V.E.: Hello again my darling readers! I've been in better moods recently, though I'm still pretty lazy. At the same time, this coming week is when all my appointments are. Doctors, Dentist, Driving; and they're all D's. It's been ok really. Though after having some chocolate cake last night, I could still be on that bliss.
Alright, now we're getting to an interesting part of the story. MAGIC. So there will be some appearance from some people we know and love from the magical standpoint of Ancient Egypt.
Disclaimer: If I owned this, I would actually have some money in my pocket since this is my most popular story right now. And do I need money.
Kisara's face was downward at her hands, twisting themselves in agitation. A true testament to the state of her mind as she was trying to gather up the courage to ask something that had been burning in her mind from the first day she came to the palace.
Lady Nephthys seemed to notice her distress as she sat down in her regular chair beside her student, the light of the rising sun illuminating the room.
"Is there something the matter Kisara?"
Kisara took and a deep breath and went for it.
"Well, I've been wondering…"
She looked to her teacher for any hint of disapproval, but the older woman just nodded her head in encouragement.
"Go on."
"You said that the Millennium Necklace could show you the future. Are all the Items like that or do they have different powers? What are they and do they make the Sacred Guardians special in the place of the court? And what exactly do these Items have to do with Kas?"
Nephthys' eyes widened only briefly before a small smile graced her face.
"Ah, and tying your question to the lesson today. Don't worry, I'll get to your questions though next time you might not want to give your intentions away so quickly."
Nephthys settled herself comfortably, waiting for Kisara's complete and utter attention before going on.
"But first you have to understand the structure of court. Now what do you know about that?"
Kisara spoke then.
"Pharaoh is the ruler of all Egypt while he assigns other nobles to watch over provinces called nomes. A noble can petition the king for aid, though he must go through the other advisors and viziers and if they cannot help then he may approach the king."
Nephthys nodded, her eyes determined.
"Do you see a problem with the past history you've learned about compared to what I've been telling you that goes on today?"
Kisara was slightly puzzled at that before her mind realized it.
"There's usually two viziers, one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower Egypt. But I've only heard about Vizier Shimon."
Nephthys sighed at that.
"Yes, though most people tend to ignore it, Egypt has seen better days. You see Kisara, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt are currently divided. While the Pharaoh controls Lower Egypt, the priests and several nobles control Upper Egypt. Do you remember the assassin attempt you stopped?"
Kisara nodded.
"It's hard to forget something that changed my life completely."
"Well, most of the council thinks that it was an attempt from someone in Upper Egypt though we have no idea who. Pharaoh Aknamkamon has made it his best effort to try and find a way to reunite the kingdoms, but he's had some difficulties."
Kisara felt incredibly interested at that.
"What kind of 'difficulties'?"
Nephthys's eyebrows went up and Kisara immediately caught herself, reverting to a calm disposition.
"That is another story for another day. Let's settle one question at a time. Now, the Millennium Items changed all this by promoting six people to the utmost of the pharaoh's confidence. Only Vizier Shimon is higher and he is both a vizier and a Sacred Guardian which is pretty taxing on the poor man."
Kisara went back to her questioning ways as she spoke again.
"So then, what can the Millennium Items do exactly?"
Nephthys took some time gathering her thoughts for that answer, as she looked to be deeply thinking how to phrase it to her pupil. Finally, she answered.
"Well, all of the Millennium Items have similar powers. Using them, each of the Guardians can call a Shadow Game, send a person to the Shadow Realm, or use it to strengthen the Ka we summon."
Kisara opened her mouth, but closed it at the expression on Nephthys' face as the older woman's hands went to the golden eye necklace.
"Now going onto the specific powers. My Necklace has the ability to give me visions, mostly of the future, but there are times it will show me the past. Shimon's Key has the ability to show a person's Ka."
Kisara remembered when she had seen that Key glow.
"Like the time I was in the throne room that time?"
Nephthys nodded gravely.
"Yes, though that's the first time the Key has ever reacted on its own. As for Thabit's Scales, they can weigh a person's heart and show if that person is lying or not. The Ring can see into a person's soul and the Rod can force a Ka out of someone."
Kisara straightened up at that.
"Force a…..what for?!
Nephthys' look silenced her pupil as it seemed she was starting to lose patience with her student.
"We'll get to that later. Now Aknadin's eye can also see a person's Ka, but he can also read minds. Unfortunately, he had lose his real eye for that."
Kisara gulped at the thought of that Eye. She hadn't liked that Eye when she first saw it and she really wasn't liking it now. She decided to change the subject.
"Umm…what exactly can the Pharaoh's Puzzle do?"
Nephthys looked stumped at that.
"You know, I don't really know what the Millennium Puzzle can do. I think only the Pharaoh knows, he's never really shared the information. Still, it is the Pharaoh's Item and when he dies, it will pass to Prince Atem."
Kisara's mind flashed to the brunette around her age connected to that young prince.
"Like how Mahad will inherit the Millennium Ring from Master Rashidi?"
Nephthys nodded, her smile back.
"Yes, which is a good thing that the prince and him are so close. Almost all of the Guardians have a successor. Rashidi has Mahad, Thabit has his son Karim, Shimon has been training Shada so he can ascend to being a full time vizier eventually…"
Kisara made the connection at that.
"Does that mean you have a successor?"
Nephthys' smile widened even more.
"Yes, my niece Isis. She'd be right around your age, actually. I wanted to train her at the palace, but my brother in law was insistent that she shouldn't leave yet. Oh, it's been a long time since I've seen her."
Kisara was interested in the new found piece of information on her teacher's background, suddenly understanding why Nephthys was so tender to her at times.
"I didn't know you had family."
Nephthys sighed at that.
"There's not much to say. I had a dutiful sister who I loved very much, but eventually grew apart from. She married and died when my niece was still a child. We were poor and I was never interested in marriage so I joined the priesthood. I visited a couple of years ago and found out about Isis' talents. My sister's husband convinced me to let her stay for a few more years before her training really begins."
Nephthys got a very pensive expression at those words.
"I still wonder whether I should have agreed with him."
Kisara was saddened by the older woman's expression and tried to talk away from the subject.
"What about Master Khalid and Master Aknadin?"
Nephthys straightened up in surprise, but responded in her usual manner.
"Well, I don't know how that will work with that one eyed buffoon, but since passing down the Eye means taking it out of that priest's eye socket, I think we'll being passing on the Eye after Aknadin's death."
Kisara cringed at the disturbing and morbid thought. It had been definitely implied, not so subtly, that Nephthys, for some reason or other, had an incredible disliking for the one eyed priest. Although her teacher had yet to reveal the reason why, Kisara got the impression the feeling was mutual between the two.
Nephthys went, as if oblivious to her student's thoughts.
"As for Khalid, he simply says that he has yet to meet someone 'qualified enough' to be his student. He has almost the whole class of the magicians in training and he says they aren't good enough. I understand that the Millennium Rod is a difficult Item, but it's getting ridiculous."
Kisara let Nephthys catch her breath, leaving the room silent for a few moments.
Nephthys looked up after that, some amusement in her face.
"What? No more questions?"
Kisara sighed, her hands up at the question.
"Only, what exactly is Ka? And why one earth do you want to pull it out of a person?"
Nephthys got up at that.
"Well, I suppose it's time for a little field trip."
Kisara looked surprised at that.
"Field trip?"
Kisara followed Lady Nephthys more closely than before. Although Kisara had been eager to see more of the palace than she was used to, she was struck by the enormity of it all. She had to follow her mentor to make sure she wouldn't get lost or lose sight of Nephthys.
Still, she kept walking as Nephthys had taught her to, with grace like a lady and not seeming like she was rushing somewhere.
The two of them had passed by other people and servants, none of whom Kisara had ever seen before. With some shyness, she tried to stay as close to Nephthys as possible. However, it seemed as if everyone else tended to be staring at her rather than Nephthys.
I guess Nephthys was right about me being the center of gossip.
Finally, the trek through the labyrinths of the palace led the two outside to where seven big buildings stood, each surrounded by four towering obelisks. Kisara followed her mentor into one of the shrines, not at all minding the heat of the day. But as soon as they were safely inside, she felt her jaw drop at what she was seeing.
The inside was covered with pictures of what seemed to be monsters. All over the wall, none of the picture creatures looked alike. It was all illuminated by the lights of torches inside, similar to all the rooms of the palace when the sun had set.
Yet, it felt nothing like the other rooms of the palace. For some reason, Kisara could FEEL power from here. As if those pictures weren't so harmless.
Nephthys gestured to all the pictures.
"This is my shrine and these are the Ka that have been trapped within."
Kisara was impressed as she felt a sudden enlightenment take hold of her.
"When you said, 'Tear out a Ka'…."
Nephthys nodded, getting closer to one of the pictures.
"Indeed. A Ka is literally a spirit that comes from a person's heart and are often empowered by a person's evil intentions. Whenever a criminal is brought before us, their Ka is often taken and sealed in a stone tablet."
Kisara felt herself pale at the thought of her dragon being sealed ins tone. She may only have a vague understanding of her Ka, but she knew that it would not have liked to been restrained. That and according to Master Rashidi, she would have been dead.
"But, why? I mean, it doesn't make sense to just seal a Ka in stone."
Nephthys turned back to her student, raising her arm to the attention of a strange golden bracelet on it.
"That's where this comes in. You see Kisara, normally a person can only summon their own Ka through intensive magic training. The connection you have to your Ka is rather rare, even more so considering you have no magic in the first place. But when a Ka is sealed in a shrine, the shrine's owner can use this to call out the monster."
The golden thing responded to that, folding into what appeared to be a golden wing to Kisara. There were three open spots on a specific 'feather' and on the bracelet part was a smilar open space that seemed to be lit up.
"This is a DiaDhank. Thanks to this, I can summon a creature from this shrine. I don't need it to summon my own Ka, but it will show up in one of these spaces regardless. This spot lit up is my Ba level. If it runs out, my life force is depleted and I'll die. So one always has to be careful in summoning."
Kisara just nodded in awe.
"I wish I could see that."
Nephthys smiled in some amusement at that.
"Would you then? I think that can be arranged."
Kisara lit up at that.
"As it turns out, I think it's around time for the magicians in training to be practicing that around now. We better hurry."
With that, Nephthys turned around and began to walk out of the shrine. Though Kisara still felt a need to linger in this strange shrine, she felt duty bound to follow her master along with satisfying her own curiosity.
As they were walking again, Kisara strove to catch up and keep cool as she noticed that Nephthys was taking her through places that had a lot more people and therefore had a lot more people staring at her.
Just keep your cool, Kisara. The best thing you can do is make people think it doesn't bother you. If I do become a princess, this is what every day is going to be like for me.
Finally, Kisara took a breath in as mentor and pupil reached an open courtyard. Noticing two figures standing at opposing ends, Kisara stopped and wanted to study it more closely.
Nephthys had also stopped with her student, but she also smiled as she noticed some certain people crossing over to greet her.
"Rashidi, I didn't know you were supervising today's class."
The Master of the Ring simply dipped his head in acknowledgement, a small smile. Aknadin was by his side, as calm as he could be.
"Well, it was only fair that I share my wisdom with our new magicians while Akil was out visiting his brother."
Nephthys' warmth seemed to melt as she addressed the one eyed priest.
"Aknadin."
The priest didn't seem to take any offense as he spoke in an identical tone.
"Nephthys."
Kisara had turned her attention to the Guardians when they began to speak and was spotted by Rashidi, who looked only too glad to have something else to focus the attention on.
"I see you brought your new pupil. Here to watch?"
Kisara felt herself redden in shyness and bowed her head with a smile.
"Yes sir. Lady Nephthy was explaining to me about Ka and thought I would enjoy the demonstration."
Aknadin fixed his eye on Kisara, scorn evident in it.
"Well, at least she knows decorum."
Kisara gulped softly as Nephthys returned to glaring at the priest. For some reason, it seemed as if the Millennium Eye wielder had decided to dislike her just as much as he disliked Nephthys.
Why did I think he was familiar again?
At that thought, Aknadin's expression to change to intense concentration. Kisara felt like backing up even more, suddenly remembering what Nephthys had said about the Eye's powers.
Please tell me he didn't just read my mind.
But before Aknadin's look could become even more scrutinized, the noise had become more pronounced and Kisara looked past it to see the two people stepping up at the courtyard.
One was probably a magician in training. He looked taller than her, his skin seemed bronze and eyes dark brown. His head was shaved bald aside from a lock of hair braided off to one side. His wrists were studded with gold bracelets and he had the white robes of everyone else.
The other person made Kisara's eyes widened as she had definitely seen him before.
There was Mahad who looked as stern and serious as when she last saw him.
Both of them seemed to be going into deep concentration, each of them surrounded by a shining aura. Mahad's was purplish while the other was a bluish green.
Rashidi clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
"Alright, now when you're ready I want the two of you to summon your Kas and duel. Now start!"
The two nodded, the unnamed magician smirking at Mahad.
"Ready to get a taste of what real magic is like, Mahad?"
Mahad didn't break his cool.
"We'll see about that."
The responded in unison as their glows, glowing even brighter.
"DIAHA!"
The magician with the braid crossed his arms to his chest.
"Come out, Deepsea Warrior!"
At that, the light took on the shape of a human like character with blue and a visor with green scale like armor. He carried a trident like item.
Mahad reached out his hand to the sky.
"Now, Illusion Magician!"
The purple light flashed, to create a purple little magician with a little staff. It seemed almost kiddish compared to his opponent.
And sure enough, some of the surrounding watchers were laughing.
"Honesty, that's the best he can do?"
"It's kind of embarrassing to think that's the future master of the Millennium Ring!"
However, it seemed as if the current master had heard them as Rashidi has turned to glare at the two young men.
Kisara just considered the words.
I suppose it doesn't look that strong.
But the moment she really fixed her eyes on the Illusion Magician, something just seemed to pulse at it. Her blue eyes widened as her hands were clenching, suddenly aware of seriousness on Mahad's face.
There was something more. Something powerful.
What the….?
Mahad directed his tiny spellcaster and pointed to the Deepsea Warrior.
"Now, cast Spell Binding Circle to bind it!"
Just as The tiny magician's staff glowed and cast the glyph that sailed toward the aquatic warrior, the other magician smirked and his hands were uncrossed to his sides and open.
"I don't think so! Negate Effect!"
His hands glowed red as the glyph disappeared and one hand pointed to the tiny little Ka.
"Now my Warrior, crush that pathetic excuse of a Ka!"
It seemed like the monster was very willing to oblige to his master's commands as he slashed his trident at the little spellcaster causing it to disappear and Mahad to clutch his chest in pain and drop to his knees, panting like anything.
The monster stood back with his summoner who seemed pretty smug.
"You were saying Mister 'I'm Too Pathetic To Even Be a Magician'?"
Mahad was still panting and could only glare.
The guy just 'hmphed' as his monster disappeared in flash of bluish green light and he turned his back to Mahad.
"Figures. A dog that can't even bark back."
Rashidi groaned.
"Excuse me while I deal with Bari. AGAIN."
As Rashidi left, Nephthys turned back to her student(completely ignoring Aknadin) to find a deep look of concentration on the pale girl's face.
"What's wrong Kisara?"
Kisara didn't respond.
Why did he hold back?
As if hearing her silent question, Mahad stopped panting and looked up to the crowd. Soon dark navy met bright blue in a locked gaze.
Immediately, Kisara felt her heart beat and her eyes went out of focus.
The white lightning of her dragon as it roared…
A taller dark purple magician, almost human, directing his staff's attack at the dragon….
A lightning storm unlike anything she had ever seen….The ultimate clash of light and dark…..
"KISARA!"
The vision faded and she took a deep breath and found Nephthys looking at her concerned.
"Are you alright?"
Kisara just shrugged weakly, her eye contact with Mahad broken, not entirely certain of what she had just seen.
"Just tired, I guess."
Nephthys didn't seemed to buy that, but she nodded and took her pupil's hand and led her away.
"I suppose that's enough for today."
Kisara nodded weakly as she glanced one more time back at Mahad, who was looking at her with wide eyed disbelief, his breathing falling back to regular patterns.
Her eyes moved to the distance where Master Rashidi was having a talk with Bari, who wasn't so smug looking now.
Then her eyes found the Millennium Eye and Aknadin who seemed to be giving her a rather intense look before she turned around rapidly, resolutely determined to get as far away from here as possible.
Somehow, she got the impression that her life was going to get a lot more complicated than it already was.
V.E.: Finally, done! You have no idea how long it takes to write a chapter!
Why do Aknadin and Nephthys despise each other? I'll get to that later.
It seems like Kisara seems to understand that Mahad is more powerful than most people think.
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