the sand, Howard growled as he took a seat on a rock beside his friend Jones. They’d been digging paths in the sand by merely walking back and forth waiting for the explorers to finish up their digging for the day. “I swear to God, this sun will peel off my pelt, Dick,” he panted. The husky didn’t look comfortable at all in the dark clothes he’d chosen for that day, and his partner couldn’t help but laugh at him. “I told ya, Howard. You have fur and unlike humans they haven’t quite concocted a formula for not burning your fur off,” Dick said with a grin. The human unlike his canine compatriot had put on a good three layers of sunscreen throughout the day. “Anyways it’s you who’s always walking around like an idiot wasting water. Do you really believe anyone’s gonna attack us out here?” The pair were bodyguards to a couple of explorers who’d been working for a high paying company to dig up the entrance to a hidden temple. Four years prior the temple had been unburied and the entire thing had been a huge thing in the news as they were constantly unveiling new discoveries about the outside of the temple. About two years in though the news had gotten weary and stopped documenting and even the organization members had grown tired as many of the diggers had quit after they’d reached half way down the temple. Now the last two explorers had hit the doors, but they were stuck trying to figure out some riddle to open them. A cat and human were busy decrypting the hieroglyphics on the door with sweeps over the symbols with their brushes as their bodyguards stood up high on the sandy hill watching them. “Honestly, Dick? I don’t think anyone has enough time to spend except for these two, and us, to come out here. Anyways, I don’t see why they don’t let us set up some C4...” “Because we don’t want you breaking anything important,” a voice from behind startled them both. They turned to see the cat on his way up with his usual cocky grin. “Surprisingly, old architecture and explosives don’t mix that well, boys. Now can you two make yourselves useful and go get us something to eat from the campsite?” Howard growled deep in the back of his throat as Dick jumped up and swatted his friend on the nose before giving the cat as sincere a smile as he could possibly muster up without strangling the cat. “Of course, Devin. Would you like some Salmon or Tuna?” he asked. The cat’s eyes flashing angrily as his tail swatted. “You know I’m allergic... now go get us some food! We’re not paying you for nothing.” The bodyguards lumbered through the sand back towards the campsite with a quick flick of the bird back at the cat who merely let out a small hiss before tromping down the hill towards his partner. “Why do we keep them around again?” he asked. His tail was copying a fly swatter in ferocity with how many times it whipped the sand as his partner merely laughed. “Ya know, they’d be more prone to doing their jobs if you let them do some stuff down here. Also, tempting the dog isn’t a good idea as I’m pretty sure he has more muscles in his pinky than you in your oh so menacing tail, Devin,” Wesley said. The human brushed his long brown bangs from his eyes as he grinned up at his fellow explorer. “Now why don’t you help us out and help me decipher this last part of the door? We’ve almost got this thing open and then we can reap the rewards!” The cat got down on his knees before picking up his brush and helping his friend brush away the layers of sand caked in the etchings of the door. “Whoever made this puzzle didn’t want anyone solving it. This puzzle’s more complicated than high school arithmetic...” he mumbled. “It’s not that hard... I mean after all, I was a math teacher before I was a historian. If you’re setting the bar at math, then you haven’t taken real high level math classes” Wesley laughed. Devin stuck his tongue out earning himself a nice taste of sand as some of the sand Wesley was brushing out got blown into his mouth. As the cat hocked up a sandball Wesley finally finished cleaning off the door, revealing the last piece of the puzzle. As the human poured over the door’s contents, Devin was gulping down the water out of his canteen as Wesley fell back onto his rear and groaned. “What is it?” the cat asked. Turning around he saw his friend rubbing his forehead in what looked to be a rather embarrassed fashion. “Don’t tell me... we have to sacrifice a dog?!” he asked hopefully. His fellow historian gave him a scathing glance before shaking his head. “Nope, but it’s a damn good thing that those guys are getting food. It’s gonna take a while to open this door,” Wesley explained. “What could we possibly have to do to open this door that’s so complicated, mister mathematician?” Devin prodded. Tracing his fingers over the hieroglyphics as if to receive a second opinion Wesley looked at the cat. “We need to find sixteen spots on the walls of this temple and press them in the right order. We also need the blood of the sacred animal of this temple.” Devin was silent for a whole minute before rubbing his eyes with a loud groan. “Where in the hell... are we going to find the blood of a jackal?” he growled. Thankfully the people of the temple had made it painfully obvious who their sacred animal was with how many murals of jackals there were on the walls, and the fact that the first part of the temple they’d found was a jackal statue propped up right on top of the temple. Tapping his finger on the door a sly grin slid across Wesley’s face as he turned back to look at the cat. “Do you think husky blood would be a good substitute?” he asked. Devin’s eyes widened with delight as they both glanced up the sand hill where an irate husky and human were stumbling down with paper plates in their hands. “Here’s your damn food...” Howard growled. He about tossed the food right into the hands of the cat who merely shared a smile with Devin as Dick gave the other human his food. “What’s up with the smiles? Found another way to degrade us?” the dog asked. The bodyguards were getting an odd feeling about the way the explorers were looking at them. “How would you feel about a three hundred dollar raise?” Devin asked. Setting the plate aside as he looked at their bodyguards who now looked far more attentive. “Three hundred dollars for what?” Howard asked with a suspicious raise of his eyebrow. Pulling out a screwdriver from his bag Devin held it out towards the husky who looked at it suspiciously. “This door has a puzzle on it with two parts of it. The first part is to press several different buttons on the walls of the temple to prime the lock mechanism. The second part is... well we need canine blood. Jackal to be exact but we’re hoping that it’d accept a substitute,” Devin explained. Howard didn’t look exactly excited to be stabbed to give up some of his blood... but three hundred was a pretty good price if he was going to give up a pint or two... Looking at his partner who was mulling over the screwdriver Dick dug out a knife from his pocket. “A screwdriver would hurt like hell, this’ll be better,” he offered. Howard looked relieved that he wouldn’t have to dig his hand on a screwdriver and Devin looked even more relieved that he didn’t have to throw away a fine instrument. “Now the question is where do we put the blood?” Devin asked. Now Wesley was pouring over the door once more before shrugging. Now that the pair were so interested in the door their hunger abated as they set the plates aside and started seriously paying attention to the puzzle at hand. “I suppose since it’s the second part of the puzzle it should become apparent after we do the first part of this puzzle,” he explained. The other three nodded before they decided to split up into two separate groups to find and mark the different buttons before pressing any of them. They went around the temple in opposite directions pushing around on the walls and finding the spots where the buttons shifted under touch. The bodyguards decided to attempt pushing as they walked around and found that it took one of them pushing as hard as they could to make the button push in at all. Howard quickly found out that he wasn’t going to need his partner’s knife though as pressing the buttons in the wrong order quickly showed him that it released a very sharp knife. The dog barely avoided getting a whole hand piercing as he let out a pained yell that caused the other two to jump in shock and run around while Dick helped Howard get his paw wrapped up. “What happened?!” Devin asked. The cat’s ruffled tail made it apparent that he was shocked by the guard’s yell as the dog let out a few choice curse words. After Dick explained to the pair what had happened the pair exchanged a glance and let out a deep sigh of relief. “Well at least we know that this puzzle won’t kill us...” Wesley sighed. Howard didn’t seem as happy to incline the thought as the bandage on his hand reddened a bit. “What did you think would happen if we failed this puzzle then?!” The explorers gave their bodyguards a rather deadpan look. “We figured that we’d die,” they said in sync. Their bodyguards didn’t seem to appreciate this line of thought as they berated them with a few choice curse words and other such insults as they finished marking off the buttons over the walls. “How do you expect to finish this puzzle while avoiding getting us cut up like shish kabobs?” Dick asked. Brushing his dark hair out of his eyes revealed his rather intense eyes that made the two explorers realize that he cared more for his partner than he’d let on and didn't in the least seem happy with them. The explorers had found the bodyguards through a online site once the locals had stopped submitting their own men for protection once the camera crews had cleared out. For the most part after meeting Dick and Howard, the historians had figured they were just rather bitter towards one another. Now it was obvious to them that due to the fact that they hadn’t warned the husky of the danger, they themselves were in danger of losing their one source of protection. “Now that we know the bricks contain knives behind them so obviously we can’t push them willy nilly without fear of getting stabbed. The group that built this temple must have left some form of indication about what order you have to pick the buttons in or else I’m sure many people would’ve lost their hands in the past,” Wesley explained hopefully. Truth be told it was unlikely that the group didn’t just remember the password, but they were about to lose their bodyguards and they needed some safeguard. The bodyguards slowly nodded as the two explorers started to give the entire temple a once over. They walked around it once... twice... three times before they stopped and looked rather confident. “Dick, would you mind pushing this button?” Wesley asked. The bodyguard approached and looked at the button with a rather suspicious look before glancing back at the pair who motioned for him to try it out. “I’d better not be looking for a new hand after pressing this...” Dick growled. Pushing the button in with a heavy grunt the bodyguard shut his eyes and held his breath as the button slid back... and clicked in place. The man let out a huge sigh of relief as the other two shouted in success. “Well that one worked... now shall we try the rest?” Devin asked. Walking around it didn’t take Dick himself too long to pick up on the solution as he realized each of the buttons had a jackal mural above them with the jackals getting progressively more human like. The button that Howard had pressed had actually been the last in the sequence and had some blood smeared on it still which made Dick the taddest bit uncomfortable as he got some of his partner’s blood on his palm. As the last button clicked in place they heard Howard’s shout of surprise as the three exchanged a glance and ran towards the front to find the husky standing in front of a small podium that had shot up out of the sand. Sand pouring off the sides of the bowl as it revealed a small hole in the center. “So this must be where the blood must go...” Devin mumbled. Grains of sand clung to the edges but as the hole has been covered up by a small piece of stone inside it looked empty enough for Howard’s blood to go in unabated. They all looked towards Howard who scowled as he undid his bandage with his cut palm. “I’d better still be getting that three hundred,” he grunted. Holding his still cut hand over the bowl they watched as it filled up and the blood went down the hole. After a few drops Howard withdrew his hand and wrapped it up as they all held their breath praying that it would work. After a minute they were feeling disappointed before there was a loud clunk and the doors to the temple started to slide open. The four of them cheered with a building excitement of what they’d find inside of the ancient temple. Howard and Dick retrieved their guns from the campsite as they all ventured into the darkness left by the absent doors. As they walked in the blood from the dog leaked into a pitch black pool deep inside of the temple and a power stirred inside as a voice let out a small hiss. “New blood...” The voice while very silent somehow echoed all the way up through the temple right into Howard’s ears though not even Devin could hear it. The dog’s ears twitched as he glanced around and scratched behind his ears. “Did you guys hear that?” Everyone stopped and looked around trying to listen for some sound but nobody heard anything besides their own breathes. “Trying to scare us isn’t going to work on us, puppy dog,” Devin tsked. Howard scowled as he shivered as he felt some presence observing them but he put it down to his own slight fear of the dark and they continued in until they found a torch to light up. Pulling a lighter from his pocket, Dick lit the torch and picked it up waving it around a bit to help illuminate their location. After lighting up a few more torches, they were able to discern their location as some form of altar room. Rivers of black liquid were set in small trenches near the edges of the walls and went around in a circle following the contours of the altar room. Set upon the walls of the room were grand golden symbols of Anubis from egyptian culture and crossing over the trenches were three bridges leading into different parts of the temple. “Impressive... I wonder what this goo is though...” Devin muttered. The cat leaned in near the water and took a whiff before coughing powerfully and falling back onto his rear. “What is it?!” Howard asked. The dog ran over to the cat and helped him to his feet as he swore he heard a whisper or something from the black liquid as he helped the cat up. (Am presently curious. What level of technology do the characters have / know of? I assume battery powered things wouldn’t be brought unless they had some kind of solar unit to power them with periodically. I would have imagined pictures would be taken at each step before they touch anything. If they had satellite access to the internet, uploading them to the web in real time. I’m guessing that they don’t have access to these things. Given their use of fire for illumination instead of electrical lamps, I have to assume their level of technology is low or that their small party is indicative of a very small budget. Still, one would think that a temple of this level would be something the archaeological community would be very interested in unless the trek to get to it was suicidal. I should probably just suspend my disbelief more. >.>) “Damn that stuff smells awful... smells like pure liquid rubber or something...” the cat growled. Devin rubbed at his nose while Wesley walked around the room observing the different hieroglyphics up on the walls and writing them down in a small notebook that he pulled from his bag. “Find anything, Wesley?” Devin asked, his eyes were still watering from the terrible smell. The human didn’t seem like answering at that moment as he merely nibbled on the end of his pen while continuing to decipher the words. Walking around making sure there were no traps Dick and Howard walked over the bridges and lit up torches along the way to observe what was past the altar room. They didn’t find much other than small pots and different objects of worship for the god Anubis. They did however find stairs in each of the rooms that led deeper into the temple. Deciding to wait for the others they both marked down their findings on their own little maps they’d traced of the place and upon meeting back up in the main room shared their findings before returning to the explorers. (Bookmark.) “Looks like this place goes a lot deeper in all three of these directions. I think we should wait until we can invite other historians before we even think about going deeper. They’ll likely know more about what traps could possibly be in here,” Howard said. The dog was ever the pessimist and had a deep concern that there could be poison gas or spike traps all throughout the temple. Devin and Wesley had already compiled a decent amount of glyphs that they were going to be pouring over until the morning light so they weren’t too sad about having to wait. “Sounds good, we’ll give some of the others a call. Let’s head back out,” Wesley said. The four started for the exit as Howard suddenly felt a powerful wave of dizziness as he heard a call. “Howard, come deeper...” the voice called. The dog stumbled and nearly burned himself with his own torch as the others jumped in shock and went back to help him to his feet. “You okay, Howard?” Dick asked. Howard rubbed his head as he looked over his shoulder for a moment and frowned as he tried to explain how he would tell them that he was hearing voices. He figured it would be best not to though as he really didn’t need to be called insane so as long as he stayed away from the temple he should be fine. “Yeah... just tripped. Let’s get out of here,” Howard said. The others were only too glad to agree as the inside of the temple was eerily quiet so they’d stay out until the next day. *** Waking up in the middle of the night Howard wandered to the entrance of his tent as he gazed out at the temple. The husky felt an odd pull to the temple as he picked up a flashlight and wandered out in nothing but his shorts into the cool desert night. Walking towards the temple the dog shivered a little though it wasn’t from the chill hair as his fur was brushed by the sandy air. Looking at the dark entrance of the temple Howard’s rational side told him not to go in... to head back to the tent and wait for the others to wake up. Some primal part of his brain commanded him to walk in deeper though as he stepped into the entrance amidst the crackles of the still lit torches on the walls that had burnt lower while they had left them lit. Stepping into the temple Howard almost felt like it was a dream if not for the deep cold penetrating through his paws from the cold stone underfoot. Every one of his steps echoed through the hall as he wandered through the tunnels with a voice in his head telling where to go. The deeper he went the less torches he found until he was merely left with his flashlight that seemed to be flickering as he finally drew to the deepest part of the temple. The dog had long since stopped attempting to pay attention to every little thing and had merely followed that voice in his head. Now he stood before a large pool of black liquid that had flowed throughout the entire place filling the room with the overpowering scent of rubber. Staring down at the pool Howard gulped deeply as he stood at the very edge and a part of him wanted him to step down though he was able to overpower that need as he took a single step back. “Why am I here?” he asked aloud. It wasn’t as if he’d been expecting some answer so it didn’t surprise that nobody stepped out and told him what he was there for. Looking down into the bubbling goop Howard felt dizzy as he leaned down and gazed deep into the goo. The liquid smelled powerfully of rubber and yet somehow there didn’t seem to be any signs of it solidifying. Leaning in closely Howard watched his reflection flicker in the black goo... until a pair of golden eyes formed in the black shocking him and dragging in the dog into the pool. Struggling against the rubber Howard felt the goo wrapping onto his body like a casing as he pushed and shoved against his forming cocoon and found the clothes he was wearing were being physically torn off of his body. Every now and again he was able to push his way to the surface and managed a pitiful plea for help but nobody outside would hear his screams from so far in the temple. A silky smooth voice whispered into his ear as he was submerged once more as the rubber weaved its way between his fur. “Do not struggle,” the voice said simply. Now for the most part Howard wasn’t into the prospect of listening to voices from a pool of rubber that had dragged him in, but this voice was like pure happiness to his brain. The husky froze even as he felt the rubber squishing its way into every one of his open orifices and somehow he continued to live even without the sweet breath of oxygen. “Good, now my wonderful new host you shall be embarking on a most wonderful path in your meager existence...” “Get out!” Howard’s thoughts cut off the voice. Though Howard wanted with all of his being to listen to the voice he knew that he had to fight as he was no pawn to be toyed with. “I won’t listen, and I won’t give in to your damned commands!” With that Howard started to thrash at the liquid but it was rather pointless by this time as he’d sunk deep into the rubber pool and there was no making his way back to the surface. There was a pang of annoyance in Howard’s head that made him physically flinch even as his fur was now fading into a thick black layer of skin that was as black as the liquid surrounding him and all of his defining features were fading including his mouth and eyes. “Quiet yourself, dog. Now and your allies above have decided to disturb this temple after so long and in the many years the previous host had joined once more with this rubber that our soul permeates. Now with your blood having revitalized our soul we can finally rise once and for all, no longer to be confined to this liquid, but we shall arise as one powerful god to the weak mortals!” As the rubber bantered Howard was attempting to get out but his movements were dulled as his body had started to drain of any remaining energy from his regular muscles. Everything that had been under the rubber: muscles, bones, and organs were now pure rubber and he was practically a doll by this point, save a doll that was powered by a will. “I don’t get what you’re saying, let me out,” Howard growled. An echo of amusement poured its way down to the rubber canine’s very core as he felt a massive wave of energy starting to surround him with a golden hue. “The one known as Howard will be ceasing to exist in a mere moments is what we mean. Your will is so weak compared to ours, you shall become us, and be proud of your new soul. We are Anubis, the ancient god of death who was confined into this form by damned ancient priests. We have been able to appear in new bodies every now and again, but every time they found themselves unable to hold form, so we have transformed your form from that of a regular dog into a far more malleable rubber form. With this form we can transform our new body into that of a true god’s form, albeit in rubber.” Already Howard felt the aura of the god starting to fill his body and his personality was starting to become corrupted by the power, an ancient lifetime overwriting his memories and making him into... “No! Stop it! I won’t be your plaything... I am Howard, a husky! Not some jackal freak!” Howard struggled. There was another chuckle as Howard stiffened as he felt his cock between his legs get josseled by the rubber. Part of him had forgotten that it had been dangling between his legs in the fray but now, if he could’ve, he would’ve been groaning in pleasure. The rubber massaged and played with his meat as it started to grow into a far larger and majestic shaft with golden markings rolling down the shaft to give it a far more fanciful look with the knot being encircled in the golden rubber. “Do not worry, we will pleasure those thoughts away from ourself. ‘Howard’ is soon to be but a mere concept, you will remember the name and life, but we are now Anubis, and as such we are the king of this world. Imagine legions of men at your beck and call with their rubberized bodies and muscles...” Confused by the images Howard growled to himself as he felt his shaft hardening much to his own confusion. “I’m... not interested in men though...” It was true that he was not interested in men at all, but Anubis long in the past had found the sight of men far more acceptable than women and as such had surrounded himself with legions of men that he’d hypnotized into being very gay for their king. These memories flashed to Howard’s mind and he winced and let out a deep moan as his cock kicked and throbbed in arousal. Up the rubber surface of his skin the rubber husky was changing as muscles started to become far more apparent, he started to grow taller and his tail growing out with small rubber wags. Golden hieroglyphs formed on the surface of his skin which signified the King and Godhood as the numerous memories of the ancient god Anubis invaded the mind of the once powerful Howard. The husky found his figure being redefined as he forgot what he’d looked like just minutes before and a new image was forming in his mind, one of the mighty god Anubis. “Soon we will rise from this pool as our true form Anubis and claim those who’ve invaded our palace and make them into the first of our many slaves who will follow us into the world of the future...” Anubis chuckled. The host groaned as his memories were blurring and he started to believe that he was Anubis, Howard was there... but Anubis was greater, he was starting to enjoy the idea of the god status instead of being mortal more and more. Golden gauntlets formed on his forearms as the muscles pumped out of his arms. The husky was being subverted into a jackal as his ears grew sharper and his body grew taller still. Pieces of jewelery were formed out of the rubber on his body, such as a few rings, a golden anch around his neck, and two golden earrings forming in both of his tall ears. As his cock throbbed Anubis groaned as any of his thoughts were now focused towards being the great ruler, Howard faded into the pool of concious as he groped his massive girth and started to pump it. The delight of physical skin was amazing as he started to pump it and felt the godly aura of his true self fill the body. “No more with the mortal name Howard... Anubis is who I am...” he deeply chuckled as he came. The personality of howard resided inside the god, but he no longer desired the mortal life, he now knew who he was. Stepping from the deep pool of rubber new clothes formed on the brand new god as a golden outline formed on his blank face. A pair of golden eyes gleamed while his mouth split open with golden lips that beamed as his teeth glinted in the dim light of the room. With a clap of his hands the room was filled with his golden aura and Anubis flexed his firmly muscled body that squeaked with every movement. “Wonderful... now to see to those ‘friends’ of mine...” The part of him that was Howard cheered as he imagined giving them a taste of his divine love of cock...