When asked later, Yugi couldn't explain how he got to the Maze city. He knew that he arrived on horse, yes, but he simply couldn't remember the road. His mind was blank, focused only on getting to the city and nothing else. He couldn't afford thinking about anything else.
Sure, he noticed the forests and villages he was passing on his way, he even managed to exchange greetings with other travelers, but he did it mechanically, not registering what he was seeing and doing.
He arrived at the Maze City in the evening. But he had no time to catch his breath because as he entered the city he realized that he had no idea where to look for his companions.
In fact, he did not know where to look for any people at the moment. The city looked empty, if it wasn't for the lights in the windows. Yugi had never heard of the Maze city before, and once again he regretted his lack of knowledge. He had no idea where he was and how to get to those Paradox Fields, or anywhere else. And he had no one to ask, because the streets were empty.
He dismounted Osiris, risking patting its head.
The beast seemed to be as proud as its owner, for it ignored Yugi completely, giving him something Yugi interpreted as unimpressed glance. He had to find somewhere to sleep, provided he cannot find his friends first.
He looked around the city. It was dark, and even though the houses were beautifully designed, the whole city looked cold. Yugi started to make his way along the broadest street, looking for any kind of tavern or an inn. But the further he went into the city, the less buildings he could find.
And still no people.
Finally, he reached a bigger space that in a normal city would serve as a market place. But here, it proved to be the namesake of the city- the whole place was taken by a giant maze.
Yugi could not see how long its walls were, for he could not find now the place where the city ended and the Maze started. It was like the city was just a porch for the construction; its integral part,yet different and more inviting. The maze was imposing and dark, not at all welcoming.
The light of lamps illuminated at least three entrances to the maze, and as far as Yugi could see, they were the only source of light within the maze. He had no chance of going through it now. Of course, assuming that there was something behind the maze.
Suddenly feeling exhausted, Yugi sat down.
He was lost.
And for the first time in a while, he was alone.
Anzu was far away. Mana and Joey were somewhere in the city, but he had no means of finding them. Of course, he could just knock on every door and ask whether people saw them, but bringing attention to them being here was probably unwise.
All he could do, was wait.
They should be patrolling city, waiting for the prince's arrival, right?
And the prince himself should be here soon, he reasoned
Yugi looked at the pyramid he was still carrying on his neck. He knew that it was a symbol of the royal line. He never would have thought that he would be the one carrying it someday, even for a while. Maybe he will be the last one to carry it...
He hated waiting. Waiting made him think.
Why did the prince hand it to him? If he knew that he would be taken by duke's men, why didn't he give it to Timaeus? He had more rights to carry it than Yugi did. Then again, maybe the prince didn't trust Timaeus too much. He had said that he was unsure of his cousin's motives.
Probably the first thing the prince was unsure of.
Yugi had plenty of things to be unsure of. He didn't know where exactly he was, he didn't know where his friends were, so he had every reason to be unsure about his fate. He was unsure whether he will come back home at all, or if his fate ended here, on a cold night in a cold city, waiting for a man that probably wasn't coming back.
Like Yugi's father.
He hadn't thought about his father in a while, but loneliness and darkness brought back memories. And memories, once triggered, were impossible to stop.
He and Anzu never bothered with fearing that their father would not return. He always did, so why should they fear? It was as simple as that. When he did return, sometimes after weeks, sometimes after months, he always had some kind of presents for them and a story of his troubles. Soon Anzu figured out that dad couldn't have really fought any dragons or chimeras on his way, mostly because those beasts did not exist, but it didn't stop Yugi or Anzu from enjoying father's stories.
There was no one like their father. Even their mother was always so sure of his success, of his return that she also never seemed to be fretting whenever he wasn't there. Yes, she sometimes sat down with her children in the living room to read father's old journals, but she did that out of longing, not nervousness.
She simply wanted him to be with them again, and Anzu and Yugi shared that sentiment. Books, toys and clothes were nice, but there was nothing better than dad back home.
He always took them riding in the woods, their whole family playing tag on the meadow or going swimming in the lake deep down in the forest. Dad had wonderful sense of direction, so even if they forgot to take a map with them, they were never lost.
Dad never fell ill, at least as far as Yugi remembered and he was the strongest in the town, because he won with everybody during the spring festive, besting other men at wrestling.
Yugi's father was his hero.
And heroes always come home.
But there was this one time when something went wrong.
Dad usually left at the end of spring and returned at the beginning of autumn, because that was the time of best winds.
So they waited for him, as they always did, at the porch, looking at the leaves falling slowly from their trees.
They waited even when the trees were already bare, Anzu and Yugi both wondering, what sort of story dad will bring with him to explain his lateness. They were missing him now; the house, even though Mum was with them, was never the same without him.
And then the snow fell.
There was never the time when the snow fell and dad wasn't with them. They usually built two castles, one for Anzu and Yugi, the second for Mum and Dad, so that they could play princes and princesses and having snow fights.
Dad was always there when the first snow fell. It was his duty. He had to be there.
Anzu felt betrayed, and Yugi, by then trying to be just like her, felt the same.
Dad was not where he was supposed to be.
They begged mother to write and hurry Dad up, to tell him that they, his children, were disappointed in him, because he always reprimanded them for being late and now he himself was so late!
Mother laughed at that, but for some reason, her laughter didn't sound right. She did send a letter though.
There was no reply, and Yugi started to worry. Maybe Dad didn't like them anymore? Maybe he thought they were too naughty, too loud and he decided he didn't want such children?
Anzu assured him, that even if they made Dad mad somehow, he would never leave Mum. Still, she was worried as well, her mind full of possible reasons for father's lateness. For a while, they thought that maybe, dad wasn't joking with his stories and he was now a prisoner of some thieves, or some warriors from other countries? Maybe some pirates took his ship and now he was fighting with his crew to get it back?
The reply to the letter came few weeks later.
Along with father's glasses and his latest journal, soaked in water.
It was all the crew, or rather that few men that survived, managed to save.
There was a horrible storm on their way back and although their captain tried everything he could, he was unable to save the ship. It went down with more than a hundred men. The letter said that Mr. Mutou was at that time recovering from some kind of influenza and he was under the deck, with the rest of patients. None of them survived, only those few who jumped to the longboat in time somehow made through.
And Yugi's father was not one of them.
In the end, he was only a man.
The Yugi in the present didn't even notice when he started crying.
He was alone in the darkness, waiting for someone who won't come.
Heroes didn't exist, it was human mind that gave them life, it was only Yugi's imagination that created his heroes.
His father never returned.
And the prince won't either.
Out of nowhere, it started to rain. Soon, Yugi's tears disappeared in the streams of raindrops.
Osiris neighed at him in indignation, demanding probably some kind of shelter.
"We have nowhere to go. We are alone here." He told the horse. The beast just looked at him with disappointment, as if it had thought that Yugi could do better. Because its rightful master would. The prince wouldn't be sitting here, useless, alone and powerless. He would break free, he would find a way. Yugi was not the prince, and possibly never be, no matter how he wanted to. But he swore to himself earlier that he will prove his usefulness. That he won't give up easily.
New determination entered his heart.
"You are right." Yugi said, standing up.
He had to think.
He won't wait alone, making up horrible scenarios, he won't!
Even if the prince was not coming back, Osiris and pyramid had to reach Mana. And then, Yugi will go home, to his sister.
He looked at the entrances to the maze. A good maze has more than one correct path and it shouldn't matter which entrance Yugi chose, he should still be able to find the correct way out of the maze.
The prince said something about the rules of the city. If the city was called 'Maze' it would be safe to assume that the rules had something to do with the maze, right? Maybe the true city was hidden inside the maze?
Even if not, Mana and the rest should be inside the maze, there was no better place to hide.
Yugi jumped on Osiris' back and headed for the first entrance. Next to the gate, there was "Right" written on the stone. Which was funny, considering that the entrance was on the left, looking from the city. He rode to the next entrance. It had "Left" written on it.
Perplexed, Yugi headed for the third gate. As he thought, the next gate also had "Right" engraved.
It was a riddle.
He was wrong before, this maze had only one correct entrance, judging from the clues. But how to find out, which was the correct one?
The gate on the left proclaimed 'Right'. Did it mean 'I'm the right one'? Or 'Go on the right side?'. But why then would the gate on the right also have the same inscription on it? There couldn't be two right gates, if there are clues. And why did the middle one proclaim it was 'left'? The one 'left' behind? 'Left from equation'? Or simply 'on the left'?
Think.
Looking from the city, the one of the left is lying.
The one on the right is not.
But what is the middle one doing here?
It is on the left only in regards of the right gate.
Why isn't it called 'middle'? Why is it 'left'? Looking from the city it is on the left only to...
Looking from the city...
But the maze has other end, doesn't it?
And looking from that other end... The middle gate is on the left of the left gate!
The gates on right and left change their truth- value depending on which side you are on. One is always lying, one is always telling the truth.
The middle one is always true, because it is always on the left for one of the gates.
Yugi exhaled.
Was he right?
That remained to be seen. It was his best guess right now, and anything was better than sitting here in almost complete darkness and rain, doing absolutely nothing.
Without hesitation, Yugi guided Osiris to the middle gate.
His clothes were already soaked, and he was growing hungry. Judging from Osiris' neighs, the horse was also fed up with their current predicament. This was their best guess.
"Trust me on this. We are getting to them." He informed the horse and they both entered the darkness of the middle passage.
/
It was dark once again.
At first, if he remembered correctly, he was afraid of this darkness. It filled his vision, it filled his ears. There was nothing, just him, walls, floor and darkness. Sometimes, he could hear something behind him and he would jump to his feet, trying to protect himself. But soon, he had no energy to do so.
Darkness was frightful. It was everywhere, and even people who brought him foods went unnoticed by him. They were silent and no matter how he tried, he couldn't see them. He could see nothing.
His nightmares, at first full of colours and sounds, slowly became dark and muted, almost undistinguishable from the reality. The darkness hid his reality and his dreams from him, making it hard to say whether he was awake or not. Whether monster were real or not.
He had no idea how long he had been there. But after some time, his fear lessened. His eyes got accustomed to the lack of light. He still couldn't see a thing, but at least he was no longer terrified by that. Rats, the sources of that dreadful sounds, were only interested in his food, too afraid to attack him.
He recalled trying to remember.
But no matter how long he tried, he could not figure out why his uncle did that to him.
He was not evil. He just fulfilled father's orders. He gathered his friends and under the supervision of Shada, he made sure that the law was listened to. You have to see if your orders leave the palace chambers, his father had said, and he wanted to do just that. Sure, sometimes he was a little harsh, but he was merciful when the occasion called.
Why then?
He remembered his uncle's men swarming into his chambers, Aknadin telling him that his father was dead, and then, there was nothing. Just this darkness.
He woke up to it, and started to cry, fearing that he was dead or blind, left somewhere alone. But then, the prison guard came to him carrying a torch and a plate with bread. It was the first, and the last time he had seen light in his underground prison. Other guards were accustomed to darkness and never bothered to bring torches with them.
They also never spoke to him, no matter how long he asked them, almost begged them to reply.
At first, he tried speaking to himself, to keep his throat working. He recited poems and fragments of books, to save himself from forgetting the words. He dictated out loud letters to Mahad and Mana, to save their names from the darkness, to protect his friends from the consuming abyss in which his own name had disappeared.
When he woke up from his nightmares filled with nameless, faceless monsters eating him from inside, he often screamed his father's name.
Soon, he stopped screaming.
No one heard him.
No one was looking for him.
He was truly, utterly alone.
He had plenty of time to think. To think why his own uncle, the man who gave him his first sword, who helped him escape from kitchen unnoticed, would betray him.
He quickly figured it out.
The king is dead, long live the king.
He was almost old enough to take the crown after his dead father and uncle decided that he was more worthy than a prince, the only child of the late king.
In the darkness, what before was repulsing and scary, now became logical.
Of course, if he wanted the crown, he had to get rid of the rival. He probably chose this prison so that no one could see prisoner's face, no one could tell that the prince was alive. Oh, yes, that's what he himself would do- he would say that his rival was dead, so that no one would even bother with looking for him and no one would question his own right to rule.
For long hours, he busied himself with coming up with many different versions of his death, trying to chose which version his uncle had chosen to give to the public.
Really, Aknadin should've killed him for good.
Or maybe, his uncle truly hated him and decided that him dying inside this torture prison was much more fitting. Maybe.
He had no idea how long he was here.
But at some point, it became colder than before. While earlier he could somehow suffer through, now the chills were running up and down his body. He assumed it must've been winter. Of course, no one gave him any additional blanket or at least hot water.
No.
He was not a prisoner.
He was a convict. His cell was not a jail. It was execution.
He was meant to die here, far away from anyone remotely friendly.
He was sixteen when he was put there.
He wanted see his friends, he wanted to rule. He wanted... He wanted to live.
Soon, he started to cough.
He had no idea how much time passed, but after some time, coughs only got worse.
At one point, he heard two guards talking while they were bringing him water and bread.
"I think he went mad. Sure, no one liked Gersheh, but to wipe out the whole family?"
"Maybe he did something and we just don't know?" The other suggested.
At first, he didn't understand their words, he was too busy reveling in the fact that he heard them.
"Oh, yes, he asked why prince's friends look for him still, if he has supposedly committed suicide." With that, they were gone, not paying attention to the prisoner they were leaving, unaware that the very same prince was slowly dying behind their backs.
Aknadin was still afraid of him. And was abusing his own people.
Good. Maybe they will rebel.
Soon after hearing this conversation, he started to cough up blood. He'd heard about such symptoms before. He was dying. He was slowly, painfully dying.
His life had been meaningless and now he was going to die meaningless death.
The Nameless prince, forgotten by the history and his own people.
That seemed fitting.
Being a king means more than just wearing crown. It might seem that everyone listens to you and they are less than you. But it is the exact opposite. As the king, you have no right to put your matters, your happiness and your life before theirs. They are your people. You are a son of god, a god incarnated. Who are you without your people? Where is your power?
He remembered his father saying that to him. But surely, his father never thought that his only son would never get to rule. The god incarnated was dying. The country had a new god. Malicious and cowardly, but god.
And he himself was dying.
Dying.
Fighting with Aknadin would end up with him dead if he ever got to do it.
He was dead either way.
Wait.
He was dead either way.
He had nothing to lose.
Your people deserve a ruler who cares for them. They deserve someone to guide them, someone to protect them. Be that person, my son. You were born to be that person. Murder, kill and steal, as long as your people are safe and sound.
Soon after hearing the two guards, he had escaped and burned his jail to the ground. With everyone still in it. It felt good.
It felt just.
And now, he was in another kind of prison.
He was a captive.
"I'd never think you would be so easy to catch, Your Highness." The duke taunted as his men brought their prisoner to his knees, his hands tied behind his back.
"I had to help you catch me, I think you know that." He answered, his tone light. He had nothing to lose.
True, he wanted to overthrow Aknadin and give his country a new, better ruler. But he had his people now, and Mahad knew that their prince could drop dead any second. They were prepared. He could die today, tomorrow, or in two years, it didn't make any difference to him now. It didn't make any difference to his plans. Aknadin was going down.
His prison taught him not to fear darkness, so he didn't. It also told him not to fear death, because death was a part of him already.
"Bullshit. Who was that person that ran away? Your cowardly friend leaving you? Or a messenger?" The duke growled.
People were easy. They could be trusted only when they had something they cared about.
If you had what they cared about, they might become dangerous, because they would do anything to get it back.
But when you were what they cared about- they were easy to figure out. Mana and Mahad cared for each other and for him. They would not leave him, they proved that many times.
All of his new knights cared for him on some level, feeling gratitude and admiration, but they cared for each other more. And by splitting them up, he earned himself new hostages.
True, they were his people and he would protect them if the need arose, but he had to check their loyalty sometimes.
With each one of them in different part of the country, it would be hard to buy one of them, for they would fear for others, they would fear that they would wound up on other sides. They would not betray him, terrified that he might take it out on their family and friends.
People were easy.
And duke was also easy, because he cared for Crawford.
Emotions that betrayed the prince before, now became his greatest weapons.
"You'd love to find out, I am sure." He answered and smirked. He could practically see duke's thoughts.
"You are a decoy!" The man shouted accusingly." Your men escaped already and you stayed behind to buy them time." He snarled, hitting him in the face. It hardly hurt.
"You just figured it out?" He jeered in reply, hoping to provoke the duke even more. It worked, for he was dealt another blow. He would make him pay. But later.
"I could just kill you here, but it would not be enough." The duke hissed, pacing in front of him, scaring his own men.
"Yes, you want to see me humiliated in front of my people, I am aware. You are not exactly bright or original. Unfortunately, my people aren't here." Come on, be angry.
Something flashed in duke's eyes.
"Really? Then I suppose you know that my men saw your precious girl warrior heading to the Maze city?" The duke asked triumphantly.
He forced himself to appear shocked.
"Ha! Good. Your face betrayed you. Then I think we shall ride to the Maze City, to look for your precious friends. Then we can see, how far your 'strategic mind' can take you." The duke gestured for his man to throw their prisoner on one of their carts, with two guards to keep him company.
He had no intention of running, to be honest.
He was precisely where he wanted to be.