Devil's Brood

Our story begins in Ancient Egypt, long after the evening bells had rung, calling in the farmers and toilers to supper and bed. It begins not on the River Nile, not in the fields of rice, corn and wheat but within the Pharaoh's palace. Within these imposing, guarding walls lay the one thing that begins this tale. The Cursed Eye of Ma'at.
Creeping through flickering shadows, the thief Ryou had but one destination in this palace of riches. The heavily guarded room that housed the Cursed Eye. Peeking around a corner at his destination, he cocked a white eyebrow. Three guards? For something this of this value?

'You have got to be kidding me.' The white haired thief groaned mentally, searching his night-black robe for the sleeping gas. Finding it, he smirked and tossed the cloth ball around the corner where it bumped against one of the guards' feet, releasing the gas in a flashing explosion of smoke.
Pulling a cloth over his nose and mouth with a grimace of distaste, he carefully climbed over the sleeping guards to reach the heavy door, deeply engraved with warnings that went unheeded by the thief. Pushing it open with a quiet grunt, he stepped regally into the chamber that housed his prize. And there, glinting among chains of every kind of metal imaginable, was the Cursed Eye of Ma'at.
Grinning a grin that could only be held on the face of those criminally insane, Sokubaku moved forward, one hand reaching inside a hidden pocket to produce a leather pouch filled with lock picking tools. Being so experienced, he had the numerous chains of in moments, the eye twinkling innocently from his palm.
His grin widening, he turned to the door, his eyes trained on the Eye, just in time to hear it close with a painfully audible 'Thunk!' Snapping chocolate orbs up to meet twin blocks of ice, he surveyed the girl before him. Black hair neatly arranged in a tail at the nape of her neck blew in a phantom wind as the chunks of ice that were her eyes surveyed him as well. As the glaring contest resumed her twin orbs of ice glanced downward for a split second to unroll the scroll that had previously gone unnoticed.

"Humph! You thieves are all the same. You go after the most valuable treasure and when you're about to head home you let your guard down. Pathetic." The girl spat in disgust, all the while making gestures over the scroll.

"Oh really? We thieves are all the same, eh? Well, were you expecting th-!" his voice was abruptly cut off as the girl had thrown the fully unwound scroll at him, the strange writing upon it glowing eerily in the moonlight as it bound him to a stone pillar. When the scroll was finished its duty, the girl spoke again.

"Actually, yes I was expecting that," she said dryly, to the new statue the scroll had created, "Well I suppose I won't expect a warm welcome the next time I come here... The stage is set, Thief. Let us see what you will do."
With those words hanging in the air she quite simply disappeared altogether, leaving nothing in her wake but a memory and a bound thief.

:-: Present Day, Pharaoh's Palace Museum :-:

A raven-haired young woman with warm blue eyes and wearing black robes uncommon in her time walked the long hallways that seemed to form most of the Pharaohs Palace. Standing stock still at a corner with a confused expression on her face, her eyes mist over in what seems to be memories. Shaking her head, sending raven tresses flying about like their namesake, as if to clear it, she continues around the corner, pausing only to push on the heavy door, deeply inscribed with hieroglyphics that were worn almost beyond recognition by time and neglect, she entered the vast chamber, intent on the statue within.

Disregarding the altar-like table, she continued to the pillar where a statue stood bound, its near-perfect visage that of a human man about the girls' age, a scroll wrapped around him like a blanket.

This girl had been here many times before, but had never had the courage to approach the imposing statue. Now she did, running her fingers over the carvings face, her hands slowly reaching the scrolls that bound his shoulders to the pillar. Tracing the delicate lines that formed the hieroglyphics she spoke softly to the room, as though reading the scroll,

"Thief long imprisoned, you shall wake."

With those ringing words the letters began to glow with a soft white light, the entire scroll unwinding from around the man, curling up on the floor like a cat about to take a long nap as the color returned to its prisoner. The girl gasped quietly as his hair paled to stark white, his skin darkened to tan and his robe deepened to black. Backing away slightly to bend down and scoop up the scroll, she straightened to meet warm chocolate eyes, half closed like a cat waking from an afternoon of sunbathing.

"Hello! Do I know you? I could've sworn I have seen you before!" he chirped happily to the shocked girl.

"My name is K-Kaya." The girl, now known as Kaya, choked out, one hand over her heart and the other clutching the scroll like a lifeline.

"That's a beautiful name! But I can't seem to remember my own..." the young man trailed off, his eyes darkening with confusion.

"How about we call you Kai?" Kaya asked, already warming to the young mans personality.

"Okay! That sounds like a good name," Kai chirped happily, then sobered almost immediately, "Do you know about my past? I can't seem to remember anything other than an eye and a girl that looks like you!"

"Can you remember anything else?"

"A little... I can remember the details of the eye... it was important... like a jewel... but that's all I can remember..." Kai said quietly, hanging his head.

"No!" came a yell, deep with masculinity and anger, followed closely by an explosion of light. A spiky haired blond man with piercing purple eyes stepped out of the smoke with a murderous expression on his face, "You will not regain your memories, Sokubaku!"
Kai's eyes widened again, but this time it was from the flood of memories released by the sound of the name 'Ryou'

"Kai? Are you alright?" came the soft voice of Kaya, cutting through the rushing torrent of memories.

"I-I think so..." Kai said reeling as the memories took hold. Suddenly Kai looked up his face arranged in a scowl as his chocolate orbs focused on the man with a deadly intensity. He glanced calmly to his left, toward the empty altar then back toward the man.

"I know you stole the Eye, Sakiyou. I can sense its energy. Hand it over before I am forced to take drastic measures." He growled, voice low and menacing in a murderous fashion. Kaya's black orbs widened in confusion at her new friends abrupt change.

"K-Kai?" she asked tentatively, her voice small and wavery with confusion.

"I am Sokubaku, The thief King." He answered her unspoken question, his eyes never leaving the dumbstruck blond before him.

"Y-you can't have your memories!" Sakiyou stuttered, the one hand not tucked into his robe clenching and unclenching in obvious anxiety.

"How do you think I knew who you were, Ishtal?" Ryou growled, one hand reaching into a near forgotten pocket to produce a cloth ball filled with sleeping gas. Tossing it at the man with a smirk he retreated a few steps to the girl and grabbed her, covering her nose and mouth with his cloak. As the smoke cleared, a dull thump was heard, followed by a dry chuckle from Sokubaku.
Shedding his cloak, Sokubaku walked over to the fallen Sakiyou to retrieve his treasure.

"What!? Its not here! Wh- Daiza! I should've known!" Sokubaku growled, standing from his crouch beside the unconscious man to pace the room.

"So you've finally figured it your, eh? You will never find your eye, Sokubaku! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Rang a disembodied voice, fading away as it finished speaking...

Will Ryou find his Eye? Will Ishtal wake up again? Will you find out who that girl was? Will anyone ever discover the secrets of the scroll!? WILL KAYA EVER SPEAK AGAIN?! No. No one will ever know. Because this is the end of the story. YOU ALL WILL FOREVER LIVE IN CONFUSION, WAITING FOR THE END OF THE STORY!!

Actually... I think I might continue this story... if and when the inspiration strikes me. Xx;

Your still here? Why are you still here!? You should be going on to the next story! Shoo!