Chapter 7: Training Pains and Friendship Gains

A week later...

Juliana sat on her bed, crossed legged reading a book when Akunadin came in. He looked as frustrated and angry as he had when he first entered that room. "Come, girl." He turned and walked own. Juliana quickly closed her book and followed him out. They walked all the way downstairs until the area became darker and a bit cooler. Juliana shivered a bit but dared not let Akunadin see it. The continued walking until they entered what seemed to be the palace dungeons. They walked in and Akunadin pushed Juliana faster. "Go to the other side of the room."

Juliana did as she was told and turned to look back at Priest Akunadin. Something told her this was not going to end well. For who she did not know...probably her. She watched as Priest Akunadin pulled a lever and a group of targes flew out of the wall and began swinging back and forth. He walked over to Juliana. "Now take that bow and arrow by the wall there."

She walked over to the wall and took the bow and a group of arrows, looking at them. "Be quick about it, girl!" She ran back over to him and watched the moving targets. You are going to hit every one of those targets with one arrow each. And I want a precise hit in the dead center."

The targets continued to swing back and forth, as Juliana drew her first arrow. She fired at the nearest target and hit it just a bit to the right of the center. Akunadin smacked Juliana on the back of the head extremely hard, sending her forward.

"I told you! Dead center! If that was an enemy, you would be dead right now! Watch!" He grabbed the bow and arrows from Juliana and fired at the exact target. He hit it right in the middle and smirked. "There, see?" He threw the weapons back down to her. "Now you go. Do it right this time."

She rubbed the back of her head and slowly stood, grabbing the bow and arrows. "Yes master..." She drew another another arrow and focused on the moving target. Soon all sounds went mute, and all that was visible was the target. Soon even that seemed to stop moving completely and stand still. She pulled the string of the bow back. 'I will succeed...I will keep my promise to the pharaoh...'

Priest Akunadin looked at Juliana and noticed her eyes seemed brighter and more focused than before. He snarled to himself. 'There's no way I'll let this brat...this...freak of a child become strong enough to be given the rank of High-Priestess as her foolish mother...haha. Either she'll reach anything but priestess or I'll make her wish she never came here.'

Juliana let go of the string and the arrow flew into the air. Akunadin stared at the target, completely speechless. Not only had Juliana's arrow hit the center of the target, it split his own arrow in two! Juliana slowly dropped the bow to her side and just stood, waiting for her next instructions.

"H-how did you do that!" Akunadin asked without removing his eyes from the target.

"The target just seemed to stop...I focused and fired."

"Fire two at the same time! I want one to hit one target and the other to hit the other target!" Akunadin smirked. 'No way she can do this...'

She took two arrows out of the caseing and lined them up on the bow. The two targets Akunadin wanted her to hit swung in opposite direction of each other, plus one was further back than the other. No way did it look easy. 'I'll fire just as the targets are near each other...this'll be tricky, but I can do it.' She pulled the string then quickly let the arrows fly. In a split second both arrows hit their targets dead on.

Priest Akunadin glared and quickly grabbed Juliana's neck and slammed her against the concrete walls. "How did you do that! Something like that is not possible!"

Juliana grabbed his arm, trying to loosen his grip on her neck. She gasped for air. "The..same way...I did...the last one! Please let go! I...can't breathe!"

"And I hope you die, you little nuisence! I should let you join your pathetic parents in the after life!" He tightened his grip, then thought for a moment. He growled and threw the girl to the ground as she coughed and gasped for air. "But the Pharaoh has plans for you. Perhaps he'll send you into a battle and you'd die with honor like the other fools. Now get up...this training session is far from complete." Akunadin smirked again.

Every day of training was basically the same...just as torturing and painful as the first day. Some were worse...he'd abuse me every time, either physically or mentally. Every night after the training, Atem would visit to help me with my wounds, which he believed was just from the training. Akunadin always found a way to punish me. Either not being good enough or being TOO good for me to be doing something myself. He trained me in archery, swordsmanship, and unarmed combat. Everything but sorcery. Something I thought I would never master...

Atem and Juliana sat in Juliana's room one night after training. Atem stood up and placed the bucket of water on the counter and turned around smiling. "Guess what!"

Juliana looked up, a bit confused to Atem's excitement. "I do not know what to guess..."

He laughed. "My father said I could take you to one of Priest Secmenton's teaching lessons!"

"Priest Secmenton? What does he teach at these lessons...?"

"He trains would-be priests and would-be keepers of the seven Millennium Items."

Juliana looked at the ground. 'Sorcery...it would be nice to train without Master Akunadin...but he will be extremely angry with me if he found out.' She looked up at Atem. "Alright. I will go."

Atem smiled. "Great! You get to meet all the other students and I'm sure they're going to like you! We just have to get my brother on the way."

Juliana stood and looked at Atem, confused. "B-brother?"

"Yeah. My younger brother Sethos. Sorry I never brought him over, it was tricky enough coming by myself. Come on!" He grabbed Juliana's arm and pulled her out the door. They started walking down the hallway.

'Brother Sethos...? Maybe Pharaoh Akunumkanon meant Sethos and not Seto...no one seems to know who Seto is.' They stopped at a door and she watched as Atem opened the door into the room. A boy about the same height but obviously younger than Atem ran up and tackled him. "Took you long enough!"

The two boys laughed and stood up. Atem smiled and patted the boy's back. "Haha! Hey, Sethos, this is Juliana. That girl I told you that Priest Akunadin was training."

Juliana dropped to one knee and bowed her head. "Pleasure to meet you, Prince Sethos."

Sethos blinked. "Uhh...yeah. Nice to meet you too. We better go or we'll be late."

"Yeah. Priest Secmenton will definatly not be happy if we arrived late. And Juliana wouldn't have time to meet everyone." Atem smiled.

The three nodded and walked out of Sethos' room. Juliana walked behind the two boys and watched them talk and laugh to each other. Probably how brothers are. They continued walking until they exited the palace. They kept walking until they heard the soft tune of a flute and stopped. Atem smiled and laughed. "I guess we're not late. That's Naru's flute, no doubt."

They began running and stopped at a large garden with a small building in the center. They went inside and looked at the group of children inside. Most were about their age, some older, some younger. Atem stepped forward. "Hey guys. Meet Juliana." He pointed to Juliana, who looked at the others. "Juliana, meet Mahado, Naru, Chira, Mana, Vash, Shada, Isis and Karim."

Mahado sat by a wall, watching the others. He wore white Egyptian robes, as did the others, with gold around his neck and on his shoulders. His long brown hair dropped down to his shoulders. He looked at the three new comers, smiled and bowed his head.

Naru stood by the opposite wall of Mahado, playing her flute. She had long, blueish-silver hair and soft blue eyes. Her Egyptian outfit consisted of about the same jewelry as Juliana wore but also had golden anklets, earings and a small tiara on her head. She looked at the three and smiled, still playing her flute.

Chira and Mana were dancing to Naru's music in front of her and payed no mind to the people in the doorway. They both wore similar dresses but Chira had darker, shorter hair than Mana and carried a long piece of cloth which she spun around as she danced. Mana was a small, cute little girl and looks to be a smaller version of the Dark Magician Girl with brown hair instead of blonde.

Vash wore a pretty plain Egyptian outfit as he stood leaning against a wall near the small dancers. He had long, blueish-green silvery hair and stern blue eyes. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and a small twig in his mouth and payed no attention to Atem, Sethos and Juliana.

The last three, Shada, Isis and Karim, stood near Mahado. They wore basically the same outfits as the others, but in different patterns or styles. Isis walked up to the three and bowed her head. "Welcome."

Vash opened one eye and looked at them. "And they finally show. Who's the new girl? Another one to join the losers?"

Naru stopped playing and whacked Vash hard on the head with her flute. "Be nice!"

Atem laughed. "Guys, this is Juliana. She's pretty new here so help her get caught up, ok?"

They all nodded, but Juliana wasn't paying attention. Her attention had be redirected toward Mana. She looked familiar, even SENSED familiar. In a way, she was a younger, smaller version of the one that had kept watch over her since she was born. How was this possible? She could be just imagining things, but this was certainly new to her. Then again, a lot of things were new to her in this place.

"Juliana? Juliana?" Atem put a hand on Juliana's shoulder and she quickly looked over at him. He laughed. "Daydreaming?"

"Forgive me...I was absorbed in my thoughts..."

"A space case. Are you sure father didn't take her in just for show?" Sethos said to Atem.

"Be nice, Sethos..." Atem looked back at Juliana. "Why don't you sit down? Priest Secmenton should be here shortly."

She nodded and looked around. Naru smiled and waved her hand. "You can sit with us!"

Juliana slowly walked over to Naru and sat next to her. She looked around at Chira and Mana, who smiled at her. Everyone seemed so happy here...this couldn't be bad. "Hello."

"Hi. Sorry about what Vash said. He might seem rude but he really has a good heart." said Naru.

"He does seem different from everyone else..." Juliana slowly looked over at Vash.

Chira nodded. "That's because he's the only one here not from royal or noble blood. His parents are servants here in the palace."

Juliana blinked, then looked at Chira. "Then why is he here?"

"The Pharaoh saw potential in him. I'm sure you sense that he has a magical aura like the rest of us." Mana said cheerfully.

"Yes..." Looking around, Juliana saw that everyone in the room had an aura. Some more than others, but it was true. Even Vash had an aura that seemed to be the same level as herself, Naru and Chira.

"Oh!" Chira jumped and sat infront of Juliana, staring at her. "There's a rumor going around that you're Priest Zuberi and Priestess Safiya's daughter. Is that true?" Juliana slowly nodded and all three girls gasped. "Wow...you must've been through a lot."

When she saw Juliana looking at the ground sadly, Naru smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "You should meet my parents then. Then knew yours very well and I'm sure they'd be happy to see you."

Priest Secmenton walked in, holding his Millennium Rod. "Alright, settle down children. Class is about to begin."

Naru was a great person, and soon became my second friend in the palace. She was nice, and, most importantly to me, understanding. She explained to me more about the palace and Egypt than Atem did, and I was grateful for it. I even met her parents, Priest Vazu and Priestess Illana. They were just as kind as their daughter, and knew my parents well. I was beginning to feel happy, although I never smiled. My life was beginning to look well...