4 The First Conflict

Saint-Domingue, Cayes-Jacmel

Fort Quintus

October 12, 1794

Seven days, it has been seven days since his branding, or at least that's what Atem thinks. He isn't exactly sure since time is not something that he can really measure within his room. It is completely closed off with no window to the outside other than the door. In addition the room is at a constant state of calm brightness with no fluctuation in it, and the only color within is the color white. The walls are painted white, as is the floor and the ceiling, the bedsheets are white, the mattress is white, the door is white, and even the small sideroom from where he goes to the bathroom and cleans himself is white. As such, with nothing to use to keep time, Atem had taken to using his sleeping to measure the days.

At some point, a guard had come into the room to deliver him his new uniform, white shirts, pants, and shoes, along with wrapped packages of food that he is supposed to eat. The guard had told him that everything will be renewed each month before handing him a sheathed dagger and telling him to familiarise himself with it. Apparently he will be needing it very soon.

It was with that warning in mind that Atem had taken to keeping the dagger with him at all times. He would sleep with it in his hands while keeping it sheathed, change his clothes with it in his hands, and even go to the bathroom with it. Eventually he began to twirl it around in his hands and do the same tricks that he's seen some of the overseers do with their own. At first he had tried doing it without the sheath, but had quickly changed his mind after earning a small cut on his palm.

He isn't sure why the guard gave him the dagger, but Atem is hopeful that it's the gods answering his and Adanna's prayers. He hopes that they have heard his pleas for the past week and that maybe, just maybe, one of them has decided to save him and his Danna. Maybe once they are free they can go back to Danna's ancestral home, or maybe they can just find somewhere for Danna to peacefully live and while he travels the world. He's always been interested in seeing the world outside of the Quintus plantation, maybe once him and his Danna are free he can do that. Then they could go visit their ancestral home, away from all of these dangerous people who are always hurting his Danna. Maybe they could even go visit where Pharaoh Atem used to live. That's something he wouldn't mind doing, especially since his mother named him after Pharaoh Atem. They could go visit where he ruled, where he fought the evil sorcerer Zorc, or even where he summoned the three Divine Beasts of the Gods.

Before Atem can fall further into his daydream he hears the sound of the door being opened, prompting him to sit up from his lying position on the bed. As the door opens, Atem sees the same guard who from the days before, or at least he thinks it is since he wears the exact same knight armor that completely covers his entire body from head to toe.

"Get up." orders the guard with an emotionless voice that sounds muffled through his helm. Obeying the order, Atem stands up from the bed with his dagger firmly held in his right hand, its sheathed laying discarded behind him on the bed. "Come." commands the guard.

Without hesitating Atem makes his way out of the room. Closing the door to Atem's room, the guard gestures for him to follow as he begins to make his way through the maze-like hallways. They travel without exchanging words for minutes with noise from the guard's armor being the only thing stopping them from plunging into total silence. Unfortunately all Atem can do for the duration of the trip is to nervously look at the guard while tightly holding on to the dagger while the guard seemingly does care for Atem's stare as long as he follows. For Atem every step that guard takes without saying a word is the possibility of his hopes and dreams being crushed and turned into a nightmare. He does not know what fate awaits for him once he reaches his destination nor does he want to try imagining it. He has countless stories that feature an evil sorcerer and in each one the fate of the victim is not something that he wants to imagine happening to him.

After more minutes of walking, the guard stops in front of a door that is being guarded by two more people wearing the same armor that covers them from head to toe.

"Is this one of the new ones?" asks the guard on the left.

"Yes." replies the one leading Atem.

"Compared to the other new ones he doesn't look like much." comments the one on the right of the door, confusing Atem. As far as he knows he was the only one that was taken this year.

"He's not gonna survive this." agrees the one on the left as he touches the door in the same manner that Atem has seen Quintus touch the others, a glowing circuit-like pathway appearing on his gauntleted hand, before he pulls it open.

Without another word the guard in front of Atem leads him through the door and into a tunnel that leads to an open field. Stepping out of the tunnel, Atem finds himself on a massive open field surrounded by walls that are even taller than the guard who led him here with the only exit being the tunnel where he came from along with another tunnel that is directly across from him. Higher than the walls is a glass domed ceiling that does not allow one to see exactly what is on the other side other than a few shapes. From what Atem can see, two people are sitting on the other side of the glass observing the inside. Had Atem known what an arena is he would have recognised this place as being one.

Before Atem can further observe the arena two people step out of the tunnel across from Atem, another guard and a boy around Atem's age wearing the same white clothes. Like Atem the boy has brown skin, but that is where the similarities end. Unlike Atem's black hair and violet eyes, the boy is bald and possesses light brown eyes.

"Do you see that boy approaching?" asks Atem's guard as they come to a stop near the middle of the arena, prompting Atem to look back at him in question. "Kill him." orders the guard, causing Atem's eyes to widen in shock.

"W-what?" stutters Atem.

"Kill him or he will kill you." says the guard before he leaps back hundreds of feet into the tunnel with one jump.

As the guard's figure retreats into the shadows of the tunnel, Atem turns back to face the boy who he finds glaring at him with a burning hatred in his eyes. Shaken by the intense look in the boy's previously soft brown eyes, Atem stumbles a step back, his eyes widening and his body trembling in fear.

"Ahhh!" roars the boy as he runs towards Atem, his dagger held high above his head. As the boy approaches, Atem continues to stumble backwards in fear only for the boy to quickly close the distance between them while bringing the dagger down towards Atem's skull. Making one last desperate attempt to escape, Atem trips over his own feet sending him tumbling backwards towards the ground. Fortunately for him, his fall increases the distance between the two of them and the dagger misses Atem's skull. Unfortunately for him however, the weapon slashes down on the left side of his face, from his eyebrow, through his eye, and down a few inches below the eye, partially painting his vision red with his own blood.

The wound from the dagger causes Atem to feel a burning sensation on his face, causing him to instinctively bring his left hand up towards the wound and smacking the dagger from the boy's unsteady grip as the fall on the ground with the boy landing on top of Atem. Devoid of his weapon, the boy makes use of his hands and grabs hold of Atem's neck and begins to squeeze.

Letting go of his dagger, Atem brings his trembling hands up and proceeds to hit the boy with all of his strength in hopes of making him let go. Regrettably his body's blood loss makes it weak and his hits prove ineffective. With an already ragged breathing, Atem begins to feel the effects of both his blood loss and suffocation. His attempts at screaming are reduced gasps and wheezes, he hears ringing in his ears, his vision becomes blurry, and his eyes begin to roll to the back of his head.

As the last of his strength begins to leave him, an image of a crying Adanna appears in his mind, causing him to grit his teeth and begins to make one last effort to survive. Knowing that he is too weak to escape the boy's grasp, Atem's addled mind leads him to search for the daggers that he knows have been dropped. As his vision begins to darken, his hands stumble upon both of the daggers, and with the last of his strength he grabs them both and swings wildly where he the boy is. Soon he feels the daggers plunge into something and the boy's hold on his neck slackens, allowing him to finally breathe properly and for his vision to return.

As his vision returns, Atem is able to see the daggers stabbed on both sides of the boy's neck as well as the light leaving his eyes. As the boy begins to die, he stumbles away from Atem before he looks him in the eyes and gives him an apologetic smile as well as one filled with relief, shocking Atem to his core. At the same time, Atem's blood loss finally catches up with him and his vision goes dark as he finally falls unconscious.

Behind the dome glass of the arena, two figures watch the dying boy and the unconscious Atem. The first is none other than the man that had branded Atem days before while the second is a man who bears a striking resemblance to him. He possesses combed black hair, and emerald eyes that look at the proceedings with boredom. Unlike the first man however, he possesses an out of shape figure that still has signs of when he was strong and fit. He also wears a red tunic with gold accents, black trousers, shoes, and a golden ring that rests firmly around the middle finger of his right hand. This man is none other than the current head of the Quintus family, Augustus Quintus.

"Well that was anticlimactic." boredly comments Augustus as they watch the guards carry out the bodies of the boys. "Are you sure that he comes from a bloodline of ancient sorcerers?" he asks his brother, Basilius Quintus.

"I am sure. His grandmother was the one to kill father, remember?" stoically reminds Basilius.

"She knew some powerful magic, so what? That doesn't mean that they come from a bloodline of powerful sorcerers." replies Augustus.

"Father was not some normal magus that any nobody who stumbled onto a tome could simply kill." says Basilius.

"If you say that they come from a powerful bloodline, then I'll take your word for it." responds Augustus with a careless shrug that causes his brother to grit his teeth in anger. Despite being the head of the Quintus family, Augustus could not careless about the affairs of the supernatural community. He is more concerned with enjoying the pleasures that his position brings without worrying about the responsibilities and leaving his younger brother to deal with it all.

"Anyway, if you want to go do your experiments on him, then go ahead. As long as he's fit enough to fight every now and then, I don't care." says Augustus, causing Basilius to silently thank the fact that his careless attitude towards the supernatural allows him to do almost anything he wants without having to worry about the usual restrictions.

"Thank you brother." replies Basilius, unaware that his actions will bring about the destruction of his life and the life of countless others. His actions will cause the supernatural world to be turned on its head.

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AN: Here's the chapter. As usual, tell me what you guys think. The next chapter is available on my Pat re on, at pat re on .com / servantambrosius (without the spaces) a week early. I'm also planning on picking up the paste of my writing for this story so the excess chapters will be there until I post them here.