This is going to be a long one. Hey everyone! Here it is the next chapter! Enjoy.
Please review! All criticism is greatly appreciated. It allows me to learn from my mistakes and make a better story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of the charaters.
Summary: The world is controlled by demons and the humans are slaves. Most humans are used for labor but some are made into bonded humans. These humans allow the demons to become more powerful. If the human runs away the bond with the two demons will kill them. There is no hope for those that are bonded, is there?
Thank you:
Akayuki Novak for the review and continued support. He is not completely over his past but only talking about what happen will help him there.
GirlFish for the review and continued support. He has not been through the ritual yet. It's not smart for the humans to run away.
Thor94 for the review and continued support. I have written the ritual for Yugi, it is a few chapters away still but I have it in writing.
YamiRox1010 for the review. I'm so glad that you enjoy the story. Yugi is not completely over his experience. He needs to tell someone what actually happened, but this has given him the courage to talk to someone about it.
DDLDarkHeartofWater for the review and continued support. Thank you for your support! I was worried I took it too far.
Gabrielsgirl93 for following and favoriting
Vir for the review and continued support. I'm happy you liked the chapter. The last chapter helped Yugi to open up more to the people around him.
I was really worried that I had written the last chapter a little too harsh. Thank you for supporting me! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. A lot of you have been asking for the history of this story and here it is. Hopefully I do an adequate job of explaining it. Enjoy!
Chapter-9- The Age of Shadow
I stayed staring up at the night sky for most of the night. When I finally walked back into the room, the guard from the door was there.
"I wasn't sure if I could disturbed you or not. You seemed to be deep in though, but you must go to sleep. It's important for you to stay healthy."
He had a sharp and angular face, but had a very kid disposition.
"I was." I told him quietly.
He smiled at me.
"You should sleep. It's nearly three in the morning. I have told the servant to bring you breakfast later in the morning than usual so you may sleep in."
I nodded and walked toward the bed. He started walking back to the door. I turned back around before he left the room.
"What is your name, by the way?"
"My name is Mahad. I am the captain of the elite guard. Any time you are alone without Yami or Atem, I will be there to guard you. If you have any questions. Please feel free to ask me." He told me.
I nodded and he left the room. I climbed onto the bed and laid down in the center. It was much colder without Yami and Atem next to me. I put my arms under the fluffy pillow I was laying my head on. It smelled like them. Atem smells like cedar wood and Yami smells like rain. It was calming.
When I woke up, the curtains around the bed were drawn to block out the light probably streaming through the windows. I sat up and pushed aside the part of the curtain along the left side of the bed. The room was bright from the sun coming through the windows. I got out of bed and put my feet onto the cold floor. I walked over to one of the large windows. The sun was almost to the middle of the sky. I went over to the bathroom to use the toilet and to wash my face. When I was done, I looked at my clothes. I was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday after the attack. I wished I knew if I had a different set of clothes to wear.
Maybe Mahad will know, I thought and moved toward the door.
When I opened it, I saw Mahad standing to the right of the door.
"Do you ever sleep?" I asked him. He laughed but didn't answer.
"Good morning, Yugi. Are you ready to eat? Can I have a servant bring you some food?"
I nodded. "Can you tell me where I can get a change of clothes?"
"There are extra clothes for you under the sink in the bathroom. I'll take off the cuffs off so you can change."
He took off the cuffs.
"Come back once you have changed, so I can reattach the cuffs."
I went back into the bathroom to find the extra clothes. I was afraid to take off my clothes again but I needed to change. I didn't want to start to smell.
After I changed, I walked back to Mahad at the door.
"I'm back."
"Good." He smiled kindly and replaced the cuffs.
I heard footsteps coming down the hall toward the room and saw the human slave from last night walk around the corner. He stopped when he saw us and bowed to Mahad. He nodded to me.
"I have brought food for the bonded slave." He said in a dead voice, just as it had last night.
I could tell what he looked like this morning. He was pale and short like me. He had wide brown eyes and brown hair that was lighter on top. He looked exhausted and malnourished. He was wearing an old white shirt that had a few holes and it was too big on him. His pants were torn along the hem and were the color of sand.
"Take it inside and put it on the desk, Jaden. Yugi, you should go inside and eat."
I followed Jaden inside. He set the food on the desk and turned to leave. He walked with a slight wobble back to the door.
"Are you alright?" I asked him.
He stopped a few feet away from the door and turned to look at me.
"I'm fine." He said but he still had a dead look in his eyes.
He walked out after that. I looked at him sadly. I wonder what he would look like if he smiled.
I went over to the desk and started to eat. I had ham and eggs this morning for breakfast. I still missed being fed. I missed having Atem and Yami with me. Six more days, and I could tell them how sorry I was. That I was willing to give them a chance.
I heard a knock at the door and Mahad walked in.
"I'm here for the tray. I sent Jaden back to bed. Ryou is here to talk to you."
The door opened again and Ryou walked in with his demons, as Mahad walked out.
"Stay in here, Ryou. We have a quick job to do," Bakura said with a smirk.
He walked in the room long enough to attach the chain to the floor. Akefia was already to talking to Mahad in the hallway. Bakura kissed Ryou on the forehead then left, shutting the door.
"I figured that after yesterday you had enough of demons talking to you." Ryou said this with a sad smile.
I nodded.
"It helped though. I'm going to try and love them."
"That's great. You are a good match for them. Now we have some time to talk. What do you want to talk about?"
I shook my head.
He pointed to the couch and we moved to sit down in a comfortable silence.
"You know, I used to be a servant to a scribe. He taught me how to read and write." He said breaking the silence.
"Really?" It was uncommon that demons teach their slaves anything. I didn't know how to read, but I always wanted to learn.
"Yes. He was very kind and always would tell me stories. Would you like to hear one of my favorites? It's the one about the first King and Queen, and the dawning of the Age of Shadows."
I had heard stories about the demons before, but I had never heard one about the beginning.
"Yes, I would." We didn't know much about each other and it would be easier than sitting in silence.
"It was almost three thousand years ago. The human race was in shambles. War and famine had decimated their population. The demons, who waited below the earth's surface waiting, saw their chance to extort the weakness on earth. They rose and assumed control. There was little resistance. The King and Queen separated the humans into the two groups that we know of today. To ensure regrowth of the human population, demons were prohibited killing the humans that they owned.
Labor slaves were treated fairly in the beginning. Bonded slaves were kept in the laps of luxury because of how rare they are. To own one, brought wealth to the demon families. Demons had been boding with humans in secret even before they ascended to earth, so they knew how to check and see if a human had a pure enough soul. The King and his wife, however had never taken a bond. They were focused on building an empire. It took 300 years for them to establish their authority and mage to achieve peace. With many of the threats out of the way, there were those who wanted to see the royal line secured. But the Queen could not have children, she was barren. This brought much sadness to the royal pair. Their nephew was named their heir. He was the son of the King's brother.
This peace the kingdom had found would not last long. After, two and a half centuries of peace, the humans rose up and rebelled, however they were easily overtaken by the demons. The king had placed higher regulations on humans and allowed the demon families to pass judgement. They began to punish the humans severely and abuse became more common. Bonded slaves were kept in small cages until they are sold. They were not yet kept on chains. The cages were outlawed by Atem many years ago when he ruled that they must be kept on chains instead. After the ritual, they were to be killed. In the past the bonding process was messy and other demons could take humans who had already been through the ritual, and put them through it again to steal some of their souls that had been left behind because of the messy process. Demons used to leave parts of the soul behind to make it more painful for the slave, today there are laws that prohibit this. True bonds were rarely ever found. This was just before the beginning of the Age of Shadow."
"The Age of Shadow. Didn't that era begin when the demons rose?" I interrupted.
"That was still part of the Age of Silence. The Age of Silence began even before the demons rose. The Age of Shadow began with the death of the first perfect soul."
I waited for him to continue, eager to hear the rest of the story.
"It was many years after the rebellion, that the King and Queen found their true bond. He was known as the first one even though there were many before him. He was the purest to be found yet. Much was not known about him before the Queen saw him in the market. He was young, only 10 years old. The Queen had been shopping when she saw him, being stuffed into a tiny cage to be shipped to a different city. It was said that she locked eyes with him and her powers exploded inside of her as if trying to reach the boy. She ran toward the boy and ripped him from the cage. She then killed the trader and took the boy back to the palace. What she felt for the boy was purely maternal. Without a child of her own, she had always wanted a child and this was the kind of love she felt for him. She cleaned and fed him. When the King arrived, he felt the same for him as the queen had. They cared for the boy like he was their son. The boy was unresponsive however, never talking and his eyes never held any emotion. The royals tried everything to get him to respond, but failed. The King and Queen went through with the ritual in hopes that it would help him open up to them. The King and Queen made sure he survived and the ritual was a success, a complete bond occurred. After the ritual the King and Queen had complete access to their power. The royal family had been gifted with the powers of shadow. The boy soul was found to be perfect and stabilized their dark souls.
The boy, however, became despondent and violent. He would scratch his skin opened just to watch himself bleed. He would throw himself at walls, down stairs to see bruises on his skin. The King and Queen were frantic. The boy would run away, each time trying to get far enough for the bond to kill him. But every time he tried, they found him. The King and Queen chained him, they didn't want to but they had to keep him safe. The boy saw no way out, until the day he met the court steward, Pegasus."
"Pegasus worked in the court!" I cut off Ryou with my exclamation.
"Yes, he was the King's right hand." Ryou said and continued the story.
"The day the boy met him, he begged him to kill him, to release him from this life. Pegasus agreed. He told the boy to go to the garden and lay down on the white stone bench hidden in the hedges."
I remember that bench. I had sat there the other day in the garden. It was calm and quite in there.
"The boy then asked the King and Queen if he may sit in the garden during the next meeting. He barely ever talked to them, so they gladly agreed to his request. They took him to the garden. He asked to be chained to the bench. They told him goodbye and left. The boy laid down in the quite for a few minutes and closed his eyes, as if to sleep. Pegasus came around the hedge, raised a knife, and cut the boy open. Slicing him so many times that the white stone bench and the lush green grass turned a brilliant red. It is said that he died with a smile on his face. The King and Queen who had been at the meeting, had felt his pain and rushed to where they had left him, but they were too late. The Queen had pulled the boy into her arms, crying for her son. The King shed no tears but held his wife and his adopted son in his arms. The royal's powers spiraled out of control. The shadows poured out of them and the sky turned black, and it remained that way for six months. The boy was cremated. The royals were never the same and after the six months, they were found, dead on their bed."
"Why would they kill themselves? The boy would eventually reincarnate." I asked confused.
"True bonds did not reincarnate back then since the bonding process was rarely done correctly. And the King and Queen did not kill themselves. They used their magic one last time to make sure no one went through the pain of losing their true bond forever. With their lives ending, they cast a spell throughout the land to ensure the true bonds will return if they die. They made sure that a piece of every demons soul was left behind inside the human so they may return. This is also what causes the demons to become violent after their true bond dies."
I felt stunned. They loved him so much, that they killed themselves to be with him. They had that much power that they could reach every demon in the kingdom.
"Enlightening isn't? The first time I heard the story, I was speechless. Seems like you are the same way I was."
I nodded. "Thank you for telling me the story."
"Your welcome. Stories are meant to be told. I also enjoy telling them. If I don't recite them, I will forget them. I want more people to know it so they may tell others as well. Besides, I can only tell Bakura and Akefia the story so often." He said the last part with a smirk and laughed.
I smiled.
"Can I come and visit you tomorrow? We could play games. Do you know how to play chess?"
"Yes of course. And no I never learned how to play chess."
"Well that's great. Now you can learn." He said. His eyes sparkling.
There was a bang at the door and Akefia and Bakura ran in laughing. Mahad was behind them looking angry. Bakura and Akefia ran over to Ryou.
"Ryou, control your demons! They set pigs loose in the halls again." Mahad yelled at them.
"Aw, come on," Bakura said, still laughing.
"Yeah it was just a bit of fun," Akefia said too.
Ryou just rolled his eyes.
"You two act like children." He told them.
They both turned to look at him, eyes glowing.
"We can always act like men later. When we are alone," Akefia said.
Ryou gulped. A blush on his face. I felt uncomfortable, but smiled at the look on his face.
"Come, Ryou. We should go." They grabbed his chain and Akefia pulled him into his arms. He smiled back at him.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked him.
"You bet!" He called back happily.
Just then I realized I considered Ryou as my friend. And that I was happy here.
Alright. You guys asked for it and here it was. The back story. If I didn't do an adequate job explaining it, please ask questions or tell me and I will revise it quickly so that it will be fixed before next week. I tried my best but there was so much I wanted to say and it may have gotten confusing. Have a great day!
The next update will be on September 3rd (Can you believe it? September already!)
