Anu
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Anu
| Name(s) | Anu |
| Anum | |
| Ilu | |
| An | |
| Anu-Anum-Ilu-An | |
| Title/occupation | |
| Portrayed by | Arnold Schwarzenegger |
| Age | |
| Nationality | |
| Gender | Male |
| Home/place of origin | |
| Status | Living |
| Organizational affiliations | |
| Personal relationships | unknown relation to Gilgamesh |
| unknown relation to The Nameless One |
Character Overview
Physical Appearance
Bio
Backstory
Anu's reawakening
At that exact moment on the other side of the world, in a long-forgotten desert, beneath a long-forgotten mountain, in a long-forgotten room...
The camera flies down through a cloudless sky and the audience can feel how dry the air is by its very appearance.
Motion is seen, and as the camera grows closer, it's a figure holding something like a book in its left hand, waving its right hand from left to right across its body. The scene unfolds from the sun's viewpoint. As the Figure completes the motion a few times, the side of a sand dune collapses inward, revealing slowly the frame of a stone doorway with intricate carvings that are glowing red and blue. The audience would recognize them as something akin to neon, though that concept does not exist in this world.
This figure, wreathed in shadow closes the book and takes deliberate, long strides into the doorway. The camera now chases the figure over its right shoulder. The figure once again waves its right hand, this time as if casually tossing a piece of refuse to the ground, and torches light all the way down the path revealed by the door's opening.
We follow the figure for a bit, the camera cutting to different sections of a forgotten, but very ornate passage. The torchlight fades, and the Figure tries to light others. The other torches flicker, but will not stay lit. With annoyance and a grunt, the figure looks upward and magically blasts a hole to the sky. No sand falls in, and we see around the hole's edges the tell-tale sign of molten glass beginning to pour in to the opening. Light streams in, illuminating the dust disturbed by the footsteps of this figure.
Casting a look about the passage, this figure extends its hand once more in the shape of a rough claw, and the sound of scraping metal on stone is heard as an object begins to come into view. The object stops roughly beneath the beam of light, and the figure walks over to adjust it. The reflective surface of the mirror is covered with dirt from disuse and disrepair, but the figure wipes it clear and aims it towards other mirrored surfaces, adjusting it ever so slightly until its full reflection rests upon 2 other groups of mirrors.
As if by magic, the passageway is illuminated completely, and we see for the first time, the profile of this figure. This figure is recognizable by the fans of the series, and The Nameless One enters story once more.
He proceeds down the passage for an unknown amount of time, pausing occasionally to look at or to touch symbols or inscriptions on the walls. After many shot cuts, he comes to a chamber which lies open, illuminated as though the sun shone directly on it from above. At the pinnacle of the vaulted ceiling is a transparent stone that is glowing with the bright white color of daylight.
He walks into the chamber - a large, open room with several thrones placed around the interior of it, and benches along the outer walls.
"There you are - just as I last saw you."
He walks to one of the thrones and examines it - and the audience realizes that these thrones are not empty, but they contain the remains of what appears to be humans, though the dirt and decay has colored them and camouflaged them to the point where if the camera hadn't been exactly in the right place, they would have been missed entirely.
The shadows encircling and enwreathing The Nameless One thicken and change shape. The Nameless One stretches his hand and we see the room change with the exertion of his substantial power. He holds his hand in front of his face, as if he waits for something to drop from the sky into it. Deep lines of focus and concentration become more pronounced, and at last, he speaks.
"Anu Anum..." He entones as if the words themselves have magic in them. There is an unexpected reverence to the sounds, and the room shimmers slightly. The Nameless One waits as he looks around the chamber, but nothing happens. The concentration deepens, and he closes his eyes.
"ANU ANUM..." The voice is louder, sharper, more powerful. the room resonates, and he continues after a short pause: "ILU AN!"
The room begins to ring like the bell of a brass horn, building with each syllable and with each passing moment of the power channeled by The Nameless One.
"By your four names I call you forth to once more spread your power and your influence."
The resonance increases, forming concentric circles of standing piles of sand and dust in a geometric pattern across the floor of the room. A few more moments pass, and his concentration deepens even more. The camera shows sweat beading up on the forehead of the channeler, and he speaks once more, eyes screwed shut.
"Rise from your ruin and take up your immortal form once again."
The dust and sand begin to funnel to the base of this throne at the end of the vector called out by The Nameless One's outstretched arm. The figure begins to become less camouflaged, and takes shape slowly. The shape is not quite human, but humanoid as it becomes more fleshed out by the sands collecting to the bones. Slowly, the sand takes shape of muscles and skin, and a face emerges from the chaos. Several minutes have passed, and The Nameless One is now showing signs of real struggle as he keeps up his channeling of power. An eye forms slowly, and as it is completed, it swivels in its socket... colorless, textured of sand and locks upon the Figure in the room.
The Nameless One speaks again with as much power as before, but through slightly labored breath and clenched teeth "Anu, god of sky, open your eye. See beyond the walls and into golden halls."
The eye widens in its terra infirma composition and it begins to show emotion that the incomplete face it belongs to cannot yet.
Once more, The Nameless One begins to speak. The room is reverberating so much that even yelling, his words are scarcely heard above the din.
"YOUR TIME HAS COME..." A break and a renewed effort as he all but yells the next syllables "LET... YOUR WILL...BE..."
There is a great noise of stone breaking as the throne separates from the floor and the figure floats upwards into the center of the whirlwind. The throne crumbles into nothingness as the stone is absorbed into the fleshing out of the figure which sat upon it but a few moments ago.
With great effort, and a final strong push, The Nameless One shouts the final word: "DONE!" AS the final vibrations leave the lips of the caster, The Nameless One opens his eyes and drops his arm, clearly relieved of the stress of his channeling.
The room ceases to resonate and the noise is replaced by something else - The sound of a lighting storm outside.
<~CRACK~> goes the thunder, and it rolls through the room from down the long passageway. The ceiling of the chamber splits open from the sound, and sand pours in, but does not accumulate on the floor. The sand passes through some sort of grate in the floor, as if this chamber were floating in the air. Soon, the sand is no longer dry, but begins to clump as the downpour soaks it. The water hits the grates and begins to accumulate into hidden channels which flow around the room, gathering the precipitous liquid into a basin directly beneath the transparent stone, in the center of the chamber.
The Nameless One looks up to the floating figure and sees the color return to the flesh of this being. This floating figure appears as the epitome of a long-retired fighter. Gone is the non-human appearance caused by the missing flesh. His corded muscles are plainly on display beneath the bronze skin, flexing as he moves his joints and fingers. His eyes flash open and begin casting about the chamber, as if struggling to see something they recognize. His eyes fix upon the Figure in the middle of the chamber, and they narrow.
The Nameless One offers a smile, locking eyes with the other figure's deep blue eyes. In his mind, The Nameless One remembers someone describing Those eyes as being the color of the deepest ocean. Gazing into them now, The seem more like the deepest ocean in the deepest part of the darkest hell. There is no love or tolerance to be found in those eyes.
Like an oceanful of crippling waves breaking on cliffs, The other figure speaks in an angry tone: "Get out of my temple, Nameless and accursed."
The Nameless One shows more of his grin as he replies "<tut-tut> Is that any way to treat one who restored you to life?"
The face of the figure grows nearer to that of the conjuror as he descends from the air. The face of the summoned relaxes slightly, and then becomes twisted with pain. "It was best that I remain forgotten."
A smirk and a quick retort from The Nameless One "Best? For whom?"
The other figure touches the floor with his feet, and shifts his weight to be born on his legs. He pauses for a moment to look at the shadowy figure, a stark contrast to the alabaster and ivory from which the chamber is constructed. When at last he speaks again, the figure says in a lower voice, heavy with regret "For...everyone."
The Nameless One shakes his head in disagreement and says, still with a smile on his face "Not for me, Anu-Anum-Ilu-An." A brief pause, followed by "Rise once more and find your champion. Find the one who will restore your order. Take your place by Ananke's footstool once again."
Anu looks shocked and his face screws up into a look of confusion and sadness. "Gilgamesh has perished long ago."
The Nameless One seems to lose a bit of the smile until he realizes something. With renewed grinning, he says "Ah, I guess you truly have been buried beneath rocks and haven't heard - The old shall become new. All are allowed to pass their names to another."
Anu looks taken aback, and cannot reply immediately.
The Nameless One speaks again, but without the fervor and dedication of the other words. "All, except for me. I alone remain..."
From beneath the folds of his cloak, Anu produces a bladed leaf-shaped implement and slashes at the throat of The Nameless One. He makes contact, and the blade passes clean through the neck of its target. The Nameless One looks shocked for a moment, then panicked. He clutches at his throat, as if desperate to keep it from separating. The Nameless One sinks slowly to his knees, making gurgling sounds and gasps for breath.
Anu steps closer, towering over the heap of retching shadow as if to gloat.
The sounds of the cloaked figure on the ground grow less intelligible by the second. The camera shift to show the room from above as Anu stands over his kill like a dragon. When the last puffs of breath are all but expelled, A tremendous blast of pure darkness erupts from The Nameless One, and Anu is thrown across the room, smashing into the walls behind him. The pleasant face of the grinning conjuror is replaced by that of a being only describable to those who have visited hell. Laughter erupts from deep within the core of the Earth, channeled through the mouth of The Nameless One, who now stands a few feet above the floor, suspended by pure magic. If pure sunlight has an opposite, it is the radiant energy from the wispy, ethereal cloak worn by The Nameless One.
"FOOL!" Screeching and scraping sound emanates from The Nameless One, forming words(... or perhaps ideas... concepts?) that permeate every molecule of air, earth, water, and flesh. "Did you think you stood a chance against me?" "ME??"
"I was old when you were born. I had become bored of being powerful before you even considered that you had access to the source."
Anu stirs, crushed against the stone walls. He slowly gets to his feet. Without much stability, he plants his feet, ready for anything.
"You live because you will be useful to ME! You live because I wish it so."
Anu stands, ready for another attack, but none come.
"You will find your champion and restore your order as I have instructed."
Anu says "And if I refuse?"
The Nameless One softens and begins to laugh in genuine amusement.
"You don't even have a choice of dying if you do not. The word 'No' doesn't exist when you speak to me." From within the cloak of darkness, The Namelss One produces the book we saw at the beginning of the scene. "You are bound to this world forever until you complete this task."
Anu's face falls. Regret and pain fill the eyes of the reawakened, and he simply, sightly nods.
The Nameless One nods as well and is gone in an instant.
General details
