Encroaching Darkness: First Game

The first sensation Ateo suffered was a fall, slamming down onto hot sand, having the wind knocked out of him. He took a moment to regain his composure from his crumpled up position on the ground to realize what had happened. He sighed, knowing that Makoto, the child under Ides' possession, started an Ebony Game, an ancient style of fighting older than he was.

He stood up to see where he was, but his eyes widened in horror at the reality of the situation, "No... I said I didn't want to be here..."

Ateo stared at the remains of buildings, architecture that was once known as his home, all of it crumpled and broken under years of disuse and the destruction of the people that once lived there.

"Why? I left this place ages ago, to forget about it and move on; why did you bring me back here?" Ateo yelled out at the open space of the desert.

There was silence and but a warm wind blowing across the sands, the sun giving off a blistering heat like no other; something Ateo was completely used to and knew how to live in. He called forth Wadjet, and the snake appeared before him, in it's winged glory.

"We're in an Ebony Game, I know we are; that place would not be standing behind me if we weren't... It's been lost to the sands of time, I know it has, I don't need some book or historical document to tell me so." He spoke to Wadjet as if speaking to a person, "And it appears it is only us, Wadjet. Do you know what to do that I do not?"

He questioned the snake, who merely flicked its tongue out a few times and gave no audible response, to which Ateo sighed, "I didn't expect you to either, I was just hoping for something to be able to help me in this situation. I wonder if Philip and that other kid.. What's his name... Todd? Figure out something soon, they need to know they're stuck in an Ebony Game... Or this will spell a whole new set of troubles for them." Ateo walked toward his home, "What am I saying, I'm sure they'll figure out soon enough, the easy or the hard way..."

Wadjet slowly followed directly behind its master.

There were slight chuckles of amusement within a cloudy grey realm, a giant tabletop stood, across each end was a chair and on one side sat Ides (Or in the case Ides appearing in Makoto's form). Nearby Todd and Philip awoke, hearing the chuckles of 'Makoto', who was looking down at the tabletop.

"Oh dear Ateo, you feel a little bit sentimental?" 'Makoto' smirked, "Ah, you kids have awoken, wonderful."

Todd cracked a few joints, groaning, "Well that could've gone better. Philip you OK?" He turned around and saw that Philip seemed to have hit a snag on the way over to the dimension, currently regenerating his arm and about 15% of his torso. Todd looked around the cloudy realm, "Huh, sure his cloudy here. Wonder what the weatherman has for us tomorrow."

"Hahaha!!" 'Makoto' laughed, "Ah Todd, you seem to know how to simply lighten even dark ones' spirits; but no, now probably wouldn't be the best time to be joking. For right now, you've entered a rather interesting predicament, one I'm sure you and Philip will find worthy a task to set your mind to."

Todd asked, "And what sort of task is that?" Philip kept his eyes on Ides, thinking of any and all possible tasks that he and Todd will be forced to do.

"A mere game to play with me. Yes, a game. Now now, before we get ahead of ourselves, only one of you can play the master of your side. I'm already the master of the side I've chosen; and I have my game pieces. But to proceed forth, one of you must choose who will control the other side." Ides chuckled, "To aid you, I'll tell you what we're playing... It's a role-play game of sorts... The setting is ancient Egypt, 4000 years ago... That should give you a feel of which one of you will be game master."

Philip and Todd huddled together to get a game plan. Todd suggested, "I think you should do it Phil, you're smarter than me, can create plan after plan, calculate scenario after scenario. With you in control, we'd be a force to be reckoned with."

Philip shook his head and said, "No way. You're the more creative one."

"Dude, you can turn yourself into a bunny or a freaking hawk in five seconds...admittedly you can't fly as the hawk but it still counts!"

Philip responded, "Still, you possess the power to be this, game master as Ides puts it, which I guess would be something of the "player" and the other being like the piece on a board. That and you actually play video games, you've probably know every gaming trick in the book."

Todd nodded by countered, "Yes, but I'm not a roleplayer..."

"Neither am I. Besides, when you're on your missions, you have a very adaptable mind, you make plans and if something goes wrong you build on top of it."

Todd sighed, "OK, fine. I'll tell Ides." The two broke from their little huddle, Todd walking up to Ides, "We've decided that Philip's the Game Master and I'll be the "piece" as it were."

"Wait what?! We didn't agree to that!"

"Too late I already said it!" Todd smirked mischievously.

Ides smirked, "I'm sure..." He raised his arms, Todd was enveloped in dark energy and suddenly vanished; "And now that your friend will be having a fun time in Egypt, come take a seat Philip." Ides gestured to the seat that was open at the end of the table, "You have much to learn, but I'd say Todd chose correctly."

Philip reluctantly sat down and asked, "So how do I play?"

"Well, it's actually quite simple. There are your pieces, those of the grand palace, your chosen piece to uphold completely is the pharoah of course." Ides smirked, "And the only thing you require to do is to stop and defeat my pieces of the game. If you focus hard enough, you can transport a portion of yourself to the game to monitor the actions of those in the game."

"I'm going to guess that Todd also serves as a piece, correct?" asked Philip.

"Yes, my dear friend. Todd himself serves as his own piece and while he isn't a part of the history of 4000 years prior; he can in fact only affect few parts of the world. Those I'm sure he'll figure out when he has no interaction with any of the people of that time." Ides smiled wickedly, "Though there will be few he can actually speak to as well."

Philip continued, "So the objective of the game is to basically conquer the opposite kingdom right? That would allow me to assume Todd has allies in the other pieces correct?" Philip looked down at the "field" getting a good look at the board.

Philip noticed small red dots on a giant map of Egypt long ago, right near him, one small blue dot all the near way where Ides sat.

"The opposite kingdom... You mean a small village that once held about one hundred people... The kingdom you speak of is a young twenty year old at the time; who hated the world for what happened to him." Ides chuckled.

"Anyway," said Philip, a little impatiently, "What do we get if we win? I would assume you'd destroy the world or something if you win. What if Todd and I win?"

"Well... Seeing as I'm sitting here is merely a small portion of my true self... You'll be freed from this realm, the two of you. Though if I win, you'll wander the Ebony Realm for eternity. Though I'm sure even if you do win, the portion of me on Earth will have gained a grand amount of souls by the time we're done here. Ah, it appears my piece knows what to do already..."

Indeed, the blue dot representing Ides' side was already slowly moving toward Philip's side, "Not to worry, he doesn't get there until the night arrives."

Philip looked down and ordered one of his pieces, "Intercept." He watched as his piece's red dot move towards the general area of Ides piece. "And tell me, what do you have in mind with these "souls" you're collecting?"

"Oh you'll see..." Ides smirked when the red piece of Philip's vanished off the map after meeting up with Ides' blue dot, the map slowly became dark, "And now is when the game truly begins..." The map changed to reveal a room, one which Todd was in.

Chapter 1
Todd had been thrown into the game itself, finding he was in a room filled with people, a man stood upon a throne of gold while other people spoke to him, lingering around. But all was cut short at that apparent moment when a loud explosion shook the entrance to the room.

Robed in red stood a white haired boy of twenty, a scar running down the side of his face, though he spoke, Todd noticed it seemed to be in English, perhaps to make it all more understanding to those who didn't know the language of the time.

"I hope I didn't interrupt a celebration, gentleman." Ateo smirked, his eyes gleaming red in fury.

Todd then asked, surprised, "Wait, you're evil now? When did that happen?" Not really wanting to find out, Todd created a shield between Ateo and himself, and the people behind him, trying to stop the powerful man.

"Move out of the way, you imbecile." Ateo easily brought forth a gust of dark wind, knocking Todd far back behind everyone else, "Now Pharaoh, if you'd please hand of the Sacred Secret Items."

"Who are you to ask such a thing?" An advisor questioned.

"I don't mean for free, I've come bearing gifts!" A sack cloth he produced dropped gold everywhere.

"Those were stolen!"

"That means little." Ateo sighed, "You see, I've always wanted them for what you foolish mortals did to my people ages before."

"Your mockery is a disgrace to pharaoh, and you will be punished!" A tall man admonished, bringing out a golden staff, "Prepare to be tried!"

"I think not!" From behind Ateo, Wadjet the snake formed, "Meet Wadjet everyone, Wadjet, meet dinner."

Philip watched and told Todd, via telepathy, 

Todd reponded,  Todd jumped back to his feet, sprinted for the spiritual cobra, and before shooting rapid fire bursts of plasma balls.

Ateo grinned, as two different attacks came directly at Wadjet, one from an advisor to the pharaoh and one from Todd himself. The snake seemed to suck in both attack, but suddenly shined brightly as the snake seemed to disappate in the light attack from the advisor.

"His soul has been cleansed." The advisor said.

"Wondeful work, Pe." The pharoah congratulated.

Ateo bowed his head, almost as if sad for a second, until a weak and meager voice came up, "Thank you master Pe, you saved my life; that horrible creature had controlled my mind; and now I'm finally free..."

Philip sighed, transmitting to Todd, 

Todd nodded slightly before unleashing a gust of winds at Ateo shouting, "You're not fooling me!"







Ateo was blasted back away, his eyes widening that his trick didn't work, "Freaking advisors, thinking their so smart."

"That's enough thief! Stand down!" The pharaoh commanded.

"Never you foolish moron." Ateo smiled, Wadjet formed again, forming a fiery energy in its mouth, another creature appeared suddenly, looking pure white but a snake as well, and stopped the attack.

"I said stand down." the pharaoh repeated.

"Another creature akin to Wadjet, I see. Perhaps I've underestimated this..." He jumped atop Wadjet and flew out the entrance, the pharaoh following instantly at the protest of his guards. Todd jumped up, taking flight, trying to catch up with Wadjet.

"If memory serves right, the Egyptians think of the pharaoh as a god incarnated on Earth! I don't think they care to be called "foolish morons!" Or Mormons for that matter, though they don't exist yet..." Todd fired several ice bullets towards Ateo.

Ateo turned to look at the ice coming straight for him, Wadjet turned his head, absorbing the ice, "Todd, just leave this, it isn't right for you to be in my time. And as for you pharoah, I've always wanted to destroy you right where you stand." Wadjet fired the ice magic back at pharoah, who countered with a fiery breath with his snake he exclaimed as Ra, who protected him.

"Aw, even the ancient Egyptians get into beam wars!" Todd complained.

 snapped Philip mentally.



Todd teleported above Ateo and tried to dropkick him off of Wadjet, muttering, "By the way Ateo, believe me, I'd rather be in bed right now."

Todd's leg was grabbed before he could even try to hit Ateo, he turned his head to stare at Todd, he was swift in moving to grab Todd by the collar of his shirt, "Your life and soul lies in the balance of Ides' game and you crack jokes you blubbering imbecile?" Ateo snorted, "I'd think better."

Todd smirked slightly, "Not really, jokes make light of dark situations. And as for being an imbecile...whenIcandothis!" As Todd shouted that last bit super quickly, he lit his hands on fire and tried to punch Ateo in his chest.

That attack to was stopped by Ateo's hand, he didn't seem to care it was burning his palm, "It seems something is ablaze." Ateo smiled, throwing Todd straight at the pharaoh who was flying his winged serpent to blast Wadjet at that moment with an electrical shock from its tail.

"Oh crap!" snapped Todd, teleporting right above Wadjet's head, not losing his momentum in an attempt to hinder the snakes' mission of killing the pharaoh.

Ice and electricity collided, creating a large explosion, it was all so sudden. Ateo smiled, "Not enough pharoah." A stronger blast came through, hitting him directly, the pharoah fell, knocked out from the attack, and wadjet flew down, swallowing him whole, "Now I have all I need. How swift was that?" Ateo looked to Todd, "You have no idea how to fight in this age, an age that has been lost to history Todd." The white snake of the pharoah's, Ra, vanished.

 Philip lamented.

 Todd replied, giving an internal smile. He looked up at Wadjet and said, "I bet you can't freaking do it again!" He stretched out his arms and shouted, "Come oooon! Eat me! You overgrown milk snake!"

Ateo stared down at Todd, "Wadjet... you remember that time long ago when I thought I met the world's biggest moron? Yeah, I revoke that time. I think he's been marked for it."

"Come on then! If I'm the world's biggest moron let natural selection do its work! Go ahead and eat me!"

"Ah, the scientific term Darkness spoke to me about a thousand years ago, you see... Wadjet isn't too keen on eating. So I'll have to say good-bye to you as I take the pharoah back to my home." Ateo sent an orb of darkness at Todd before flying off in a westward direction. Todd reacted by throwing a ball of light before trying to fly after Ateo and Wadjet in hopes of saving the pharaoh.

"You're not going to lose me Ateo!" Todd snapped, trying to catch up with Ateo.

Ateo turned as Wadjet flew, smirking all the while, "You shall fail like the original Pe did, Todd... He was persistent like you..." Many more shadow orbs were lobbed at Todd.

Todd created a shield around him, calling back, "That my friend, is a fallacy! You assume that because I'm similar to Pe that I'm doomed to fail as well. Need to work on your rhetoric there!" Todd then fired several balls of light as a sort of ironic retaliation against Ateo.

"You see, this is an ebony game child, something that few grasp the understanding of... and it is of the history of my time... Which is doomed to repeat itself... I will complete what must be done, just as I did 4000 years ago." Black energy repelled each light sphere back at Todd.

 suggested Philip.

Todd nodded and vanished, avoiding the attacks sent back at him, hoping that nothing would interfere with his teleporting. Ateo turned around to look at Todd, "I know Philip is aiding you as well, there's no point in trying to deny that fact either." He stared at Todd, "The longer you hold me back, the more the dark one becomes angered."

Todd stepped forward and replied, "And you can't deny that Ides is helping you. Besides, he can get as angry as he wants. I've dealt with worse. Killed an evil version of Enlil, who was basically all powerful with the Tablets of Me at his side. Anyway, I'll be taking the pharaoh back." Todd created a scimitar and tried to slice through Wadjet to get to the pharaoh.

Ateo tackled Todd off Wadjet, allowing them both to plummet to the ground, "Wadjet, continue on your path, let no guard or person stand in your way!! As for you, I'll be distraction enough for now, just as Pe did with me long ago."

 Philip ordered.



Todd tried to kick Ateo in the shins and even attempted to bite his arm to get him to let go so the Todd could teleport back to the snake. Ateo smiled, seemingly unaffected by each of these attacks on him, "You seem to forget that I've been with Ides for quite a while when I was younger, dealing with his punishments were far worse than a cute bite."

Todd was slammed into the ground by Ateo, who now stood atop him, "Don't even bother trying to teleport, Wadjet is far from here now. Besides, my shadow magic should be filling your body soon enough, blocking out that pesky attack." Indeed, Ateo's foot glowed a sickly purple, which eased its way onto Todd.

Todd began to crawl backwards, before remembering, 'I'm surrounded by sand...' He then tried to use what little bit of power he had to make the sand to harden around Ateo's foot to keep him still and from stepping on him.

Ateo got knocked off, falling onto the sand nearby, he stood up, dusting himself off, "You know, you're playing the part perfectly, I'm quite astounded. This is the part where you escape and Wadjet kicks your ass when you get near him."

Todd took that as his cue to chase after Wadjet. He tried to jump and fly only to land on his feet again. "Crap." So he started to run in Wadjet's direction, a plan forming in his mind.

 Todd said to Philip.

 Philip responded, 

<Considering that I can't seem to fly, it might work. Let's see if I can catch up on foot.>

"Let's try something new, I always wondered what it'd be like if I changed up a little history." Ateo smirked, a purple wall suddenly blocked Todd advancing, Ateo took a few steps closer, "So Pe... Todd... Whichever you prefer now..." Ateo smirked.

Todd smirked in return, chuckling slightly, before laughing softly. "So...I can do it then..."

"You can do little in the face of Ides the Shade." Ateo muttered, "It won't be too pleasing to know that you might either be at my feet or vice versa... But knowing that Pe got there in the past means you'll make it too... In due time..."

Todd smirked, "You just said you can change history...which means so can I!" Using what little of his magic he can muster, he tried to forge a small knife.

Ateo snickered before bursting into full psychotic laughter, "You're going to use that?! HAHAHAHAHA!! Oh my lungs!!" Ateo laughed at Todd. Todd charged and tried to plunge the knife into said organs. Ateo danced out of the way, laughing at Todd.

"This is hilarious. That tiny knife to hurt me?! I should be ashamed of myself to even dodge." Ateo wiped a few tears rolling down his face, "Never mind, kid. Pe would've been far more intimdating." The shadow wall vansihed, Ateo ran by, leaving Todd in the dust, "See ya kid!!" He laughed.

Todd, despite Ateo's magic, gave chase, trying to catch up with him, and trying to make the blade longer.

<We don't have time Todd. Try to go through with the plan.>

<But that was only for Wadjet.>

<We're running out of options Todd.>

Todd sighed, and tried to fire four ice bullets off of his fingertips, all aimed at none lethal areas. Ateo barely dodged the first three but the last one lodged itself into Ateo's leg, "Shit! Ugh..." He fell to the ground on all fours, he looked to Todd, "What the hell? Fucking ice?!"

Todd stood over him, saying, "Don't like ice? Let's try fire." With that Todd tried to light him on fire by snapping his fingers, not even sure it'll work due to Ateo's magic.

Ateo's eyes became a blazing red, and before Todd could do anything, he was grabbed by his neck and held aloft in the air by Ateo, "Fire sounds fine." He threw Todd back before turning and running once more getting much farther ahead even with that damage he took. Todd scrambled back to his feet and ran after him.

He yelled at him, "You won't lose me that easily Ateo!" He then tried to see if his telekinesis still worked and tried to throw Ateo far behind him as to get a headstart to Wadjet. He found though that Ateo was able to keep himself grounded; but he also noted that a village was finally beginning to show up.

Ateo stopped at the front of the village, too tired to continue for now, he turned to look at Todd, "Well? Mortal? Come here."

Todd, panting went over to Ateo, saying, "Fine, but only because I want to, not because you told me...I know you'll think I'm just being stubborn but believe it or not...I'm not." When he was there though, Todd tried to sneak attack Ateo with a solid kick aimed to the groin. Ateo jumped back, a black swirling portal took him in as he jumped back, he was laughing all the while.

"Don't even try Todd." Ateo laughed as his voice echoed throughout the village.

Chapter 2
"Hm... Your friend appears to be incompetent Philip." Ides muttered.

Philip smirked, "He's killed an extradimensional being that temporarily possessed limitless power, defeated legions of "demons" single-handedly, and he even went toe to toe with some incredibly powerful devil-figure I've never heard of." He then thought, 'If only the poor bastard got enough sleep. He's probably exhausted...'