Chapter 6: Secrets
"Black magic is all about sacrifice, Mana." Mahad explained to his young apprentice. The two were seated in a very small room near the center of Mahad's palace, consisting of only light brown walls and two short stools in the middle of the room. Each was seated on one of them, legs crossed, Mahad in his traditional priest robes and Mana had swapped her modified sack out for a silk dress. "A different kind of sacrifice."
"What do you mean, Master Mahad?" Mana asked, her focus entirely on his words.
"Seeing the future and seeing into the minds of others is a skill that requires faith. A lifetime of service to the gods, properly rendered rituals...those who truly dedicate their lives to the art become good at it. It's a sacrifice of time." Mahad explained. "Black magic is a destructive and violent art, and feeds on life energy. Using it is exhausting, so there will be a very low cap on the sort of things you're capable of early on."
She nodded.
"However, it won't be long before you're able to do enough for the Pharaoh's purposes." Mahad continued.
"And how much is that?" She inquired.
"We don't know yet. One thing you should understand is that black magic is not simply explosions, even if it might initially seem like it. Once you truly start to understand it, you'll be capable of so much more. Black magic is about the manipulation of everything around you. Yes, early on, you won't be capable of delicate manipulation and your powers will be limited to the most chaotic and uncontrolled. Eventually you'll be able to focus it a little more, and ultimately it will go beyond simple destruction. You'll be able to control the weather, unite the minds of millions of soldiers toward a singular goal, and everything else." Mahad stood up. "Now of course, I can not perform the arts, nor can any known person in the world outside of this mystery thief, so I can only teach you theory. But it should be enough."
Mana stood up along with him as he moved to leave the room out of the singular exit door. "I swear that you have my full attention, now and foever, in learning this skill Master Mahad."
"Good." He said, opening the simple brown door, opening out into a hallway of tapestries. "Now, the first thing to understand about performing black magic, is that simple concept of manipulating nature with life energy."
""""
"Honey I was tested three times." Teana insisted, standing in front of her husband, who was seated on the throne. Their two children, Ammon and Asenath, were standing on either side of her. "The Emmer and Barley test, the blood vessel test, I've drank potions...there aren't any tests left!"
Atemu smiled, standing up from the throne, running his left hand's fingers through his hair. "So there's no doubt?"
She nodded, holding a small slip of parchment out towards her husband. "All the doctors agree." She then unfurled it and displayed it toward the Pharaoh, tiny scribbled writing present on it. "Besides, I have the same stomach pains in the morning and rice pudding cravings I did the first two times."
Atemu walked up to her and bent down slightly, putting his right palm on her stomach and looking at it. "How far along?"
"Three months or so." She responded. "They...they don't yet know the gender, but they're conducting more tests."
"C'mere." Atemu said, looking at his two born children, who stepped forward to look at their mother's stomach. "Right in here...right here, you're gonna have a new brother or sister in six months, and he's right in here."
"Or she." Teana added.
"Of course." Atemu admitted. He then wrapped his right arm around Ammon's shoulder and pulled him close. "Watch out, you might have competition for the throne right here."
"Atemu!" Teana frowned. "Don't set them against each other six months before one's even born!"
Ammon shrugged, putting his hand up on his mother's stomach. Atemu stood up, coming up eight inches higher than his queen. "You seem a little down. Remember how excited you were about Ammon and Asenath? You alright?"
She cast her eyes down and to the right, at the floor behind Atemu. "I'm...just tired. My stomach always hurts, I don't sleep well."
He nodded. "I understand." He leaned forward to hug his wife, who returned the action half-heartedly. "This is wonderful news, darling. I love you. I promise that, before this child is born, this thief will be dead and Egypt will be back to gutting all of the surrounding countires."
"D-don't promise that." She mumbled, grabbing Atemu's arms and pushing them off her, turning to walk away. "Don't promise that." She repeated, leading her children out of the throne room by lightly pushing on their backs.
"You should get back to bed." Atemu called at her back as she left the room. "You do look tired." Smiling, he sat back onto the throne, looking up at the ceiling.
""""
A giddy Pharaoh Atemu strolled down a hallway in High Priest Seto's palace, nodding to the many guards he passed in the golden path of elaborate painted carvings and dark brown doors. He smiled to himself slightly at their shock at the Pharaoh even acknowledging them at all as they dropped down to one knee.
A couple twists and turns later, he was at a massive golden set of double doors at the end of one of the winding halls, silver circular handles on both of them. He grabbed one, tugging it back, and the door cracked open soundlessly, swinging on it's hinge.
The room inside was similar to the first room in Atemu's bedroom, a massive golden chair near the back, a few simpler wooden ones in the middle, paintings and carvings along the walls and shelves of scrolls wherever there weren't any. Wasting no time, he crossed the blue cloth of the floor over to the carved wooden door on the left side.
His hand went up to the knob, but paused just before touching it as he heard a sensual female moan from inside. His brow furrowed. The sun was still hanging high in the sky, perhaps just past it's zenith and into the afternoon. High Priest Seto had been granted a harem, as had the other priests in Atemu's inner circle, but it was awful early to delve into such depravities. His ears perked up.
"Darling, it's so early, are you sure this-"
Seto cut the female voice off. "My duties today are done, nobody's going to come looking for me. They think I'm performing rituals in my meditation chamber."
Atemu pursed his lips. He didn't like this one bit.
The woman spoke again. "You're starting to become careless, sweetie. Remember how things were when you first brought me here months ago? You wouldn't even let me out of the bathroom until after sunset. Maybe we should-"
"You let me worry about that." Seto soothed. "Nothing bad is going to happen. And I need you now."
With that, Atemu grabbed the knob, twisted it, and forcefully pushed the door in, immediately swinging it to reveal the room.
A large bed with a purple blanket and red set of pillows was directly opposite the door against the wall, a black bench at the foot of it, the rest of the room was outside Atemu's focus at the moment. For on that bed was the unsettling sight of his High Priest, the esteemed Seto, sitting with his legs over the side edge of the bed, in a deep kiss with a woman on her knees on the bed with her back turned to Atemu. She had long blue-white hair, pale skin unnatural in Egyptian lands, and wore nothing but a burlap sack that had been roughly ripped into a dress over her slim body.
The door banged against the wall to the left of Atemu, drawing the attention of the two in the room. Seto's eyes flew open and he quickly parted his lips from the girl, who threw her head around to reveal her pretty pale face, strands of white hair falling all around it, eyes wide with fear. One look at the Pharaoh and she froze.
Atemu stared hard at the pair, not moving, placing his hands behind his back slowly. Seto had been so surprised he had even forgotten to stand in the Pharaoh's presence as expected of him.
"Well." Atemu began icily, slowly stepping into the room. "What do we have here?"
Seto rocketed up to his feet, standing at attention, even as the woman remained frozen to her spot kneeling on the bed. "I...I apologize, Sir Pharaoh. She...she's just a harem girl. I thought that I might...that I...I might-"
"A harem girl?" Atemu repeated, glaring at the girl, who immediately wilted under the gaze. Suddenly capable of movement, she shuffled her knees across the bed, away from the Pharaoh, partially hiding herself behind the High Priest.
"Yes, a-" Seto began, but silenced as soon as Atemu opened his mouth.
"You think you can hide behind the High Priest?" Atemu hissed, as Kisara continued to duck herself behind Seto. "You think he can protect you from me? You think anyone can protect you from me? Where's your respect, girl?"
Seto quickly tapped her shoulder with his right hand, and Kisara quickly slid off the bed onto the floor, kneeling down and sticking her forehead into the carpeted ground, head pointed towards the Pharaoh, entire body shaking.
"Do you know how long I was at the door, by any chance, High Priest Seto?" Atemu inquired, slowly walking towards the pair. "Do you have any idea how much of your conversation I heard?"
Seto swallowed, standing rooted to the spot in front of the girl. "...f-foreplay, my Pharaoh." He sputtered out.
"Foreplay?" Atemu said, smirking slightly. "I never had you pegged as a roleplayer."
Seto allowed no expression to cross his face, even as his brow began to glisten with sweat.
Atemu slowly stepped around his High Priest, looking down at the shaking girl. "You always dress your harem girls in burlap sacks, Seto? Or is that part of the foreplay?"
Suddenly, he reached down with his right hand and grabbed her tiny left wrist, pulling her up. She gasped at this, sitting up with her eyes still closed, breathing heavily. He looked her over quickly. "And I don't see any markings indicating harem membership."
"She...she's new." Seto said lamely, turning to look at his Pharaoh. "She hasn't been...been...been fully integrated yet, but-"
"Seto." Atemu said, letting her arm go, causing her to quickly fall back down to the ground. "Think really hard about this. Really hard. I am the Pharaoh, mightiest man in the world, descendant of the gods. You are the High Priest. My second-in-command. A man who has sworn to spend your entire life in dedicated service to the Pharaoh. Now, before you try lying to me again, I want you to spend a few seconds thinking about that."
He paused, leaving Seto to glance around his room, then look down at the girl.
"Now." Atemu cleared his throat. "Is this woman a harem girl?"
"No, Pharaoh Atemu." Seto said.
"Do you have any intention of putting her in your harem?" Atemu looked down at her again, still shaking timidly.
"No." Seto replied, swallowing hard as he said so.
"Are you hiding something from me regarding this girl?" Atemu continued his line of questions.
"...y-yes." Seto stammered out, his voice wavering.
"Out with it then." Atemu hissed, glaring deep into Seto's blue eyes. "And please, don't disappoint me."
Seto glanced down at the floor, swallowing hard again and clearing his throat. "P-Pharaoh, I...I...I am truly sorry." His hands dropped to his sides, hands balling into fists. "I...this girl...I saved her from the...the bathroom-I...I mean the fields. Four months ago...maybe five, I suppose more around four and a half, probably a-"
Atemu held his palm up towards Seto, silencing him immediately. "Stop wasting my time, High Priest."
Seto cleared his throat again, his face now shining with sweat and his hair starting to mat around his face. "I..." he took one glance over Atemu's left shoulder, eyes dilated. "I've...fallen...for her..." he croaked out, now afraid to meet Atemu's eyes.
Atemu stared blankly at Seto's forehead. He had assumed as much from what he heard from the door, but was hoping against hope that it might not be true and he had been taking it out of context. "Excuse me?" He breathed.
"We...we're in love..." he said, shamefully looking down at the ground as Atemu turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose and his eyes squeezed shut in frustration. "Mighty Pharaoh, I...I offer my deepest apologies, and I have no excuse for my actions." He spilled out frantically.
"No kidding." Atemu huffed. "You know, Seto, Egypt has some problems right now. We have problems." He stepped up right in front of Seto and pointed his right index finger into his face. "Real problems. The last thing I need right now, is my High Priest thinking with his cock."
Seto flinched at the use of profanity from the Pharaoh, but didn't dare bring it up.
"Did you think about that?" Atemu asked rhetorically, eyes wide and nostrils flared. "Did you take one second to think about that?"
Seto had nothing to say, and simply continued to look down at the ground in front of him.
"And how about my reign?" He growled, stepping away from Seto and glaring down at the girl. "In case you forgot, everything that happens in the kingdom of Egypt during my reign is put on me by the history scholars. Everything! Not the least of which the actions of my second-in-command and High Priest. How do you think the keepers of history will look on me, knowing that my High Priest had an affair with a gutter rat?"
Seto again held his tongue, his face starting to go red.
"I...I..." he again pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "I really don't know what to say. We'll talk about this more later." With that, he bent down, grabbed the girl's wrist, and began to drag her towards the room's door as she started to whimper.
"W-what are you doing?" Seto spit out inspite of himself, eyes widening at the sight of the girl being limply dragged away by the Pharaoh.
"You damn well know the punishment for having an affair with a High Priest." Atemu spat, feeling the girl's heartrate rocketing through the roof as he held her wrist. "I'm taking her to the executioner, she's to be beheaded immediately." He heard her give a sharp whimper as he said these words.
"N-no!" Seto spilled out, holding his hands out toward Atemu pleadingly. "Please, don't-"
"On what grounds?" Atemu asked, nostrils flaring again, looking his High Priest up and down. "Is that not her crime?"
Seto was starting to pant heavily, his chest rising and falling. "I...I'm asking for mercy-"
"What has this peasant brat ever done in her life to warrant a shred of mercy from a Pharaoh?" Atemu roared, gripping her wrist tight enough to draw a gasp of pain. "We have nothing to discuss."
He turned and started to leave the room, but the High Priest ran up behind him and stepped between him and the doorway.
"Pharaoh, please, I-"
"You're. In. My way." Atemu growled, nearly snarling at Seto.
"I..." Seto clasped his hands behind his back again and stood at attention. "I accept full responsiblity for this affair, and wish to take the full punishment for it."
Atemu scoffed. "What would you have me do? Behead you? Don't worry, you'll have your own penance to pay for this, now you're still in my way."
"Please, Pharaoh, she had no choice in the matter, I gave her none!" Seto insisted, on the verge of tears. "Do what you would with me, but please don't kill her! She committed no wrongdoing, I-"
"Are you going to start crying?" Atemu mocked, a fire still gleaming from his eyes. "Would you really stoop so low? Now, move out of my way, before I move you."
Seto took a deep breath, straightening himself up, then slowly shuffled to his left. "As always, your word is final in all matters within this kingdom, Pharaoh." Seto said softly, his voice strained. "Do what you will." He managed to squeak out.
Atemu looked his High Priest up and down, slowly, eyes still glaring daggers at him. Then he looked down at the girl he was dragging, head hanging low, white-blue hair hanging all around her head, still panting like mad. Slowly, he tilted his head back up, then grunted and threw the girl's wrist back down onto the ground, then took a few steps towards the door.
Seto's eyes widened in shock at this before he failed to cover up a smile. "Oh, Pharaoh, thank yo-"
"Shut up!" Atemu hissed, pointing his right index finger back into Seto's face. "This...has nothing to do with you. I'm simply too emotional right now to make a decision."
Seto stood back at attention, hiding his relief behind a stony mask without emotion once again.
"I'm going to be back in this room in one day. Exactly one day, at this exact time tomorrow. As will you, and your little squeeze." Atemu explained through gritted teeth. "I will ask questions, and get answers. If I don't like what I hear, I'll slice her open on the spot. If I don't get the absolute truth, I'll slice her open on the spot. I'll be calm and clear-minded, and I'll make the correct decision."
"Yes, Pharaoh." Seto said huskily, nodding.
"And you-" Atemu continued, nearly touching his nose now. "-you will be calm and clear-minded as well. You will remember your place, as my second-in-command and High Priest. When I am back in here, this time tomorrow, the thought of lying or hiding the truth from me will not even cross your mind. Do I make myself clear?"
"...yes, Pharaoh." Seto again nodded. "You have my word."
"Good." Atemu walked through the threshold of the doorway, grabbing the frame of the door as he did. "This changes nothing!" He pointed at the girl on the ground, still crumpled up haphazardly. "Make no mistake, you're on borrowed time!" With that, he slammed the door behind him, shaking a few paintings on the walls.
Seto immediately ran over to his love on the ground, curled up and crying on the floor, reaching down to pick her up. He lifted her up at the back and knees as tears streaked down her cheeks, trying to comfort the terrified girl, and carried her over to the bed.
