"VORTEX OF FIRE!"
You grimaced as another one of the monsters you had summoned from stone was enveloped by fire, and disappeared. Throwing your arms in front of your face to protect it from the blast, you felt yourself weakening. Despite your advantages in experiences and in element, you were steadily losing. You lowered your arms to see the determined expression on the face of your young opponent. Well, actually, the Pharaoh was only two or three years your junior, but he was somewhat..... vertically challenged, and inexperienced, or so you'd thought. He had to have incredible natural talent to be beating you like this.
The look on his face softened and was replaced by a friendlier one. "No hard feelings, right Meskhenet?" he asked, a little uncertainly. Although his voice had yet to deepen into that of a man's, it had authority behind it and to anyone who wasn't used to his way of speaking, it would sound like he was commanding you.
"No, of course not, Pharaoh. No hard feelings," you replied, forcing a smile onto your face. It wasn't his fault that you two had to fight in this way, after all. You cast a dark look towards the shadows just behind the young Pharaoh. It was just about possible to make out a man standing there: the Pharaoh's trainer, Kamenwati. You weren't inclined to trust him. He hadn't always been the Pharaoh's trainer: the Pharaoh used to be trained by his uncle, but about a year ago Kamenwati had insisted that he take over the Pharaoh's training, claiming that the young ruler had surpassed his uncle's ability to teach. He proved himself a 'worthy' teacher by defeating the Pharaoh's uncle in a duel.
However, Kamenwati was fixated on brute strength and the obtainment of power, and so he was forcing the Pharaoh to fight as many people as possible. Advisors, scribes, other members of court, priests... and daughters of priests. Anyone who could duel. And it just so happened that not only could you duel, but you had been honing your elemental powers almost since birth. You were a worthy opponent.
Or so you had thought. However, all was not lost. You still had one trump card left up your sleeve. (Metaphorically so, since the simple white dress you were wearing had straps rather than sleeves, and you definitely couldn't hide anything up those.)
Raising your arm - there was no time to waste on taunts or any other comments - you yelled, "WATERS OF THE NILE!" This was your equivalent of the Pharaoh’s 'Vortex of Fire' attack, and had the power to summon your element, water, to combat his fire. This was your elemental advantage.
At least, it should have been. You were left feeling very stupid indeed as you stood there with your arm outstretched, and nothing happened.
"Meskhenet. We're in the middle of a desert. Did you really think that you could summon your water to aid you here?" Kamenwati's taunting words as he stepped forward slightly from the shadows caused your eyes to widen as two revelations hit you one after the other. One: you hadn't realised that the attacks required the actual element in order to work. You'd never really thought about where the water or fire, or in the case of the two other elements, sand (earth) and wind (air), had come from. You felt stupid and naïve for not having considered this before. This caused a second revelation to hit you: the duel was a set-up! It had been Kamenwati who had insisted this duel be held in the harsh desert surroundings, miles from the civilisation you knew - in order to give the Pharaoh an unfair tactical advantage. Your face darkened with rage and you let loose a well-chosen Egyptian curse word.
Apparently, the Pharaoh hadn't realised the necessity of the actual elements either. "If that is so, then where does my fire element originate from"? he asked curiously.
"The Sun, of course, my Pharaoh," Kamenwati replied in his smooth, sinister voice.
"You mean, from Ra," you interjected, with anger in your voice. One of the many things you hated about Kamenwati was his blatant disrespect for the Gods.
"Ra. Of course." A menacing smirk lit Kamenwati's face, and you felt as if you were being patronised, treated like a little child. You clenched your fists and gritted your teeth, reminding yourself that it wouldn't do to insult this man, as much as you wanted to.
"Kamenwati, this situation is unfair. We must postpone the duel, and relocate it," the Pharaoh said to his trainer. This was a perfectly reasonable suggestion, since if he was able to use his element, you should be able to use yours; however, after the way Kamenwati had spoken it felt as if you were being patronised by both men; as if the Pharaoh were implying that you were unable to defeat him just because you didn't have your element to hand.
"No! We will finish this duel here and now. I don't need water to defeat you," you stated boldly, through teeth which were still partially clenched. "There are other means of extinguishing a fire." Whilst this was true, what might apply in the situation of a blazing temple didn't necessarily hold true here.
The Pharaoh looked over in some surprise. "Are you sure?"
You narrowed your eyes, giving him all the answer he needed.
"Very well then," the Pharaoh said, seeming to snap back into 'battle mode'. "Know then that I will not use my own element from now on."
However both he and you knew that the damage had already been done.
Nevertheless, you were determined to hold your own as well as possible for the remainder of the duel. A new stone tablet rose behind you, and the image of a young girl slowly appeared on it, as if carved by an invisible hand. "Come forth, my Waterdragon Fairy!" you commanded, infusing more confidence into your voice than you actually felt. Much as you liked the Waterdragon Fairy, she was not a strong monster - by herself. It was said that she had the ability to summon a sea serpent, and yet you had never been able to tap this supposed ability of hers. Yet another thing you didn't know about duelling.
The Pharaoh began to raise his arm before remembering that he had declared he wouldn't use his element. (In this case, however, this was an advantage to him, since a monster would be far more effective against a water creature than a fire attack would.) Instead, a stone tablet rose behind him, and you hid your trepidation as you watched the image appear upon it.
Ah.
"I summon Alpha, the magnet warrior!" A good choice of monster - and one which the Pharaoh was known for choosing in his duels. Although the monster itself was not a great deal stronger than your Waterdragon Fairy, if needs be the Pharaoh could later summon its brothers, Beta and Gamma, and magically combine them to create a formidable fusion.
However, that was unlikely to be necessary.
"Alpha warrior! Attack the Waterdragon Fairy!" The Pharaoh's commanding tone in full force spelled your doom, and you had no monsters or spells to pull you out of this one. You watched with a mixture of resentment and grudging acceptance as your fairy disintegrated before your eyes, and you felt the last of the force that surged within you throughout a duel wane before being extinguished altogether. Your legs, suddenly wobbly, almost gave way, and you staggered onto the sand.
"Meskhenet-" the Pharaoh began in concern, stepping forward. You determinedly steadied yourself before he could reach you and help you. Relief showed on his face, as he made his way forward, his own legs seeming none too steady. You took a small comfort in the fact that the Pharaoh was not unscathed - you had managed to weaken him somewhat before he gained the upper hand and then a victory over you.
"It was a good duel," said the Pharaoh as he reached you, his words formal but sincere. He held out a hand which you shook, a genuine smile spreading itself across your face this time.
"It was, and an honourable loss on my part, at least," you agreed.
"Touching," came the sleekly sinister voice of Kamenwati. You both turned, your expression displaying obvious annoyance, the Pharaoh's mild exasperation - when the sight that greeted you turned both expressions to shock.
Kamenwati stood in a clear duelling pose, a stone tablet at his back. The expression on his face had turned from a menacing smirk to a distinctly evil leer. "But I'm afraid it's about to become an 'honourable loss' for the both of you," he continued nastily.
"Kamenwati!" The Pharaoh took a step forward. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Sorry 'Pharaoh', but did you really think that I was going to sit back and let a mere juvenile rule the kingdom? Not a chance." He turned his gaze on you. "And why pass up the chance to take out another elemental in the process?"
Your mind was working lightning-fast. "We're, we're...." you murmured, considering the implications of this last remark. You lifted your head, having come to a conclusion. "We're a threat to you, as elementals, aren't we?" you shouted in realisation.
"Even though we might not be able to match you in a one-on-one duel!" You looked over at the Pharaoh, wanting him to realise that, too. His eyes widened.
"Correction," said Kamenwati menacingly. "You were a threat." He stretched an arm out in front of him, and you just then registered that the design of an hourglass had appeared on the stone tablet behind him. "SANDS OF TIME!" he shouted.
A whirlwind of sand suddenly whipped up from nowhere and surrounded you and the Pharaoh, hiding Kamenwati from view. You stumbled towards the Pharaoh, managing to make contact and cling onto his arms. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?" you yelled above an inexplicable roaring sound.
"I DO NOT KNOW!" the Pharaoh shouted, sounding scared. You were scared too, but mostly, not knowing the fate which was about to befall you.
Just then there was a blinding flash of light, and you felt yourself - your spirit, your essence - drain out of your body.
You had the brief, strange experience of looking down at your own body, watching it fall lifelessly to the ground, your curtain of black hair fanning out around your head. The Pharaoh's body lay next to yours, clothed in royal gold and white, and you looked up to see a ghostlike impression of him hovering over his own body, still wearing the same clothes, and with the same tricoloured spiky hair. He mouthed something to you which you couldn't hear, and then all of a sudden a rushing sensation engulfed you, and you knew no more.
Kamenwati sneered down at the two lifeless bodies at his feet, thinking his work was accomplished. In a sense, it was. But the Sands of Time attack did more than just drain the life of its victims. It had a side effect.
Reincarnation.