Thursday afternoon came again, which meant it was once again Yami Bakura's time to front. Today Malik wasn't at the museum because of personal reasons, which was fine because it gave Bakura some much welcomed alone time to finish his work.
While Ryou made all of the buildings and figurines of the people for the diorama, there was another component to the Shadow Game that still needed to be made, and that was the game cards for the main players and major NPCs. There were cards made for all of the members of the Pharaoh's court and a few family members, including all the Pharaoh's priests, his advisor, and his uncle Aknadin. There was a card for the Dark Magician's apprentice, and also there was a card for a young woman whom Priest Set rescued. Bakura made these cards in secret, hidden from Ryou.
Bakura was fascinated by the story regarding Priest Set and the woman he rescued. It was clear that this woman had been horribly abused her entire life. She had been born into slavery. After many years of hardship, her ka spirit had developed into a protective guardian that drove her enemies away while she was sleeping, and that way she was able to escape slavery and run off into the desert. After a few days of roaming the desert, she became thirsty, so she went to town looking for water. That's when a mob of angry civilians found her and started pelting her with rocks, believing her to be a demon due to her white skin. Priest Set arrived, shooed the aggressors away, and took the woman back to his palace where he had his private doctor nurse her back to health.
It was common during Ancient Egypt for high-ranking government officials to have their own personal slaves, and priests were no exception. Priest Set wanted to keep the blue-eyed woman as a sex slave. It was very tempting. If he chose to take advantage of her, no one would stop him because he was a priest, and the woman was a lowly slave with nowhere else to go. Also, after a few days of keeping her prisoner he found out that there was a powerful ka spirit living inside her, a magnificent dragon with white scales and blue eyes. He could find a way to harness that power as a weapon of war for Egypt.
Priest Set was aware that he was a very emotionally abusive person, and that poor girl would've been absolutely miserable under his care. In the end he made the decision to not enslave her. For whatever reason he decided to do an act of kindness and set her free. Go, get away from here as fast as you can, to some distant land where the fires of war won't reach you.
But then on the same day she was freed, she died.
Priest Set was heartbroken and furious. The one time in his life he decided to do a good deed, it blew up in his face. He should've taken advantage of the woman when he had the chance. He should've enslaved her. What was the point of being kind when he had nothing to gain from it? So from that point on he never showed kindness to anyone ever again. Once he became Pharaoh, he ruled Egypt with absolute totalitarianism. He was one of the most ruthless, terrifying dictators Egypt had ever seen. He waged violent wars and committed atrocious acts of genocide. Under his rule the number of enslaved people increased drastically, and slaves were treated twice as brutally. Violence against women, minorities, and children became more frequent and severe. The political climate became extremely dangerous. Fascism was at its peak, as the gap between the rich and the poor became exponentially pronounced. King Set also created a religious cult whose duty was to keep the Millennium Items hidden from the world, thus starting a family of Tomb Guardians who were forced to live underground, initiating a cycle of abuse and trauma that lasted thousands of years.
Over time, the civil unrest of the enslaved and poor working classes under King Set's rule grew strong enough that there was an attempted revolution. A large mob of angry lower-class workers and freed slaves stormed the Pharaoh's palace and tried to execute all the government officials, but they were unsuccessful. As soon as the angry mob tried to execute the Pharaoh, a powerful dragon appeared out of nowhere and killed them all in one quick swoop. Not everyone had enough spiritual energy to see the dragon, but those who could see it reported that it had shining white scales and brilliant blue eyes.
For whatever reason, the ka spirit of the blued-eyed white woman decided to remain loyal to King Set after her death. For the rest of King Set's rule, the spirit of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon protected him, and every attempt on the Pharaoh's life ended in failure. The wealthy class rejoiced, declaring that their government was just and noble, a divine providence of the gods.
Thirty years later, King Set died without a successor, and the high-ranking priests started to fight each other about who was going to take the throne. But before a new Pharaoh could be decided upon, another revolution took place. An angry mob stormed the palace, and this time they were successful in their goal of overthrowing the oppressive government. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was only loyal to King Set. Once the old king was dead, the Dragon disappeared.
It was interesting how the blue-eyed white woman was willing to serve such a terrible dictator, especially considering how their relationship hadn't been particularly positive when she was alive. She had only known him for a very short time, and the Priest had been thinking about raping her before he changed his mind and let her go. But still, Priest Set was the only person who had ever shown the poor girl any kindness during her incredibly short and brutal life of suffering, and the girl was the only person whom Priest Set had ever shown any mercy towards during his whole life of being a tyrant. This was the closest thing to a meaningful relationship that either of them had ever had during their miserable lonely lives. It was an unhealthy relationship for sure, but there was something special about it that Bakura couldn't help but admire. Why do people cling so tightly onto relationships that are unhealthy? Is the fear of being alone so frightening that we would prefer to have toxic or even abusive relationships rather than no relationships at all? The need for companionship was so strong that it transcended time, death, and reincarnation.
Bakura had nearly finished making cards for all of the major NPCs in the role-playing game. He had drawn all of the pictures and written down descriptions on the cards, including cards for the Pharaoh, the Thief King, all of the high priests, and the mysterious blue-eyed white woman. Each of the cards had the names of the featured character depicted on them, except for the Pharaoh, the blue-eyed woman, and the Thief King. Obviously the Pharaoh's name was supposed to be a secret so it wasn't going to be depicted on the card. Now all that was needed were names for the woman and the Thief King.
What was the name of the blue-eyed white woman, anyway? It wasn't written down anywhere in recorded history, which was unsurprising as she was at the lowest rank of society. Only the highest ranking and richest members of society had elaborate tombs engraved with their names on them. Bakura thought for a moment and decided, oh screw it, he'll just pick a random name. Anything generic will do. He wrote "Kisara" on the card, for it was the first name that popped into his mind. Sure it made no sense for a woman from Ancient Egypt to have a Japanese name, but in the end it didn't really matter because this was the World of Memories. Memories were subject to change and weren't always accurate. They didn't have to be accurate. It was the emotions and identity-forming behind those memories that really mattered.
What was the Ring Spirit's original name before he died and had his soul sealed away? It's not like he remembered, and it wasn't recorded anywhere. The Thief King's name too had been lost to the sands of time, for he was also one of the lowest ranks of society, and on top of that the Ancient Egyptian government had purposefully wiped away any traces of his existence. Bakura would have to choose a name for himself.
For the Thief King's name he wrote down "Bakura." He already identified with the name so much, and it was what everyone knew him as. Again, it made no sense for a man from Ancient Egypt to have a Japanese surname as a first name, but this was the World of Memories. After three thousand years, he wouldn't be able to identify with his original name even if he remembered it. Identities can change along with memory. And besides, "Thief King Bakura" had a nice ring to it. He liked the way it sounded.
Bakura looked at the cards he made and admired his handiwork. He did a fantastic job. He was quite proud of himself. See, Ryou wasn't the only member of this system with artistic skills.
It was getting late, almost time to switch back with Ryou. Bakura got up and went to hid the cards somewhere in the room where Ryou would never find them.
It was too bad that Ryou would never get to see the amazing artwork on these cards. Bakura seriously considered showing them to Ryou just to see his reaction. What was the point of making such cool artwork when he couldn't share it with the one he was closest to? Oh well, he could show them to Malik later, and maybe the Pharaoh would appreciate them too once he got to see them.