Here it is, just as I promised. I know the progress to come here has been long, but when everything's over, it kind of feels like it wasn't.
Also, I'm feeling a bit torn between relief and and sadness. The way I always feel after a finishing a story. I will apoligize now for the... sudden end. Maybe it will change somewhere in the future, but this is where it ended right now.
To all of you from all of me, thank you for reading this story!
Last chapter: Defeated
"Ready a horse!"
Those were the words that echoed almost throughout the palace as Isis walked down the stairs towards the stables where the riding animals were kept.
"Isis! What is going on? Where are you going?"
"Karim! I have to follow him! I must stop the pharaoh before something really terrible happens."
Karim reached out and grabbed the arm of the hurrying priestess, forcing her to face him, and the first thing he noticed was a missing piece of gold.
"Isis?"
"It broke," she whispered and Karim's eyes widened. "It broke when I tried to see the future. My head is in a chaos, Karim. The pharaoh must be stopped. He should never lay his eyes upon those Amethysts."
The high priest of Maat held onto his friend's shoulders. In his eyes a battle of beliefs could be seen. Then he nodded his head.
"I believe in you, Isis. But if you are leaving to find the palace, then I will come with you."
Isis smiled, relief and gratefulness lighting her eyes.
"Let us leave then. If we don't hurry, we might be too late."
Ra was almost touching upon the end of the world when the pharaoh Atemu suddenly held in his horse. Behind him the soldiers hurried to do the same with their tired camels. Seto stared ahead. In front of them, only a few dunes away in the middle of the desert, was an oasis of green trees. Not a small one either. It was almost a small forest that spread out before them. Shu sighed deeply and the wind his breath created ruffled the leaves of the trees like the hair of a child. But around it, the sand dunes of the desert spread out as far as the eye could see.
Mahado turned his gaze to Seto.
"Is this the place we are looking for?"
Atemu kept gazing ahead. They were far out into the desert where few travellers passed. Still, an oasis of this scale should have been known to him and the people.
"We have arrived," Seto whispered.
"Good," Atemu stated and turned to his soldiers. "The thief king may be hiding here. Spread and surround the oasis. Invade it. Catch him alive if you can."
Bakura was suddenly jumped by a nervous wolf, one that shifted shape faster than the thief had time to see.
"We must leave," Jono said in a stressed whimper, fear radiating from his being. "The pharaoh has somehow managed to track us. They're just south of here and moving in."
Bakura felt a chill that made the hairs on his body stand. He rushed to his feet, heading for the pond where Yugi was still hiding. But as soon as he entered the small clearing, Yugi sprung from the water and threw himself into Bakura's arms.
"Yugi! The pharaoh…"
"I know," the boy said, whimpering. Bakura knew the tone. He had heard it before, but only when his young charge told him about his nightmares. Yugi was crying.
"What?"
"I led them here. I used the connection between me and the high priest of Toth to lead them to this place."
Bakura widened his eyes, shocked to no end. Behind him Jono and Malik had also stiffened, staring at Bakura and Yugi with disbelief.
"Why?" Malik breathed. "Why? Yugi! You know what will happen if the pharaoh sees you!"
"I'm so sorry," Yugi cried. "But… but the Gods… I am the Treasure of the World and should belong to the Gods alone. I'm not supposed to be known by mortals, so the Gods planned on disposing you. All of you. I don't want that to happen so I… But I'm scared, Bakura. I don't dare to face the pharaoh. I don't dare to leave you. I don't dare to deceive you like the Gods me."
Jono threw his head around, looking in all directions like for an answer.
"We must escape," he growled. "They are trying to surround us."
"Over my dead body," Bakura growled and wrapped his carefully mended cloak around Yugi, covering the boy's body as completely as possible, only leaving his face visible so that he could breathe, and lifted him into his arms.
"Bakura?"
"There must be something we can do," the thief king growled in frustration. "I won't let the pharaoh have Yugi, and if the Gods wish to dispose of me, then let them. I will take the pharaoh with me. Jono, where is the net the weakest?"
"North. But they're moving into the oasis too."
Jono growled to the east and grew into his first form. Malik was still petrified.
"Malik!"
The cat flinched and looked at Bakura who waited for him. Malik didn't know what to do, but there was strong determination in Bakura's eyes, and that gave him enough strength. Yugi would explain everything later.
"Jono and I will confuse them."
Seto's head was pounding. As he looked at the greenery of the oasis flashes of memories covered his vision. Animals. Everywhere there were animals. Animals of all sorts. Half of them he couldn't even name or tell what sort of animal they were. Humans with animal parts; ears, wings, tails, claws, stripes, fur, coloured skin, funnily bent legs, teeth, oddly coloured skin, snake eyes. A woman opened her mouth and bit into the head of a large feline holding a cub. Everything was covered with a layer of red.
"Gods above. We shouldn't have come."
"Advance," the pharaoh's voice sounded through the visions.
Seto got down from the horse. On the ground he felt at least safe from the threat of falling off the nervous animal.
In between the trees he suddenly locked gaze with a pair of purple eyes. It was brief, but they saw each other. Seto's heart leaped into his throat. Malik wouldn't just hand Yugi over to anyone.
A short cry sounded ahead and Seto didn't have to rush there to know what happened.
"This is going out of hand," he whispered to himself and started moving. To where he didn't know, but his feet were determined to take him there.
"Fuck," Bakura swore. He had rushed straight north, but when he had come to the outskirts of the oasis where the trees grew sparsely and the desert was in sight, he had also spotted soldiers. The net may be the weakest here, but that didn't matter as long as the soldiers could still see them. They had to draw back into the greenery.
"Yugi, can't you do something? Your magic?"
"I don't know," Yugi mumbled into Bakura's chest where he had pressed his face. "I'm sorry, Baccura."
"Don't be," the thief whispered. "You are afraid, aren't you? I understand. It's the pharaoh and the Gods we are up against. Of course you are afraid."
The speech and soft tone was unlike Bakura, but it felt soothing anyway. Yugi was sure Bakura was as scared as he, because he could hear the furious heartbeat in the chest he was pressed against.
"You can purify the earth," Bakura continued to whisper, almost breathing the words. "The Treasure of the World. Yugi, I know you can do something."
Then suddenly, in between the trees, Bakura spotted none other than the pharaoh himself. He quickly retreated back into the oasis where he at least couldn't see the ruler of Egypt.
"We must go back to Jono," Bakura mumbled. "We can't get out like this."
Jono had been waiting all day, and he had been a bit bored, but this end of day had brought way too much excitement. Sneaking around and attack only to kill wasn't in his nature, and it felt very awkward and wrong. Still, this was for Yugi. Bakura-friend would take Yugi to safety, Jono was sure of it. Until then he would kill these men whose only sin was to follow the pharaoh's orders.
Then a man wielding an axe appeared in front of him and Jono had to jump back to not lose his nose.
"Are you not Anu? My little pet?"
Jono recognized the man. He had been guarding the gates of the palace through all the years Bakura and Yugi had pulled their pranks on the pharaoh. A lonely guard and soldier Jono had kept company for many a night.
The wolf growled and snapped with its jaws. The soldier looked hurt for a second, but in the next moment he sighed.
"I see. We are on different sides now. I would like not to hurt you, so run while you can."
Jono growled deeper in his throat and readied himself to attack. He would not be the one to run away. The soldier raised his axe and Jono was over him.
Something hit Jono in the side and the sudden pain made him yelp as he was sent through the air. He could smell his own blood.
"I'm sorry, Anu. Please run away now."
Jono turned his head and glared furiously. He wouldn't give up this fight. He was a wolf, and wolves don't give in until they are dead. Also, he was a wolf with something to protect.
For the eyes of the soldier, the wolf grew. And grew. All the while growling deeper and deeper. The paws grew into unimaginable sizes, the legs thickened, the head broadened, the body fattened and the tail shortened. Jono stood on his hind legs and roared.
Bakura, on his way back to the pond, stopped dead in his tracks as his body went rigid.
"What was that?"
"Jono's second form," Yugi whispered. "He must have met a strong opponent."
Bakura crouched down and moved in the general direction of the unfamiliar roar.
Where Jono was, was also an unconscious man. Because the brain of a human can't progress the fact of an animal with a solid form can change that form.
Jono didn't waste time. He crushed the skull of the unconscious soldier with a giant lab.
"What the?"
Behind him, more soldiers had turned up, staring at him with bewilderment and fear.
Jono roared again, and the soldiers dropped their weapons and ran. And a hunter doesn't let the pray run away.
Then Malik appeared among them. The men fell like trees for the axe where the giant feline's silent claws sliced through the flesh of throats. If the men didn't die immediately, then Jono finished them.
Malik changed into his third form, indicating for Jono to follow his example and flee before more soldiers appeared where they were.
Though it hurt his pride slightly, Jono obeyed and changed. Right now the hunt wasn't the point; it was to distract these humans from going after Yugi.
But the smell of Yugi and Bakura was moving towards them.
"Why haven't they left yet?" the man-wolf breathed where he ran beside the more agile Malik.
"What?"
Right then they almost ran into the human still carrying the boy in his arms.
"Bakura-friend?" Jono hissed.
"The oasis is already surrounded. I can't get away without being spotted."
"To the village," Yugi whispered from within Bakura's cloths.
Malik took the lead and Jono, changing into his first form again made the tail, prepared to distract possible followers.
"What are we going into the village for?" Bakura breathed to Yugi.
"I think I can do something to let us get away, but I need time and the pond isn't safe."
"Where to? Malik asked over his shoulder.
"Teana's house," Yugi whispered.
"Teana's?" Bakura echoed, falling over Malik when he suddenly ran into the feline. It was only skill that had him rolling to his feet.
"But Teana's house is…" Malik began.
"The only way," Yugi said. He couldn't look at his friends from where Bakura was hiding him, but his determination and reassurance could be heard in his voice. He knew it was hard on Malik, but it couldn't be helped. Teana's house was their only chance of hiding.
Bakura saw Malik's hesitation. Yet the feline human only hesitated to himself and purposefully moved into the right direction. The thief remembered Teana. A terrifying snake who worshipped Aphopis; the great serpent Ra fought every night to keep the world in peace. Teana, the black cobra.
He had met the cobra-woman, once, and wished he could forget all about her. About her eyes, a blue colour that chilled him to the core and didn't resemble the blue of Nut's body or the water of Nile. About her skin, black as a cobra and grey as a human. Grey like a corpse. She was the cause of much pain for Yugi, being the right hand of the false leader of their people.
Yes, Bakura wished he could forget she ever existed.
Malik suddenly made a sharp turn, and when Bakura couldn't quite follow the movement, he understood why. Soldiers, and Bakura couldn't move swiftly enough to avoid being spotted.
"THE THIEF KING BAKURA!" they hollered.
Named man swore under his breath.
"We'll get rid of them," Yugi whispered reassuringly in his arms.
"How can you be so sure?" Bakura asked, almost panicking when they left the safe shade of the trees and entered the village, where the ground was only patched with grass. If Malik hadn't kept running ahead in his first form, Bakura would have turned on his heels and return to the safer shade.
Malik purposefully ran towards a part of the village that was slightly removed. This was where the serpent people had lived. The people he feared. Teana's house was the centre, because she had been the strongest of them.
But when they arrived to her house the opening was blocked by soil.
With a wheezing breath Malik desperately started digging. He heard how Bakura came up behind him and how soldiers spotted them.
Jono appeared beside him, his bigger paws working faster than Malik's small ones. In mere seconds he had managed to dig into the house.
Bakura's head was spinning, his gaze moving from the approaching soldiers to the digging animals, panic squeezing his throat and he pressed Yugi's small body closer to his own.
"Come," Jono's stressed voice called out in a hushed whisper.
A second of hesitation, then Bakura threw Yugi into the opening before following himself.
"This way," Yugi announced as he moved into the darkness.
Bakura couldn't see well with the cheap light from the opening behind him, but he thought he saw the outline of Yugi disappear.
"What…?"
"No questions. Go," Malik prompted and pushed the thief in the direction Yugi had taken.
Bakura moved, and then bit his tongue to not cry out as the floor suddenly disappeared under his feet. Not for very long though as it appeared just as suddenly. Here it was pitch black.
"Take my hand. I can see," Yugi's voice whispered and grabbed the disoriented thief's hand.
The ceiling was low, so Bakura had to run doubled. Behind him he could hear the soft paws of Malik and Jono under the angry yelling of the soldiers that also seemed to have entered the house of Teana.
If she had been alive… Bakura thought.
Yugi ran through the tunnel, as Bakura guessed it was, with such purposefulness the thief wondered if he had dug it himself. Every now and then the smell would change for a second, or a gust of wind would meet his face, telling him that this tunnel had connections.
Yugi moved upwards, pulling the surprised thief with him into a room with only two small holes of light up the walls telling they were near the surface.
"Yugi?" Malik's voice breathed.
"No time. Jono, help me move this stone."
It was times like this Bakura whished he was an animal too. He could see well in the darkness, but now he could hardly make out the outlines of his animal friends, and they continued to change shape. He heard how stone moved against earth and then saw how the body of Jono grew bigger and bigger. Jono grew into his second form. The one Bakura had yet to see. Right now he could only tell it was enormous.
"Well thought, Jono-friend," Yugi's voice breathed.
"Yugi… This is our home," Malik's voice said weakly.
"I know," Yugi answered. Bakura saw his small form move to the centre of the room. "Teana dug that tunnel to all the homes of people who meant a threat against Guto. Good thing she didn't make it only for herself."
"How did you know about it?" Bakura asked. His eyes were starting to adjust to the gloom, at least enough to see more than outlines.
Yugi turned towards him, and Bakura thought he saw the boy smile.
"I am the Treasure of the World, and to make trees sprout, I must first know about the earth."
An explanation that was good enough for Bakura.
"I'm going to create a cyclone that will surround the entire oasis. It will take some time, so please be patient."
Isis and Karim met troubles as Karim's horse suddenly collapsed from exhaustion. They had been riding nonstop for hours, and Isis' horse showed signs of being about to follow its friend.
"We can't lose time now," Isis said as she slid down from the horse's back and began to undo the straps of the saddle.
Karim followed her example, removing reins and saddle to put it on the horse he had taken with him as extra when this happened.
"Hurry now," Isis prompted and kicked the horse in the sides.
"Hold on!" Karim yelled and threw himself on the priestess's horse and managed to catch the reins.
"We can't stop now, Karim!"
"We'll lose even more time if you don't do these things properly," Karim returned stonily as he fastened the saddle's straps, making sure it wouldn't come loose and cause his friend to fall off her horse.
The woman looked down on him with desperation.
"I know you are worried, Isis. I am too. But if we aren't careful, who will stop the pharaoh?"
Isis took a deep breath. Karim was right.
"Forgive me, Karim."
"As long as you trust in me," the man returned with a lopsided grin as he turned his back to her, once again checking the straps of his own horse's saddle. Then he threw himself into it. "Lead the way."
Isis smiled and kicked her horse's sides again.
Atemu was growing angry. More than half a dozen of his men and been taken back to him dead.
"Curse it! I forgot that thief has pets."
"Let us not be hasty, pharaoh," Mahado said coolly as he examined the corpses.
Sliced throats, deep scratches from a clawed animal, and a few had crushed skulls and chests.
"We should keep out of the forest, for our own safety," the priest decided as he stood up.
A soldier ran up to them and kneeled.
"Pharaoh! We have found the thief."
"Where."
"In the south of the oasis, oh pharaoh. There seems to have once been a village. The thief and two animals dug themselves into one of the houses and disappeared. The men who followed said they found a tunnel and that the thief fled through them."
Atemu growled and turned his horse.
"Take me there."
The soldier's head hit the ground in heed before he sprung to his feet. Mahado mounted his horse and pulled up beside his pharaoh.
"Please listen to me, as your friend. I disagree that you enter the oasis. There is magic at work."
As Mahado mentioned it, Atemu noticed the wind picking up. But looking around he suddenly laid his eyes on the form of his cousin.
"Seto!"
The high priest of Toth looked up, pale-faced and with watery eyes. The smell that caught in Atemu's nose as he neared told him his cousin had been vomiting.
"Seto, what's wrong?"
"We shouldn't have come here, pharaoh," the man answered weakly. "Nothing can stop it now."
"What can't be stopped?"
The wind picked up even more, sending corns of sand up in the air where it went.
"He's trying something," Mahado mumbled.
"We're going south," the pharaoh ordered. "Mahado. You take care of Seto. I will stop Bakura."
"No. Please, Atemu," Seto protested weakly, desperation showing in his face, but the pharaoh was already out of hearing.
"What can't be stopped, my friend?" Mahado asked lowly as he supported the pale man, his heart beating with dread.
"The Gods gave our pharaoh and us and the rest of the world a second chance," Seto said, tears leaking from his eyes as he stumbled beside his friend. "Bakura is not the enemy. He's the one who desperately tries to save everything from disaster."
Bakura choked a sudden sneeze, his eyes darting to the small holes that for the moment were the only windows to the outside world. Out there soldiers ran around looking for him, but luckily his sneeze had passed them by unheard.
"How long will it take?" he breathed.
"It would take less time if I could do it from the pond," Yugi breathed back. "Be patient. I'm working as fast as I can."
It would be easier to be patient if Bakura hadn't been so concerned about the presence of the pharaoh. Yugi was using magic, and the thief was certain that the detested ruler could sense it and thereby easily find them.
Jono lay perfectly still over the stone that covered the only entrance to the small room and no sounds could be heard from the tunnel. Malik stood beside Yugi, as close as he dared without being in the way of the magic Yugi was performing. Bakura was left to listen to the sounds of feet and voices coming from outside. Something that slowly became harder as the wind picked up.
"Sandstorm!" a booming voice roared outside, only yards from where the four of them were hiding.
Bakura turned his head and stared at Yugi, who kept his hands cupped in front of his face and breathing on them. The little one really was working as fast as he could. After that they could only hope the pharaoh would draw back enough for them to slip between his greedy fingers.
Isis and Karim had tried to not push the horses too hard. They were still a long way before they reached the pharaoh, maybe half a day, and Ra showed them no mercy as his sun shone down on them.
Both the horses and they suffered from thirst.
"Isis! Over there."
The priestess looked to where Karim pointed, and instantly changed course. If she had still had the Millennium necklace, she would have seen the wagons first. She hated the feeling of being blind.
"Halt! Who goes there!"
"Put down your weapons!" Karim called with authority, and the soldiers guarding the small group of tents straightened up in surprise.
"Your holiness?" the leader said, staring until he caught himself and kneeled. The other four soldiers followed suit.
"Where is the pharaoh?"
"The morning and evening star left us behind to protect the servants, your holiness," the lead soldier answered clearly.
Karim turned to Isis. Their horses were tired, and there should be rested camels here.
"Give us two animals. Let ours rest here."
"Yes, your holiness," the soldiers answered, hit their foreheads against the earth before hurrying to follow orders.
The servants were called forward and silently started working. Isis and Karim left their horses to their hands and followed one taking them to the outskirts of the small camp where two dromedaries were already being prepared. They weren't as fast as horses, but they moved easier in the sand and had more perseverance.
Isis suddenly grabbed Karim's arms, digging her fingers into the flesh. The high priest didn't pay it any mind, as he too felt the growing energy.
"The animals are ready for you, holy priest of Maat, holy priestess of Isis."
"Thank you," the male priest answered, accepted the reins and whip and mounted the dromedary. Isis quickly followed his lead and took her seat on the second one, never taking her eyes off the horizon.
The dromedaries clumsily stood and both priests whipped them into running.
"Holy Goddess of Isis, mother of Horus. Give us strength and speed to not be late," Isis prayed.
"Pharaoh! Great pharaoh! What is happening?"
"It's magic!"
"What should we do, oh pharaoh?"
Atemu looked around, trying to cover his eyes from the sand. He had to cover his face with his cloak to be able to breathe at all and tried to calm his panicking horse. The animal knew to flee but not to where, and with the pharaoh wanting it to stand still had it go crazy.
The pharaoh was thrown out his saddle by winds, sand and the sudden skip of the horse and landed heavily on the ground, still holding onto the reins. The horse felt the weight on his back disappear and took off in a random direction. Atemu tried to hold the horse back, but there was no stopping it and he had to let go before he was killed by the animal's hooves.
And then the air cleared from sand. Surprised Atemu looked around. The horse fled away from him, and looking behind the pharaoh realized from what. Whatever Bakura had done, it had created a monster. Atemu had never seen anything like it. It was a sandstorm unseen before. The wind moved, taking sand and dirt with it high into the air, but it didn't move forward. It twisted upwards! How could a simple thief, even if it was Bakura, create something like this?
Backing away Atemu looked to his left and right, realizing there was no proof there was an oasis here.
"What are you planning, Bakura?" he growled.
"Great pharaoh!" a voice screamed out and Atemu turned to see a soldier on foot. "Are you well, oh pharaoh?"
"I am well," the pharaoh answered and raised his hand to stop the man from coming too close."Have you been out here all the time?"
"Morning and evening star, flow of Nile, we have surrounded the oasis just as your greatness asked of us."
"Good. Be on guard. Bakura may try to run in the shadow of this monster."
Mahado and Seto fought their way through the wind and sand. The high priest of Toth seemed to have regained some strength and moved forward with his own power, but it didn't make it any easier on any of them.
"This is not normal," Mahado yelled. "The winds are too strong to have been summoned by a single human."
"It's not summoned by a human," Seto croaked, unable to over-voice the winds.
A shadow suddenly passed in front of them, and Seto recognized the aura.
"Yugi?"
"That should do," The treasure of the World said and turned to his friends. "It won't last forever, but it may be just enough for us to get away."
"Perfect," Bakura grunted. "And how do we get out of here?"
"Just a moment. Malik should change into his second form first, and Jono into his first."
Without a word the two aforementioned changed. They were almost the same size that way.
"Are you going to run by yourself?" the thief asked suddenly as Yugi moved towards one of the now dark holes to the outer world.
"No, I shouldn't. Once I've opened the window, please carry me again."
Bakura nodded, picked up his discarded coat from the floor and prepared it. Malik and Jono braced themselves. Yugi put his hands on the wall and pressed.
"Run south."
The soil flew out and blended with the sand. Out there it was a chaos, sand and dirt flying in the directions of the winds with a speed that could possibly easily tear through a human's skin.
Bakura paid it no heed, wrapping Yugi into his coat and locked his arms around the small boy. Malik was first out with the human thief short on his heels and Jono following right behind. It was impossible to see through the sand, but Yugi had said to move south. Malik led the way, and Bakura could easily follow the feline even with his eyes open mere slits.
They passed something. Something that felt like humans. Bakura could hear a voice of surprise. Then they were out of the storm, and a man with a spear stood right in front of him.
"HIYA!"
Bakura was stopped in his tracks. Malik and Jono stood frozen.
"I got you, thief king Bakura," the man snarled and twisted the spear embedded in the bundle in named man's arms.
The pharaoh Atemu watched the scene with wide eyes. Bakura had come through the veil of sand, straight into the spear of his soldier. Now something wasn't right. Bakura's eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. But it wasn't pain Atemu saw in them; it was fear, and shock.
A whimper was heard, and Bakura's eyes slowly moved to the bundle in his arms.
Mahado and Seto exited the sandstorm and looked around. When their eyes landed on Bakura, Seto's face became a mask of fear.
Bakura's eyes returned to the soldier still holding the spear, a soldier that was quickly loosing confidence.
Something wasn't right.
Atemu noticed it first; the wind had died. The sand that had been carried into the air was slowly falling back to whence it came, and as it did, it revealed nothing.
Atemu stared. The trees were gone! The greenery was gone! All that was left was weathering stones pointing towards the sky like fingers. Following them, Atemu saw clouds. Black clouds that swiftly covered Nut's body.
A deep growl broke the silence. The pharaoh looked down at a golden desert hound that stared straight at him, snarling like Ammut. But the brown eyes were crying.
Seto sprung to life, moving from Mahado's side faster than anyone would have believed possible, and threw himself over the golden hound that was charging for the pharaoh. The high priest managed to catch the hind leg, and the hound turned in the air, sinking its teeth into the flesh of Seto's arm. He ignored the pain and grabbed a handful of fur and skin on the hound's neck. It released its hold, but its teeth found the nape of Seto's shoulder instead.
"SETO!"
The golden desert hound yelped, and then fell heavily over Seto's trembling body. Mahado stood over them, and Seto felt the handle of a knife on his right side and knew how the hound, the wolf, had died.
"Seto?"
Atemu's face appeared in his cousin's view.
"Pharaoh," the priest whispered. "What have you done, oh pharaoh?"
Mahado reached down, cupping Seto's face in his hands and shook it lightly, but it was too late.
"He's gone."
A shrill scream filled the silence and Mahado and Atemu looked up to see a boy. A small boy covered with the blood of the soldier that had planted the spear in Bakura. In one hand the boy held the soldier's body, in the other he held the head.
"It's your fault."
The boy looked up, his eyes glistening with furious grief in the light before it disappeared. Nut was completely covered with the black clouds, and they were hiding the light of Ra from sight.
The bloodied boy dropped the corpse in his hands and charged again.
Mahado ripped his knife out of the hound's body, piercing also the boy's heart with it. But it didn't stop the boy's claws from slicing through Mahado's throat.
Atemu screamed, reaching out for his friend, but never reached. Geb started to shake violently, causing the pharaoh to lose his footing. When he looked up, he saw Bakura. The thief looked at him without anger. There was nothing but fear in those indigo eyes, and it scared Atemu.
"How many worlds must fall?" Bakura whispered, but to Atemu, the words might as well have been screamed.
The Gods roared out their anger.
Isis and Karim had stopped. What they saw through the darkness couldn't be described in words or images.
"We were too late," Isis whispered.
The darkness lasted through the night, and in the morning, Ra raised in the east, chasing away the clouds and painting the sky in red. Isis and Karim awoke where they had fallen asleep in between their dromedaries.
Without a word they readied the animals and slowly made their way towards the goal they had hurried to reach the day before.
It took them hours, but the red colour of Ra's sun never faded, and when they arrived, it was even worse than they could have imagined.
The air was filled with ash-like mist. Everything was black. The earth, the stones, the corpses. Tears fell down the two friends' faces at the sight. Seto lay on his back staring into the sky with his arm around the neck of what had killed him. Mahado's throat was sliced open and both his hands were still holing a knife embedded in the chest of a boy, a boy whose face only mirrored a soul-deep grief.
The pharaoh was nowhere to be seen, but the pieces of the Millennium puzzle were spread around the place.
In the centre of everything stood a statue with an upturned face. A statue of Bakura.
"He was turned to stone," Karim whispered.
Isis swiftly turned her dromedary and left. Her friend stayed for a moment, watching the face of the thief that had tormented the old pharaoh for so long. In Karim's mind, Bakura had had the face of evil. The statue's face was frozen in question, like a child asking the Gods why his mother wasn't there anymore.
Karim could even imagine the tears that had fallen down those black cheeks.
Shaking his head, the priest turned to follow Isis. He found her outside the ashy mist by the feet of her dromedary, vomiting. With a quiet sigh, Karim manoeuvred his animal to lay down so he could step down and placed his hands on Isis' shaking shoulders.
"We were too late," Isis whispered, not bothering to dry her mouth. "I should have been more persistent. I knew it was dangerous for him to come here."
Karim said nothing. What could he say? Isis had always been able to see glimpses of the future, and it had caused the necklace to break. Atemu had been facing powers much greater than he could have handled, even with both Mahado and Seto by his side.
"What should we do now?" Isis whimpered and looked up into Karim's face. He had never seen her so lost before, and it scared him. Isis had always known what to do.
"What we can," he heard himself answer. "We can still bury Seto and Mahado. We can still collect the pieces of the Millennium puzzle."
Isis sobbed helplessly, defeated.