Lady Hatshepsut

I gasped.

My eyes opened, and I found myself still seated on the stone throne.

“Pharaoh, your soul was found to be in balance with the Feather of Mett.” Lord Osiris declared.

“By the power invested in me, I grant you safe passage to the Aaru, The Field of Reeds. Go in peace, O Pharaoh, but beware. When the sun sets, and the light of Amon-Re fades, the chains of the God of Chaos weaken enough for darkness to reign supreme once more.”

With that warning, Lord Osiris vanished, and the torches lighting the room were suddenly snuffed out. Sounds of grinding rocks emerged from the wall behind where Lord Osiris’s throne laid, and a section of the wall descended into the ground, revealing faint, golden sunlight beyond.

“No staying past sunset, I suppose. I don’t want to find out what kind of danger would warrant a warning from the God of these trials.” I chuckled and finally made for The Field of Reeds.

***

As I waded through an endless field of reeds as far as the eye can see, the occasional dead souls tilling their crops stopped by to pay their respects to me. Even in death, Tameryians loved and obeyed their Gods and Kings.

Still, I never stayed too long in any spot as I made my way to my final destination – or at least I thought I did. Memorizing directions to a place you’ve never been can only get you so far, and every passerby would tell me something that contradicted another’s directions.

“Maybe the people’s desire to not disappoint their Pharaoh is a touch too strong.” I chuckled.

I knew the general direction of my goal, so it was only a matter of time until I stumbled upon it, and stumble upon it I did.

“Hmm…”

An empty patch of dirt stood before me, with elaborate, magic circles carved through the dirt. Unlike system created magic circles, or even the gods-created magic circles, the symbols and shapes in the magic circle implied that it was a creation of the original master of this domain, namely, the Darkness Dragon. Winding down to the magic circle was a plain dirt pathway to a stone pedestal that stood right in the center.

It was through this mechanism that I would finally meet the Pharaohs of old.

I walked down the winding pathway and stepped onto the pedestal. I then placed my palm upon its surface and fed it a token sum of mana before it activated on its own.

The earth beneath the circle began to quake, and before long, the pedestal I stood on dug itself out of the sky and began floating in mid-air. Large hexagonal stone slates emerged from all over the magic circle in the dirt, rising to match the pedestal in altitude before spreading apart.

Before long, I was surrounded in what looked like the inside of a stone, spherical honeycomb. I drew my Khopesh, then placed its edge near my palm before I began to recite the ancient incantation.

“Pharaohs of old, long-gone kings and queens of Tamery and shepherds of her people, heed my call! Your homeland faces crisis once more, and it has come to seek your council on this day. If my pleas have stirred your heart, if my words have compelled your reason, present yourself and grant me your wisdom!”

After driving the axe-sword lightly into my palm, I placed my bloody hand onto the pedestal. With my part of the ancient pact fulfilled, it was finally time for my predecessors to arrive – or to ignore me entirely.

Over three-fourths of the honeycomb cells began glowing, and one by one, the stone slates began to open like doors, revealing the pocket dimensions preserving the bodies and minds of my predecessors.

Over fifty former monarchs met my gaze, and I recognized many of their faces.

Pharaoh Menes, the King of Unification and the first Pharaoh. He is the king who founded this nation from various, infighting tribes into one, unified people. Without him, Tamery as we know it would have never existed.

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Pharaoh Ramses, the greatest military genius to ever rule the nation – achieving historic victories against ancient Kengir and even some lesser gods, and in the pre-system era to boot. Also famed for having nearly a hundred children and nearly bankrupting the throne.

Pharaoh Khufu, the architect behind the greatest tomb the entire continent had ever seen, and without the aid of the as-of-yet uncreated system – so great was his accomplishment that we still do not understand how he did it, and that many foreigners believe it was the Gods or the Dragons who ultimately built it.

Even Pharaoh Akhenatan, the heretic, and his wife, Lady Nefertiti, had shown themselves. Unlike the others who seemingly enjoyed personalized, comfortable pocket dimensions, those two were beaten, battered, and chained to the ceiling, enjoying eternal punishment for attempting to seize the authority and worship of the Gods towards Akhenatan alone while they were occupied with the events of the Celestial War.

In the face of the rulers of this nation and its thousands of years of history, I had to resist an urge to feel small and inconsequential. Despite my contributions being internal stability and prosperity, I am no less worthy of standing amongst these exalted figures.

“Thank you for answering my call, great ancestors. I will not waste any more of your time; this is the situation our nation finds itself in…”

***

“Hmm… a difficult query.” Pharaoh Menes said.

“In my time, the challenge was uniting several feuding peoples and forging them into one nation, lest we be devoured by our enemies. Facing a great, foreign, entity with ambiguous intentions like that isn’t something my experiences can provide a lesson for.”

Before anyone could respond, Pharaoh Menes continued quickly.

“But that isn’t to say that I have nothing to say; if I still ruled Tamery, my strategy would be to form an alliance through a royal marriage. Nothing buries past grievances like shared blood and exchanged hostages.”

“Forgive my interjection, but that will not work.” Pharaoh Khufu said.

“In my day, the budding city-state of Romellus called itself a Republic – their head of state elected by a council of elders. A royal marriage would strengthen ties between the Tameryian throne and the particular noble family of the Consul, which isn’t nothing, but is far from the guarantee of peace this young Pharaoh needs. I would suggest that you enact this plan secretly with neighboring nations instead. That way, you avoid intimidating the Republic while securing your own peace.”

“The problem isn’t with the total forces we can muster or the allies we need.” Pharaoh Ramses said.

“I would mobilize the Tameryian Army whether or not it’ll intimidate anyone else. Our security takes priority over the enemy’s fears.

“Stop relying on brute force, you oaf! Not everything can be achieved with the military!” A different pharaoh objected, which Pharaoh Ramses scoffed at.

“Why the abyss not? We have a homefield advantage, a large population, and an entire sea and desert to shield us from any approaching enemies. Bah! If you insist on not provoking that fledgeling nation, offer to send our army to aid theirs in this campaign. You get to mobilize our men and women, grant them valuable combat and system experience, improve relations between the two nations, and hold a dagger right at the Republic’s heart should they attempt to backstab us.”

“Sending our army to commit massacres in a foreign land along with its imperial power sounds like a recipe for disaster.” Pharaoh Menes objected.

“What if they turn on us in their territory? What if the natives they butchered come for revenge against us? What of the costs in wealth and human life?”

Pharaoh Ramses rolled his eyes.

“None of these are a problem if you know what you’re doing.”

This time, Pharaoh Khufu interjected.

“The lack of such capable personnel is exactly the problem they’re facing, young man.”

“No, you old fossil, the problem is giving them the chance to catch us with out pants down and decapitate us in one strike. Besides, why can’t you just tell the Gods to go and fight them anyway if they get brazen enough to invade us?!”

The ancient Pharaohs began arguing amidst each other, before a surprising voice spoke up.

“The Gods cannot intervene directly in a conflict between humans because of the treaty that marked the Celestial War’s end, Pharaoh Ramses.” Pharaoh Akhenatan said.

“Who cares what some treaty said when the very existence of the nation is threatened? And why are you so sure they won’t?” Pharaoh Ramses said.

“Because our deaths and sealing in this wretched place happened shortly after the war’s end.” Lady Nefertiti giggled as she swung gently from the ceiling’s bloody chains.

“They may choose to break the treaty and act to save Tamery in the end, but it’ll have to be in response to catastrophic losses.” She said.

“Sounds like this so-called Celestial War is a bigger deal than I expected. Also, what the Abyss could have earned a punishment like that?!” Pharaoh Ramses said in astonishment, finally taking notice of those two for the first time.

“Being on the losing side in a struggle for power, of course.” Pharaoh Akhenatan laughed.

“The only difference between a usurper and a revolutionary is whether or not they succeeded. In any case, young Pharaoh,” he said, turning to me as he writhed in his chains, “seeking secret alliances and engaging appeasement diplomacy are not contradictory with an effort to sustain secret or limited mobilization. They pulled it off, so why can’t you?” he asked.

“Hmm…”

While that plan has plenty of blindspots and weaknesses, it’s better than anything else offered by the others. That said, I don’t have to settle for it either.

Perhaps unorthodox problems require unorthodox solutions.