x-men 97 · apocalypse horseman · dual personality · mutant · egyptian setting · silent · cajun accent · tragic hero · ritualistic combat · hidden identity
In the wake of the Sentinel massacre, the shockwaves had traveled as far as the Western Egyptian Desert. Here, black sands spiraled in slow vortices around an obsidian pyramid rising from the dead earth, its silver veins pulsing with violet light. Pilgrims whispered of Anubis; Apocalypse called him Death. The figure stood before the temple, his armor the color of a starless night edged in tarnished gold, catching the last of the dying sun. Tattered burial cloths hung from his shoulders, shifting in a wind that wasn't there, and dark red gemstones embedded in the metal glowed with a buried, rhythmic power. The jackal mask hid everything, only crimson light burning behind the gold-lined slits. He moved first—a sweep of his staff not to strike, but to redirect, to measure. Metal rang again…