It was pure chaos in England. People were vanishing left and right, almost all of them pure bloods in prominent positions. What bothered Dumbledore was the fact that every single person taken was a Death Eater or suspected supporter. Moody was driving everyone up the wall because many of them had been taken right under the Order's noses.
Fudge was having an apoplectic fit over the fact that Malfoy had been the first to be taken and the first to be found...as a corpse with only bones left. They only knew it was him because his magical signature was still in the remains.
Then there was a note left on the next corpse to be found. This one was of Crabbe Senior.
"Find the Treasure, and Escape with your life. Follow Flight From Death and you risk the chance of crossing the God of Kings."
There was a claw mark on the paper, and it sent the Aurors in a frenzy.
The two terms Flight From Death was quickly translated to mean Voldemort and it took those who excelled in Ancient Runes weeks to translate the last part.
It was the claw mark that tipped them off, as one finally learned that it came from a desert hawk. That lead them to find the clue that told them the one responsible for killing the pure bloods was someone who went by the name of Horus.
Though the rest made absolutely no sense until one man who had been taken came back badly shaken with a single gold coin.
"It was awful. There was darkness, and then I found myself in a desert. A voice came from all around me saying that in order to escape with my life I had to find the treasure room. There were these...things...chasing me every day, and I could barely avoid the beetles that I saw devouring people alive! You could hear the screams... dear god the screaming..." he shuddered.
Fudge was tempted to shake the man into making sense.
"Spit it out man, who took you? Where were you?"
"I never saw his face. But I heard his voice every day. He said this was my punishment for taking something I shouldn't have..."
"What did you take?" asked Amelia Bones.
The man shuddered again. He didn't want to remember how he had been captured or the hellish experience he suffered just to escape.
"Speak man! What did you take?" demanded Fudge.
Amelia had enough. She had someone bring a penseive and told him he had to visualize the moments before he was taken. He did so reluctantly, but what she saw had her leave the bowl in disgust.
"You were taking children. That's why you were kidnapped. You stole children from their homes in order to force them to breed with the older pure blood families," she said in disgust. Suddenly she didn't feel sorry for him in the least.
Abruptly the man started screaming and it took a moment for Amelia to find why. A pool of shadows had formed above her, and from it dropped a note.
"The desert shall reclaim in blood what has been stolen. If you don't want to find more bodies, then locate the stolen children and return them to their homes. The Death Eaters have made their own graves by following Flight From Death."
Amelia looked at the man hard.
"I want the names of your associates or you'll wish this Horus had killed you first. If you thought he was bad, just wait till I'm through with you," she snarled.
She despised kidnappers, especially those who preyed on children not even old enough to hit puberty.
Draco was in hell, there were no other words for it. Someone had taken him like they had taken his father, and now he had to escape.
The voice had not been kind or gentle.
"The gods have been watching your actions, Draco Malfoy, and you have not given us reason to keep you alive. You have only one choice if you wish to escape this desert alive. Find the treasure room and take any piece you desire. Only then shall you be set free. However, if you fail to make it there you shall find yourself being judged by the Feather of Ma'at in the halls of the dead. Pray for your sake that Anubis sees fit to spare your life."
Ever since he heard that voice, Draco had been stumbling through the desert aimlessly. The only good thing was that there was plenty of water and edible plants all around, but it took days to find them.
Merely reaching one insured safety for at least two nights, and then he had to leave before the jackal headed monsters came for him. The Jeweled Scarabs never went near the place.
(Anubis was tired of his warriors complaining of boredom, so he made an agreement with Seth. In exchange for letting them wander his little side dimension for the scarabs, Seth was given limited amount of control over his army. This included training with the sword he still had from Hamunaptra, since his skills were getting rusty. This also added to the challenge of finding the treasure room, because the warriors would kill anyone they caught.)
Draco had survived three days, and was well aware that his kidnappers were counting and making bets. One of which spoke excellent goblin tongue.
He found another oasis. This one had fish, and it took him five minutes to get it cooking.
The jackal headed monsters smelled the fish, but the rules stipulated that they stay away for at least two days before attacking.
Horus was cold, not stupid. If he didn't give his victims a chance then the gods would bitch about it to Bast, who would complain to him. Besides it was fun to watch the wizards learn to walk on their own feet without abusing their magic. Akefia and Marik had endless fun mocking them and their inability to survive without their wands.
Yugi, on the other hand, squirmed. At least until the fourth Death Eater they sent to this dimension. After seeing their crimes he reluctantly agreed this was an acceptable punishment, and it wasn't like they made it impossible for them to escape. It was just extremely difficult to do so.
Plus they were setting a warning out to those taking the children from the Medjai clans. Bast had stopped magical interference, but she couldn't do a thing about regular interference.
Draco found an odd patch of sand. He stepped onto it, he found himself in a place of darkness. Behind him was the whine of the jackals.
"Congratulations Malfoy. You've proven that you aren't a total loss," said an amused man with green eyes.
"Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Harry Potter. This was mostly a test your cousin insisted on to insure you weren't too much like your father to be saved."
"Why? Why me?"
"To be fair, according to Sirius he was afraid you would turn into a total prick like your father. What I heard about your actions at school didn't help. But the fact you managed to avoid Anubis' army and the scarabs means you are worth allowing to live. Now the choice is yours. Do you want to live your life free from the pressures of the pure blood society, or do you want to forget this ever happened and go back to the way things were?" asked Harry.
"...I want to be free of the pure blood pressures. I'm sick and tired of bowing down to the bastard who claims he's all for pure blood supremacy while killing off families and limiting the available gene pool. And I don't want to join Dumbledore, because he's even worse if what my godfather has told me is true."
Harry blinked. That wasn't the answer he was expecting, but he wasn't about to ask.
"Alright then. I'll drop you off with Sirius while I deal with the next set of morons."
"...Go easy on Greg and Vincent. They may not be bright but they're still my friends."
"Have they taken the mark yet?"
"No, they planned to join with me," said Draco.
"In that case I will give them a three day reprieve, but that's all they're gonna get."
"By the way, what's with the whole 'find the treasure, get your life' bit about this test?"
"That? My brother and I agreed anyone who survived that desert with the scarabs and found our treasure room earned whatever they took. So we kidnap people who don't really deserve to live and chuck them into the desert. If they make it to the treasure room and take a piece, then they are automatically kicked out of the dimension. We just let in the Army of Anubis because the god complained about them being bored and it added to the risk."
In Draco's hand was a scroll of Egyptian magic. He didn't need the gold, and it had caught his eye.
Kaiba took one look at the midget and grimaced.
"Relax Dragon boy, this is Yugi, not that overbearing blowhard Pharaoh," said Seth without looking up.
"How can you tell?"
"The Pharaoh just barely clears five feet, and Yugi's hair barely touches your chin," said Seth flatly.
Seto looked at the one before him, and realized Seth had a point. Besides, Yugi didn't have that...aura...around him that made him want to bash his face in.
"Why is it that he just makes me want to punch him?" asked Seto to no one in particular.
"Inbreeding, worship and very few people allowed to tell him no without getting killed. Take your pick," said Seth.
"Inbreeding?" said Seto, looking sick. He could handle the idea of people who were gay (he employed a few from time to time, and knew some by name) but he drew the line at inbreeding.
Seth put down his book.
"Kaiba, we grew up in a time where the Pharaohs would often marry their own sister just out of lust. There was very little in the way of inhibitions for the Pharaoh back then."
"Actually, that's true. During the time of Ancient Egypt the Pharaohs would sometimes marry their sisters or even their mothers because they were beautiful," said Yugi, though he looked just as ill as Kaiba felt about that information.
"Did he...?" asked Kaiba, not sure if he wanted to know.
"He was an only child, though he had a cousin. That's not the entire reason I hate him though," said Seth.
"It's because he had a crush on you, wasn't it?" said Yugi. Kaiba nearly put in a crick in his neck turning to look at Yugi incredulous.
Seth growled, but didn't deny it.
"He kept harassing me, even though I made it damn clear I was never interested by throwing knives at him."
"How did you...?" asked Kaiba.
"Why did you think I ditched the Pharaoh? The jerk keeps bothering me to go see Seth, even though Seth made it very clear I was only allowed around his group without the Puzzle."
"You are more tolerable with it on," said Kaiba.
"So I've been told. Repeatedly, in fact, by more than just both groups," said Yugi sweatdropping.
The Pharaoh's personality grated on everyone who didn't worship him. About the only person who could stand it for long periods of time was Anzu, and while he liked her as a friend he didn't want to listen to those damn friendship speeches of hers.
"Just so you know, we were waiting on you to get stronger so you could beat the crap out of the Pharaoh on your own. When you beat him, you'll be able to set the souls that his uncle sealed in the Items free to move on and if we're very lucky, be rid of the prick at the same time," said Seth, turning a page.
"...Is it possible to duel him with two decks? One for me and one for him?"
"You would have to make one that he isn't used to. Also, you would have to have it on you during the Ceremonial Duel itself."
"Can you give me all the rules for this Ceremonial Duel?" asked Yugi. If he was going to be rid of the Pharaoh, he needed to know what he was allowed to do.
Seth smirked, and began to explain all the rules. Kaiba grabbed a chair and order some soda, as it sounded interesting.
Meanwhile, Atem was getting a rather unpleasant feeling that things would not go well when he finally fought Yugi.
Dumbledore was sweating like a pig. Fawkes refused to answer his call, and he knew without a doubt that whoever had kidnapped all those Death Eaters and dumped their bones all around Europe was responsible for this. The jackal-headed guards, who looked far too much like the description he heard of Anubis' army, had been hounding him since he was first dropped in this world. Both of his wands had been stolen long before he came here, and he was worried that he had forever lost the Elder wand along with the Resurrection Stone he stole from Tom.
The Cloak of Death had been confiscated by the goblin clans over three years ago at the request of the recently returned Potter Heir. Not that he actually used it, of course, since he claimed it would make him lazy.
He heard a howl of rage out in the distance. Once he reached the next oasis, he waited and eventually the source came to him.
It was Voldemort himself.
"Little bastard got you too?" he said.
"You know who did this?"
"Know? That brat had the balls to claim credit right before he dropped me in this hell hole!" snarled Voldemort.
Dumbledore sweatdropped.
"Who was it?"
"Harry Bloody Potter! First he ruins my plans, then he kills off all my good minions, and now he drops me in the desert without my wand and seals my magic!" bitched Voldemort.
"...Kill him when we leave?"
"Agreed. Wait, isn't he your Golden Boy? What the hell are you doing here anyway?"
"I was the one who brought him 5,000 years from the past and left him with his abusive aunt. Oh, and something about how I had to pay for abducting some children from a no-name clan of pure bloods in Egypt," said the senile old man.
And once again, plans of attempted murder on a third party bring mortal enemies together. Now if only Seth would quit moving the exit...
"Damn it Bast, tell your avatar to quit moving the exit!" screeched a bird like voice.
"Bite me bird brain. You agreed with the rest of us that Tom Riddle had to die. How is it my fault that Horus is following our instructions while your idiot avatar in England is walking with his mortal enemy?" said Bast snidely.
Because Tom Riddle (AKA Voldemort) had pissed off the gods that governed Death with those soul pieces of his, the gods had given Horus the go ahead to move the exit randomly in different directions just to make it near impossible for Voldemort to escape judgment. Since Horus was only allowed to drop people in once per lifetime, if he managed to escape then it would be up to Horus using the book of Amun Ra to kill the bastard off once and for all.
Dumbledore he threw in as an extra, since he was still pissed when he found out that he was the one who stole the children from the Medjai and bound those phoenixes. The fact he had pissed off a few gods as well was just a bonus.
Ra, however, bitched anyway because since Dumbledore was traveling with Voldemort, it would be almost impossible for him to escape.
Not his problem.
In the meantime, several people were watching Dumbledore and Voldemort drunkenly stumble through the desert with amusement, some eating popcorn and drinking some high grade liquor.
It would be at least a week before Seth was seen at work...and the humming he was doing scared the shit out of everyone.