A God's Fight

Seth sat silently in his seat, his eyes scanning over the fight that was happening in the arena not too far below him. His blue eyes were focused onto the two figures, both barely dressed and fighting. While one had a short white kilt on, the front and back flaps falling to his knees, the other wore a longer one that was already at the knees and a darker shade of purple. Their chests were both covered by golden plates, held there by connecting strings to the back, appearing also to be made of gold. Each shield seemed to be made for the body that adorned it.

Both wore anklets of gold, though the male with the shorter skirt also had one golden band around his thigh. His forearms were covered with large pieces while snakes were on his upper arms in an intricate design. A simple necklace adorned the shorter male and the golden mask of Horus that hid the fighter's face, although everybody knew who he was.

"Come on!" Seth heard the familiar voice as the smaller figure jumped back, twirling the twin Sais he held. The three-ended weapons seemed to be made out of gold, for they matched the rest of the male's attire and reflected off Ra's light from the opening in the top of the arena.

The opposing fighter sighed softly and lowered his own Sais for just a moment. "We've been at this for hours," he replied, a hand rising to his armor-covered chest.

"You are holding up our audience, old man," came the cocky reply as the younger male tilted his head to the side. Seth could see the smirk behind the golden mask, could see the red of the mask's eyes as it reflected perfectly to who wore it.

"Now, now, Atemu," the man sighed and lifted the visor his own jackal mask. "I can't keep up with you anymore," he shook his head and took off the golden mask completely, holding it under one arm while both his Sais were in the other.

The young Pharaoh collected his own Sais in one hand and lifted his mask back to show his fare features. "But no one else will fight me," the young boy groaned slightly.

"Of course they will!"

"Not with their true skills! They'd think me too weak and afraid to hurt me!" the young boy narrowed his wine-red eyes at the older male – although only a few years Atemu's senior – that had been his friend and high priests since his father was Pharaoh.

The older male shook his head and turned to scan the small crowd that had gathered, not even ten people were among the stands. He noted Seth sitting there and a smile formed on the man's lips.

"I bet I know someone who will!" he grinned and Atemu followed his gaze to look up at his youngest high priest.

The priest just seemed to snap out of whatever daydream he was in, to see the two staring right at him as were the rest of the audience in the room.

The Pharaoh just glared at him and his tongue ran out to wet his lips right before they parted. His velvety voice had changed to somewhat cold but definitely commanding. "High Priest Seth, I challenge you to a fight," he called loudly.

The young man rose from his seat with unimagined grace and looked down at the two on the field then noting the audience, remembered his manners. "And I accept, my Pharaoh," the priest bowed his head and slipped down the staircase and into the ring.

"Let me go get your-" the elder started, but was stopped by Seth's lifted hand.

"No need," he replied calmly, his eyes never rising to the pair that should have belonged to his best friend, but now only belonged to a young ruler. The priest however was not dressed for the occasion, wearing his long robes and full covering of his body.

He didn't bother to remove anything, keeping his jewelry just as his opponent and just took the mask and placed it over his head, glad that it was just the right size. The two faced each other off, one wearing the Egyptian jackal's mask with a shorter snout, while the Pharaoh wore the mask of Horus with the wings stretching above his ears.

"It's perfect that you wear your son's mask,"[2 the Pharaoh muttered under his breath. Only the three on the field heard the words, but none of them spoke up.

The previous fighter held out his pair of Sais to the younger priest, but his hand was pushed away when the brunette walked to the wall. He looked up at the statue of one of Abunis' warriors and easily slipped the double-ended spear from the statue's grasp. He spun it over his head to find the center point, then lowered it and stared over the long, black surface of the spear. It was perfect… as every other weapon in the palace.

He moved back towards the Pharaoh and dropped the spear with one point down, the other going behind his shoulder while his arm outstretched atop it. His other hand was under his armpit to hold the end lightly, barely to graze the black surface ad his fingers felt the gold bands of the intricate weapon. "You never did use the Sais," the Pharaoh muttered darkly under the mask.

Both bowed before getting into a comfortable starting stance. The Pharaoh got into the famous stand with one hand outstretched the other bend above his head and his legs quite wide apart. His counterpart remained in a similar stance to before but his legs were wider and there was a line in front of him on the ground as he had drawn the point end of his spear to the opposite side of the body.

The attacks started then. Slashing downward and stabbing, the young Pharaoh kept his body in perfect balance with every attack, slashing and spinning with the blades to attack. However, the black spear successfully blocked each of his attacks.

It was when a kick was send under the spear, that the priest decided to take the offensive. He twisted his body to put it into a straight line, twisting the spear as well and causing both blades to slide down it's smooth sides before they pulled away. With the fluid motion, he was able to use the spear's hard shaft to block the kick from his Pharaoh.

The youth stumbled back, his shin hurting from the contact, but it didn't show as he started advancing once more. His body twisted in ways that only the female dancers knew how to achieve and men only dreamed of. His steps were as light as those of the dancers as he stepped carefully onto the marble ground, his sandaled feet never staying in one place for too long.

Hit after hit, they were all blocked, as the priest also took the liberty to counter a few of the attacks. An opening came in the Pharaoh's defense then, and the priest twisted the spear and pulled back, swiping above the youth's head and turning it to stab with the opposite end. It was an opening that would've killed any other male, but the agile Pharaoh twisted his body back, opening his palms before they touched the ground and twisting his body out to also kick out. One of his legs kicked at the spear to get it out of his way, while the other got caught in the priest's skirt and tugged on it. The youth's momentum was too strong though and the fabric gave out, ripping away from the golden belt and gently falling to the ground between the two.

Seth watched it with narrowed eyes and looked down at himself, wearing a kilt that matched his opponent's in length to reveal his muscular and tanned legs. He felt more comfortable, having more freedom in his steps and movements, but he also felt quite uncovered. Egyptians were known to wear little clothes and feel comfortable around others, but Seth was different from them in many ways. The first of them was obvious in his lighter hair – having seen the sun so much that it had strands of crimson red and gold within it – and bright blue eyes, the second: he didn't feel as comfortable as others to reveal so much of his legs. True, some should be forbidden to even cover their legs, like the Pharaoh himself, whose long legs were graceful and defined in every aspect.

The Pharaoh lifted his mask with the short edge of his Sai and a smirk was on his lips as his red eyes scanned over the other's body. "Haven't seen that in a while," he chuckled softly and winked at the other, pulling the golden mask of Horus before his eyes once more.

One of the Pharaoh's priests rushed out and into the courtyard where he saw the others seated. "Seth and the Pharaoh are fighting!" he called out, catching the attention of only his lover and the only female of the group.

"They're always fighting," the woman observed, her eyes focusing back onto the papyrus scroll she was reading.

"No, no. They are in a duel!" he exclaimed and this time all eyes focused on him.

The young woman rose first, putting the scroll down and moved forward. The next to come was a man her age wearing lots of the white robes and a heavy folding onto his head. After them came the two guests staying at the palace at the Pharaoh's request, both males were the Pharaoh's age, one with long blond hair and lavender eyes, the other with long white hair and soft brown eyes.

The older youth was glad that he was wearing his own mask, as it covered the tinge of pink that had appeared on his cheeks at the comment. He wasn't happy with the concept though and his spear reached out and picked up the white cloth. With a flick of his wrist, the cloth was thrown to the side. It hadn't even touched the ground yet when the two were at it once more, this time the priest on the offensive while his Pharaoh on the defense.

The spear came into a thrust once, twice, thrice, each time just barely missing the body in front. The attacks were strong too, too strong to be blocked by the small blades of the Sais. The Pharaoh was able to slide the attack away though, once passing just over his shoulder and he tilted his head to the side so his mask wasn't caught by it. The second time it was by his waist and the third time by his breast.

It looked like another thrust was coming, but the priest changed his footing last minute, spinning the spear in front of his body and sliding his hands along the smooth shaft, moving the long weapon into a wide arc towards the Pharaoh. The blonde barely missed the hit once more, dodging it with a dancer's grace and thrusting out both Sais to push the spear further away.

What he didn't expect though, was for the priest to change back and bring the spear spinning around his other side, coming from behind and hitting the blonde on the back with it's black shaft.

The audience stilled and Seth could've sworn he heard someone from the crowd suck in a breath.

He lowered the end of his spear down and scanned the seats, now noticing that they were quite full compared to when the battle started.

The Pharaoh groaned softly and rolled his shoulders, then spoke in a cocky voice. "Why stop there?" before the question even registered in the other's mind, he found his hands moving to block the array of stabs, slashes, and kicks.

One thrust came quite fast and the middle blade of the Sai slid atop the black shaft, but strong thrust caused the black shaft to latch between the two blades of the Sai.

Both watched with amazement as the Pharaoh tried to pull back his weapon, but was unsuccessful. Once the surprise of the action was over, the priest used the accident to his advantage and spun his spear around and overtop both of their heads, twisting the hand that refused to let go of the blade and with it, its owner. He dropped the spear then and pulled tightly, holding the Pharaoh in a chokehold with the black shaft, with one arm twisted awkwardly over his head to hold the Sai.

Seth seemed to have forgotten of the other blade though, and only remembered it when he felt a stinging pain in his side. His grip loosened on that part of the spear and a swift kick was delivered from the flexible youth right before he slipped out of the hold, sliding his Sai along the length and right off at the blade, pulling it up at the last minute to leave his opponent defenseless.

The priest struggled to move out of the way and the top of his already blood-covered robe was caught by the end point of the Sai and part of it was ripped away.

The two pulled apart, Atemu lifting his visor to look at his priest with cold eyes and Seth pulling the cloth away to reveal a deep scratch from the other's blade.

"This match is over!" one of the elder priests called out.

"No!" Seth growled out, ignoring the rules of the friendly spar. He lifted the visor of the helmet and then the actual mask and threw it in the direction of the elderly man, letting the gold skid across the marble floor. He rested his spear against his shoulder while both his hands worked on removing the rest of his robes from the upper-body, leaving him in only a white kilt and his golden jewelry. Once the bloodstained cloth was thrown away, the priest looked up and held his spear in an offensive stance.

The Pharaoh left his visor lifted and grinned at the other. "No mask? Are you sure about that?" after no response came from the teasing words, the Pharaoh grinned and nodded. "Good."

They bowed their heads once more and with the visor still up, Atemu advanced quickly, shifting from his path at the last minute and jumping into the air to strike down with one Sai. The priest took the faint for an attack and went to block it, only to use the bottom end of his spear to block the actual attack when the youth landed into a crouch and stabbed out.

The attacks came on relentlessly and Seth was forced out of his comfort zone more than once to try and block what seemed like an impossible attack. He saw an attack coming before it was executed and countered it right as it came. The thrust at his stomach was hit away with a slide of the spear, keeping it vertical and sliding his body with it. While the Pharaoh had kicked out from the opposite side: the side he should have escaped to. Instead the priest ducked and spun out his spear on a wide arc parallel to the ground, hitting the other's leg out from under him.

A loud gasp came from the crowd as the Pharaoh fell flat and hard onto the ground and Seth rose, his spear going down into one swift motion, ready to stop right before it hit it's target as the throat.

The Pharaoh's Sais came in the way though and they crossed and pushed up, making the spear hit high above his head on the marble floor and slide away from it's speed. Seth lost his balance from the move and stumbled forward onto the youth whose hands were still above his head. The other's legs came at his stomach then and straightened out last minute, flipping him over the smaller boy's body.

Seth landed with a heavy thud on his own back and let out a loud groan as his back hit his own spear shaft.

Atemu quickly got up with a twist of his body and a jump, landing in a crouch and quickly rising, ready to defend from another attack. And he jumped just in time over the sweeping spear as Seth was on one knee, a pained expression on his features and the gash in his side bleeding quite a bit, already staining the top of his white kilt.

The Pharaoh noticed the blood and for a moment concern flashed across his wine-red eyes, but that was washed away when the other stabbed out and pulled back suddenly, once more on their feet.

"Stop this, already!" the elderly man commanded, watching as the two teens seemed ready to have another go.

They didn't listen and they did go!

The Pharaoh started with a jump, twisting his body and sending a hard kick to the other's head, but as soon as he had landed softly on the ground, he felt the stinging pain on his back from the priest's spear.

He lost his balance and just as he seemed ready to fall forward, he threw one of the Sai's to the other hand and his open palm flipped him over as he landed in a crouch. He spun from the crouch to face a thrust coming his way and with the Sais in their proper hands once more, he crossed the blades and lifted up, making the other miss once more. This time though, the Pharaoh lost balance and fell onto his back, Seth back in control of his spear and coming down with another precise and controlled stab.

As before it was deflected, but Atemu had miscalculated the strength behind this one hit, expecting it to come much harder. He threw his hands too far out and they stretched too much to leave him wide open. He let go of the Sais, sending them and the spear sliding along the floor above his head while Seth came down upon him.

The older youth straddled the younger one, but kept one leg atop the other's to keep him from kicking. His hands fell one onto the other's gold-covered chest, the other by the Pharaoh's head on the ground. His hand moved from the Pharaoh's chest plate to his bent leg and retrieved a hidden dagger, lashing it out towards the other's neck.

It was hit away and the priest was caught completely off guard as he saw the Pharaoh draw his own dagger from under his chest plate, hitting it away. The surprise took control of Seth only for a moment, but that was long enough. His weight had lifted from the other's legs and with an upward thrust of his hips, the smaller man had them flipped over, him now atop Seth and settling comfortably to straddle the older male.

His dagger came down to Seth's throat and touched it enough to feel, but not enough to cut. A smile lined the proud Pharaoh's lips as he watched Seth drop his own dagger in admitted defeat.

The crowd was dead silent, having watched the battle that went on for what felt like hours to all. It took them a moment to register that it was over and they cheered loudly, watching the two males still stuck in that position, neither moving a centimeter.

The elder high priest moved closer, but a cold glare from his Pharaoh had him backing away. The two remained locked in their position for a long time, watching as some of the audience poured out of the small stadium, the only remaining the were the High Priests and the Pharaoh's two guests.

Atemu threw the dagger to the side and lifted himself to sit by Seth's feet while the priest curled his legs inward. The Pharaoh groaned loudly and rose to his knees, wine-red orbs focusing onto the older boy that was now crawling towards him. "How did-?"

"That was magnificent," the Pharaoh interrupted, straightening his body even though he was still on his knees. His hands reached out to the lowered face of his rival and he smiled down at the other male. Seth reached one hand to steady his body, the other reaching for the hand that held him and his blue eyes looked up at the Pharaoh.

He wasn't the little boy from the courtyard anymore, he wasn't the angry male throwing out another lover… no… he was a man with great power and beauty that ruled all of Egypt with the wisdom of Horus himself, as if he'd done it before.

Seth watched with awe as the last of Ra's light filled the large room, shadowing over his Pharaoh and reflecting off of the gold he wore, shining onto his features to reveal him as the true God that he was. He watched the smile forming on the other's lips and couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down his spine.

A chilling smile was on the Pharaoh's face while his eyes glazed over and looking down through the cerulean eyes and in the past at his best friend… at his lover.

the numbers that you've seen throughout the chapters [although none on this one and a few more later on are just facts as to why've written it the way it is, which may cause some anger with a later chapter involving the Egyptian Gods and making them... like mortals... the meaning for all the numbers will be the last chapter... which will be posted as Notes at sixth or maybe seventh [leaning towards six now
also.. i am updating this daily... and there are only a few chapters in it... as you can see... i believe this one is the longest of them all...
.sye