He can barely keep his eyes open. Though he wasn't able to get any sleep last night either. Glancing down to the item hanging around his neck, his mind begins to replay the disturbing images it revealed to him. There were bloodcurdling screams, partially standing walls painted in red and a massive fire that seemed to silence the chaos.

A huge part of him feels a great amount of guilt. The item around his neck has caused so much pain. He even attempted to toss the Millennium Ring a few times last night, but it would magically reappear around his neck. Having the Millennium Ring bestowed upon him should be a huge honor. But instead, it feels like a curse.

All of the priests including himself are aware that the items were created in a ritual from the Millennium spell book. But he is the only one that knows what it entails.

He walks down the halls of the palace. He can see the sun at the courtyard's entrance as it makes its grand appearance as it usually does. Typically he would inhale the fresh air and embrace the sun's rays, however, he is feeling the exact opposite. A dark cloud lingers over him as he ponders what he should do. The pharaoh deserves to know, but he wonders if that will have any negative impact on the king.

He feels a tap on the shoulder, causing him to turn around abruptly with his guard up. Mana flinches, putting her arm up defensively until Mahad slowly lets his guard down.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to startle you," Mahad apologizes.

Mana tilts her head. "Why are you apologizing? It's my fault for sneaking up on you," she replies before frowning, seeing his tired expression. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Well you look like you haven't gotten any sleep."

"You're up early," Mahad notes. Normally Mana is the type to sleep in. With the sun barely in the sky, he wonders why she is up. They begin to walk side by side.

"To be honest, I didn't get much sleep either," she replies. "I kept wondering if he was okay."

"The prince will be fine as long as you allow him to rest. But I hope you've learned a lesson not to be so careless next time."

She lowers her eyes. "Yeah…"

"Although…"

Mana looks over to the older magician, wondering what he'll say next.

"It was quite brave of you to shield the prince from harm. Reckless, yes. But brave."

"Brave…?"

"And reckless," Mahad reiterates again. But that doesn't keep a smirk from slowly appearing on Mana's lips. Hearing that coming from Mahad means more than he'll ever know. To have the most powerful sorcerer say good things about her gives her hope that one day he'll allow her to become an official sorcerer of the palace.

Mahad smiles warmly at Mana's determination. He has always known her to have great potential, despite the odds being against her. Her recent display of heroism has admittedly got him thinking about a different role for her. Looking ahead, his smile soon fades when he sees Pharaoh Aknamkanon walking in their direction.

It all hits him again. The terrible visions the Millennium Ring showed to him all come flooding back into his mind. 'I have to tell him,' Mahad thinks to himself. 'No matter how difficult this may be. He needs to know.'

"Mana, I need to have a conversation with the pharaoh," he tells her.

"Hm?" She glances ahead before turning her sights on Mahad. He looks more serious than usual and almost seems troubled by something. Nevertheless, she nods her head and decides to leave in the opposite direction. Initially she walks briskly in order to give them their privacy, but the more she thinks about Mahad's sudden change in demeanor, the more curious she gets as to what they will be talking about.

Unfortunately for her, it doesn't look like they'll be having that conversation out in the open. By the time she stops and turns around, they aren't there anymore. Briefly looking up in thought, she wonders where they could have gone. To the pharaoh's private quarters? No. With the way Mahad was acting, this conversation must be incredibly serious.

Walking inside the palace halls, she cautiously makes her way toward the throne room. With the meeting being unplanned, the throne room will not be as heavily guarded as it usually is. Nevertheless, she knows she will not be able to just walk right in. She will have to be more creative in order to get in.

Peeking around the corner of a wall, she notices two guards standing at the closed entrance with their spheres in hand. A mischievous grin appears on her lips as she places an index finger up to her head to chant a certain spell.

"What is this about, Mahad?" Pharaoh Aknamkanon asks as he sits on his throne. He notices how Mahad's head is lowered and his body in tense with his fists clenched at his sides. He has always known Mahad to have a calm demeanor, but right now he is showing the exact opposite. "Something is troubling you."

Mahad breathes out. There will never be a good time to tell the pharaoh what he is about to tell him. But he has to. "My king…"

"You can tell me anything," Aknamkanon says, sensing Mahad's hesitation. "Please…tell me what is wrong."

The magician slowly lifts his head to look the pharaoh in the eyes. It's now or never. As he opens his mouth to speak, relaying what the Millennium Ring showed him, he can see Aknamkanon's facial expression go from concerned, to shock, to complete horror. His body sinks into his seat and his eyes stare forward with his mouth partially agape. Each detail Mahad goes over only makes his heart beat faster and a sickening feeling lingers in the pit of his stomach.

"No…" Aknamkanon manages to utter. "This cannot be."

Mahad only bows his head, averting his gaze.

"The items…they were made from…?"

"I'm afraid so…" Mahad replies gravely.

The pharaoh sits back in his seat, his posture still slouched as he places a shaky hand to his head in disbelief. "How could I have let this happen?"

"It's not your fault. You didn't know!" Mahad says. "None of us did. Except…"

"He got permission from me. Regardless if I knew or not, this happened under my rule. And therefore I must take full responsibility for this. The blood of Kul Elna…those villagers…it all rests on my hands…"

"The blood of…those villagers…rests on my hands…"

Standing at the cracked entrance between two frozen guards, Mana's jaw drops as she slowly backs away. Though the conversation was muffled, she was able to partially make out what the Pharaoh said. Her hands slide up to her face as she backs into a wall and drops to the floor.

'No…it can't be…'

The room around her starts to become blurry and her head begins to spin. This has to be some sort of mistake. She has always known the Pharaoh to be a nice man. He was even so gracious to let her stay in the palace. But if what he said is true, it would mean it is all a lie. Her confusion soon goes to anger as she balls up her hair in her fists, gritting her teeth furiously as she stares forward at the entrance of the palace.

Her family. Her entire village. Was it all the palace's doing this entire time? Were the alleged intruders only a cover up for them to be able to carry out what they wanted to do? And from the sounds of it, her late friend's village may have also fallen victim to the palace as well.

"What will you do now?" Mahad asks the Pharaoh.

"We will continue to use the Millennium Items as we originally intended…for the good of Egypt."

Mahad lowers his eyes. "I see. The Millennium Items would be dangerous in the wrong hands. So I suppose that is for the best."

"For such monstrosities to happen under my rule…this goes against the peace and prosperity I wanted for Egypt. And I need to repent and ask the gods' forgiveness. I pray they will spare my son for my horrible mistake…"

"My pharaoh…"

The doors to the palace suddenly swing open to their surprise and Mahad quickly stands in front of the pharaoh protectively until he sees who it is. "Mana?" He says with his eyes widened. "What is the meaning of this?"

Tears stream down her face as her eyes begin to glow pink with rage. A dark aura surrounds her, putting Mahad on guard at her sudden outburst. But he is mainly concerned. What is she doing here and why is she upset to begin with? Unless…

"Oh no…" Mahad says to himself with realization. "Could she have heard…?"

"IT WAS ALL A LIE!" Mana cries at the top of her lungs.

"Mana, that isn't anyway to speak in the pharaoh's presence!" Mahad attempts to correct her.

"You killed my best friend! Destroyed his home!"

"What…?" Aknamkanon asks, slowly standing to his feet.

"Were the intruders a lie as well? Did you destroy my home too?!"

"No, Mana! You have it all wrong!" Mahad comes to the pharaoh's defense.

"I HEARD WHAT HE SAID!" she screams. "You caused destruction all for your own selfish need for power!" The ground beneath them begins to shake as cracks form from the bottom of her feet and trickle down the length of the floor until it reaches Mahad who looks on in shock.

'This power…' he remarks internally.

"Why did you take me in? Because you felt pity?! A guilty conscious?!" She continues. "It's clear you don't care about people like me!"

"Mana that's enough! That's no way to speak to—"

"It's alright Mahad," Aknamkanon says, stepping forward to Mahad's surprise. "In the end…I was unable to save her village as well. If I had taken action sooner, not only would her village had survived the attack from the intruders, but perhaps we wouldn't have had to to take such desperate measures in creating the Millennium items as a last resort."

"Pharaoh…."

"LIES! There were no intruders, were there?! Those men came from your army!"

"Mana…please understand…" the Pharaoh begins to say.

"I don't want your apologies or excuses! You ruined my life!" She turns her sights to Mahad who silently attempts to calm her down with his worried expression alone. But it is no use. "I thought I wanted to be like you…to serve in the palace and protect people. But…if you can stand by his side despite all the destruction he's caused, then maybe I was wrong about you too!" And with that, she turns around and storms off.

"Mana wait!" Mahad calls after her. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go. He curses himself for not to taking more measures to ensure the conversation between him and the king would be more private. He turns to Aknamkanon and bows respectively. "I need to excuse myself, sir."

Aknamkanon nods understandably before slowly sitting back down on his throne, pondering what was revealed to him.

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There is no sign of her anywhere in the palace. He has searched high and low and he still hasn't found her. Did she run away? Surely she couldn't have gone past the highly secured gates of the palace. Then again, Mana has creative ways of getting away. Now that he thinks about it, he remembers she can create portals or even freeze people in place to get where she needs to go without being spotted.

Leaning against a wall inside the palace, he places a hand up to his head. 'This is all my fault,' he thinks to himself.

"Mahad?"

His stomach drops when he realizes who's calling him. Slowly lifting his eyes, he sees the prince standing in front of him with a concerned gaze. With Mana and Atem being best friends, he is the last person Mahad wants to see right now.

"You seem troubled," Atem tells him. "Did something happen?"

He doesn't want the prince to worry, but he also knows that Atem is quite perceptive and will eventually come to his own conclusions.

Mahad sighs. "Mana and I…there was a misunderstanding and we got into a verbal altercation," he partially reveals. He's sure that Aknamkanon doesn't want him to reveal to his son or anyone else what happened in Kul Elna.

Atem crosses his arms and frowns. "Well…I suppose it wouldn't be the first time. You two have the tendency to bicker back and forth," Atem says with a slight shrug. But when he sees Mahad avert his eyes, he gets the feeling the argument might have been serious. "That bad?"

"She stormed off and I have been unable to find her."

"Give her time," Atem says, remaining optimistic. "I'm sure she'll come around. And then you two can resolve whatever differences you have."

"I really want you to be right…But I fear this argument may have done irreversible damage…"

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Her knees crash into the soft sand as she pants heavily. The wind around her blows fiercely, causing her to squint to prevent the small particles from entering her eyes. The palace stands far in the distance behind her, a blurred silhouette. The rest of her body goes forward and her palms touch the hot sand as tears drop down.

She can remember many days and nights taking this same path between her village and the palace with her parents when they were carrying out their duties. But that life is long gone. Burned to ashes. The cries of her people and the painful scenes that were buried in her memories begin to trickle out again. And to think a place that she was beginning to consider her new home was responsible for it all.

With her breathing becoming labored and her heart beating faster than ever, the rest of her body collapses to the ground. Feeling more alone than ever, she comes to the conclusion that she will perish out in the desert alone.

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AN: Hey there! Sorry for the delay. Life has certainly hit me hard lately, but I'm getting back to things that I love doing. Thanks for all your support! I'll try and keep updating this story as long as the interest is there. Until next time!