My mistake. It was my Yami Yugi character in Duel Links that was Level 21, and I was still in Stage 16, not stage 21. I had those two mixed up. Apologies T_T Anybody wanna add me on Duel Links? I'm still a no0b tho XD

Also, I wasn't able to write updates the other week because I was a bit busy drawing and painting Aya. You can find my not-so-great drawings of her at :

And well, there's work, school, and… Duel Links. Haha. Sorry!

Anyway, enjoy this update!
-Yuhiri

CHAPTER 7: Invasion

"Offer in marriage… sire?!"

She gulped nervously as her sharp, emerald eyes flashed. Aya had obvious objection in her tone, but kept it low-key, considering that she is in the presence of a Pharaoh. Young Atem was startled of his father's announcement as well, his timid eyes just looked at his father and Pharaoh in wonder.

"Aya, it's about time you accept that you are no longer slaves. You are already free citizens and part of the legislatorial class," Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen told Aya compassionately as his big, loving hand moved from Atem's head to the young boy's shoulders. Aya was rendered speechless.

"Your marriage is going to stand as a symbol of my assurance and to you and Khaira; of my promise that I am keeping the two of you near the throne."

"Besides, your mother is already a key figure in the advancement of Egypt's practice of magic, training Egypt's magicians and contributed in furthering our sorcery with your clan's almost lost secret arts."

King Akhenamkhanen continued, his kind tone dipped a little bit to a slightly darker and more serious one. "I believe that your marriage to my son will also be beneficial to this country's military defense from invaders. You and Atem's marriage will also ensure a brighter future to Egypt."

Atem worriedly turned his head up to look at his father. He was troubled by his sudden seriousness.

"Pharaoh, are you sure about this? Even without this marriage, I, Khaira, have already given my life and devotion to you and this country, my King. I owe my life and my freedom to you alone," Aya's mother passionately said, placing her right hand to her heart and knelt down with her left leg forward in reverence to the ruler.

Seeing her mother's actions, she also did the same and knelt in front of Atem and the king.

"Well, these two are still too young to bear children yet, Khaira. So please, raise your head," the king said with a chuckle as he shifted back to a sunny disposition. "We can talk about this some other time."

In the middle of the exchange, Shimon, the trusted right hand man of the Pharaoh, entered the gardens and paid respect to the Pharaoh.

"My king, the magicians in training have been assembled and is ready to conduct the experiment on summoning spirits," Shimon respectfully told his king.

The king was delighted and so signaled Khaira to walk with him to leave the gardens and into the training grounds. Aya was once again left with Atem.

She looked straight at him sternly. The young boy panicked and assumed that Aya was, once again, furious at him.

"You didn't tell me you're the Pharaoh's son," Aya said grimly. Atem froze. "You're going to be the next pharaoh."

"I-I-I thought you knew!" Atem said, frightened.

"So, son of the Pharaoh," Aya continued. "Does your highness want to see me naked again?"

"I told you, I'm not a pervert!" Atem felt exasperated at Aya's little prank as his cheeks flushed bright red, desperately explaining himself to the young girl.

Aya let out a teasing snicker, still trying to maintain her poise while turning a bit red from suppressing a laugh.

"For a king's son, you're pretty different. Haven't you heard from your father that we are former slaves?" Aya said with a hint of seriousness. "Are you sure you should be talking to me like this, your highness?"

"Well, I guess not. I'm not supposed to be talking to people lower than my standing," Atem shyly said. "But if father treats you well, then that's probably ok." His face lightened up a bit as he smiled timidly at her.

Aya was both relieved and distressed. If I were still a slave, I would never have had been able to even face this boy. My supposed fate really is tragic.

While Aya was lost in her thoughts, a loud crash exploded from outside the palace walls. A cloud of dust rose from there. Everyone in the palace panicked turned their attention to the racket, including the two youngsters. The conversation between the pharaoh and Khaira came to a sudden halt.

A wounded soldier emerged from the billows of smoke and dusk, limping in front of the king and Khaira.

"My lord," the wounded soldier spoke with a heavy breath. He was stuttering and had clear difficulty from uttering the next words. He was bleeding from a fatal wound on his side.

"Hold on!" Khaira cried to the soldier. She took him in his arms where Khaira knelt to the ground with the soldier to tend to his wounds temporarily with her magic.

"What had happened?!" The king cried exclaimed. Yami Yugi, who was an audience to all of these from a distance, asked the same.

"Sire, the enemy state has breached the city walls and have invaded Egypt. They are breaking through the palace walls," the soldier responded with a heavy breath. "Some of them are already here."

The king was mortified.

He looked at Khaira with stern eyes. She already knew what the king meant.

With a loud voice, Khaira ordered some of the attendants to summon the magicians she had been training for the past months. "Order them to immediately organize the All Seeing Eye."

Back in the Palace Gardens, the two was also in confusion, wondering about what was happening. Everyone in the gardens have already fled.

Young Atem had worry written all over his face. "Could it be another enemy attack?"

Aya was alarmed at what Atem said. So this country really is preyed on by other states, she murmured to clenched her fists and mustered some bravery and determination.

This is what mother had been working on to solve.

She held the shoulders of the boy who was almost as tall as she was. He was surprised at her sudden gesture. "Your highness, don't worry. My mother had not only taught me how to read and write. She had taught me some basic magic to defend myself."

Atem was amazed at Aya's bravery. The present Atem as well. She picked up a fallen tree branch from the palace gardens, waved it, and pointed it out mightily. Her hand was however, slightly shaking, but her eyes blazed with determination.

The clouds of dust have reached the entrance of the palace gardens, and from there, a handful of ruffians from the enemy state have entered. They were armed with long, sharp swords.

"Look what we have here," said one of the thugs as he liked the edge of his blade, looking like he was about to charge and attack at anyone in the way.

Atem was edgy watching his and Aya's younger selves to potentially be under threat. He felt powerless as we watched the visions. He could only gnash his teach and tighten his fists.

"We have kids who dressed like nobles. Maybe we can use these two to bail our way to taking over the castle," said another bandit. The rest snorted in agreement and were closing in on young Aya and Atem.

Aya instructed Atem, who was trembling in fear, to stand behind her. She griped the tree branch firmer and stood her ground as her blazing jade eyes glared at the trespasser.

One of the thugs advanced to the two youngsters. Before he could grab Aya, she lifted her index and middle finger to form a seal and lashed the tree branch in the air to the direction of the scoundrel approaching them. As she shouted, the ruffian bounced in the air and was suddenly blown off to the wall loudly. He groaned as soon as he hit the wall.

The six other thugs stupefied over the fall of their comrade and turned back to Aya furiously.

One of them swiftly dashed to Aya and grabbed her wrists and pulled her hair. She winced in pain. Atem and Aya mortified upon her capture. "You little witch! I'll show you not to toy around with us!"

Another ruffian quickly grabbed both Atem's shoulders, which made him gasp. When Aya saw Atem captured, she momentarily forgot her own capture and forcefully turned her head to Atem's direction, despite her hair being pulled. With her eyes filled with sheer rage, she suddenly yelled "IN THE NAME OF THE PHARAOH, I ORDER YOU TO GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

She forcefully struggled to release one of her wrists that were tightly subdued to form a sign with her hand to blow away the intruder that held Atem.

"ATEM! RUN!" Aya screamed with all of her might before her face was smacked by the man that held her down. He pulled Aya's hair stronger that made Aya wince in pain even more, aside from the bruise on her cheek. She could no longer cast a spell.

Yami Yugi was restless over Aya's current state. His grip on his fists tightened/

Meanwhile, the young Atem ran in sheer dread to the entrance to the inside of the castle. As he ran, he turned his head to check on Aya. "Aya, hold on! I'm going to get help!"

"Don't let that brat get away!" ordered the thug that held down Aya. The rest of the attackers ran after Atem, which made him panic.

Suddenly, multiple colorful orbs flung to Atem's pursuers, which sent the aggressors flying to the wall. Atem looked to the direction where the orbs were casted from. It was a man dressed like one of Khaira's students. He looked like 18 or 19 years old and had long straight-cut hair and a straight bangs as well. He held out a purple staff ornamented with green round crystal inside a shall-like base.

Yami Yugi had recognized him.

"Your highness, are you alright?" asked the young man with genuine worry over Atem.

"I am, but please save Aya," the prince said with much worry in his voice.

The bandit who held Aya was terrified. A held the grip on Aya's two feeble wrists tighter and forcefully raised Aya's head higher through her hair. Agony grew more obvious in Aya's face. "Stand back or I'll kill this girl! How could Egypt have increased its magic that even youngsters like you can already use it!"

The young man stepped forward, instructing Atem respectfully to stand back.

The bandit grew more terrified that the young mage did not listen to his threat. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER OR THE GIRL WILL GET IT!"

The young mage formed a single seal in his hand and directed it to the hostage taker. His body suddenly was paralyzed and had slowly let go of his tight grip on Aya.

With another seal, the man casted another spell on the thug that destroyed his consciousness, making him scream in agony. He then fell to the ground with his eyes wide open.

Aya was now completely released. Atem called for her name and ran to her side and the young man followed suit.

When young Atem was nearing, she softly mumbled in an audible voice. "It's finally over." She then fell to her feet.

Atem was flustered and doubled his speed to Aya, allowing him to catch her before she fell to the ground.

All the other bandits who attempted to invade the palace have already been captured and the rest were also driven away out of Egypt.

From the holy courts, Khaira rushed to the palace gardens to check on her daughter and the prince. As soon as she got out, she was horrified to see her daughter unconscious while lying on the prince's arms.

"AYA!"

She frantically ran to be by her only child's side, forming small tears on the side of her eyes. She then knelt down near the prince and placed a hand on her forehead to cast a healing spell. As she was casting, she anxiously turned to the young man who was with Aya and Atem.

"Mahad, what happened to my daughter?!" she said to the man.

"Master, she is your daughter?" said the young Mahad. "She is fine, Lady Khaira. She is just tired from enduring the attack from the enemy and had lost consciousness because of the sudden relaxation of her muscles as soon as the struggle was over."

"She was attacked?!" Khaira's pitch rose.

"Aunt Khaira, she and I have been attacked. But Aya did a good job fighting back. Mahad here also came just in time to save us," the young Atem said in an attempt to comfort the distressed woman.

"My lady, Miss Aya did a superb job in protecting the prince over her own life with her magic," Mahad said.

"Yes," Atem supported. "I would have been the one in captive and unconscious, if Aya had not protected me," he said with a hint of guilt while looking down with his bashful look.

Khaira took in all that the two boys said. A smile formed on her lips. She looked proud of her daughter and looked at her unconscious daughter lovingly as she stroke her head with her free hand.

"She had that much strength in her heart despite her feeble body, huh?" the older Atem said to himself.

Atem's vision once again shifted. She saw Aya asleep, lying down in a bed. Her eyes had twitched. She was about to wake up.

She stood up and saw herself in an unfamiliar but exceptionally regal room. She looked around the room awed at the room which was adorned with gold and gold furniture.

In the middle of her admiration, she sensed someone hiding from the curtains of the door.

"Who is it?" she said in an alert tone.

Reluctantly, the person who was hiding revealed himself. It was the young Atem who looked a bit guilty.

"Oh it's you Ate—" Aya stopped midway for clumsily calling a royalty by his first name casually. "I mean, your highness…"

"I'm glad you're awake now, Aya," Atem said in a glad tone, still mixed with a bit of guilt.

"My Prince, where am I right now?"

"You're still at the Palace, Aya. You're in one of the guest rooms," Atem replied in a shy but eager. "Do you need anything Aya? Name anything you would like."

"Maybe not at the moment, your highness," said Aya.

"Hey listen," Atem said as his tone sank in a more awkward way. "You can drop off calling me 'Your Highness' Aya."

Aya slightly her head in wonder.

"First, I want to thank you for saving my life a while ago. Had it not been for you, I would have been the one in bed right now. Or worst, taken by the attackers."

"It's no problem at all," Aya replied with a smile on her face. "I want to live out my mother's goals as well, after all that your father, the Pharaoh, had done for my mother and I. Therefore, I also am ready to lay down my life to secure the safety of the throne."

He was moved by Aya's devotion, both the young and the present Atem.

"It's just that I resent my weakness, your highness," Aya continued as she gazed blankly at her open palm. "I was barely able to protect you that time. I was also very ignorant of the real situation of the security of Egypt, prior to today's attack."

Aya closed her eyes and closed her palm. "I felt almost… useless."

Atem worriedly stared at Aya. "At least you can cast magic. I always rely on my servant and the others to protect me, Aya," Atem finally said. "While my father is doing the best he can to defend this country, I almost did nothing but watch from afar. I hate my own weakness, too, Aya."

"My Prince, it is our duty as your servants to protect you. You do not have to worry about these matters," Aya uneasily said. "I've decided. I'm going to take up a sword and double my study on magic so I can support this country by contributing to its military force."

"Aya, didn't I say that you can call me by name? You promised back in the gardens." Atem said. "If you're going to take up a sword, I might as well do to. I'll help my father protect this country."

Aya was moved by young Atem's determination. A smile formed on her face.

"Alright then, I'll call you by your name ONLY if there's just the two of us," Aya said in a peppy manner. "Atem, you better start getting rid of that timidity of yours if you want to keep up with my pace!"

Confused, Atem could just nod hesitantly.

"Alright! Tomorrow, let's find someone who can train us!" Aya said, lifting a fist in the air with grit. "And I'll double the effort on my studies too."

In the secret chambers of the castle, Akhenaden, the Pharaoh's younger brother, assembled with some of the magicians of Egypt secretly. These magicians have already been serving the throne even before the arrival of Aya and Khaira.

"Lord Akhenaden, today's battle had almost costed us the palace," said Suhen, one of the senior mages, slamming his fist on the long table. "While the innovations in magic that Khaira had introduced to this country truly had strengthened Egypt's defenses, it still does not prove itself to be able to purge the enemy and keep them out of our territories for good!"

"Parts of the Millennium Spellbook has already been deciphered already, and it is understood that it offers immense power that may finally be the solution to the threats to Egypt!" another mage said.

"Khaira opposes to the methods of evoking these powers," Akhenaden said. "With her opposition, she can influence the Pharaoh to not support our solution."

"Then why not just silence the dissension, Lord Akhenaden? After all, all of this is for Egypt," Suhen suggested.

[To be continued]