Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/7677871.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Yu-Gi-Oh!
  Relationship:
      Atem/Priest_Seto, Marik_Ishtar/Rishid_Ishtar_|_Odion_Ishtar, Thief_King
      Bakura/Yami_Bakura
  Character:
      Atem_(Yu-Gi-Oh), Priest_Seto, Rishid_Ishtar_|_Odion_Ishtar, Marik_Ishtar,
      Yami_Marik, Bakura_Ryou, Thief_King_Bakura, Yami_Bakura, Pharao
      Akhenamkhanen_|_Pharaoh_Aknamkanon, Akunadin_|_Akhenaden
  Additional Tags:
      Multi_shipping, Ancient_Egypt, AU, Magic, additional_tags_will_follow,
      Sex_in_later_chapters, Pirates, sand_ships, egyptian_demons, some_sort_of
      sirens, Siren, male_siren, Yaoi, Some_BDSM, BDSM, True_Love, Loyalty,
      Djinni_&_Genies, Fantasy
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-08-04 Chapters: 1/? Words: 2149
****** The Eye of Ra ******
by Salai
Summary
     Ancient Egypt (AU): Young Pharaoh Atem is in the middle of a ritual
     feast in honor of the Sun God when he and his priesthood get attacked
     in the temple. The pirates steal a precious artifact and suddenly the
     order of Maat threatens to fracture...
     Marik and Rishid are sent after the thieves to retrieve the stolen
     goods.
     (Note- the main characters will be: Akefia/Thief King Bakura, (Yami)
     Bakura, Marik, Yami Marik (Yalik), Ryou und Rishid (Odion). No modern
     piracy. More like grave robbers on a cursed ship. It will make sense.
     Explicite sex scenes will follow in later chapters.)
Notes
     This is mainly AU. The character's relationships are mainly the same
     (except for the additional homoerotic love).
     I've studied Egyptology and tried to mix some fiction with facts and
     magic. I hope you'll enjoy.
     Also: I'm not a native speaker. I translated my original FF to make
     it accessible to a vaster public. Feel free to point out mistakes.
     There will be fanart accompanying this FF. Later chapters include sex
     scenes.
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The solar disk rose slowly above the desert's horizon. Within the yet red
morning sky the golden circle shimmered and sent his life-giving rays across
the Nile.
The Black River's waves were crowned with glistening light while it coiled like
the body of a giant languid snake through the Nile Delta. The green fertile
land was waking on both sides and before the royal boat a flight of loudly
chattering cranes scattered and took wings from the reeds when they left the
docks.
The bow cut silently through deep waters and the long rows of oars were gliding
rhythmically into the surge to push them against the torrent. Behind them lay
the glorious imperial capital Memphis and on the glittering waters they were
followed by little boats of the priests and the court's elite. Before them lay
the necropolis of Giza. On the opposite shoreline one could already spot the
valley temple of Chephren and the Harmachis-temple of the Sphinx besides with
it's piers for their ships. Beyond the temples on the green hillside the
fertile land ended and gave way to the big pyramids of the ancestors that rose
from the sand. The polished lime stone of the necropolis glowing white as
linnen and the golden tops of the pyramids caught the light of the sun, as if
Ra himself had settled on them.
 
Atem was sitting on board the first ship. His wooden throne was densely covered
with painted relief and stood beneath a big canopy, which pillars were
supported by carved statues of the goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selket.
The four goddesses outstretched their arms in a protecting gesture and faced
him. The skin of the figures was covered in gold, their eyes framed by chopper
and laid with pure quarz from the mountains and obsidian. The smoothed gems
made them seem vivid.
 
The pharaoh himself was wearing a skirt, the so called shendyt, and a cloak
over it that was tucked tightly around his body. His hands were free, crossed
in front of his chest and held the blue-golden striped crook and flail –
emblems of his reign. His almond-shaped eyes were lined with black kohl, the
eyeliner extended far. Gold dusk and pulverized turquoise stone adorned his
lids and gave his eyes an irreal depth.
On his chin Atem wore the fake braided regal beard, with its forward curved
point. An accessory he already hadn't liked on his father when he had been a
child, but tradition forced him to dress as the likeness of Osiris in honor of
this feast; as the incarnation of a god that was part of the Ennead of
Heliopolis. That city which was the center of the solar cult.
The heavy beard was supported by two trims that vanished beneath his crown. The
white cone of the crown with its golden pair of feathers hid his hair, save for
the unruly golden strands that swirled around his face within the soft breeze.
The canto of the sun hynmus which the priests on the boats inchanted was
accompanying their procession on their crossing. The sweet smell of precious
incense from the contiguous countries was enceasing Atem. A few cubits in front
of the throne his cousin Seth was kneeling by a small altar, highpriest of the
cult. He was immersed in his prayers and performed the first part of the ritual
whilst priests would from both sides throw offering in the form of seeds and
little wooden figurines into smoldering coal basins.
With difficulty the young pharao suppressed a cough when the wind turned so
that the smoke was burning in his eyes, biting his nose and scratching his
throat. He was a living God! Gods didn't cough because of the smoke from their
offerings...
 
Atem's gaze accidentally met with Seth's and he smiled thinly when the high
priest nodded inconspicuously at him. His father had gone too soon to join the
gods and he had felt stultified way too often since he had inherited the
throne.
It had started when he was supposed to sit on the throne for the first time.
Pharaoh Aknamkanon had been a tall man. When Atem had taken his seat upon the
countless cushions, which had been placed on the massive golden throne, he had
felt infinitely small. Even today his feet didn't reach the floor. Back then
Seth had immediately noticed and sent to fetch a footstool, which he had placed
by his own hand and kneeling before the throne, so that the pharao's feet
wouldn't be dangling awkwardly in the air. He had executed it, as if it had
been a ritual. In the meantime Atem had wished the ground would open up and
swallow him up because he had felt like a stupid peasant after he had managed
to pull himself inelegantly up in the seat. He should have thought of the
difference in levels himself before he had climbed up to blame himself in front
of the whole court and priesthood.
Of course no one dared to laugh even at his back or even just to talk about his
mistakes within their cottages of clay. Nonetheless Atem felt the burden of his
birthright weight heavy like a block of granite on his shoulders. Seth was a
constant brace to him.
The highpriest seemed to possess a natural intuition of how to handle delicate
situations. To Atem it seemed as if Seth could cope with everything that was
thrown in his way whereas he sometimes was almost despairing over simple tasks.
Despite the roughness of his being, which protected him from all sort of
attacks, he always had an open ear and some good advice for the young pharaoh.
Seth was the only one that could truly be severe with him and dared to correct
him – even if he only did that when they were in private. Atem was jealous of
the majesty that his cousin radiated.
He knew that his uncle Aknadin was of the opinion that Seth belonged on the
throne instead of him. Admittedly the old priest would never speak that
particular Thought out loud, but Atem saw it in his single eye. The man
despised him.
 
A few weeks after his accession to the throne he had been sitting with Seth in
his room by the window facing the gardens to prepare himself for the reception
of an embassy from an Upper Egyptian district. The whole complicated ceremonial
had frightened him awfully. He hadn't yet been past the age of boyhood and was
forced to present himself to the real as God. When he had yet again made a
mistake on the same point of the greeting, he had started to cry out of sheer
frustration and tension. After he had calmed down Seth hadn't rebuked him.
Instead, he had dried his tears and had patiently explained the whole process
to Atem anew, as if nothing had happened.
When the young pharaoh had finally been able to commit everything to memory and
Seth had rissen to leave him for the night, Atem had let himself get carried
away and had told Seth that it would have been better for Egypt if he be
pharaoh instead of him. It had been the first time he had seen Seth so upset.
His cousin was a very composed person. When Seth had grabbed him by the
shoulders and looked at him dead serious he had expected a strike.
„You are the Golden Horus, Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt. Ruler of both Lands.
Son of Ra and favorite of the Gods“, Seth had inculcated him. „“It is your
purpose and your right to take this place in the world, not mine.“ Then he had
kissed him on the brow. „I cannot take this duty from you, but I will remain
steadfastly at your side, my Pharaoh.“
To know, that Seth himself didn't think about him like his father did had given
Atem confidence.

Whilst he was sitting unmovingly and watched the nearing riverside beyond the
bow, Atem repeated those words in his head. Some time had passed since then. He
had rapidly learned what it meant to be the master of Kemet, the Black Land.
His father had of course seen to it that he had received the education
deserving of a crown prince. But the divine judgement had called upon
Aknamkanon too early and Atem hadn't been ready to take his assigned place.
He felt too young and inexperienced to rule. And yet he wished for nothing more
but to be a good King to his people and to do his father proud.
Seth rose and stepped away from the offering table. Atem tore his mind away
from the thoughts. He should focus on his task in the feast to come instead of
lingering in the past. They had now gotten so close to the temple that they
could no longer see the mastaba-tombs that lay behind them and soon they
wouldn't see the golden tops of the pyramids anymore. Meanwhile the sky had
become blue and the morning dew subsided to make way for the days heath. The
royal boat passed the monumental buildings and steered into the basin, bringing
a tail of boats with white triangular sails with it, like a flock of water
birds that was swimming on the river.
A young man from the crew jumped on the ship's rail, a length of rope in his
hands. The oars were pulled up and once they were close enough to the docks the
man leaped across to moor the boat. Afterwards the gangway was lowered and the
priesthood gathered. Meanwhile four bulky guardsmen took hold of the supporting
rods of the litter, on which the throne with its baldachin stood, to lead the
procession with the Pharaoh.
It took some time untill the priesthood and the chosen ones from the court who
were allowed to join the celebration had grouped on the jetty. Finally the
parade began to move. The chanting of the priests was joined by musicians. Atem
flinched a little when the women started their lament, following the ceremonial
funeral procession that headed to the Harmachis-temple. The sphinx beyond
towered above the roof like a giant custodian and watched the sun.
Within the open temple the young Pharaoh had shed the cloak and the regalia of
his power, stepping from the role of the raising Osiris into that of the mouths
of their gods. Slowly he intonated the ritual song.
In his outstretched hands Atem held a golden pyramid that was ornated with the
Wadjet-eye above an altars basin filled with oil. He could feel the heath of
the sun when he guided the ray of bundled light that fell from the pyramid's
eye into the oil, igniting it. The air shimmered, the first flames flickered
from the brazier, seeming almost transparent in the daylight. The attendance of
the Sun God in his sanctuary felt like a physically tangible presence in the
air.
Suddenly, in the middle of the ceremonial offerings, one of the six high
priests fell forward and stay laying unmovingly on the floor. The feathered
shaft of an arrow was sticking out of his back.
 
Seth moved within the same moment the priest fell. He grabbed the priestess
Isis on his left by her arm and pulled her with him behind one lotos-bundle
pillars that stood in the courtyard, out of the line of fire. An arrow
rebounded only a few feet next to them from the smooth floor and skidded
towards the substructure of the obelisk.
„Protect the Pharaoh!“, Seth shouted. The guardsmen scattered in all
directions, like a swarm of birds. Atem was standing motionless behind the
brazier, unable to comprehend the ensued chaos.
A towering palace guard reached him just in time, only to get hit and sink to
his knees in front of him. With wide eyes Atem looked in the direction the
missile that was embedded in the man's throat had come from.
On the enclosing wall of the temple area stood the archer, directly above the
central gate: a shadow against the light of the sun, which distorted the black
silhouette to flickering fire.
Above the wall a white peak was visible, as if a pyramid had suddenly come
closer to the temple. Upon the second glance Atem realized that it was a sail.
Then he saw how more men appeared on the wall, bearing weapons whilst panic
rose in the yard. The shadow on the wall nocked another arrow-
„My Pharaoh!“ Seth had reached the altar and grabbed Atem by the waist. The
arrow shoot with an aggressive buzz through the air and hit the basin full of
oil. The burning liquid splashed and droplets rapidly caught fire like an
explosion in mid-air. Atem screamed as if hit him. A blazing pain shoot through
his body and all around him it became white.
 
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