Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh or any characters involved in the series, however, to my intense regret, I do own Cassandra Rihanna Bastet. This story is meant to be of a parody nature and any discrepancies (such as use of MUM and DAD) are there ON PURPOSE. The setting is Ancient Egypt. Enjoy!

The Age of Reason

Cassandra Rihanna Bastet was born in Ancient Egypt, in the year the Nile River flooded its banks. Her family knew, from that moment on, that she was destined to be a great asset to them. As a child, she displayed signs of great intelligence and future beauty. At the age of 2, Cassandra could read all hieroglyphics even though both her parents were illiterate peasants. This mysterious ability was self-taught, as she often spied on the priests during their rituals and managed to learn the symbols by the meanings attached to them. She had an older sister who, although pretty, had nothing of the beauty Cassandra promised to possess at some unknown future stage. A change in this idyllic routine was imminent, however.

It all happened one fateful day when the terrible band of thieves descended on their small village. Cassandra, by some lucky chance, had been out practicing her hieroglyphics at the local temple with all the priestesses cooing over what a darling little peasant she was. In the midst of inscribing the symbol for "thief" in her clay tablet (even the priestesses wouldn't trust her with their precious papyrus) she sat up suddenly.

"What's the matter, dear?" asked the kind High priestess, who Cassandra had regarded as her mother from day one, even though she already had a mother.

"Priestess, something's not right. I have to go home," said Cassandra scrambling to her feet.

"Are you ill?" asked a younger priestess.

"No, I . . .I . . . "

"Oh my, maybe she has had a vision!" said the High priestess (the motherly one)

"But, why a vision?" asked the younger priestess, slightly confused, "Surely a stomach ache . . ."

"Silence, whatsyourface," snapped the High Priestess, before turning back to Cassandra, "Now dear, why don't you run along home and find out if everything is all right."

Cassandra ran back home, her long blue-purple-blonde-silver hair streaming behind her in the wind. "Oh dear, I hope everything is all right back home," she thought.

Upon climbing the bank that overlooked her village, Cassandra gasped in shock. Smoke rose from the tops of the burnt and pillaged houses and people she had known since birth lay dead and dying in the streets. The smell of blood and charred bone was thick in the air. Unlike any normal child, Cassandra ran straight into the midst of the village, searching desperately for her family. She reached her house in time to witness her dead parents in the doorway and her dying sister crawling towards her with blackened hands outstretched.

"Cassandra . . ." she whispered.

Cassandra ran to her sister and cradled her once pretty head in her soft lap. "Oh Layla," she sobbed, "I should have come sooner."

The implications of this statement somewhat confused her dying sister, but she regained her melancholy a moment later (she was dying after all). "It's not your fault, Cassie. The thieves came and did this to our village. Mum and Dad tried to stop them but . . ." her words were cut off by heart-wrenching sobs.

"Oh Layla, tell me who did this to you?"

"The thieves (cough, hack) I just told you."

"Oh. right. But what can I do? Where shall I go? How can I avenge what was done to you?"

"Dear sister, you need to go to the temple. The prietesses like you. When you tell them what happened they will let you live with them. Learn to fight. Oneday, you will take revenge on those who destroyed us."

With this final piece of sage advice, her sister passed away in her arms. "Layla, NO!" But no breath could be heard from the numb, bloody lips.

For how long Cassandra lay there, she did not know. Finally (when the smell of her sister became too much to bear, you know how these Egyptian climates are), she rose gracefully from the ashes of her village like a Phoenix and made her way back to the temple. Through all the sadness and pain, she vowed that she would make the people who killed her family suffer for their sins.

"Oneday, mother, father and dear sister and pig and dogs and canary and hamster and princess-pony, oneday, you shall all be avenged by my hand. I will not sleep until that day."

So saying, she went to the temple, had a good square meal, learnt some more hieroglyphics and fell into a deep slumber.

End of part 1. The following exciting installment tells of the parallel adventures of the young thief, Bakura and the destruction of his village.