Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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The sky stretched endlessly as far as his eyes could see, without clouds or birds to obstruct the view of this absolutely perfect azure color. A beautiful day that he could spend forever gazing at, if not for the nagging voice in the back of his mind. As small as a fly that haunted the ass of a horse, buzzing by his ears with words. Did he 'really' have time to be laying about? Was he not the General of the Pharaoh's army? As nice as this 'was', and it was perfect to him, there was that bug constantly reminding him of his duty.

Thus begrudgingly he decided to sit up before Ra crossed his vision and blinded him with Divine light. Only his muscles refused to move, there was this incredible weight that bore down on him that made moving his arms or legs impossible. Suddenly the beauty of the sky was lost in the mounting alarm as even his fingers refused to acknowledge his hearts' command. His eyes scanned the sky in desperation to find Ra now that his alarm was high. Better to be momentarily blinded and see something familiar than this endless field of blue.

A swath of black faded into view, moving towards him the way that a storm front crossed the horizon across the land. Thick, black, ominous in how it moved as a single unit across the sky without any clouds. Merely a slice of the sky was replaced by an impenetrable wall of black that was approaching his frozen frame. It approached him with a speed that exceeded any animal on land or air, consuming his vision as it slipped across.

Only to blink.

In that flash of absolute darkness, it dawned on Set that he was gazing into a blue eye, a blue, reptile eye. That eye bringing to his mind the name of the one person who he knew that had such blue eyes.

Kisara

The moment he had a human name to go with, that dragon eye that hovered before him was no longer the massive eyes of a dragon. The head drew back while the white haired girl who he had saved as a teen and again as an adult materialized between them. Eyes as blue as Lapis Lazuil, framed by skin paled by a foreign land, made paler by the fall of white hair more pure than the light of the stars. She was all he saw, she was his universe as he tried to grasp what was going on outside his range of vision. Sound was so distant, an irritation that he didn't understand or welcome, for with it came the air that carried hints of oil and fire.

With awareness of his other senses came the realization of his surroundings, and the past or lack of extremely recent past.

He needed to get up, even as her vision faded more from his sight, floating up towards the Blue Eyed Dragon that was carried in her soul. When he had been younger, this dragon had solid blue eyes, now it was like any other living thing, black center, blue ring with another black circle and all that white. No different than a reptile save in color really, while its body had at one time looked as though it had been forged over the fires of an artisan blacksmith with sheets of white metal. The dragon now looked as though it had been taken up by a god and re-crafted into something living, those 'sheets' smoothed away into delicate scales.

The woman was gone, now only the dragon remained hovering on invisible currents of air while he looked up from the ground. He reached up to touch that living dragon of light yet the closer his hand got to it the more it fragmented into motes of light. Bright, pure light that illuminated the dirt and stains on his own hand as though to remind him of his unfit nature to touch her. They were so stained it pulled his focus away from his cherished dragon and back down to himself.

His nails were dirty, stained in what appeared to be blood and other things, blood splatters ran up his arms and dragged his attention once more to the world around him as he sought an explanation. His hands were not dirty like this when he caught her body as she fell into death's embrace, so how could it be this bad? His cherished dragon now gone, he forced his gummy eyes open to actually look about the temple where he had fought Aknadin in the Temple of Tablets.

…

High above he could see the ceiling, lost to shadows, until he finally reached the beach of that darkness where the light from the torches lashed at it like waves. He looked to right and saw, not the entrance, or exit, of the main temple chamber rather the entry doors to the royal palace. How peculiar a thing to find, since he knew he was in the temple. Perhaps he was dreaming? A vision of his home, of the Palace that he had left to rescue her?

The large doors that opened into the throne room was blown out, scorch marks were visible to even his naked eye. A soldier could be seen running beyond the doors, empty handed and with his armor damaged in place. A soldier of the Pharaoh running through the palace unarmed when there was a clear threat who had wrecked such damage on the Palace?

While seeing the future was Isis' strength, it would behoove Set not to take this clear sign from the Gods to see what was going to happen. All the better to give him more time to think of a suitable counter attack for when this came about. He looked around the empty throne room, taking stock of the torn fabrics, the shattered throne of the Pharaoh and incredible silence of the place. His body protested his effort to move, a newly made leather armor not yet broken in. His joints ached from some unremembered injury that apparently assailed his whole being.

But he got himself to his feet, a feat that he was most proud of at the moment as the world started to spin from the effort. The higher his elevation the more the room stood revealed in the most nauseating swirl of color imaginable. There was a number of priests, now charred dead, resting against the back wall of the throne room like flung toys. Not all the torches were lit, several were blown out, a few on the ground burning out as he watched. Taking stock of himself, his robes were tattered and stained in blood. As though he had come through an intense battle himself, but he survived it.

So where was the Pharaoh? How could the Pharaoh just leave his own General behind and face whatever?

His steps were weighed down by his body, every step jarring as his body brought its weight down on his legs. Challenging his legs' ability to hold up the rest of his body until his other leg could join it and help. His bones rattled frighteningly against the shell of his muscles that weren't bothering to do their job. While his ears were ringing with a high pitched ping that made him question how hard he was hit in this dream.

His fingers were the talons of hunting birds, flexing them brought to mind sticking them in wet mud and letting it dry on his hands. Dusty and covered with something that flecked off the more he moved it, as he tried to keep his balance. The ground below him suddenly shifted as he took the last step to the ground below, sending all his balance off and sending him tumbling unceremoniously to the ground. His knees struck the ground as did his hands, sending him sprawled along the floor. His hands skidding along the stone floor grinding against sand. While his robes gave his knees a slightly smoother path as they were slammed into the ground and slide out leaving him prone on the ground.

Truly an unsightly position to be found in, encouraging him to push himself back up onto his knees, despite the pain from literally landing on them. His palms stung from the sand grinding its way into his flesh. His elbows were not much better as he knelt there, skidded and banged up now to add to his previous state of physical affairs.

Yet the ground below 'moved', was this enemy that strong? Only the Gods should have such might!

Could this demon truly be 'that' powerful? If that were to be the case, what had he left the Pharaoh and the Circle to contend with?! The pain in his limbs and joints became a time consuming nuisance that he could ill afford. He pushed himself to his feet, despite his palms protesting as more sand was pushed into those slight tears in his flesh. Though he knees had enough of the choices in his life as they buckled under the off balanced weight of his body and sent him back into the ground. Exasperated by his foot catching the hem of his robes and tangling his feet up and making him reflexively shield his head with his arm. Protecting his head from bouncing off the thick stone work of the palace.

He needed to ensure the Pharaoh's safety, find the others, marshal the forces to deal with the threat. Things he couldn't do while laying on the ground, and that reminder of his sacred duty was all the motivation he needed. The palace was far too silent, no cries for help or reinforcements, if not for the solider. Set would have assumed they had been forced to abandon the palace all together and flee.

The air was oppressive, weighing him down further as he forced his feet to brace on the ground and 'not' his robes. He hobbled his way to an upright stance, his body swaying in time to an absent snake charmers flute it. Though standing brought back to mind all the previous injuries he had, the aches and pains that had assailed him when he first woke up.

Set decided that this was a terrible vision, as he began making his way to the front chamber doors. The throne room of the Pharaoh could 'not' be allowed to be so violated, though in retrospect if this 'was' an attack, then it would only be right for the Pharaoh to head the army. Yet if he was heading the army, why did he not call upon the Gods to assist him? Would they not be of aid?

No, he wasn't stupid, far from it in fact. If he wasn't evoking the Gods, it could only mean that they were ineffective which was impossible they were 'Gods'. Or he was too wounded to expend the necessary power to call them forth, which was unacceptable. The Pharaoh 'was' still rather young, despite being resilient and as the young were, depending on how long this battle had been going he 'would' tire out. But would not that Magician be able to aid with his magics? If not in healing than at least in taking control of the army...

As he hobbled forward, struggling to regain some semblance of his normal stride. Much less the nobility he normally carried due his position, Set realized he was without his Rod. Left blinking in confusion he turned to check his surroundings one more time, looking to see the glitter of its golden form somewhere on the ground around where he woke up. Yet there was no Item upon the ground, or even anything standing that could obstruct his view. Rendering his inability to find it a sign that someone had clearly taken the Item.

Not that they would be able to deceive the army into believing they to be the General. A question for later however; his duty was to his Pharaoh.

He kept his ears peeled for the sound of soldiers calling, ready to gauge the situation outside the throne room based on how the orders were given. Were they pressing the attack? Forced into retreat? Were the healers and supply lines secured or in danger? Important questions that needed answers, yet only wall rattling roars reached his ears, when the roars stopped there was only the echo of its voice. But Set still couldn't hear anyone talking.

Where were the other priests? Why did he hear nothing?

It felt like eternity was needed to cross the throne room and reach the front doors, though by the time he could rest his hands on them he felt strong enough to walk with most of his dignity. Not that he was thinking of his dignity at that point. It was just too damned quiet in the Palace, silent of guards, soldiers, outside of the roars there was no sound from inside the Palace. Planting the seed of worry in the pit of Set's stomach that the Palace had been abandoned.

Had the Pharaoh been forced to retreat from the Palace it self? That couldn't be right, the Pharaoh was too brilliant for that. He had to have pushed the enemy further out into the edges of the city at the 'least'. But if that was the case, it would have been more logical to call the citizens into the Palace for their safety. Get who they could inside, lock up the front gates and press forward.

So why was it so quiet?

Where was the murmurs of voices? The cries of the children who would be undoubtedly terrified of the situation going on around them? Beyond the doors of the throne room was empty of people, there were a few fires going from sources of flame that fell upon banners. The light enough to reveal the floor and the results of an intense battle. What his eyes took in, his mind already began crafting, causing more questions than answers. Where were the soldiers? If the civilians had not been brought into the palace for their protection, than where were the soldiers to protect the Pharaoh?

Amid the silence of the room, he began to hear something from the distance, the rapid paced steps of someone slight running from ahead of him. The sound was like water to a man dying of thirst, it wasn't until he heard it that he realized how much he 'needed' to hear 'something' that wasn't a monstrous roar. He was only a few paces from the second set of doors when Mana burst forward in a near dead run.

She was panting as though she had been running for days, her normally pristine linen clothes and body covered in dirt, stains of blood and sweat. Her headdress she always wore unstylishly off center was missing and she seemed to have a single goal in mind. Her arms were full of items that glittered as gold, until Set realized she was holding the Sennen Items in her arms. As the girl who normally observed everything before focusing didn't even see him. Instead she hit a hard right turn and was running for the doors leading out further into the palace.

Yet it was the observation of his Rod that grabbed his attention, even as he struggled to say her name. All that came out was a raspy croak, lost to the pitter patter of her feet as she ran. "Mana!" When did he lose his commanding tone from just sleeping? The more he saw of this 'dream' the stronger his desire to return to his Pharaoh's side grew.

Typical to Mana she tried to stop the instant she heard her name, skidding and then falling forward with the Sennen Items tumbling out before her. Set wanted to roll his eyes, but that she didn't turn to look at him. Instead of acknowledging him directly, she began gathering up the Items as though that was more important and that concerned him. Her movements were frantic, desperate, and the Items before her amounted to 'all' the Sennen Items. Watering the seed of concern in the pit of his stomach as he wondered about the fates of his fellow Priests.

"Mana, where are the other Priests?" Set asked as he got closer, his voice finally starting to work properly after that disastrous first attempt. He wanted to know about why she took his Rod, yet seeing the other Items worried him more than his own Item. How could she get the Tauk from Isis? Or the Eye from Aknadin? Especially the Eye, he couldn't see playful Mana tear another person's eye out no matter how extreme her emotions might get.

Yet Mana froze when she heard his voice again, only to redouble her efforts to collect the Items back into her arms as quickly as she could.

"Mana?"

When she finally gathered them up, her hand closing over the Eye she stood up and turned to face him. Her face so smeared of tears that the Khol had smeared itself into large pools over her cheeks and dripped down. As though she had rubbed them like a child as she cried and then let her tears do the rest. "They died."

She spoke the words with such pain, such grief that, like Set, her voice seemed barely used what with the way it cracked and broke. "They all died fighting that horrible demon, even Master is gone... Why Set? Why did you betray us?"

Betray?

Than again, had the Pharaoh any time to tell the other Priests where he had gone? True Set had asked for secrecy about the reason for his departure. Surely the Pharaoh would have realized the time for secrecy had long passed. True Set was a fool for leaving, or more honestly, a fool for not protecting her better that he wouldn't 'need' to travel all the way to the Temple of Tablets.

Mana didn't seem to expect an answer out of him, instead she turned back to the doors leading out of the palace.

'Was' he seeing the future though? He had to question this vision now, worried that he may in fact be seeing the outcome if he didn't return to the Palace 'right that moment'. Could this be some type of cry for help from the Royal City? "Mana! The Pharaoh knew I was leaving, my departure is not a sign of betrayal!" He called as she ran off, struggling to increase the speed of his own steps as he pursued the girl. Even as his feet felt rooted to the ground in a mounting fear.