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The Millennium Quest
Chapter Two
6.2.05 - By Pook  

            “Excuse me”, said Pook, “but I thought you said I could find the Millennium Items.  THE Millennium Items.  Buddy, you’ve been watching too much TV.”

            “I can assure you, that I am far from joking,” Shahdi said, as he ushered Pook into the adjacent room.  “What I am about to show you, no one outside of my family has seen for generations.” 

            As Shahdi lead Pook into the antechamber, the attractive waitress followed the pair.  Soon, the three walked past a hanging curtain, into a more intimate sitting room.  On the opposite wall, a fire was roaring in the fireplace.  Shahdi motioned for Pook to have a seat in a large armchair.  Shahdi took a seat directly across from him.  The waitress walked over and stood next to Shahdi. 

            “Allow me to introduce you to my sister…”

            “Let me guess,” interrupted Pook, “Tea?  Mai?  Ishizu?”

            “No,” said the woman, “Farrah”.  Pook was embarrassed that his joke had backfired on him.  Shahdi spoke again. 

“Now, if we may get back to business, Mr. Pook.  As I was saying before, the Millennium Items are real.  And I need your help to find them.” 

“But why me?  I’m just a writer,” said Pook. 

“You are more than just a writer.  You look for the hidden meaning in things.  I can tell from your articles that you see past the shallow exterior of the card game and the television program.  Like a splinter in your mind, you know that you are a part of this world to find the truth behind the legend.” 

“And what is the truth, Mr. Shahdi?”

“The truth, Mr. Pook, is what my family has kept secret all these years.  The legend of the Millennium Items has been a cover for the true history of the pieces.” Shahdi stood up and proceeded to walk towards the fireplace. 

“Thousands of years ago, there was a cruel and terrible pharaoh.  As you know, the pharaoh’s of Egypt were considered to be living gods, sent to Earth to rule in the place of the other gods.  Although they were actually mere mortals, many of the pharaohs began to believe their own stories, and soon grew to think of themselves as one of the gods.  One pharaoh, in particular, took this to a new level.

“This pharaoh, whose name has been lost to the ages, even to my family, searched for the best artist in the land.  He met of an old learned Jewish man who was a master craftsman, particularly in items made from gold.  The Jewish people were slaves to the Egyptians, so the old man was forcefully taken from his family and brought before the pharaoh.  It was then that the pharaoh commissioned seven items to be made from gold; items that he believed would act as a sacrifice to his own greatness.  The old man refused, so the pharaoh took the old man’s family and had them killed. 

This horrific shock nearly killed the old man, but it was his desire for revenge that kept him from death’s door.  He agreed to make the seven golden items for the pharaoh, under the false pretense of needing pharaoh’s blessing to save his family from damnation.”

“So the Millennium Items were actually crafted?” asked an anxious Pook. 

Shahdi continued, “In a sense.  You see, the items themselves were made out of ordinary gold, nothing more.  It was how the items were used in the court of the pharaoh that helped them earn their place in history.”

To be continued…