Egyptian Sorcery
By AlantisB
Chapter Three
"Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are worst for them."
-Dumbledore
"In a duel of the Ancient times, there was no electricity or technology to bring power and life to the duel monsters as it is in our times. The only power a duelist had was the power of their mind and their magic. This magic the duelist used depended not on their station of society, but on their soul. If the person was of weak mind, they would not become a duelist simply because they have not the will to control one monster, let alone an entire deck.
A duelist deck is a very important implement of their amount of power. The more monsters of higher power, the more control the person had over the Shadow monsters and their powers. Seto Kaiba is an interesting example of a powerful duelist. To control not one, but three powerful dragons and other several powerful monsters, in this day and age where the Shadow Games have diminished into a mere child game, is extraordinary."
Yugi interrupted Meioh in the middle of his lecture, "Meioh?"
Meioh raised an eyebrow. "Yes Master Yugi?"
"I don't understand. If Duel Monsters is just a card game now, why is it I have to learn how to control my magical energies?"
"It's simple explanation, master. The Games have not ended, they are merely delayed. Eventually the games will come back and stronger than before with the new technology at hand now. In the Shadow Realm, there are several monsters that have already woken up from their big sleep, and are ready to duel again. I myself was one of those that had woken early and sought to teach the new duelists the rules of Ancient Times so that perhaps the mistakes made in the last Game will not happen in this one.
In Seto Kaiba's deck, one of his Blue-Eyes had woken up before me, if you remember that incident on Duelist Kingdom when suddenly the Dark Kaiba's Blue-Eyes attack was launched but did not affect you or the Feral Imp. Already in his dreams, the Blue-Eyes teaches the young priest the rules and mannerisms one must behave when dueling."
"But," Yugi chewed on his pen he was using to take notes with. "Kaiba doesn't have a Millennium Item. How could he duel?"
"I believe that Seto Kaiba has the ability to become a wizard if he chooses to. In Ancient Egypt, his type of wizard would be considered a position of the Priest of Ra or the High Priest because of his control of the three dragons and his tactical mind and dueling strategy." Meioh folded his arms cross his chest. "But he would only be allowed to become the High Priest if he was born into the family line of High Priests and is the oldest son. Do you understand?"
Yugi sighed. "Yes."
Yami?
Yes aibou?
I'm bored! This is just like school! Yugi whined to his darker half. I want to go outside and play with Rags. I mean he's feeling better and stuff. But Meioh dragged me for a lesion and I'm getting this big lecture. Could you listen to it instead? Please?
No, I will not.
Yugi pouted mentally. But, why won't you?
I hate lectures. I'll fall asleep.
So you'll make me die of boredom and get yelled at when I fall asleep?
That's the gist of it.
You're cruel.
A feeling of great amusement passed over Yugi from Yami. I know. Being a spirit has advantages.
Fine. You're not allowed to have any more chocolate, and you can't play with my toys in my soul room anymore!
How did you know about that?
Yugi smiled mysteriously. A magician never tells his secrets.
Ha. Ha. Ha. The dry, sarcastic laugh echoed in his mind as Yugi yawned and struggled to get back to paying attention to the lecture he was supposed to know.
For the rest of the day, or at least until early afternoon well into one o'clock, Yugi spent his mornings and early afternoons learning on how to handle the drain his deck used on his magical energies. He learned the theories behind the process of summoning a monster from the Shadow Realm, and techniques that allowed him to manipulate his puzzle to act as a focus foundation for his games. Without the foundation, the magic used during a shadow duel could cause his energy to drain him to death, leaving him an empty husk with a solid gold puzzle around its neck.
Yami was a big help when he was dealing with the puzzle. For the thousands of years that the pharaoh had been inside the puzzle, he had learned most of the inner workings of it. The puzzle inside acted as a giant maze, with deadly traps that was extremely hard to find, but easy to stumble upon. Meioh had said that inside the center of the maze, there was a door that would lead to the core of the Shadow Realm, the focus point. Yami had never visited the core itself, but he had felt the pull of magic towards something into the maze whenever Yugi dueled even with the cards and holographic technology.
After about two weeks learning on how to manipulate his magic to use the puzzle as his focus object, Meioh stated that as a final test of his skill before being handled his deck back was to summon a monster successfully using his magic as he was taught.
Meioh shuffled Yugi's deck and laid it flat on the palm of his hand, the deck facing down. "Master Yugi, take one card from the top of the deck. Whatever card it is, you must summon it. If you do not summon it, you will spend the next two weeks revising on your techniques and skills, you may have another chance after that."
Yugi swallowed hard. Wish me luck, Yami.
Good luck, aibou. I am sure you will do well.
I hope so. I don't want to go through another week of lectures by Meioh.
If it helps, you have done well this past week in using your magic. You are really supposed to go through another week of training.
Yugi frowned thoughtfully. And how do you know that?
I.. I don't really know. It just came to me. Yami shivered mentally.
Okay. Calm down, we'll figure out that later.
You are right, aibou. Don't be nervous.
When you say that I get nervous!
Sorry.
Yugi sucked in a deep breath, then sighed relaxing his tensing muscles. He could do this. All he had to do was summon a monster and then he would be able to get his deck back. Just one monster and he would be able to look at his cards he missed so much. As he reached out for the card, he prayed to the Heart of the Cards that he would get a monster that he could handle.
His fingers plucked the top card from the deck and he flipped it over to see the other side. Yugi's face broke out into a warm smile, "The Celtic Guardian!" He murmured. It was always showing up just when he needed it, like the Dark Magician. It was one of his other favorite cards. He hoped he could summon it.
He flicked his wrist and the card flew, cutting through the air as it spun on its back. "I summon you! Celtic Guardian, come to me!" Yugi cried as he held his hand out to the card. The eye on his puzzle glowed golden as the puzzle started to emit light. The light exploded to the ceiling and Yugi had to cover his eyes with the other arm so not to be blinded by the brightness.
As the light faded, a figure immerged dressed in green and silver armor, leather shirt and pants outlining finely toned warrior muscles. Blonde silky hair shined in the light from under a helmet, and a face with sharp curves and long pointy ears standing out from the hair. Two triangles of warrior paint marked under each eye as the duel monster raised his sword in an armed position.
Meioh nodded with an open smile as he congratulated his young master. He walked over his fellow monster and held out an arm. Celtic Guardian reached out and clasped the arm in a warrior's greeting and gave Meioh a small smile. "You have taught the master well, he has made much progress." The voice of the warrior was quiet, but assertive. "He will be a fine duelist for the Games."
"I hope he will be," Meioh glanced over to Yugi who had not been paying attention to the conversation because he was telling Yami all about what happened. "He has a lot of potential to be the King."
"I must go now, friend. Our young master will be drained as it is if I stay here much more without having a purpose." Celtic glanced up and down at Meioh and smirked. "A nice look, if I do say for myself. You hide warrior muscles under all that armor after all, magician."
Meioh couldn't help the blush that rose and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Well, Master Yugi. Now that you have summoned a monster, return it to the Shadow Realm."
Yugi nodded and concentrated, holding out a hand. "Return to the Shadow Realm," he stated softly. Celtic Guardian stepped back from Meioh and was encased with golden light. With a flash, Celtic Guardian was gone. Leaving the card to float in the middle of the air, then it zipped back to Yugi's outstretched hand.
"That went well," Yugi whispered before he collapsed.
Yami took control before his other's body hit the ground and he slapped his palms down to catch himself. He sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead, his body trembling with exhaustion the strain the puzzle had put his other through. "A nap will do well now, Meioh. But I do not think I could walk back upstairs to the bed."
Meioh nodded and picked up Yami damsel-in-distress style. He carried his young charge to his room and pulled back the covers to lay him down. Rags jumped up onto the bed and stretched across Yami's chest with half his body. Meioh smirked and scratched that spot under the chin Rags liked so much.
The dog was a wonder, at first he acted distrustful towards both Yugi/Yami and himself, but after a week or so of Yugi bringing him little snacks in bed without Meioh realizing it, the dog began to like the both of them. In fact, at the moment he seemed distressed at seeing his human breathing hard as if he had ran a marathon and sweating like he had a fever.
"It's okay Rags," Yami muttered, half-asleep as he started to pet the dog's head slowly. "I'm just tired. After my nap we can go play in the woods."
Rags whined and nudged his snout under Yami's chin and made keening noises in the back of his throat trying to comfort the young pharaoh. Meioh brushed the wet blonde bangs from his masters' forehead and tapped the edge of the bed. "Rags let Master Yami sleep. You can visit after his nap."
The dog glanced at the former Dark Magician and gave a comforting lick on Yami's curled fingers by his side and jumped off the bed to follow Meioh out of the room. The pair walked downstairs and headed towards the kitchen. Soon Meioh was cooking up lunch; chicken leftovers for Rags, a fruit salad for himself, and a plate of curry with some soy sauce.
A gentle tapping on his kitchen window brought Meioh out of his thoughts and he walked over to the window in a bewildered confusion when an owl flew in after he opened the window. The owl fluttered around the room a few times before settling down on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Strangely, what looked like a letter was clasped in its beak.
Meioh glanced at Rags, who had looked up at the sound of the tapping, and then back at the owl. With a shrug, he took the letter from the owl.
Eye of Ra
Middle of a Clearing
1313 Dead End Drive
The letter was addressed to the house in violet ink, calligraphy-type writing. He turned the envelope over to see a violet waxed seal of, surprisingly, an owl in flight. Under the flying owl, the words "Ministry Of Magic" was written. Meioh wanted to throw it away, he suddenly had a bad feeling about the letter, but he opened it for pure curiosity's sake.
"To Whomever This May Concern,
At 1:05 this afternoon, the alarm for Improper Use of Magic in a Muggle community alert sounded. I am sorry for this inconvenience, but you are not registered to use magic. This is extremely worrisome and the Head of the Department of Improper Use of Magic would like to set up an appointment with you. If you do not respond to this letter, you will be arrested and charged for misuse in magic.
To respond to this letter, please send your reply with the mail owl that this letter came with. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Brutus Braggins
Ass. Head Manager
Improper Use of Magic Department"
Meioh dropped the letter in shock. Rags padded over to the letter and sniffed at it, and stared. He started to growl at it. The growl shook the magician out of his thoughts. He reached down and picked it up off the floor. He looked around for a pen and found one in the junk drawer that worked. Meioh quickly scrawled the answer on the pack of the page.
"Mr. Brutus Braggins,
There is no trouble at all to get this all cleared up, if you will. I do not mind going to your office to get this all straightened out so this will not happen again. My charge and I will arrive at your office tonight at five o'clock. If you would please state how we are to get there, I would appreciate it most greatly.
Please send directions with your response.
Meioh Mouto"
Meioh folded the response message neatly and handed it back to the owl. "Please deliver this to Mr. Baggins, would you? It is my response." The owl hooted and flew back out of the window.
*
Meioh and Yugi walked out of the Improper Use of Magic office looking just as detached and confused as they had been walking in. Brutus Braggins was a man of many words. The way he talked, the words seemed to spin around your head instead of being filed away in your brain. He had a beer belly from too many years behind a desk and a cheesy generation X goatee that spoke of a misspent fashion sense. The clothes he wore were robes, similar to descriptions of the myths Yugi had heard when he was a toddler of wizards, and they looked to be made of a fine velvet—very expensive brand of the material too.
At first, Yugi had been the one to sit next to Meioh but when Braggins started to talk in circles and sounded all together too devious and cunning, Yami switched with his other. Yugi was good at judging character, but Yami was better at diving into the person's mind. Meioh had seen the switch but didn't call attention to it, it was obvious that Braggins hadn't noted the change and that was all well and good for them.
Meioh had learned a lot more about this world than he really wanted to, but the man didn't stop babbling about this and that he ended up blurting out several things that spoke of danger for his masters. Like this You-Know-Who character that was supposedly a very powerful Dark Lord wizard or something. If he knew who this person was, he wouldn't have looked like a fool asking Braggins. Luckily the man was too stupid to realize that if Meioh and Yami had really been the wizards of this world, they would have known already.
It's so hard to trust the government system in any universe anymore if idiots like that are in office, Meioh mused with a small smirk.
Yami had handled himself as well as any diplomat would in this situation. He worked the words he spoke with a craft that Meioh had not seen a politician use for years. Double meanings to every word, subtle subtext added to each sentence, and the barely concealed insults under the phrase of paragraphs. No wonder Yugi stepped aside to let the pharaoh come out to play; it was a wonderful chance to be amused at a battle of wits between two opponents when one of them did not realize they were unarmed.
After a two hour discussion, Braggins had come to the point of the meeting. The fact of the matter was that no matter how proficient Meioh was as a home-tutored wizard, (the reason Meioh had given Braggins for his use in magic), he could not teach others magic without being a wizard graduated from one of the world's magic schools. Therefore he either had to stop teaching Yugi magic and send him to a proper wizard school like any child his age, or be sent to jail for improper use of magic on an under aged and untrained wizard.
At first, Meioh had refused steadily. But when Yugi switched with Yami and looked up at him with the dreaded puppy-dog look, he weakened and asked Braggins with a sigh which school would allow in a transfer student. Braggins told him reassuringly that he knew several schools that would be willing to let such a fine young child –here Yugi had barely covered his snort- into their schools. He said he would owl them with the news from the Headmasters of each of the schools with a detailed description of the school attached to the letter so Yugi could pick the one that he liked the most.
Yugi was going to go to a real, honest to god, magic school to learn how to better control his energies. Meioh just hoped that the wizard world was ready for his masters, they would rock the foundations the wizard world was built on, knowing them as well as he did. Whenever the masters were on an adventure, they seemed to redefine the world at each new challenge. Meioh sent a prayer to the Heart of the Cards that this time his masters won't be put into harms way, but he had a feeling it would happen anyway.
TBC