M-Sama's Note: Hey everyone! Long one this time. I hope it comes anywhere close to being worth the wait. You have been so great, all you reviewers. Thank you.
Chapter 16: Thunder in the Air, Gods in the Sky
With the aid of the spirit guardians, it took little time to travel to the shrines and collect the items. That is, the four items whose locations were known. The eye, the tauk (necklace), the scales, the ring, and the ankh were all where they were supposed to be: lying on their respective alters, surrounded by spells of power to protect them from the unworthy. The ring and the rod, however, where missing.
The king ran his hand over the impression where the rod once lay, fingering the broken spell-inscriptions. This was bad. Now he would have to trust his father's word: all the items would be there for the final rites.
The wall behind the alter was engraved with a portrait of the spirit that had guarded this place. The king looked at it for a long time. Seito…I know longer have any doubts. You are the lord of chaos, my most dangerous rival, the only one who can duel me to a standstill and understands me better then anyone else. This is why we have fought like brothers in the depths of a vengeful feud. I know you by your name…Seto Sutekh-Sokar. His cape flew behind him as he exited the temple.
His friends and the guardians were awaiting him outside. The spirits looked less unearthly under the full light of the Egyptian sun, if a bit translucent.
"We shall journey to the tomb of Narmer!" said the King in that voice that was itself a command.
"You sure about dat? We only got five'a the treasures."
"Yes." The king's voice was low. "We must now or we never will. Every time we move along the shadow-path the hunting gods get closer. You can hear them now, if you listen. We will only be able to manage one more jump before they catch us."
"Huh?!"
"Is it so impossible? Keep in mind, all concept you might have had about space is or time is irrelevant now, and will be until we seal the magics up again."
"My king, we must leave now or we shall not have time for the rite."
"Then we have no time to search for the two missing items. We must trust to fate."
"We go!" and a whirling of dark winds.
The tomb of Narmer. There lay his funerary bed; it's sides naked of any inscriptions. All about where the stones, monster stones, broken and empty as the monsters screeched through the corridors.
Outside stood the king, his spiritual protectors, his friends.
It was a monstrous pyramid, the original birthplace of the Thousand Year treasures. A small shrine at the top was the place the tablets exited from when summoned to the newly built temples and dueling arenas. A kind of chimney. Monsters were all around, shrieking in pain and anger at their lost homes, but they could not approach the group. Every time they tried, the power of the spirits in the sun drove them back. Despite this, Jono and Tèana stuck close to their friend, jumping each time one of the beasts came close.
One monster stood by the downward entrance. It did not shriek. It stood, arms crossed, holding it's violet staff and regarding the party with knowing blue eyes.
The king took a step forward. "For years I have known you as Dark Magician, the most faithful and dearest of all duel creatures," he said. "But you come here today with a different purpose."
"Well met, Madaho of the Ring," said the spirits in chorus. The magician nodded thoughtfully, then fixed his eyes on something in the distance.
"Madaho," said the King, "you sense your old treasure."
The magician shook his head.
"What then?"
Shadah of the Ankh spoke up. "Something dark and evil looms. We have no time."
"Let's go then," said the King.
Downwards through the sealed door which opened to the king. Downward through endless winding stairways. Downwards through sealed stone doors broken and past the fleeing monsters. To the place where the sarcophagus sat, in the middle of a circular dais, the stone face staring placidly up, a crack running down the middle. Empty indentations, like those in a child's wooden block toy. Shapes that could not be mistaken.
Upon entering the room the spirit guardians dispersed. As though blown by an irresistible wind, they all moved to hover in the air over their respective indentations, like ghostly markers, their feet vanishing with the force of their pull.
The king approached slowly. In his hands he held out the bag with the treasures in it. The puzzle around his neck was vibrating, producing a humming sound. Something was coming, it would happen soon…
He closed his eyes and he could see it. The entire world spread itself before his gaze. He felt the fabric of reality unraveling at horrifying speed, faster and faster. By nightfall there would be nothing left to save. Thousands of people, his people, were dead already, or had been fallen into the shadowy darkness. There was no more time…
The giants among monsters sensed him. The vengeful gods were coming already, burning and destroying.
Now.
He took the last step onto the dais.
There was a howling shriek, dark winds whipping through the room with enough force to rip skin from bone. Tèana screamed. Jono moved to shield her, clenching his teeth. Together they huddled against the wall, bracing themselves. The king stood like a sentinel, completely motionless, his eyes shut, his cape whipping his shoulders like an outraged violet ghost set on emancipation.
The roar got louder. Down from on high came the white demon-fox, his cotton robes flaring out like wings, going straight through the spirits to land on the coffin, grinning his fanged grin. Never had those unholy eyes burned brighter then now, never had that mane of snowy white looked more ethereal. No one who watched him now could have any doubts that here was a creature not of this world, his wind devil who grinned and laughed with his dark eyes flashing.
The king's burning violet eyes opened. He was not in the least surprised to see his fellow scion. He knew this person would come. He could feel the Thousand Year Ring hidden beneath that robe. He knew here was the thief to end all thieves-
"And a stealer of souls." The smug white fox completed his thought. They looked at each other. They were on the same plane. Both knew what was coming. Both knew all about the other. Both felt the power here, at the nexus of all dark magic.
Why are you come, asked the very air.
I come for the treasures.
And I am come as a savior.
A savior? What would you save? Amusement. Give me the treasures.
No.
Then your companions shall pay the price.
Again the winds ripped through the air, this time straight at Jono and Tèana, black-laced gusts with cutting power to kill.
The king's eyes widened. He moved with unnatural speed, placing himself between his friends and the thief. He caught the full blast of the winds on his back, shredding his cape. Blood dripped on the floor, and the king supported himself against the wall, over his horrified, dumb-struck friends.
They are nothing but normal humans. Cruel and simple.
They are everything to me. He stood up straight. He turned to face the white one.
"Leave," he commanded.
"Hand over the treasures and I will be happy to."
"You want these," he said, holding out the resonating bag.
The naked hunger in the thief's face was horrifying. "Give them here!"
"Tèana! Jono!" cried the king. "Get out of here!"
They were too shocked to move.
"Now!"
Jono grabbed Tèana's hand. They scuttled along the wall, headed for the entrance.
"I don't think so," came a voice. From the shadows stepped a figure, smirking beneath his hood, stands of wasted gold spilling over his burnt face. "Pharaoh," he said, "it will end here and now. Everything in this sick world will finally end. Nothing will ever be the same again!" He reared back his head in a long crowing laugh.
"You…" the king's tone was cold, and hard. The golden one who whispered, the cadaverous angel, spinning webs of deceit with his power…
"Indeed, I," he said with another smirk, throwing his hood back and revealing the drained halo of gold and the dead luster of the purple eyes.
He had the last item. All seven treasures were there.
Out in the desert the gods screamed, soaring swiftly though blindly towards their destination.
You are behind Seto's treachery. The battle that ripped the fabric of the world.
Yes. The dead-gold creature's smile was chilling.
I, he, all are puppets to you.
Yes!
In that instant all was known. The three scions new each other. The Pharaoh saw the seraphic corpse's plot, his life from its childhood horrors to its twisted vision of the future. The white-haired demon there, his determination for more power, he would get it he would get it…his life, his past, his mother…in this one moment forever, standing on the face of the god-king, they each saw and felt each other through the sheer strength of the power that connected them. Each saw though his eyes and the others.
They stood. The power in the air around them was tangible. It crackled the air like lightning. The crack in the stone Narmer's face was growing. The three heralds stood on the threshold, calling forth the powers of chaos, the treasures resonating…
They are not yet all there, and nothing was happening…no one could move, minds were blown away, nothing but the moment…
The last call...
From a rip in the world he came. By way of the rushing gate he came. He came, it does not matter how. The young high priest, the prodigy who should never have been but was materialized. His magic here was strong, and he felt the call and knew there was no more time. He kicked Jono in the ribs and yelled at him to get out, Jono got to his feet, Tèana didn't want to go, she had tears in her eyes but was forced to run by the Pharaoh's own unspoken word.
Seto, Seito, was there. All was ready. The time was now.
The treasures burst from their bag. The core of the magic was visible to those who stood on the stone body. Each treasure flew straight to it's own indentation, the spirtual pillars who hovered motionless above disappearing. A blinding light covered the whole of the stone face. A power great enough to destroy the world was welling, would swell and consume, a rising tide…
No!
Monsters driven back. The tide shifting, upwards around to the stone flue that spewed out destruction, the treasures from their holds and upwards…
Never!
The white demon seized his ring. It was tearing him to pieces but he would not let it go, had had it so shortly, the power, his dream, his life…
The golden one too. His rod was leaving him. It was going to seal the magics instead of free them he would not let that happen, it's power, he needed it's power or, or…
Carried off their feet up through the air. The royal king watched them go in dismay, seized his puzzle which hovered near and followed them…they meant to undo everything, he would not let them…
The very stones resounded, glowed, pulsed with dark energy. The entire tomb was alight, and the king held up his puzzle in the midst of the chaos…
The earth quaked, lightning struck, thunder in the heavens and the air and the soul…
Quiet.
Jono and Tèana approaching the rubble. The pyramid is all-but gone. Everywhere is silence.
They fear the broken passage, the sighing depths. They fear the blackness and the silence worse then roars.
Not a single shadow monster. Not a single one left in the world. Black magic dispersed like black clouds. The Gods were gone, their wrath stemmed, nothing but the winds spoke of them now. Snatched back to the worlds from which they came.
But they must know. They will never abandon him. Where is he? Oh where is he, by Ra's name let him be alright…
Sunlight came down through the broken slabs of stone. The stone king's face was perfect. The crack was gone. But they did not see. Their eyes were on the fallen violet figure, still regal in it's ruin…
The king! No! They rushed forward with exclamations of despair.
He lay on his back, laid out on the god-king's very form like a fallen angel on the stone grave of his false lord. In his hands he held the golden pyramid. His face was stained as blood leaked from his nose, mouth, even his eyes. It was like something had burst inside him.
Tèana broke down into sobs. "The king, king…"
The soul-searing violet eyes opened just a touch. Both of his friends jerked their heads towards him. They rushed over and reached out…
"No," came his voice. It was a ghost of it's former self, but still had command.
They began hollering questions, demands for explanations. He took a deep breath and smiled a little.
Tears leaked from Jono's eyes as he told off his Pharaoh for being so dumb, how could he do this alone, didn't he trust them, what was he thinking…
The king smiled faintly. It was the most movingly real smile they had ever seen on his face. Tèana cried harder and made as though to throw her self down and weep with relief, he was all right, he was alive…
The king moved as though to say something. Then he stopped. His eyes got wider. He looked at the puzzle in his hands.
Piece by piece, it was coming apart. The pieces did not drop on his chest; they fell to the stone right through him…
He didn't understand, and he couldn't waste time trying. He could only fix his friends with his violet eyes, looking at their beloved faces to the last…
Time for one goodbye and that was all. "My friends…I will…goodbye…blessings on you forever…" and it was no longer possible to speak. The puzzle lay in pieces on his insubstantial chest. He gave a little convulsion, a sigh, and evaporated into a glow, which shrank soaked into the pieces. The pieces pulsed once, like a heartbeat, and the luster faded.
On the ground two more lights flared. Tèana and Jono, stricken and confused to the point of dumbness, stared wildly about and noticed for the first time the stricken forms on the ground around the sarcophagus. The white fox and the dead-gold angel lay where they had fallen. Both were bleeding at the face. Both were conscious for one last second. I'll never let it go, thought the thief, and his hands tightened around the ring even as they lost feeling and sank into it. The wasteland angel gave the world one last hateful stare through those dead violet eyes. Next time… And he too felt all knowledge give. His rod fell in a clatter on the ground, glowing and staring with its one eye, full of silent malice.
Tèana looked around. Her eyes were huge and terrified. She did throw herself down on the unfeeling stone this time. "I…I will find you king!" she yelled into the ruin. "I will find you again!"
"Exactly!" cried Jono, tears streaming down his face in shining trails. "We'll wait forever, Pharaoh! We won't go to the afterlife until we can all go together!"
"I'll look forever…" Tèana whispered as her tears fell on the scattered golden pieces. "I promise…"
Back in the treasure room, Sarah had pressed herself against the wall, crying her eyes out. "King…pharaoh…" she said in an ancient language she didn't know. "I will find you yet…I'll never give up…" she rambled between the sobs.
Alex was clinging to a battle-pillar for support, staring at the portraits beneath his fingers and seeing them live, move, hurt, die… Tears fell on his dust hands from his reddened eyes.
"Pharaoh…King of Games…"
And that was the beginning of it.