As soon as Takmet was outside of the mage’s door, he disappeared and transported to Sekat’s door. He simply walked in without knocking, forcing the lock on the inside to pull away from the wall. He was on Sekat’s turf now and he hadn’t any idea what to expect.

Takmet cautiously entered the main chamber, sensing warding spells of all kinds draped over the beautiful paintings on the walls and statues of the gods standing near the middle of the room. Sekat definitely did not want anyone snooping around his quarters.

"He is extremely paranoid," Takmet said to himself. He hadn’t been expecting an answer.

"With good reason, my friend." Sekat’s voice echoed in the large chamber.

Takmet whirled to see Sekat standing in the entryway to the next room. Takmet glared. "Release Sasaki from whatever spell you have put her under."

"Whatever for? I thought you came here to kill me," Sekat jeered.

"Don’t mock me. I had to at least give you a chance to give up peacefully. However, I will take your retort as a ‘no’." He took a stance to throw an energy attack at the smirking advisor.

"No magic in here, Takmet. It will set off several unpleasant reactions as you have no doubt felt."

Takmet readjusted his stance for hand-to-hand combat.

Sekat only smiled pitifully. "Now I am wondering why you haven’t asked me to remove the spell that keeps you two apart."

Takmet’s eyes narrowed. He asked suspiciously, "Can you?"

"Fortunately, no," Sekat answered. "Not alone. My significant other would need to be here as well."

"And who might this be?" Takmet asked.

"Not a chance," Sekat laughed.

"Let’s get on with it then." Takmet tensed.

"Very well." Sekat removed his cape and threw it to drape over the nearest statue. He approached the much younger, and in his eyes, foolish man. Sekat took his position on the opposite side of the room. "I just want you to know, Takmet," Sekat began as he adjusted his armbands and sandals. "After I kill you I will have my way with Sasaki and will dispose of her, the very same way I disposed of Kehsat."

Takmet’s anger flared. "Murderer," he growled. "You dishonorable filth!" Takmet yelled in heartache as he flew at Sekat, restraining his magic attacks. He knew Sekat was trying to get him to slip up by making him emotional.

Sekat dodged Takmet’s flying punch and responded with his own. Takmet jumped sideways, barely escaping a second well-aimed swing. Takmet searched for something to fight with. His gaze found the spears held by the giant statues of the gods. His mind calculated the moves needed to reach the nearest one. The young Egyptian blocked Sekat’s next punch, which threw the advisor off-balance. It gave Takmet enough time to grab the relic and block the dagger that Sekat had unsheathed. Takmet pushed him away and swung the spear out in front of him, forcing Sekat to move back several paces.

Sekat grinned slightly, held out his hand, and blew Takmet against the wall with a tremendous amount of force. Takmet fell to the floor hard, sending the spear he had recently acquired skidding out of his reach. Brushing the cracked paint off of his back, Takmet stood up and said, " I thought you could not use magic."

"Did I ever say that I couldn’t use magic?" Sekat grinned. "The defenses are triggered only by an intruder’s magic."

Takmet stood still, giving the advisor a look of pure hatred. Then he was gone. He reappeared behind Sekat, ready to strike a blow. Suddenly a force tore him from where he stood and smashed him into the nearest wall, harder than Sekat had just done only moments before. Takmet did not cry out, but it took him longer to rise from the plaster-spotted floor.

The advisor hadn’t even turned around. "You see?" he sneered. "Magic cannot touch me here."

"We will see!" Takmet yelled as he hurled forth a sizzling red globe of light. He automatically crossed his arms over his chest to take the force of the unseen blow he knew was coming. The force hit him hard, but he did not hit the wall this time. He had fallen with the effort of holding back such a magnificent defense spell.

The attack Takmet had thrown was slowing before his eyes. It did not stop right away because the advisor miscalculated the speed and power of Takmet’s attack, and he was forced to step out of the way as the red ball stopped a little past him.

Sekat studied the hovering energy. His face actually showed an expression of mild surprise. "Impressive, Takmet. You are more accomplished than I had thought. But the magical defenses will not continue to be so lenient."

"Lenient? More like non-existent," Takmet answered. He was standing again, trying to find a way around the spells of protection that became more aggressive each time he used his own power. Takmet might have been quicker than Sekat, but without magic Takmet was sure that it would be nearly impossible to beat him, let alone kill him.

"Do you realize you problem, Takmet? I see it in your eyes. The impossibility of the task you have set out to accomplish is all too apparent in your expression," Sekat sneered. "What now? Leave your precious Sasaki in limbo? She will eventually give in. She does not have the power to stop it."

"You are wrong. She will survive-," Takmet began.

Sekat cut him off. "Only if I die, and you seem to be convinced that you can do it. But if I kill you first…"

Sekat flew at the unprepared Takmet, sending him skidding across the floor on his back with a perfectly centered punch. Takmet barely blocked the incoming kick as he lay on his back. He deflected the sandaled foot and rolled away, getting to his knees in time to block another kick. The next appendage to come flying at Takmet was pushed away by his magic, which promptly caused the defense system to go off again. He could not stay in one place.

Takmet again hit the wall, bringing chunks of it down on him this time. He lay still for a couple of seconds then strained to get up. Sekat appeared next to him and shook his head in disappointment.

"Takmet, Takmet…I thought you would have more fight in you." Sekat held out his palm and a force pushed the struggling Takmet back to earth. The advisor backed into the center of the room. "Did you always hope that Kehsat had made it to the afterlife? That the body had been found and her spirit guided to the world of the dead?"

Takmet struggled under the force of the spell holding him down.

"I thought as much," Sekat replied. "Let me show you what she looked like before she died."

A ghostly image appeared next to the evil man: an image of a once blossoming and beautiful girl. Now she was battered and bruised-a broken spirit. Takmet’s eyes widened in horror as he saw the image. He tried to yell her name, but the pressure pushing him down increased just enough to keep him quiet.

"This is how she died: her spirit shattered and unable to make the journey to the afterlife. I’ve kept it only for the hopes of torturing you with it. This was her essence, this rag of a soul. And this is what that minx form the future will become as well."

Takmet’s mind was flaming, losing coherence as renewed feelings of loss and uselessness clouded his thinking. He watched the apparition hover, eyes closed and demeanor subdued.

"You love this one more, do you not?" Sekat asked as the image of Kehsat was replaced with Sasaki’s. "What if I were to take her right now?"

Takmet was still on the floor, and at that comment he furiously tried to push himself up. "Don’t you dare!" he yelled.

"What if I did this?" Sekat held his hand over the face of the girl floating horizontally in front of him. He moved down her body, a strap of her nightgown coming down with his magic. The advisor looked down at the young Takmet. "I bet you can’t see anything from down there. Allow me." Sekat lifted a finger and Takmet rose off the floor and was pushed against the wall, now upright. "Much better. Watch. You’ve been wanting to do this for a while, haven’t you?"

Sekat put his hand on Sasaki’s ankle and slowly moved it upward, taking the nightgown with it. It pained Takmet greatly to see another man touch Sasaki like that, and Sekat knew it.

"Stop," Takmet whispered. But Sekat’s hand kept moving, past her calf, her knee… "Stop it," Takmet repeated. Past her thigh…Sekat’s hand went to the inside of her leg and underneath her nightgown. The girl’s face contorted uncomfortably. "Stop it!" Takmet yelled. Sasaki’s expression broke into one of pain-- "Stop it! Stop!" Takmet ordered. He closed his eyes and yelled, "Enough!"

When Takmet opened his eyes again he was not in the advisor’s room, but in a palace garden. He looked around cautiously.

"What is this?" he asked out loud. He spun around in confusion. The silence of the scene was arousing his suspicions. The running water made no sound and there were no birds. Then he noticed a door that shouldn’t have been there. He walked to it and hesitated for a moment. Then he opened it. The hinges made no sound. Takmet was blinded by a white light.

A voice echoed around him. "Welcome, Takmet."

Takmet spun in surprise. Out of the nothingness came a man dressed in Egyptian royal clothing with a headdress of the pharaoh and the unmistakable symbols of the crook and flail in his hand.

"It’s been such a peaceful break I’ve had, but it looks as though it is coming to an end," the godly figure sighed.

Takmet stared, amazed. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh, Takmet. You already know who I am. You’re thinking it at this very moment.” He paused. “I admit, in paintings my face usually appears green. But really now! Give your instincts a little credit.”

The young Egyptian whispered the name that had first come to mind when the mysterious man had appeared. "Osiris"

"Don’t gawk, Takmet," the deity waved his hand. "I’ve been here since you were born. You and I are technically the same person."

"Been where? Where exactly are we?"

"Well, inside your soul I suppose is the best way to describe it. Where did you think you were?"

"I thought I might have died from grief," Takmet answered, looking away.

The godly pharaoh appeared in front of him and took him strongly by the chin. "None of that, Takmet. The past is the past. Keeping it from repeating itself is your job now and the reason I am here to help you. I also have an interest in Sasaki, because in her lives my love." He let go of Takmet’s chin. "How could you just let Sekat do as he pleased with her?"

"He is too strong. I was wrong to challenge him."

Osiris looked exasperated. "You have a god on your side for Ra’s sake. How can you say that he is too strong?"

Takmet blinked.

"Your wish, your most powerful and sincere desire is for her safety. That is what brought me to the surface of your consciousness. Never mind the fact that that the girl you saw was just an illusion."

"Illusion?" Takmet asked. He understood why. Takmet clenched his fists. "And the image of Kehsat?"

Osiris’ voice was serious. "Unfortunately that was real. She did her best to defend herself…"

"I don’t want to hear it," Takmet cut him off. Then he looked up, realizing the rudeness that had just sprung form his mouth. "I am sorry. I…"

"No need to apologize. We’re going to be very close friends from now on." The pharaoh put his arm around Takmet’s shoulders. Before Takmet could acknowledge the friendly statement, Osiris faded away and his voice echoed, "Will it and it shall be done."