Thanks to:
tavia454, redconvoy, Anonymous, Eliyora, yugixyamiyaoilover, Oustiti, AngelofDeath vs. EmmaAi, Shamise, ONIX-21, Mei, tHe hiTsuGaYa oBseSsioN 12-20, Taichi548, Protector Of The Nameless, Dark's Mistress!
I only expected 3 reviews or so tho :O Also I recognize some of you as readers from the DN Angel fandom :]thanks for your support.
Just to answer some questions lightly, the ritual in the prologue is actually a real ritual perfomed by Gydje's back in the days (Nordic Mythology), a Gydje was sort of like a sorceress, yet a priestess serving some god, and they were often paid to "spin" a person's destiny aka. "thread of life" stronger, by tying them to another person, usually the priestess' servant or helper (chosen people with a strong life-force to fend off the soul they are linked with to protect). This also means of course that two people whose souls has been spun together are sort of destined to meet again until one of them dies. Also the servant that travels around in the underworld alone, always needs a person to have their back and keep in contact with their mind when they leave their physical form. The other person must play the drums to guide them and lead them safely back to the realm of the living. If they lose their link to the living realm, their souls will be trapped amongst the dead forever, and their bodies, well, they are just lifeless dolls left behind in reality, living yet soulless.
Dont own. Dont sue.
Conceited
By: Feilan
Chapter one
- Child of Ra
-x-x-
- 5 years later -
High-priest Seth were always one to enjoy the quiet and peaceful moments in the palace. Even if those moments had been cut down to a few per day, especially after being transferred from the peaceful temple to the devil's quarters. Yelling and shouting had become daily procedure, and Seth had made sure to keep the hallways free of possessions that could break easily. His younger cousin, Atemu himself weren't really that noisy, actually you could barely hear him around at all, maybe because…
"Where is my son?" The old pharaoh demanded, as the council quivered in their seats. "Where's Atemu?!"
Seth sighed and looked down.
"Well, erh…we sent a servant to check up on him an hour ago, but..-" The guard was shaking slightly as the Pharaoh's gaze fell on him. Seth immediately covered his ears.
…Atemu was rarely where he was supposed to be.
"GONE!? It's the third time this week! Find him now!" The old pharaoh roared, not even trying to hold back on his anger. Yet again the young prince had managed to escape his duties. Eyeing the newest gift from a neighboring country, a beautiful golden urn, Seth decided that it was time to slowly back away.
He left the throne room and hastily rounded the corner and just in time too.
SMASH!
There was the Urn smashed on the frame and now covering the floor in thousands of little pieces.
"Hey you, slave!" Seth called, and pointed at a nearby slave girl. "Go clean up."
This was going to be another hectic day how could it be anything else when it was Prince Atemu's eighteenth birthday? But how much of a birthday would it be if the birthday boy were gone? If it were like last year then he would have to spend the whole evening at the party, apologizing and excusing their future pharaoh's absence to scarcely fifteen hundred guests. Yes, and that was just a small gathering.
During these past years he had watched as his dear cousin Atemu as he went from being sickly to extremely can-not-stay-still lively. It had all started with that damned healer, Kiyoshi. Seth very well remembered the price for strengthening a person's soul, and he often wondered, whatever happened to the child that had been so unfortunate as to get his life tied to his bastard cousin. He was probably kept somewhere safe, and maybe he was just as oblivious to the bond as Atemu.
After awakening five years ago, Atemu had been full of energy, though still reckless, like any normal kid. That was, up until a few months ago.
The prince had started to collapse during Mahado's lessons in controlling the shadows. And now the damned brat was off to Ra knows where, doing nothing…and it was up to Seth to find him and drag his ass back home before the pharaoh would behead another chamber slave for not hindering his son's escape.
-x-x-
Drums.
Drums were beating in the distance.
He willed his mind to empty itself of all coherent thoughts in order to fixate on the sound of beating drums; he knew that the moment the beating would stop was the moment he would lose. And getting lost in this center of darkness would be the end of him.
The stairs were endless but as he calmed his raging heart he could start to hear the drumming getting louder. He stopped to feel the rough stonewall. No. Wait. It wasn't a wall.
It was dirt.
He took a deep breath before using his fingers to dig whatever lay hidden on the layers of dust and dirt, free. His fingers brushed a cool surface. It was this door.
The handle felt cool under his fingertips, almost begging him to open it, to look inside, to give into curiosity The rhythm increased now in perfect synch, with that of his own nervously beating heart.
His insides burned as the door creaked open.
Unable to escape his feet moved on their own accord, entering the darkness, he finally collapsed to his knees defenseless against the pressure, and the burning spread, from the pit of his stomach to the very tips of his fingers, toes, and even his nails piercing frantically into the hard maple floor.
Eyes red as blood widened, watching the intruder, who had lightened up his soul room, shocked to find a mere boy breaking into the confines of his soul.
"Who are you?" The voice was gentle, almost child-like.
Yugi froze, never noticing the now fading rhythm of drums, suppressing further by each passing second.
In front of him was the prince, standing tall and proud in all his tanned glory, with hair of three different colours matching Yugi's own. The boy, or man was watching him curiously. The Prince's ruby eyes seemed dim in the faint light, yet he couldn't help but tense under the intense observation.
"Who are you?" The prince demanded again, the tone a little harder than before.
"Y-yugi…" Tears came to his eyes.
Wanting to cry out, Yugi felt a force come crashing at him like waves, consuming him, wrapping him in a blanket of cold darkness. His, up until now, furiously beating heart was slowing down.
The despair was suffocating thick, and for the moment left him almost unable to breathe as shadows wrapped around the opposing boy. He didn't fight, no he couldn't fight, he was unbalanced and unable to fight the darker half by himself.
The thirteen-year-old prince smiled gently. "You shouldn't have come."
Too late Yugi noticed that it was gone.
The drums had stopped.
Blood-red eyes sharpened and the gentle smile vanished as a sadistic smirk covered his look-a-like's boyish features, and then...he was there, in front of Yugi as if he had always been just there, right next to him.
Tan fingers stroked his cheek softly.
"Well you're mine now… Yugi."
Yugi bolted awake in a flash, body aching painfully. Upon sitting up in his bed, his eyes instantly darted around the room, trying to make out where he was. Finally realizing he was still his own room; he forced his heart rate to slow down.
His cheeks had taken on a bright pink flush, where he a moment ago had felt his nightmare's gentle touch. He pinched his arm to make sure he weren't still dreaming and sighed when the pain shot forth and he could see the red marks where his nails had dug in.
"Yugi!"
Throwing his blanket aside, he went to the door, not surprised to see Jounoichi grinning widely at him.
"Oh, my Holy one, how are you doing today? Got some time for your friends?" The blonde asked sarcastically.
The 'holy one' chuckled as he tried to put on a pout before shooting back at his blonde friend "You know I hate it when you call me that. Did master send you?"
"Well yes, You sorta overslept again, you know how angry the old man gets when you don't meet at the temple on time." Yugi's eyes widened. "Its almost noon. Did you have a rough night or something-? Erh, Yug?"
During the few seconds it took for Jounoichi to finish Yugi had already rushed to wash room and poured a basin of ice cold water over his head.
"Not good, Not good, Not good!" Yugi mumbled in a trance as he hurriedly dried his face off and pulled on the clean white garments. "He'll lecture me for a week about this! I just know it!"
"Calm down, Im sure its not that bad. Besides he's probably stressed out since it's the prince's birthday and all-"
"Bye! See you at the temple!" Yugi called, being in too much of a hurry to hear his friend.
-x-x-
"Rule number one; never use your powers for your own profit." The elder educated the younger boy. "My child, never forget that you've been chosen by the gods …"
"…as their equal. It is my task to serve the gods, in order to help the pharaoh lead the people towards a future of peace. I already know all that, master Kiyoshi." The adolescent clarified.
Kiyoshi chuckled softly. "I see you remember well, young one."
"I doubt this was the reason you called upon me, master Kiyoshi." The youth said, fiddling with the edges of the soft white sleeves. The elder healer watched his apprentice.
"You are right in that assumption, child of light."
"I'm sixteen, I'm not a child any longer."
"Not according to the laws of Egypt, but here, you are the youngest and only chosen we've seen in a long time. The gods must love you dearly, Yugi. For giving one as young as you, this opportunity."
"What opportunity?" Yugi blinked mystified as to what his master was talking about. "If the gods truly loved me, they wouldn't give me anything too difficult."
"There you a quite wrong. The gods gave you the powers equal to their own because they trust in you to be able to handle them. Don't disappoint, young one. I know you can do this…only you, Yugi…"
Yugi sighed and pushed himself out of his chair. "Well, if it can't wait for tomorrow…"
"It can't."
Rolling his eyes he turned to his master. "What is it this time?"
"I want you to accompany me to the palace tonight."
Looking baffled, Yugi allowed himself a. "Why?"
He had no recollection of the palace from back then, it was as if he'd never been there. But he had. He had been there once in his life but that was so long ago that he couldn't really recall the incident all that well, to put it simple he didn't remember what actually happened only that by some miracle he had escaped the underworld in one piece.
"You remember the sick boy? The prince?" Kiyoshi inquired, to test just how much Yugi could remember.
"Y-yes… " Still feeling uncomfortable talking about that. How could he forget something like this after he had suffered various nightmares about just that during the years after? And to top it all, it wasn't his nightmares. It was someone else's. They had slowly become less and less as the years went by.
"Its his birthday. Also I've been asked to check up on him, our pharaoh has requested your presence at the ball as well. He never really got to thank properly. It is your chance Yugi."
Kiyoshi was right. This was his chance, he wanted to help didn't he? So what was he so afraid of? Surely he wouldn't have to do that again.
Edited - 28th of September, 2013.