Black Wings: Talons of Theft



Ateo sighed, he looked at his new body, Makoto was weak physically. How could be able to handle Philip and Corvus now in such a weak form? He was not without protest, as within the mind, Makoto was begging for Ateo to keep his body safe and sound, he didn't want himself or Ateo damaged in any painful state. Ateo though shook his head, knowing he was going to have to fight those two once again.

He knocked on the door of a rich looking mansion, and a butler answered the door, "Yes?" Was the calm question.

"I have come for Marcel's Golden Eye, he knows who I am." Ateo growled. The butler nodded in response, allowing entrance to the thief. Ateo waited in the foyer as the butler fetched Marcel, who eventually appeared walking down the steps in a fabulous yellow bathrobe.

"Ah, Makoto-boy, so nice to see you again. It seems you didn't take your defeat to heart, simply a genius as you are." Marcel Mayura chuckled, whipping back his black hair to display his Golden Eye, "But what's this? Do I see you too, Ateo?"

"Cut the theatrics Marcel. I need the Golden Eye back." Ateo ground out, even though Marcel was a bright man, Ateo couldn't stand his somewhat foppish lifestyle.

"Very well, Ateo-boy." Marcel grabbed the Golden Eye, simply ripping it from his socket, his original eye reformed in place, not leaving a drop of blood on him. Marcel handed it to Ateo, who smirked in satisfaction.

"What's this?" Marcel questioned, "It's as if..."

"The Golden Eye allowed you to retain some of its power. It seems you were one of the few chosen, which is why Darkness told for me to give you it. He knew you could be trusted." Ateo smirked, "I must be going now, I know you'll be joining the games that are being set up as we speak."

"Oh yes, indeed." Marcel chuckled, "I'm sure you're very excited for the next round of games. It's going to be the most fabulous entertainment in a long time."

Ateo smirked as he walked away, saying his goodbyes to Marcel, "Most entertaining indeed."

Chapter I
Samad had appeared out of nowhere, and had showed Corvus and Philip a way to get to Aishazi, through a light portal. He had explained that he was able to track the two through the dark portals that were opening, how he saw Ateo fight and kidnap Makoto. That Corvus and Philip both ran into the portal, he knew the portal would open back up there as well, he just didn't expect Ateo at first; finding out from all the dark energy that came off of Makoto's body, he waited instead for both Philip and Corvus to return.

That was when he showed himself, and now was guiding them to Aishazi, who awaited them on the other side. Corvus sighed, seeing the empty eyed Samad reminded him simply of death, he knew the man had long since been dead, his eyes explained it all. When they made it out to the end of the portal, Aishazi awaited them. They entered into a room containing nothing but bricks and torches on the wall, looking very much as if it were in the desert.

"Ah... Samad, you brought back Corvus and Philip, as I knew." Aishazi stated, touching her necklace, which glowed gold.

"Aishazi..." Corvus stated, "What are we going to do?"

"It is only a short amount of time before I'm forced to give up the Golden Necklace... Philip, I assume Corvus has filled you in on what I told him?" Aishazi questioned.

"Yes, he told me that your necklace gives you precognitive powers and is one of the artifacts Darkness is after...never told me that you were a lovely lady though."

"Ah... Thank you." Aishazi emotionlessly stated, she definitely seemed greatly detached from the world, "Thank you as well, Samad, had you not been able to track the energies of Darkness, we'd have not found these two."

"Indeed." Samad merely stated, mulling over something that was going on in his mind.

Corvus was silent, trying to piece everything together. Philip broke the silence asking Aishazi, "So, I believe it's easy to ask a precog, pardon if you find that term offensive, this question, 'What's next?'"

Aishazi stared at Philip, "Ateo was sent to Marcel Mayura, a man who held the Golden Eye. He has taken it, and is heading to the Statue of Darkness as we speak. As I've predicted, he was able to get all six other items... Using their power, he shall call out for the Necklace, and I shall be forced to give it up."

Samad silently bowed his head, "I was supposed to gather the rest of the Items when their chosen owners died... I failed even in that, Lord Anubis..." He turned his attention to Corvus and Philip, "Aishazi will be forced to give it up, willingly or not."

"Is there anyway we can prevent that? Make it so even if you have to give it up he doesn't get his hands on it?" Philip questioned, trying to create a new plan out of these bleak circumstances.

"Darkness thinks everything out, he is a Secret after all, and after working with two of them for the past four-thousand years..." Samad's eyes turned red, "-I don't see a damn way for any stupid-" Samad's eyes returned back to their normal blue, "-plan to work."

Aishazi nodded, "Which is why we've been here in Egypt. We are not far from the statue, we can at least hold back Ateo for so long."

Corvus nodded, "It's the only way?"

Samad's eyes turned into a soft gold, "Why of course, let's just not hurt him... We can talk him out of it."

"I've tried that, he's a smug one, that kid. But I can't think of anything other than to outright destroy the statue which I've been told is "impossible". Which now gave me an idea to steal your idea and combine it with my own."

"Ooh... That sounds cool. Someone knows stuff..." Samad's eyes turned to red, "Shut up, the moron knows nothing!!" Samad's then became blue once more, "I apologize... I have a slight... Problem, that has grown..."

Corvus turned to Philip, "He's got three spirits within... I see three energies... His own, and two others..."

Philip merely nodded, his life is already strange so a man with a split personality was actually pretty mundane to him.

Aishazi then spoke, her strong voice commanding silence, "Come with me, we shall go to the very room with the Statue. It's over a desert dune, so be sure to have what you need, the desert is cold out at night." Aishazi walked to a door, opening it and leaving.

Samad nodded to Corvus and Philip, walking through the door, the ghost that he is.

"Four against one is good odds..." Corvus mentioned, walking to the door and opening it, holding it for Philip. Philip walked passed, thanking Corvus on his way out.

He then asked, "So, I know this seems like a useless question, but how did Darkness' statue get to Earth if he can't directly interact with Earth?"

Samad answered, "When creating Items through almost any Secret's alchemy, a conduit will appear, normally to house the creations in question." Samad's eyes turned red once more, "Idiot."

Philip responded flatly, "Excuse me for not looking into occult mythology. I only have knowledge of mainstream mythologies such as...you know the actual Egyptian myths."

Samad turned around, his eyes still red, "And that is why you're an idiot. Khemet is not what it once was, not like history says it was. There ARE secrets... Moron." Samad's eyes turned blue, "My apologies..." He merely said, turning around to catch up with Aishazi, who was already walking over a sand dune.

"Do not take it to heart, Philip. He, even as a spirit, cannot fight against the other two all the time." Corvus stated, "I know how it feels, your soul fighting for freedom."

Philip responded, "I didn't take it to heart. You told me he has those "spirits" in him so I can sympathize about how hard that can be. And I don't know about my "soul" but I can empathize with fighting for freedom."

"Spirits indeed, three different beings, in one. They each fight over for control. Each one seems to be able to think for themselves and have a completely different drive from one another." Corvus taught Philip on Samad's problem, using his golden eyes himself to search the soul.

Aishazi and Samad though were getting far ahead, the woman was probably the fastest human on Earth! She turned around when she came to a wall, and stared up, looking at a cliffside.

"We are here." She announced, Samad made a portal of white energy, going through it, another one appeared at the top and he appeared at the top of the cliff, he waved down. Aishazi walked through, Corvus was next, then Philip.

"So, is Ateo here or did we beat him and he's still elsewhere?" Philip questioned, wondering what to do either way.

"He has yet to arrive. That is why I made sure we were here first." Aishazi stated as the portal closed, the group walked down countless steps. They finally reached the room containing the statue, the Sacred Items that Ateo had put there earlier making the statue look glorious.

"Yes... We are definitely here before he." Corvus stated.

Philip turned his left arm into sledgehammer, "Well then we have to smash this thing into dust. No statue, no invasion." He swung and extended his arm and tried to strike the statue, which didn't put even a crack into it.

"It's probably not going to work..." Corvus stated.

Philip turned his arms into swords, responding, "It's made of matter. It can be destroyed." He swung again to try to slice it.

Once more, nothing happened. Philip couldn't help but sigh before asking his compatriots, "Anyone happen to be carrying dynamite on their person?"

"No." Aishazi shook her head, "It's impossible to destroy the statue, I'm sure of it."

"You sure, because I can even work with a magical nuke right about now."

"I'll show you..." Corvus muttered, a few seconds after, a giant, ethereal sword shot out from behind him, hitting the shield many times, but providing no effect.

Philip looked at it and replied, "There has to be a way past the kinetic barrier! Even "magic" has its limitations!"

"You foolish mortal. What makes you even think Darkness has any limitation?!" Ateo's voice echoed in the room, a black portal opened, releasing Ateo, who was still housed within Makoto, "Seriously, logic is gone with magic."

Aishazi was silent, Samad though had moved to stand in front of her. Philip followed Samad's lead and cranked it up to 11, turning himself into an enormous wall, getting between Ateo and Aishazi, blocking all ways, left, right, up and down, covered.

Makoto's eyes were forced to widen, before Ateo cackled, "You think that is going to stop me? Meager forces such as building a wall? No..." Ateo walked to the statue, planting the eye into the left socket of the statue, "Believe me, I was pissed when you killed me Philip..." Ateo approached Corvus and the wall that was Philip, "And Raven boy... You were definitely a good instrument to my earthly demise."

Corvus kept silent.

Philip shouted to Ateo, "Come Ateo! Darkness explained everything. And to sum it up, he's an ass. He sees you as a tool! What in the name of your gods makes you think that Darkness will hold his end of the bargain? He told us that you use to be this nice guy who cared for all life. And now you're going to let some sadastic god-wannabe turn Earth into a living hell? There has to be another way, just get rid of the artifacts and rebel against Darkness!"

Ateo glared at Philip, "You're the jackass who killed me!! Why should I even trust anyone?! Darkness has been there for me the very day everyone died. I don't give a rat's ass if this world ends!! You're a prick!!" Ateo stomped over to the statue, "I'm through with this place..."

He raised his arms, he spoke in Egyptian, ''"Darkness... Hear my plea... I cannot reach the last item... With the rest of the items gathered thus far... You can influence the Earth just a bit... Good enough to teleport one person to another place..." ''The statue glowed gold, and before everyone's eyes Aishazi suddenly appeared in front of Ateo, who ripped the Golden Necklace from her.

"Thank you, Miss Kasra..." Ateo smirked as Aishazi seemingly took a few steps back in fear, "Now, the final one..."

Philip lashed out his arm as he started to reform his humanoid shape, trying to take the necklace from Ateo's grasp, "Will you just listen! Darkness has no plan on helping you and bringing your family back or whatever it is! He'll just stab you in the back when he gets the chance!"

Ateo jumped back, avoiding Philip's strikes altogether, "Why would I listen to someone who fucking KILLED me?! Some asshole who thinks he knows everything!! And his bird-man partner!! You've got people who love you, you fucking moron!! All of mine are dead, suffering in eternal despair!!" He growled, his anger making Makoto's eyes both become deep, blood red.

"And you think making an entire universe like that is going to make it right! Look, I literally didn't mean to kill you! You always boast about how much more powerful you are than me because of your magic so I assumed you were actually immortal! But riddle me this? Who can you trust more, an entity with an incomprehensible mind, or a being with a human like mind?" Philip lashed his arm again and tried to yank the necklace from Ateo's grasp.

"Darkness has given more than anyone after my family died!!" Ateo kept getting out of the way, "And I'm through with you! You have consistently kept me back! Ridiculed me, and I'm going to get back at you!!"

Aishazi and Samad stood over by Corvus, their powers unable to assist at all, though Corvus decided to join in. Ateo kept dodging each move and attack, showing off his skills as a theif by not getting caught in such a cramped room.

"I'm tired of all of this!! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS WORLD!!" Ateo screamed as he jumped up and put the necklace on the statue. Philip again extended his arm and tried to use his hand to get in between the statue and the necklace.

"Darkness is going to throw you into his word the moment he gets the chance!"

Ateo used dark magic, shooting at the statue's neck, destroying the nanobots and made the Necklace finally touched the statue.

"Finally..." The ground shook suddenly, the items slowly faded from existence, as spirits and energy was released into the air. Their screams of torture faded, as the souls became bright white orbs and flew away outside. A few stopped before Ateo, gently floating about and bobbing up and down, before slowly fading. The ground slowly stopped quaking.

"They're free..." Ateo fell to his knees in joy, tears spiling from his eyes.

Philip ran to him and grabbed him by the throat, snapping, "And you just placed the entire Universe into what the adherents of the Abrahamic faiths would call Eternal Damnation!"

Ateo sniffled, "I'm done... At least... Th-they're free..." Ateo's voice cracked, "They were my family... I care for them..." He sputtered.

"We don't have long..." Aishazi stated.

Philip tossed the boy aside, asking, "Don't have long for what? Is there a way to stop Darkness from entering our dimension?"

"No... We have no way to stop him... We must leave though. The Statue is the gateway..." Aishazi said, at this, Samad opened a light portal to exit through. Aishazi ran through, Samad right after her, and then Corvus.

"Where can we go to?! Darkness is coming to invade and conquer the entire World! Where is there to go!?" regardless Philip followed.

They all appeared out near where the cliffside is, "We're fine, we can try to fight against Darkness..." Aishazi stated.

Philip then asked, "While fighting "gods" aren't my forte, I suppose I can give it a shot...but man I wish Todd was here to give me some pointers on the matter."

Meanwhile, Ateo sat on the ground, his body weakened. He was calm, but he was relaxed, he finally felt calmer and at peace. He sighed, Makoto's body was too weak for him. He looked to the statue that began to slowly melt, knowing full well these were the consequences.

The Earth began to quake and shake, and powerful energy began to muster and take form. Soon enough, the statues' melted remains formed a portal of Darkness on the ground, energy spilled out as Darkness finally emerged.

"Ah... Ateo... I've come to reward you... Before assuming my true form on this Earth... Take it..." Darkness' eyes gleamed, and seconds later, Ateo found himself in his old body, Makoto was gone. "A new body for you, and the boy is back with his friends. Now let us begin this excursion, Philip and Corvus are going to get in the way."

Chapter II
The ground shook, clouds began to form in the sky, then suddenly all was silent.

"Darkness has crossed over." Aishazi informed, suddenly, Makoto appeared before everyone, unconscious on the ground. Corvus went and picked the boy up.

"We have little time before he-" Aishazi's words were cut off as the top of the cave blew up, a giant creature stood in the wake of the destruction. A black dragon with white eyes, dark energy pulsated around this being that now was before the group. Giant wings sprouted into the sky, cutting some of the clouds. From nearby, Wadjet flew, Ateo in his new body flew nearby, smirking all the same.

'''"This world is mine!!" '''Darkness screeched, roaring as energy shot through the world. Samad protected the group with his light energy, barely holding up what the rest of the Earth was to succumb to.

Philip snapped, "What is he doing? What is becoming of the Earth?!"

The skies started to storm, lightning struck the ground as Darkness roared, "Ah... Mortals shall slowly succumb to the Darkness in their hearts, and Philip, know that all there shall be known is war and destruction."

Ateo smirked, "I'll take Philip to the memory world... You can take the rest of them."

'''"Very well, Ateo..." '''Darkness growled, roaring louder a few seconds later.

"Darkness has initiated his magic. The Earth is covered in Darkness." Aishazi stated, "We must fight Darkness off, if possible."

Philip looked to the others and said, "I'm not going to like this "Memory World" am I? Oh well...kids always have dreams of being dragon slayers guess I'll live the dream..." With that Philip created his swords again from his arms, ready for combat if needed.

Ateo laughed, Wadjet flew straight for him, grabbing Philip in its mouth and flyinghigh into the sky, "Oh... you'll enjoy this alright Philip, now I can make you suffer instead."

Philip struggled against the enormous spiritual snake stuggling to break free. Then an idea occured to him. He disassembled his left leg, causing it to fall off, as well as quickly regenerate it. As the leg landed to the ground it has just begun to regenerate into a seperate body.

"Oh, we're not having that..." Ateo smirked, he raised his hand, forcing a grey portal into existence under the leg that was regenerating, Wadjet then flew into the portal itself, forcing Philip in as well, but making him black out to add.

XXXXXXX

'''"Corvus, go back, go to another planet... You're not human... So do not remain." '''Darkness growled, blowing fire at the group of four now.

Corvus blew fire from his own mouth, negating the attack head on with his own powerful blast.

Darkness chuckled, "You truly think that you'll be able to stop my power? That was only a tiny bit of what I can truly do... At least, in my true form that is... I'll admit, Corvus, I'm not omnipotent, nowhere near... But I can easily wipe you off the face of the planet if you were to battle me alone."

"Cousin, you're the one who should leave. You, like I, do not belong on this planet." Corvus replied.

'''"Yet you stayed. As the Thyrians would say, 'Vean Moul Riik!!" '''Darkness breathed white flames this time, Corvus recognized this as the Purgatory Flames, which he was unable to stop due to it's prowess. He grabbed Makoto, and jumped away as Samad and Aishazi escaped through a portal.

The whole remaining group stayed at the top of a dune, looking back at Darkness' Dragon form, "Ah, you knew that you'd be unable to stop that one. The Purgatory Flame... Learned it myself in the library of everything."

"What do we do?" Corvus looked to Aishazi, the woman had a determined expression on her face.

"I'm unsure exactly of how, but we will all be separated into our own groups, I do not have the Necklace any longer, but Darkness is going to separate us all. He has already done away with Philip by using Ateo." Aishazi informed, "But I know we shall all return together to fight Darkness again."

'''"Hehehehe... You catch on well, Aishazi Kasra, both you and Samad were well aware of me. Unlike the other cosmic beings, I don't blab about my fruitful plans every second of the day. But it's well enough that you are the very incarnation of... HIM, the one that knows all." Darkness explained, "Do not think for a second that you have the upper hand or will... Because by the end of my short rule on this planet, I'll have completed my four-thousand year plot."'''

"You cannot win if you lose." Corvus stated.

'''"That's where you're wrong, dear cousin. Now, go think on that... Begone." '''Darkness raised a scaled arm, two portals appeared under Corvus and Makoto, the other for Aishazi and Samad; sending the four away and apart.

'''"When there is a loss, there is sometimes a win. Foolish cousin, demon-spawn. Know that Darkness rules the Earth for a short time, just to complete for something greater!" '''Darkness roared, storms roared across the Earth as quakes began to shake the lands. The seas began to sway and the air began to churn, everything was changing to Darkness' design, and nothing was to stop him.

Chapter III
Philip awoke in the desert, near a long river that flowed gently, seeing his face was covered by the shadow of a tree that held fruit above him. 'First things first,' Philip thought, 'Gotta find what was my severed leg.'

"I'm over here!" cried an identical voice. Philip looked up and saw, not to far away, himself. The two Philips walked to each other and merged to reform a singular Philip. Philip looked back to the tree and rolled his eyes. He then said sarcastically, "Oh look, a tree. Nothing suspicious at all. It must be safe to do this." He plucked a fruit from the tree. Nothing happened, but Philip did hear something from behind him.

"H-hey... Uh... Um..." A young child stood before Philip, wearing what appeared to be rags. His eyes were a beautiful purple, and his hair was a bright white that seemed semi-long, "I-I have been t-trying f-for a long time to get that... C-can I have i-it?"

Philip recognized the person slightly, not sure if it was Ateo or Makoto, but either way, he wasn't heartless enough to keep the fruit, saying, "Here you go." as he handed it to the boy.

"T-thanks..." The child stated, "M-my name is Ateo... Y-you're clothing... It's different..." Ateo had his eyes downcast, avoiding eye-contact with Philip at all costs, "Wh-where do y-you c-come from?"

Philip realized exactly what Ateo meant by "Memory World." It was just that, Ateo's memories. This was Ateo as a child. He decided to answer him by saying, "It's a little hard to explain my little friend. Let's just say I'm from a far away point and leave it at that."

The young child nodded, "O-ok..." He turned around, at that moment, Philip was interrupted by another voice.

"So... Nice to see the brat got to you first." The older Ateo appeared, donning his old, red robe, "The Memory World, my memories to be exact. Though your presence will change some of the... Scenes, you're overall presence will make no change to what I truly remember." Ateo grinned maliciously, "Ah, good times..."

Philip responded dryly, "Yes, before you doomed an entire dimension I sure you've had many wonderful memories." Philip took another fruit, solely for the purpose of throwing it up and down like a ball. "So, how does putting me in your mind push your already dull witted agenda?"

Ateo stared at Philip, crossing his arms, "I want you to understand something..." Ateo stated, "Of course, you could just simply leave this memory world by killing me; which, by looking at many hours before, you had no problem doing, so I'm sure you'll kill me the instant I let my guard down." Ateo nodded, running to catch up to his younger self, whispering a few things in the child's ear.

"What are you doing now?" Philip demanded of the older Ateo, knowing that it'll probably be horrible for all involved.

The younger Ateo turned to Philip, "Y-you can turn into a-anything you w-want?" The younger's eyes were wide with amazement, the younger Ateo turned to the elder one, "He-he doesn't look l-like he can..."

"Oh, believe me, I've watched enough of it..." Ateo stated.

The younger Ateo stared at Philip, positively beaming, "Th-that i-is so neat." Even when excited the child was shown to be very timid. Philip was surprised that the older Ateo hasn't done something against him. He looked down at the child before responding.

"Indeed, I can become almost anything I can imagine. Would you like to see? What should I become, you choose."

"Uh... Th-that tree?" The younger Ateo questioned, pointing to the tree Philip grabbed the fruit from. Philip smiled at the boy and took a step back.

"Sure thing kid." he said as his arms stretched and seperated, resembling branches, before altering the rest of his body and changed color to perfectly resemble the tree, fruits and all.

"That's amazing..." The younger Ateo stared in awe, but was brought out of his reverie by the older Ateo's cough.

"Kid, don't you need to be somewhere? You know, someone a little older than you said for you to be back soon, I'm sure?" Ateo stated.

The young Ateo nodded, "S-sorry, I forgot, I h-have to go! My sis is going to kill me!" The child ran off, running toward an eastern direction from the river. Philip returned to his true form, and managed to put two and two together.

"This is when your family was killed isn't it Ateo?"

"What ever made you guess that?" Ateo questioned. Philip paced around the Egyptian as he explained.

"You told me earlier that you found your village in ruin. And I happen to be in one of your memories where you're away from the villaige, your younger self mentioned his sister. I'm not an idiot Ateo. I can figure these things out. Still doesn't convince me you're right about turning Earth into a hell."

"Never-the-less... Come... Take a walk with me, or kill me, I could care less now. I have freed my family from their eternal suffering. They were in so much pain." Ateo stated, looking up at the sky, while walking toward where the younger Ateo had ran.

Philip stabbed the man in the heart, snapping, "Doesn't justify making the entire Universe suffer as they did!"

Ateo slowly faded from existence, reappearing nearby, "Your temper is why I brought you here... You're lucky I saw that before it came... You would have been erased with my memories, turning you into nothing..." Ateo shook his head, "The girl's name... You seem to be fond of her... Wadjet finally got the name to me through contact... Rune... How would you feel if her skin was stripped from her body, put into a golden pot, sealing her soul within to torture for all eternity?"

Philip answered, "I would be sad, and angry. But I wouldn't sacrifice an entire Universe...she'd never want that. She would never want anyone to suffer, she'd never ignore another species in danger. If you're trying to draw similarities, forget it. I know Rune too well. And I've come to terms long ago that I will probably outlive her."

"I'm trying to make you realize that they would have suffered eternity... Unable to meet Anubis at the end... Never moving from the Earth... Crying for help every day that Ra passes over the sky on his chariot..." Ateo raised his arms, some energy covered Philip and himself. The world changed, revealing a room lit with two torches. There were three people on the ground.

The people standing up wore purple robes, the odd one wearing red robes though smirked, "You're all to be a part of something greater." The man stated, walking over and using a knife to tear off flesh from a man, slowly and steadily, putting it into a pot. The man was all but dead by the time the red-robed man had finished. He did this to every person into the room.

The young Ateo could be seen in the darkest corner of the room, if only barely; tears spilling from his eyes in fear and hurt. Watching this atrocity occur, as each family member he knew was being killed, very slowly.

Philip responded, "Then why not pray to your gods for their salvation? Surely they must be higher than Darkness, they are said to have created the Universe. Your civilization worshipped the Sun the light and the order! Why not as for Ra's help, Osiris' help, Isis' help, Anubis' help against a force of dakrness, death, and decay?!"

"You wouldn't believe how many times I asked right then and there... Then I learned something that was beyond my own hope..." Ateo pointed to the red robed man, who turned around to show a strange symbol of an eye, "The Eye of Horus... Only the Pharoah's men... They had been told by the Pharoah to do this..." Ateo fisted his hands, "To create those..." At that minute, a statue rose from nowhere, the Golden Items of the Secrets embedded within, but falling out of it at that exact second.

"I learned I could do nothing... Since the Gods were on their side. My family and friends... Everyone... I lost them all..." After all the pharoah's men left, taking only a few of the Items, the young Ateo ran over, crying.

"Mom..? Dad..? S-sis..?" The child's eyes were bright red from being rubbed, "Please... Wake up... I-I w-want y-you to w-wake up... Please!" The child cried before he started to scream in pain, emotional agony spilling out as the child could do nothing but cry and cry.

Ateo stared at his younger version, his eyes showing no emotion or any of the sort. Philip merely responded, "I sympathize. I really do. But the trade off is unjust! You sacrificed the entier Universe for three minds. You sacrificed countless lives, literally countless! Many of them innocent. Are you any better than the Pharaoh's men?"

"My family were of the last three alive... There were one hundred..." Ateo stared off to the side, watching as his younger self cried, "I am no better than the dirt beneath your feet, Philip. My existence was less than anyone's the second I was alone... Darkness will never kill... He just uses darkness to enhance his own powers... There is no justice in this world. You act like you know what true pain is!"

The younger Ateo cried out, "Who are you?" A figure stood before him.

"I am Darkness... I shall take you away from this... And give you a chance to save them..." Darkness stated, "From now on... I shall take care of you child. I shall clothe you... Feed you... Show you the wonders of life... But I can only do so for so long before I must leave Earth..."

The young Ateo gave a slight nod.

"Come..." Darkness gave off a very kind aura, "Let me show you the wonders..." Darkness took the boy through a dark portal.

"Darkness did as you saw... He cared for me. He treated me kindly like my parents... He made sure I was alright... He was all I had... The only thing I had..." Ateo's eyes were sprinkled with tears.

Philip retorted, "He called you worthless after you left Ateo. In Darkness' eyes you're nothing more than a tool for him to manipulate. And you asked about pain? Try being "born" for the sole purpose of war! Being made to kill and consume all that was in front of you. Imagine all that you just being a random glitch in the system. I was lucky, I was able to accumulate years worth of knowledge in a few seconds. All the bad and the good. I still say it's hypocritical, for you to do this for your damned family only to damn the rest of the Universe."

"I had nothing. Even if he did call me that, he was using you then... Darkness uses whatever darkness exists in one's heart, it's just to power him up. If he called me worthless, he didn't mean it truly about me, but only to influence you." Ateo sighed, "You'd never be able to understand... You are, and will never be of my origin... To care for someone so much that you'd give everything." Ateo fell to his knees, cloak billowing around him, "I shall return you back to Earth soon enough, you need not worry."

Philip responded, "You're just a puppet to him. But I suppose, rather than fighting a marrionette, I should attack the puppet master." He created his claws, ready to face whatever was on Earth.

Ateo looked up at Philip, "I cannot just let you waltz back to Earth. The Memory World disallows this..."

"And what grudge does your Memory World have against me?"

"I have more than plenty reason to hold a grudge to one who would disallow my family rest." Ateo stood up, glaring at Philip with his red eyes, greatly constrasting the color of his purple ones when he was younger.

Philip then stated for the thousandth time, "You've helped Darkness turn the Universe in to a hell and damned literally countless inhabitants for...what three people? And if you try to yell at me for being a heartless bastard, I don't think you're one to talk because...well I've just said why."

"One hundred, you idiot. You think I didn't care for my neighbors? My friends?! They were sacrificed hours before my own family was slowly mutilated." Ateo ground out, "And it's not like Darkness is going to kill anyone, he doesn't work that way."

Philip approuched him and responded sarcastically, "Oh one-hundred, that's such a big difference compared to, oh I don't know, trillions and trillions of life forms across all of time and space. And it doesn't matter if he kills them or not, he's making them suffer! You've literally done what the Pharaoh's minions have done, only you're worse than them, as you've A) done it single handedly, B) had the same motivation, that being a superior telling you to do it, and still claim to be justified, and C) you've did it on an infinitly larger scale and don't even consider the repercusions!"

"Which is why I'll disallow you to leave." Ateo's red eyes glinted in fury, "I could give less than whatever about the whole planet Earth as it's called... Darkness has lived in many universes long before this... None have been destroyed... He's merely using his magic to make the Earth see their errors..." Ateo growled, turning around as he began to walk away.

Philip stretched his upper body around to face Ateo, responding, "By making corrupting them! That's not showing them their errors, that's turning them into their errors!  That's like saying you're save them from death by killing them!" Philip was now feeling levels of rage he has never experienced before.

Ateo gave a smirk, "They are their errors. They were their errors before Darkness ever came to Earth..." The scene suddenly began to shift as Ateo gripped his head, "Gah... N-no... Damn it... How much I can hate this realm at the same time as much as I love it..." The changing stopped, making Ateo and Philip suddenly appear in a realm with a large sun in the sky, and water as far as the eye could see. It barely covered their feet though, allowing them to still stand.

"Now what?" Philip muttered, retracting himself to his proper dimensions, looking around for any clues to their location.

"Look around, Philip... This is what I feel inside... Empty... Yet calm..." Ateo stated, "It's not the reflection of my, but of my deepest inner turmoil... My emotions... They change so quickly..." Ateo's eyes glinted with a dark red, "I have to do what Darkness desires... He has asked me to at least keep you from returning... I shall do that... Not understanding someone's inner pain will make you see what I mean!" A red sword form in Ateo's hand.

Philip created his own swords, "Maybe I'd be more sympathetic to your pain if you didn't sacrifice the entire universe to some sadistic extradimensional psychopath."

Chapter IV
Ateo's eyes glinted dangerously, slowly approaching Philip. It was swift and quick, but Wadjet suddenly appeared, lashing out and biting Philip. Philip tried to dissolve to slide out of the snake's maw, at that moment, Wadjet was preparing to breath fire on Philip.

"Maybe fire will hurt once more as Wadjet did earlier?!" Ateo questioned. Philip smirked, slithering away from the snake before reforming and lunging towards Ateo, swords recreated.

"Want it to breath fire at me now that I'm five inches away from you Ateo?"

"I'd love it." Ateo snapped his fingers, vanishing suddenly, Ateo reappeared a good distance away. The sky slowly became dark, and it began to rain, lightning struck forth in the background. "Wadjet! Roast my family's enemy!!" A fire burst came at Philip.

Philip forced his nanomachines to condense, to increase his durability, enabling him to at least move (stiffly) out of the flames. 'Why didn't I do that the first time he tried to light me on fire?'

"AARGH!! Wadjet!! You're supposed to burn the guy alive!!" Wadjet returned into Ateo's body, the Egyptian ran straight for Philip, forming a dark energy orb, launching it straight at him. Ateo then jumped into the air and came down at the same time, using an arc slash to burn into Philip's head.

Philip narrrowly (and stiffly) avoided the energy orb, but couldn't avoid the damage to his head. But he quickly regenerated his head. "I told you before that you can't hurt me. You haven't before, and you won't now."

Ateo gave smirk, "Which is why I want to see what magic does to you, at point-blank range." With that, Ateo had a dark energy punch go straight for Philip's stomach. The punch went through his stomach, but he quickly regenerated and solidified his adomen, trying to keep his arm stuck.

Ateo smiled, his body became cloaked in darkness, a purple color began to emanate from his body, "Oh how I wonder what this will do to your little machines that you've kept stuck to me, over and over... Maybe this time you're whole body will go." The energy grew, getting darker by the second, "Now let's suffer a nice explosion of darkness."

Philip quickly let go of the man's arm and leaped over a fair distance to try to avoid the explosion of darkness that Ateo has foretold.

For Ateo, it was too late, Philip had escaped, the explosion making a massive shockwave. A giant cloud blocked Philip's sight from seeing Ateo, darkness blocking out every directional view of the Egyptian. "How typical..." Ateo stated, the cloud faded, and it began to rain much harder. Wadjet appeared and lifted Ateo into the air.

"Ah... How I shall have fun..." The snake spat dark energy from it's mouth this time, keeping sure to be high enough to keep away from Philip.

Philip could see the snake and saw the strategy instantly, 'Trying to keep his distance so he can attack me but it would be hard to attack him...I can work with this...just have to get to Wadjet's blind spot..." And so he ran, trying to enter the blind spot of both the snake and its master.

"There's nowhere to hide, dear Philip. This place has nowhere TO hide!!" Ateo cackled, Wadjet slowly turned, firing more of the orbs of darkness; but when none landed, the snake flew over in and instant, whipping it's tail to hit Philip.

Philip leaped over the tail and tried to land on Wadjet's back to continue the fight against Ateo, but right as Philip landed onto Wadjet, Ateo lashed out like a wild animal, sending punches and attacks at Philip, each made of darkness and showing skills that Ateo had yet to even display when they fought in Darkness' Realm.