written: 4/01/2005
revised: 3/9/2019
Disclaimer: Yugioh is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. No infringement of copyright is intended nor should be implied.
A Hidden Hope
(A Prequel to "Chariots of the Gods")
By Lucidscreamer
With a heavy burden on his heart, Pharaoh Seti watched the removal of another statue from the temple courtyard. This one was of his predecessor as the Great Lord Horus. Like all the others, the cartouches on its base were empty, the polished stone as smooth as if it had never been touched by an engraver's tools.
When the now nameless Pharaoh died, the final magic of his terrible sacrifice had swept through out the Two Lands, erasing all trace of his names. Now, Seti was reluctantly accomplishing the same for his image.
The ritual had stolen the memory of the Pharaoh's names from every heart, taken every written record no matter how well-hidden, destroyed his body so there would be nothing to bury in his tomb... But Seti thought he had found a way to preserve the memory of the man who had given everything that his kingdom would live. The Osiris Pharaoh's legacy could only be protected by burying his images in place of his mummified body, and with him, the great stone tablets that imprisoned the Shadow Creatures.
A part of him regretted condemning generations to life sequestered in what was basically a huge tomb. But he felt he had no choice. Ammut take Asetnofret and her accursed visions...
So Seti had commanded a temple complex to be created beneath the desert sands to house the statues. With them would go priests to serve the Nameless Pharaoh's ka, artists to paint his image on the hidden walls, musicians to sing him hymns of praise, and a city's worth of workers of all kinds to keep the temples operating until the prophecy came to pass and the Nameless Pharaoh returned to reclaim his kingdom.