Chapter One: Blood Sacrifice
The night was hot only cooled by the soft breeze rolling off the dessert making the evening more enjoyable for the people of Kul Elna. All the homes were lit even in the late hour. They were to welcome the man of the village home from their raids. The village of Kul Elna was hidden deep in the dessert, only those who lived there knew about the village's location. Kul Elna was home to Egypt's most notorious thieves.
In the house of the King of Thieves his young son could hardly sit still from excitement as his mother and two older sisters prepared dinner for his father and brothers. Bakura was only six still too young to go out with his father and the others. At the moment he was perched on one of the chairs around the table, his head resting on his arms and feet swinging back and forth. The creaking of the door opening alerting Bakura to his father's return, jumping off the chair he ran to the front of the house.
"Father!"
"Ah there's my boy!" Bakura's father lifted him into the air. "I have a surprise for you."
"Really?!" Bakura's eyes were wide with excitement.
"Yes, but first I let's say hi to your mother."
"Did you bring her a gift too?"
"Yes." Father smiled down at son.
"Mommy! Mommy! Daddy has a surprise for you!" Bakura ran to his mother in the kitchen, his father and two older brothers following behind.
"Welcome back." Bakura's mother smiled. Bakura buried his face in his mother's dress as she kissed her husband. "Alright boys go clean up. I will have dinner on the table when you get back.
Bakura followed his brothers out to the back as his sisters set the food out on the table. The family ate and laughed as the men shared thrilling stories of evading authorities, meeting beautiful women, though his father assured his mother that only their sons went looking, and then of course there was all the amazing treasure they had found.
"Dad what did you get mom?" Bakura asked once they had finished their meal.
Bakura's father left the room returning with three small pouches and a larger sack. He handed the first pouch to his wife. Opening the draw string Bakura's mother gasped in surprise. From the pouch she pulled out a gold and blue glass bead necklace adorned with nine small lapis stones.
"It's beautiful! You spoil me." She tilted her head up giving her husband a kiss.
"Thank you father!" both girls cheered. Each held a pair of hammed gold earrings.
"And for you my son; be careful." Bakura reached into the sack and removed a short sword more the length of a long dagger. His eyes light up with joy. "Now you are to only use that when myself or your brothers are teaching you. If your mother tells me otherwise I shall put it away till you are older. Understand?"
"Yes father." Bakura smiled at his new sword.
"Alright off to bed!" Bakura groaned, but his mother would hear none of his winning.
"Come on my little thief!" Bakura laughed as his father picking his up tossing his gently in the air before carrying him off to bead.
The siblings all shared a room. There were two large sleeping pallets, one for his sisters, and the one he shared with his brothers. Bakura fell asleep to the sound of his parent's laughter stirring only slightly when his siblings retired to bed.
One by one the light in the homes of Kul Elna went out. On the edge of the hills a man clocked in black hide in the shadows. He sat on his horse long after all the lights had disappeared. Eventually he was joined by another figure in black.
"Is everything in place?"
"Yes my lord. The four stones are in place. The priests and soldiers are in position."
"Very good tell them to begin."
In the dark of the night a low hum drift on the wind as the priests of Ra began to chant softly. The stones placed at the four corners of the village began to glow softly increasing in brightness as the priest's chanting grew louder. One by one each stone caught fire. When the last stone was alight with fire the small blazes rushed through the sleeping village catching homes on fire.
Screams filled the village as villagers rushed from the houses that had caught fire. Other rushed from their beds swords in hand. As the villagers struggles to put the fires out soldiers descended from the hills. Those with swords met the soldiers' blows, but there were too many. More and more soldiers continued to came down from the hills dragging men, women, and children from their homes; no one was spared.
Bakura had been woken by the screams. Scared he followed his brothers and sisters to the front of the house, all were armed with swords and daggers. Their father yelled for his mother, sisters, and him to return inside and bar the door. Bakura caught a glimpse of the soldiers before his mother pulled him inside. His mother acted quickly calling for his sisters to help her place a large wood plank across the door. Bakura's mother gave him the short sword. "I don't want you to fight." His mother said firmly. "If they come in you hide. Only use this if you need too."
She kissed Bakura's head and then each of his sister's foreheads. The screams grew louder, the smoke from the fire was suffocating as more and more came through the cracks around the doors and windows. Banging on the door followed by shouting let the family know the soldiers had discovered them.
"Open this door!"
"I want you children to know that I love you. I wish I could have protected you from this. I need you to be strong." She looked to her daughters and son they all nodded, "Bakura get behind me. All of you move towards the back of the house. When they come through the door I don't want you to fight unless you have no choice. Run out through the back window."
The door began to bend and crack as the soldiers slammed their bodies into the wood over and over. Bakura was trembling from head to toe. He looked between his sisters and mother, they looked so strong, and he needed to be strong too. Bakura stood firmly holding his sword with two hands out in front on him just like his mother was.
The door broke, Bakura's sisters screamed as the first soldier came through the door followed by a second.
"GO! NOW!" Their mother screamed meeting the first soldier in a clash of swords.
They ran to the back. His oldest sister climbed through the window first. As the second made to hand Bakura through the window a soldier grabbed his older sister. The second went to help only to be pulled through the window by her hair.
"RUN!" She shouted to Bakura. He ran from the room back to where his mother was.
He stopped in horror the soldier had his mother in his arms her back pressed against his front and his sword to her throat. "I think the King of Thieves should watch you be sent to the gods before he follows!" The soldier laughed dragging her out the door.
Scared and knowing he could not go outside Bakura hide himself. The flames threw horrible shadows against the wall as he listened to the screams and cries from the outside. The heat from the blazes grew, he was sure the house was on fire and that he too would die. The heat and smoke become too much for Bakura, slowly his sight faded until all he knew was darkness.
The man stayed on his horse in the shadows. The screaming, fighting, blood, and fire having no effect on him. The chanting of the priest could be faintly heard over the noise bellow. As their chanting reached its peak the fire flashed as bright as a lighting strike before racing back into the stones. Once all villagers were dead the soldiers returned to the outskirts of the village.
A hush fell on the village followed by a haunting sound of moaning. One by one the souls left the bodies of the dead villagers and handful of dead soldiers. The souls cried as they were denied rest in the underworld and forced to enter the stone nearest to their former body. As the last souls entered the stones the high priests carefully wrapped the stones in leather pouches. The priests, soldiers, and the hooded man disappeared into the darkness of the desert leaving the village of Kul Elna to smolder.
Far across the desert, in the temple of Isis, a priestess was awoken by the screams of a young girl. She flew down the hall towards the girl's room. Flinging the doors open the priestess found the small girl rocking back and forth on the bed her head buried in her kneels.
"My dear what is wrong?" Rushing to the bed she gathered the young girl in her arms. Stroking her hair and back in attempts to calm her.
"They are burning?" The girl clung to her night dress gasping for breath in between sobs.
"Who is burning Isis?" Other priestess had gathered around the door awaken by the commotion.
"I don't know!" Isis cried out, "But they are burning them and taking their souls!"
"High Priestess we must offer prayers." The High Priestess nodded rocking Isis in her arms. For the young girl to be so overcome by emotion the goddess must have shown her a terrible vision. The High Priestess shuddered to think what evil could have taken place.
A/N: Hello to all! Years ago I started writing a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction on this site before the end of the original series was released. I had never read the manga and was just having fun with my idea of how the story might go. While as tends to happen life got in the way and I stopped writing until a couple of months ago when I decided to revisit my old story. My first thought was "This is horrible! Why did I allow myself to post such a horribly written story! Shame on me!" Then I remember that was one of my first attempts at writing. Of course it was not going to be the greatest. So now I am revamping it. My original story was called Shadows of the Past written under AlexiaBlack1 (go figure I forgot my password and the e-mail no longer exists). The story combined modern day events with past life flashbacks. There was too much going on and the story did not flow well. This time I am breaking the stories in two. First part set in ancient Egypt and the second will take place in current time.
Please let me know what you think of my story. Questions are always welcome. I will answer as many as I can to the extent of not giving too much away. Thank you for reading! While you are waiting for the next chapter check out my other story The Heart of Hook!