Deimos

Arc 2-The Revolution: Deimos

Location: Unknown

November 4, 1798

Falling aimlessly through the rift created by their father, Isis panics and quickly grabs hold of Marik and Odion's arm before pulling them to her chest and holds on tightly. For what feels like hours the three of them fall silently and aimlessly through the dark void. There is nothing to see, hear, or feel within this darkness beyond a faint pressure that seems to press down upon their very souls, a pressure that is slowly increasing in potency the longer they remain in the void, and a pressure that feels like it will soon wipe them out of existence.

Before their situation can deteriorate that far, a rift similar to the one created by their father opens up below them and the three children fall on a forest ground. Groaning in slight pain, Odion detangles himself from Marik and Isis to sit up and survey their location. As soon as Odion rises from the forest ground however, he finds himself facing the blade of a spear pointed at his face.

"Oi, who the hell are you and how did you come here?"questions the wielder of the spear, causing Odion to look past the blade and towards the owner of the voice.

The speaker is a girl around his age, no older than twelve, who possesses short silver hair that stands out more than usual due to her brown skin, and teal eyes with a slight glow to them that are currently glaring at him. She wears a sleeveless, white skin tight bodysuit with black accents and lines.

"If you don't answer I'll kill you." she threatens.

Not knowing the answer to the girl's question himself, and not willing to risk her killing him and his siblings should she not believe him if he explains what little he knows, Odion activates his magic circuits and lunges at the girl with a speed that should be impossible for someone his age. Shocked by his actions, she takes a split second to react properly. Taking advantage of his opponent's momentary lapse, Odion reaches for her hands in an attempt to disarm her of her weapon, only to be forced to block a kick to his torso with his forearms. The force of the kick rattles his bones and launches flying backwards through a tree.

"Oi, oi, oi, are you suicidal?" questions the girl as Odion gains control of his flight just in time to use a fast approaching tree as a springboard to launch himself at his opponent.

As he quickly approaches her, he materialises two purple khopeshes into his hands with his combat magic and slashes them towards his opponent's neck.

The girl easily parries his attack with her spear as a grin grows on her face. "Your blades won't reach me at all!" she says excitedly as she parries another attack and stabs towards Odion with a speed that barely allows him to parry the blow away from his heart and towards his shoulder.

Before the blade can plunge into his shoulder however, it is caught in the grasps of two sharp claws as another massive clawed hand smacks the girl and sends her flying through a series of trees.

Looking towards his savior, Odion finds himself looking at none other than Summoned Skull, Marik's favorite monster.

"Thank you." says Odion with a nod, to which the monster simply replies with a nod before looking towards where he sent their enemy flying.

"She shouldn't be able to get back up after a blow like that." says Marik as he and Isis stand next to Odion.

As if wanting to do nothing but prove him wrong, the girl easily gets back up with her spear still in her hand and a grin on her face.

"Hahahahahaha, I've been ready to go for a while now, you four against me. Let's do it!" she exclaims with a boisterous laugh before launching herself at them.

With a roar that shakes the trees surrounding them, Summoned Skull sends a bolt of lightning flying towards the girl. Not slowing down in her assault, the girl swiftly and gracefully dodges the bolt before hurling her spear towards Isis. Before the spear can even come close to her, Isis manipulates the earth to create a wall between the weapon and her, impaling the spear in the wall and stopping it.

"Oh, not bad. I threw that spear hard enough to pierce at least three trees." compliments their opponent before she crashes through the wall and grabs her weapon along the way. "Now c'mon, I'll kill you all!" she screams as she launches herself into the air in an attempt to stab Summoned Skull in the head.

As she approaches the fiend type monster, Summoned Skull stabs his claws towards her chest, forcing her to twist her body to avoid being impaled. As she does so however, Odion turns his melee weapons into a bow and shoots an arrow at her while she is vulnerable in the air. Without batting an eye, the girl catches the arrow and throws it at Isis who had been preparing a spell.

Stepping in front of his sister, Marik creates a shield that blocks the arrow while Isis continues to quietly speak an aria under her breath.

Landing on the ground in front of Marik, the girl stabs her spear towards the surprised boy. "Die." she screams with a wide grin on her face.

Before the spear can impale him however, a white hoplite shield smashes onto her side, sending her flying, before returning to where it came from.

"That's enough Caenis." commands the voice of a woman, prompting the group to turn and face her, a beautiful woman who looks to be in her mid-thirties who wears the standard spartan hoplite armor.

Groaning in pain, Caenis picks herself up from the floor and rubs her ribs where the shield connected. "Ugh, why are you stopping me now? You've always let me kill whatever intruder came here." she whines as she makes her way to the woman. Possessing the same silver hair, teal eyes, brown skin, and the same face, it is evident that the woman is either her older sister or her mother.

"Because these are our guests. Besides, had the battle continued you would have died" says the woman before turning to face Marik, Odion, and Isis. "I'm Kassandra, an old friend of your father." introduces the woman with a smile as she straps her holite shield to her back.

Despite being saved by the woman, the siblings do not let their guard down and instead become more tense as she introduces herself to be an old friend of their father. The last 'old friend' of their father that they met had sided with the Barthomeloi family in order to set up an ambush for them. Even now they aren't sure of their father's fate and can only pray that he survives long enough to regroup with them.

"I see that you don't trust me. Considering that I'm a stranger and the welcome that Caenis gave you it's to be expected." says Kassandra before reaching in between her breasts and pulls out a small golden ankh tied around her neck. "Will this be proof enough?" she asks.

"Is that the House of Life ankh?" asks Isis as her violet eyes glow and she looks at the necklace. "It's real." says Isis as Marik looks at her for reassurance. "It's real and it's functioning properly."

The House of Life ankh, an amulet that all members of the House of Life must wear around their neck in order to prove their loyalty. The amulet is enchanted to sense one's intentions. If the wearer isn't loyal to the House of Life and its cause, protecting the belongings of the Pharaoh's bloodline until a Pharaoh is born, the amulet will burn the wearer and cripple their magic circuits beyond repair. It's an almost foolproof way of making sure that someone isn't a traitor. The practice however was discontinued around two generations ago when the Kane family, the only family with the knowledge of how the amulets are made and their inner workings, was wiped out. That event was the beginning of the House of Life's war against the Barthomeloi family and their faction from the Clock Tower. Ever since then only a few people have ever seen one, and Marik's family is one of the few.

"Where did you get that?' asks Marik as he dismisses Summoned Skull.

"It was given to me by your great-grandmother. She said that I would need it one day. It looks like that day is here." answers Kassandra as she places the amulet back.

"Great-grandmother… " mutters Isis to herself as she thinks for a second. "Wait, are you the one they call Deimos? I Kassándra o daímonas; Kassandra the demon?" asks Isis with barely contained excitement.

"I see that you have heard of me. Good, that should make things easier." answers Kassandra with a smile.

Before the children can ask her what she means, Caenis interrupts.

"Oi, ma, who the heck are these people?" she asks as she elbows her mother on the side.

"These people are who we have been waiting for." answers Kassandra.

"Does that mean that we can finally leave this forest?" asks Caenis with a smile on her face.

"Yes it does. First however, we need to talk." says Kassandra as she turns around and makes her way deeper into the forest with the children following closely behind.

"I first met your great-grandmother when I was no older than you currently are in Athens." begins Kassandra after a few moments of silence. "I was a street urchin making ends meet through theft when I stumbled upon her. At time she looked like an easy target, an outsider too dumb to mind their surroundings. Obviously I was caught by her, however instead of turning me in she gave me the option to join. I didn't have a reason to refuse so I accepted and became the House of Life's executioner." explains Kassandra as she leads them to a wooden cottage.

"Is that how you became Deimos, by working as the House of Life's executioner?" asks Isis.

"Yes. Hearing the stories of Pharaohs past like Ramesses II, Aknamkanon, and Atem, I suddenly had purpose. I wasn't a simple thief or street urchin anymore. I was the executioner of the House of Life, an organisation founded by the Pharaoh Ramasses II himself, and when a member of the Pharaoh's bloodline awakened to their heritage then I would be their general. At least that's what I thought at the time." explains Kassandra with a cynical.

"What happened?" Marik. "It's only known that you went missing after great-grandmother died."

"The Barthomeloi family happened." answers Kassandra as they enter the cottage. "No one knows how, but they found out about the Millennium Items and have coveted them since." she says they make their way to the family room and all sit on one of the wooden chairs.

"The war had started out evenly enough and was mostly waged in the shadows. We were all confident in our chances until your great-grandmother had said otherwise. By this point many had stopped believing in her clairvoyance due to her claiming that the Pharaoh was coming soon. After many years of waiting and with no Pharoah arriving, most had lost faith in her and stopped listening to her. Naturally she had foreseen this happening and had begun to prepare for the inevitable in her own way."

"So she already knew that The House would lose and prepared. According to father's stories about her, that sounds exactly like what she would do." comments Isis with a smile.

"Her first act was to send me to Alexandria where a certain enforcer was looking for the House of Life headquarters there. At the time that I met the enforcer I didn't know that he was one, but he recognised me almost immediately. Thinking me easy prey he tried to seduce me before killing me. Perhaps he thought that bedding the terrifying Deimos before killing her would make the act that much more impressive." she says with a chuckle that sends a chill down the children's spine.

"Luckily for him he was quite handsome, so I went along with it and when we were done I snapped his neck myself on that very same bed before returning to your great-grandmother in Cairo. I didn't know at the time, but her reason for sending me there was so that event happened. The event that brought me my daughter." she says with a smile as she gently pats her daughter's head.

"Why would she want you to go there and have a child with this enforcer?" asks Marik with a frown.

"Because of what is to come. By now you already know that a new Campione has ascended and that he is a member of the Pharaoh's bloodline who has awakened to his heritage. The Pharaoh, according to your great-grandmother, will shake the world, bothe supernatural and mundane, to its very core. However, he will not be accomplishing it alone. We will all be by his side playing our roles faithfully. This is the best outcome for the survival of our families, the House of Life, and Egypt itself." explains Kassandra.

"You said 'we'" comments Odion, bringing everyone's attention to him. "You said 'we', but Abasi isn't here. He's not coming back is he?" asks Odion, earning an apologetic smile from Kassandra.

"I'm sorry little ones." she says with a shake of head as a pit forms in their stomach. "In every possible future that your great-grandmother saw, Abasi always dies before making it to the Pharaoh. Whether it be at the hands of his wife or an enforcer of the Barthomeloi family, he never meets the Pharaoh." she says as tears begin to stream down their faces. They knew that it was possible that they would never see him again, but to hear that no matter what they did that he would still die somehow makes the pain hurt more. And to hear that in some possible futures he dies at the hands of their mother is simply adding acid to the wound.

"When do we leave?" asks Marik as he wipes the tears from his eyes.

"Tomorrow. For now, rest and grieve."

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AN: Here's the next chapter, we see what happened to Marik, Isis and Odion as well as meet the final two members of Atem's innermost circle, Caeinis and her mother Kassandra. For those who are wondering, the two of them are descendants of Caenis from Fate/Grand Order. If you want to know more about her as well as what those two OC's look like, just look up Caenis Fate. They look just like her (except Caenis looks like a child version of her). As usual tell me what you think and don't be afraid to tell me your theories and speculations.

Per usual the next chapter is on my pat re on, pat re on .com / servant ambrosius (without the spaces). Follow me on instagram at servant_ambrosius. Also there's this awesome platform for lightnovels/manga/webcomics called VoyceMe check out the stories on there. It's new but it has great content and is growing quickly.