HSAs are done!!!!! YAH!!!!!!! Im so happy… there's only one problem now…. I am COMPLETELY BRAINDEAD! This chapter took me 2 weeks to write! I thought I might get more ideas and inspiration by going to see the Matrix Reloaded, but all the great ideas I got are too late to incorporate into Keeper now. L I am so screwed. The only reader ideas I have been getting lately is to have Morsei kill someone… there's not much to go on there! (^_^ yes I am allowed to insult the person who suggested it cuz she's a friend from skool!) J/K! It is a good idea, and it does seem like he's going to kill someone, doesn't it? Hmmm….
Anyway…
Disclaimer: oh c'mon, it's chap 29 already! If you actually pay attention to disclaimers you know what it is! ^_^
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Chapter 29: Distracted by Memory
Mahado had suddenly disappeared, but Yami could already guess what had happened before the former priest reappeared again.
"Pharaoh, the princess…" Mahado started to explain as his manifestation reappeared.
"Summoned you in a duel, I presume," Yami interrupted.
"Yes."
"I guessed as much, but I didn't think Morsei would…"
"He's not. She's dueling against Seto," the Dark Magician interjected. Yami's eyes widened. The magician went on. "He's under some mind spell, from what I could tell in the few minutes I was there."
"So Morsei plays mind games as part of his strategy," Yami mused aloud. "He has no conscience, pitting Caleia in a Shadow Game against Seto." Mahado nodded silently. "After all these millennia, I thought that he could have changed. I was a fool to have given him a second chance."
"You have a heart, and he was merely a boy then: following his father's teaching. We all had reason to believe that he could change," the former high priest argued. Yami took this is silently. A few seconds passed in silence, then the subject was dropped, for now.
"Caleia is in grave danger if Morsei steps out of the rules of the game. Combat skills, both physically and magically, she has, or had, but powerwise, no manifestation--- reincarnation, of her has ever been able to unlock all her powers, and even then, Sakahet, Morsei's father, was…"
"Barely defeated…"
"And he was already weakened from fighting us," Mahado added. Yami sighed, the memories becoming clear as he needed them.
"Unfortunately, I remember now," he said. "Morsei is stronger now than Sakahet was then. I---" A sudden burst of energy caught Yami's attention, as well as Mahado's. Distinctly dark, it could be only from Morsei, but Yami felt a spark of Caleia's golden aura in it.
"This way!" both Yami and Mahado shouted as they raced off in the direction of the energy's origin, their voices and footsteps reflecting off the walls.
***
Bakura rolled out of the way as the gleaming, sharp claws lashed out at him. This was just his luck. Dokuryaiba he could handle, as well as any other fiend or other creature… except dragons. So of course, the next little obstacle he stumbled upon was a Red Eyes.
The dark dragon roared and snapped at the tomb robber, who again rolled out of the grasp of the sharp teeth. He pushed himself up quickly and jumped over the dragon's swinging tail, only to be thrown against the stone wall as the swipe of the Red Eye's claw connected. Bakura groaned as he pulled himself up onto his knees, his head spinning--- probably a concussion… again.
Bile mixed with blood rose in his throat and he spat it out, the putrid combination of smells making him choke and cough up more blood. He wiped his mouth with his hand and looked at the dragon looming above, like death manifested. The Red Eyes started summoning a fireball to spit at the white-haired tomb robber, the fiery red energy scorching the very air around it.
As the dragon shot the fireball at Bakura, there was a crack of the whip, followed by a loud explosion as the fireball hit the wall above the boy's head. Bakura forced his eyes open to see what had happened.
A whip was wrapped around the dragon's neck, pulled back by a figure dressed in night black robes with silver and navy embroidery. She had auburn-highlighted black hair to her shoulders, but her face was hidden in the shadows. "Mathta--Stop," she commanded in a crisp voice, leaving no room for argument in her tone. There was unseen power behind her words also, power that commanded respect. Bakura vaguely remembered the rich, almost musical voice, but had never heard it like this, commanding and powerful, except in song or spell. Long ago he had heard it often, for it belonged to no other than Annya's older twin sister, Serashi.
The dragon succumbed to her will, calming down and sitting obediently. With a flick of her wrist, Serashi recalled her whip, and within the same movement transformed the whip back to her staff. "Go home," she whispered to the dragon, using her own powers to open a portal out of this stronghold and to the Land of Dragons. The Red Eyes bowed its head and disappeared into the portal.
Serashi turned to Bakura and went over, summoning a light that made the crescent-star---Shadow Guardian emblem--- that adorned her staff glow. "Concussion," she said wearily, as if opening the portal had drained her…which, given the powers that guarded this stronghold, was fairly true. Lightly she put her hand on the side of Bakura's head and started chanting. He almost immediately felt his lightheadedness starting to dissipate as his thoughts became clearer. Serashi smiled as she felt Bakura getting better. She finished the spell and stood up, offering the tomb-robber a hand up. He didn't take it, getting up on his own, but she wasn't insulted, she knew his character too well to take insult to that. Instead she grabbed her staff and leaned on it.
"Hello Bakura," she greeted calmly. She tilted her head in greeting and a slight smile spread on her face. In the past the girl had been the one that fit in more than her sister, but in these times, she was the one that hurt more, for unseen reasons-- her gifts were her curses. "Annya told me you three were here."
"Serashi," Bakura greeted back. "Why are you here? It's too dangerous, I told Annya to tell you!" Serashi laughed.
"She did, don't worry."
"This is still too dangerous," Bakura protested.
"Five millennia as Shadow Guardian--- I don't see danger like you do anymore," Serashi replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Besides, I can't let my little sister's man get hurt now, could I? What kind of sister would I be?" she teased. "You are sill in my realm anyway," she added finally.
"And how could I repay your sister if I let you get hurt-- or Malik?" Bakura interjected, meeting Serashi's almost-black eyes. Serashi muttered that Malik doesn't even know her anymore. "Now go," Bakura commanded in the sternest voice he could muster.
"No."
"GO!"
"NO!" Bakura sighed. Serashi still retained her stubborness.
"This is still my duty," she whispered. It was too obvious how "her duty" had carried her through all these centuries, pushing away the ache inside her heart.
"Listen," Bakura tried to reason. "What duty will you fulfill if you die here?"
"I would have died doing my duty."
"But if you leave now first, and save your strength, and if we fail, you have more of a chance to fight Morsei sucessfully." Serashi seemed to think about it for a moment. She let out an exasperated sigh of one who couldn't argue further.
"Fine," she said as she faded away. Bakura took a deep breath.
A surge of dark energy, with the force of strong winds, blew at him from out of no where. He swiveled around sharply to face the direction it was coming from, using his magical senses to "scan" the energy. He felt a trace of Caleia's magic in the mix. Without another word he raced down the halls towards the magic's source.
****
"How disgustingly sweet," Morsei sneered. Caleia's eyes snapped open and fixed on him as she stood up slowly and faced him. Her fiery orange eyes burned with her rage as she stepped in front of Seto, almost protectively holding him behind her with her left hand. Her right hand fell to the hilt of her sword and loosened it from its scabbard, ready to draw it.
"This seems familiar, does it not?" continued Morsei as he absentmindedly fixed his black robes, which were starched so that this action was unnecessary anyway. A sadistic little grin crept on the corners of his mouth. Seto was clueless, but Caleia knew exactly what the man was talking about. Her eyes narrowed further, eyebrows furrowing. She felt her heartbeats becoming faster, her body commanding her to take in more oxygen as Morsei's power snaked into her mind and forced it to uncontrollably raced back to that day five millennia ago.
The scene was almost exactly the same, only Sakahet, Morsei's father, was beside a younger Morsei and Seto was doubled over, his powers weakened from fighting the father-son team before Caleia reached him. She thought that she was leading them away from him, but they had decided to follow the high priest instead, knowing the Keeper would come for him anyway.
Caleia's eyes narrowed. Sakahet and Morsei were the ones that Caleia had been forced to call the wrath of the seven Blue Eyes upon, had been the ones that forced Caleia to make the choice to give up her life… for Seto, for her daughter, for…the world. Morsei she spared and gave a second chance, for he was young then, and could still choose a better path. As afterthought now, he obviously didn't.
"Caleia!"
Caleia was so deep in thought that if it weren't for Seto's shout of her name, she would not have realized that Morsei had directed at them a globe of pure energy. She threw up a shield with her mind, but it was too hastily done to be able to block Morsei's power.
The globe of energy collided with the shield and exploded, the force of it hurling Caleia and Seto back at least 20 feet.
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whew! Finished finally! Hope you didn't mind me introducing Serashi, but I realized it is essential for me to introduce her in order to do the sequel.
Seto: SEQUEL? WHAT SEQUEL? HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH TO TORTURE US?
Kirsta: ^_^* yes, a sequel, thank you. All, or most, of the characters I introduce but didn't go into much detail about will make a comeback, and… ANOTHER lil new character that will be introduced at the end of this story will be in it. *cough cough* ^_^
Please review!
Ja ne,
~kirsta~
