A couple weeks had passed since Mana was crowned Queen of Kemet. The excitement within the palace eventually died down allowing for work to go on like usual. However, for her, each day still seemed like a new experience. Running a country was nothing like learning sorcery. There was so much political stuff behind it that it made her head spin! Sure, she had training for the role, it began as soon as Atem proposed to her over a year ago. Only, it's a lot easier to be shown something than to actually do it yourself.

This particular day started off like any other. Atem and Mana woke up, had a morning meal, then went to a meeting with their council. After that though, things turned upside down for the new queen.

"Are you sure you really have to go?" Mana asked as she and Atem walked through the palace garden.

The Pharaoh nodded. "Unfortunately. It seems like the Temple of Beasts was damaged last night in Karnak. I need to make sure none of the monster tablets were harmed."

"Oh, can't we just send Seto? I mean, isn't that what High Priests are for?" She nervously laughed while waving her hand.

The Pharaoh glanced at her. "If only, but as King, I have to take matters such as this into my own hands. Leaving this temple damaged could result in us not being able to summon our monsters or worse, disrupt Ma'at."(1)

Mana sighed, she knew he had to go, it was his job after all. She sat down on the side of the garden pool with her chin in her hands. Only the Pharaoh was allowed in this particular temple so she couldn't go with him. Anyway, he was just going to be gone for one day. What was the problem? She could handle it, right...?

"Mana?" The Pharaoh asked concerned about his wife's behavior.

At the sound of her name, the newly crowned queen burst into tears.

"Atem, please! I can't do this! I'm not ready!" She cried jumping up and hugging him. The Pharaoh didn't know what to think. Was him leaving really making her this anxious? He smiled and returned her embrace.

"Mana, Love, you'll be just fine."

The Queen let go and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Oh, you're just saying that."

Atem held her out at arm's length and shook his head. "No, I'm not. Everything will be alright, you're just overthinking it. You've attended almost all my councils now, you know what goes on during them. Besides, if you have any questions, Shimon and Seto will be with you."

Mana slightly frowned. Ugh, Seto was staying behind? Why? Anyway, maybe she was just overthinking it. She noticed one of the servants coming up to greet them.

"My King, we are ready to depart." He said with a bow.

Atem nodded. "Of course, I'll be there momentarily."

The servant bowed to the two before leaving. Atem turned his attention back to Mana.

"Now, remember what I said. You are going to be just fine! Trust me." He said with a smile.

Mana hugged him tight. "Alright... I'll try. Please be careful!"

The two kissed goodbye before Atem left with his guards. Mana leaned against the entrance of the garden and watched them go. Her stomach was already twisting into tight knots. Tomorrow she was going to be the one in charge of Kemet. Oh, this was not going to be fun.

The early morning light filtered through the small windows of the bed chamber filling it with a soft glow. Sensing the change in light, Mana's eyes fluttered open.

"Ugh, what's up with my head?" She said as she rubbed her temples. Rolling over onto her stomach she yawned. "Good morning, Atem." An empty spot where the Pharaoh usually laid greeted her.

"Oh, no." Her eyes grew wide realizing what day it was. She quickly sat up. "No, no, no!" She really didn't want to do this. Atem not being there and a pounding headache seemed to spell disaster. An idea suddenly popped into her head.

"Maybe I could just say I'm sick! Yeah, that'll work!" She laid back down and closed her eyes. Not even a few moments later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Mana said laying with her back to the door. Hopefully this would work. A servant girl came in bowing.

"Good morning, Your Highness. I was wondering if you were ready to be dressed."

"I don't think I'll be able to make it today. I um... my head is really hurting."

Mana listened intently hoping the young woman would understand.

"Oh, then I'll let the royal physician know. He can bring you a fish treatment."

The Queen bolted up right.

"That's alright! The pain just stopped! I guess I wasn't fully awake yet! Haha!"

She laughed while her head throbbed from the sudden movement. Headache or no headache, there was no way she was having a fried fish on her head!(2) She mentally slapped herself. Shoot, there went that idea. Then again, maybe she should just stop trying to get out of it. What kind of ruler was she if she couldn't even rule by herself a single day? Atem did it everyday, even the time he was so sick a pail had to accompany him everywhere he went (that day sure was fun).

The servant looked at her slightly confused. "Are you alright, My Queen?"

Mana snapped out of her thoughts.

"Uh, yeah! What am I wearing for today?" Even though she had been a queen for a couple of weeks, she still hadn't gotten used to this part. It was just weird to have her clothing picked out and makeup applied when she could do it herself.

Once she was dressed, she followed her guards down into the dining hall. She hadn't noticed it before since she was always with Atem, but their guards weren't that talkative! That was fine with her today anyway, she was too nervous to talk. She had grown up in this palace but this was yet another new experience. Before, she could come and go as she pleased but now she was watched liked a hawk. Everyone bowing to her was another thing. She was never going to get used to that, especially when Mahad or Isis did it. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she would be queen. Just thinking about the title still gave her butterflies in her stomach. She thought she would become a high priestess or a royal magician. Her marrying Atem changed all of that. Of course, they loved each other dearly. They had known each other since they were children. Before last year, she had always thought he would be made to marry a princess from one of Kemet's allies. Not someone like her. Who knew things would turn out this way!

They entered the dining hall and to Mana's disappointment, neither Mahad nor Isis were there. Atem must have taken Mahad with him and she guessed that Isis may have been summoned to instruct the priestesses again. So unfortunately, Seto took their place like Atem had said. The Queen sighed. This day was just getting better and better. Even though she had known the Priest for much of her life, the two had never seen eye to eye. Everyone stood up and acknowledged her when she walked in including Seto, only he kept his gaze downward. What was his deal? He had been acting that way since the wedding. Mana tried to ignore it as she took her place at the table.

"Good morning, Your Highness. We have a lot of work cut out for us today!" Shimon said cheerfully.

"Oh, great! Just what I wanted to hear!" Mana feigned a laugh.

The main courses were brought out but she could hardly eat anything. The elderly man noticed her pushing food around on her plate. Now that was an odd occurrence. She could usually eat them out of house and home.

"Are you alright, My Queen?" He asked.

Mana jumped causing the grape she had been playing with to fall off onto the floor.

"Yes! I'm fine!" She replied back. Looking under the table, it had rolled just out of her reach. With a flick of her wrist, her magic pulled it to her.

"Got it!" She proudly announced. A sharp pain ran through her head. Ok, no more magic for today. It just made her head hurt worse.

Seto shook his head in disgust at her performance. This was the Queen of Kemet? He stood up to excuse himself, there was no way he was going to be stuck babysitting her. Why Atem left him to watch over her instead of Mahad was beyond infuriating. The Pharaoh was being too overly cautious about some silly dream. She could take care of herself as far as he was concerned.

Mana noticed his behavior making her slump in her chair. Why did Mahad have to go with Atem? Seto should have gone!

"Please just ignore the High Priest, you know how he is." Shimon said finishing his drink. "Now are you ready? His Majesty left orders that need to be completed."

Mana slowly nodded. Might as well get this over with. They departed for the throne room for their next destination. Based on her previous experiences, this was were most of the royal officials would meet and discuss government matters. This was probably the most boring part of the day according to her. She usually wouldn't partake in any of the conversations since they were always directed toward Atem. Sure, he would ask her opinion on certain topics but most of the time she didn't have a good answer for them yet. However, today all the questions would be hers. The officials were already waiting when they arrived. As usual, they all bowed to their queen as she took her throne next to Atem's. For whatever reason, she had this internal fear of tripping up the couple of steps that their thrones rested on. That'd be embarrassing! Shimon took his standing position next to her while Seto stood at the bottom of the altar. Mana noticed the look on the Priest's face and he didn't seem happy in the least.

Since it was near the middle of Payni, the fields were ready to be harvested. Emmer, barely, and flax were among the most important crops. The emmer and barley were used to make bread which was a huge staple of everyone's diet while flax was used for linen production. The taxes on the crops needed to be regulated this year due to the Nile's flood running later than usual. Grain revenue and cattle were being discussed when Mana felt her eyelids grow heavy. She didn't sleep a wink the night before because of thinking about today. On top of that, this headache wasn't getting any better.

"My Queen, are you alright?" Shimon asked in a hushed tone.

"I'm awake!" Mana yelled out in fright.

The room went dead silent. The Queen looked around while her face grew bright red. Shimon cleared his throat.

"What Her Highness means, is that she has awakened to the Gods' wishes. Please, do continue."

Seto scoffed while the council took this as an acceptable answer and continued their negotiation on on a herd of royal cattle. Mana in the meantime wanted to crawl under her throne and die. Had she really fallen asleep?! She had never done that before! The vizier nudged her arm with his elbow.

"Please, My Queen, I know this uninteresting but His Majesty will need a report."

Mana sheepishly nodded. "R-right. I'm sorry, I don't feel well."

Shimon seemed to understand. "Ah, if that's the case, we can take a break after the meeting is over. Afterwards, there are some documents that need approval, but those shouldn't take too long."

Mana smiled back at him. At least Shimon always had her back. For the rest of the meeting, she did her best to ignore the pain and answer any questions she could.

"My Queen, we still have the matter of the robbery in the Valley of the Kings to discuss."

Wait. Tomb robbery? When did this happen? She didn't remember hearing anything about it with Atem. Looking at Shimon and Seto showed them to be interested also. The councilman continued.

"We received a report last night that the tomb of the late Pharaoh Thutmose III(3) was robbed of its funerary goods along with his Summoning Cartouche. How the intruder got in is still a mystery."

This was definitely not good. For any tomb to be raided especially a past pharaoh's was one of the highest crimes one could commit not to mention a huge disruption to Ma'at. Also, if she remembered correctly, Atem's father's tomb was located somewhere in that vicinity. The stolen cartouche was really worrisome. Everyone from the pharaoh down had one, royalty-wise. They allowed for the wearer to summon a monster that they had bonded with. Monsters were based on their summoners' Ka(4) level and were in turn placed into three tiers known as Beast, Legend, and God.(*) To have a cartouche stolen or destroyed meant that the person lost the bond with his/her monster forever. So, the utmost care was taken to keep the necklace safe. Hopefully, the thief didn't know about its use. Otherwise they would be able to summon the late pharaoh's monster if their Ka was strong enough.

"It is an older tomb, so perhaps the traps are failing?" Shimon suggested. "The other royal resting places may need to be checked."

"Tighten the security within the Valley, I don't want a single man or beast going in without being questioned. Also, I expect a full report presented to the King when he returns tomorrow." Seto instructed.

"It shall be done, High Priest." The councilman bowed.

Mana gave the signal for the meeting to be over. Everyone dismissed themselves except for Shimon and Seto. Great. Now there was a tomb robber on the loose? Atem was certainly not going to be happy about this. The Queen was deep in thought when Seto spoke.

He bowed. "My Queen, would I be allowed to have a word with you alone?"

Mana was slightly afraid. What did he have to say? Shimon gave her a questioning look but she waved him on.

"I'll be outside, Your Highness." The vizier said as he bowed and exited the room.

Mana waited till he was gone before she spoke.

"Um...What is it, Seto?"

He knelt low to the ground. "I mean no disrespect, Your Highness, but after observing your behavior from the past few weeks I am beginning to question your authority to rule."

Ouch. That stung. Mana's heart started to beat faster. "An..And w-why do you say that?" She stuttered.

The Priest stayed in his bowed position. "You treat your role as if it's a silly game. Do you know how many times His Majesty and I have had to fix your mistakes? People's livelihoods depend on the laws that we pass. Rushing through important documents is no way to keep a nation running smoothly. Another thing, there is absolutely no excuse for falling asleep on the throne. Aside from the King and Shimon, you are one of the most powerful individuals in the land and you need to act like it." He continued on. "I know His Majesty is blind to your behavior but I am not. Just remember, you being of non royal blood may cause him to change his mind on how he views you." He stood up and dismissed himself.

Mana watched him leave. Unfit to rule? She leaned back in her throne with her mind going a million miles a hour. She had only been queen for a short while, so that counted as something. Right...? Although,

she guessed she hadn't been acting very responsible. The other day she sighed off on an agreement that would have raised taxes exponentially just because she didn't read it carefully enough. Luckily, Atem caught it in time and fixed it. He said she was doing fine and that everyone made mistakes. Whenever she messed up on something, he would always give her encouragement and tips on how to correct it. But, how did it make him feel to fix her stupid slip ups all the time? Seto just told her how he felt about it. Was Atem starting to regret his decision of marrying her or making her his queen? If he had married someone of royalty at least they would know what they're doing. She could feel the tears sting her eyes. Maybe the Priest was right.

"What's wrong, My Queen?"

Shimon had quickly stepped in as soon as Seto left.

"Nothing, everything's fine." Mana said wiping her eyes.

The elderly vizier noticed her tears and wasn't satisfied with the answer. "What did the High Priest say to you? The King will be told at once!"Mana shook her head.

"N-No it's alright." She stood up from her throne. "I'm ready to go."

Several hours had passed since Atem had arrived at the Temple of the Beasts in Karnak. When he actually saw it, the damage was a lot worse than what he expected it to be. The backside of the temple was almost completely caved in. The priest in charge explained that he had heard a loud explosion the night before but didn't see what caused the damage.

"What do you think happened, My King?" Mahad asked as he walked alongside the Pharaoh.

The craftsmen were already busy at work repairing the damage. Staying out of their way, Atem picked up a stray piece of rubble. "I'm honestly not sure." He turned it over in his hand. On the backside there appeared to be jagged marks cut deep into the stone. Picking up another one showed the same markings. "Take a look at this." He handed the Magician the pieces. "See those markings? They almost look like claw marks."

Mahad was puzzled. "They do. But, what would make them? None of the monsters' tablets seem to be disturbed. I can feel their Kas and they feel fine."

Atem thought for a moment. The only thing that could possibly be capable of this would be a rogue monster. Only, why would it want inside? The aura of the summoning ones were usually enough to keep rogues away. Thinking, he moved another piece of stone with his foot.

"Huh...?" The Pharaoh looked closer. A large clawed canine-like paw print roughly the size of his own hand was imprinted in the sand as if it was wet. He moved more of the rubble and found multiple prints going into the temple. "Look at this!" Atem said motioning to Mahad.

"What is it, My King?" He asked kneeling beside him.

"Right here. Do you see them?" Atem pointed at the prints.

The Magician studied the ground for a moment. "Sorry, I don't see anything, Your Highness."

"Huh? But they're right here next to my hand!" Atem waved his hand for emphasis.

Mahad looked at him a bit puzzled. "I'm sorry, I still don't see anything. Perhaps it's the heat playing tricks on you? It has been a long day."

Atem didn't understand. Why couldn't he see them? The prints were there plain as day! He stood up and walked inside to do an interior inspection. Whatever it had been left the beast tablets alone. He looked at the inscription of his and Mana's most trusted monsters, Temu and Iuasset. Luckily, they had not been disturbed. Venturing further in, he arrived in the deepest part of the temple. This particular room was so sacred that only he and a few others were allowed inside. For this was where the tablets depicting the Gods of the King were kept. The three monsters that slumbered within were among the most powerful in all the land. Their power could even rival that of a true god's. As a rule, only the current reigning pharaoh had the right to summon one of these beasts as his right to the throne. Atem ran his hand over his monster's image, Slifer the Sky Dragon. He didn't summon the dragon often because of the huge strain on his Ka. The Gods of the King were reserved for emergency purposes only. They were not something to be played around with. The other two were known as Obelisk the Tormentor and the Winged Dragon of Ra. Legends said that Ra was commanded by the creator god Atum himself against the monster Apophis.(5)

"What...?" Something had caught Atem's eye making him look closer at the images. Both Slifer and Ra's were damaged. Only, Slifer's wasn't nearly as bad as the Winged Dragon's, it looked like it had been almost gouged out! He took a step back feeling his stomach turn. Had whatever left those prints been trying to destroy their images? But why? A chill ran up his spine as he remembered his dream from two nights ago. In it, an unknown monster attacked both the city and palace. Even for a dream it felt strangely real. He left Seto behind to watch over Mana and the others because of how uneasy it made him feel. Was it somehow connected to this? Whoever or whatever did this had to have an extremely high Ka level. The power emitted from these stone tablets alone would be too much for a normal person to handle. Breaking into this temple was no small feat either. For something wanting to destroy Kemet's protectors...This needed to be solved as quickly as possible. Erasing their images here would mean that they no longer existed in this world.(6) The Pharaoh took out his Summoning Cartouche. He needed to know if Slifer was fine and there was only one way to find out.

Back at the palace, Mana stood up from her desk and stretched. After taking some medicine for her head she was finally feeling better. Walking over to the balcony she looked out. Seto's words kept echoing in her mind. Was it really that noticeable about how bad she was doing? Until today, she thought she was finally getting the hang of things. Now the doubt was creeping up on her. She shook her head trying to clear it, there was work to be done! The documents on her desk were nothing too hard, just some notifications that a trade deal had gone through. All that was needed was her signature. She stared at the papyrus. It might as well have been in Sumerian because there was no way it was making sense to her right now. Pushing it to the side, she rested her head on the desk allowing her thoughts to wonder. Maybe her and Atem had rushed getting married. If they had waited then maybe she could have received more training. She felt the tears in her eyes again. Oh, who was she kidding? A commoner like herself never should have been allowed to become queen. A sudden low rumble caught her attention. Looking outside, the sky had grown an eerily dark.

"That's weird..." she stepped back outside. "Is a storm coming?" A roar so loud that it seemingly ripped through the air made the palace shake. Frantically looking toward the direction it had come from made her body go cold. From where she currently stood, she could barely make out the Karnak Temple Complex about two miles away. Above it lightening flashed wildly.

"Atem!" Mana gasped. What was going on?! From the dark clouds descended a huge scarlet dragon. His body seemed to go on for miles as it twisted and coiled through the air. "Slifer?!" She thought. Why did Atem summon him? Was something wrong? As quickly as he had seemed to appear, the dragon gave a roar before ascending back to the heavens. The clouds departed allowing for the sun's rays to break through once more. Mana was totally lost. Atem hardly ever summoned Slifer! In fact, this was the third time she had seen the dragon. The first was when Atem became pharaoh. Everyone below that had run out of the palace to catch a glimpse of the dragon returned back in. Only, their excited chatter escaped Mana's ears. There was something wrong. She could feel it.