I had thought that I would finally be able to rest after five thousand years of living as a spirit. I had thought that I would be reunited with my father Akhenamkhenan, Siamun, priests, and my cousin Seto. I had thought that I would be able to enjoy Paradise in the Afterlife with these people that I have not seen for almost five thousand years.
But I was wrong…
As soon as I had been released from Yugi and had entered the Afterlife, I was reunited with family and friends. For about a year, it was peaceful, playing through a new life in the Afterlife. But it all ended too fast…
Atemu, Pharaoh of Egypt
"Atemu, come outside!" Mahado called to the open kitchen window. He, Seto, Bakura, and Marik sat on the trampoline, trying to make the Pharaoh to come out into the fall breeze. "It's not that cold," he added, as he shivered.
It was fall in the Afterlife, and unlike the other Egyptians, who were dead first and were used to the cold falls in the Afterlife, Atemu was extremely cold. He would rather stay inside with gloves on, two blankets over his shoulders, three pairs of socks on, his hood up, and furry but warm slippers.
Atemu sighed as he put his bookmark in the book he was reading. He had had enough of their taunts, and now, he was just going to fight against them. His father looked at him, as he took off the blankets, hood, and slippers.
"Are you going to face them, son?" he asked, a smile playing at his mouth.
Zipping up his jacket, Atemu stared at his father. "I'm going to show them that I'm sick of their taunts, and I'm going to beat that feeling into their heads," he said, with dark sarcasm.
"You know that-," Siamun began.
Atemu snapped his fingers at him. "I don't want to hear it, Siamun," he warned his advisor. "I may look like a fool, taking them up on their taunts, but at least, I'll be a satisfied fool." He left the house without another word and walked into the backyard where his teasers and the trampoline awaited. He knew that his father and advisor were waiting from the open window, but he didn't care.
Mahado, Seto, Bakura, and Marik were taken back when they realized who was walking towards them. A challenging flame was visible in the Pharaoh's eyes as he suddenly broke into a run. The Pharaoh's four teasers jumped off the trampoline and scattered. Atemu jumped onto the trampoline and came up from a roll on the bouncy surface.
The Pharaoh glared at the four men that pierced them. "Anyone wants a go on the five thousand year old Pharaoh?" he asked, with a grin.
Sure the four idiots understood what I had just asked them, and they knew the challenge in my voice, but their reflexes weren't as great as they were when we were all alive. It's so…odd to say that we are dead now and we were once alive. We feel alive, but we aren't.
Life in the Afterlife was great for my first year in there, but I have come to realize the difference between me and my friends. I don't mean my "dead" friends, I mean my "alive" friends; Yugi Mutou, Joey Wheeler, Tristen Taylor, and Tea Gardener. I have a feeling that I am still with them, subconsciously, but consciously, I'm dead in the Afterlife. It could be because Yugi is my future self while I am his past self. I was reborn as Yugi Mutou while Yugi Mutou lived a life as the Pharaoh of Egypt, the chosen one of the Egyptian Gods.
Why do I feel this way? And why didn't some of my memories come back to me while I was in the Memory World?
As soon as I walked into the Afterlife, many other memories hit me, as if they were sent to the Afterlife while my other memories were hidden by me.
Bakura, the one who was known as Zorc was actually a real person and friend. His name was stolen from him by Zorc, and I had known him as a dear friend, though it was true that he was a thief. A very skilled one at that, but his name was different so I could see the difference between Bakura and Zorc. Now, I cannot recall Bakura's other name because now my memories of his true identity are back with me.
Bakura had a girlfriend by the name of Shelby and a skilled woman at that. She was another friend of my other girl friend. She was an advisor to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I'll introduce her as well in a minute. Shelby would have married Bakura if he wasn't a thief, but it would be hard for a wife without a husband to survive in the desert when her husband was captured during one of his raids. She was a smart woman, I have to admit; she could drive almost anyone up the wall, except me. Only one person could drive me up the wall, and that was the most beautiful woman in the world and she still is.
I had had a girlfriend since the age of six, though then we were only friends. Shalina…my future wife-to-be…but she was taken from me by a sickness that no one knew of at the age twelve, three years before Mahado revealed the truth about the Millennium Items to my father and three years before I lost my father and became Pharaoh. I remember the pain that I had felt as Shalina lay on her death bed, and I, a young youth held her hand. It was then that we revealed to each other our true feelings about one another. We loved each other…but now I know why she was taken from me at such a young age. If she had lived, everything that had happened after my first death would have happened. I would never have known Yugi, Tea, Mai, Tristen, Joey, or anyone else. Yugi would never have been born if Shalina hadn't died. It was all part of the Egyptian Gods' plan for my destiny.
Marik, Malik's yami has come to his end, and is now living with us in the Afterlife. I had to go through the Shadow Realm before going into the Afterlife. He was in pain, and I knew that he was done with his evil. I would have taken him with me into the Afterlife, but the Egyptian Gods wouldn't allow it. If I had taken him, I would never have gotten into the Afterlife. I would have been sent back into the world of the living and be trapped within the Millennium Puzzle for another five thousand years. Marik was tested by the Egyptian Gods, under my request, and he was proven good. Now, I'm not the new one in the Afterlife.
My father has seen many changes in me since he had last seen me, standing beside him when he was dying and now. He calls me his "alien son" sometimes to see how I'll react to it. I must remind you that I have not seen him for nearly five thousand years. I have to admit, I didn't know how to react; something that I'm never going to admit to Yugi or anyone else.
But how much have I changed. I remember the day of my father's death clearly as if it was playing right in front of me. He had handed me the Millennium Puzzle, and the moment I touched the Puzzle, I felt my father's love at its strongest. That was the day that I had lost all of my innocence as a royal Prince of Egypt. I was the Pharaoh of Egypt, taking my father's place upon the throne; I was the God of my people, in my father's place. He ruled in peace, and I would do the same. That is exactly what I did…until my death.
How many times now have I died? One for real, one from the Memory World, and one for entering the Afterlife. My body died once, and my spirit has died three times. Why did I have to be the chosen one of the Egyptian Gods?
That was a question that I had always asked since I first entered the Afterlife, but now I know the answer: Because I was the chosen one.
Atemu, Pharaoh of Egypt
Shalina sighed and throw a crumbled piece of paper at her friend on the other end of the bed. The paper hit Shelby on the head, and Shelby looked up, glaring daggers her way. Shalina put on her naïve expression. Shelby shrugged and went back to her book. Shalina was going to throw another crumbled paper at her yami when all of a sudden; her husband and Shelby's boyfriend entered the room. Both of them were laughing with red faces and bright red noses.
"Atemu, were you outside?" Shalina asked. The Pharaoh looked at her and smiled. "You know how bad you can get when you go outside."
"He got sick of our teasing," Bakura said, sitting down next to Shelby. He pulled some of Shelby's blanket over him and cuddled up next to her, shivering.
"Oh, are you cold?" Shelby asked, nudging him in the ribs. She was answered with a tug on the blanket and nod.
Atemu opened the closet door and pulled two sweatshirts out. He pulled them over his head and lay on the floor, stretched out. Shivering, he closed his eyes.
"Do you want a blanket?" Shalina asked. Atemu shook his head and shivered again. Shalina threw a blanket over him, and he glared at her.
"I said that I didn't want one," Atemu said.
"You didn't say anything," Shalina said, matter-of-factly. "You shook your head; nothing came out of your mouth."
"She's right," Bakura mumbled underneath the blanket.
"Shut up, Bakura," Atemu snapped.
Why did everything have to be disrupted? Peace…something I have always wanted all those years that I lived on the world as a spirit. I always wanted to be by my father's side with Shalina in my arms, and all of my friends and priests standing behind me, watching my back. As I entered the Afterlife, I did have my friends at my back, but I was leaving them. It almost felt like betrayal, but it wasn't. Yugi Mutou was simply releasing me to where I was supposed to be…five thousand years ago.
Peace…Will that word ever come to me and stay with me? It doesn't seem right to think that the Afterlife is no longer safe to anyone, especially me. Sometimes I ask myself, "Why was I the chosen one?" Yes, I admit that I had peace for about a year, but then, that 'peace' was taken from me. I had to recall my power and bring up instincts of a warrior, something that I would have been if I wasn't the chosen one.
Who am I? The Pharaoh? The Chosen One? The Warrior? No…I am none of those. It has been one and a half years, and I still have not found out who I truly am. My father is always at my back instead of by my side. It felts strange to think that I am stronger than my father. Isn't he supposed to be stronger than I?
My friends…my dear friends on the world…the ones that I left behind to find my resting place…which was not my resting place for long…I will never forget you all, and if the Afterlife War becomes too much, I will call upon you, though it will not allow me a clear conscience.
War is all around me now. Men from many different times; Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty who ruled China, Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam, one of the early conquistadors (or conquerors) Hernan Cortés, and even the Aztec emperor Moctezuma, are joining us. They are people of the Afterlife. Maya, Incas, Aztecs, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Egyptians…it is not a lonely life.
Will we win, though? With all the people from the past, will we win against the five Dark Gods? Pain, Blood, Fear, Harm, and Dark…will we survive? Will the entire world, Afterlife and world, survive?
I know I have doubted too much, but these five Dark Gods are searching for a way to destroy the world. Why did they wait until I can to rest in the Afterlife? I could easily get to them in the Afterlife…but they can also easily get to me as well…Why you, you ask. Because…I'm the only one who can control the Egyptian Gods…I'm the chosen one.
- Atemu, the Pharaoh of Egypt
