Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it again?
A/N: This took a little longer than I expected to get up on the site. Fact is I kind of kept forgetting to update it ;. So, here it is now, chapter two!
Chapter 2: The Ka Monster
"...You're being ridiculous, Akunadin." Akunamukanon said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. His younger brother was really beginning to give him a headache. He'd grown awful argumentative since Atemu had been born. Not that Akunamukanon didn't know why; Akunadin had been the heir to the thrown before Atemu. Of course, that didn't give him the right to blame all of the world's problems on him.
"But my liege, so far he fulfills every part of the prophecy. What if he is the child the prophecy speaks of, then someday he could be a real threat."
"Just because Atemu may inherit incredible power someday, it doesn't mean he'll do evil things with it. He could just as easily use his power to save the world. There's no way to know for sure, but that doesn't give us any reason to fear him. Or kill him for that matter."
"But my lord. Please-"
"You are dismissed, Akunadin." Akunadin bowed slightly, although Akunamukanon could tell he meant no respect to him, and turned to leave, muttering and grumbling under his breath.
Simon stomped down the hall once again, starting to get irritated that he was getting so used to this routine. It was time for another of Atemu's lesson, and once again he'd gone AWOL. This time, Simon told himself, he was going to put a stop to it. This really was the last time he was going to put up with searching for the little gremlin. Suddenly he found himself on the ground next to Mahaado, who was rubbing his head. 'Guess I should be paying a little more attention to where I'm going.' He thought to himself.
"Sorry, Simon." Mahaado said, getting up and brushing himself off.
"No, no it's fine. But have you seen the prince anywhere?" Simon said, slowly getting up himself.
"Well, if I did that would defeat the purpose." Mahaado laughed, "He asked me to play hide and seek with him. I'm it."
"Did you check for him in the pots?" Simon laughed; he couldn't see how finding Atemu could ever really be a challenge.
"Heh. He would never hide in them, it's so obvious anyone could find him." That comment managed to wipe the smile off Simon's face, "He's actually really good at hiding. Probably because he's so small he could fit almost anywhere." With that, Mahaado walked off, and Simon had been so distracted he'd forgotten to tell him that Atemu was supposed to be in his lessons. He let out a sigh, the prince would turn up eventually, and then he was going to give him a piece of his mind. He hoped.
Atemu was sitting in the palace courtyard. He was playing with a new toy his father had given to him. He'd found it in his chamber, and his father had told him he could keep it. He fingered one of the golden pieces in his hand, and then placed it back in the box. It was a puzzle, a very difficult puzzle for that matter, and he was having very little luck with it. He decided to try another time, and put the lid back on the box just as Mahaado entered the courtyard.
"Where have you been? You're the one who wanted to play hide and seek." Mahaado stated, he obviously had still been looking for him; Atemu had thought he'd given up.
"You were taking too long, so I just stopped."
"Where were you hiding, anyway?"
"In one of the pots." Atemu replied, smiling smugly. He was proud to have been able to outsmart a "big kid."
Mahaado grunted. Simon had actually been right. He was never going to be able to live that one down. "Oh yeah. Atemu, I think Simon was looking for you."
"Oops. I was supposed to be having a lesson today. I forgot." Atemu got up and for the door, running smack into Simon. Simon grunted and lifted himself off the floor for the second time that day. He realized it had been the prince who'd knocked him over, and opened his mouth to comment on his tardiness, but was cut off."
"I'm really sorry I didn't mean to be late for my lesson today but I was playing hide and seek and I forgot!" Atemu hung his head down. He really did feel bad for Simon because he always caused so much trouble by hiding. He was finally going to be good today and he'd messed up. Now, he figured, Simon was going to be really mad. His eyes started to brim with tears. Simon got one look at the prince's upset face and he melted. Once again, he had failed to put the young prince in his place. But, he had said he'd meant to be on time for the lesson.
Atemu's lesson consisted mainly of practicing the summoning of monsters. He was getting it down pretty well, he'd managed to summon a winged dragon, guardian of the fortress, which Simon had told him was a lot for someone his age. Simon was quite impressed with his success. Atemu, however, was not satisfied.
"Simon, when am I going to learn how to summon my ka monster?" He asked.
"That, my prince, is something I cannot teach you. That will happen naturally, when the time is right. You're still much too young, I doubt your ka monster is ready to show itself yet."
Atemu frowned. He was a whole five years old, how could Simon say he wasn't old enough? 'Well, if he won't teach me how, then I'll just find a way to do it without his help.' Atemu concluded to himself.
Dinner that night went the same as always. Akunamukanon sat at the head of the table with Atemu next to him. Atemu couldn't sit next to Seto or Mahaado, he never could, because he was higher than they were, and it just wasn't their place sitting next to him. He was always greatly annoyed by that.
Akunadin, who was sitting on Atemu's other side, was seemingly in quite the bad mood. It wasn't unusual, Akunadin was a naturally grumpy person, but he was especially mad tonight. His conversation with the pharaoh that afternoon hadn't gone well at all, not that he'd expected it to. Of course, his brother had grown suspicious of him during the day. He'd made sure the prince's food was checked an extra time, not that Akunadin would ever try something as petty as poison. No, he had something much bigger planned for the prince, and for the other six millennium items.
Atemu went on eating his dinner peacefully, no idea what his uncle had in store for him. Akunadin knew his plan was absolutely fool proof; of course, being arrogant ran deep in his half of the family.
Akunamukanon sat at his desk that night, finishing some last minute business in the candlelight. He got little work done, however, because he was worried about what his brother had said to him. Did he really think Atemu was a threat? Or did he just use that story to try and get rid of him? But, what if Atemu really did become the danger Akunadin had claimed? He shook his head. How could he think that about his only son? He'd need to spend a little less time with his younger brother in the days to come, he concluded. And he'd need to make sure that Atemu did as well, Akunadin wasn't going to lay a finger on Atemu as long as Akunamukanon could help it. Of course, what Akunamukanon didn't know was that his brother had no intention of doing anything to Atemu himself.
The door flew open and two guards entered the room. Akunamukanon got to his feet on impulse. Knowing that the guards would very likely be forcing him to leave to a safer location. No one just entered the pharaoh's chamber like that unless it was an emergency.
"What's wrong?" He asked, a hint of demanding in his voice.
"We've reason to believe there are intruders in the palace, my lord, you need to leave, it's no longer safe here." One of the guards told him.
"That's impossible," the pharaoh retorted, "this palace is nearly impenetrable."
"If I may, my lord, they may have received help from someone inside the palace walls." The other said. Akunamukanon froze. He wouldn't? Would he? Akunamukanon wasn't really sure, but definitely didn't want to take the chance.
"Where's Atemu?" He demanded. The guards paused, and Akunamukanon knew exactly what was coming. "He's already gone, my lord." The pharaoh rushed for the door, but the guards stopped him. "It's not safe, my lord. You must come with us, we already have half our men searching for the prince, they will find him and bring him back to you soon."
Atemu let out a small whimper. He was scared. A man had come into his room that night and taken him to this strange house. He didn't know where he was, and he didn't like it. It was very dark, and the two men there, one of whom the one that had brought him to this place, were just as scary. He choked on a sob.
"Would you make that kid shut up already?" One of the men yelled. "All this whining is giving me a headache.
"You know the rules," Atemu's first capture replied, "We're not supposed to do anything to him until his rescuers come for him." His voice, Atemu notice, was much scarier than the other man's. Everything about him was scarier, his voice was very deep, and he seemed to boom when he talked. And he was giant, at least twice the size of Atemu's father, and much more muscular.
"Can't you at least give him some to shut him up? He hasn't stop crying since you brought him here."
"Well, I don't see why not. As long as we don't kill him, right?" The large man said; it seemed like there was a hint of amusement in his voice. This only managed to scare Atemu even more, and cause him to cry that much harder, much to the obvious annoyance of the other man. Suddenly, he felt the back of the large man's hand hit him across the face. He squealed in pain, but bit down hard on the man's arm as he pulled it away, and he yelled a strange word that Atemu had never heard before.
"Where's my daddy?" Atemu demanded. He decided that if he wanted to get out of here he had to act brave, like a pharaoh. Seto had said he could do it, after all.
"Oh don't worry," he answered, rubbing his arm, which was now bleeding, "Your father ought to be here real soon." The other man started to laugh.
Akunamukanon sat in one of the palace's hideaways with the two guards. He was getting rather impatient. What was taking them so long to find Atemu? His son's life was at stake here! Then, Simon entered, followed by another one of the guards, who was leading a man the pharaoh didn't recognize.
"We caught one of the intruders. He may know where the prince is." The third guard said.
"Yeah, I know where they took him, but why should I tell?" Akunamukanon sighed. Things like this ALWAYS went the same way. But that didn't matter now; all that mattered was getting back Atemu. So, he nodded to the guard who gave their prisoner a little "persuasion." As expected, he gave in fairly easily and told them where the prince had been taken. The pharaoh promptly left the room, obviously intent on getting his son back. The man snickered inaudibly; they had taken the bait.
The pharaoh, along with Simon and two of his other priests, headed for the location Atemu's captures had taken him to. No one really wanted the pharaoh to go, it was too dangerous, but he insisted, and the priests knew better than to argue with Akunamukanon when he was angry. Atemu sat, diligently trying to wriggle himself free of his ties, but to no accord. The scrawnier man laughed at his futile attempts to free himself, while the larger one wasn't too amused; he was rubbing his arm where Atemu had bitten him earlier, it was still bleeding.
They heard the front door slam open and the scrawny man went to greet their "visitor," composing himself before doing so. The smile returned to the larger mans face, a fact that Atemu didn't particularly like, and he grabbed a knife off of a nearby table. He wrapped his arm around Atemu's neck and lifted him up, but this time Atemu didn't dare bite him with the pending threat of the knife in his other hand. He walked out into the front room, chuckling at the look of horror of the pharaoh's face. Atemu was quivering in fear again, eyes clamped tightly shut. The man held his knife up to Atemu's throat. He laughed again; he really enjoyed watching the pharaoh squirm like he was.
"What do you want?" Akunamukanon demanded. He knew there was always some material reason for taking a hostage. Atemu realized that he recognized that voice. He opened his eyes to see his father and three of the priests.
"Daddy!" he yelled, but winced as the man tightened the grip around his neck.
"We don't want too much," the other man stated. He seemed to be the brains of the operation, whilst the one who had Atemu was the muscle, "just the seven millennium items, a small price to pay for the life of your only son, don't you think?" Akunamukanon knew he was being sarcastic. The millennium items were his court's source of power. Atemu's life, however, was a million times more important to him. Simon knew what the pharaoh was thinking, and seriously hoped he would use his head, and not be blinded by the worry he saw building up in his king. It was true that they must save Atemu, but just handing over the millennium items to these thugs wasn't the way to do it. Did they want the power of the items? Or did they want to sell them and make a quick profit? Either way they could end up in the wrong hands, which would be catastrophic.
The pharaoh looked at Atemu; he was sobbing now. He saw a trickle of blood run down his son's neck. "Come now. We don't have all day, are you willing to sacrifice a little gold to save your son or not?" The large man pushed his knife a little deeper still into Atemu's throat, and Akunamukanon was about to agree; afraid he didn't have time to save his son any other way, when the room was filled with a blinding light emanating from Atemu's body.
The light faded, and a seventh figure now occupied the room. This one, however, was not a human. It was a shadow monster, Atemu's ka monster. He looked fairly human; he had the build of a teenager, which is quite old for the reflection of a five-year-old's soul. His ebony hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, his sharp, crimson eyes shone menacingly, glaring at the man who dared to hurt his master. He wore the garb of a warrior, and in his sheath was the hilt of a sword. When he unsheathed it a blade of fiery black energy was formed. He lunged at the large man, stabbing him in the neck, doing to him what he had tried to do to Atemu. He quickly did the same to the other man, not hesitating once as he shot his blade right through his stomach. Once the threat was taken care of he turned to Atemu. Atemu felt like he should be scared, but he wasn't. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that it was all right, that he was safe now. He looked closer and realized that the creature that had looked at those men with such horrible malice was smiling at him.
The pharaoh and his priests merely watched in awe as his son's ka monster obliterated two men in a matter of seconds. And then they just stood there, staring at each other. Atemu seemed confused; did he not know that this creature was his ka monster? It was possible; he'd never summoned it before. How on Earth he'd managed to summon this soon eluded them all. Then, almost as quickly as it had shown up, the monster disappeared, at the same time Atemu seemed to become dizzy; he swayed a little, then passed out onto the floor. Akunamukanon scooped him up into his arms, examining his neck where the blade had cut into him. It was still bleeding; they'd need to get him home to one of the healers quickly.
"He must have passed out from the strain of sustaining his ka monster for so long. Though I still can't believe he managed to do so in the first place." Simon said, as they turned to leave.
"Yes, well we'll worry about that later. For now, let's just get him back to the palace and into bed." Akunamukanon said.
Well, there it is! Hope you enjoyed, please R&R!