Chapter 1: Servant
"Hey! Hellllloooooooooo! Wake up, smart guy! We're supposed to be looking almighty and dignified, remember? No sleeping unless I can too!" A shrill voice squawked in his ear.
Atemu awoke with a start. He could've sworn he had only rested his chin on a palm leaning on the armrest of his throne and closed his eyes for only a moment. He opened an eye to look sidelong to his newlywed bride, his childhood friend Neferketi, in annoyance. An effortless sigh came in quick response as he lifted his heavy head from leaning to look her in the eye.
"I'm bored. All we've been doing all day is working, cleaning up the rooms and keeping everyone in order. Mahado is the only other one keeping this place in shape, and he has to travel out of palace grounds soon with Mana and Ishizu. What we need is more help," he muttered numbly to her, sending a glare along with his drawn out statement.
"You're just lazy," Neferketi sat back against her throne, arms folded back behind her head. She crossed her legs, her eyes following an imaginary fruit fly in equal irritation.
Atemu only continued to glare wearily at her. "No, I'm Pharaoh and I'm sick of doing all this work."
His bride quickly slumped forward and onto her knees at the statement, full of disappointed surprise. She shut her eyes, shaking her head ruefully. Her head rose, her solemn eyes meeting his.
"Atemu, what happened to us? We used to be such good friends… Now…" she trailed off, sadly remembering their childhood days. Laughing and playing in the desert sun, and now, ten years later, they had been married, just as Ishizu (and everyone else) knew they would. Her world of playful memories was now dashed by the steady decline of their relationship. Neither had been ready to be married, and they both knew it. Atemu slammed a clenched fist down upon the armrest of his throne, making her lurch back in surprise.
"That doesn't matter now! It's been four days since the wedding and there's no looking back! All we have now is the future! Our rule, our kingdom, our lives!" his head fell forward into his palms, grief-stricken and completely overwhelmed, "None of that matters anymore…"
Neferketi sighed, pushing herself out of her throne to stand, arms crossed. She turned away from him, hiding the distasteful glare that now lined her once bright eyes. What had happened to them, she wasn't sure. She slid her boot forward on the dusty slates of the floor, swinging her leg back to pivot towards Atemu. Her hands hooked behind her back as she leaned ahead, bowing to his sorrowful level.
"Maybe…it is time we got help…" the thought made the newly crowned Pharaoh raise his head up to the sound of her voice, locking burning purple eyes with her hopeful stare. His head bowed in silent agreement.
Without another word, he stood, both exiting the quiet, dullness of the throne.
"Okaaay! So, which incantation should we be looking for!" Neferketi sang from the bottom of a rusty old barrel. Her hands shuffled through stacks of books and scrolls, tossing them out of the said barrel when they began to reform the pile through the hole she had dug.
Across the way, the Pharaoh scrambled through the shelves of the library cases, shoving books out onto the floor in his frustration. His balance was supported upon a stool, one with a leg post shorter then the rest. It rocked warningly back and forth. They had both traveled hastily down to the Magician's cellar, breaking the padded lock and thrusting the doors open to descend below in hopes of summoning a good servant. Atemu craned his neck to glance down at her momentarily, before balance became an issue again.
"Something that we can control, say a fourteenth or fifteenth level spirit!" he echoed back, his voice hollow from sticking his head inside one of the deep levels of the bookshelf. There was the sound of a head hitting dry wood from below.
"Ow—Fourteenth or fifteenth level! ARE YOU SERIOUS! That's just about out of our league! What do you mean "something we can control"!" the teen below yelled in exasperation, lifting herself out of the barrel to successfully rub her bumped head.
Atemu chuckled at the girl's clumsiness as he pulled out another incantation book, quickly flipping through the pages and tossing it aside, finding nothing of interest.
"Hey, we're the rulers now! We can handle summoning a fourteenth level essence! It'll be a breeze, you'll see! Trust me." Confidence swelled from his answer, causing Neferketi to roll her eyes. Another book fell from the ceiling, landing with a snap next to her foot. She sent a look of annoyance down at the innocent flying book.
"Trust you, huh? The last time I trusted you, we ended up falling head first into the cesspool for the camels! You're horrible at directions! Why should I trust you this time!" she ranted with a shaky fist held in the air. Atemu's answer was fairly simple:
"Because I'm Pharaoh."
His bride gave a deadpan expression in return, even though his back was turned away from her, "You know, that answer is going to get really old, really quick…"
"But, it's a good answer."
"No it's not."
"Yes, it is."
"No, it's not."
There was a sudden silence while the two stared at one another from their places in the room.
Then, the storm broke out.
"YEA IT IS!"
"NO, IT IS NOT!"
"IS SO!"
"IS NOT!"
"IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'RE THE BEST PHARAOH IN THE WORLD, AT LEAST I CAN WALK IN A STRAIT LINE WITHOUT FALLING INTO A CESSPOOL!"
"OH YEA! WELL, I'VE BEEN TAUGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT BEING PHARAOH AND YOU HAVENT!"
"SO WHAT! I COULD BE THE BEST RULER IN EGYPT AND I WOULD'NT HAVE TO BE TAUGHT A SINGLE THING!"
"YEA RIGHT!"
"I COULD SO!"
"NO YOU COULDN'T!"
"YES I COULD!"
"PROVE IT!"
Neferketi paused abruptly from their heated debate, gazing sternly at him. Currently, she had enough frustration and anger to break a horse's back. Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest. She took a deep breath, giving way to a light sigh.
"Fine, Pharaoh, I will." She cooed her words near to a hiss. The girl began forward, walking curiously close to the stool Atemu still stood upon and instantly…pushed it. Seconds later, a mountain of magic books were piled atop a text-beaten Pharaoh. A moan came from under the mound. Neferketi smiled in a scornful victory.
"See? That's what you get for being an ass, Atemu," she chirped happily, proceeding to snatch up a rather old and holey looking textbook, "Hey, what book is this?"
Atemu dug his way out of the horde of books, giving Neferketi a well-deserved glare before turning his attention to the age-worn book. His hand touched the binding of the cover, bits of cloth flaking off from the shift of movement. The book itself seemed as though it could collapse on its own pages from the look of it. The cover had stained into an ungodly brownish color from its once obvious yellow binding, the words barely legible in the dimness of the room. With a careful and steady hand, both teens slowly lifted the cover of the textbook and turned to the table of contents. Upon reading the first few words, they gasped in shock.
"Atemu! This is your Great-Great-Grandfather's summoning book!" Neferketi gawked in amazement. Atemu nodded in agreement, his expression equal to her own.
"He kept all his best summons recorded in this book, some generations before him!" he added, gazing through the timeline on the first page.
Their eyes met in recognition, both having thought the same thing at once. Smiles appeared on both their faces.
"This is perfect!" they cheered in unison.
Moments passed, the two flipped vigorously through the pages of the book, checking up on all fourteenth level spirits, none as of far, had caught their interest. Thankfully for them, the spirits were categorized both by their level and alphabetically, making their search all the more organized. They laughed and pointed when they found a queer name listed on the pages, while they shuddered at others that possessed names of the darker powers. They had passed through all names and levels eligible from A to O. Still, nothing clicked. Atemu pointed to one of the many names listed on the O page.
"How about Ophilious?" his tone became more and more dull with every name he spoke.
Neferketi shook her head rapidly, shoving his finger off the page, "No, too proper. Besides, he has a thumbs-down sign next to his name." she added with slight amusement, even though the sign rather confused her.
Their eyes scanned down the list in coming boredom.
"Osiris…?" they both stared at each other, fear clear in their eyes, "Aaaahh! No way!" the page was abruptly flipped over a good couple times, their query now listed in a short column of Q's. Atemu sighed, his mood completely flustered by the letter.
"Aw, geez, not this section! These letters are always rarely used," the boy grumbled, his finger playing with the corner of the page, ready to turn it. Quickly, a hand came down and slapped his own. He drew back in shock. "Ow! What was that for!" he hissed at the girl sitting next to him. She returned his question with a harsh glare.
"We gotta look through all of the names! Besides, haven't you heard the letters that are least used in a name make an individual more unique? Let's just check it out real quick." Neferketi scowled, giving the Pharaoh a scolding look. Her gaze drew back down to the book, as did Atemu following skeptical suit.
Then the naming began once again.
"Qarrel?"
"No."
"Qazel?"
"Nu-uh"
"Queel?"
"Hm, seems notable, but no."
"Oh, I give up! What's the point of looking through this section? Let's just move on!"
Neferketi slapped Atemu's wavering hand once again, keeping him from turning the page, "Wait!"
Atemu rubbed his now pinking hand, "What!"
"What about this one?"
"Which one? Quack?"
"NO! This one."
Neferketi pointed down at a hand written name at the bottom of the page, seemingly scribbled on with ink at the last minute. Its name was almost unreadable if not for the fact that the pages had been well preserved and the name had been hidden under a fold in the paper. Atemu gazed down at the name, first raising an eyebrow as if the remark had been some joke, but the look in his wife's eyes seemed very serious, in fact it looked as though she had already decided upon the creature for summoning. A sigh escaped his lips, staring at the name for sometime, before the curiosity of the hand-written name got to him. At last, they both agreed upon summoning the spirit, however strange or horrible it may look and began the preparations for the proper summoning. Soon enough, sand-chalk and more books on how-to-summon were strewn about the floor, the spirits book still open to the page with the name on it. The inked on name seemed to glow with pride at its being chosen. And the name, as Neferketi said had been quite unique.
It was official. The name of their new servant from that day forward was:
Queezle.