Arrival

Saint-Domingue, Cayes-Jacmel

November 5, 1798

This morning in Cayes-Jacmel begins the same as every morning since the port city was conquered by Atem and the slaves were freed. The sun appears over the horizon and with it the people of Cayes-Jacmel rise. Morning routines are taken care of before every one sets out to accomplish their duty for the day. The children are taken to the ziggurat by their parents or caretakers where they will attend their lessons for the day while the parents and caretakers themselves make their way to their respective professions based on the knowledge that were given to them by Atem. Blacksmiths make their way to their forges, shipwrights make their way to the port, soldiers in training making their way to the training fields in front of the ziggurat, and farmers make their way to the plantations. Naturally these are not the only occupations in the city but rather a small number of them.

Currently in the section of the city designated to the forges one can find Atem casually making his way down the street, often nodding his head at his subjects and greeting them as they jovially wish their king a good morning and a good day. Stopping in front of a particular forge with its door wide open, Atem peers into the building where the sound of clashing metal can be heard and the heat of a lit furnace can be felt.

Stepping in, Atem makes his way through the room for customers, where countless weapons are displayed, and into the back where a massive man dressed in protective equipment can be seen hammering away at a burning piece of metal. The room itself is quite spacious and well ventilated. It possesses a working area at the back of the room and a storage area for complete work at the front. Currently the only thing at the front is a steel khopesh that has an intricate wave-like and circular pattern on the blade.

"Hard at work with the sunrise as usual." compliments Atem with a smile on his face, causing the man to turn around and face him.

"AH! My king, punctual as usual." says the man as he puts down his hammer and slightly bows towards Atem with a wince.

"Are you certain that you're fine with this?" asks Atem as he glances towards the blacksmith's hip. "It would be no trouble to heal you." he says.

"Thank you for your gracious offer, however I am certain. This will serve as a reminder of what I have lost at the hands of those barbarians without hindering my service to you." answers the man with another bow.

"I will respect your decision despite disagreeing with you. After all, you are not the only one who decided to keep the scars and injuries of that time." says Atem, earning another bow from the man. "Now tell me, Samuel, what was so urgent that you requested an audience with me before the sun had even risen?" asks Atem as Samuel regards him with a barely constrained grin.

"I've done it!" exclaims Samuel as he makes his way from the back of the room to the front where he picks up the steel sword and presents it to Atem. "Damascus steel khopesh cast from wootz. Hard, flexible, incredibly sharp, and very receptive to magic." says the man proudly as Atem takes the weapon from him.

Looking at it closely, Atem can't help but appreciate the sleek look and the beautiful aesthetics that the sword possesses from the wavy pattern design and the gleaming silver-like color. Partially hidden within the wave-like pattern is a runic array meant to increase the weapon's sharpness, durability, and flexibility.

Pointing the blade downwards, Atem casually releases the weapon from his grip; allowing it to fall to the ground where it easily buries itself to the hilt in the concrete like a hot knife plunged in a bowl of butter.

"You have outdone yourself Samuel." compliments Atem as he draws the sword from the ground. "I did not expect such a success. According to the records from my treasury, damascus steel is not very receptive to magic." says Atem.

"And the records were right, your highness. Damascus steel as it is written in those records cannot be used to make magic items, or mystic codes according to Alexander. However, by sacrificing some of its durability I was able to make it quite receptive to magic, and with the runes I was able to negate that loss in durability!" explains Samuel excitedly as his wide, brown eyes look at the khopesh in Atem's hands with an immense amount of pride.

"In that case it can no longer be called Damascus steel." says Atem as he looks at the circular patterns mixed within the wavy patterns. "As its inventor the privilege of naming it falls to you." says Atem as he looks up at the blacksmith.

"Ah, I don't particularly have a name for it." sheepishly says Samuel as he rubs the back of his head before he says confidently. "I would however appreciate it if you yourself would give it a name."

"Hmm, very well." accepts Atem as he contemplates while looking at the blade of the khopesh. "Tell me Samuel, what did you think of when you made this blade?" asks Atem

For a few seconds Samuel does not answer as he closes his eyes and thinks of that feeling he had as he forged the blade. That burning feeling of passion that he had as he thought of revolution that will sweep through the island of Saint-Domingue, that burning feeling of hatred as he thought of his experience at his enslavers' hands along with being subjected to that disgusting act called buck breaking at the hands of the slave master. Most importantly he thinks of that burning feeling of rebellion that he has possessed despite the slave master's attempts at stomping it out.

After a few moments of silence Samuel opens his eyes and looks at his king with eyes full of resolve."I thought of revolutions and rebellions." he says.

"In that case, I dub this steel epanástasi for it was made with thought of revolution and rebellion in mind." says Atem before handing over the weapon to Samuel. "Keep it. As the first of its kind it belongs to its creator. From now on every bladed weapon shall be made like this one. Teach the others so that they may follow suit." commands Atem as he turns around and leaves the forge.

Making his way down the street, a tablet appears in Atem's grasps in a small flash of golden light. As a simple communication mystic code, the tablet allows Atem to communicate with every one who also possesses one, mainly the leaders of every profession in Cayes-Jacmel. Through it they can communicate with him to report their progress, resources that they may need, new findings, etc… It also allows him to answer them without having to make his way over to them, making it easy for him to simply sit on his throne and focus on other matters without having to worry about communications.

"Hmm." hums Atem to himself as he unconsciously frowns.

"What seems to be troubling you?" asks Aknadin as his shade floats next to Atem and is visible only to him.

"I don't know." admits Atem. "I feel that a storm is brewing yet I do not know what it is or the cause of it." he says.

"Well as Campione your soul is more attuned to things such as fate. You may subconsciously be feeling an incoming danger." says Aknadin.

"For the first time since my ascension I hope that you and I are wrong." replies Atem. "I have more pressing matters to attend to than to worry about a bloodthirsty Heretic God or an idiotic magus. The effects of Cayes-Jacmel's temporary isolation will be felt by the rest of the island in a few months and I would love nothing more than to take advantage of it."

The current situation in Saint-Domingue is extremely volatile. In the north of the island there is Toussaint Louverture, a black ex-slave who managed to defeat the french and is currently in control of the north, while in the south there is Benoit Joseph André Rigaud, leader of the mulatto military and ally of the three French civil commissioners sent to the island in order to put down Louverture's slave revolt; like his adversary in the north, Rigaud is in control of the southern part of Saint-Domingue with Cayes-Jacmel serving as its 'capital' for lack of better term.

Unfortunately for Rigaud and his faction, Cayes-Jacmel was victim to the manifestation of a Heretic God and the ascension of a Campione. With the bounded field set up by Atem it will at least be months before anyone realises that Cayes-Jacmel has gone completely silent, and with Toussaint Louverture's revolt in the north it will be even longer before they can do anything about it. By the time Rigaud and his mulatto forces even realise that something is wrong, the preparations will be ready and Atem's faction will completely sweep through the south. Whether or not they will do the same to the north will be up to Toussaint Louverture.

"Do you believe that you will be ready by then?" asks Aknadin

"I do. Unfortunately however it won't be to the standard that I wish. The soldiers in my opinion will be lacking some training to make them a military force. As it stands they will be nothing more than squads of highly trained warriors." explains Atem.

"Hmm, that is something that you are missing; a competent military trainer. The members of Rigaud's military that were stationed here had to be put down, Alexander is more of a warrior than soldier, and I myself am not someone who can train soldiers." says Aknadin.

"It's a shame that such a person won't simply fall from the sky ready to serve me." laments Atem with an internal sigh.

Before Aknadin can answer his student, a rift opens in front of Atem and five figures exit before the rift quickly closes after them. Looking over the group, Atem can't help but take note of its strange make up.

The first person that he notices is a beautiful woman who stands at five feet seven inches with silver hair, tan skin, and teal eyes. She wears the standard hoplite armor with the shield and spear strapped to her back while the sword is sheathed at her waist. Around her neck is a necklace with an ankh serving as the pendant. Accompanying her are four children, the first of which looks exactly like her.

The second person that catches Atem's attention is the oldest child. Being around the age of thirteen, he stands a few inches taller than Atem. He possesses brown skin, a completely bald head, green eyes, and wears a long black tunic and trousers matched by the other boy behind him. However, none of those are why Atem's attention is drawn to him, rather it is the hieroglyphic tattoo on his face that draws Atem's attention. From just touching his left ear to halfway through his left eye in width and from the top of his forehead to just below his chin in length; in certain scenes from a different angle, the tattoo appears as if it only touches his eye like his ear, instead of going through it.

The second boy is around Atem's age and stands at the same height. Like his companions, he too has brown skin but with violet eyes instead, and grey spiky hair.

The final member of the group is a brown skin girl with black hair, and violet eyes who wears a hooded long white robe with its hood up.

While Atem and the city's occupants had been observing the group, they too had been taking note of their location as well as the people present. It did not take long for the woman to spot Atem and approach him, causing quite a few of the city's occupants to tense up and prepare for battle while Atem himself merely regards the woman with a calm gaze while preparing his magic core.

Stopping a few feet away from Atem, the woman kneels and places her weapons at Atem's feet.

"My Pharaoh, your loyal subjects have come to serve!" declares the woman loud enough to be heard by all.

Following her example, the children also kneel in front of him "We have come to serve." they say together.

Looking at the weirdly assembled group at his protege's feet, Aknadin can't help but ask with a slight smirk on his lips. "I believe you said something about loyal subjects falling from the sky?" he says with a voice full of amusement, causing Atem to slightly glare at him from the corner of his eyes.

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AN: Here's the next chapter. 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.