Hey folks. Look, I know for those who follow Yuigoh religiously, you might say, 'This story sucks', but please cut me some slack. I wrote it before I knew of the Ancient Egyptian saga. However, I couldn't just let this beauty go to waste. So, please enjoy this story, and keep in might it doesn't follow the timeline or the universe of Yugioh written in the manga, as far as I know. But I would like some feedback regardless. Thanks!
Yugioh: The Pharaoh's Last Stand
The war among his people had been getting considerably worse over the last few months and because of it he was forced to barricade himself inside his palace, which was the last thing he wanted to do especially during a time when his subjects were in need of him the most.
But it was a necessary step to ensure his continuing reign of Egypt, his advisors had told him. Yet, he thought, what was the point in being ruler when your subjects had no confidence in their king?
The Pharaoh sat on his throne, thinking. There was an uprising by his former council members to strip him of his office, but his military was protecting his kingship, and to their death. But this war was pointless. If the people did not want him to continue to be their ruler then it may be best to resign his post and step down.
But the ancient scriptures said no Pharaoh will resign his office if he is still alive, so was death his only way out? Should he kill himself so his people would be at peace? No, that was the cowards way out. His people needed him, and now more than ever. He had to fix this, to make peace with his enemies so his kingdom would be secure. It was only a small group who wanted his throne and they did not speak for the whole of Egypt, so why would he commit suicide because of these rebels?
The game he resurrected from the depths of time, the game of Duel Monsters, had torn his kingdom apart. The monsters of the three Egyptian Gods were too powerful too control. It was a game at first, that was fun and enjoyable, but with the monsters came power and greed, and soon it was no longer a game but an opportunity to gain ultimate control over all the land. Whoever controlled all three of these powerful monsters was assured victory over his opponent, and the world.
And this was what the war was about. He had the last Egyptian God monster safely tucked away in a secure location for which only he knew and could only access. If they happen to overrun his palace and kill him, then they would never find it. He could not allow it to fall into the wrong hands or his kingdom was doomed, and the fate of the past, present and future would be at risk according to the ancient scriptures he had found with the discovery of the game.
He knew what he had to do and stood up from his throne and walked across the centre of his audience chambers to the adjacent wall, pressing a symbol on the wall with his right hand. The block of stone was actually a trigger and caved in, opening up the floor of his chambers, a stone slab sliding back to reveal a small chamber underneath. From the floor rose a level, and on the level was the tablet of his Egyptian God playing piece, the most power piece ever created in the ancient game.
He went over to it and brushed a hand across its limestone surface. This stone was ancient even for this time, several millennium old, but it did not show wear or age like others did from the game. Perhaps because he had not gotten around to play it. He had no need with all the monster tablets at his disposal. This was a very powerful tablet and he knew its power very well. In the ancient scriptures describing the game, it said never to use this tablet or a great disaster will befall Egypt and the ruler who uses it. So he did not use it, and had shown it to no one except his most trusted advisors. One of whom was now waging war against him for control over his kingdom.
He did not know the name of the rebel leader, his identity was kept a closely guarded secret by his own council members. And with his kingdom under siege very little information trickled in from the providences and city-states. And with no information came the blockage of the trade routes and roadways for his men to bring in food and supplies.
His men were growing impatient for this war to end, as was he. But all he could do was embrace his faith that the Gods would grant him victory over his enemies, like they had done so many times before. He was a man of overwhelming faith in his ancestors, but he also had the wisdom to see things from a different perspective, which was the reason his kingdom was as large as it was. He was the most powerful Pharaoh Egypt ever had, because despite his young age, he had the intelligence, the knowledgeable and wisdom, of an ancient. But now the people were revolting, their minds poisoned by a dictator bent on taking his throne.
He had to bring this war to an end, but he also had to secure his kingdom's ever-lasting continuation even if he lost, and this tablet was the way to achieving that victory.
The pyramid item around his neck, the ancient relic from an age long forgotten, was telling him something. It held the knowledge and wisdom of all the Pharaohs who came before him, but it was not constructed in Egypt. It was found in Egypt along with six other golden items, and cleaned, and passed down to the Pharaohs for over one thousand years. Then when he took over reign of Egypt, he gave each of the other items to six priests for safe-keeping, because a dream told him to do so. But after their deaths, he retrieved them and hid them in a secret passage behind a wall in his audience chambers.
He possessed the most powerful item, and it was speaking to him now.
Suddenly, the knowledge from his ancestors brought forth a spiritual Being and it stood before him. The Being was his mirror image. The Being then became solid, life-like in every way.
The Pharaoh was shocked to see this Being take his form.
"Are you an apparition of my mind?" the Pharaoh asked this being. "Have I conjured you for a solution to the war that now plagues my people?"
"Oh great Pharaoh, ruler of the seven lands of Egypt and father of the Nile, I am you," the Being replied. "I have come to aid in your quest. I am the embodiment of all your ancestors come to help you."
"My quest? Help me? I do not understand. How?"
"To bring peace to your kingdom," the Being answered. "You know what you must do, so why do you hesitate? Destroy the tablet and all traces of this game. However, once done, your reign as Pharaoh will come to an end."
The Pharaoh was stunned to hear that, but somehow he knew his time as ruler was over and trusted the words of the Being he saw. But he could not destroy the tablet. This game was now the life-blood of Egypt, and had settled many disputes over land, money and people. Since he established a working system with the game as its own body of law, he had averted many wars and brought peace to his kingdom. A tablet celebrating a great victory over a powerful enemy years ago, stood in his audience chambers.
But like all systems, it was now braking down, falling apart, and the game was the underline cause. He knew he had destroyed his kingdom by resurrecting the game. He could only blame himself.
"I must fix my wrongs, make right my reservations," the Pharaoh said.
"You can not fix what can not be fixed, my Pharaoh," the Being said. "You must think of your kingdom as a domain and not as the whole. Destroying one piece will not destroy the whole. But this game is too dangerous for the likes of mortal man."
"You are right, great spirit," the Pharaoh said. "This game must be cast out of my kingdom. But I am only one man, and this game is through out the whole of my land. How can I abolish it from the people's minds?"
The spirit did not speak for a moment as if it was entranced in thought. Then it spoke. "You must make them forget, my Pharaoh," the Being said. "Take the game from their minds."
"Even I, a living god, am limited by this mortal existence, great spirit. I do not have the power of which you speak."
"But you are mistaken, my Pharaoh. The item around your neck and those you gave to your priests, can help you. Bring all seven ancient items together found a millennia ago and chant the ancient spell of forgetfulness from the Book of the Dead and all will be forgotten."
The Pharaoh was weary of this plan, but if the wisdom of his ancestors in the form of this spirit that looked like him was confident in it, so must he, and went to retrieve all seven ancient items from their resting place in their secret hiding place. He gathered them all together and returned to the spirit in the middle of the chamber. He lay them in a circle and stepped inside.
"I am ready, great spirit," the Pharaoh said.
"And so am I," the Being said, smirked, and then laughed maliciously.
Suddenly, the spirit's eyes began to glow haunting red, and a dark aura encompassed its body.
"I have waited a long time for this moment to come; all seven ancient items brought together in one place, at last," it said. "I could not get close enough before in my physical body, and after being trapped in the Shadow Realm I feared I would never be free from its eternal darkness, but now I will have a new body and a kingdom to rule, and it is all thanks to you, my Pharaoh. The most powerful force in this world are these seven items. They possess a power greater than any other, spirits I spoke to in the Shadow Realm told me so. They give the person whoever possesses them anything they desire, and now they are mine!"
"But I trusted you," the Pharaoh said disheartened. "You are the spirit of my ancestors, and you deceived me!"
Suddenly, a new spirit awoke from his pyramid item and it again looked like him. It stood between him and the evil spirit. "You have no power here, evil spirit, be gone! Without a body you are no threat."
"But I soon will have a body."
And the evil spirit flew at the Pharaoh.
But in the spirit world there were laws all spirits had to follow, and the good spirit spoke a chant and held the evil spirit back with an invisible barrier. The spirit realm had laws, and even chants spoken by other spirits here, other spirit must inhere to them.
"No, I will not be denied! I will have my new body!" the evil spirit shouted and cursed, and reached for the Pharaoh with his hands, almost touching his neck. The Pharaoh was frozen in place by fear and could not move. The good spirit recited another chant and the evil spirit was cast away, trapped in the form of one of the ancient items, a gold ring.
The Pharaoh looked at the ancient ring where the evil spirit now resided, and then looked at the other spirit that stood before him. The Pharaoh took a step back, fearing its power. "You…you banished him into the ancient ring," the Pharaoh said. "You must be…a god."
"I am no god, my Pharaoh, am I you," the spirit said.
"Those are the words the other spirit spoke," the Pharaoh said. "How do I know you are not evil, too?"
"I am not evil, this is all I can say," the spirit said, his voice calm. "Trust me." The spirit extended a hand. "Shake my hand and know that I am good."
The Pharaoh extended a hand hesitantly and shook his hand towards, and an overwhelming good spread over him. "You are not like him," he said.
"That evil spirit was banished inside your pyramid necklace hundreds of years ago, but he was able to escape, sensing your foreboding of the future, and used your spiritual energy to enter this world. He was trapped in the Shadow Realm, the true dimension of this game, after he lost to his master in a match. He was able to find a vortex between the Shadow Realm and this world through your ancient item. It is much more than a mere trinket, my Pharaoh. It houses the ancient knowledge of the lost, and in the wrong hands it could destroy the world. It must be secured."
"What if I chanted the spell of forgetfulness? That would make everyone forget about the game and these seven items?"
"I am afraid not," the spirit said. "Nothing disappears without a trace. Chanting that spell would only feed myth and legend."
"Then what can I do to save my people?"
"Bury the items and speak no more of this game. Then join me on a journey to the after-life and together we will protect them."
"Then my time as Pharaoh has come to an end?"
The spirit nodded. "Yes, my Pharaoh," it said. "But you will not be forgotten, I can assure of this. Men will speak highly of you for millennia, and when the time is right, you will be called upon to rid the world of evil, and I will be there beside you to aid in your quest."
The Pharaoh gathered up the ancient items, except for his pyramid item, and placed them on the level that housed the tablet of the ancient Egyptian god monster, and lowered it into the ground. A stone cover slid over top to hide them. Once this was done, the spirit of the then extended his hand and the Pharaoh clasped it.
The Pharaoh's corporal body vanished and his clothes fell to the ground, and the pyramid item dropped with them, shattering into many pieces.
It was not until a day later that the halls of the Pharaoh's palace were invaded by the rebels and seized by the leader of their forces. The man entered the Pharaoh's audience chambers and looked around at the grand room, filled with ancient hieroglyphics and pictographs of ancient battles and of the Pharaoh, including a tablet chiseled of their battle, for which he had lost to the Pharaoh. But the Pharaoh was not here.
He went to the Pharaoh's throne and touched its golden surface. Then he sat in it and gazed out across the room and saw something on the floor. He stood up and went to it. He picked up clothing and several pieces of jewelry. These were the Pharaoh's clothes.
He turned to his men who had come in with him, and barked out an order, "Find the Pharaoh. He must be in his palace somewhere. I won't rest until he is found. Nothing vanishes without a trace."
But he never found him, nor the ancient items.
They were secured away and later buried when the palace was destroyed after many more battles and insurrections to follow. The rebel leader was killed several years later during an assassination attempt. He had become a tyrant and a sinister despot, raising taxes and killing his subjects for sport and game. The people revolted and he was killed in the palace audience chambers by one of his priests with a knife to his back. His body was thrown into the Nile and sunk to the bottom.
In later years a tomb was built for the Pharaoh, even though no body was ever found. And craved in the tomb were exquisitely painted hieroglyphics and pictographs of his accomplishments, and the many wonderful things he had done for his people. All of Egypt helped in its construction and it was situated underground far from what would later be known as the Valley of the Kings. And a family of Tomb keepers were chosen to guard the tomb, because they believed the Pharaoh would return to once again rule Egypt.
But he would not return for another 5,000 years.
-
"No, you're just guessing, Joey," Yugi said, his close-knit group of friends gathered around a roaring campfire at night, after a day of competition, roasting marshmallows.
"But that's how I'd recite the story, Yugi," Joey said. "I know a little bit about Ancient Egyptian history and its conquests and secrets from school, but hey, you're right. Somethin' tells me there's more than meets the eye to your other half. And it aint pretty."
"Why do you say that, Joey?"Yugi asked.
"Got a feelin'," he said.
"Man, you watch to many movies," Tristan said. "You over dramatize everything."
"Do not!" Joey argued.
"Do too!" Tristan spat back.
"Something tells me the truth about the Pharaoh is much more complex than any of us realize, guys," Yugi began."But his mind hides so many dark secrets, he won't let me see them all." Quickly hesmiled."But someday, I know we'll learn the real origin of the cards. Seems to me, Duel Monsters was much more than a game in the past."
"Regardless of what happens, we'll stick by you, Yugi," Tea said.
"Thanks guys, you're the best friends I could ever have," Yugi said smiling, and then popped another marshmallow on a stick and stuck in the fire, letting it cook.
--End