Ascension [A Yu-Gi-Oh! FanFiction]

1: Uprising

AN: I recently fell down the Yu-Gi-Oh rabbit hole after not having watched/read it for over a decade. I never actually knew how the Dawn of the Duel/Millennium World arc ended, so when I finally finished both the manga and the anime, I was actually kind of disappointed at how little time was spent in ancient Egypt. Poor Atem was on the throne for what... 2 days before he disappeared? Not much of a legacy if you ask me. So I came up with this little scenario to give Atem a bit of color to his backstory and some claims to fame other than sealing himself in the puzzle for 3,000 years. That said, this will obviously be a bit off-canon (for the Millennium arc at least), and I fully admit that my knowledge of the dueling/magic casting rules of this universe are foggy at best, so excuse any departures on that front. Regardless, I hope you enjoy my little story! Leave a follow/vote/comment if you do :)

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Atem clutched his chest in pain. No matter how many times he dueled, he would never get used to the way he could feel every injury dealt to his spirit creature. He looked up to see the apparition he had summoned doubled over just as he was. Naladeus was a powerful creature — a spellcaster cloaked in animal skins and sporting a large summoning staff — but she was no match for her opponent: Krokodilis, the crocodile warrior, loomed over her and bared his sharp white teeth in a grin of satisfaction before sweeping his long, green-scaled tail and piercing Naladeus' heart.

Atem collapsed to his knees as Naladeus turned to dust before his eyes.

A moment later, triumphant laughter erupted from behind Krokodilis. "Well done, little brother — you lasted almost twice as long as our last duel! But you still have much to learn."

Atem sat back on his heels in shame as his brother, Tefnak stepped into the light. 24 years old to Atem's 19, and with all the experience to match, Tefnak was everything Atem was not: sculpted in Ra's image, he had shoulders as broad as a hypostyle pillar and arms powerful enough to lift one. His closely trimmed beard accentuated the mature angles of his jaw and set the backdrop for his pearly-white smile. They resembled each other only in small ways: in the calm violet eyes they shared with their mother, and in their dark hair streaked with blonde and tipped in indigo, which Tefnak wore cropped close to his head on one side and windswept on the other. With his striking good looks and charismatic personality, Tef turned heads wherever he went.

The crown prince laughed again and stepped down into the dueling pitch, waving his arm to disperse his summoned monster back to its tablet, which stood erected at the back of the domed arena. As his brother approached, Atem moved to stand. Tef reached out to assist, pulling Atem up easily by his shoulders and dusting him off.

"I'm sorry I disappointed you, brother," Atem said quietly. He avoided Tefnak's eyes, instead staring intently at the Millennium Ring around his brother's neck.

"Nonsense!" Tef boomed. "You gave it your best, right?"

Atem looked up and nodded.

"Then that's all I can ask for," Tef said. "Keep practicing, and one day you'll best me. I have faith in you."

Atem felt a stirring in his soul at this. In his father's court, he was surrounded by inspiring individuals — powerful priests and fearsome warriors — but there was no one he looked up to more than Tefnak.

"Come, let us replenish our souls with food and drink and tell Father of our harrowing battle!"

Tef ruffled Atem's hair before taking him under his arm and leading the way out of the training arena.

Before they left, Tef stopped to give some directions to the guards who had come to take the stone summoning slabs back to their sanctuaries. Five years ago, the Pharaoh had bequeathed to Tefnak the Millennium Ring, naming him captain of the royal military and chief of the spellcasters. As such, he spent nearly all of his spare time in the training complex — and as Tef's shadow, Atem was no stranger to it either. Waging duels and leading his soldiers was Tefnak's true passion, but Atem knew his brother was only one heartbeat away from being Pharaoh of all Egypt — and that meant Atem himself would need to be ready to take his brother's place as military commander at any moment. While this was a fate that excited him & inspired him, it also gave him great anxiety knowing he was still a novice in magical manipulation compared to Tef.