Hi! I'm not dead! I am so sorry for my horrible delays for my stories. I feel so bad! So, instead of telling you why I haven't been updating, I'll have you know that I tried to get back into the swing of things by writing new stories and little one-shots like this. This is the first successful writing I've done during these months, and I happen to really like it. So, as a cheer for me getting back to FanFiction, I hope you like this!

It's a very… interesting tale. Cool even? I think it's cool. Hehe.

Enjoy!

Destiny's Game

Memories were an iffy thing. Like dreams they vanished and reappeared on a whim. At the oddest times they invaded the mind. And then they stay, only for a split second, before disappearing again like a feather flying in the wind, always out of reach.

That was how I felt.

Standing on the balcony, my eyes closed, my bare skin prickled with goosebumps as I embraced the cool night breeze. I breathed slowly. In. Out. In. Out… until my racing heart returned to its normal pace. As it did, I reopened my lids. My eyes drifted over the flat roofs of the houses below. They wandered down the dusty roads. Carefully they picked at the small details and ignored the wandering few, suspicious looking, individuals that chose to linger in the dark so late into the night.

I let out another breath. With my hands on the rail I rubbed the limestone, feeling the age and small creases the royal balcony had withstood for so many years. I wondered. What may have Father stood here, pondering about. Did he contemplate his purpose? Did he muse about his day silently? Did he come out to see the view of his kingdom? Or, did he too think about odd things, secret things, complicated things, that the royal court would look down upon if ever voiced aloud? Either way. That too was a topic that would exhaust my time and energy to wonder about. Pointless, but bothersome.

Thoughts were an iffy thing as well. They were endless.

Unable to sleep I wasted the night, thinking. Because at that moment, something eluded me. I didn't know what that something was. But, it created a growing fear within me- a type of unnecessary fear that was unacceptable to have as a ruler. Or perhaps it was simple foreboding that bothered me. In the end, I sensed something ominous, and it tugged at my soul incessantly.

Dreams, however, were scary. They were not real like memories. They were not even the empty thoughts that would surge through a person's mind on a daily basis. Dreams, to my understanding, were just figments of a person's imagination merged together. They were pieces of life stuffed tightly into one moment, trying to find a connection to each other and in the process creating something so complex that you had to sit down and pick them apart before you could even start to make sense of it. Yet, no matter how long I picked at the dream, I got nowhere.

That's where I got stuck. That's how I got back to this point every time for the past few days. And that's when I had to ponder upon another possibility. What if it was a vision?

My hand tightened around the rail and I felt my body stiffen with frustration. I stared at my bare feet, feeling phantom aches from the sole of my feet and heels. I was tired of it. I was tired of seeing the recurring scenario that haunted my sleep. It was as endless as the labyrinth-like room I was bound to in my mind, chasing an unknown person through thousands of doors, up and down stairs that looked limitless.

Where I was and why… I couldn't understand. But, I needed to know. I had to know, especially when I saw the millennium puzzle I presently wore around my own neck, swaying around the fair neck of the one I chased- the one who chillingly bore a striking resemblance to myself.

Flaming red eyes with tints of pink and purple swirled together, lined with thick kohl, and long lashes stared at me with dark glee whenever we managed to come face to face after nights of the game of chase he forced me to play. Garments I've never seen before covered his pale form. A deep blue, dark like the night sky was the colour of the clothes which shrouded him. My look-alike, I had also, scarily seen, sat upon a golden throne much like my own within a room that felt a lot like a Pharaoh's tomb. And as he sat there, watching me, he wore a little smirk on his face. It was an expression I knew of all too well since my own features wore it often, especially when I was playing a game. A game that I knew the outcome of because I was certain the end result was in my favor.

A result created by destiny.

Seeing him wear my mask of certainty, watching my every twitch, made me think that somehow destiny itself abandoned me. In this situation destiny was on his side, and destiny was going to leave me to ponder this mystery alone. And he knew that. He knew the outcome of this game, and that I would readily give chase each time in search of answers, no matter where it led me.

And give chase I did. I chased him until the doors disappeared and the hundreds of stairs turned into one. I chased him down into the earth and towards a door several feet tall and wide, the eye of Horus engraved into the stone. My look-alike had once more led me to a destination, and vanished.

With the door as my only guide to where I could find him, I walked carefully towards it. I fingered the crease where it opened, and with a breath of courage, I pushed.

Immediately I was hit with a blinding white light as soon as the doors swung open. And before I could even have a second of respite, I was being pulled in. Sucked in. Desperately my hands reached out to grab the edge of the door, but it was becoming harder to hold on. My eyes stung and my feet dug into the stone, but it was fruitless. My feet were lifted off the ground in mere moments until I was left clutching for dear life, holding on to the door with the last of my fingers. I thought it was the end, until I was pulled back into the room and left watching with outstretched hands and shock as my look-alike took my place in the light. In the split second I saw him he gave me a smile of assurance and confidence, before the doors slammed shut, and the room around me plunged into utter darkness.

A hand went to my heart. I felt it pounding quickly again within my chest.

It was impossible to understand what it all meant. It was hard to erase the memory of my other-self jumping into the light in my place. But, I had to then wonder if that was something he knew as well. He never did speak to me, but words weren't necessary really. And, he looked so much like myself down to the golden spikes that shot upwards in my hair. Another possibility. If he was no one else but me, then that meant… I trembled at the mere thought of what the future may hold for me.

Destiny was hardly straightforward. But, all of this meant something. I just couldn't understand what. So, that was my next, personal, mystery I had to solve. And only I could do it. My royal court only cared about capturing the mysterious and evidently dangerous Thief King and bringing him before me to pass out justice. And not even my faithful friend Mahad would care to entertain me as I spoke about the other me that slept during the day and came out to play at night like a spirit.

I was Pharaoh Atem, son of the former Pharaoh, Aknamkanon. And as of this moment in time, destiny chose me to lead. With the power I have and the loyal guardians at my side, I will do my best to protect everyone. Now, and in the future, wherever and however destiny chose.

Thank you for reading. I do hope you enjoyed this interesting piece, and to let me know your thoughts and to give constructive criticism, you know what to do.

Please review~