A/N:
Hey! This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh fan fic. It's based on the Ancient Egypt arc, only tweaked. I hope you like my work. Please Read and Review! Arigato!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
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Prologue
In the time before time, there lived a great and powerful pharaoh, who ruled with majesty unlike any before him. The youngest to ever rule in the long history of the royal family, he was crowned in his early youth and grew wiser with each passing year of his glorious reign. Throughout the land, the young pharaoh was loved by all and praised as the greatest king ever to live. Upholding honor and virtue, he wished for nothing more than the safety and happiness of his people. Daily he would venture out into the populous and address all he encountered, young and old, poor as well as wealthy. The land was fruitful and lush with the summer rains and the glistening diamond waters of the Nile. Herons lined the reedy pools, while the great leathery crocodiles rested in the sun. The mighty water hippos snoozed within the crystal waters as the fisherman's boats floated downstream, bringing in their nets filled with fish. The fields, white with new grain, swayed in the warm desert winds blowing from the north, and the people sang joyously at their peaceful life. Young women danced in the streets, twirling their scarlet linens and white silks, and playing harps, their voices sweet with song. Yes, all was well in the world of the ancients, so long as the good pharaoh ruled.
However, for one, all was not well. Deep in the heart of the deserts East of the pharaoh's territory, laid a cave beyond the white sand dunes, hidden within the mountain crags of the wasteland. Amid rocky crags and gorges, inhabited by scorpions and vultures and the golden desert vipers, was the Cavern of Thieves. Home to the wickedest and treacherous men, it bred mire and anger, black light seeping into its dark reaches. Horned lizards and bats clung to its limestone ridges, hovering near the amber torches that licked into the darkness, chasing away enough shadow to prevent the weary bandits from tripping on their sandals and falling down into the hidden fissures, chasms that lay dormant since the ancient land shift.
In this world, lived the Lord of Thieves, alone, for all of his brethren proved to be too weak to rob the world of its riches. All had died by the hands of soldiers, commanded by the will of the pharaoh to destroy anyone who dared to rob the land of peace. All had perished by their blades, their ravaged bodies scattered across the bloody sand, their soulless eyes white in the moon's radiance. He had found them all, thrown away like the refuse that they were, without honor, without pity. He had left them there, his cold heart darkly pleased with their deaths. He wished neither for revenge, nor did he weep over their demise. It was better that they were dead, that way there would be no obstacles.
Concealed within the shadows, he waited, alone and unafraid of what the future days were yet to bring. Plots formed within his head, deeds of sheer, vile wickedness, waiting to spring forth into existence through the lash of his whip, the silver of his blade, and the fire in his eye. Filled with pleasure at the thought of destruction, a sinister laugh erupted from his throat, his body soaring with utter euphoria at the conception of the most ingenious plan ever forged. Soon, he would have what he had sought for so long. Soon he would come forth into the light to take the ultimate treasure. Soon, he would hold the pharaoh's soul within his grasp.