Konnichiwa everyone (did I spell that right?), I'm glad everyone likes Kit
and my story so far.
This chapter was a good lesson for me, I wanted it to go one way but the darn thing has a mind of its own and went a completely different way. I'd better try to follow the story as it develops instead of trying to control it too much.
Once again I don't own Yu-gi-oh. Some things that inspired parts of this story that I don't own are Inu-Yasha and Dragon Warrior.
For many of the main characters I'll probably use the names they had in the English playstation game (even though I don't own a PS or PS2 and got all the names out of a magazine) because they're the closest thing to official that I can find.
Oh right, little bit of profanity, but I guess this already got a PG rating and I don't really consider the one or two potentially offensive words to be worth a higher rating (but then I'm not religious so I wouldn't).
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Yami Bakura
"OK." I closed my eyes and concentrated on a tablet that held the form of a small dragon. I felt the spirit start to stir as I reached for it. I opened my eyes to see what was happening and was just in time to see the glow of the stone fade.
"Not bad for a first try, it took me several tries to get that far. Once you have the spirit's attention you just have to tell it to come out. Why don't you try calling the first one in defense mode, just to be on the safe side." Kit looked a little nervous and I realized her posture had changed from fairly relaxed to ready for battle. I wondered how many of these monsters Kit had had to fight because she couldn't control them. "Oh, right, almost forgot, it helps to call them by name. If you know the name of a monster than it is more likely to obey you than if you just say something like 'hey you, come out'. That's a Devil Dragon by the way."
"OK." I concentrated on the tablet again and felt the spirit notice me. "Come out, Devil Dragon, and assume a defensive pose." I might have felt foolish if I hadn't seen Kit call a monster earlier and hadn't felt the presence inside the tablet. I opened my eyes and saw before me a purple dragon, only about the size of a camel, but very fierce looking. Its eyes were focused on Kit but I could tell part of its attention was on me, waiting for my commands.
Kit edged closer to me and I noticed the dragon turn and move between her and me. She stopped and started to move back and it followed her every movement. "It thinks I'm your opponent, or maybe one of your opponent's monsters. It's trying to block me from attacking you directly."
"What do I do with it now?"
"Well, we've got to get rid of it before this actually turns into a fight. I know, I surrender, you're too strong." The dragon blinked and vanished back into its tablet. Kit sighed. "If this had been a real duel whatever penalty we had set up beforehand would have taken effect. In the fights I've seen before between a yokai and a human the punishment for loosing is to be sealed into a stone tablet. My mother died like that. Between two humans usually there isn't a major penalty, however you must remember this: every time a dark game is initiated a price of life must be paid. From what I've heard often slaves or criminals are brought to be sacrificed to the dark games, however sometimes it is the loosing duelist that is sacrificed." Kit sighed and stared at the stones, sleeping silently in the tomb where the ring had slept for centuries. "You should practice some more, but I won't be here to watch you, I don't really want to be a practice target. When you feel confident calling low level monsters try calling that one," Kit pointed to an image of a bug-like creature that had a body like a troll. "That's the King of Yamimakai, to call it you must sacrifice one monster that you have already called."
Kit left the room and I tried to call the monsters again, but they didn't come out. I walked into the main tomb and found Kit snooping around my treasure. "Kit!"
"Eep! Oh, sorry, you startled me. What do you want?"
"The monsters won't come out."
Kit sighed, "I was afraid of that, they don't see the point of coming out since you don't have an opponent. Usually captured monsters are less difficult, at least as long as you are a higher level than them, but I guess these guys don't recognize you as their master so they won't obey commands that don't make sense. Don't worry, they'll learn. I guess I'll have to help you practice until then." We went back into the room where the monsters were and I called the Devil Dragon again. "OK, I won't be able to summon any monsters, although I can still use spells." Kit muttered something under her breath and a mark appeared on the floor in front of her. "Prepared one spell, I'll end my turn. To call out a higher level monster name the sacrificial monster or monsters in addition to the monster you are calling. Just try not to attack me OK?"
"It's my turn. I'll offer Devil Dragon as a sacrifice and summon King of Yamimakai." I watched as the devil dragon vanished into a cloud of darkness which materialized into a monster that looked like a cross between a giant Hercules Beetle and an ogre, at least that's what my host thinks it looks like. It was so much bigger than Kit and I could tell she knew it, that she might as well be its prey. She looked confident, I wondered why. If I had faced that monster with no magic protecting me I wouldn't have looked half so confident, but then again she did have magic protecting her. Suddenly without being told my monster attacked.
As it rushed at her Kit raised her left arm. "Activate trap, Mirror Force." A field surrounded Kit and reflected my monster's attack, destroying it. "OK, I give. Why in all the hells did you attack me?"
I shrugged. "You didn't seem afraid; I figured whatever spell you prepared had to be pretty good."
Kit sighed, "That was Mirror Force, I put it there in case something went wrong. I suppose I should teach you how to use spells. That was a trap type spell, meaning you must have it prepared and on the field for a little while before you can use it. Ordinary spells can just be launched at any time. However using magic takes a certain amount of power, the more powerful the spell the more power it takes, Mirror Force for example takes quite a bit of magic so there is a rule about only using it once during a duel, to make it more fair to people like me who don't have unlimited magic, same thing goes for Raise Dead. Some spells, like Fireball, cost so little energy you can afford to use them many times, but according to the rules you may only use most spells a maximum of three times. The Usually you can only have five active spells at once, that's another handicap, since the number of spells you can maintain at once depends on your concentration, I can maintain three but I get a little dizzy, your ring would help you maintain more than a normal human could." Kit looked around and walked over to a niche cut into the wall. "Aha, I knew these had to be somewhere." Kit came over and unrolled a papyrus scroll. "Can you read hieratic?"
"Not really, I can read a few hieroglyphics but that's about it."
"That's a problem, you need to be able to read the spells. I guess until you learn to read and write you should try memorizing one or two, you'll need to have them memorized anyway for dueling."
"Why?"
"Another rule, your monsters are limited both by your level as a duelist and by the amount of space you have, those stones are pretty big. The amount of magic and traps you have are limited both by your magic power and by how many spells you can memorize. I try to keep a couple good spells memorized. Mirror Force is a good spell, but I had looked it up before the battle, normally I don't memorize traps. This one's my favorite," Kit took a smaller roll out of a bag she had and showed me a spell with a picture of fireballs beside it. "That's Fireball. It's your basic destroy anything, anywhere, anytime spell, so it suits my purposes."
"Hey, isn't that Change of Heart?" I pointed to a spell in the tomb's scroll with a picture of a woman with one bird wing and one bat wing holding a heart.
"So it is. That's a great one to use for dueling. Want me to teach you?" I nodded and Kit read over the papyrus and recited the spell.
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A few hours later it was nightfall. I had learned the Change of Heart spell and Kit had translated the spells I liked into hieroglyphics, at least I'd be able to read them. Raise Dead interested me, Kit told me that in a duel it was a very good spell, but that it couldn't be used outside a duel, but that she had no idea why. I wondered if it was because the dark world didn't like giving up its sacrifices.
"Congratulations Baku." Kit walked up to me, smiled and handed me a stick of what looked like meat. "You've mastered in less than a day what it took me weeks of practice to do. Of course you have a millennium item so you've got quite an advantage over ordinary duelists."
"What's this?" I asked after taking a bite.
"That? Spitting cobra jerky," Kit giggled. "I was saving it for travel food, but I didn't have anything else."
"Where are you going?"
"To Europe. I've heard there are plenty of deep forests that humans haven't penetrated there. I'm hoping to find a nice quite place without humans to settle down, live my life without worrying about getting caught, that sort of thing. I want to find someplace just for me." Kit took a bite out of her piece of cobra jerky and chewed thoughtfully. "Before I left the temple I daydreamed about finding a spell to loose all the monsters in the temple's tablets and escape with my little chimera in the confusion. I must admit I don't really like being alone."
"What are you Kit? I thought you were a demon, why can't you live with other demons?"
"You're pretty sharp. I'm only a hanyou, half demon, half human. Demons in the light world don't like hanyou, they think we're nothing but trash, not yokai enough to be one of them, not human enough... Never mind."
"What were you going to say?"
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Kit
"Nothing, it doesn't concern you." I bit my lip, it did concern him, it concerned all humans, but... I didn't want to tell him the truth, that many yokai eat humans. It would scare him. Why was I worried about scaring him away? He was OK for a human, but I'd start north in the morning and even if he could accept me for what I was other humans wouldn't, sooner or later I'd get caught. I didn't want to fight, didn't want to have to kill. Human blood, even if I'm only half yokai my mother was a man-eater. I'm so afraid of being that too. Humans would attack me for being a monster when our paths crossed, but they would hunt me down and kill me if I ever acquired a taste for human flesh.
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Yami Bakura
Kit seemed troubled. I wondered what she was concealing. "You know you don't have to protect me." Kit looked troubled as she looked at me. "You can summon, but you don't have a millennium item. I don't understand how normal humans could do that, is that something that comes with being a hanyou?"
"Yes and no." Kit reached under her shirt and drew out a small pendant, a bi-pyramidal piece of golden stone. "My father gave me this when I was little, he said it would help me draw out my natural magic. My mother was a white tiger yokai, but my father was a human magician, he said I would have magic too. Doesn't seem like I have a lot, just enough to make those priestesses think I was a goddess, whether I wanted them to or not. I don't think I would be able to do anything without it"
"What is it? It looks a little like a millennium item."
"No, but I suppose you could call this millennium slag. When metal is refined some things are left over, that's called slag. This is a piece of slag left over from the metal the millennium items were made out of. I've heard that there are staffs made out of this stuff that duelists without millennium items can use to call monsters, but I don't think there are many of these raw crystals left."
"You refer to the items as millennium items, why?"
"Just a legend that I was told as a child. Long ago monsters, yokai, other demons, forest spirits, mythical creatures in general all lived in another world, the dark world. There were some humans in the dark world but they were few and far between, most learned either to be warriors or magicians to survive. The residence of the dark world didn't know about the light world just as the light world didn't know about the dark world. Every so often a temporary gate would open between the two and creatures would wander through it and humans from the light world would deal with them and then tell stories of fantastic beasts that could never be proven but also never be forgotten." Kit paused. "It didn't help that when the dark world monsters were defeated in the light world their remains vanished back into the dark world. Humans know so very little about their world, they assumed the monsters came from the deep forests or the high mountains or the unexplored seas. About a thousand years ago in Egypt a sorcerer actually opened a permanent gateway between the light and dark worlds. In the dark world he took a metal alloy from a cave called Heart of the World, with it he forged the seven millennium items that would allow him and his followers to control the dark world and with its power conquer the light. The residence of the dark world rose up against the sorcerer and his followers and a great battle ensued. Although their efforts failed before he died a powerful demon lord placed a curse on the millennium items, 'These items of power shall be known as millennium items, remember that although you have beaten us you will not win, after one thousand years the gateway will be sealed and the power of the millennium items sleep.' He also put a curse on one of the millennium items in particular, that when thousands of years had passed and the power of the items was forgotten that darkness would rise again to conquer the world that had tried to conquer it."
"Which item was the curse placed on?"
"No one knows, that knowledge was never preserved so that the item in question could never be destroyed. It could even be your ring."
I put my hand on the ring on my chest. It didn't feel particularly evil, for the first time I wondered why I had been chosen by an item like this.
"I have also heard that once you bond with an item you accept the destiny of that item and shall be bound to it until you die."
"You said the gateway was open, why aren't there monsters all over the place?"
"Because the free monsters want to stay free, so they hide. Also the gateway isn't fully open. It would take all seven millennium items to either seal it or open it all the way."
"My ring was in this tomb. I wonder how many of the other items are still hidden, I bet I could find them with my ring."
"Baku, what are you thinking?"
"I don't know." I realized that I had been thinking of opening the gateway, but why should I want to do that? From what Kit said that would essentially doom humanity. "Kit?"
"Yes?"
"What else can you tell me? About the Dark World I mean?"
"I have heard it has a feudal kingdom system of government. Humanity in the dark world is split up into several kingdoms; some kingdoms are bound together under one king, but are ruled by several lords," Kit took a drink from a canteen I hadn't realized she had. After she had finished I reached for it, mine was still at home. Kit handed me the bottle and continued, "The monsters all live differently. The majority of monsters is independent and stake out small territories all over the dark world, most of the minor monsters have really small territories and wandering monsters aren't expected to respect all boundaries. Some of the more powerful monsters band together in certain areas, dragons typically live on mountains. I have never seen it but I have read that there are some monsters who are born with naturally human shapes, but that can transform into shapes that resemble their brethren. These demons often become leaders because of their ability to interact with humans. Demon lords are very rare but they often have more humanoid forms and greater powers than other demons. What else? Er, oh, right, the dark world doesn't have a sun."
"Really?"
"Well, that's what I've heard, or at least that it doesn't have a bright sun like earth, it had a sun god, Ra, the same as Egypt has, but Ra was captured and sealed into a stone tablet. Now the only light in the dark world comes from the moon and I don't really know where. That's about all I can think of right now." Kit reached for the water bottle and I handed it back, she took a drink and asked me. "Baku, how would you like to come to Europe with me?"
"Why should I?"
Kit shrugged, "I was just thinking that since you seem to be a wanted man here you might want to leave. You're OK and I wouldn't mind you as a traveling buddy."
"I don't know, Egypt's always been my home."
"Well you think about it. Now it's time to sleep." Kit looked around and located a ledge some twenty feet up, just below the ceiling. I'll sleep up there. There are probably some pillows or something that you could sleep on." Kit leapt up and almost made it to the ledge, as it was she caught it with her hands and had to scramble up. "Goodnight, Baku," she said before curling up on the ledge. I found a pile of pillows, royal purple with gold embroidery, and settled down for the night. They were very comfortable; this guy sure knew how to live in the afterlife.
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The next day when I woke up Kit was already awake. She was taking things out of the tomb, most of the things I recognized as being from her food stash, but there were one or two things... "Kit! Those are mine!"
"What, these?" She held up a pair of blankets she had found in the tomb. "You haven't actually stolen them yet." I glared at her and she relented, "Fine, I didn't really need these anyway, it's just nice to have a blanket to huddle under during the cold desert nights but hey, I'm a hanyou, I can take it."
"I'm glad, because you aren't taking any of my treasure."
Kit dropped the blankets on the pile of pillows I had used as a bed. "Goodbye, Baku. It's been nice knowing you. Maybe we'll meet again, maybe not, I don't know." Kit looked a little sad. "I'll miss you, you know, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a friend."
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Time passed. After Kit taught me how to summon I became a duelist. I wasn't unknown anymore, although I like staying hidden, the high priest in particular loves attention, I don't know how he can stand it. I didn't really need to rob tombs any more, but, well everyone needs a hobby and mine was raiding tombs. Anyway it made all the other duelists nervous.
Do you know the feeling of seeing a group of men charging at you? To cast a spell on them that turns them against each other? Seeing that stirred something in me, something dark and mischievous, something that likes seeing people consumed by fear. I laughed as my pursuers fought each other; comrades in arms were now deadly enemies.
Ah, those were the days. I hadn't yet appeared in front of the pharaoh or within the palace, I was just practicing, I wanted to be ready. But you know, it's fun terrorizing people, I soon learned that the monsters that caused the most fear were those associated with death. Tablets containing monsters that resembled rotted corpses, a mummy, anything that reminds humans of death terrifies them.
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Yami Yugi
"He's a menace I tell you!" One of my advisers was shouting as he paced back and forth in front of me, most unseemly behavior before the pharaoh. "People killing each other under that damn Change of Heart curse he puts on them. Pharaoh, how can you let this continue?"
I sighed and looked at him from atop my throne. "He is, by all accounts, a millennium item holder. As such he must be defeated in a proper duel. I have sent out a messenger to invite him to the palace"
"You can't! A scoundrel like him! Here?"
I glared at him, it's rude to interrupt and often fatal to interrupt someone in power "for a duel. If I win he must stop this cruel misuse of his powers."
"And if you loose?" asked the smooth, calm voice of my high priest, Seto.
"That will be for him to decide."
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Devil Dragon: AKA Koumori Dragon. I'll probably use the Japanese names (if I know them) for one or two cards, either because I like them better, because I can spell them more easily or because it makes more sense in Egypt to call something Elvin Swordsmen than it would to call it Celtic Guardian (because why would the Egyptians know about the Celts in this timeframe?).
I think the King of Yamimakai is called King of the World of Darkness, but I'm not 100% sure.
For those who don't want to see Kit go she will return, maybe next chapter, maybe the one after, I won't know till that chapter is written.
This chapter was a good lesson for me, I wanted it to go one way but the darn thing has a mind of its own and went a completely different way. I'd better try to follow the story as it develops instead of trying to control it too much.
Once again I don't own Yu-gi-oh. Some things that inspired parts of this story that I don't own are Inu-Yasha and Dragon Warrior.
For many of the main characters I'll probably use the names they had in the English playstation game (even though I don't own a PS or PS2 and got all the names out of a magazine) because they're the closest thing to official that I can find.
Oh right, little bit of profanity, but I guess this already got a PG rating and I don't really consider the one or two potentially offensive words to be worth a higher rating (but then I'm not religious so I wouldn't).
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Yami Bakura
"OK." I closed my eyes and concentrated on a tablet that held the form of a small dragon. I felt the spirit start to stir as I reached for it. I opened my eyes to see what was happening and was just in time to see the glow of the stone fade.
"Not bad for a first try, it took me several tries to get that far. Once you have the spirit's attention you just have to tell it to come out. Why don't you try calling the first one in defense mode, just to be on the safe side." Kit looked a little nervous and I realized her posture had changed from fairly relaxed to ready for battle. I wondered how many of these monsters Kit had had to fight because she couldn't control them. "Oh, right, almost forgot, it helps to call them by name. If you know the name of a monster than it is more likely to obey you than if you just say something like 'hey you, come out'. That's a Devil Dragon by the way."
"OK." I concentrated on the tablet again and felt the spirit notice me. "Come out, Devil Dragon, and assume a defensive pose." I might have felt foolish if I hadn't seen Kit call a monster earlier and hadn't felt the presence inside the tablet. I opened my eyes and saw before me a purple dragon, only about the size of a camel, but very fierce looking. Its eyes were focused on Kit but I could tell part of its attention was on me, waiting for my commands.
Kit edged closer to me and I noticed the dragon turn and move between her and me. She stopped and started to move back and it followed her every movement. "It thinks I'm your opponent, or maybe one of your opponent's monsters. It's trying to block me from attacking you directly."
"What do I do with it now?"
"Well, we've got to get rid of it before this actually turns into a fight. I know, I surrender, you're too strong." The dragon blinked and vanished back into its tablet. Kit sighed. "If this had been a real duel whatever penalty we had set up beforehand would have taken effect. In the fights I've seen before between a yokai and a human the punishment for loosing is to be sealed into a stone tablet. My mother died like that. Between two humans usually there isn't a major penalty, however you must remember this: every time a dark game is initiated a price of life must be paid. From what I've heard often slaves or criminals are brought to be sacrificed to the dark games, however sometimes it is the loosing duelist that is sacrificed." Kit sighed and stared at the stones, sleeping silently in the tomb where the ring had slept for centuries. "You should practice some more, but I won't be here to watch you, I don't really want to be a practice target. When you feel confident calling low level monsters try calling that one," Kit pointed to an image of a bug-like creature that had a body like a troll. "That's the King of Yamimakai, to call it you must sacrifice one monster that you have already called."
Kit left the room and I tried to call the monsters again, but they didn't come out. I walked into the main tomb and found Kit snooping around my treasure. "Kit!"
"Eep! Oh, sorry, you startled me. What do you want?"
"The monsters won't come out."
Kit sighed, "I was afraid of that, they don't see the point of coming out since you don't have an opponent. Usually captured monsters are less difficult, at least as long as you are a higher level than them, but I guess these guys don't recognize you as their master so they won't obey commands that don't make sense. Don't worry, they'll learn. I guess I'll have to help you practice until then." We went back into the room where the monsters were and I called the Devil Dragon again. "OK, I won't be able to summon any monsters, although I can still use spells." Kit muttered something under her breath and a mark appeared on the floor in front of her. "Prepared one spell, I'll end my turn. To call out a higher level monster name the sacrificial monster or monsters in addition to the monster you are calling. Just try not to attack me OK?"
"It's my turn. I'll offer Devil Dragon as a sacrifice and summon King of Yamimakai." I watched as the devil dragon vanished into a cloud of darkness which materialized into a monster that looked like a cross between a giant Hercules Beetle and an ogre, at least that's what my host thinks it looks like. It was so much bigger than Kit and I could tell she knew it, that she might as well be its prey. She looked confident, I wondered why. If I had faced that monster with no magic protecting me I wouldn't have looked half so confident, but then again she did have magic protecting her. Suddenly without being told my monster attacked.
As it rushed at her Kit raised her left arm. "Activate trap, Mirror Force." A field surrounded Kit and reflected my monster's attack, destroying it. "OK, I give. Why in all the hells did you attack me?"
I shrugged. "You didn't seem afraid; I figured whatever spell you prepared had to be pretty good."
Kit sighed, "That was Mirror Force, I put it there in case something went wrong. I suppose I should teach you how to use spells. That was a trap type spell, meaning you must have it prepared and on the field for a little while before you can use it. Ordinary spells can just be launched at any time. However using magic takes a certain amount of power, the more powerful the spell the more power it takes, Mirror Force for example takes quite a bit of magic so there is a rule about only using it once during a duel, to make it more fair to people like me who don't have unlimited magic, same thing goes for Raise Dead. Some spells, like Fireball, cost so little energy you can afford to use them many times, but according to the rules you may only use most spells a maximum of three times. The Usually you can only have five active spells at once, that's another handicap, since the number of spells you can maintain at once depends on your concentration, I can maintain three but I get a little dizzy, your ring would help you maintain more than a normal human could." Kit looked around and walked over to a niche cut into the wall. "Aha, I knew these had to be somewhere." Kit came over and unrolled a papyrus scroll. "Can you read hieratic?"
"Not really, I can read a few hieroglyphics but that's about it."
"That's a problem, you need to be able to read the spells. I guess until you learn to read and write you should try memorizing one or two, you'll need to have them memorized anyway for dueling."
"Why?"
"Another rule, your monsters are limited both by your level as a duelist and by the amount of space you have, those stones are pretty big. The amount of magic and traps you have are limited both by your magic power and by how many spells you can memorize. I try to keep a couple good spells memorized. Mirror Force is a good spell, but I had looked it up before the battle, normally I don't memorize traps. This one's my favorite," Kit took a smaller roll out of a bag she had and showed me a spell with a picture of fireballs beside it. "That's Fireball. It's your basic destroy anything, anywhere, anytime spell, so it suits my purposes."
"Hey, isn't that Change of Heart?" I pointed to a spell in the tomb's scroll with a picture of a woman with one bird wing and one bat wing holding a heart.
"So it is. That's a great one to use for dueling. Want me to teach you?" I nodded and Kit read over the papyrus and recited the spell.
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A few hours later it was nightfall. I had learned the Change of Heart spell and Kit had translated the spells I liked into hieroglyphics, at least I'd be able to read them. Raise Dead interested me, Kit told me that in a duel it was a very good spell, but that it couldn't be used outside a duel, but that she had no idea why. I wondered if it was because the dark world didn't like giving up its sacrifices.
"Congratulations Baku." Kit walked up to me, smiled and handed me a stick of what looked like meat. "You've mastered in less than a day what it took me weeks of practice to do. Of course you have a millennium item so you've got quite an advantage over ordinary duelists."
"What's this?" I asked after taking a bite.
"That? Spitting cobra jerky," Kit giggled. "I was saving it for travel food, but I didn't have anything else."
"Where are you going?"
"To Europe. I've heard there are plenty of deep forests that humans haven't penetrated there. I'm hoping to find a nice quite place without humans to settle down, live my life without worrying about getting caught, that sort of thing. I want to find someplace just for me." Kit took a bite out of her piece of cobra jerky and chewed thoughtfully. "Before I left the temple I daydreamed about finding a spell to loose all the monsters in the temple's tablets and escape with my little chimera in the confusion. I must admit I don't really like being alone."
"What are you Kit? I thought you were a demon, why can't you live with other demons?"
"You're pretty sharp. I'm only a hanyou, half demon, half human. Demons in the light world don't like hanyou, they think we're nothing but trash, not yokai enough to be one of them, not human enough... Never mind."
"What were you going to say?"
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Kit
"Nothing, it doesn't concern you." I bit my lip, it did concern him, it concerned all humans, but... I didn't want to tell him the truth, that many yokai eat humans. It would scare him. Why was I worried about scaring him away? He was OK for a human, but I'd start north in the morning and even if he could accept me for what I was other humans wouldn't, sooner or later I'd get caught. I didn't want to fight, didn't want to have to kill. Human blood, even if I'm only half yokai my mother was a man-eater. I'm so afraid of being that too. Humans would attack me for being a monster when our paths crossed, but they would hunt me down and kill me if I ever acquired a taste for human flesh.
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Yami Bakura
Kit seemed troubled. I wondered what she was concealing. "You know you don't have to protect me." Kit looked troubled as she looked at me. "You can summon, but you don't have a millennium item. I don't understand how normal humans could do that, is that something that comes with being a hanyou?"
"Yes and no." Kit reached under her shirt and drew out a small pendant, a bi-pyramidal piece of golden stone. "My father gave me this when I was little, he said it would help me draw out my natural magic. My mother was a white tiger yokai, but my father was a human magician, he said I would have magic too. Doesn't seem like I have a lot, just enough to make those priestesses think I was a goddess, whether I wanted them to or not. I don't think I would be able to do anything without it"
"What is it? It looks a little like a millennium item."
"No, but I suppose you could call this millennium slag. When metal is refined some things are left over, that's called slag. This is a piece of slag left over from the metal the millennium items were made out of. I've heard that there are staffs made out of this stuff that duelists without millennium items can use to call monsters, but I don't think there are many of these raw crystals left."
"You refer to the items as millennium items, why?"
"Just a legend that I was told as a child. Long ago monsters, yokai, other demons, forest spirits, mythical creatures in general all lived in another world, the dark world. There were some humans in the dark world but they were few and far between, most learned either to be warriors or magicians to survive. The residence of the dark world didn't know about the light world just as the light world didn't know about the dark world. Every so often a temporary gate would open between the two and creatures would wander through it and humans from the light world would deal with them and then tell stories of fantastic beasts that could never be proven but also never be forgotten." Kit paused. "It didn't help that when the dark world monsters were defeated in the light world their remains vanished back into the dark world. Humans know so very little about their world, they assumed the monsters came from the deep forests or the high mountains or the unexplored seas. About a thousand years ago in Egypt a sorcerer actually opened a permanent gateway between the light and dark worlds. In the dark world he took a metal alloy from a cave called Heart of the World, with it he forged the seven millennium items that would allow him and his followers to control the dark world and with its power conquer the light. The residence of the dark world rose up against the sorcerer and his followers and a great battle ensued. Although their efforts failed before he died a powerful demon lord placed a curse on the millennium items, 'These items of power shall be known as millennium items, remember that although you have beaten us you will not win, after one thousand years the gateway will be sealed and the power of the millennium items sleep.' He also put a curse on one of the millennium items in particular, that when thousands of years had passed and the power of the items was forgotten that darkness would rise again to conquer the world that had tried to conquer it."
"Which item was the curse placed on?"
"No one knows, that knowledge was never preserved so that the item in question could never be destroyed. It could even be your ring."
I put my hand on the ring on my chest. It didn't feel particularly evil, for the first time I wondered why I had been chosen by an item like this.
"I have also heard that once you bond with an item you accept the destiny of that item and shall be bound to it until you die."
"You said the gateway was open, why aren't there monsters all over the place?"
"Because the free monsters want to stay free, so they hide. Also the gateway isn't fully open. It would take all seven millennium items to either seal it or open it all the way."
"My ring was in this tomb. I wonder how many of the other items are still hidden, I bet I could find them with my ring."
"Baku, what are you thinking?"
"I don't know." I realized that I had been thinking of opening the gateway, but why should I want to do that? From what Kit said that would essentially doom humanity. "Kit?"
"Yes?"
"What else can you tell me? About the Dark World I mean?"
"I have heard it has a feudal kingdom system of government. Humanity in the dark world is split up into several kingdoms; some kingdoms are bound together under one king, but are ruled by several lords," Kit took a drink from a canteen I hadn't realized she had. After she had finished I reached for it, mine was still at home. Kit handed me the bottle and continued, "The monsters all live differently. The majority of monsters is independent and stake out small territories all over the dark world, most of the minor monsters have really small territories and wandering monsters aren't expected to respect all boundaries. Some of the more powerful monsters band together in certain areas, dragons typically live on mountains. I have never seen it but I have read that there are some monsters who are born with naturally human shapes, but that can transform into shapes that resemble their brethren. These demons often become leaders because of their ability to interact with humans. Demon lords are very rare but they often have more humanoid forms and greater powers than other demons. What else? Er, oh, right, the dark world doesn't have a sun."
"Really?"
"Well, that's what I've heard, or at least that it doesn't have a bright sun like earth, it had a sun god, Ra, the same as Egypt has, but Ra was captured and sealed into a stone tablet. Now the only light in the dark world comes from the moon and I don't really know where. That's about all I can think of right now." Kit reached for the water bottle and I handed it back, she took a drink and asked me. "Baku, how would you like to come to Europe with me?"
"Why should I?"
Kit shrugged, "I was just thinking that since you seem to be a wanted man here you might want to leave. You're OK and I wouldn't mind you as a traveling buddy."
"I don't know, Egypt's always been my home."
"Well you think about it. Now it's time to sleep." Kit looked around and located a ledge some twenty feet up, just below the ceiling. I'll sleep up there. There are probably some pillows or something that you could sleep on." Kit leapt up and almost made it to the ledge, as it was she caught it with her hands and had to scramble up. "Goodnight, Baku," she said before curling up on the ledge. I found a pile of pillows, royal purple with gold embroidery, and settled down for the night. They were very comfortable; this guy sure knew how to live in the afterlife.
......................................
The next day when I woke up Kit was already awake. She was taking things out of the tomb, most of the things I recognized as being from her food stash, but there were one or two things... "Kit! Those are mine!"
"What, these?" She held up a pair of blankets she had found in the tomb. "You haven't actually stolen them yet." I glared at her and she relented, "Fine, I didn't really need these anyway, it's just nice to have a blanket to huddle under during the cold desert nights but hey, I'm a hanyou, I can take it."
"I'm glad, because you aren't taking any of my treasure."
Kit dropped the blankets on the pile of pillows I had used as a bed. "Goodbye, Baku. It's been nice knowing you. Maybe we'll meet again, maybe not, I don't know." Kit looked a little sad. "I'll miss you, you know, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a friend."
.........................
Time passed. After Kit taught me how to summon I became a duelist. I wasn't unknown anymore, although I like staying hidden, the high priest in particular loves attention, I don't know how he can stand it. I didn't really need to rob tombs any more, but, well everyone needs a hobby and mine was raiding tombs. Anyway it made all the other duelists nervous.
Do you know the feeling of seeing a group of men charging at you? To cast a spell on them that turns them against each other? Seeing that stirred something in me, something dark and mischievous, something that likes seeing people consumed by fear. I laughed as my pursuers fought each other; comrades in arms were now deadly enemies.
Ah, those were the days. I hadn't yet appeared in front of the pharaoh or within the palace, I was just practicing, I wanted to be ready. But you know, it's fun terrorizing people, I soon learned that the monsters that caused the most fear were those associated with death. Tablets containing monsters that resembled rotted corpses, a mummy, anything that reminds humans of death terrifies them.
................................
Yami Yugi
"He's a menace I tell you!" One of my advisers was shouting as he paced back and forth in front of me, most unseemly behavior before the pharaoh. "People killing each other under that damn Change of Heart curse he puts on them. Pharaoh, how can you let this continue?"
I sighed and looked at him from atop my throne. "He is, by all accounts, a millennium item holder. As such he must be defeated in a proper duel. I have sent out a messenger to invite him to the palace"
"You can't! A scoundrel like him! Here?"
I glared at him, it's rude to interrupt and often fatal to interrupt someone in power "for a duel. If I win he must stop this cruel misuse of his powers."
"And if you loose?" asked the smooth, calm voice of my high priest, Seto.
"That will be for him to decide."
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Devil Dragon: AKA Koumori Dragon. I'll probably use the Japanese names (if I know them) for one or two cards, either because I like them better, because I can spell them more easily or because it makes more sense in Egypt to call something Elvin Swordsmen than it would to call it Celtic Guardian (because why would the Egyptians know about the Celts in this timeframe?).
I think the King of Yamimakai is called King of the World of Darkness, but I'm not 100% sure.
For those who don't want to see Kit go she will return, maybe next chapter, maybe the one after, I won't know till that chapter is written.