It feels like someone is beating his head in with a stick.

Atem grimaces, placing his hand up to his forehead as he strains to keep focus. The first thing his fingertips come into contact with is his golden crown with the eye of Wdjat in the middle. Gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes, he uses the bottom of his palm to shove it upward until it is completely off, offering him mild relief from the pressure in his head.

He sits on the floor in his room, surrounded by a sea of scrolls. His room is illuminated by two candles on opposite ends, shedding light alongside the moon that shines in his room as well. It won't be long now. As much as he doesn't want to face reality, he will soon have to take the throne. With his father's health deteriorating by the day, it is only a matter of time before he will have to assume the throne. Being in his early twenties, he would be one of the youngest kings to rule in the past hundred years.

Important tasks have already been assigned to him and he has already led a few missions against intruders and evil doers, making him a promising ruler. Still, he wonders and often worries, if he'll ever live up to his father's influence. He has studied every scroll passed down from king to king about the laws of the land. He has followed his father countless times on how to carry himself as a pharaoh and treat his people.

But is it enough? Will he truly be ready when that time comes?

His eyes go to the door when he hears someone knocking. "It's me," the frail voice on the other side announces.

Atem gasps lightly before springing up to his feet and opening the door, revealing none other than his father. "You shouldn't be up, father," Atem tells him as he makes his way inside.

"Neither should you," Aknamkanon responds with a weak smirk.

Atem closes the door. "You know what I meant. In your condition you—"

"Settle down, my son. A simple walk won't do me much harm."

Atem sighs. Even with his father's declining health, there is no getting through to him. He can see his father's sunken in cheeks and his collar bone poking through the top of his royal garment. The veins on his hands have become a lot more visible as well and his clothes appear to be looser too.

"What has been troubling you?"

Atem blinks with surprise. Is his stress that evident that his father can see it from the moment he walks into his room? Aknamkanon's gaze goes down to the countless scrolls scattered on the floor and Atem places a hand behind his head. "Oh…" is all Atem can manage to say.

"You have studied the same scrolls for as long as I can remember."

"And yet, I still don't feel prepared."

"You're too hard on yourself, my son. You have already exceeded expectations. You are a natural born leader!"

"That's not all…"

"What is it?"

"I'm not prepared to lose you," Atem reveals.

Aknamkanon's eyes widen and there is a long silence between the two of them. Atem's eyes are averted as he attempts to hold back tears while Aknamkanon simply closes his eyes, seemingly holding his composure with ease. It is a conversation that Aknamkanon has long avoided going into detail about. After taking a moment to compose himself, Aknamkanon's eyes soften.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Atem looks to his father with surprise.

"Know that you will never be alone, my son."

"But…"

"Though I won't always be physically present, I will be watching over you," Aknamkanon continues. "You have made me so proud. And I know you will continue to do so in my absence."

Atem can feel something tugging at his heart. He knows his father is attempting to be comforting, but for some reason, this conversation seems different. His father seems to have accepted the inevitable, but he himself is finding it hard to do so.

Does he really have to say goodbye?

"Pardon my intrusion," comes an elder voice. Atem and Aknamkanon turn their attention to the doorway where Shimon stands.

"Shimon. What is it?" Aknamkanon asks.

"There is a disturbance in the village."

Atem instinctively takes a foot forward before pausing abruptly, turning his head to look at his father who nods reassuringly.

"I'll be fine," Aknamkanon says. "Go now."

Without another second to waste, he swiftly grabs his crown and rushes out the room.

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An orange hue illuminates the dark sky as Mahad and Mana get closer to the village near the palace. Visible smoke can be seen rising as well as the sounds of people screaming, presumably helpless villagers. Mahad raises two fingers to his forehead, closing his eyes briefly. Mana watches as a purple aura surrounds him. She has only seen him summon his ka on a few occasions and it still leaves her in complete awe. A purple figured silhouette flies ahead of them, readying its green staff to attack.

Mana finds herself wondering if she will ever be able to summon her own ka someday. Or is that an ability reserved for certain individuals?

"Be on guard and let no harm befall the villagers," Mahad says, snapping her out of it. Blinking, she narrows her eyes and focuses ahead of her as they finally reach the village.

Dark hooded horsemen parade around the area, creating chaos wherever they gallop. Civilians rush out of their burning homes, running to safety as several priests use their own ka to fight back.

"Two-Headed Jackal Warrior, attack!" a priest known as Shada commands.

"Go Bastet!" Another priest by the name of Karim calls out and both of their respective monsters attack the hooded figures. After one gets thrown from its horse, it slowly dissipates.

"Are they even human?" Shada asks out loud.

"It appears they are not," comes a voice from behind them belonging to Seto. He looks to his own ka, Duos, silently motioning it to attack another hooded figure. "Which means, I won't have to hold back."

Emerging from the palace gates, Atem and Shimon both take in the chaotic scene unfolding in front of them. Atem takes note of the hooded attackers, narrowing his eyes. His mind flashes back to several years ago when he faced off against one of them near the Nile. "There's more of them…" he remarks under his breath, but loud enough for Shimon to hear.

"You've seen them before?" Shimon asks.

Atem readies his diadhank. "If I can call upon the Egyptian gods…"

"No," Shimon quickly intervenes. "You're still much too inexperienced to wield their power."

"But Shimon..." So is he only to oversee everything and not take any action at all? How can he be expected to sit back and watch his priests put their lives in danger? A shimmer that reflects from a nearby sword that once belonged to one of the fallen horsemen lies nearby. Without thinking, Atem rushes ahead despite Shimon's protests, grabbing it in his hand and joining the fight to protect the villagers.

"Spiria, protect them!" Priestess Isis commands her ka just in time before a hooded intruder can attack a defenseless woman. The woman flinches, anticipating pain as she watches the horseman's sword swipe down. But instead, she hears the sound of it hitting something solid. When she opens her eyes, she sees a forcefield has formed in front of her. Then she looks back to the priestess who has her arm outstretched.

The woman smiles with relief, but it soon turns into horror when she sees another hooded figure approaching the priestess from behind. Noticing her alarmed gaze, Isis turns around just as the attacker is about to swipe down on her. She is barely able to lift her hands when the mysterious figure suddenly goes down after being hit. Isis sighs with relief before looking up to see who is the cause of the assailant's demise. Her eyes go big when she realizes it's none other than the prince himself.

"Your highness? What are you—?"

"Are you alright?" Atem asks.

"I should be asking you that," Isis replies. "I should be protecting you, not the other way around."

"We're in this together," he tells her as he looks out toward the village. There are a few horsemen left, but it seems the priests have gotten things under control. But the question remains where did they come from to begin with? Is there an outside force summoning them? And is this any indicator that something major is up ahead?

Mahad quickly dodges a swipe from a sword and then outstretches his hand to magically blast the horseman in retaliation. Then he looks over his shoulder to Mana who jumps out of the way to avoid getting hit by another hooded figure. The attacker goes full out, taking multiple swipe attempts at Mana who dodges with ease.

Not wanting to go on the defensive much longer, she eyes a plank of wood laying in the sand and quickly grabs it. Mahad raises an eyebrow. Does she think she can defend herself against a sword with a mere piece of wood? Just as he is about to intervene, she aims the wooden plank at the attacker and it begins to glow at the tip.

Mahad gasps. "What's this…?"

A ball of magical energy suddenly emits from the wooden plank, completely dissipating the assailant to Mahad's shock. She then tosses the wooden plank in the air, causing it to spin a few times until she catches it, hanging it over her shoulder to blast the other hooded attacker trying to sneak up behind her without looking. Then she tosses the object to the side, patting her hands together to get any remaining dirt off her palms.

Feeling eyes on her, she looks up to meet Mahad's surprised expression.

She tilts her head. "What?"

"Er…what was that exactly?" Mahad asks, glancing over to the wooden plank on the ground. "Quite unconventional don't you think?"

Mana follows his gaze and then a red hue appears on her cheeks as she quickly looks away. "Hey, you have your methods and I have mine."

"Well don't you have some nerve showing your face after all these years," comes a cold voice from nearby.

Mana doesn't bother to look to the source, already recognizing the voice right away. As she stares past Mahad in an attempt to block him out, she can see Mahad shoot over a glare to the other priest from the corner of her eye. It's surprising to think that after all this time, Mahad still holds some sort of loyalty to her. Even if the other priest's words hold some truth to it.

"Can't even look me in the eye, can you?"

"Seto, not now," Mahad intervenes.

"Save it," Seto retorts. "While I'll never question the pharaoh, I'll never understand why he gave someone like you an opportunity to have a better life, only for you to disrespect him in the end."

"And I'll never understand how someone as cold as you was offered a position to be apart of the sacred court to begin with," Mana counters, her eyes slowly scrolling over to look at the now enraged priest.

"Why don't you go back to the hole you crawled out of?"

"That's enough Seto," comes a low but commanding voice.

Mana can feel her heart drop to her stomach as she hesitantly looks to the source. Walking up to them is none other than Atem. It has been years since she's seen him and yet he still looks the same aside from his slight change in height, toned features and a more mature voice. His voice would normally bring joy and comfort to her, but instead she finds herself trying not to visibly shake. How long has he noticed she was there? How much of that did he hear?

Seto sucks his teeth with irritation before turning away to tend to any injured villagers. Wanting to show her gratitude to Atem stepping in, Mana opens her mouth to say 'thank you.' Except when she finally looks in the direction where Atem previously was, he is no longer there. Instead, he too, is also helping the villagers. She isn't surprised that he is ignoring her.

But if only he knew why she left to begin with.

Sighing, she looks out to the damaged homes. It's hard not to think back to that tragic day where her own village went up in flames and she lost her parents. She shakes her head. Any more dwelling on that incident and she'll get emotional.

"So what happens now?" Mana asks Mahad.

"My students and I will restore the village back to its normal state using our magic," he tells her.

"Must be nice," Mana shrugs.

"He isn't mad at you."

Mana quickly looks over to Mahad with a surprised, yet somewhat confused expression. "Hm?"

"But he is hurt. The manner in which you left was…abrupt."

Mana closes her eyes as she exhales. "You know why…"

"There is more to that story than you know."

"So tell me."

Glancing over at his student magicians who have already begun the restoration, Mahad begins to turn away. "My apologies. I really need to assist my students at the moment," he tells her.

Mana sighs heavily. "Of course. I understand, I guess."

"Perhaps if you stick around we can discuss things further," he says as he walks away, but not before looking over his shoulder one more time. "And train you to summon magic more gracefully."

She blinks as her cheeks turn red. Is he referring to the fact that she used a mere piece of wood to perform a magical blast? "H-Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Meet me outside the palace walls tomorrow at sunset."

Folding her arms, she looks away. What makes him think she'll even come back? She only came to help out. That's it.

Although the thought of honing her abilities does sound appealing. She hasn't been quite able to do it on her own, having to resort to more 'creative' ways to do certain spells. Perhaps Mahad is the missing piece to get her to become a powerful sorcerer.

Looking up, she watches as Atem walks toward the palace gates, seemingly turning in for the night after insuring everyone's wellbeing. She'd be lying to herself to say she hasn't missed his companionship. They did grow up together after all.

But will things ever be the same?

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AN: And that concludes yet another chapter. Sigh…I have to say that will all the spam reviews, I'm losing a bit of motivation to continue with this story. Sucks what this website is starting to become. It's become a bit of a downer.

Until next time, I guess!