Chapter 3

The next morning, Yugi felt himself roused an hour before dawn by a servant with a candle held in her hand. He noticed that his clothes had been taken away and fresh clean ones had been lain by the foot of his bed. When had that happened?

"Do you need help dressing?" the young girl asked. "I know that some foreigners have troubles with our style of clothing."

"N-no thanks. I'm fine," Yugi assured with a smile. "I know how to put these on."

She bowed and scurried out of the room. He put on the tunic and vest as well as his own black shoes in lieu of the sandals that he had been given. He had never really liked anything besides the leather boots that he had worn when he was younger. Unfortunately, boots like those just weren't made for traipsing around in the desert.

"I look ridiculous," he murmured to himself.

There was a knock on the door and Yugi sighed. Why did he have to be up so early? After a few moments the door opened of its own accord and the brown-haired girl that had been standing beside priest Mahado the day before virtually bounced in.

"Good morning! I'm Mana," she chirped.

"Hi. My name is Yugi. And don't you mean good night? The moon's still out," Yugi stifled a yawn with the back of his hand.

"Nope! I definitely mean good morning. Come on or else we're going to be late!"

Mana grabbed him by the wrist and almost dragged him down the hall and up a couple of flights of stairs. All that lit the corridors at this time of day were the torches that lined the wall every couple of feet.

"Someone will come in about half an hour to put them out," Mana explained when she saw Yugi looking at them.

Yugi was almost out of breath by the time that she stopped. The castle seemed even larger today than it had the day before or maybe that was because there were few people up so early. His body was also still mostly asleep and moving sluggishly. He was distracted from his inner thoughts by the sound of Mana rapping her knuckles on the door in front of them.

Mahad pulled it open with a welcoming smile on his face.

"Good morning Mana, Yugi,"

"Hello, teacher," Mana practically sang as she bounced into the room.

Yugi shook his head and followed at a more sedate pace and then stopped just inside the door. Sunlight filtered through the large windows, casting the large room in an early morning glow. The ceiling arched high over his head and was depicted with the scenes of some battle staged in the not too distant past. There was little furniture around with only gigantic stone slabs with the depictions of monsters on them to keep the walls company. Directly across from him, Yugi could see another door.

Mana nudged him in the ribs. "Speechless aren't ya?"

Mahado merely smiled indulgently at her before turning to Yugi.

"Welcome, Yugi. I trust that you already know how to read our people's language?" Mahado said.

"Yes," Yugi said quietly. "I learned quite a while ago."

"I will test you to make sure."

"Alright."

"Mana, you shall begin practising the spell that I taught you yesterday."

"'Kay!" She mock saluted him and bounced off to the other end of the room.

Mahado laid his hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Come with me. I need to speak with you."

Yugi gulped at the man's chilling tone and nodded. Mahado lead him across to the door, and opened it before quickly ushering Yugi inside.

Yugi's eyes widened as he took a quick glance around the room. Unlike the other rooms that he had been in so far, this one had a smaller window which cast a faint light on the clutter lining the walls. Mahado struck a match and set several candles alight.

It was obvious now that Yugi's earlier thoughts on this being a personal room was incorrect. There was dust on every surface and he couldn't help but sneeze as it was disturbed by their movements. Mahado pushed Yugi into the only chair in the room.

"The Pharaoh may trust you, but I don't," he said. "Your story is just a little too suspicious, what with you being found with Bakura of all people."

"It's true! Everything that I said is true!" Yugi protested.

"I know this. But my heart warns me that you may spell ruin for all of Egypt," Mahado replied.

"How could I do that?" Yugi frowned.

"I do not know, but know this. I will be watching you, Yugi Mutou and the moment that I even get a hint that you are going to harm this country or the Pharaoh with your actions, I will kill you myself." An aura of power began to emit from Mahado. Yugi felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. His whole body began to tense with fear without his command. This man, he felt, could kill him with the flick of his finger and not even be bothered by it.

"Do you understand?"

Yugi just shook.

Mahado gripped his shoulders and shook him. "I said, do you understand?"

"Y-Yes," Yugi croaked.

"Good."

Mahado let him go and stepped back. The dark aura vanished almost immediately from his person and he once again became the mild mannered priest that he had seen earlier.

"Now the second reason that I called you to this room, was as I said earlier, to test you." Mahado walked over to the wall and pulled one of the scrolls out from the bottom of the pile. He handed it to Yugi. "Read this out loud."

Yugi opened the scroll. "A long long time ago, when the lands were still divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, there lived a man that went by the name of Narmer and he was the king of Upper Egypt. No one knew it at the time, but he was to be the one to found the first dynasty of a united Egypt."

"You can stop there. I am confident in your ability to read the hieroglyphs."

"Do you know how valuable this information is to my time?" Yugi said in stunned amazement. "We have suspected that he was the founder of the first dynasty of Egypt, but it has been hotly contested that it was Menes that united Upper and Lower Egypt, or that Menes and Narmer were the same person or..."

"We have really lost much in your time, haven't we?" Mahado said.

Yugi sighed. "Great civilizations rise and fall constantly throughout history."

"I know. It is just bothersome when you mention my country falling from the glory that it is at now," Mahado said. "It means that somewhere along the lines, those who hold the Millennium Items failed to protect the Pharaoh and this land."

"I'm sorry. I won't mention it anymore. I just got a bit carried away."

"Thank you. However, it is rare to find one so passionate about the history of Egypt. I will allow you to have access to the historical portion of our great library. I'm afraid that I will have to keep you ignorant to the weapons that we use as well as our strategies and other technology. If you want a new scroll to study, you need only to ask myself and I will find one suitable."

Yugi's jaw dropped in amazement. He was only mildly disappointed that he would only get to see part of the library. Still, the opportunity to learn more about the history of his favourite country was not worth spitting at in the least. Yugi thought he could deal with Mahado's mistrust if he got to learn about that. "You'd really do that? This is... This is a dream come true!"

"I only ask that you try to get Mana interested. She's more interested in the practical applications of her education and none of the historical ones."

"I will try my best. May I borrow this scroll in the meantime?"

"Yes. You may pick it up after class."

"Thank you," Yugi said.

"You are most welcome. Since I have confirmed that you are able to read the hieroglyphs, it's time to see how well you write them."

"I have never tried to write them before," Yugi said.

"They are very important in the writing of spells. One simple line out of place is the difference between a successful spell and a disaster."

"I understand," Yugi replied.

His insides clenched up with dread at the thought of learning again how to write. As a child, he had been infamous among the teachers for his terrible hand writing and had had to stay after class on more than one occasion to improve it.

Mahado pulled out a clear papyrus scroll from another of the dusty stacks in the room before opening the door. "There is a table and chair at which you can sit at and work on your writing. If it is not up my standards when you are done, you will have to do it again until it is sufficient."

Yugi let out a low groan as he traipsed over to where the desk was against the wall. The thought of writing lines over and over again made him almost wish that he was back in his own time. Almost.

Yugi's wrist was aching by the time that they broke for lunch. He had written out the paper at least ten times, but each time Mahado had taken one look at it, and had quietly handed him a clean papyrus scroll.

...

Bakura glared down at the floor. Thanks to the position the guards had chained him to the wall, it was the only place he could really relax his neck. Around him, moans of those in pain mixed with those that had lost all hope. His arms had long gone numb from the position that they were in. His legs which were shackled to the wall were bent in such away that he was forced into a kneeling position. The chains were too short to even allow him to stand.

"And this is how the great and benevolent Pharaoh treats prisoners? One would wonder exactly how nice he is, judging by what his father did to my village and what he does to those that he dislikes."

"I'm afraid that you are a bit confused, thief." The door opened and Bakura looked up to see the shadows of two men. The taller of the two stepped forward, revealing the face of the high priest, Seto. "You see, he doesn't know what we are doing. He is new to the throne and very naive. He doesn't realise that to protect this kingdom one has to sacrifice the few to save the many."

A smirk graced Bakura's lips. "So you are betraying the Pharaoh because you think he doesn't know how to lead? I don't believe that. He must know about this."

"I am not betraying him!" Seto thundered. "I am helping him in an area he doesn't realise that he needs yet."

"Tch, if that makes you feel better, priest."

Seto's mouth thinned. "Undo his shackles and take him to the room. Pit him against the strongest monster that we have got, but don't let it kill him. From what Shada said, his Ka is already very powerful. It would be a shame to lose the beast."

The guard stepped forward and unlocked the shackles around Bakura's wrists and feet. They fell to the ground with a clatter and Bakura rubbed his wrists. The skin was raw and inflamed where the metal bands had rubbed against his skin. He didn't need to check his legs to know that they were in a similar state.

"On your feet," the guard said.

Bakura did as he was told without complaint and staggered to his feet. If they were going to do what Seto had said, he might have a chance to escape. The only reason that he hadn't been able to yet is because the priests had put a locking spell on his Ka so that he couldn't use it while they made a large enough slab to imprison it on. So he didn't protest at all when he was lead to down the halls and even deeper into the dungeons of the jail.

Seto opened the door and the guard shoved Bakura inside the room. Bakura couldn't help but stumble as his legs were still mostly numb from the position they had been forced into for so long. He picked himself up off the ground and glanced around the room.

There were platforms hanging on chains from the ceiling as well as many at his eye level, and far below. The only solid stone floor in the entire room was the small patch that he was standing on. His stomach dropped as he looked down into the black abyss below. He heard a door open and glanced to the other side of the room. A young man with a scowl on his face was also forced in.

Bakura waited with baited breath as Seto's voice echoed around the room. "You both know the rules. Anything goes as long as only one competitor leaves this arena alive."

Bakura let a predatory smirk touch his lips as he called for the Ka that rested in his soul. Diabound. On the other side of the room, the other man also called out his Ka. He might as well kill the man before he left. After all, he deserved a little harmless fun after what had happened in the last couple of days.

"For the second half of lessons today, we are going to begin focusing on the actual magical part of shadow magic," Mahado began. "First you will need to know how to meditate. In order to be able to use shadow magic and not get injured, a mage must be in one of two states of mind. The first is absolute calm. Shadow magic will not come as easily to you in this form. However, it will also prevent the shadows from gaining control over, and using you to their own ends, as they will do unless you have a very powerful will. Respecting them and using them when you are calm will save you a large amount of trouble in the future.

"The second way to utilise them is with an extreme emotion. Rage and hatred work well for this. The shadows will be very easy to call when you feel like this as they are naturally attracted to the darkness of the human heart. They however may also overwhelm you if you are in this condition and as I have already stated, do not possess enough willpower."

"Okay. So how do I meditate?" Yugi asked.

"To meditate, you may choose any position you want. You will probably do better at this exercise if you lie down or sit. All you have to do is clear your mind of all emotions. You can think as much as you want, but you must attach a certain amount of apathy to those thoughts. Every time a thought comes up and you associate an emotion with it, place a mental note on why this thought in particular makes you feel the way you do. Imagining that the emotion is being drained out of you through the floor is a technique that I also found useful.

"This is actually the hardest part of shadow magic that you will come across until you arrive at the most advanced stages of the discipline. For this exercise, I will be putting a magic lock around your shadow magic. It will only be released once you achieve the proper state of mind to be able to control the shadows without them overwhelming you."

Yugi glanced around the room and spotted a convenient looking corner. "Is there okay?"

"Yes, of course," Mahado replied.

Yugi plunked down into the corner and closed his eyes. He scanned his mind for anything that would rouse his feelings and landed on Bakura. Even though he knew the man would hate it, he couldn't help but feel a bit bad for him. Yugi couldn't imagine how he would have ended up if he had gone through something else. He took the emotion of pity and pushed it away from the image of Bakura.

Another emotion replaced it almost immediately. Gratitude. Again Yugi acknowledged it and pushed it away. Guilt for what had happened the day before to the thief. He sighed and pushed it away, though it took a bit longer than expected.

Yugi sank deeper into his mind. Images of his grandfather began to appear along with the feeling of grief. It had not been that long since his passing, and the man had raised Yugi as if he were his own son. Reluctantly, Yugi let go of those feelings to the best of his ability. He sank even deeper and had the vague sense that his mind, at least emotion wise was like a well so deep that he could barely comprehend the bottom. This was definitely going to take a lot longer than Yugi had hoped.

Sorry that this is a couple of days late. Real life got in the way and I literally did not have the time to edit and post this. Hope that the wait was worth it. Reviews and concrit are appreciated.

And to the anonymous reviewer J Bear: Thank you for the review. I didn't actually know that the Yugi and Thief King Bakura pairing was called Boundshipping XD.