Dagger of Anubis

Hello and welcome to my latest fic, 'Dagger of Anubis'. As the title says, this will have a lot of Egyptian mythology incorporated into the story. Some of the Egyptian gods will be slightly different in personality and sphere of power, the most controversial one of these will be Set, supposedly the god of evil; however, I write him as the god of change, which will be seen throughout the fic. For more information, please PM me, I will be more than happy to explain this.

And without further ado, here is 'Dagger of Anubis':

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. I'm just borrowing them, but if I break them, can I but them? No? Fine, alright.

XXXXXXXXXX

The chamber glowed with a warm light as torches flickered along the wall, the gold and precious gems embedded into the sandstone shimmering. Lord Anubis sat in his throne, the dark jackal eyes glazed over as he was deep in thought. Despite the warm temperatures, he wore his black cotton hooded cape, the voluminous hood casting the Lord of the Dead's face in shadow. His Dagger, his most prized and dangerous possession laid across his lap, his hand gripping the hilt lightly. His demeanor suggested one of languidness and a laziness; however, he was tense, ready to leap at a moment's notice.

"Well well well, I should have expected you here," Set, the Egyptian god of perceived evil, chided. He was tall, with a head of some long extinct creature, with a long snout and squared ears. He was dressed in bronze armor, stained with blood. A khopesh was lightly bound in its sheath.

"Nice to see you too dear Uncle," Anubis retorted, the words 'dear Uncle' said with distaste. "I expected you to be slaughtering some poor innocent mortal."

"A high priest of Apophis isn't exactly 'innocent', my nephew." Set chuckled. "Though I do have to admit, I did enjoy ripping the fool's head off."

"Then I suspect I'll be weighing his heart soon then?"

"You'll be seeing plenty of them. Ammit will be satisfied tonight." Ammit, who had been dozing at Anubis's throne,sleepily looked up and gave a growl, anticipating the feast that was to come ahead.

Anubis leaned back in his throne, resting his jackal head in his hand. "As nice as it is to be getting a visit from my uncle, I have a feeling you didn't come by here just to tell me your war stories."

Set's face grew grave. "That is true, Anubis. We,... are losing?"

Anubis jolted upright. "Losing? How can we be losing?"

"Apophis has aligned himself with some foreign goddess named Tiamat. Their combined strength is overwhelming us. Their priests are even overpowering the priests of Ra."

"And what do you suggest we should do then? I'm here to protect the magic of the afterlife from falling into their greedy paws-"

"Including your Dagger?"

Anubis glanced down at the dagger. It was made of a slivery substance, something that hadn't been seen by the mortals he looked over; the hilt was of bronze. It was about two feet long from pommel to tip. Hieroglyphics were engraved into the blade, reciting an ancient spell known only to the god himself. The lapis lazuli pommel glittered in the torchlight. "What about it?"

"It's the most valuable thing here. They'll be clamoring for it."

"Like I said, what do you want me to do about it?"

"We need to hide it."

"Hiding this from a pair of gods?" Anubis let out a bark of laughter. "You must have been hit on the head one too many times."

"I'm being serious nephew. If we hide it, we may stand a chance of winning this?"

"And where do you suggest we hide it?"

"Not where, who."

"Explain."

"We give it to the Pharaoh-Priest Seth. He is, after all, your high priest."

"When he was a member of the Millennium Court, yes. Besides, it would be too risky."

"It's the only one we got." Set paused. "Osiris has called me, they prepare to make one final push."

"So Father is bossing you around now? How the mighty have fallen."

"While I do not like the notion of being pushed around by my brother, the notion of protecting my skin appeals to me more." As Set began to leave the chamber, he looked back over his shoulder. "You have your choice nephew." The dark god was gone, leaving Anubis with only his thoughts and the Dagger.

Anubis studied the dagger, weighing his options. When he made his decision, he got up and left the chamber, the black fluttering behind him.

XXXXXXXXXX

The following evening, Pharaoh Seth made an interesting discovery. Lying next to his bed was the Dagger of Anubis, with an instruction of holding onto it. Seth obeyed his god, deciding that disobeying would be a very poor choice. He kept it with him until he passed away, commanding that the Dagger be kept with him in order to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

Then on a moonless night, the tomb of Seth was broken into, and the Dagger, perhaps the most dangerous artifact in Egypt, was gone.

But five thousand years later, when the world was rocked by the resurgence of the Millennium Items, one other item made it's way to the world of mortals-

-Where it waits for its true owner.

XXXXXXXXXX

Yes, I made Seth a high Priest of Anubis. I see The Millennium Rod as a item of judgment, especially the way he used it back in the Millennium World Arc, then sadly corrupted by a angsty teenager who blames a five thousand year old DEAD Pharaoh!... oh sorry done now, very much so like Anubis, who is the god of judging the dead (like with Set, I see Anubis as the true god of the dead; in my eyes Osiris is the god of the afterlife).

Another thing to note is the familial connection of Set to Anubis. In some versions of mythology, Anubis's is Set's son, in others, he is his nephew, sired by Osiris—and thus the origin of Set's feud with Osiris. For this, I made him Set's nephew.

The last thing is Seth's name. On the Wikipedia page for Set, in the pop culture section, it says that Seth is named for the god, which makes sense considering that many Pharaohs were named after gods (Atem is a variant of Atum/Amun, the god of creation). I made the connection that his father, who was a raving lunatic, named him after the god of 'evil', and of course, you guys are smart enough to make the connection there.

Sooo, like it? Hate it? Loathe it? Drop a line and tell me! If you do, I'll give you cyber cookies lol

PS: Ignore the Marik rant up there. I like the guy, don't get me wrong XD.