Angel of Light
Chapter 14
Circle of Fate
(Celestia POV)
It had all seemed so simple before. Banish the monster and get rewarded with fame, gold, and offers of undying loyalty. Escape at night, while others sleep, to the world dominated by the moon, and utter silence.
Funny how things change so quickly; from great to good, good to so-so, and so-so to plain disrespect. In the span of two years, I went from being as revered as Mas-Ne-Ra herself, to nearly getting hit with a brick pried from the very walls I had fought to save. The goddess wasn't subject to any of this, however. Only her messenger got the bad end of the deal, meaning me. That offer of being the palace's priestess was starting to sound real good.
It started with the first tales of the murdered, carried on the breath of the faintest winds, yet somehow seeping into every corner of Egypt.
Malik had continued to kill the priests of every god and goddess, except ones of the Shadow Realm Goddess. It seemed as if he wanted the first priestess he killed belonging to her to be me. And where did that leave me? Constantly criticized by others and turned out of places where I had previously hadn't had to pay before, that's where it left me.
People began to talk about how I should just sacrifice myself so that the others would live. What's the life of one person compared to the lives of twenty others, they would ask. Surely the murderer's thirst for blood would be quenched with my sacrifice? That would allow them to finally bring him to justice, wouldn't it? Those were good questions, and they could have been applied to this case, but there was one other thing. I had a question for them, and it hadn't been asked yet.
What was the suffering of twenty individuals in the present compared to the suffering of many more in the future? Malik would never stop thirsting for power, and my power wouldn't quench his thirst at all, since I imposed that spell on him. I couldn't win at all.
As I walk through the streets of Giza, I hear whispers around me.
"That's the filthy priestess herself-"
"All she does is banish monsters who we could have hired someone else to banish for a cheaper price."
"I wonder if that veil hides a deformity."
"My son died because of you!" A woman came up to me and shouted at me. I closed my eyes, willing myself to calm down.
"I am sorry for your loss, but it wasn't because of me," I say gently. She wiped away some tears and glared at me once more.
"I wish you would die!" she spat at me. "What's the use of your living if my son is dead? Do some good for this world and go hang that man with your magic tricks! Or better yet, bring my son back." I breathed deeply before answering, telling myself that she was only distraught with grief.
"Necromancy is forbidden by the Pharaoh," I tell her. "And if I were to practice it, I would be struck down by the gods themselves."
"Who cares?" another woman shouts. "You deserve to die now for the atrocities that you have caused."
"I did not kill those priests and priestesses," I say loudly. "I am powerful enough as I am, and I do not wish for any more." I try to go on my way, but a mob is quickly forming around me.
Oh dear, I think to myself. This could make me late for my appointment with Bakura. I had kept in touch with him through the years, but it wasn't a once-a-week thing. We were lucky to meet once a month, what with his robbing schedule and my now-unpopular exorcising rites. It would make sense if I said that I was growing the tiniest bit impatient with my current affairs?
"Please move out of the way, sirs," I said politely despite my impatience. I felt, rather than heard the spoken refusal. The crowd gathered in around me, blocking off my escape.
"You owe us blood money," one man said menacingly. There were audible crackings of knuckles as the mood went from uneasy to downright dangerous. Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw the other civilians hurry away.
They can't testify against the attackers that way if I do bring it up with the law-keepers, I thought, mildly interested. Then again, if I can't deal with this myself, than I can't call myself daughter of the Shadow Goddess.
"Do you really want to do this?" I asked warningly, shifting my weight to my center of gravity so that I wouldn't be easily knocked down. "You'd be attacking a priestess, and the greatest among those of the Shadow goddess." They didn't bother answering, but dove right in with their fists. I inwardly sighed. Men couldn't think of more than one way to solve an argument, could they?
They all stumbled back as an unseen force repelled them from my person. I actually felt a fist brush oh-so-gently across my cheek when I dodged it, choosing to activate the spell at the very last moment, when they were least expecting it. I sighed and looked at the gentleman, who weren't looking so tough now that they had encountered a drop of my arsenal.
"Really, gentleman," I said smoothly, talking to hide the fact that I was doing something with my hands. "You'll have to do better than that if you wish to take your 'blood money.' Fortunately for you, I don't have time to play any longer." A Shadow Monster, specifically a dragon, appeared from a portal and crouched down a few feet away from the scattered crowd. There were a few cries of fear as they saw it, thinking that I would sic him on them, but I am not that kind of girl. I sat sidesaddle on its back and waved cheerfully at them.
"We should do that again sometime!" I called out to them as the dragon beat its wings. I think that there were a few curses shouted at me, but I paid no attention to them. Curses couldn't hurt you like fists could unless they were infused with some sort of malicious power, and there was not a single spell-caster among them, as far as I could tell.
I smiled and directed the dragon towards a secret oasis where I always met Bakura. I couldn't think about the hatred directed towards me now. There was my life to live, and if things got too dangerous, I could always change my illusion and go somewhere else like Crete. They had excellent food there, or so I heard.
Of course, I could always go to the palace too.
Scowling, I batted that treacherous thought aside. There was no way that I would ever go and ask that disrespectful Pharaoh for a job. I would be going back on my word, and I wasn't ready to be tied down yet.
He had become more respectful of the Shadow Monsters, though. Last year, he had taken the evidence of a Sword-mistress Kanaan over the testimony of a wealthy and influential merchant when a theft had been committed. It turned out that Kanaan was telling the truth after all, so the merchant's wealth had been confiscated and he had been locked in jail for telling the Pharaoh lies. There were many other incidents, too, of his showing greater kindness towards the minority. It couldn't be because of my peevishly uttered words, though. He couldn't want me to join the palace priests that much, could he?
Shall I land, Mistress? the dragon mentally asked me. Distracted, I looked out, and saw the oasis there. Had we flown that fast?
"Um, yes, do land," I quickly said. There was a horse grazing on the lush greenery of the oasis, and I knew at once that he was there. The water of the oasis glittered in the afternoon sun, and the tree leaves waved gently in the wind caused by the dragon's ascent. I slipped off and dismissed the dragon, wondering where he was.
"Bakura?" I called out. Only a faint wind answered me. I frowned. "His horse is here-"
A twig cracked behind me and I whirled around just in time to see the person in question two feet away from me with a wicked grin on his face. He held a water skin in his hand and the cap was off. He was obviously planning to drench me in water.
"Bakura-" I began, but he had already upended the entire sack on me. I stood there in offended silence, gaping at him through my drenched head cloth and veil. He kept foolishly grinning. I twisted my finger around and stepped quietly out of the way as two times that amount of water barreled into him, courtesy of the lake.
"This patch of grass will be quite green by tomorrow," I observed dryly, watching him splutter. As he wiped his eyes clear of moisture, I took off my head cloth and veil with great dignity, so that the first thing he saw was my face, smiling with unconcealed glee at him.
"That was dirty," he told me later as we sat on the grass under the sun, letting it dry our clothes.
"Actually, I believe that water was quite clean," I said, smiling slyly at him. "And you have no right to talk of dirty when you drenched me first. Besides, how often do you get to take a magical bath?" He glowered at me for a moment and then smiled.
"Well, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up," he laughed. "You're right; no one uses magic to create a moving shower. You think of the strangest things sometimes, but at least they have some benefits."
"So, how was your haul this time?" I asked, idly conjuring up a warm wind to dry the moisture from our clothes. As long as Bakura didn't rob the tombs of the pharaohs, a sacrilegious deed, I had to agree with him that it was his job, and every one had to make a living for themselves somehow.
"I got some great quality gold, want some?" he offered a few pieces of jewelry from a pouch at his waist. I looked at him with the sternest expression I could muster. He sighed and stowed it away. "You're the same as always."
"It's my head if I'm caught with stolen gold," I told him. "I would never tell them that it's from you, of course, but it doesn't do wonders for my reputation." I thought again of the sullen people in Giza, and felt a growing sadness. Bakura scowled and picked at his nails, a sure sign that he was angry.
"It's not right!" he burst out. "That Malik's forced you into a state of cautiousness, and you're reputation is being stained. It's not bleeding right!"
"That's new," I said lightly, though I felt better now that he agreed with me. "A thief is saying that a murderer's wrong."
"Celestia, you can't let him get away with that!" Bakura was standing now, and was glaring angrily at the lake.
"What can I do?" I asked, looking aside at the foliage. "People won't forget the murders committed because of me. The priests killed will stay dead, and no one will hold me in such high regard anymore. Maybe I should just fight him all-out and be done with it. Maybe the people of Crete are more forgiving."
"That would be running away." I felt a pang in my heart because I knew his words were true.
"He knows who I am, but he can't tell anyone. If I die trying to take him down, then he'll tell everyone that I was the sister of Priest Seth. His reputation will be stained in turn, and I'd just be causing more trouble for everyone after my death." I tried to say it calmly, but the word 'death' shook my composure. I was not ready to go to Osiris yet, but then again, who is?
"I have an idea," Bakura said after a moment. "Why don't I go to him and pretend to be on his side? I could persuade him to stop killing the priests and go after the throne. He won't stand a chance against the Pharaoh."
"And let your life be placed in danger? No way!" I stood up and made him look at me. His face was resolute.
"You've saved my life many times when I was too stupid to know better," he said calmly. "Let me repay my debt."
"Bakura, I can't let you do this," I pleaded. "I'll just go attack the bloody coward and be done with it."
"You've never killed anyone before," he said. "I have, so it'll just be another blot on my imperfect record. You can't make me change my mind. I'm going." He turned to go, but then abruptly took my hands.
"Whatever you do, don't get killed, all right?" he asked earnestly. "There's bad blood brewing in this land, and if you disappear, things will get worse." Then, as if embarrassed, he strode off into the trees without looking back.
For a while, I stood there faintly smiling. He always worried about everyone else, but he didn't take the fact of his own endangerment into account.
"Reckless fool," I said affectionately.
"Stubborn fool," a cultured voice said with a hint of imitation. I turned around to see my goddess standing before me, and I was suddenly abashed.
"Mas-Ne-Ra, I-"
"Why haven't you gone to the palace yet?" she asked sharply. "The country needs you. The Pharaoh needs you. Seth needs you. So why are you not helping?" Under such pressure, I had to tell the truth.
"It would be bad for them if I suddenly showed up and was allowed access to the most private of groups. There would be talk of corruption, wouldn't there? I-I can't go there and confront them all. I know you gave a recommendation to them, but a goddess' word versus the opinion of a hundred thousand people might have been overpowered by now."
"Are you afraid of what will happen to you?" the goddess asked neutrally.
"Yes, I'm afraid. Akenadin is there, and so is Seth. If-if I accidentally reveal myself, who will ever trust me again? I told the Pharaoh lies to cover up more lies. I'm just not the best choice of a person to place all of your hopes on. I'm a liar and I consort with thieves. Is that how the daughter of the Shadow Realm Goddess should act?"
"You have the mistaken notion that there is a traditional expectation of what a person in authority should be like," she noted. "You place it on people you don't know, such as the Pharaoh. Do you know yourself, child? Do you know what you are capable of?"
"Power isn't everything, and the day that I believe it is will be the day I lose my soul," I said flatly. "I have time to learn about myself."
"Have you ever really opened up your memories? Have you ever seen what has happened to you without a biased perception?" I stopped and abruptly covered my eyes with shaking hands. I had such awful memories. I could never look at myself without mixed awe and fear. I have never looked back on bad things that happened, and with good reason.
"I can't do it," I whispered.
"Then let others help you," she said with a sense of urgency. "Let your brother help you. Don't push other people away when they try to help you. You…don't have to do everything, you know. You can be a human, too, because they're all humans. You are amazing, but you paid a terrible price for that. Your father abandoned you in the desert to die. Your mother died before you even knew her. You had to befriend your own twin brother without his knowing that you were related to him. You had to witness the massacre of Kuruelna. You have to deal with the knowledge that someone is after your blood everyday. You had to master the dark arts in order to understand the pure ones-"
"Stop!" I shouted, my head snapping up. "I don't want to think about it. I-I don't want to see it. Don't you get it? It's because of my mastery over the dark arts, aided by the anguish of my childhood, that Malik wants my blood. He doesn't see me as a person here to do the little good that I may do on this earth, he sees me as a potential destroyer. Everybody does."
"You have control over your dark heritage from Akenadin," she said calmly. "You have never put anyone in real danger." I struggled with my emotions for a while.
"I might…" I whispered. "I might lose control again, and if Seth's near me…how could I ever live if I hurt him?"
"Seth can take care of himself, as he has demonstrated time and time again," the goddess said in a tone that brooked any argument. "As your adopted mother and patron goddess, I order you to go to Memphis and meet the Pharaoh." Immediately I felt my neckband and headband grow hot, as they always did with an official order. If I didn't obey, they would start to burn.
"Face your demons," she commanded me. "You cannot help everyone if you cannot face your own memories." Those words echoed in my ears as I turned to go and I still hear them now, as I wait in disgrace for a sunrise that will never come.
(Normal POV)
High Priest Seth looked up in surprise as his friend Pharaoh Atem dropped onto a cushion besides him in the library. The young ruler looked tired and worn as he breathed out a sigh of relief. Seth wordlessly signaled a servant to bring refreshments, and, as drinks arrived, pushed one over to Atem. He gave the priest a look of thanks and downed it in five seconds. Seth pushed his own drink over to him.
"You look dead on your feet, Atem," he remarked casually. "Lots of business, I presume?"
"You don't know the half of it," Atem sighed. "It's harvest time, which means the usual flurry of tax-collecting. The Ethiopians down south look ready to go to war, but they might leave off if I marry one of their princesses." He shivered. "Then there's the recent chain of robberies, and, of course, the murders."
"Surely no one's been bothering you about that!" Seth exclaimed. "The priesthood is separate from the throne, is it not?"
"No, no one's brought it up, but I think of it every minute. There is a murderer out there, Seth, and he's killed many people already. What if he goes after one of the palace priests next?"
"Are you worried that they can't defend themselves against a low-level mage such as that?" his cousin scoffed. "Trust me. Every single palace priest is more powerful than the country priests they have out there."
"You were trained by country priests," Atem pointed out.
"I'm here now. Would you allow Lady Veil to stay here too if she appeared out of the sky?"
"Yes, I would," the Pharaoh immediately said although it was asked as a joke. The seriousness of his answer sobered Seth, and made him think.
"If you're worried that Malik will go after one of our priests next," he said carefully. "Then why would you place the object of his desires in the middle of the palace?"
"There are wards around the palace that can be calibrated to repel certain individuals. If need be, an army of Shadow Monsters may be summoned from the Archive, and from parts beyond. This Lady Veil is one of the most powerful priestesses around, and she can protect herself."
"Then why doesn't she go after him already?" Seth asked, reaching a conclusion. "If she's so all-powerful, then why hasn't she already prevented the deaths of many?" Including that of my friend, he bitterly thought.
"That is a decision she has made." As if on cue, a messenger ran wildly into the library, frantically looking around. When he spotted the Pharaoh, he bowed low to him and reported his message between breaths.
"She's here, Your Majesty…The Lady Veil…On a cloud…She's approaching the palace!" he wheezed out.
"Call the council together," Atem commanded immediately. Then, to Seth, he said, "she's finally come."
"Yes," he answered. "But for what purpose?"
Celestia sighed as she felt her neckband and headband start to cool down at the sight of the Palace. She saw many people scurrying around on the ground, pointing at her as she swooped over them on her substantial cloud. Once she was at the gates, she descended and waited for the gatekeeper to let her in.
"State your name," he commanded imperiously.
"Lady Veil," she said in the same imperious voice.
"Your business here is…?"
"I have a proposition for the Pharaoh." He conferred with others while she waited impatiently.
"You have special permission to go in," he confirmed grudgingly. The doors creaked open and she walked onto the palace grounds. They were beautiful, and the palace was a monument worthy of Ra, but she paid them no heed as one servant led her to the Throne Room. He opened the doors and announced,
"Lady Veil for the Council." Glancing at him, Celestia saw a trace of curiosity, but it was quickly hidden behind a trained mask. Without further ado, she walked in and confronted the council.
The Pharaoh was seated on his massive wooden throne, and his six priests were arranged in a half-circle around him, each one carrying a golden item. She spared only a passing glance for Seth and the others, immediately looking to the ruler. He smiled and stood up, his eyes reflecting the warmth of his smile.
"What took you so long, Lady Veil?"
I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a while; I had writer's block and I was busy with many other things. I hope you liked chapter 14, and there are more on the way.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh
