Chapter 2 – The Offering
Yugi moved slightly and moaned. Ugh, my head… Yugi traced a hand to where he was hit in the back. He felt coagulated blood sticking to his hair. Then he moved his hand to his chin. He had been bleeding quite a lot there as well, now he only felt a scab covering the area of where his chin had hit the ground. It could have been worse, Yugi thought. Yugi noticed that one of his ankles had been chained. What is this place…? Yugi looked around and concluded that he was being held in some kind of house, no, a shed was more the word. Old statues of an Egyptian God stood scattered in the relatively big shed. Yugi wasn't an expert of ancient Egypt, but he reckoned the statues were portraying the God Set. He had been taught that much from his grandfather's travels to Egypt. This must be some of Bakura's souvenirs. Yugi looked around some more and noticedonly a little amount of light peeking through a small window. The floor was made out of cold grey bricks and at a distance Yugi noticed a door placed not far and right in his line of sight. Its probably shielded shut anyway if he could get out of these chains. The chain around Yugi's ankle was very heavy and a big lock ensured that he wouldn't escape. The chain itself was fastened to a rusty pipe. This reminded Yugi of some horror movie he had seen recently. The thought made Yugi shiver. Yugi peeked down at his shirt. A large area of the shirt had been colored red by blood.
He feared the amount of blood Bakura had been talking about he would lose in the offering, whatever that offering was supposed to do for Bakura. And why did Bakura need Yugi? It didn't make any sense. If he just needed blood he could have taken anyone from the street. What was so special about Yugi's blood? And as far as Yugi could recall he wasn't related to anyone important. Maybe this was strictly because of vengeance. Yugi shuddered at the thought of Bakura and what he had said just before Yugi was knocked cold. "If I didn't have the slightest interest in you…" What on earth did he mean by that? Was Yugi going to be a part of some strange game in the world of pervert Bakura? Yugi's thoughts wandered to Joey, Tea and Tristan. Where were they now? Yugi had no sense of what time it was nor for how long he had been unconscious. Sooner or later they would wonder what kept him. Maybe they would search the whole city when they found out he was missing. Of course they would… They were his everything, his friends for life. Yugi couldn't remember one single time where they hadn't been there for him. Maybe he was going to die and they would find him dead somewhere in a ditch.
Yugi's dark thoughts made him shiver and bury his head on his knees. His arms were hugging his legs.
Yugi was on the brink of shaking. If only the Pharaoh was here…
Suddenly Yugi heard someone approaching. The door was being opened. As Yugi had thought the door sounded like it was difficult to open. Like there was a heavy lock on it.
Finally the person opened the door. If only it was Joey, Yugi thought desperately, or Tea, or Tristan, or all of them on the same time. What he wouldn't give just to see one of them now. But it was not any of them he hoped so desperately to see. It was Bakura.
Bakura glared at Yugi with his dark eyes and walked slowly towards him.
"So the prince has awakened" Bakura mocked.
Yugi got on his feet when Bakura reached him. "What is it that you're planning to do with me? And don't come any nearer!" Yugi couldn't help but yell at Bakura.
"Ah, don't worry, I'll tell you what my plan with you is", Bakura stared into Yugi's eyes. Yugi felt like looking away, but he forced himself to stay in eye contact. "Though I can't promise I won't come closer". Bakura smirked wickedly.
"I warn you, I'll, I'll bite you if you come any closer!"
"That doesn't sound bad to me" Bakura laughed, but still he stayed some paces away from Yugi. Yugi immediately regretted his choice of words and felt like hitting himself in the face. Yugi's eyes flickered; he couldn't look into Bakura's eyes anymore. He felt extremely uncomfortable about it in two ways: the first was the fact that Bakura apparently had a thing for him, regardless how Yugi had never seen that coming, secondly he saw madness in his eyes, uncontrollable madness.
Bakura suddenly broke the silence. "Have you ever heard of the Book of the dead little Yugi?"
"What?" Yugi's eyes darted back to Bakura's.
Yugi slightly remembered his Grandpa talking about it some years ago. It had been in his Grandpa's game store. His Grandpa was fixing some bookshelves while Yugi helped him categorize some Duel Monster's cards. Yugi stumbled across a card named the Book of the dead. Hm? Yugi pondered the name of the card. "Grandpa? What does this card do? I've never seen it before." Yugi's Grandpa stopped what he was doing, panting. "Ugh, I'm getting too old to fix things." Yugi's Grandpa chuckled and walked over to Yugi. The card pictured a dark book with a strange creature etched on the cover. There was something menacingly about the creature, Yugi thought.
"Ahh this card you ask? This is a very rare card indeed. It's as strong as the monster reborn card and very similar to it as well. It lets you bring back a monster or a magic card discarded to the graveyard. Some believed this book to actually be real and have the power to bring back the dead, but that's nonsense of course. Through my travels in Egypt I have never heard anyone speak of it. The creature you see on the front is Anubis, the God of afterlife. The Egyptians portrayed him as a jackal as you can see.
"Oh, He doesn't look very friendly." Yugi looked up at his Grandpa, smiling.
"Yes Yugi, I can see you have heard of it. Bakura stared intensely into Yugi's eyes. The Book of the dead is real. I found it in Egypt after three years of searching. It wasn't easy to get a hold on; I admit I had to make life miserable for a few in order to get to it." Bakura laughed.
Yugi watched Bakura in disgust. "You are sick."
Bakura ignored Yugi's comment. "You see, that was not all I discovered in my journey. I also found out how to gain the greatest power in the world. I'm sure you've heard of Set, The Egyptian God of Chaos, Violence and most importantly darkness… He and I are on good terms you see, practically pals." Bakura laughed venomously. Set controls an army greater than any the world has ever seen. His army is sleeping underneath the sands of Egypt and Set has allowed me to take control of it. Set wants me to lead his army to darkness and destruction. With him by my side I can take control of everything!"
"You are mad! You can't do that!"
"Oh yes I can" Bakura moved closer to Yugi. "This is where you come into the picture Yugi; you are the key to Set's unstoppable army."
"Why? How? What do you mean?"
"The problem is… That only someone from the royal line of the Pharaohs, only a living Horus can bring forth the army of Set!"
"But that's ridiculous! I'm not in the royal line of the Pharaohs."
"Well aren't you quick… The Book of the dead secretly possesses the power to bring the dead back from beyond. The Book of the dead requires blood from someone the Living Horus loved… Don't you see little Yugi? This is why I can only do this now. It is only because of the Millennium items that I can bring back the Pharaoh from the dead. If none of the Millennium items had come into existence I wouldn't be able to do what it is I intend. Then the Pharaoh would never have known you, he would never have loved anyone like he loves you. Plus the ancient line of the Pharaoh's is practically untraceable today."
The obviousness hit Yugi like a giant hammer. Yugi was the one half Bakura needed. And the Pharaoh was the other. The ritual Bakura wanted could be performed by the one reason: that the Pharaoh had existed in Yugi's time and that he had loved Yugi. No one would have been able to raise the army of Set if it wasn't for that fact. Or was it a fact? The Pharaoh had never told Yugi how he really felt about him. Maybe he didn't feel anything about him after all. Maybe it was just some beautiful lie that Yugi had believed in order to make existence bearable. The knot in Yugi's stomach came back tenfold. It ached…
Yugi began to tremble. "Bakura… You can't do this. You can't bring him back! You can't!" Tears pressed behind Yugi's eyelids. "It's wrong! He deserves peace!"
Bakura's eyes darkened. "He… does not… deserve… anything…" with clenched teeth Bakura moved even closer to Yugi. A sudden rage broke through Bakura, startling the sobbing Yugi. "You don't know what he did to me! I watched! I watched my family being slaughtered like cattle, on the orders from that rat's father!" Bakura pushed Yugi up against the wall with a tight grip around Yugi's neck, making it hard for Yugi to breathe. "You don't know how much I hate him; I want to see him suffer, like he made me suffer… Tonight he will suffer, I assure you that Yugi."
Bakura let go of Yugi. Yugi fell to the cold floor, gasping for air. "Bakura, don't! You will destroy yourself if you do this! You can't…"
Bakura laughed. His cruelty darkened Yugi's heart. "Don't fool yourself Yugi; I know that deep down your heart jumps at the thought of the Pharaoh's return like a hormonal teenager… How pathetic." Bakura turned his back on Yugi. "Tonight the ritual will begin." Bakura walked out and slammed the door shut. Left alone Yugi couldn't control all of his emotions. It was chaos. Yugi cried now, tears streamed down his face, mumbling to himself. "No… It wasn't supposed to be like this. He can't come back…"
Yugi desperately fought the feelings that he knew was wrong. Bakura was right, Yugi did want the Pharaoh to come back. It was selfish of him. He couldn't possibly feel that this was right, but God how he ached for the Pharaoh to return. No… Yugi had to ensure that no matter what the Pharaoh wouldn't come back to life. If Bakura succeeded in bringing back the Pharaoh, he would kill him. No matter what Yugi would not let his own desires rise above what was right. He would do anything to stop Bakura…
"I know it's here somewhere!" Joey drove like a maniac around looking for the place he had last seen the van.
Tea who sat besides Joey had a sinister look on her face. "Just keep looking Joey, you're sure it was somewhere around here right?"
"Yeah, argh, nothing makes sense. I was sure I saw the van around here somewhere, but then it vanished! I drove around for hours trying to find it until I called you guys and picked you up."
"Done blame yourself man, you did everything you could." Tristan reached out from the back seat, laying a comforting hand on Joey's shoulder.
"My best isn't good enough!" The car gave a high pitched squeal when Joey hit the brakes. "We've been looking now for over an hour in this damn country. The only thing I see is fields and more fields. We gotta get a new strategy guys." Joey clenched his teeth and hit the wheel hard with his fists.
The three of them were surrounded by seemingly never ending fields, with farms scattered here and there.
"I know Joey." Tea looked like she had given up, but she was consumed with fear for Yugi. "What if, what if something has happened to him?" Tea began sobbing. "I can't forgive myself if something…"
Tea stopped when she felt Joey's hand on her shoulder. "Hey… I'm sorry Tea. It's just… I'm really worried about him too you know?" Tea nodded silently.
"Come on guys, Yugi's been in tougher situations than this, I'm sure he can hold on till we find him." As always Tristan did his best to boost their spirit.
Joey nodded. "Well said buddy, let's find Yugi, we'll keep looking even if we have to look for the rest of our lives."
Night had fallen upon the land. Yugi sat restlessly in his cell, waiting for a single sound. He walked around, as far as the chain would allow him, looking out the small window from time to time, which he could barely reach, only just when he stretched and stood on his toes. He just stared emptily at his sneakers when he didn't look out the window. One time Yugi tried to punch a hole through the wall in frustration, which only resulted in physical pain.
Suddenly Yugi heard voices outside. Fear struck like thunder in Yugi's heart. The door was opened and two hooded men entered.
"Remove his chain" one of them said. The other went over to Yugi with a key in his hand. He opened Yugi's lock. Yugi quickly tried to dart to the door, but the first guy got in his way. "Trying to escape is useless." The man grabbed Yugi by collar of his shirt and dragged him outside. He had definitely been right. There were several more hooded men in red robes waiting for them. It would be a waste of strength to struggle. Not to mention the hooded men looked twice Yugi's size and height.
Yugi saw that he had been held captive at an old abandoned farm. The main building had begun to wither away and cracks were curling and withering their way like snakes. Windows were smashed and the doors were missing. But that was not where Yugi was being taken. His captors were leading him to a huge barn which looked just as old as the main building. Inside, Yugi were thrown on the hay covered floor. Trying to calm his heartbeat, Yugi looked up and saw statues of Set, just like those in the shed, only bigger. They towered over him with menacing eyes, each holding a staff in their hand. Big dark metallic torches were placed in a circle around him. Men in red robes were placed in an equal circle as the torches. All the men Yugi had seen standing outside now came into the barn, joining the circle. At the end of the barn stood the tallest Set statue of them all, right in front of it was Bakura.
Yugi tried to keep his calm. He knew that it was no use to run or to fight, but when Bakura approached him he felt an urge to jump at Bakura, anything that would make him stop.
"Now Yugi, are you ready to bear witness to the ultimate deity's power?" Bakura's wicked smile made Yugi furious. Yugi jumped at Bakura in seconds, knocking him on his back.
"Stop this madness Bakura!" Yugi screamed at the top of his lungs. Bakura only laughed while he hit Yugi in the gut. Bakura gripped around Yugi's neck and tilted him on his back. Bakura stared coldly into Yugi's eyes.
"Now I tell you something Yugi, you've got spunk. I like that; you'll make a nice slave when I get to rule this damned world." Bakura was so close to Yugi that he could feel his hot breath on his skin. Bakura let go of Yugi and walked over to the statue of Set. He came back with a book as black as the night. On the cover was Anubis, the protector of afterlife.
Bakura suddenly called out on a language Yugi did not understand and his followers began to repeat what Bakura was saying in melodic rhythms. Bakura suddenly withdrew a dagger from the emptiness and then seized Yugi's arm. Yugi struggled. He desperately tried to free himself from Bakura's grasp, but one of his followers came to Bakura's aid and held Yugi tight. Bakura kept on chanting. He threw the open book on the floor. Yugi caught glimpses of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Bakura screamed and traced the dagger across Yugi's arm. "Bakura! Stop!" Yugi screamed in desperation. The cut was over quickly, but Yugi's blood quickly streamed down his arm. Bakura held Yugi's arm over the Book of the dead.
Bakura cried out again in the strange language. Yugi only caught the word Anubis.
Darkness came upon them. The fire in the torches turned dark. Unintelligible voices erupted from all around them and strange shadows danced on the walls and almost seemed to cling around them. Then a deep, dark voice appeared as if out of nowhere. Yugi couldn't believe what he heard. The voice sounded very melodic, but not in any way human. The voice disappeared as soon as it had come. Instead the room was filled with glowing violet light. Yugi, Bakura and his followers were blinded. They shielded themselves from the light. Then the light vanished. They all looked up.
The Book of the dead lay open still, on the hay covered floor. The blood was gone. Next to the book lay a man. His long, slender legs were curled up against his chest, his arms held around his torso, his hair a big wild mess of black, magenta and gold, his eyes were shut and his breathing consistent. Atem lay on the floor, naked and seemingly asleep.
Yugi stopped breathing for seconds. His heart skipped. Everything around him lost its meaning, Bakura, his followers and the blood streaming down his arm. The only thing that mattered was the person lying on the floor right in front of him.
Atem…