Hi, Everyone! Welcome
to yet another side story to my fics! This story focuses on Aria and Seto’s relationship as well as Aten and Aria’s battle with
Yami. Now…the warnings like usual……
WARNING FOR STORY:
WARNINGS FOR CHAPPIE: VIOLENCE!
The Birth of Light
The woman laid on a pile of
blankets, the desert wind pummeling against the material of the tent she shared
with her husband, Marik Ishtar. Her forehead was covered with sweat as her
body was once again wracked with labor pains.
Amunet was due any day. Sekani, her doctor,
had told her that the child would most likely be born by the next day’s
sunset. Her belly was large and she felt
every movement of the male child within her, aching to break free from its
confining prison.
The woman rested her head back as pain spread throughout her
body.
‘May the gods give me strength to bear this child.’
She heard footsteps approach her tent. Her husband with blond spiky hair entered the
tent. He kneeled beside her.
“Marik?”
Amunet raised her hand to touch her husband’s
cheek gently. “Why so
sad, my husband?”
The man put his hand on her pregnant belly and sighed
sadly. The child had finally settled and
had curled up to his hand. “I have to
leave, my wife.”
The woman’s smile faded. Her eyes filled with tears. She would have to birth this baby alone. “Why? Sekani says I am ready very soon.”
Marik brushed her black hair behind her ear. “I must get supplies, Amunet. Without them, we won’t survive.”
The woman on the linens began to cry. She held onto her husband’s hand. Marik hugged her. “Don’t cry. I promise to be back when I can.”
He smiled down at her. “Then I’ll come home and hold my son…our beautiful son.”
Marik leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. Amunet raised her
hand and cupped her husband’s hot cheek in her hand.
“Go do what you must do, my love. I’ll be here with our child
when you get back.”
Marik smiled down at his wife. “I love you, Amunet.”
“Come back to me and you will hold our son.”
“I will.”
Marik kissed her honey-sweet lips again and stepped out of
the tent.
Amunet struggled to her feet. She stood up, holding her aching back, her
pregnant belly weighing her down and almost knocking her off balance.
She stepped out of the tent and watched her husband mount a
horse. The elders gave him a sack of
food and a first aid kit.
“Good luck, Marik Ishtar.”
Marik looked back at Amunet and
smiled at her. He dug his shoes against
the horse and the creature galloped away from the settlement.
Amunet watched Marik gallop away, her heart
falling with the increasing distance that her husband was retreating.
“Goodbye, my husband.
I cherish you. I’ll miss you.”
Amunet returned inside her tent and ate some dates she had laying in
a bowl.
When the labor pains returned, she returned to her make-shift
bed and laid down, feeling her body tremble with the
pain.
She put her hand on her stomach. “Child, please…..do not
arrive yet. I want your father here to
witness your birth. Wait until
dawn. When your father arrives and the
first rays of day touch the desert sands, you will be born. The god Aten will bless your birth as his
rays will shine upon you. Settle
now….that’s a good boy.”
Amunet rubbed her belly and the child
quieted down. “Good boy.”
********************************
Amunet was woken up the next morning by the
sounds of screaming men and the gallop of horses. She struggled to her feet when Yami’s General, Anubis, burst
into her tent.
“So, you are Marik Ishtar’s wife?”
Amunet’s eyes focused on the sword in the
man’s hand. “Why? What has he done?”
“Your husband has betrayed our beloved pharaoh. He has rejected his birth. He has rejected his station. And Pharaoh Yami does not tolerate being
rejected by a member of such a Noble family such as the Ishtars.”
The woman wiped her brow, covered in sweat. She had envisioned seeing her husband and
giving birth to her child this morning, not staring down
a tall, muscular soldier with a sword.
She covered her pregnant belly with her hand. “Please….I am with
child! Please…..at least allow me to
birth my baby before you kill me!”
Anubis lunged at her, but she dodged. She
ran out of the tent and out of the settlement.
She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, but the pregnant
woman in labor was no match for General Anubis.
The general fired an arrow and it caught her in the back of
the foot.
The woman fell down and Anubis
hovered above her.
Amunet looked up at the general looking
down at him. “Please….spare me…..let me deliver my
child!”
The general scowled down at the woman. “What makes you think I will spare your
life?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Your husband betrayed the Nobility. He abandoned his station to roam around the desert
with your lowly kind.”
Amunet’s eyes widened in
horror. “Don’t
hurt my baby!”
Anubis called over a soldier. “Cut the baby from this woman’s body. If it is a female child, you will watch your
infant die. Then we will take your
life.”
The woman’s face contorted in pain as her body was shaken by
labor pains.
Anubis grinned. “If your child is a boy, we
will take the child with us and will be raised as a soldier.” He turned to the guard. “Cut the female open
and remove her bastard child.”
Amunet screamed as the blade pierced her
skin and cut across her belly. The
soldier reached in and sliced the woman’s uterus. He grabbed the foot of the fetus and pulled
it violently out of the secure environment.
Anubis held the wailing baby upside down. He cut the umbilical cord.
“It is a boy,” Anubis said.
The woman looked up at the infant and gave a weak smile. The
first rays of light were ascending over the sands.
”Aten…….”
The naked infant wailed loudly as it dangled helplessly. Its tiny fingers flexed and his face turned
red from lack of oxygen.
“My little Aten………”
Anubis scowled at the naked infant with
hatred. This child was the seed of one who had mocked the Nobility by leaving
it for a common peasant girl. The thin
baby wept as it dangled upside down helplessly.
“I should cut your throat…..Aten. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Anubis said,
raising his sword to touch the newborn’s neck.
Amunet cried. “Don’t…..hurt….Aten.”
Anubis looked down at the woman. “He’s not yours now. This is yours….”
The general stabbed Amunet in the
stomach and sliced her open, watching her intestines spill onto the sand.
Aten let out a wail as he watched his mother slip.
Anubis handed the child to the
soldier. “Take this brat away while I
finish the job.”
The soldier grabbed the infant and walked away. The wailing boy watched as Anubis stab his mother repeatedly.
“Aten…..Marik,” the woman gasped as she took her last breath.
The infant’s cries died down as it started sucking its thumb.
******************************
Anubis returned to the palace clutching the
tiny newborn in his arms. He jumped off
of his horse and walked to the pharaoh.
The general walked through the palace halls, the infant
crying again in his arms. He entered the
Royal Throne Room where the Yami was sitting.
The pharaoh sat on his throne, his legs crossed, and his head
raised in a smug grin. “What say you,
step-brother?”
“I killed Ishtar’s wife. The settlement has been destroyed. There are
no survivors.”
The pharaoh smiled. “Excellent. You have done well, General Anubis.”
Anubis held out the infant. “This is the
seed of Ishtar.”
Yami narrowed his eyes and stood up. He walked down the three steps and approached
the general holding the weeping infant.
Yami raised his hand and tipped the child’s head up.
“This is Ishtar’s child?” Yami lowered his eyes. “A
male child.”
“Yes, my pharaoh.”
Yami narrowed his eyes at the child. “You are my property
from now on.” Yami trailed his finger from Aten’s
forehead down to his chin. “Anubis is your daddy
now. Take this little bastard away.”
Anubis bowed before Yami and left the room.
He returned to his home by the training arena.
His wife was sweeping the floor when her husband walked in.
Anubis held up the child. “This child is
ours now. Clean it and dress it
in…whatever we got.” Anubis
put the child on the dinner table.
“What am I supposed to dress it in? What do I look like?”
”Feed it, too!”
The woman put her hands on her hips. “I have not had a child
in four years! What makes you think I
could feed this child?”
“Feed the child the drippings from the broth if you have to.”
The woman grumbled under her breath as the infant started to
cry. The naked baby wailed and flailed
his arms.
“Oh, shut up, you little whelp!” the woman growled as she
poured out a bowl of the broth boiling over the fire.
********************************
Anubis tossed and turned in his bed with
his wife. The woman next to him growled angrily as her sleep was interrupted by
the child’s cries.
“I don’t know why you didn’t slit that baby’s throat when you
pulled it from that whore’s body!”
Anubis growled. “The boy looked
strong. My army could always use a human
shield. That’s the only reason why I’m
raising this child. The enemy will be
too busy running him through with spears and lances to pay attention to my
army.”
The child whimpered.
“Did you not feed that child?”
“I fed it the fat and greasy drippings from our dinner. The
brat is lucky to get that.”
The child’s piercing wail echoed through the house.
“Did you put clothes on the wretched little beast?”
“That peasant doesn’t deserve clothing!”
A whine came from the other room as Anubis’
son screamed angrily. “SHUT THAT BRAT UP! I CAN’T SLEEP!”
Anubis groggily stood out of bed and went
to the open chest where the infant laid naked on a pile of dirty clothes. “It’s time you took a walk, brat.”
Anubis picked up the baby and the infant’s
crying quieted. Anubis
walked the child to the middle of the training arena. “Get used to this place, kid. You’ll be
seeing a lot of it.”
Anubis put the child on the sand and walked
away from the baby.
Aten closed his eyes and let out a wail as he laid helpless on the sands….cold, hungry, naked, and needing
a gentle touch.
*************************
The High Priest tossed leaned down and kissed his partner’s
slender neck. The woman under him moaned
softly as his expert tongue licked a trail up her neck. Seth moved within her body slowly, allowing
her to become accustomed to him before any heavy lovemaking.
The High Priest was a gentle and considerate lover. He had never hurt any of the women in his
harem.
Seth was careful not to put too much weight on his pregnant
lover.
A baby’s cry sounded in the night.
Seth lifted is head. “Is that coming from my harem?”
The woman heard the child cry. “No. That’s not coming from
our room, Seth. That’s coming from
outside!”
Seth removed himself from his lover and ran onto the
balcony. The baby’s cry was coming from
the outside.
The High Priest looked around. “Where is this child’s cry coming from?”
Seth returned to his chambers and placed a robe around him. “Veria, you stay here.”
“Seth, I should come,” Veria
already had her own robe on. “That baby sounds like it’s
hurt.”
Veria followed Seth out of the palace and
through the gardens. The crying
continued.
The couple followed the wailing to the arena where they found
a naked newborn laying in the middle of the arena.
Seth picked it up with gentle hands and the baby’s wails had became quieter. The
baby with purple eyes looked up at Seth.
The child’s body shivered in Seth’s grasp.
Veria ran up beside Seto and gasped. “The poor child!” Veria tucked the shivering infant under her clothes. The infant turned his head instinctively
towards Veria’s breast.
“You hungry, child?”
Veria lifted her breast and the baby boy took
the nipple between his lips.
The cold infant nursed hungrily off of the woman, his hand raising to touch the breast.
Veria smiled down at the boy. “Awww….you were
hungry, baby.”
Seth looked at the child’s belly. “Part of his umbilical cord has not fallen
off yet. This baby is not even one day
old.”
Veria leaned down to kiss the infant. “Poor dear.”
The High Priest turned to Anubis’
home. “I know who is responsible. This
isn’t the first time he abandoned a child out here. In the morning, I will have strong words with
him. Bring the child inside to the
harem. Thank the gods we found this one
before he could freeze to death. He
couldn’t have survived the night in this air.
I will not let a naked infant freeze and starve in this cold.”
The High Priest allowed his lover to carry the child
inside. They dressed the infant in red
satin linen. The baby sucked from the
breast hungrily until it started to cry again.
“Shh…little
one.” Veria put the baby against her and pat its back. The baby burped and fell asleep against Veria with a full belly.
Next Chappie: Seth confronts Anubis and Yami about the treatment of children in their
care.