Prologue
"The gods cannot allow one who has performed such service to perish by his own hand."
-Athena
"Stop struggling, you can not free yourself from those bonds."
The warrior glared at his captor from beneath his blonde locks, deep blue eyes boring into the elder man's chest. "Coward…if you have something to say, something to do to me…do now. For once act like the man you claim you are, child." He coughed as one of the soldiers kicked him in the stomach, sending him to the desert sands.
"You dare to speak to the Pharaoh in such a way?"
"I'll do more than that. Untie me, and I'll dare to cut his eyes out…" The warrior grunted as he was kicked again. "By Osiris, stop that!"
"The gods will not aid you now, Kappa Neo." The Pharaoh said, removing himself from his horse. "Your betrayal has seen to that."
"Betrayal?" Kappa Neo questioned, coughing up some blood. He managed to lift his head up to stare at the Pharaoh once more. "You dare talk of betrayal to me, o' King?" He laughed, bitterly, phlegm rising from his throat.
"That I do, child." The Pharaoh stated, even though Kappa Neo was only a few years his junior. "You have betrayed me and the gods through your actions…why else would you be here?"
"I am here because you are a foolish, petty man, and because your gods care little of one that doesn't need them."
One of the soldiers went for his spear. "Blasphemy!"
"Hold your hand, Ammon!" The Pharaoh commanded. He knelt before Kappa Neo, watching him carefully. "Tell me boy…tell me why you do not need the gods?"
Kappa Neo sneered as he spoke, as if the very words coming from his lips disgusted him. "I have seen many things, Pharaoh. I awoke in the desert alone, naked save for that dagger…" he nodded towards the golden weapon in the Pharaoh's hand, "…and marched for 6 days to your city. No torture the gods plan for me in the underworld will match the pain of their abandoning me to my fate. I have seen men…no, boys…slaughtered on the battlefield, while those that issue the commands sit on their thrones and worry about their next taste of wine.
"I have seen the suffering of the poor, heard the cries of the weak, felt blood on my hands as I held my dying soldiers in their last moments, tasted the tears of the wretched, smelled the disease and waste of humanity, and heard mothers cry out as their children were snatched from them." He glared at the sky. "If the gods exist, then they are more cruel than the worst of slavedrivers."
The Pharaoh gripped Kappa Neo's chin, forcing the warrior to look at him. "The gods reward those that do well in their name. All those that die and suffer do so through their own faults."
"If that is so, dear King, then why am I in ropes? Blame the gods for the crimes brought against you…perhaps you did not do well enough to please them?"
The Pharaoh backhanded the Medji, the warrior chuckling as he did so. "You enjoy twisting words to make yourself feel stronger."
"And you enjoy ignoring them to make yourself feel righteous," Kappa Neo countered.
The Pharaoh smacked him again. "You have answered my first question…now answer this: Why do you think I betrayed you?"
"Why?" Kappa Neo laughed, blood flicking from his lips onto the sand. "Think back Pharaoh…I came to you as nothing. You gave me all…my name, my station, my purpose. And I never once questioned you. When you needed a weapon to defeat the enemies of the east as they came upon our city, was it not I that showed you my dagger, that inspired your brother to create the Millennium Items? Was I not the one at your right hand, battling to protect you? And when you demanded that we ensure that the city never be threatened again, I left without pause, traveling and hunting them for 20 years. I gave up my youth to stop those invaders, Pharaoh. I cut their heads from their necks, tore flesh from limbs, all in your name.
"And then I returned. Did you receive me with fanfare? With praise? No…you questioned my absence, wondered why, if I could to the impossible in 20, why not ten. Then, in the middle of the night, you and your soldiers took me…beat me…and brought me here, with no word for what my crime was." He licked his teeth. "Oh yes…I feel there has been a betrayal, Pharaoh…but it was on your end."
The Pharaoh glared at the Medji. "Is that so? And would my queen feel the same way?"
Kappa Neo's eyes widened slightly before he smirked. "Can you fault me Pharaoh? She was beautiful...a goddess descended to Earth. You told me my first time seeing to worship her. I did."
The Pharaoh brutally struck him.
"Not like that!"
Kappa Neo laughed. "Ah, so that is why you hate me…because I have had knowledge of your beloved? Does it burn you Pharaoh…does it make your blood chill when you hear her cries and know you can never make her feel the way I did?" Kappa Neo grew serious. "She loved me, Pharaoh…not you. You were business…I was love."
The Pharaoh struck him again.
"She gave to us both her body, but only one of us did she give her love…" Kappa Neo narrowed his eyes as he whispered for only the Pharaoh to hear, "…and he womb. Tell me, Pharaoh…how is Atem, the child with the golden locks and dark eyes…how is my son?"
The Pharaoh roared, driving the Millennium Dagger into Kappa Neo's heart, silencing the Medji once and for all.
"You…gave me much, Kappa Neo." The Pharaoh whispered as the warrior convulsed. "You gave me my kingdom, my power…my heir." He leaned in close. "But he will never know of you…they will never know of you. Your name will be wiped from history, the scribes that dare chronicle you tortured for eternity…die now knowing none will ever remember your name."
The Pharaoh gave the command, the soldiers returning to their horses, following after their king as he galloped back to the palace. In the sands, the body of Kappa Neo lay, still and slowly growing cold.
"He is wrong, you know." A woman whispered, rising from the sand. She was dressed in golden robes, her tanned skin shining in the sun. "They will always remember your name…I will see to that." The goddess Nephthys, lady of the dead, draped herself over the Medji's dead body. "Both of us have been betrayed, but now both will be avenged." She ran a hand along his slackened cheek, smiling softly as she stroked his skin. "I waited so long for you…wanted so badly to explain your past…long I allowed you to be with others…with the queen…but no more" She leaned in close. "I will make you better…I will make you greater than you were." As she ran her hand over his flesh, Kappa Neo's body glowed. Rapidly, the ravages of time faded from him, and the dead body now appeared young again, 25 and virile. "I have been alone so long…but now my work nears an end…breath in my power…be reborn anew." And with that, the goddess kissed Kappa Neo's still form, the body shaking as energy poured into him.
She leapt away as he screamed into the night.