Ascension [A Yu-Gi-Oh! FanFiction]

28: Chosen

Atem sighed as he entered his bedchamber after what had been a long and arduous day at court. For the better part of the evening, he'd been forced to mediate a truly frivolous dispute between two landowners — one of whom insisted that the other had been encroaching on the property line of his farm by inches for the last six months. On any other day, Atem might have dismissed them both without another thought, but in truth, he was glad for the distraction from the larger issues at hand — most notably, the culling of his father's Shrine, and, of course, the ever-looming search to unlock the secrets of the Great Pyramids.

Every other governing issue seemed minuscule compared to this pursuit — the one his father had given his very life to preserve. Though the directive to secure the Holy Ka had been handed down by the very gods themselves, Atem was feeling utterly lost about where to turn next. He'd considered many times returning to the chamber beneath Kul Elna to ask the gods for guidance, but his heart always felt heavy at the thought. Would he be brave enough to stand in the shadow of his father's sins — and strong enough to resist the temptation to repeat them?

With another deep exhale, Atem crossed the room to his table and sank down into the chair before it, looking down at the nearly-complete puzzle on the surface. Whenever he found himself plagued with troublesome thoughts, fiddling with the pieces and mechanisms always seemed to settle his mind a bit. He knew he was close to solving it, but the object's purpose was still a mystery to him. He'd managed to piece together all eight of the hexagonal blocks into a single, cylindrical tower, with each block spinning freely along a vertical axis running through it. Atem noticed that the hexagons each turned in precise intervals, and they could be aligned so that their sides were flush together all the way down. This led him to wonder if perhaps it was meant to be some kind of timekeeping device or stylized abacus; however, each outward-facing plane was completely blank, leaving him utterly bewildered as to what the device might measure or count.

Lost in his musings, Atem almost didn't notice a presence entering the chamber across from him. He turned, delighted to see Satiah standing just inside the door. The first thing he noticed was the way the sunsetting light flickered off the crown of her head, and as he looked closer, he realized she was wearing the headdress he'd given her on their wedding night. His heart warmed with pride as he traced his eyes along the threads of gold framing her smiling face. In that moment, she looked truly like a queen — her authority and grace magnified by the glowing, golden halo.

"What's this?" she lilted. "The Pharaoh in his bedchamber — doing something other than sleeping?"

Atem broke his gaze away from the headdress and cracked a smirk. "The Pharaoh ends the day when he wants to."

Satiah laughed wryly, meandering closer to him. As she did, Atem noticed she was carrying a large scroll beneath her arm. "Does that mean you've been trying to avoid me all these weeks?" She stopped before him and clicked her tongue. "I'm not sure how to feel about that."

Atem bit his lip to hide his growing smile. He knew better than to challenge Satiah to a banter of wits. "Well, you could always use your power as Queen to ... overrule me." He began reaching his hand toward her waist, but Satiah grabbed the scroll from under her arm and slapped it into his open palm.

"If you insist," she said. "I'm afraid your day isn't quite done yet."

Atem took the document and gave her a questioning look.

"A scroll from Memphis," she answered, "courtesy of my father."

Atem felt a flicker of anxiety returning to his stomach. "What does it say?"

"He didn't tell me," she said. "Come. Let's read it together."

With that, she reached across the table and pushed aside the puzzle, creating a void just barely large enough to fit the enormous scroll. She held one side while Atem unrolled the other, and they anchored it down to the surface of the table with various heavy objects. Sitting back, Atem traced his eyes all along the weathered surface of the papyrus. He caught sight of several emphasized words and phrases, chief among them being the cartouches of Ramesses and Amenhotep, but he also spied Khufu's name among the faded glyphs. As with the previous scroll, there were also images painted in among the symbols — small scenes of pharaonic figures sitting upon their thrones or invoking magic. But very clearly drawn across the top of the page, rising up out of a thrashing desert, were sprawling paintings of the three Great Pyramids.