A/N: This one turned out far creepier than I expected when this track started, but just look at the lyrics. The do fit.


8. Son of Man – Phil Collins


Akefia took up a fistful of sand and let it slide through his fingers. When it was all gone he plunged his other hand into the dune and pulled out another fistful, heedless of snakes or scorpions he could be disturbing. The grains were smooth and rough at the same time, but slipped away as easily as air.

As easily as his family had.

He'd been plagued with dreams of blood, dreams of madness, dreams of power and dark things that lurked in the human heart far more than in the shadows as he'd always believed. He dreamed of his mother's goodnight kiss, which was worse – dreamed of the sound of a cracking whip, of stone meeting flesh and the distinctive noise of blood hitting the inside of metal pots, so much thicker and heavier than water. Most of all, he dreamed of Kul Elna as she'd been, and the different fires that consumed her.

He stood up, his coat blowing around him, and lifted his head to the heavens. He could pick out stars but didn't pay attention to their constellations. They, too, were like grains of sand – too many to count, constantly shifting, plus they were gone when the sun rose. Nothing was permanent.

Jahi, his second, approached and coughed to gain his attention. "Leader, Yafeu is ready."

Akefia said nothing, just turned on his heel and marched to the middle of camp, where a naked man stood tied to a post in the middle of a crowd. He was beaten and bloody, but the blood was old. He was also shivering. Nights in the desert were deceptively cold, and his followers generally covered up it fell. Akefia was the only one who seemed impervious, keeping his chest bare no mater the weather.

When the man, Yafeu, saw Akefia his eyes grew wide and he shook his head, trying to wrench himself free. "Leader, please -"

"You would call me your leader? After you tried to usurp me?" Akefia lifted one side of his mouth at the man, and then reached into his coat for a very special box. He'd purchased it from a magician in a land of foreign dogs some time ago, and it'd ensured his leadership ever since. No bigger than his palm, it still made everyone in the crowd shuffle backwards.

"No, Leader, please – no …"

Akefia opened the box – the only one who could without fear. He prised open the man's mouth, pushed in the glittering green scarab marked with a strange insignia, and held his jaws shut. Yafeu's scream's were muffled, but Akefia took no notice, not even when his throat bulged and the scarab burrowed its way into his stomach and began eating him alive. He kept his hands wrapped firmly around his skull as blood pressed at his lips and bubbled out of his nose.

When Yafeu's breath had stilled Akefia finally took his knife and cut open his belly, only meat now, retrieving his prize and replacing it in the box. The beetle, sated, settled back to wait for the next time he needed it.

Then he turned to his band of mercenaries and outcasts. "Are there any more who would challenge me and turn our purpose to lowlier dreams than those I have devised?"

The answering chorus pleased him.

"Toss the body into the desert. It deserves no burial. The jackals can have it."

Nothing was permanent. Not family. Not home. Not life.

Nothing but the fear of him.

He would see to that.


A/N: I know, I know, Akefia isn't his real name, and in fact is a product of Japanese fansites, but I thought Thief King was more of as title than an actual name. And frankly the simplified 'Yami' was just a fan-name for Yami no Yuugi until 4Kids got hold of it and made it dub-canon for a while. Akefia seemed as good a name as any for the poor nameless chap. Jahi and Yafeu are both Egyptian names – Jahi means 'dignified' and Yafeu means 'bold'.