A Charter Mage Scorned...
Okay, A/N before we start, all the stuff about the darklighter arrows is made up too. You know what's true and what's not lol! It gets described for effect.
Chapter 14: Hi-jacking the Great Sphinx
Seth orbed into the, well, an 'office', I suppose you could call it, to meet a very frustrated Isis, who was flicking madly through the Book of Shadows.
"The necromancer..." she almost sobbed, "He has come here, having sent his Shadow Hands to distract you. He is in the Palace... People are hearing his voice... and... and... " she stuttered between vain attempts to stifle her shaking voice, "He says he wants to kill us, to make you suffer. Just so you can hear us scream! Then, he wants your life!"
He didn't lend her any comforting words, he knew that she would shun them. She hated being the helpless one, and would do anything to prove that she was independant of the male Priests. Including him. He frowned slightly at it, because she needed comfort. She wasn't a man, and should stop trying to cope with these things like one. But Isis hated the fact that women were completely ruled by men. Isis and himself were both of the same status, only outranked by the Pharaoh. So why was Seth hierachally more powerful that she?
Because he was a man, that's why.
As she was a woman and he was a man, he was able to override her decisions and even tell her what to do, purely because he happened to be male. She was the only woman in power. Knowing how she hated it, and knowing the disrespect he would show his elder, his colleague, his friend, he refrained from this, and considered her his equal in everything. He respected her, and, from High Priest Seth, that was a hell of a lot. But now was a time he wished he would allow himself to order her to stop.
"You will need more than that." he said solemnly, walking over to his desk and pulling out a box compartment. He shuffled and rummaged through some papers and scrolls, apparently trying to get to the bottom, and since it was magically charmed, to give it bigger capacity without taking up too much space itself, Seth had to lean right over it and root through the stuff all the way up to his elbows. Eventually, after pushing the final papers aside, his hand brushed something very cold, and he smirked to himself at his successful find. Out of the box, he pulled a large book, bound in black leather, which was slightly cracked and dulled from age, and had a silver clasp and rim. There appeared to be no title, but Seth waved his hand over it, murmering some Free Magic Marks, Marks that left a vile taste upon his tongue after having spoken them, and sent an unintentional shiver down his spine.
'The Book of the Dead '
Appeared in spindley writing, which looked very disturbingly like it had been written in blood. Isis flinched at the sight and presence of it, and never took her eyes from it.
"The Book of the Dead?" she asked, feeling the cold, clammy air it brought to the normally somewhat cheerful room, "Why that? Surely there must be some other..."
"We are dealing with a necromancer, therefore yes, it is necessary." he interrupted her mid-sentance.
"Seth..." she said, "I'm no necromancer. Nor I am an Abhorsen. I can't read it. I want nothing to do with it..."
"What did this necromancer look like?" he interrupted her again, cutting off her rambling, "Identifying them would make a good start."
"Yes of course." she said, holding back a gulp, "Slightly tanned skin, less so than ours, about 5ft 11, dark brown hair, carried a bow and silver arrows, dressed smartly, all in black."
"Anything on his powers?"
"Nothing, the only thing that made him different from any other necromancer was the fact that he had a bow and carried silver arrows on his back." she said. Seth thought for a moment, before appearing to have been hit by an idea, and flicked quickly through the pages, easily resisting the evil within them. He stopped at a page about midway through the book and laid the tip of his finger to the papyrus;
"Lesser Free Magic Punters," he read, "Free Magic is strongly hereditory, and only if two generations of of a Free Magic family resist their callings, then is it not roused unless it is the intention of the punter. A more distant descendant of a necromancer can earn their powers by practice and time."
"What in Hell does that mean?"
"It means that if two generations can stay clean, then their Free Magic is not automatically active, and they can become evil at their free will, instead of it being their definate Fate."
"Oh." she said. Seth continued;
"Depending on the destiny and unbringing of the individual, descendants, if they are converted to good, become witches and sometimes even whitelighters, but if they remain evil, they are always darklighters." he read, pausing at the word darklighter.
Darklighters were the exact opposites of whitelighters, except they didn't have charges, or respond to callings from higher ranking evil, but it seemed that they existed solely to kill whitelighters. Whitelighters were not easy prey. Quite the contrary. Witches protected innocents, whitelighters protected witches, and with powers like orbing, healing and reconstitution, they were incredibly difficult to kill or vanquish. Demons loathed them, almost as much as the darklighters, because they got in the way.
They came between their prey and them.
Many demons were killed by whitelighters, and therefore demons often requested help from, or hired darklighters to kill the whitelighters, so there was no one to protect the witches.
It didn't matter what the price was, nor what the consequences were. If given half the oppurtunity, the darklighter would always, but always, try to kill the whitelighter.
Darklighters used poison arrows, which were silver in colour and contained a venom that was particularly lethal to whitelighters. Fatal to whitelighters, if another could not be found to heal them in time. It was slow, and more painful than can ever be imagined by those who have not been struck by a darklighter arrow. As soon as the arrow hits the whitelighter, their muscles buckle and they collapse before they can even pull the arrow out, and remain unconscious for ten to fifteen minutes, in which time the poison 'kills' their whitelighter powers and distinctly weakens any others they may have. When they come around, the pain begins. More pain than can be described in words. Their muscles stiffen and moving becomes difficult. Their temperatures go sky high and they break out in a fever, although feeling that they are cold. Breathing also becomes difficult and rasping, they break out into a cold sweat and their skin pales almost like death. Darklighters, being as sick as they were, often took bets on what would kill the whitelighter first; the poison, or the pain.
More often than not it was the pain.
Seth was lucky, he had never been hit by a darklighter arrow, but had once had to heal many whitelighters who had, and it was one of the most disturbing sights he had ever seen. Mortal, mental, and magical torture. This necromancer sounded like a darklighter who was trying to regain his Free Magic powers. Not good. Not good at all.
"What's happening?" said a pretty, innocent voice from the door. Isis strained her neck so as to look around Seth, and Seth turned around to see Kisara stood warily, not sure whether she should come in or not. He looked at her pitifully, and with his majestic blue eyes, beckoned her come in.
"A darklighter trying to make a name for himself." said Isis, not wanting to sound nervous in front of her companion, "Seth will take care of him."
"A darklighter?" she asked quietly, having been recently well-instructed on the dangers on darklighter poison. She walked slowly toward her sweetheart, not breaking eye contact with him.
"I will go and vanquish it..." he said, but his voice got quieter, and trailed away into nothing as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. His left arm coiled itself around her waist, drawing her nearer, whereas his right stroked her pale hair and back. Isis smiled. But it faded as the Empath recognised the strength of their love as the strongest she had ever sensed. Much stronger. Just being able to sense was even painful. The connection between them was such that, she knew, if one died, then the other would die also. This worried her slightly, but as she saw him kiss her tenderly on the forehead and whispered sweet nothings in her ear, Isis cast her qualms away. If something happened that, in normal circamstances, should prove fatal to the one, the other's love alone would probably be strong enough to keep the one alive, and she knew that Seth's powers were such that he could come back from Death. He'd done it before, and he was stronger now.
But strong enough to withstand a darklighter arrow?
With Mana
"Come on, come oooonnnn!" ... ...
"DAMNIT!"
Mana collapsed to her knees, staff in hand at the edge of the Nile. The fish had got away from her spell, squirmed out of her grasp. True, fishes did that, but Mana should be able to keep hiold of one single fish. She sighed,
"How do Mahado and Seth do it!" she thought, as she dipped her hand in the cool water and splashed some on her reddened face. She saw some colours reflected in the water through the ripples and realised that some people were standing behind her. She waited for the ripples to clear, and then could see the faces of three girls, and six boys, a bit older than herself, wearing the strangest garments she had ever seen.
"Excuse me..."
"Ahh!" said Mana, whipping around and almost falling into the Nile, "Who... who are you!"
The one boy, who was very short and looked suspiciously like Pharoah Atem was the one who spoke. On further inspection, she could see a girl who looked just like Kisara, but had red hair and hazel eyes, and a very tall boy, or man, whatever, who was the spitting image of Seth. The other two girls and two boys she didn't recognise.
"Atem?" she asked the shorter boy, and then turned to the tall one, "Seth?"
"Who?" asked the tall one, in a very sadistic voice.
"Don't be frightened we won't hurt you!" said the shorter one, "My name's Yugi Mutou."
"Hey Yüg, doesn't she look like the Dark Magician Girl?" the blond boy asked dumbly.
"Yugi? Atem if this is your idea of a joke..."
"We're from the future."
Mana immediatly shut up and stared at them.
"What?"
"We came back in time."
"Why?" she said daftly. Who would want to come back here? "And why do look like the Ph... people I know?"
"This is gonna sound stupid, but... we are the reincarnations of the people you know." Yugi explained, looking as if her were desperately hoping for her to believe him.
"Ridiculous." the tall one muttered under his breath.
"And, who are you?" said Mana, addressing the one who looked like Seth. He smirked, which meant; 'you are pathetic'.
"That's Seto Kaiba, but he, er.. prefers us to call him by his surname."
"For obvious reasons." he said coolly. He clearly didn't want to be there, that was for sure.
"Okay, so, why are you here?" she asked, still not fully trusting the group.
"To help my Yami remember his past here."
"Yami... You're the reincarnation of the Pharaoh!"
"Yeah... Can you help us?"
"Yes." she said, "But there's something I have to take care of first. Meet me by the palace..."
"Alright, maybe that didn't work..." said Seth, orbing a darklighter arrow away from him. A massive roar/scream erupted from a nearby place, making Seth whip around and run out onto the palace courtyard, the necromancer in pursuit. He stopped and gazed in awe, as did the necromancer. There, a creature with a lion's body, a woman's head and wings, landed in the courtyard, with Mana on board.
"Alright nobody move! I have a Sphinx here and I'm not afraid to use it!"
"Amun Ra..." said Seth, looking over his shoulder to see the necromancer rooted where he stood. He took this oppurtunity, and thrust his sword into the man. Charter Marks blared down the blade, and he screamed and burst into flames, making a massive explosion, that blackened the pristine white walls and singed all that could be singed. Yugi and the others looked in amazement from their position behind a nearby wall. The had seen very little, just the explosion, but they knew - even Kaiba from the bottom of his heart - that Magic had something to do with this. The Sphinx leant down and let Mana jump off it's back.
"Seth! I remembered the Sphinx!"
"I can see." he said, his voice slightly shakey, nodding extensively, not taking his eye off the creature. The others came from behind the wall to get better view. At the same time, Atem came out into the burnt courtyard.
"SETH!"
"Here we go..." muttered Seth under his breath.
"SETH! YOU BLEW UP THE PALACE! ... ... ...AGAIN!"
"Yes, and I am very sorry about that..." he said.
"I am going to kill you..."
"That's very nice Atem but I have people to kill me for me thank you for the offer but it really is unnecessary." he replied. Mana beckoned the gang, who as yet hadn't seen Seth, or the front of him anyway, to come forward.
"Seth..." said Mana guiltily, as if she were a small child just about to ask an adult something to which the answer would almost certainly be no.
"Yeeees?" he asked in the same tone.
"I would like you to know that I had nothing to do with this, but, um... there are some people here to see you."
"Me?" he asked, folding his arms smartly.
"Yes, er, friends," she said, addressing the gang, "I would like you to meet the Pharaoh, and High Priest Seth."
Seth turned around to face them, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of strangely adorned teenagers.
The gang's eyes widened at, not so much the sight of Atem, but the sight of Seth. Kaiba was feeling a contrast of anger, nerves, and ridicule. This young man looked just like him. He was him. His skin was tanned from the Egyptian sun, but sure enough, it was him.
"What the Hell was that?" asked the blonde woman, who's name was Mai, referring to the explosion.
"That was a necromancer." said Seth coolly, to reveal that his voice was identical to Kaiba's.
"No, that was Seth blowing up the necromancer." said Atem. Mai didn't reply for confusion.
"My apologies, this doesn't happen everyday." said Isis, who had come out to join them and was now standing by Seth. Seth had to stifle his laughter at that comment, and it was apparent to the others.
"Ishizu!" asked the red-haired girl, who's name was Serenity.
"No." she said, "But close enough. My name is Isis." she replied. It was clear from her attire that she was a High Priestess.
"What happened here?" asked a concerned Mahado.
"Seth got rid of that necromancer." said Isis.
"Really? Good on you, aaaaaannndd..." he trailed away at the sight of the Sphinx, "MANA, WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE SPHINX!"
"I cast a little spell, and borrowed a little potion..." she said, tracing patterns in the ground with her foot. He raised his eyebrows.
"Mana how many times have I told you no hi-jacking the Sphinx!"
"Oh you and Seth were going to do it anyway and neither of you were getting round to it!"
"That is not the point." he said solemnly, "You could have been killed."
"I'm sorry..."
"I'm just concerned for you." he said, "At least that necromancer is gone."
"Whoa whoa! Wait up 'ere! Necro-what?" asked Joey.
"A necromancer. The highest evil ranking, above demons and darklighters. Have dominion over the Dead and Free Magic." said Seth calmly, but he too was curious about this man who was his reincarnation. He hadn't even died yet for Ra's sake! Seth would have loved to continuing his pondering, but was interrupted by a shrill call from his inner ear. A charge. Great.
"I have to go." he said to Isis, "You take care of them." And with that he orbed out in blue lights. The gang watched in disbelief as he disappeared.
"What was that? How did he do that?" asked Téa nervously. Kaiba suddenly felt very, very disturbed.
"Never you mind. Come, tell me what you have to tell."
"Amun Ra whatever next!" thought Isis as she questioned these teenagers about their little quest.
"So, there are six priests right?" asked Yugi.
"Four priests, one High Priest, and one High Priestess." Isis replied, "And of course, the Pharaoh."
"And, the Pharaoh is the most powerful one?" asked Joey.
"This is complicated; Pharaoh is is possession on the Millennium Puzzle, and, as a right of ownership, has the ultimate dominion over Shadow Magic, it does not bend itself to his control, but it does sometimes choose to serve him. However, Shadow Magic is not the only type of magic. There is also Wiccan Magic, Demonic Magic and Whitelighter Magic being the main two, Charter Magic and Free Magic are both rarer and many times stronger."
"...Explain." said Téa.
"There are, not counting Charter Magic, two types of good Magic. Wiccan Magic and Whitelighter Magic. Wiccan Magic can be anything except Whitelighter Magic, things like Pyrokinesis and Invisibility. Witches use their powers to protect Innocents - good people with no powers. Whitelighters... are human guardian angels. Whitelighters protect witches. Their charges. They hear the lives of their charges constantly in their heads, and when a charge calls for their whitelighter, they can be there at a moments notice..."
"Don't they kinda need to get there though?" asked Joey, again, rather dumbly.
"Whitelighters have a power called Orbing. It is a form of teleportation, and also a form of Telekinesis - Telekinetic Orbing, it's called. They can orb to anywhere in the world and orb various items to anywhere they like. They also have the power of Healing, which is fairly self-explanatory, and Reconstitution, which is reforming after you've been blown up."
"So, what are you?"
"I'm a witch. My signiture power is Clairvoyance, but I also have Telepathy - I can read your mind, Empathy - I can read your heart, Levitation, and Astral Projection - I can project my soul from my body to anywhere. Priest Mahado is a witch, with Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis and Levitation. Pharaoh Atem is a witch, with Telekinesis, Levitation and Premonition, Priest Karim is a witch, with Alethia - knowing and forcing people to tell the Truth, and Hydrokinesis - manipulation of water. Priest Shaada is a witch, with Telepathy, Invisibility, Immortality and Remembrance. Almost everyone in this palace is a witch."
"No... whitelighter... people, then?"
"Actually yes. High Priest Seth is a whitelighter, but he's a lot of things and it's a long story."
"Heaven knows, we got the time."
"Well, to Egypt's people, Seth is a witch like us. He keeps his whitelighter powers hidden, but he is our whitelighter. But Seth is also a Charter Mage. A very special Charter Mage." she rambled, shooting an annoyed look at Kaiba, who had long since the beginning of this conversation been switched off, "Charter Mages are immensely powerful sorcerers with domain over Life. They have every specialist power. There is something called the Great Charter, and Charter Mages are able to draw Charter Marks from it and use them to their will. Each Mark had a different name, meaning and effect."
"So why is Seth special?"
"Seth is the Abhorsen. The most powerful sorcerer in existence. The Abhorsen also has Free Magic, which is the evil equivilant to Charter Magic, and wields the necromantic Bells. The only one who can combine Free Magic with Charter Magic. The one charged with the ultimate protection of the world. Being the Abhorsen is one of the most, if not, the most difficult obstacle Life can throw at you. Seth is that one. Many times more powerful than the Pharaoh." she finished, leaving the gang speechless.
Silence.
Until Kaiba snorted in ridicule. Isis stared at him.
"And seeing as you are one Kaiba, you should make an attempt to start acting your age." she scolded, earning herself a death glare from Kaiba;
"Oh yes, " he said in a very sarcastic, sing-song voice, "I'm, I'm a sorcerer with powers and I have to save the world! If I had a penny for every time I heard that..."
"Do you mock me?" Isis growled, "If so, see for yourself!"
Her timing was perfect. At that very moment, Seth orbed in, making everyone, including Yugi, back up against the wall in fear.
"Oh... oh my God..." Yugi gasped, "How the Hell...?"
"Did I do it?" Seth smirked. Kaiba felt truly alone, and noticed his heart rate slowing in shock. Seth chuckled, "Typical. You never did get used to it."
"To what?"
"Me orbing. I would have thought that after 5000 years you might have got used to it. Obviously not."
Kaiba felt the cold of the wall against his back, every muscle in his body stiffened and he felt weak. Not so much because he had seen magic, well, he had seen it before, the sight of it was no longer phasing him, but the horrible truth that everything he had ever been told was false. Gozaburo had brought him up to believe that magic didn't exist. Every part of him wanted to push it away, fight it with his very being, but he was finding that Magic didn't frighten him. He could live with it being around him and he would just tut and ignore it. But what he was afraid of, was it rearing its head in him.
He had been told many times that he possessed magic powers, but had shunned it for all it was worth. But, he had noticed, that things were starting to happen. Just the other day, when he was stressed in his office at home, he - it must have been him - made a glass of water explode. He didn't know why, or how, but all he knew was, that in the moments leading up to it and the few hours after, the unnatural strength he felt surging through him was amazing. What disturbed him more was that a distant, unknown part of him, liked it. Deep down, in his heart, Magic was not foreign to him. It was his mind that despised it. he was all too aware of this violent contrast. It was like having the mini-angel on the one shoulder and the mini-devil on the other, both whispering in his ears. One was powered by curiosity he never knew he possessed, and the other by sheer stubbornness. If he gave in to it, Yugi and the dweeb patrol had won. And that, was not going to happen. Oh Hell...
He felt repressed.
He felt depressed.
At least Mokuba was safe. That's all that mattered to him. He would go through it infinate times for his beloved little brother. But he would, not, ever, give in to them. He looked at his counterpart as if her were a different species. Seth turned his attention to Kaiba and smirked at him;
"I assure you, that I have not been reincarnated as a mere mortal." he said, "I can also assure you, that I have not been reincarnated as a fool."
"I'm not a fool..."
"No." Seth finished, "But let me tell you something: You are no more a mortal than you are a fool. You are capable of feats you could not even begin to imagine!" he almost snarled. Kaiba's eyes narrowed, and he took his weight onto his two feet again, and off the wall. His hands balled into fists, so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
"I'll cope." he growled.
"I'm glad to see that my stubbornness is alive in you, although your powers are somehow dormant..." Seth analysed somewhat frighteningly. Even the rest of the gang thought he was crazy. Kaiba snorted again,
"You're insa..."
"I can soon change that...
Restore thy powers, Blessèd be,
Deliver thy soul from dormancy;
Thine heart is strong,
Thy mind is set,
The mortal way, thou must forget."
Pain suddenly exploded from deep inside Kaiba, and everyone noticed his eyes widen and his jaw clench itself shut. He looked at Seth with hateful eyes, and then shut them as the pain rapidly worsened. Underneath the agony, he could just about feel a horrid eruption of strength, one that flooded through his mucles, sharpening the anguish. His mind came to an abrupt halt as he felt a drunken-like stupor claim it. He felt like a loose cannon, like he might hurt or even kill anyone if they came to near. This vile sensation was followed by a wave of nausea, and with it, what felt uncannily to close to claustrophobia. He felt cooped up within himself, like his body was preventing his spirit from soaring. The pain then brusquely became more intense and he fell to his knees, using all the will he had left to prevent himself from crying out from it. A new, burning torture settled upon his forehead, and his hand flew to his wet brow. The others had started kneeling around him and saying his name:
"Kaiba... Kaiba..."
He heard Yugi's voice, then Serenity's, then Mokuba's. But these voices became mere whispers to his deaf ears, and soon, he could hear nothing, but his own brain screaming at him, and every nerve aflame. He felt isolated in this anguish, within himself, and began to fight it with what was left of his strength. He didn't know it, but his muscles had relaxed against his will, and he collapsed.
"KAIBA!" everyone yelled, except Isis, who kept a sincere face and remained in her position a few feet away, as did Seth.
"What have you done to him? What did you do!" said Yugi in distress. Seth kept a straight face and said nothing. Serenity put her fingers to his neck for a pulse. There was one. Just. It was very weak. She was about to shout at the High Priest, but a faint blue glow from beneath Kaiba's fringe. She flicked it up, and her eyes were met by the sight of a peculiar mark, burning with a blue fire in the centre of his forehead.
"Whoa... Uh, guys..." she said, not taking her eyes off the mark, "What's up with that?"