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 It's been lost to the sands of time, I know it has, I don't need some book or historical document to tell me so."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?"