So sorry for the super late update! I know, I've left this for a long while, and I know you have been waiting for it. Please, forgive me. This chapter was harder to write than I expected. I just couldn't find words to describe the whole scene in this chapter, so I spent way too much time thinking and planning. :P

Anyways, thank you all so much for the reviews and patience. I seriously can't believe how popular this fic is getting. It's doing way better than I had first thought! :D As for the previous chapter, I read your reviews and understood that corrections and additions had to be made, but I haven't gotten around to making those adjustments yet. I will do so soon, hopefully by next chapter. Thank you i for your wonderful help. Once again, your constructive criticism is truly appreciated. Many thanks. :)

So, on with the story!

Enjoy!

Secrets Underground

Chapter 6

A fog of dust littered the air and gradually fell to the ground, clearing as it slowly dispersed and landed among the pile of bricks and stones that formed the huge barrier before me. Broken rock rolled down the mountain-like wall, only to eventually stop on the dirt covered darkened floor. My eyes however, they remained locked on the only exit I had to get out of this tomb which was now resealed with layers of rubble. Yet, this wasn't my only problem. With my body stiffened from terror, I closed my eyes slowly and clenched my teeth in a desperate attempt to stay calm as I felt the hand tighten around my upper arm. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck as I shook, too scared to move even a single muscle.

"He's waiting…" the man repeated again, and unable to stay still for a second later, I ripped myself away from him and ran towards the debris with a cry.

"Grandpa! Gr-Grandpa! Someone, help!" I screamed frantically, my voice cracking as I clawed at the wall, trying to dig myself out. My fingers scraped against the wall as I pulled out chunks of little, sharp rocks which only caused my fingers and palms to bleed. It was all fruitless, and when I realised this I quickly turned back around to stare at the ghost, whimpering helplessly. With a quickly beating heart that rose to my throat in just a few seconds, I swallowed it back down and pressed my back against the wreckage.

"St-Stay away from me," I stuttered fearfully, my eyes wide as I kept them locked on the ghostly figure donned in white before me. He didn't respond to my shouts. His eyes just stared directly into mine with the same blank and unreadable expression. At my words though, the only thing he did was begin to walk towards me, and seeing that I gasped in horror.

"Stay away!" I shouted again, and I dragged myself quickly along the wall and into the corner to stay as far away from him as possible. When I saw that he still didn't stop walking, I pressed myself even deeper into the corner as if it could hide me, and clenched my eyes shut and wrapped my arms around my body, keening in on myself. I had nowhere to go, no one to help me, and I was trapped in a five thousand year old tomb with a ghost. I was alone in this. As that thought sunk in, all my will power and courage immediately died and turned into nothing.

My nerves rose higher when I noticed that the spirit hadn't made any attempt to grab me. He was only a few metres apart from me, so surely he should have got me by now. Then… Deciding to take a look, I cried out in shock when I saw him just inches before me, but this time on the ground. He was dropped down to his right knee, his eyes half lidded as he looked towards the ground with a hand on his chest. I just stared, hands clenched tightly in fists as my heart continued to pound against my ribcage with just as much fear from before. I gulped deeply, not taking my fright filled eyes off of him as he spoke.

"Forgive me, child, for my behaviour, but I had to get you alone. I know that my tactics weren't the best, but I had to urgently speak with you."

"Wh-Who are you?" I asked, my voice shaking. "What do you want from me?" I shouted through my chattering teeth, and I put a hand to my forehead before putting it against my mouth to block the deep, quick breaths that I was taking from resonating throughout the tomb. I closed my eyes momentarily, fear and worry causing tears to build up inside my eyes no matter how hard I tried to keep them under control. This wasn't happening. This couldn't really be happening to me right now.

"My name is Shadi," I heard the man say through the alarm bells that rung in my mind. "I am the protector and guardian of all things precious, and to protect something valuable I had to come to you. You have to save a very precious soul from being destroyed. He's been waiting for you for a very long time."

"Who's been waiting?!" I shouted, snapping my eyes open to stare at him. "Who?! I just don't understand why you're following me. What am I supposed to do? Who am I supposed to save, and why me?!" I yelled, and once again he answered.

"You have to save the Nameless Pharaoh."

"Why should I do that, huh? He's evil. Why should I save him?!" I exclaimed hysterically, and I began to pace, arms still wrapped around my body as I sniffled.

"You don't mean that," Shadi said slowly, and I shot him a look but said nothing. "If you mean what you say, then you wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't be after you, and I'm sure my Pharaoh wouldn't have waited so long for someone who thought so ill of him."

Tired of hearing him talk so calmly, I harshly rubbed my eyes, getting rid of any traces of tears before walking up to him. "How can I even do that?" I asked. "And why do I have to save him? Can't someone else do it?" Breathing heavily through my now clenched teeth, I watched as Shadi gave a tiny shake of his head, eyeing the ground before looking back up at me.

"The Pharaoh has been waiting for you for a good reason. He knows only you can save him. You have the power and the knowledge necessary to save him from his eternal fate. You won't understand now, but you should just come with me. You have to remember everything." With that said, my eyes widened when Shadi grabbed my arm once again, but this time he began to pull me down the tunnel.

"No!" I shouted, struggling. "Let go of me!"

"No," Shadi said, and I looked at the back of his head with disbelief. "I'm sorry, but this is your destiny and you cannot avoid it. If you don't do this now, he will run out of time. I cannot wait until you're ready any longer. He needs you, now."

"No!" I exclaimed as stern as possible, and I dug my heels into the ground as he pulled me along forcefully. My heels just made track marks in the ground, and seeing that it wasn't helping me at all, I looked around for something to stop him from taking me. There was nothing other than stone, and I screamed in my head. I tried to hold on to the creases in the wall with my other hand, but with my already damaged fingers that were beginning to sting and hurt, I was easily ripped away. I twisted and turned, pulling as hard as I could, but in the end he was too strong. I continued to struggle as much as possible though. I wasn't just going to allow him to take me.

I just couldn't understand why all of this was happening. He set this all up for me, that much was obvious now. He lured me into the tomb by injuring Grandpa so that he'll be able to take me with him. But to where? Nothing he explained made any sense to me. He said that I have to remember something. Remember what exactly? What do I know?! He spoke in riddles and wouldn't give me a straight answer about all of this, and then he says that the Nameless Pharaoh has been specially waiting for me!? How is that even possible, and why? I don't know anything of his past, and I hardly know what's going on in my present. How am I supposed to fix or save anyone or anything? I can't even save myself right now. I just can't do this. I'm not ready, nor do I want to be ready. But, but what choice do I have at this point? What can I do? Reasoning with this… guardian… was out of the question since he clearly didn't want to listen to me. So, so now what?!

Opening my mouth to yell at him to release me once more, I looked up to stare at the ghost only to freeze. He had dragged me into a room that I knew all too well and stopped walking, giving me just enough time to stare until my heart was content at the thing that stood before me. In front of me stood the stone tablet of the Pharaoh, and just like that my gaze was trapped. I felt Shadi tighten his hand around my arm, but still my eyes didn't turn away from the magnificent stone that Grandpa and the crew had discovered. It was better than what I had seen on TV. It was enormous, and truly a wonderful piece to be examined.

As my eyes eventually fell on the Pharaoh, my heart sank with dread since I knew that this was all happening to me because of him. He wants me here, and I just couldn't understand why. As the mixed emotions of anger, confusion and frustration surged within me, it was enough to cause me to look away to see Shadi briefly glancing at him as well. A thought then struck me and immediately I spun my head around towards the door to see if my theory was true. I scanned my eyes across the area that they had spoken about, but couldn't find the hieroglyphs Sabrina had saw and what she, Jonathan, and Grandpa had come down here to look at. I closed my eyes and let out a shuddery breath with a sad and disappointed smile forming on my face, knowing that I had fell for his trap.

It was all set up.

From inside my closed eyelids I began to feel heat and see a red glow underneath which signaled light. Noticing this I opened my eyes only to be drawn back to the slab which was now glowing a bright, golden colour, the exact same blinding glow that I had seen the first day I saw Shadi. The terror creeped into my system again as Shadi gripped my arm tightly and began to pull me towards the glowing slab. Panicking, I started to pull with all of my strength, but again, Shadi seemed to have inhuman strength.

"No! Stop! Stop! Let go of me. Please! Let me go," I yelled frantically as I pulled backwards, my fingers grazing the ground and my knees bending to touch the floor as I struggled. Shadi didn't listen to me, and probably irritated with my resistance he gave my arm one sudden and tiny jerk towards him which sent me falling to the ground where I was dragged towards the slab. I screamed and tried again to get away, but all I did was leave behind four long trails made by my fingers as he hauled my body across the floor. The light intensified as we got closer, and I began to feel extremely dizzy as the thought of going into the underworld consumed my mind. I took a last look up where I was blinded by the light by its closeness, and I clamped my eyes shut and stiffened my body as my arm along with the rest of my body disappeared through the wall of the slab. I felt a burning sensation, then, nothing.

A few seconds later, with one harsh tug, I was thrown to the dust covered ground, my arm falling to the floor next to my head when Shadi finally released it. As I laid on the floor, I shook, taking steady, deep breaths so that I wouldn't inhale too much of the musky scent and the smell of decay that I was promptly enveloped with as I faced the ground. Knowing that I couldn't stay down forever, with shaky limbs I forced myself to stand, pushing myself up with my arms until I was in a sitting position. Once I was there, I moved my head back and forth to get rid of the dizziness, and through half-lidded eyes I glanced around the room, only to come to a standstill. My eyes shot open, fear flowing through my body, and quickly I scurried to my feet and backed up into the wall behind me.

"No, no, this is impossible," I mentally screamed, breathing heavily as I looked around the small room. Shadi was gone, and I was now sure that the place he had brought me to, was anything but the world of the undead. The place he had thrown me into was a burial chamber, and the thought of whose chamber I was in was what had me extremely worried.

Wall paintings and hieroglyphs of spells adorned the sandy, stone covered walls where dust and insects eventually took over. The ground was the same, completely layered with dust that had piled up over the millenniums, and in the middle of the room sat the burial coffin. I gulped, my eyes locked on the sarcophagus that contained the mummy of possibly a certain someone. I pulled my gaze away from the stone casket as the thought suddenly became too much to swallow, and allowed my eyes to look around the rest of the chamber as I slowly stepped away from the wall. I took hesitant steps as I moved across the floor, the sound of my boots grazing across the sand reaching my ears with every movement.

Glancing down, it didn't take me long to spot four jars on the ground next to the sarcophagus. I saw Hapi, Duamutef, Imseti, and Qebehsenuef, the four sons on Horus who protected the organs of the deceased. Hapi was the baboon-headed god who held the lungs, Duamutef was the jackal-headed god who held the stomach, Imseti was the human-headed god who held the liver, and Qebehsenuef was the falcon-headed god who held the intestines. It was then when confusion replaced my fear, and my archaeologic instincts kicked in. This was the burial chamber. These jars weren't supposed to be in this room. They were supposed to be in the treasury! But, as I looked around, I realised that there were no other doors. Forget the treasury… There wasn't even a door to the antechamber or the annex, and from my knowledge of tombs of the Pharaoh's, those four rooms were always present. So, why not here?! And as for the size… this wasn't the size fit for a Pharaoh. King Tutankhamun's tomb was this size only because he died young, but still it held practically five thousand objects. This tomb barely had ten!

With sweaty hands, I started to make my way over to the sarcophagus. If this was truly the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb, then there had to be more things piled up in the room. It's possible that it could have been robbed, but when I looked around earlier, there was no way to get in without breaking the wall down. Shadi pulled me through the wall, or walls, and then disappeared without a word, so that was the only way I got in. That's why the thought of it getting robbed by tomb robbers when it was being created was ridiculous. But, what if this wasn't the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb? No, that couldn't be it. Shadi wouldn't have brought me here if it wasn't, right?

As soon as I stepped up to the burial coffin, from the corner of my eye I was finally able to spot three statues of the Egyptian Gods lined up against the wall, and just on the opposite end on the sarcophagus sat a book which no doubt had to be a copy of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. That was all that had been contained in the room. There were no furniture, food, nor any Ushabti. None. It was practically empty.

With trembling hands I touched the rectangular, stone cover of the coffin and dusted it off. On every sarcophagus had the name of the person inside, so to find out whose tomb this was, I had to read the name. I coughed as the dust flew up into the air around me, and I stepped back for a moment, fanning the air with my hands a bit before going back up to the coffin. The scent of decay flesh was even stronger now, but I clenched my teeth and pursed my lips together. I had to get to the bottom of this strange incident. Never before had I heard of a tomb so empty, especially one that's supposed to be for a Pharaoh.

Rubbing away the dust with my hands for a bit more, slowly the images came clear, but my eyes widened in shock when I saw that the name was completely scratched off of the stone. I clenched my fists and closed my eyes for a brief moment. So this was it. This was the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb. The one Grandpa and the others had been searching years for. The one who I had to supposedly save. It confirms it all too. This was his tomb. Why? Why?! Why was his tomb put together like this? Why was it so different?!

Frustrated, I looked at it again and brushed away the remaining dust to reveal the familiar symbol of the eye of Horus carved into the stone in the very same way that the doors of the tomb have been designed, with veins popping out all around it. I had to know more. As I looked to the side of the sarcophagus, simple pictures were all that lined the edge. I inspected the coffin further by walking around it once, and when I checked the other side, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what was written. Scribbled messily in a black substance, similar to chalk, was English letters and words which told a prophecy, a saying of some sort. Or perhaps, a message.

As Ra rose during the day, a being threatened his existence as he sets. The serpent tried to swallow him up, tried to destroy him to cause chaos, and this went on for millennia's. But, one day Ra came down to earth and inhabited a human, and just like that this being tainted him. It destroyed him, and his life. It infected Ra, and now his soul is set to be devoured. When the time is up, the light will be lost, and chaos shall rule, contaminating everything that it touches.

"That's impossible," I murmured in shock and disbelief to myself as I got back to my upright position, slowly rubbing the tip of my fingers across the edge of the sarcophagus. The English language didn't exist back in that time, so how was it even possible that there was English writing on the sarcophagus?! And that handwriting… Who could have written it? No one could have broken into the tomb and wrote that there. And if someone did, why? Looking at my hands, I thought deeply, but my mind was so astounded by this discovery that I was unable to even think straight. The saying felt so familiar, and my gut was telling me that I knew what it meant, but yet, I didn't. I just couldn't remember. Why? Why was this happening?! Was this something that I had forgotten?

"Dammit," I hissed, and I slammed my fist down on the stone before me out of aggravation. This was the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb, and the more I found about him the more confused I got. There was just so much questions and so little answers that it has now become tiresome trying to find solutions to them.

Rubbing my face with the back of my arm, I stepped away from the tomb and looked all around the room. Now what? What was I supposed to do now? Why had Shadi brought me here and why did he disappear as soon as he did?! He forces me to places against my will, and now that he's got me he leaves me? I'd rather be with someone than no one at this moment. I had to get some answers, now.

"Shadi!?" I called loudly, my voice bouncing off the walls as I glanced back and forth across the room to see if he would pop out. "What should I do now?! Why did you bring me here?!" I yelled, and my heart hammered against my chest as my frustration level increased. Not receiving any response, I marched up to the sarcophagus again and stared at it with my hands resting on the edge, absolutely irritated. I was getting nowhere, and I sure wasn't going to get out any time soon. Possibly… never.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I looked towards the ground in defeat. This trip had been nothing but a rollercoaster ride, one after another. I had no idea if I was going to get out, no idea what will happen to me, and no idea what I should do right now. If only I had a sense of direction, any direction on what to do next, I would take it gladly. And at that, ever so slightly I felt a breeze against my neck. Since it was so familiar I immediately looked up to see if Shadi had heard me and had returned, but I was met with the dim room with no one in sight. I turned back to the sarcophagus, and just stared at the lid.

"What if… I looked inside?" I thought, and I mulled over the thought intensely. Just when I had decided to just leave it alone and not scare myself even further, I felt the breeze against the back of my neck once again. Unwilling, even though some part of me wanted to, my hands moved to get a better grip on the edge, and gently I gave it a push. Of course, it didn't budge, but the fact that it didn't budge urged me to push harder. With all my strength I pushed the lid, and it started to move. Without looking inside I continued to push until it crashed to the ground with a loud bang, causing dust to rise up into the air and another horrid smell to consume the area.

I coughed again and covered my nose with my arm, and took a single glance into the casket where I gasped with shock. It wasn't the first time I was seeing a mummy, but it was the first time I was seeing a mummy like this. With both hands clamped over my mouth due to horror, I stared at the body which was now just bones with signs of dried blood layering the inside.

"Wh-What…?" I couldn't help but whisper out loud, and I stepped closer to the body to inspect it, but still kept a good distance away.

This body wasn't mummified properly at all. The old fashioned clothing was rotted and laid on top of the body, it too covered with blood. And wrapped around the body, were shackles. Chains. Heavy, thick chains, with a knife lodged in the now reduced to bones chest. I gulped deeply, the urge to vomit rising. This person, the Nameless Pharaoh was chained to his sarcophagus with a knife in his chest, his heart, and seemingly was buried in his sarcophagus just like that?! Was he still alive when they buried him? From the looks of it, only yes's ran through my mind. And the knife, it was lodged in his heart, the only organ that remained in the body because Ancient Egyptians believed it to hold the person's soul. Then why? Why stab it like that?

Without realising it at first, I reached up to wipe away the tear that had strolled down the side of my face as I stared at the body, a hand to my forehead in disbelief. This couldn't be real. None of this could be real. I had to be dreaming all of this. From all the crazy things that had been happening, this had to be the aftereffects of all that fear. The Pharaoh was really subjected to this? For what reason though? Was he so evil and vicious that a proper burial was too much time? Maybe that was why his tomb was empty, and the reason as to why there was blood. I thought they took death seriously. They would even give proper burials to animals… but this was a Pharaoh! A person! And, what about the magical amulets that protected the dead? Where were they?

Stepping closer so that I could have a better view into the sarcophagus, I looked to the side of the thick chains to spot a golden object hidden beneath the folds of the cloth. Hesitantly I reached out to touch it, and as soon as I made contact I picked it up and looked it over. The amulet was something that I had never seen before, and through my tear-filled eyes I gazed at the golden trinket with curiosity. It was circular with a triangle in the middle, the eye of Horus adorning the center of the triangle. Along the circular side were five pointers that hung loosely on the edge. I've never seen anything like this before. Usually Ankhs were found with the body, not something like this. I couldn't even figure out what it was and what exactly it was supposed to represent. It looked to be just a necklace of some sort. And strangely enough, it too felt very familiar to me.

As I continued to examine the object, I froze when I unexpectedly felt arms wrapping themselves around my stomach from behind. I felt a breeze, a breath, against my neck, and I was squeezed gently, a face like structure rubbing itself against the nape of my neck. I heard crying, and I was squeezed tightly once more.

"You came," a voice of a boy said, and I closed my eyes as rush of emotions surged through my system for unknown reasons. His voice… felt familiar. Clutching the necklace tightly, I tried to turn around to see who it was that had caused me to react such a way, when I was suddenly pushed. I was next to a wall so surely I would just smack right into it, but I was surprised when I felt nothing at all, and realised that I was just falling, falling down into the unknown with hazy, crimson eyes the last thing I saw before my vision was engulfed with darkness.

Oh holy crap… that was the hardest chapter to write in my entire life. This entire story is going to be difficult, and when I say that a chapter is going to be easy to write… Let's just say I gotta stop telling myself that! This chapter needed a lot of details, and I tried my best to capture the emotions. I really hope that there isn't too much repeating. I tried to fix as much of those as possible to keep the chapter flowing nicely while making it enjoyable to read. It was very difficult to capture Yugi's emotions properly, and that is what kept me delayed for so long. -sigh- I hope this chapter is fine, and that I'm worrying for no good reason.

Constructive criticism is always welcomed.

Review please! And thank you for reading. I will try my best to update as soon as possible. :)