Apep and the Sacred Scrolls of Duat.
Chapter 3: Sinister Serpents in Shadows.
Deep inside the palace of Pharaoh Atemu lay a private temple; it was heavily guarded at all times and used only by the High Priests of the Temples, the sacred Guardians, and by the King himself. It was made of flawless stone, with no windows and only a single closed door. There were tall, elegant pillars and beautifully cared statues of old gods while at the centre of the far wall was the most grand statue of them all, a golden deity which caught the flickering light from the torches which lined the room, burning with bright flames.
The room was also, at the present time, very much devoid of life; not a single soul was inside the private shrine...until the shadows started forming. A wisp of shadow in the shape of a serpent slithered through the air, appearing from out of the ethers, it coiled around the pillars and the torches, snuffing out each light one by one. Then, it moved across to the grand statue of Amun and finally it wormed its way around his feet and up his ankles, then round his torso and it squeezed his neck with deep hatred as though expressing a strong wish to do the same to the real thing.
With the room in total darkness now, the shadows multiplied and the floor was soon a slithering mass of sinister serpents. They squirmed over each other as they hissed about the room, their numbers continuing to multiply rapidly. There was a loud growl and suddenly, the smaller serpents froze in their movements and they started to worm away from the centre of the room, leaving behind the solid forms of seven humans.
As these humans emerged lying on the ground, as though simply sleeping, the shadows decreased in numbers and soon, with one last, low hiss, they were, all of them, gone. The teens then began to stir and wince at the hard floor on which they now found themselves.
"Oh man," Tristan sighed as he pushed himself off the floor, "What hit me?" He grimaced and turned his head around the room with confusion, "Er...guys, where'd Yugi's house go?"
"Wha?" Yugi furrowed his brow as his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.
As the others also stood up, they too were beginning to clearly see that their new surroundings were not familiar to them.
"Is this a dream?" Duke asked.
"Not unless we're in the same one," Teà answered, "And, I can't say I've ever dreamt about an old Egyptian temple...or whatever this is."
"It's a temple alright, guys," Yugi said; he'd seen enough of them from photos his grandpa had given him to know a temple when he was in one. Alright he'd never seen one so well preserved...and he was pretty sure his grandfather hadn't either.
"And...How did we get into an old Egyptian temple?" Rebecca frowned.
"Well...this could still be a dream..." Tristan hoped. He walked across to Joey and pinched his friends' nose.
"Ah!" Joey grunted, not expecting Tristan's action, "What's d'at for?!"
"Oh man, it's really not a dream, is it?"
"Get off 'a me!" Joey yelled, swatting his hands at Tristan.
"Joey," Serenity panicked, "Where are we? What happened?"
"Well..." he began slowly, "I...erm...Yug...What happened?"
"Erm..." Yugi hummed and walked across to the grand statue of the Egyptian God Amun, "I don't know...maybe we..."
"Oh boy," Joey relied, "Y'don't think..."
"Yeah..." Yugi nodded.
"What?" Rebecca asked.
"At least we won't have to worry about Joey eating the burger joint outta business any time soon," Duke said under his breath to conceal his own concern.
"What d'you..." Serenity began.
"I don't wanna live in the desert!" Joey yelled over his sister, and his voice echoed off the stone walls.
Just then, the door at the end of the room swung open and a group of men, all armed, well-muscled and wearing Egyptian kilts ran through the doorway. Following them was a man wearing a long robe and the amount of gold he wore, clearly marked him out as a man of status. "Wha...it's Kaiba again!" Joey shouted as he pointed over to Priest Seto.
"Restrain them at once," the man ordered the guards who quickly obeyed.
"Serenity!" Joey yelled, "Hey, let her go!" he shouted at the guard now restraining his sister.
"Silence. How did you enter the sacred temple of Amun undetected?" Priest Seto demanded of them.
"Erm...well...we..." Yugi stuttered.
"Well?!" Seto demanded as a woman walked through into the room. She was wearing a long, fitted dress and a headdress which was decorated at the forehead with the Millennium eye symbol.
"It's erm...complicated..." the young duellist smiled nervously and he saw that this woman wore the Millennium necklace.
"You offer no excuse for your crimes," the Priest continued. "Take them to the dungeons," Seto commanded the guards.
"Wait," the woman said, "Let us bring them before the Pharaoh; given the present circumstances, of course."
"Yeah," Joey nodded eagerly as he tried to work his way from out of the strong grip of the guard holding him back, "The Pharaoh'll tell ya he knows us!"
"You dare presume a familiarity with the great Pharaoh!" priest Seto hissed.
"Nice one, Joey," Tristan shook his head.
"Guards..." Seto began.
"Wait, I see no danger from them," Isis said, silencing him. Her hands were raised before the Millennium necklace which was now glowing golden, "They did not come here intending harm to the Pharaoh."
"Why did you not foresee their coming?" Seto demanded but she shook her head.
"I cannot answer that," she sighed, "But it's strange, from all that I can see...they should not be here."
"That much is plainly obvious, Isis."
"No," she said more forcefully and lowered her hands from the Millennium item, "There are other forces at work here; familiar forces."
"You cannot mean..." Seto narrowed his eyes at her and she inclined her head. "Very well," he sighed and turned to the guards, "We will bring them before the Pharaoh."
"Yes, sir," they nodded and began leading the teens forwards.
"You're gonna regret this, ya Kaiba double!" Joey yelled at the priest, "The Pharaoh's gonna have you on cleanin' duty...ah!" he grunted after the guard restraining him pulled on his arm forcefully.
"Silence," priest Seto commanded as they entered a stunning room of gold.
The floor was polished to perfection in a deep golden brown and the walls shone in perfect gold with coloured pillars spaced equally down the entire length of the space. At the centre of the far wall was the magnificent golden throne, on either side of which was a sacred eye of Horus in flawless lapis lazuli, protecting the power of the Pharaoh. But the king was, as yet, absent from the throne as the guards led the teens forwards towards into the earth of the room. Each of them was still held back by a guard and then the two priests, Isis and Seto went to stand before the throne the former on the left and the latter to the right.
Then, almost instantly two other men arrived, one Yugi noted looked remarkably like his grandfather wearing a tall blue hat bearing the sacred eye while another man was well muscled with a typical wig of straight black hair and he and carried the Millennium scale in his hand.
All of these men walked silently to stand round the throne, save the smaller older man with the tall hat who walked up the few steps to stand at the right hand of the gold throne. The guards had moved the teens to stand right in front of the priests, and looking up at the throne was extremely intimidating.
There were a further two guards stood before a huge, polished gong to the side of the room, and one swung at it with a mallet creating the characteristic, reverberating 'crash'. In an open space of this size and grandeur the sound served to create an intimidating impression, and it also served to, more obviously, herald the arrival of the King himself.
The guards restraining the teens didn't allow them to turn around as they heard a 'swoosh' of fabric, which was the deep red curtains being pulled back for the King to enter and they saw the priests in front of them bow deeply.
The Pharaoh's view of the teens was blocked by the guards restraining them as he moved slowly through the room. He had come expecting merely more people complaining about something or other, and he had more important things to worry about than another matter of stolen goods. There had been quite a number of those lately because of the chaos, and their idea was that by bringing the thieves before the king, others would think twice before repeating the offence. But it was tiring; not that he didn't care about those issues, but right now, Atemu was sure that his guardians could handle this while he continued his study of the scrolls.
"Bow before the Pharaoh," he heard the guards command their prisoners and said prisoners exhaled in shock as they were forced to their knees.
As the King ascended the steps to his throne he turned round to sit down and after he did so, he blinked in confusion in a very un-king-like manner. "...Yugi?" he choked, momentarily forgetting himself. Atemu the great Pharaoh was sat motionless as he stared across at his friends, his friends that had been born 3,000 years after him were now present in the afterworld. They were held down like common criminals by his own royal guard in his own palace.
"My king," he heard Shimon say in shock as the man moved the blue veil from his mouth, "You know these people?"
"I...yes I do," the King said, "Release them," he ordered at once.
"But, my king..." Seto began to object.
"I said, release them!" he repeated, "Guards," the King narrowed his eyes at the men.
"Yeah," Joey sighed, "You heard the man," he said as the guards bowed before stepping away from them, "Hey, dude," he then smiled up at his friend who was still leaning forwards, motionlessly.
"Is it really you?" Yugi asked curiously as they got up off their knees.
"I..." Atemu frowned. He wasn't sure whether this was real or just a trick, perhaps it would've been wiser to ascertain that before commanding his guards to free them, but with such a shock, thinking logically was difficult even for a king. But he needed to be sure that this was not one of the serpents' tricks, so he stood from his throne and walked slowly down to where they stood. He began to circle them and his Millennium puzzle began to glow as his dark blue cape followed his movements gracefully.
"Pharaoh..." Seto began.
"Erm...what're you doing?" Yugi asked him nervously. The look he saw in his friends' eye was not a reassuring one; in fact it was quite threatening. Then, a second later, Atemu reached out a tanned and bejewelled hand and rested it on Yugi's shoulder. The unnerving look of determination vanished from his eyes at once then and the puzzle stopped glowing.
"...Nothing," Atemu answered.
"I don't think I remember seeing you this speechless before," Yugi smiled slowly up at him. "It is you, isnt it?" he asked, beaming.
"Yes, Yugi, it is me," the King said and before he could say anything further, Yugi launched himself at his friend and enveloped him in his arms.
"I thought I'd never see you again," the teenager declared, his eyes watering. His friends quickly followed him and preceeded to surround the Pharaoh and take turns to hug him and pat him on the back.
"The gang's back again!" Joey smiled, "Only seems right we get two spikey heads in the group."
"And one knucklehead," Trietan snorted at him.
"Unhand the Pharaoh at once!" Seto bellowed, "This is unacceptable, no one is permitted to.."
"Its alright, Seto," Atemu said, resting his arm on Yugi's shoulders since the young boy refused to let go. When Seto had ordered Yugi to release him, Yugi had only tightened his grip on his friend.
"Seto," Atemu sighed, "These are no enemies; they are dear friends and they have my deepest respect."
"I apologise, Pharaoh," the priests' attitude altered immediately as he bowed before the king. "I did not know," he said.
"No apology is necessary; you are not to blame," the king said, "I told you nothing of them, after all."
"Forgive my interruption, Pharaoh," Isis said respectfully, "But...how is it you came to know these people?" She has no idea who these people were but from the strange, fragmented visions she had been given by her Millennium necklace when she tried to ascertain why she hadn't seen them entering the palace; she knew for sure that they were most definitely not supposed to be in this world.
"I'm afraid that it's a rather long story, Isis," the King answered. "I will, of course inform you in due time, however," he turned to the teens, "More importantly - not that your appearance is in any way unwelcome...just how did you get here?"
"One word, pal," Joey shuddered, "Snakes...lots and lots of snakes."
"Hundreds of 'em," Duke nodded.
"Serpents?" Atemu frowned.
"My king," Shimon exclaimed, "Could this be the work of..."
"I...pray not," Pharaoh said, "But it is most probable. Tell me what happened before you arrived here," he said to them.
"Well," Yugi began, "First we saw duel monsters all over the street."
"Then we saw the Egyptian Gods," Serenity added.
"And then we were buried by snakes," Rebecca finished.
"How...unusual," priest Karim tilted his head to one side.
"If we are to be on the same side I believe we would all do well if we were properly acquainted, my king," Shimon said from beside the king's throne.
"Huh?" Joey muttered in confusion.
"Of course you are right, Shimon," the king nodded; after being cooped up with only the sacred scrolls for company for the past several hours it was difficult to think straight again, especially after such a shock. He shook his head tiredly and held back a yawn as he gently prised Yugi's arms from around his torso. "Yugi, this makes it difficult for me to introuduce you to my court," he said, quietly.
Yugi nodded and took a reluctant step back as the Pharaoh spoke again, "Yugi, Teà, Serenity, Joey, Duke, Tristan, allow me to introduce my royal priests and most loyal friends, Seto, Shimon, Mahad, Isis, Shada and Karim," he said, each priest nodding in turn.
"...Hey..." Yugi replied uncertainly as he raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. He couldn't help but notice how nervous his friends looked as well and he was relieved that he wasn't the only one; after all, this was a little formal for their tastes.
"So...if you know how we got here..." Teà began slowly, "Wherever this is..."
"Yes, I'm afraid we know very well," Atemu nodded but he turned away from them to observe the other guards and courtiers in the room. "Come with me, all of you," he said before leading them and his priests from the room. "Where is Mana?" he asked Isis.
"I believe she is within the stone sanctuaries, my king," she said.
"Would you be so good as to send a guard to locate her and return to my chambers," he told her and she nodded before going her separate way and then returning a moment later.
"Mana's here?" Yugi asked him.
"Of course," Atemu answered him as they walked.
"You know Mana?" Karim turned to Yugi.
"Yeah...it's...it's complicated," Yugi sighed and fortunately for him, the man didn't enquire further.
They continued to move through the palace, walking across grand , open courtyards where the sunlight streamed down unhindered, beating down onto the ground and making the pools of water dance in the light. They walked through long corridors lined with pillars and beautiful stone carvings and they saw people looking very content even if they were working about the place.
Finally, they came to the Pharaoh's private chambers, which were, of course, heavily guarded with men and with magic at every door and every wall. It was a lavish area of even more exquisite craftsmanship and an even larger abundance of gold than even the throne room itself could boast.
The king's inner sitting area was filled with striking colours of blue and green and red on the plush carpets and pillows and cushions that littered the place. These colours contrasted with the sandy colour of the walls and the pillars, but these were of course highly decorated to an extremely high standard.
"Whoa..." breathed Joey, Duke and Tristan simultaneously on entering the room. They ran forwards and started to examine everything with envious eyes and the king quickly told them all to take a seat somewhere.
"To keep things brief," the king began, looking at his guardians who were eying the modern teens with a mix of both curiosity and confusion. "I will say that they have my complete trust and respect; they were instrumental saving mankind from the Zorc."
"But, my king," Isis said, "They are not...they do not belong here...they have not passed."
"No, they have not," the king nodded.
"Y'mean...died? We're not..." Yugi asked, confused.
"No, you are still very much alive," Isis told them. When the Pharaoh stared across at her for assurance, Isis gave him a respecftul nod and he returned it.
"Thankfully, you do not appear to have been sent here for your eternal rest," the King said to Yugi. "This is the land of the dead where my people are meant to reside in eternal paradise, but that hasn't been the case now for some time, I'm afraid," the King said. "As to why or even how you are here...well...that is quite inexplicable," he added.
"Land 'o the dead?!" Joey, Tristan and Duke exclaimed in stereo.
"Yes," he nodded.
"Then how can they still be here?" Karim asked, "The Gods support the souls of those passed, surely they would not allow others here."
"I must agree with Karim," Seto said, "This could prove to be a difficult problem."
"I know," the king nodded but he said nothing further on the subject.
"So..." Yugi began, "We're not supposed to be here...why are we here then?"
"Yeah, an' why the snakes?" Joey shuddered.
"You are not the only ones with a serpent problem," Shimon answered, cryptically.
"For several days now, the city has been attacked by the serpent creature..." Atemu began.
"All this trouble 'cos of one 'lil snake?" Joey scoffed and Teà suddenly felt the need to face-palm at Joey's look of amused confidence amidst the seriousness of the Priests.
"The great serpent Apep," Shimon corrected, "And he is not to be mocked, young man; he possesses a power to rival the gods themselves."
"So did Zorc, right?" Joey shrugged.
"Yes, but the serpent has one terrible ability which Zorc did not," Atemu frowned.
"What's that?" Yugi asked.
"He steals souls," Karim said gravely.
"He steals..what?" Duke blinked.
"The souls of those passed; he can steal them," Karim answered, "It takes the life force of humans, animals, and monsters; although where they go, we know not."
"That is why you saw duel monsters in your world," the king said, "They were trying to escape its wrath anyway they could."
"So...why the Egyptian Gods?" Yugi asked.
"I had to call the others back; I couldn't let them simply run loose like that, could I?" Atemu replied.
"Their fear is understandable; when one is taken by the serpent, one's entire record is simply erased," Shimon said.
"Their 'record'?" Yugi repeated.
"Their soul, their presence and their name," Isis began, "They just...cease to be."
"How can you record everyone who's ever...y'know?" Tristan asked. He was suddenly reminded of the evil Oricalchos and the huge room the brainwashed Dartz had once covered with the souls of his victims.
"We do not," Seto said, "The Gods record their name in magically protected scrolls, and only the king is permitted to touch them."
"Which is why this is so troublesome," Atemu added, "It makes no sense; he takes the souls of my people and I cannot begin to say why," he growled. "If he has the power to enter this world he does not require what little further they could give him."
"We believe he is somehow accessing the same shadow magic as the Millennium items harness when he attacks," Isis continued, "He cannot have accessed this power alone; he was banished to the Pit of Fire for all time by the Gods themselves at the dawn of time, no one would help him."
"Evidently someone already has," Seto said, "Eluding our magicians' detection in the process, I might add."
"Seto," Atemu frowned just as an excitable Mana entered the room.
"Hi!" Mana cried happily, running across to Yugi and his friends, "Oh, who are you?" she asked, looking at Duke, Serenity and Rebecca. Yugi quickly introduced them while the sacred guardians watched in a degree of shock that Mana actually knew the others. "So they found you in the temple, huh? I bet the guards didn't like that; they don't let anyone pass."
"Do we not have security measure around the palace to prevent such unexpected arrivals?" Seto asked with a small smile.
"Seto," Atemu sighed again and Mana giggled.
"Pharaoh!" Isis cried, startling everyone in the room. Her Millennium necklace was glowing and she looked suddenly very afraid, "We are under attack," she said with urgency.
"What?" Joey and his friends yelled just as they could hear loud footsteps from the corridors. "Nya! It's them! Run for your lives!" Joey bellowed.
"It's the royal guards," Mana whispered to him with a wide grin. Then of course, she was proven correct when four guards ran into the room, stopping quickly to bow before one of them spoke gravely.
"Pharaoh!" the guards cried, "The shadows...the serpents...they have returned."
"So soon?" Seto frowned as the group of Priests regarded each other with fear.
"Mana, stay here with them," Atemu told his friend with a glance in the direction of the modern teens.
"But I..." she began, but the no-nonsense glare which he gave her was enough to stop her, so she simply nodded reluctantly. "Fine," she said, but the looks of disapproval around her peers prompted her to add, "My king," she sounded now, very meek and embarrassed.
"Wait, Pharaoh..." Yugi cried, but it was too late; the king, his guards and guardians were gone from the room.
"What's goin' on?" Duke muttered.
"Weren't you listening?" Mana asked, "We're under attack…from the snake!"
"Y'mean that 'Ap...' what's his name," Joey said.
"It was Apep," Rebecca corrected quickly.
"Yeah, thanks, Becc," Joey nodded.
"Mm-hmm," Mana nodded with a worried frown.
"But...the Pharaoh can beat him...right?" Tristan asked.
"Well, they've done it before, but it gets closer to the walls each time it attacks," the magician explained. "I don't wanna know what it'll do if it gets inside," she said, walking over to the balcony which overlooked the city.
The teens followed her and they watched as the dark shadows seeped over the sand dunes in the distance, moving ever closer to the city with each passing second.