Chapter 3: The Riddler

The party of Yami, Joey, Tristan and Tea had reached an obscure vast room composed of bright orange crystals. They hung down from the roof and stuck up from the floor like deadly spikes, it was like looking into a cracked geode. The slabbed flesh coloured tiles had ended and the ground below their feet was nothing more than the scratch of earthy dirt. The tri-haired leader stepped forth first bravely and spun around curiously. Directly ahead was a crystal bath that formed a shallow pool of fresh spring water. The moat like pool surrounded two golden trinkets. At the base of the pond before the altar was an exceptionally large squashed teapot object. It was a golden lamp of sorts. Behind it upon the altar itself, a bare trickle of sunlight shone down on the main centerpiece. That centerpiece was...

"...My Millennium Puzzle!" Yami instinctively thrust his hand forward as he ran towards the object.

"Yami... don't come any closer...!" A silent yet familiar echo of an old friend permeated the Pharaoh's mind.

"Yugi!" The words of his spirit-partner trapped within the Puzzle only made him desire to take back his artifact more. It took Joey Wheeler of all people to step forward and formally warn him to return him to his senses "Hey, I would watch 'yerself. Marik wouldn't make it this easy to just claim your puzzle back just like that. It must be a trap!"

Yami clenched his fist "But I can't just leave him here!"

Joey's face darkened "I know. But we've got to think this through slowly and carefully before just running in blindfolded y'know?"

Tristan nodded "Joey's right! There has to be more to this room than that. The clue must be with that golden lamp there!"

"How right you are mortal beings." A new voice echoed the room. Whatever it was the voice was coming from the lamp itself, as if it had a life of its own. Green smoke began to seep from the spout and exploded out to form the upper torso of a muscular man wearing various gold bangles.

"La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamp!" Yami clutched his Duel Disk sword ready to fight.

Tea placed her hands on her hips and huffed "Quit being so eager Yami! I don't think he wants to fight!"

As Yami looked up to inspect closer, it didn't seem like this particular Duel Monster was intent on attacking.

"The girl is smarter than she appears. But are you smart enough still to bypass my trials?"

Tristan fell to the ground on his rear "More challenges? Give me a break man!"

Yami's face darkened "If I want the Puzzle and Yugi back we'll have to co-operate."

The Djinn pointed his finger forwards "You catch on quickly. It couldn't be simpler. I will present to you three riddles and correctly answering them will grant you both the freedom you seek and the puzzle you desire. Failing to answer at least one correctly will grant you a swift death. You have many chances for redemption."

Yami folded his arms. Behind him his friends approached and huddled around ready to help him. For once the Pharaoh smiled.

"So be it. I much prefer these sorts of games."

"In the decades past an evil man in this world ruled tyrannically. He controlled death and fear under the cloak of shadow. Only his son exists today. What was his name?"

The room was halted by silence. It wasn't anything the party had heard before but they began whispering possible solutions. Joey poked Yami and he turned his head only slightly until one eye met with the boy "Hey, the answer is to do with the story of this game. If I remember correctly, the overall story was to do with an evil Lord of Darkness. It wasn't without the help of a heroic party he was defeated at the end of the board game." Joey then pointed to the green man "Hey Djinn, the answer is the Lord of Darkness!"

The Genie remained quiet for a short while, which was unsettling for the party and then he grinned. "You are correct. The Lord of Darkness was said to have left his offspring shortly after the Pharaoh of Pharaoh's Gate fled to never be seen again."

Yami's curiosity piqued greater and greater with each mentioning of the 'Pharaoh' as if the Genie was calling his own name.

"Awwright!" Joey cheered lifting his arms in the air. "Dat was too easy!"

"Don't get too excited yet, I still have two more questions for you to answer correctly. As I said before, get even one of them wrong and your journey ends here. Are you ready for the next question?"

With little choice, the team nodded in unison.

"Excellent. A crimson river that grants life but also death. It is presented to the gods at times of worship. Call out its name."

"A crimson river that grants life but is also death?" Tristan pondered on the line curiously, placing his hand on his chin.

"It's something I have seen plenty of in my ancient past. It's blood." The embodiment of the spirit Atem worded.

Tea held her hand on her mouth and gasped "Of course!"

"That was very fast. When animals such as sheep were slaughtered in ancient times, the body and its blood was offered up to the gods as a sacrifice. Blood is required for every mortal to live, but it is also the substance spilled in war. Now there is only one more riddle left to solve."

Two down, one to go. The group was only one answer off of being free from the strange crystal room and Yami was one step closer to reclaiming back his spirit-partner. "Give us your final riddle already so we can get out of here!"

"Very well." The green Genie responded. His expression changed to something darker. "But this last one won't be so easy I can assure you. Take heed of the answers you have just given me. They will be imperative into succeeding this one."

"Well, we have the Lord o' Darkness and blood. Seems kinda grim to me," Joey replied.

"Well we aren't exactly in a happy and wonderful place right now. Do not forget that this is Marik Ishtar's sick chamber." Yami snappishly replied.

"In a house on the sea a mother reads his son a story each night always about heroes going out to defeat the bad guys. One day, one of these tales becomes real and he witnesses one of the villains with a flaming torch in hand who looked as if he had just burned down the house of his neighbour. There is no proof that he did it, but this villain is notorious for such deeds. Aside the small boy is a dagger. Does he kill the man or does he let him live?"

Joey's hand met his face "That's just way too freaking obvious! The boy obviously kills him!"

Tea shook her head "I disagree. The boy didn't see anything."

The Pharaoh interrupted "But you need to remember that the villain had a whole past of wicked deeds."

The green Genie seemed to smile at there bickering. Tristan began ragging his hair out of place "We'll never get out of here if we don't agree on something!"

"Tristan's right" Tea continued placing a finger on her forehead "We need to think about this carefully. La Jinn said that there was no proof that the villain had done that wicked act?"

Tristan and Joey both exchanged confused looks and started flailing their arms. They knew getting it wrong would be a game over. Yami just stood silently and shut his eyes to blank out the two frolicking young adults behind him. In his mind he focused on the story the Genie had told him; imagining a setting where the boy in question is being told a story by his mother. "A story..." He began to focus on what Yugi would do. His consciousness was only meters away from him, unable to help him with the solution. It's then it hit him. He pointed out his finger towards the green floating upper torso of a man. "I've got your answer La Jinn!"

Tristan and Joey paused, their arms were still webbed around each other as their iris's shrunk dramatically in the direction of the slender man in front of them. "But eh, Yug', shouldn't we work this out together first?"

Yami seemed to directly ignore the boy "The solution seems obvious at first glance. It would be far too easy to simply kill the villain and be done with it. But just because he looks and behaves the same in the story book does not mean the coincidental incarnation is evil." His mind focused as he visualised a boy standing on the altar in place of the puzzle. It looked like a near duplicate of himself but was considerably shorter despite the altar elevating his stance. His eyes were wider and more childlike, and his golden bands lacked the gravity defying 'spines' his did. The light shining on him was almost symbolic, the Hikari to his Yami. "The story the mother told the boy was just that, a fictional story written by an author."

"But what of the torch in his hand? Does that not prove the suspect with the torch in hand committed such a devious act?"

The image of Yami's carbon copy faded and he refocused on the green giant. "He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. If anything, the torch he held was used to engage combat with the real enemy."

The Genie grinned slyly. "Confident not to fully confer with your comrades and provide an answer that could potentially lead to their deaths. You're placing your reputation in their hands without second thought. I would be weary of that mindest. I will now reveal the answer to the final riddle that may or may not grant you your freedom."

Tea placed her hand on her mouth in shock. Joey and Tristan were somewhat angered by the Pharaoh's sudden reply. There was a draft of tension in the air until the Genie finally moved his lips. "You are correct..." His voice seemed to vanish into the air, alongside his body and a loud click could be heard on the left side of the room as a pile of crystals retracted into the ground like a gateway revealing a new path. The room remained drenched in silence for a while but Yami took no time in stepping forward to claim back his artifact.

"Hold it!" The voice of Tristan echoed behind him.

Yami stopped in his tracks. He felt a tingle of fustration at his friend holding him back from his puzzle.

"How can you just do that!?" Tristan cried out "We're supposed to be working as a team. You could have got us all killed!"

Joey clutched Tristan as he tried to lash out to the man in front of him. "Hey Joey, leave him be." Wheeler had a sense of uncertainty under his own voice.

"Well I got it right didn't I?" Yami let out a quick retort without even looking back and continued his march. Tea didn't say a word, the room fell with an unsettling edge. Still not looking behind him, the man stepped into the pool in front of the golden lamp and reached up to the light on top of the altar. His hands wrapped around the upturned pyramid and almost immediately he could feel the connections between him and his partner be re-established.

But that wasn't all. Within the space of a few minutes a black light flashed and crackled from his Millennium Puzzle and the man fell to the floor, still holding the puzzle artifact in hand. Joey's Kuriboh was the first to fly over and attend to the scene snapped the three other friends out of the dark atmosphere.

Yami saw himself in a black space. In front of him now he could see his smaller reflection more clearly. The boys large eyes reflected back at him. "Pharaoh!"

"Yugi!" Yami cried back. He thrust out his arm and the boy gently clutched it. Little Yugi's body language was much less volatile than his taller ego. "Pharaoh... when we connected right now... it didn't feel quite the same."

"What do you mean?" Yami's iris shrunk.

"Well... I'm glad you're back and all but did everything seem alright to you when you touched the puzzle?"

Yami remained silent.

"Forget I said anything." Little Yugi just rubbed one hand behind his head. "It's probably because you've been away from your puzzle for so long. Anyway... glad to be back partner!"

The room melded back from a black space to a crystal surrounding. Yugi had managed to slip back into his own body. Tristan, Tea and Joey were huddled around Yami Yugi's crouched unconscious self and were launched back when his body suddenly shook into life, like a stiff corpse being revived.

"Cold!" A timid voice shrilled the boy felt the cold water of the crystal pond soak into the lower leggings of his black trousers. He jumped up full of energy like a completely different person and was notably shorter. When he turned around, the friends could see that he was no longer Yami, but Yugi.

Tea smiled and ran to hug the boy her arms quickly wrapped around him until his face was being choked by her bosoms. "I missed you so much! I was so worried!" She ran her arms down the back of his hair in caring affection, like she was stroking a puppy. Joy filled the two accompanying men, and the Kuriboh danced in the air.

"I don't know what been happening, but my head hurts like crazy." Poor Yugi pushed himself from Tea's grasp and began to rub his noggin. "It feels like I've just been put through several roller coasters."

Tea dropped her hands and her face turned dark. "We've been trapped in that game and Marik Ishtar has been doing terrible things to us. Only Miho is unaccounted for."

"What kinds of things?" Yugi asked, like a boy demanding to know what his Christmas presents were.

"I'm not sure what his goal was... but he's been messing with our brains. I think he's being doing other things to us too... but it's a blur. But he seemed especially interested in both me and you, Yugi."

Tristan seemed especially worried now. He huddled over to the door eager to press on. "We need to hurry up and find Miho and then put this sick bastard in his place!"

The group nodded and followed Tristan out of the door where new trials awaited them

Note: The title of this chapter comes from a Nightwish song. The scene reflects the riddles the potragonist and his party had to overcome in Shadows of Amn.