[I]Note 1: The following story I am posting here, but if Typhon opens up the contest today and it involves writing, I will move this story to there and leave a link here to that page.
[b]Intro: The following is part 1 of 5 in a weeklong special event to celebrate the release of the Yu-Gi-OH movie. In honor of the tale, I have created this short story to help peak the interest in the film as well as connect it to my stories, the "Of the Gods" trilogy to the Yu-Gi-Oh movie
The following takes place right after Anubus is freed from his tomb, and tells of what happens right after, as if it were a deleted scene from the movie. Each day this week, I will be publishing a section of the story, all leading up to Friday, the release of the movie and the final part of my story.
If there are any questions, please contact me, and I will be glad to try and answer them. Also, if you would like to leave feedback, I would be glad to hear it.
And now, Part 1 of "Meeting in the Sand" [/b][/I]
Egypt.
The name itself conjures up images of magic and mystery, of explorers and extraordinary events. Every year, be they scientists, gold hunters, or tourists; thousands journeyed to try and crack some secret code.
But in this land of children tales, there lurks things that should have been left alone. The locals know this, and fear this as well. If you have the time, you should sit and listen to them, for they will tell you tales that few have heard. And they tell them not because they are superstition.
No, they tell them because they fear the beings in such stories.
In their hearts, there are few being that the Egyptians truly fear. The gods, unlike most cultures, rarely interfered with them. They had no truly horrifying monsters that could come and bring about doom upon them.
They fear the past.
Egyptian, in its time before the kingdom had fallen, had only faced 3 beings that threatened their way of life. 1 is the thief, Bakura, who is least of the feared, for only he shall never return. Defeated by the forgotten pharaoh, The Thief Bakura has become nothing more then a fairy tale, something parents tell naughty children. Beware, or Bakura the thief will come and take you away!
But the other two...they are not to be joked about, for both still pose a threat to the people of this land. One, appropriately enough, is named after the Egyptian god of death. He was Anubus, the general of the undead. Legend says that his mother was a peasant who was one night taken by a shadow. They found her, dead, a baby tucked under her arm, at the foot of the Sphinx. Little is known of what became of the child after he was discovered. Some say that he was hidden by enemies of the kingdom, others say that a lioness appeared from the stone, and snatching the baby from the arms of it's dead mother and cared him away.
Whatever his fate, Anubus would arise years later, to challenge the power of the pharaoh and begin pain and suffering to the people of Egypt. Through his struggles, the Pharaoh proved himself, and sealed Anubus away, to be dead yet awake, sleeping yet decaying....to face eternity in the shadows and in pain. The locals whisper his name when archeologists go poking around ruins, for there is always the fear that his hidden tomb would be found and Anubus would be awaken, and his wrath would bring about the death of Egypt and the descendants of the house that imprisoned him. IT did not help that the location of the tomb had been hidden in order to insure none of Anubus' followers tried to free him. This made it impossible to guar the tomb now, and as such, every location could hold the dreaded tomb where the undead being now laid, waiting for his time to come again.
Yet...even as scared as they get over this legend, there still was another told in the shadows, a whisper of someone that stilled lived, waiting for the Pharaoh's return. It was a legend that was not told around campfires like the other two, and never was his name to be spoken in open company or in boast, so afraid were they of his wrath. So, he was a mystery told to a child at the coming of age, a warning of what to fear till the end of their days. It is said that it was better to face a lion then to speak his name aloud.
The people of Egypt were divided on what to think of him. Some viewed him a hero, a man that stood against the evil of the kingdom. They argued that, even though he should still be feared, eh wasn't to be hated. They stated that he had stood against the wrongs of a king mad with power and done all he had did because of the betrayal against his family. And in the end, he had spared the citizens of Onimod and helped drive back the Greek Army.
Yet others viewed him as an evil, a magnus that had used his skills to infiltrate the kingdom, and when he failed to gain control, decided to kill all the citizens. When this had failed, and he saw that he would never be honored in Greece, he had flip-flopped once more, and decided to kill his former allies in order to gain control of Egypt.
His name was taught to each gravekeeper when they could first begin to learn the history of their lands: The Betraying General, The Marauding Captain, The Last of the Medji, head of The Cross Swords: Kappa Neo.
Whatever you thought of him, one truth was held: The city of Onimod had been reduced to rubble because of his wrath. The last of the grand priests had been killed in his rage over his daughter and a royal family destroyed and a new one set in its place. It was the fear of the man the gods themselves held as a peer that allowed one of the grandest secrets of Egypt to remain hidden from the eyes of the public. A secret, found deep in the barren desert.
IT was called The Shrine of Shima.
Held as forbidden ground by the Gravekeepers, this place was held sacred by the people of Egypt, the place that kept the sands of Egypt from being turned into pure glass and the Nile River from flowing with the blood of the people of Egypt as it once did once before in the days of Moses.
IT was a place that kept Kappa Neo's rage from lashing against them. And such a place was to be protected and remain hidden at all cost. Were it to be found by an outsider, there was no telling what sort of vengeance Kappa Neo would bring upon all of them, and they really didn't want to know.
Deep in the desert, there stood an oasis, with small ponds, grand trees and fine flowers that smelled so sweet when the winds drifted the pollen out of its boundaries. A cool breeze coming off of it that struck such a different cord from the harsh winds of the desert. It was a magical place, for if you drew close enough, you could hear soft music playing and the sound of happy laughter from two souls. Though the area around it was bare, the oasis had emerald grass and the water was a deep blue. Some even said that the reason there was no rain in that area was because it was attracted to that one spot to feed all the life in the protected garden.
Around it stood 12 statutes, created to appear as 12 legendary Medji warriors who had once served Kappa Neo and lost their lives in the 20 year War, of which only Kappa Neo survived. Their eyes watching the sands for anyhow dared to trespass into this paradise in the middle of barren space. But what caused all who saw this spot to gaze in wonder was the statue that stood in the center of the oasis.
Over 30 feet tall, it was the form of a woman, dressed for battle. A whip was coiled on a loop on her belt, her hands crossed along her chest. She wore a simple bikini like top, and a long double slitted warrioress dress. Her long hair hung down her back, and her hands were covered in long gloves. This was the statue of Shima, mother of Queen Kaikou and wife to the Medji warrior Kappa Neo.
Around the statues neck was an actual pendent, the chain adjusted to fit the massive stone neck. IT had been the same pendent that Kappa Neo hade given her the day they had secretly joined together as Husband and wife.
Yet, her face told a different story then her body and the armor she wore cared to speak. For her face was soft, a kind smile upon her face, and her eyes sparkled with diamonds. Upon her cheeks were the 2 pairs of thunderbolts that also appeared in the battle paint of The Blitzkrieg Commander.
All around her were tablets, each depicting an image of her in some form. Some had her standing on buildings, overs had her battling against unseen forces. But there were images of her that showed that the man that had depicted it felt more for her then lust.
For many images showed the figure known as The Marauding Captain with her. Some showed them standing hand and hand, watching a sunrise. Still overs showed them kissing, and holding each other. One of the most detailed ones depicted Shima and The Marauding Captain standing together, a baby in her arms. There were other images facing the statue, some depicting 2 different women, both having a heart around their necks. Another showed a young man, two modern day guns in his hands.
This was the sacred place for Kappa Neo, who had, for the last 5000 years, come to talk to the statue. He had always appeared at least once a month, though there had been times where he had sat for months, watching the statue, talking to it, tears in his eyes.
Yes, the gravekeepers had seen this. There was a silent agreement between them and the immortal: Allow him to visit in peace and never step foot in the oasis, and he allowed them to do as they pleased. Any thought of daring to enter the oasis were destroyed in 15 BC, when a division of the Roman army decided to create seek water from the little ponds that littered the sacred land. They had not gotten with 4 feet before a sandstorm kicked up, and the gravekeepers, several hundred yards away, heard their screams. The winds died down, and they discovered the entire group dead. They had died violently, having been torn to pieces, their bare bones left to dry out in the sun, what left of their faces revealing the final painful screams each had emitted. Looking back, it made sense why, when he had been in Germany in his wanderings, he had been given the name The Blitzkrieg Commander: The leader of the lightning war. HE was like the plagues of old: fast, deadly and unforgiving.
Geno smiled as he sat down on the stone seat in front of Shima. He looked up at her stone face and smiled. "Hi, how are you?"
He paused, and looked around. The gravekeepers were watching him. He knew it, but really didn't care. They either thought he was nuts or that he had some magical power that allowed him to talk to dead people. It didn't matter to him, because both reasons kept them from disturbing him. HE chuckled and glanced around, holding his gaze. 2,3,4....there were 5 of them on one dune alone, and he was sure that at least one of them was shivering and scared, fearing they had made too much noise and that at any moment he would come tearing at them, sword drawn, blood lust in his heart.
"Sorry....I missed that." He turned back to the statue. The truth was, he knew Shima could hear him, and he heard her, in his head. It made little sense really, to come back here. Her spirit was connected with the card that was in his deck box: Shadow Tamer. That meant he could sit in his room and talk to her.
"Why do I come here?" He chuckled. "You know, I was just thinking that myself...I think it's because your tablet is here." He glanced at the pedestal she was standing on. It was made of 3 plain tablets, as well as one that featured her, the same picture that adorned her card. Someday, he would ask Pegasus how he had managed to get near enough to copy it. It wasn't like his tablet: Sure, the tablet that held the monster created from his ka and his soul mixing, the Marauding Captain, was here, yet it could also be found in tombs all over Egypt.