Chapter 4: The Magician
"Will—He is the magician, the perfect man, willpower ready to go into action"—the Egyptian Tarot
Sleep brought a rather odd dream, and while Jules was used to such odd dreams, this one involved the hot sands of Egypt and seemed to intrude into other's dreams as well. He wasn't used to that, but he couldn't stop the direction of such dreams.
And the one directing these dreams seemed to be a man dressed in purple robes and with a tall purple hat, as well as a tall staff of green with an odd orb in it.
"Who are you?" Jules asked, trying to get the man's attention as they walked down the long hallways.
The man, at first, gave no answer, instead walking up with Jules following after him in the hopes of finding the answer. He saw, as he passed, a good deal of large stone slabs with what appeared to be monsters in them.
"Where are we?"
There was the sound of a battle ahead of them and Jules paused before the man before him spoke.
"She and I both lived to protect him."
"What?"
The man turned, and he now saw a man with piercing blue eyes, ones which seemed to be searching Jules' very soul, before the voice once more echoed in the hallway and in Jules' mind. "We both failed to save him from the fate given to him. We have both cursed fate a thousand times over, but neither of us have come close to finding him. But through you and those with you...there is a chance."
"What do you mean? Who are you? Tell me!"
The man tilted his head at him and the ghost of a smile passed over his face. "I was called the Magnus of Illusions 1. Before that, I had a human name, but I have long discarded it in the hopes of serving my Pharaoh again."
"Your Pharaoh?"
"Sakhmet also served him with me, but she has been able to wander this world and search for him, as I have not. I am only here, in the world between yours and any others. Your connection allows me to speak to you."
"Okay...but—what happened? Can you tell me what happened?"
The man finally nodded. "I can show you a little...but not a lot. I am sorry...but it is all I have."
Jules gave a small smile. "I'll take what I can."
-o-
The air was hot, and as Jules watched from his place, he saw a man be dragged in and judged for a crime. A 'low-level' demon was withdrawn from the man and he was sentenced to hard labor for the crime of trying to pillage a tomb. He watched as the Pharaoh seemed to look a little off about something and the one who was dressed differently then the others, one with blue and what appeared to be an ankh across his chest, turned to one other one, one with a ring or something around his neck, and asked why he and Sakhmet hadn't noticed these rises in pillagers.
"They've gotten more confident, thinking I'm caged here," the woman he recognized as the one who came into the Aurora told him, "No need to get all angry, Seto. Such things will happen to the desperate and despite their attempts, all of them are caught."
The man himself looked down and said, "The Millennium Ring has been giving me erratic aurugies recently. Even though I've asked Sakhmet to help out, we have yet to determine anything except that the number of ka in people have grown, so that we can no longer detect every sinner and every evil intention."
The woman called Sakhmet cast a look at the man, as if she was going to say something about the way he spoke to the Seto man before the man with the odd Ring knelt before the Pharaoh and said, "Great Pharaoh, I request permission to enlist more troops so that we may strengthen the guard in the Valley of the Kings."
The Pharaoh turned to face him and said, "I leave it to you."
Nearby, a woman, the only one there, lowered her head and there was a flash of gold. Jules realized that around her neck was the same item that Saim wore. The oldest of the priests asked, "What is it, Isis?"
"The Millennium Tauk has shown me a...disturbing future," she told them, her voice shaky. Sakhmet tensed, as did the others, as she finished, "An evil shadow approaches the palace...one with incredible powers of magic!"
"What?"
Jules looked over to see someone walk in, a mummy dragged behind him by a rope and pieces of gold adorning him.
He said that he was there to take the Millennium Items...
The scene abruptly changed, and Jules looked over at the Magnus of Illusions. "What was that?"
"The beginning of the end...the starting of everything."
"What everything?"
He watched as the man with the Ring, leading a procession, started out of the capitol. Nearby, Sakhmet looked at him. "You shouldn't have to leave."
"It was because of me that the old Pharaoh's tomb was desecrated. I should be thankful I am not punished for my failure."
She gave him a soft glare. "You know he would never do that, Mahaado. He cares for you too much."
Mahaado looked at her, surprised, and she finally gave him a simple smile. "You'd better come back. I won't forgive you if you don't."
The procession continued out, Mahaado stopping only to chastise a young girl who appeared to be a student of his, but then it continued out.
The scene continued after the procession, and then they went into the darkness of a tomb and its traps. He was down in the tomb...to trap the thief.
"Neither of us are leaving this tomb alive."
Then Jules realized it.
"Then Mahaado...is you?"
There was a pendulum swing, and the Ring went flying, but the monster he had called stayed, the face appearing before it hit the rival monster, and then Bakura went flying--
-o-
"But he lived..."
Sakhmet standing next to the Pharaoh, before them the Magnus of Illusions, and she growled, more feral then before. Three monsters were before her as well, monsters that were mainly lion in form, all of them glowing as well. One of her arms had a trail of blood down one side and looked like it should be attended to, instead of her fighting. The dark gold outline of a tattoo was on one side, and the main glow came from the odd eye-like thing which seemed to adorn most of the Millennium Items. Around them, ghosts flew but seemed scared away by something else from the girl, and because of the Dark Magician.
"I will not allow you to hurt him anymore!" she yelled, attacking.
"Wait!" the man who seemed to be the Pharaoh yelled in alarm, but it didn't stop the woman at all, or slow her down.
The large monster which the thief had from the last time had grown it seemed, and was currently holding a large pillar that had nearly fallen on a stone slab with seven holes, shaped oddly and looking like some of the items that Jules had seen. The monster started to defend itself before both it and his master realized the girl's true target.
It was the controller. It was the thief himself.
The large monster tried to go after the girl, but one of the larger lion-monsters, one with a mane much like the Pharaoh's hair, turned and roared, attacking it and making it go back. A snake tail went after them as well, though hindered by the weight it held while another one, one that looked like a griffin of old, hissed and attacked with a viper-quick tail that was more a knife then anything, hitting the snake before the griffin itself pounced, the beak grabbing at where the neck would be for the snake. Some of the ghosts were trying to surround the monster but to no avail, as they were driven off by the last monster, a lion with a man's face, and the odd ghosts that surrounded the girl as well. The thief seemed to be in pain as he looked over and saw a long sword appear, jagged edged and deadly, as the woman let out her own roar and went for the thief.
-o-
"Wait!" Jules said as the vision dimmed and they were back in the hallway leading to the sounds of fighting, "What happened? She didn't win...did she?"
"In a way, yes...the thief was killed. However, another evil came up, this one controlling one who was trusted of her."
Jules turned as he saw the girl, bloody and barely standing, limping towards the sounds.
"What happened?"
"Her heart was broken, just as her body was, from the sight which is to come."
Jules looked over and followed her to see the tall man, Seto, fighting the Pharaoh with a large white dragon that seemed to glow blue as well. Around him was a dark power and the woman blinked. "No...Seto! WAKE UP!"
A sudden dark energy rushed towards her and she shielded herself briefly, a small glow appearing around her but not much. "No...I won't let this happen...Akunadin! Let him go! If you ever cared for him at all, LET HIM GO! STOP THIS, NOW!"
She had made in some progress, and now both fighters looked at her before the dark energy once more went after her. She could only shield it partly before she was thrown harshly against the wall and slumped forward.
"No!" the Pharaoh yelled, then turned back to Seto, "Wake up, damn it!"
"I will be Pharaoh!"
"You're being controlled!"
The large white beast that was over him suddenly lent out cry, and Seto's eyes widened, his whole body shaking as if he realized what was going on and what exactly he was doing.
"No...I will not let him go!"
The Pharaoh looked at Seto, then said, "Then I will let your dream come true...but I can't allow either of us to witness it..."
The woman stirred, then blinked as Jules and the ghost of the Magnus of Illusions saw the Pharaoh begin to chant, the darkness seeping from Seto into the upside-down pyramid which the Pharaoh had hanging around his neck.
"What are you doing? No! I won't let you win! You will be trapped as well! You will have no way of going to the world of the Dead! I will see you die before the end of this, and myself awaken once more to cover the world in darkness!"
The Pharaoh gave a sad smile as the woman reached for him, "Sebah...what..."
The Pendant, as well as the Pharaoh's body, seemed to crack, lines going along the Pendant and cutting into the Pharaoh, causing blood to seep down as they seemed to destroy his body as they were destroying the Pendant, but all this time he kept his eyes on Seto and the woman.
"Seto," he said, his voice showing none of the pain he must have been in, "I name you Pharaoh in my stead. Watch over the kingdom for me..."
His body disappeared in a sea of red, and the Pendant shattered into one complex puzzle as it hit the ground.
The wail from the woman was nearly unbearable.
Seto looked in shock at the place where the pieces of the Puzzle had fallen, and the woman's eyes seemed blank. "me...I am the one to take such a punishment. Not you...never you...either of you...my sebah...why? Why didn't you let me take that punishment?"
-o-
Jules sat down on a ruined pillar and then looked over at the Magnus. "So she's waiting for him to return?"
"Our Pharaoh's soul is trapped within the Puzzle. However, the guards of the tomb allow no one in, and as such, no one has had a chance to try and complete the Puzzle. If they did, then they may attain the Pharaoh's soul, however it is his memory which is an issue."
"His memory?"
"He lost his body, and thus he lost his memory. While the Gods of Egypt are supposed to help him unlock those memories, the shrine where many of the monsters were kept, as well as the secrets to unleashing them, have been lost to time."
Jules sighed as he considered this, "Then...she's been alive all that time...waiting for him?"
"She and I both await him, though in different ways. I cannot tell the passing of time from the realm I am in, but she can, and thus her heart is hurting for it. But she has vowed to see him again, and in doing so take any 'punishment' which would cause her to lose him again. She is very much a mother lion who will fight even the leader of her pride in order to protect that which is hers."
Jules stood and then asked, "Do you know why she left, though?"
"I do not. When the Pharaoh died, I lost the only one who I would allow to summon me...except for one. She gained one of the Millennium Items and only called me for wisdom, but I never asked her of what happened with the new Pharaoh nor did I ask for anything beyond speaking to her. It kept me peaceful, until the time of her death and when she, herself, entered this realm as her own soul and as my apprentice."
Jules gave a small smile. "I see...I guess...I'm sorry, for what happened."
"I had to tell you. You are one closest to our realm, though your connection is to another through one of the Great Books. I am amazed that you hold so much of the book as well...normally one only has a small piece or even a chapter of that Book; you have much more."
"Thanks...I think."
The Magnus gave another ghost of a smile. Jules looked over to where he had to guess was the path leading back to the waking world. "Do you think she'll find him again?"
"I believe we both will, and we will both continue to serve him however we can."
Jules smiled. "That's good. I'd be glad to see her find him...but I guess it's too much to ask. Still...as long as she finds him, I'll be happy for her."
-o-
Jules rubbed his neck as he walked down, seeing Saim exit his own room and give Jules a slight smile. "You look tired, Mister Verne. Did you have a good sleep?"
"Kinda...a little odd though."
Saim nodded. "Such thing occur when dealing with Millennium Items."
The two walked down to see Rebecca and the woman sitting nearby, Phileas already up and looking at the map which one of them must have pulled out, a section marked off.
Jules looked over there while Saim looked at it and then at the woman. Remembering the dream, Jules couldn't completely keep eye contact, instead taking a seat and starting to design an odd contraption that seemed to be for a card game of sorts and which fit on the arm or wrist...2
"So they're keeping them both in one location?" Phileas asked, "Whatever for?"
Saim said in his halted English, "They wish to put many through the test for them. There will not be many people left then..."
Rebecca looked over at him and asked, "Why not?"
"Those who do not pass the trial have are burned within...their souls are destroyed, and thus their bodies."
Phileas frowned and Jules felt himself shudder before asking, "But then...how are we going to get them? I mean...is Saim going to be the one to grab him or not?"
"Actually," the woman said, "you are."
"Me?" "Hold on a second—" "I'm not allowing you to pu—"
Both of the woman's hands slammed onto the table as she stood. "QUIET!"
Silence filled the cabin, more from surprise then anything else. Her eyes were closed and she said, "Jules is the only one who can not only hold the Items but not be affected by them at all. That is what drew me to him and that is what will help us regain them."
The group looked at her and Phileas was the first to speak. "How can you be so sure?"
"I checked, with this," she held up a hand and the Millennium Ankh appeared, causing Jules to back up only slightly as she explained, "This Item holds the power to see into one's very soul. When I tried to with Jules, the inlaid power he has within himself kicked me out, and negated the power of this Item. He can hold the Items safely, but not use them. If anyone else tried, they would be bonded to that Item forever, or would be killed. Do you honestly think I would throw him into danger of this magnitude?"
Phileas and Rebecca frowned, both eyes locked on the Ankh as well as on the woman. Jules had a feeling that all of them had, in their own way, learned of this woman's past and of her reasoning behind doing what she did.
The Ankh disappeared and the group once more turned back to planning the attack.
1—The 'Magnus of Illusions' is also known as the 'Dark Magician', which is one of Yugi's signature cards. It seems to appear whenever Yugi needs it and, more importantly, shows off the most emotion and free will of any card monster. An example of this is during a duel with a man named Pandora. Yugi's Dark Magician was trapped and unable to attack or defend. Pandora played a card called 'Ectoplasm', which extracts the 'soul' of a monster and attacks the player directly with half the attack points of the monster. When Pandora sacrificed his Dark Magician to 'finish' Yugi, Yugi's Dark Magician, on his own will, became Ectoplasm to protect Yugi from the blast. During the Millennium World arc (called 'Dawn of the Duel' for anime), you find out he was once a member of the court and vowed to protect the Pharaoh however he could, even after death.
He's really loyal, if you didn't figure it out, and I like his character so I added him in.
2—During the manga and anime Yugioh, to create life-like monsters, Kaiba creates a Duel Disk, which projects holograms of the cards you play to a field. Jules is drawing an earlier type of it, or at least a quick sketch. I had to...kinda...
