Chapter 7- Twilight Dimension
"Where the hell are we ?!" Joey shouted.
Everyone saw what appeared to ancient Egypt. They were surrounded by sand, and ahead of them was a village and beyond the village was a palace from ancient Egypt, but this was no ordinary palace.
Leo, Atemu, Yami, Seto, and Bakura all gasped in shock.
"What's wrong?" Joey asked.
"It can't be." Atemu said.
"I know, but it is." Yami added.
"Okay. What in the world is wrong with all of you?" Tristan demanded,
"This is the palace that we all lived in ancient Egypt." Leo said.
"That's impossible, though. That palace has been destroyed for thousands of years." Ryou said.
"It's not the real palace." Heba said.
"What do you mean? It looks exactly the same." Yami protested.
"I know that, Yami. This is the Twilight Dimension. Nothing is what it appears to be. This place takes on the form of what it's occupant wants it to. In this case, Menthos wants it to look like ancient Egypt." Heba said.
"Menthos? You mean that guy that forced Yugi into the kiss yesterday?" sayora asked.
Heba suddenly whirled around. "HE WHAT?!" Heba shouted.
Everyone jumped.
"Yeah. This guy named Menthos Transey was new at school, and Yugi offered to show him around. When we saw them, he had Yugi pinned against the wall and was kissing him when Yugi didn't want to." Tristan explained.
"That's it! I am going to kill that bastard with my bare hands!" Heba shouted.
"Isn't he just a teenager, though?" Malik asked.
"Believe me. Menthos is over five thousand years old. He's far from a teenager." Heba said.
"How do you know that?" Yuesei asked.
"I'll explain later when I know that my brother is safe." Heba said.
"Where is he?" Leo asked.
Hebe turned back around. "The palace." Heba said, starting to walk toward the palace.
The others followed close behind.
They walked into the village and started through to the palace.
"What was here?" Tea asked.
"The villages were where the peasants lived. They had shops out here where they traded and sold different things. Some were food stands, others sold things that they made." Leo said.
"It sounds like a mall." Joey said.
"In a sense, I guess it could be considered that." Leo said.
"Heba, why exactly does Menthos want Yugi?" Atemu asked.
"It's a long story. Let's just say that there are some things that you don't know about Yugi." Heba said.
"Like what? It'll take us a little while to get to the palace." Leo pointed out.
"Have you ever heard of something in ancient Egyptian myths about a Treasure?" Heba asked.
"You mean THE Treasure? The one that was said to be the gift of the gods?" Leo asked.
Heba nodded. "There's a lot more to that then you know." Heba said.
"Start explaining." Yami said.
"You see, everyone considered the Treasure to be a source of power. It was, but not in the way everyone thought." Heba said.
"Many priests and magicians tried to summon the power of the Treasure, but never could. It was considered to be a myth, nothing more." Atemu said.
"The Treasure is a living, breathing person who was given powers by the gods themselves. The gods of Egypt that presided over the power of the Treasure were Osiris, god of the underworld, Horus, the god of the sun, and Ra, the god of the control of the universe." Heba said.
"What does this have to do with Yugi?" Marik asked.
"I'll get to that." Heba snapped. Realizing how he sounded, Heba said, "Sorry. The Treasure has great power. No one except the gods know what kind of power the Treasure has. Many forces that were evil found out that the Treasure was a human gifted with these incredible powers and sought out the Treasure to makes its power theirs. That is why the gods gifted another human with magic as well. This human was called the Protector. Their purpose was to protect the Treasure at all costs."
"Then, the Treasure was never meant to fall into evil hands." Leo said.
"No. The treasure is supposed to be there to help the Pharaoh. Unfortunately, the Pharaoh never found out about the Treasure, and the Treasure's death came before he could aid the Pharaoh." Heba said.
"That explains why we never even knew the Treasure existed." Leo said.
"What happens to the Protector when the Treasure dies?" Yuesei asked.
"The Protector is released from his duty and can live his life the way he wishes." Heba said.
"Then the Protector would want the Treasure's death." Tea pointed.
"No. The Protector and the Treasure are brothers. The brotherly love makes it to where the Protector wants to protect the Treasure from all harm." Heba said.
"The Protector would wish no harm on the Treasure, therefore he would lay down his life for the Treasure of the love the brothers had for each other was strong enough." Yuesei said.
"It was." Heba said.
"You say that like you're the Protector." Tristan said.
"That's because I am. Yugi is the treasure." Heba said.
Startled gasps were heard behind him.
Heba sighed and turned to face them. "Menthos kidnapped my brother to try and gain control of him so that the power my brother possesses can be used for his own purpose." Heba said.
"That's why you're really here. You are supposed to protect him." Kyla said.
"Yes. I may have failed to keep Menthos away from him, but I am going to get him back." Heba said, turning and continuing toward the palace.
The rest followed him.
"Why did Menthos come to the school?" Yami asked.
"Menthos has most likely been searching for Yugi for some time. You see, the only way that he could gain control of Yugi is by breaking his will and spirit. If he does that, he could take control of Yugi's mind, and Yugi's power's could be used by him." Heba said.
"Why 'could'?" Yami asked.
"There's a certain trigger for Yugi to access his power. Even I don't know what that trigger is. Unless Menthos finds out what that trigger is, he couldn't access the power, and I don't see Yugi telling Menthos how to access his power." Heba said,
"Then Menthos came to the school to try and break Yugi's spirit. That's why he forced himself onto Yugi. He probably planned to rape Yugi so that he could break him." Seto said. He noticed the enraged looks that crossed Atemu and Yami's faces and said, "Sorry. I was just stating a fact."
Heba stopped suddenly. 'There's a change in the wind.' Heba thought.
"What's wrong?" Atemu asked.
Before Heba could answer, three swordsmen jumped out and stood in a line in front of them. One of the swordsman wore black, one wore green, and one wore gray.
"You go no further than this Protector." the green one said.
"Three against one isn't exactly fair odds. Which two of you want to help me out in this?" Heba asked the group behind him.
Yami walked up beside him and said, "I'll help you."
"So will I." Seto said, walking up as well.
"Then we'll leave this to you three." Leo said. He backed up along with the others behind him.
"You cannot believe that you can stop us." the gray said.
"We are the three best swordsmen that Menthos has. You will not defeat us." the black said.
"Let's find out if you're right about that or not." Seto said.
Heba, Seto, and Yami all ran forward at the three swordsmen.
Heba blocked the green swordsman's sword with his Sais.
Yami stopped the gray swordsman's sword with his sword.
Seto stopped the black swordsman's sword with his own sword.
Heba forced the green's sword back and kicked him in the chest. The green ran back toward Heba and tried to strike Heba, but Heba blocked the sword and forced the swordsman back. The green started to swing his sword repeatedly at Heba, but Heba blocked the sword each time that it came at him. The swordsman went forward and strike to strike Heba in the chest, but Heba blocked the sword and tripped the swordsman up before spinning around and ramming his Sai back into the swordsman's stomach before whirling around to use his Sai to take the swordsman's head off.
The green exploded into black dust.
Yami blocked the sword and then rammed himself into the gray. The gray went forward and brought his sword down at Yami. Yami blocked it and kicked the gray in the stomach, causing the gray to stumbled back. The gray struck out with his sword, and Yami struck back, a metal clanking filling the air as the two continued to clash their swords again. Yami used his Shadow magic to throw the gray off balance. Yami rammed the blade of his sword into the gray, but it didn't stop.
Seto blocked the sword of the black with hiss word and forced his sword up and then turned around to kick the black in the chest. The black ran forward, and the two continued to battle, the metal clanking as loud as before. Seto ducked as the black tried to kick him and went forward ramming his shoulder in to the black and causing the black to fall backwards onto his back. The black rolled out of the way as Seto brought the blade of his sword down and jumped up to lash out at Seto, but Seto rammed his sword into the black's stomach, but it wasn't destroyed, either.
"How do you destroy these things?" Yami asked as he blocked the gray's sword.
"Take of their heads!" Heba ordered.
"If you say so." Yami said. He forced his sword up and kicked the gray back before swinging with his word and took off the gray's head.
The gray to burst into black dust.
Seto stopped the black's word before ramming into him and then swinging with his sword to take the black's head off.
The black turned to black dust.
"Okay. What's the deal with the taking off the head, and why did they turn into black dust?" Joey asked.
"The only way to destroy then is to cut off their heads, and they turned into black dust because they were created by black sand." Heba said.
"Black sand was used in black magic, which was only used by the evilest of people who didn't care about the consequences of using it." Leo said.
"Menthos is such a being, now come on." Heba said.
The group started back on their way to the palace.
Menthos frowned as he watched the battle.
"Those three have only ever been defeated in battle by you. How could they have lost now?" Maytrine asked.
"I did not anticipate on the Protector bringing help. I thought that he would have come alone." Menthos said.
"Does this change anything?" Maytrine asked.
"It does a little, but we can handle this. I'll kill them all so that we can ensure the Treasure's place in our ranks." Menthos said.
"Will his Dark being here bring any harm to the plan?" Maytrine asked.
"No. He isn't exactly on good terms with the Treasure, so he poses no threat." Menthos said.
Behind the two, on a metal slab, lay Yugi, still unconscious.
Menthos looked back and said, "We have the Treasure in our grasp. We will not let it escape now." Menthos said.
"Shall we prepare for when they get here?" Maytrine asked.
"Yes." Menthos said.
The two vanished from the room they were in along with Yugi.
The group neared the palace with Heba in the lead.
"There's something that I want to know." Yuesei said.
"What's that?" Heba asked.
"Why did you attack Leo earlier?" Yuesei asked.
Leo burst out laughing at that.
The others except for Heba looked at him oddly, wondering why he was laughing about something hat could have gotten him killed. Heba wore a smile that no one else could see.
"Trust me, Yuesei. Heba had no intention of killing me." Leo said.
"Then why did he attack you?" Kyla asked.
"To see if I was right about who I thought he was." Heba replied.
"Meaning?" Joey asked.
"Later." Leo said as the group stopped.
The looked to see that they were in front of the palace gates.
"So. Let's go in." Tristan said.
"It's not as easy as you think, Tristan." Atemu said.
"Why's that?" Tea asked.
"Back in ancient Egypt, it would take up to five guards to open these doors, and they were very strong. We're not getting this door open that easily." Yami said.
Heba put the Sai in his right hand in his left hand, holding both Sais with the one hand. He raised his had and flicked his worst, causing the doors to swing open.
The group stood gaping at what had been done.
"I never said that we would have to get in through manual means." Heba said.
The group continued in and looked around what was the palace courtyard.
Yami, Atemu, Seto and Leo felt a sense of longing to be back in a place that they had not seen in five thousand years.
"Please don't tell me that we have to walk up all those stairs." Joey said.
"If you want to help Yugi, then yes." Heba said, staring forward.
Everyone followed him and they continued their way up to the stairs and then started up the stairs.
"How many step are there?" Sayora asked after a few minutes.
"Well, if memory serves, I believe there were about a hundred and fifty." Seto said.
"Actually, it was two hundred." Atemu corrected.
"And you did this everyday?" Tea asked.
"Yeah. We didn't have the modern convinces that we do now. We did everything manually. Of course, when you had to go up and down them so much, it became normal." Yami said.
Soon, they reached the top of the stairs.
"Okay. So now where do we go? I mean, this palace is huge. There's no way to know where this maniac could be holding Yugi." Malik said.
"The throne room." Heba said.
Before anyone could react, Heba headed down an adjoining hall.
"How does he know where the throne room is?" Bakura asked.
"Ancient Egyptian buff?" Ryou asked.
"No. He said that he didn't know much about ancient Egypt." Atemu said.
Leo smiled. "This isn't the first time he's been in this palace, and I know that he knows where is going." Leo said, starting to follow Leo and Heba.
"How would this guy have been in this palace before?" Seto asked.
"Leo knows something that he is not telling us." Yuesei stated.
The group walked to the doors of the throne room.
Heba flicked his wrist again, and the group walked inside.
"Wow! This was the throne room?" Joey asked.
"Yeah. It looks exactly like is did five thousand years ago." Atemu said.
The group looked forward to see that there was a stone slab in front of the throne.
And Yugi was lying on the throne, unconscious.
"Hey! It's Yugi!" Joey exclaimed, starting forward.
"Joey! Don't!" Heba shouted.
A powerful blast threw them all back into the wall of the room and caused them all to fall to the ground.
Heba was the first one to recover. He rose up on his hands, coughing.
Leo was next, also coughing.
"What the hell was that?!" Tristan exclaimed.
"Joey." Heba growled.
Joey gulped. "Yeah."
"From now on, don't do anything until I tell you to! I could have told you there was a trap set up!" Heba shouted.
"Yes, there was." a male voice said.
Everyone looked to see Maytrine and Menthos standing in front of the slab that Yugi was laying on.
Heba stood up to look at them. "Maytrine, I see you're still taking orders from this man." Heba said/
"Nice to see you, too, Heba." Maytrine said.
"It would seem that, once again, the Protector had failed to protect the Treasure." Menthos said.
Heba walked forward a little. "Enough of these games, Menthos! Give me back my brother!" Heba said.
"No, I don't think so. The Treasure belongs to us." Menthos said.
This got Leo mad. "Yugi is a person, not a possession. He doesn't belong to anyone." Leo said angrily.
"Do you really think that the Treasure is a real person? All he is, is a human with powers granted to him by the gods. He has no real life. His sole purpose in life is to use those powers. He has no other reason for being alive." Menthos said.
"That's not true! The gods may have granted him these powers, but they also didn't interfere with the life that he chose to live. They never gave him a command or an order on how to live except that his powers were not to be used for his own personal gain. He is a human being. He's not just the power." Heba said.
"Well, I guess he is now. After all, not even you can stop us now." Maytrine said.
"We'll see about that." Heba said.
Menthos smirked. "Yes, but I think that the odds should be evened out a little." He snapped is fingers.
Suddenly, chains shot out from the wall and wrapped around Atemu, Yami, Seto, Joey, Tristan, Kyla, Sayora, Tea, Yuesei, Ryou, Bakura, Marik, and Malik and dragged them all back to the wall and above the group, trapping them.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?!" Bakura bellowed.
"LET GO US OF US YOU CRAZY BASTARD!" Marik roared.
"No. Like I said, I have evened out the odds. Now, it's two against two." Menthos said. He looked at Bakura and Marik and said, "Besides, "I'm not the crazy one, You're the two that tortured Simon Moto endlessly for three hours before sending him to the Shadow Realm." Menthos looked at Heba and said, "You've been working with your father's killers.
Heba's fierce look was unflinching. "Then I'm going to have to remember to throw these two a party so that I can thank them for getting that bastard out of my life and out of Yugi's life for good." Heba said.
"I'd say that it's time to stop talking." Maytrine said.
"Indeed." Menthos agreed.
A double edged sword appeared in Menthos' hand which he twirled a little before positioning it straight behind his back.
A pair of swords appeared in Maytrine's hands, which she held pointed toward the ground.
"Eternias, if you don't mind, I want to handle Menthos. It's my duty to protect Yugi, so I'll take him down." Heba said.
"All right. I'll handle that woman. Just be careful, and ask for my help if you need it." Leo said.
Heba nodded.
"Let's start this little game, shall we?" Menthos asked.
Menthos and Maytrine charged forward at them. Heba and Leo did the same.
The battle for the Treasure had begun.
Okay. THis was setting everything up for the fight with Heba and Menthos. Leo and Maytrine's battle is just a side thing.
You'll see the two battles and a little more about Heba's powers.
R&R.