Chapter 1 : The Pharaoh

When I was a child I always knew what I would become, who I needed to be and how I needed to act. I was taught the laws and ways of my people, so I could know how to judge those who defied it with true justice. I always knew that one day I'd have to get married and give a new heir to my people, even if I didn't want to.. What I never knew was about THEM.. My father failed to tell me about the creatures that live within the tunnels of mountain tops. I knew that the dragons resided there, swarming it like mosquitoes to light, but never would I imagine that those dragons protected an entry to a world more dangerous than what I could ever imagine.. The entry to a land of demons.

I didn't learn of their existence until my father died from an illness and I became the new Pharaoh of Egypt. On my first day I was given a brief orientation by the high priests, wished good luck and sent into the fire.. It was nerve wrecking, I remember having many difficulties my first month, but sooner than later, joyously, I got the hang of it. All went well until I received the letter, a letter from the very lands I never knew existed..

The explanation I got from the priests and guards that knew of it was short, too short for my liking but to honor my father's wishes they said nothing more needed to be said..

"My Pharaoh, we know you are upset about never knowing of their existence, but the demons aren't something you or the pharaohs to come need to worry about." Shimon explained.

"Not worry about!? There are demons living in the tunnels of the mountain tops! How is that not something to worry about!?" with a sigh Shimon answers to my logical question, because really it makes no sense how there is nothing to worry about!

"My pharaoh, the demons have a peace treaty with us. They aren't a threat to us- so long as a gift is given to them every 100 summers. It has been a treaty that has been established for years-"

"So than why did we receive a letter of war from them!?" I interrupt waving the letter that the demons sent to us. " If it is how you say than why is it that this note claims that this so called treaty has been "expired, due to incompetence"?! Shimon, this is a letter of war- with demons! I think there is something to worry about!!" After what I told them, everyone except Shimon and my Uncle were surprised to hear that the demons have declared war.

"Shimon, if there is something you know than tell me-"

"I cannot my lord, as your father asked me before his passing, I will not engage in explaining the relationship between the demons to you." Why my father asked Shimon to do this I do not know, but I do know that there was an uproar from the other priests afterward, one that calmed down quick enough but it was clear that no one was happy to hear we were thrown in a pit of flames because of a promise my father forced Shimon to keep..

It's been a week since then, and currently I'm on my way to the mountain tops with Shimon, Mahaad, Seto, Mana and a few guards. After we gave the demons a response to their letter, much to my uncle's complaints, we were able to arrange a meeting with them to fix this issue.

"My Pharaoh, please watch your step the rocks are slippery in this area!" I look up to see Mahaad and Seto had taken the lead in case of any dangers – which is rather ridiculous seeing that we are going to the realm of demons, more dangerous than that I really doubt some rocks could be.

"Ate- I mean Pharaoh, why are we going all the way here again?" Mana asked me, she looked at me confused with her head turned a bit to the side. I sigh and give a small smile to her, "We are heading to the realm of the demons.. I need to discuss with them a way to fix this problem, war would be the end of Egypt as we know it.." The light in her eyes changed to understanding, scared and.. excited?

"I wonder what they will ask for"

Seto scoffs, "That is if they even want anything. This could all be a waste of time and a way to confirm war is starting." With a glare from Mahaad and myself, Seto turns his head around again to face forward.

"I doubt it! I mean it makes no sense for them to agree to a meeting to fix this if they didn't want anything or have already chosen on war! They'd have told us to prepare for war not to go over, right Atem- I mean Pharaoh!" I smile at her, she's always the optimistic one. I nod to her and look forward again, "Yes, You are correct Mana! And even if you are not, I would rather hear that optimistic view than Seto's pessimistic way." I hear my dear cousin scoff again, but before he can say something Mahaad speaks, "My Pharaoh we are here!"

I look and sure enough we are at the top of the mountain at the largest cave entrance I've ever seen. I gulp as I look into the cave, it was darker than any midnight sky and the silence made it all the more eerie.

"What's wrong cousin? Are you scared?" I can hear the smirk that was surely on Seto's face.. Even if I am a little shaken I won't let him know it.

"Of course not, Seto! Unlike you I don't cry over every little damn thing." I feel him glare at me and once again as he is about to respond he gets interrupted, but this time by Shimon, who hasn't spoken a word the entire way here.

"Alright that's enough, boys. We need to hurry or else the portal to the realm will close and the dragons will begin to see us as threats and not guests!" The guards huddle around us, holding torches to help light our way through the cave.

Everyone was shaken with a bit of fear, I noticed. Mahaad and Seto looked around suspiciously at our surroundings, Mana walked semi confidently a step behind me, she clearly was frightened but excited nonetheless, the guards seemed to be really shaken with fear- terrified even. I can't blame them though, in case of any dangers the ones to have to throw themselves into said dangers to protect me would have to be them.

Now, the person who didn't seemed to be scared or worried at all was Shimon.. He walked ahead of us, he walked in the dark and seemed to know his way oddly well.. Makes me wonder how many times he's come here before? And just what is it that he cannot tell me that he promised my father!?

"Watch your steps!" Shimon said looking back at us for only a moment, "The entrance to the land of demons is just down ahead."

"Down ahead?" We all question as we continue to follow Shimon.

"Yes" he turns to us before jumping backwards into what seemed to be a hole. In an instant I run towards where Shimon jumped and kneeled down to look in the hole, what I saw was an endless drop..

"Shimon!?" I scream into said hole. "He just jumped in.." a guard said, "My lords what do we do now? We can't actually just jump into that bottomless pit!"

Their right, it is rather stupid to just jump into a hole - but I've done stupider things when I was a prince!

"Well you may stay if you want, but I don't want to miss out on finding out more about this realm and what exactly my father was hiding from me!" With that I jump into the hole, I heard some screaming behind me, but I ignored it.

The fall was indeed scary, but it was also exciting!!

"WUUUUUHUUUU!!" I look to the side of me where I heard Mana's voice, but I could only see pitch black..

"Mana, is that you?"

"Yes Ate- err Pharaoh! Its me!"

I nod but I doubt she can see me in all this darkness. As we continue to fall the adrenaline I had begins to slightly fade slowly.. The fall seems to be endless, after a few more minutes of falling my adrenaline seems to have nearly all but disappeared, but my heart beat started up again when a blinding light hit!

Using my arms to shield my eyes, I feel the light rap around me, it was warm and soon enough I am able to move my arms to see that I was falling from what seemed to be the sky!

"AAAAHHH!"

I look to my left to see Mana and Mahaad falling as well, Mana was screaming. I would be doing the same, but the fear has made me become mute as we continued to fall!

I closed my eyes as we got closer to the ground and await the unavoidable crash down onto the sand.

Only when I hit the ground I didn't fall on sand, I fell on something that made me bounce, it was soft and fuzzy like a bed with animal skinned covers. Opening my eyes I see that I was not on a bed but on the belly of a large beast! It was at least 50 feet, bright green, it had a furry belly - which explains why I thought it was a bed..- the rest of it's body was made up of scales, and as I bounced it was hard to make out what it was but it seemed to be a dragon of some sort, its one of the fattest I've come to witness.

"Let them down, Ammon."

The beast moves its short arms and catches Mana, Mahaad, Seto and myself, then it sets us down onto the sandy ground. As it does we hear the screams of the men who came to guard me and my companions, they were falling toward the beast-whom as I suspected is indeed a dragon.

The dragon catches the men with its short hands and sets them down on the ground along side us, to which the men rejoice at being able to touch ground once again, which leads me to wonder how much protection they will actually be..

"Come along now, my pharaoh. We still have a ways to go before we can reach our destination. The city of alqamar is just beyond that river" Shimon says while pointing to a clear stream of water that seemed cool and fresh, its transparency allowed the semi deep bottom to be at view to the blind eye.

"Wow! I've never seen water THIS pure! The Nile isn't like this at all." Mana cheerfully pointed out, and she was correct, I too never witnessed a body of water this gorgeous or fresh. "Demons create their rivers with the tears of the pure hearted, the water you see before you are the tears of many young women who have lost their children in birth, before it or after it. They call this river 'Tifl Mafqud'"

As Shimon told us this my eyes widen, I look back to the river and that's when I heard it! A weep, soft and full of sorrow.. The longer I looked into the river of tears the more the pain grew, the cries grew and I looked away because I couldn't take the pain that clearly flowed in the water. "Don't stare for too long, My Pharaoh, as a god on earth you are more sensitive to the sorrow that lives in this river. Now than shall we go."

"And how exactly are we suppose to cross this river, Shimon? There isn't a boat in sight, and while the water isn't that deep, it still is at a depth that makes it uncrossable without aid." As Seto pointed this out, Mahaad and I nodded, he was right. Crossing it by foot would be impossible and the river's shore was empty of any sort of contraption to use for crossing it. "Seto is right, how do you say we cross this, Shimon?" I asked tilting my head slightly in question. Shimon simply looks around the shore with ease and says, "Ah! Well what do you know, you're right! Haha silly me I forgot about that"

He's joking right? Please let him be joking..

"What do you mean you forgot!?" Seto was the first to snap, not to anyone's real surprise.

"I mean that I forgot to ask for a boat, Seto. And to think I was so sure that I didn't forget a single thing." We all look at the old man with wide eyes in disbelief. If what Shimon spoke was true we were now trapped in an unknown world without any idea how to return and at this rate we'd miss the meeting with the demon king, which would mean war was now really inevitable!

"Damnit old man!" Seto was angry, but his anger was understood, I too felt my blood begin to boil slightly, how could he forget something as important as the way we need to reach our destination!

"Oh no! What are we suppose to do now!? We won't make it if we can't cross the river.." Mana was now freaking out on us, I can't blame her, but as much as I would like to express myself like she is at the moment, showing all the panic, anger and nervousness that I feel, I cannot. Someone has to think of a solution, Seto was already lecturing Shimon so he won't be much of help and now Mahaad is trying to calm the men AND Mana.. Its up to me to find the answer- but that might just be impossible..

I look around, search for something that could use in anyway to either build a quick boat or use as a quick boat. I spot nothing the shore was empty and around it was no different there was no soul in sight, save for the dragon we landed on arriving here. He was playing with a rock double my size, but to him it seemed to be a ball that was seated perfectly in his hand-like paws. Heh, he might be a big dragon that could eat me whole, but he was kind of cute. Looked like a big scaly kitten, and I do love cats- wait that's it! The dragon was 50ft at the least, and he would be able to pass the river with ease!

Turning to my compatriots I open my mouth with a bright gleam in my eyes!

"I have an idea! It is possible to cross the river without a boat." They all turn to me with questioning looks, Seto speaks his insecurities first, "How exactly are we going to cross the river that in its full depth would reach Mahaad and I to the shoulders and have the rest of you drowning." I simply smile and hide the twitch in my eye at being called short..

"Well, my gigantic air-headed cousin, we will use the dragon to pass the river of sorrow!" Even though I stand proud of my solution and great idea, they all stare at me like as if it weren't a perfect plan that wasn't going to totally work. "Alright, my pharaoh, how in the name of Ra do you want us to convince the beast into taking us past the river? Hmm?" I shrug at him, "Asking him of course. Come now Seto, if we speak to the beast he might be willing to help us out." Seto face-palms as I turn and walk toward the dragon in a confident but respectful speed.

"Excuse me, Dragon!" said dragon stops playing with the bolder it had and turns to me with a cautious and questioning look. I hold my ground but stop walking, keeping myself in a respectful and safe distance. "We seek your assistance! One of my priest has forgotten to ask for a boat to cross the river-" I notice the dragon tilts his head in puzzlement when I speak this "-and we were hoping you'd guide us to other side of it so that we can make our meeting with the Demon King."

Looking at the dragon with hope, I watch as the dragon sits up scratches behind its horns- scratch that he's more like a dog than a cat. He stops scratching himself, looks at me than the river, than towards my companions, than towards the river. His face turns to that of a child who was told to accompany their grandparent to the market, and he huffs out a puff of air. "So will you help us..?" I put my hands together in a quiet plead- which goes either ignored or unnoticed because the dragon lays back down and continues to play with the bolder. Great..

"See cousin, your plan was as much of a failure as I was telling you it'd be." I roll my eyes at Seto's comment. There had to be a way to cross the river, without a boat it seemed impossible! "Ohh! How unreasonable for there to not be a boat unless requested! What if someone wants to return to their land and never got a response for a boat! Do they just sit around and wait.." Mana said growing impatient, although she makes a point how is anyone suppose to make it through to their home if they must send a letter requesting one- and imagine how many letters there could be or how long it could take for their request to be noticed-Wait a second.

"Shimon.." He turns to me, he was perfectly calm and seemed like this situation wasn't a problem at all, so like sense we began venturing to this land he knew more than he spoke. "Yes, my pharaoh?" his grin is also a proof that he knows more than he leads on..

"You've ventured to these lands before, the use of a boat seems unlikely though because what Mana said is true: Why would there never be anyone present to guide or aid the visitors or travelers into the land.. Tell me Shimon what's going on." I demanded more than asked, but kept a steady voice. Shimon's grin grew and he laughed silently, "Oh my Pharaoh, I have ventured before with the previous pharaohs, but I did not lie, I forgot to ask for a boat to make the journey past the river easier for us. There are other ways, see some demons can fly, others swim, some jump over the river, and finally there are those whom just walk through it. You had a good idea on how to cross, its too bad Ammon doesn't feel like doing it, what a shame indeed." He continues to silently laugh to himself, and its become clear to me what's going on- judging from Seto and Mahaad's expressions so have they.

"So we have to solve this as if its some riddle or puzzle.." Mahaad speaks first, and it confirms my suspicions. "The demons are playing with us, and you KNEW?!" Seto calmly and bitterly says to Shimon, whom just laughs less silently. "Kind of, yes" he nods and I can see Seto wants to drown him in the river..

"Alright, Ammon is what you said the dragon is called? Well, maybe we could come to some sort of accord with him." Mahaad says, keeping a calm head as always. "What could we offer him though?" Seto seems to calm down now..slightly.

We all search what we had, all we carried with us was the gift to offer the Demon King, some gold, and our weapons in case of need of defending ourselves. I turn to the dragon with a smile, "Ammon is your name correct?" the dragon gives me a side glance and nods, "Well Ammon, my name is Atem, and these here are Seto, Mahaad, Mana, Shimon-whom I am sure you already know- and my royal guards." I gestured to each one as I named them, Ammon followed my hand coming to meet everyone, so far so good. "We don't have much in the moment, seeing as we came for a meeting that shoukd only last a couple of hours and than we'd be on our way, but we would like to negotiate with you the possibility of you taking us to the other side of the river." To this Ammon sits up again, eyes with interest. "We have gold, maybe that is of any interest to you?" Ammon shakes his head clearly saying "no".

I look at the dragon and find that he was staring at Mana, who also came to notice his stare so she waved at him with a friendly smile, which the dragon.. returns??

"Uh, what is it you want Ammon?" I ask slowly, if he asks for Mana it's a no, but I need to make sure he didn't just like her gold necklace or hat. Ammon moves forward and downward, making the ground shake from his steps. He brings his head toward Mana and puts his snout in her hands.

"Huh? Oh!" Mana smiles brightly and pets the dragon's head, "Did you want to get petted, Ammon?" the dragon nods and pushes his head further into Mana's hands. That's all he wanted? To be pet???

"Ammon, will you help us cross now?" Ammon lifts up off Mana's hands and sits down again, looking at me, I look at him wondering what exactly he could want now.. He bends down to me and my guards point their weapons at Ammon, who begins to growl as they do, I wave the men to put their weapons down and they hesitantly do as I say, then Ammon continues to move his head my way, he glares at me but nods picking me up from my cape! I look down- oh Ra! You know what better yet I'm not gonna look down! With his tail he picks up Mahaad, Seto and my men, and he bends down to pick Mana and Shimon up in his hands- and oh Ra, I hope my cape doesn't rip or else Im going to see father earlier than I ever expected..

Ammon walks into the river and calmly moves through it, from my place up high I could hear some splashing- likely Ammon's large feet moving in the waters. I keep my eyes forward and try to not panic when I heard a tear in my cape.

As we move a city that shinned with colors of gold, silver, black, grey and red came into view. The city's homes were quite odd, they varied in sizes, some had some twists and turns that make me question how they build them.. From the height I was at I was able to see some of the folk of the city, they were just as varied as their homes.. there were some whom appeared human, but the most were creatures with horns, animal parts, and some seemed to be dead already.. there also were beasts, creatures whom were fully animal-like and others were dragons.

Not long after the city came to view did Ammon set me down, I say a quick thanks and turn to my compatriots to see that the splashing wasn't just his feet. Oh if only there were something to capture this moment forever! Seto, Mahaad and the guards were soaking wet, Seto was scowling and noticed my amusement to their pain.

"Mind not laughing at us, my pharaoh." Seto snapped at me, but I continued to laugh at his pain.

Mana pets Ammon, I notice, and bids him goodbye as he walks back the way we came. Now I turn to the city entrance and come to see that there were no demons near the entrance not even guards. Guess we really hold no threat to them..

"Alright, now than its time to make our way to the palace" We all nod and as we are going to go to the city entrance, Shimon walks to the right and away from the entrance. We all exchange looks and just sigh, giving in and decide not to question and just to follow Shimon. We follow him to a large tomb like building with large marble doors, to the which Shimon motions the guards to push open. They push with great strength and open them revealing a dark room, too dark to look into, the sun's light didn't seem to give any light into it either. It was rather eerie, like the hole we jumped into in the cave..

"Well than lets go. This portal will take us directly to the palace were there are noblemen and the royal family waiting for us." We all nod and follow Shimon into the portal, once in the darkness it felt like the air was limited, it was hard to breathe and I felt a large force push down on me. I wasn't expecting it and it nearly dropped me to my knees, and from the sounds of flesh hitting marble ground, I was sure some of my companions had fallen.

Not too long after the darkness begins to lift, as two large doors open, but unlike the entrance of this portal, the exit allowed the sun to brighten up the insides. As my eyes adjusted to the light I was able to see that outside the large doors there were creatures lined up in both sides of a large man, he was HUGE! He had two horns that twisted slightly upwards, his legs weren't human, they were hooves like that of horses, He had a semi long beard, sharp teeth and black eyes that seemed empty and thoughtless. He wore a simple cloth that hid his nether regions, a red cape that was rather short on him due to his large body and height, he also wore gold everywhere, around his neck, on his biceps, on his legs, arms, and ears- did I mention his ears because dear Ra he has gigantic pointy ears..

"Hello there my lord, we're sorry for getting here a little late, had some troubles getting past Tifl Mafqud." Shimon says to the large demon- could this be the demon king? Likely, he looks what a demon king would.

I stepped into the light followed by Mana, Mahaad, Seto, and the men. I stand and walk with confidence and bravery, showing power but resect. They may be demons but I will represent my people proudly, just like father always did.

"Yes I can see you humans took your lovely time crossing a simple puddle." He spat, and I really don't like this guy already. No respect, even though we are suppose to be guests..

"Yes, we ask that you forgive our incapability to cross Tifl Mafqud without an assistance. We hope our tardiness won't effect the purpose of this meeting, um-" He huffs at me "I am Nkosi, I am the Demon lord entitled with the power of King of the land." So is he the king or not? Entitled with the power of king? Did the former king just give up his thrown or is he sick and this guy's his substitute??

"A pleasure, Lord Nkosi, I am the Pharaoh of Egypt : Atem." He scowls and seems to really not care who I am. "Well Pharaoh I'll let you know that it does effect the meeting! Getting here even a minute late is unforgivable ! It isn't in our interests this meeting, by all means this is indeed a waste of time." Whoever put him in charge really must hate me and my people.. this demon is basically telling me coming here was all a waste of time and effort, but still.. "Yes, we understand that it may be more in our interest than yours but we ask that you forgive us and allow us to find a way to come eye to eye. We don't wish for conflict, sense in rule I've been trying to hold peace for my people, and the good people and children of my land don't deserve a war because of a neglect of treaty by the part of a foolish leader whom chose to not take part in the said treaty. I only ask for a chance to negotiate something to protect them."

I could see that while this demon lord didn't care, the nobles and servants around seemed to take what I said into consideration, and while for some it was short lived until they no longer cared like the demon lord, there were a good lot whom seemed to agree in giving us a chance. But what chance could we have, this demon doesn't seem like he will give us one..

"Well, pharaoh," he spat "You will not get-"

"You will get your chance, just like it was indicated in our messages." Said a sweet voice, it was captivating and gentle. We all turn to see behind Nksoi, were the owner of the voice stood with two young ladies next to him, one was a short haired brunette and the other had violet hair tied in a ponytail- and by all means the owner of this voice he was beautiful! Rather short, but his legs were still long, his eyes were two large gems, amethyst to be exact; his skin was a silky white, delicate and smooth seeming, his hair was similar to my own only his blond bangs where brighter, curlier and rested on his round face delicately, the tips of his black spiked hair were a redish violet color. He seemed almost like an angel! But his demonic traits leaves you knowing exactly what he is, because you see, no angel has claws, slightly pointed ears, horns or a tail. Interestingly, the demonic traits were just as delicate as he seemed; His claws were short and well taken cared of, his horns were small and barely were seen at the top of his head, and his tail was long with a flame at the end of, the flame was flickering slightly in a rosy color.

"Prince Yugi! How long have you been there?" Yugi, so that's the name of the gorgeous creature that now stands wearing bandages raped around his top torso, a black shandyt that reached the top of his knees, a gold ringed belt and a red cloth with an insignia on the end of it in black, a silky transparent cape that seemed held in place by the golden necklace he wore. This man really was a sight to behold, really fits the royal beauty standard- wait did he say Prince?!

"Morning lord Nkosi. To answer your question I got here to hear you about to refuse our guest a right that we gave him and his people. I ask that you think before you speak, showing this kind of rudeness makes our kind seem as barbaric and uncivilized as some human tales say." The demon prince walks towards us-and may I add he walks with a small sway that really shouldn't be allowed!

"Good day your majesty, been awhile." Shimon greets the prince with a cheerful familiarity, the prince turns to him with a bright smile- why have Ra shine down on us when this creature's smile is brighter than the sun itself.. "Hello Shimon! It has indeed been a while! I feared that it would be years before I got to play another game of Senet with you!" Shimon chuckled at the prince and turned to the rest of us, "Prince Yugi, This is Pharaoh Atem, he is Aknamkanon's son." The prince turns to me smiling, eyes bright, and as he puts his hands together in front of him he speaks to me, "It's a pleasure to met you Pharaoh Atem! I knew your father, he was a great man, I am terribly sorry for your lost. I am glad to see you seem to be following in his steps to be a great ruler. If what you said earlier is anything to follow by, than I don't think there will be any need for you to worry as I'm sure we will find a way to see eye to eye."

This man.. he didn't only look gentle and sweet, but he also was it: very kind and understanding.

"Thank you Demon prince, we are ever grateful for your hospitality, kindness and understanding" The prince beamed at me, "And your companions?"

"I will introduce them to you, Prince Yugi" Shimon says and turns to Mahaad, Seto, Mana and the guards. "This is Mahaad the royal magician and a good friend to the pharaoh, Mana is his apprentice, Seto is the High priest and cousin to the Pharaoh, and finally 5 guards to accompany us on our journey" the prince turned to them all, "Well it's a pleasure to meet all of you, I would love to later witness some of the magical talents of the magicians of the human realm! I'm positive it will be a splendid show of great skill. Now come along we have much to discuss!" the demon prince turns his heel and heads straight down a hall out of what I now notice is a garden, while he walks he gestures for use to follow.

We follow, and I can only hope that this meeting won't end badly for my people and me..