Chapter II
Intruder
The sound of the water dripping from her hair and clothes breaks the silence as he stares at her, she feels the pressure on his gaze and her figure shrinks upon that. He then turns around ordering:
"Come with me."
She hurriedly follows his back as they walk to the living room. He glances mildly irritated at her, she jolts as if her bones had been electrocuted. Taking a random bag from near the couch, he orders in an authoritarian tone:
"First, dry yourself and put on some new clothes, whichever fits, I'll just send back the ones that don't. We can talk after that."
She picks the bag and blinks once, glancing back at him, she seems to have difficulties comprehending. Then, she finally grabs a piece of clothing from the bag and puts the towel wrapped around her on the couch, she starts undressing right there.
His expression freezes in shock for a moment, his heartbeats jump in a way he'd thought he'd get a heart attack on spot. His hands speedily react by instinct, grabbing her wrists strongly as his impatience grows louder, before she shows beyond her legs.
"What do you think you're doing?"
She closes her eyes from the scare and grumbles with the amount of force he uses on his grip. Why is he getting so overworked again? Was she even using anything under the dress? He relaxes his inflexible hands and releases her slowly.
"You can't just do it here! Do it in your room!"
"B-but master Ed said..."
"Do you not have any decency? Go change in your room, you can't just do it in front of everyone else, idiot!"
"B-but this is how everyone in the temple does..."
"I don't care about the temple!"
He tosses the dress onto her and grabs a few other bags, placing it on her hands, she trembles in fear of his completely altered expression and hurries immediately to the room assigned to her.
Breathing deeply as she leaves, he tries to calm himself down, putting a hand on his forehead. Is she serious? Does that girl not understand anything? Now he is even more worried about her mental state. Which kind of girl does that so nonchalantly? And why is he even this bothered by it? He should just ignore her dumbness.
In the room, she looks around. No matter how many times she sees it, that place is completely strange. The ceiling, the carpet and the walls, they are all so different from what she knows.
The dress he tossed at her is more similar to her original clothes, at least she knows how to put it on, unlike the strange clothes he left on her bed some days ago. There are also some wristbands and a choker. She is unsure if she should put it on, maybe those are the ornaments girls from this world use.
After a while, she leaves the room towards him. That passage to the room of the housemaster scares her, it was there she was scolded the last time. She drags her feet to the front of his door.
Hesitantly playing with her fingers in nervousness, she touches the cold doorknob, turning it in all directions until something clicks and she opens it, clumsily losing her balance and walking a few tumbling steps inside the room.
Ahead she can see the table in which Ed is allocated, he has crossed arms and a severe gaze, she immediately drops to the ground and bows over her legs, as a sign of respect.
"Please, forgive me, master Ed. If I offended you somehow, forgive my rudeness. I am not used to the culture and manners of this world."
He is surprised with her sudden reaction, he didn't even open his mouth to say anything, why is she bowing?
"What are you doing? Get up!" he gets up from his chair, from the abruptness of his move, the chair is dragged, making a sound.
"I-I can't, master… It is improper for a servant like me to raise my head."
"Servant…? What..."he gasps, trying to calmly assess the situation "Listen, you're no servant in this house, I want to talk, raise yourself and come here sit on this chair."
"I-I will be punished if I do so..."
With the last straw of his tolerance gone, he stomps his way, crossing his arms with an annoyed glare in front of her.
"What is your problem? I just want to talk, can you not sit like a human and have a conversation with someone?!"
"B-but If I am rude, I will be punished..." she clasps her hands together, her eyes wobble.
"I don't know who did what to you before, but you didn't do anything worth being punished, as if I have time to waste reprimanding your clumsiness. I am a busy man."
His annoyance soothes after taking a proper glance, like he instructed, the clothes covered all the parts in which she should have scars, but he could still see bandages under her long sleeves. He takes a deep breath, grabbing her shoulders and raising her, then slowly pulling her to the direction of the chair.
She is shorter than him by a palm, but he has the sensation that she is smaller than that, perhaps it's the way she behaves that makes her look so small?
"A conversation one to one is something you have with other people on the same eye level. Now, sit down. I will sit too."
She trembles under his glare even more frightened of his temper, then sits down reluctantly. He goes back to his seat, they didn't even start talking about important matters, but he already feels drained.
"I wanted to ask you many things. I expect you will answer truthfully. If you lie, I might get upset."
"I would never lie, master Ed! I made a vow as a priestess to never lie, otherwise my purity of spirit and powers would be compromised!" she asserts as if she is in some job interview.
His eyebrow twitches with the fact she never learned how to properly call someone, but he lets it pass because his doubts are more important right now.
"Where do you come from?"
The first question already strikes her hard, her gaze lowers to the table in front and she clutches her own fingers with a saddened expression.
"From another world, different from yours..."
"Another world? Where?"
"I wouldn't know, master. I just know, your world and mine are different, they exist in different places. They do not exist in the same realm."
"How do you know that?"
"Because of my powers..."
"Powers? You mean this thing about being a priestess?"
"This is not a lie!" she blurts out in an altered tone, but then smoothens after looking at his raised brow "I-I guarantee, I am a chosen priestess of the Great Pharaoh's temple… My powers are real!"
"That does not explain anything. How did you come here, why and how do you know about this world and your supposedly other world being different?"
"I don't fully understand it myself, master Ed… One day, I just started having dreams of another world… for a long, long time I dreamed without ever understanding, you were there too, master."
"In the dreams?"
A drop of sweat rolls down his face, he taps his index finger on the table, pondering. Her eyes are filled with worry and some sort of expectation and as she gazes into his eyes, he can see sorrow delving deep into her orbs. Why does she look so sad? In cases like hers, maybe it's best to go along with her fantasies rather than denying them. With a troubled sigh, he continues:
"What were those dreams about?"
"A bad future. The destruction of your world and consequently, the destruction of mine."
"So you came here because of that…? But if your world is another, then how would you be able to cross over to mine?"
"There was… a gate. I used my powers to force it open. I had to come. To stop the destruction and the horrid things that are yet to happen..."
"What do I have to do with it all?"
"It is connected to your destiny… And to others from your world... I saw..." she looks at him, mouth open for a second, then stops, her eyes wavering in a deep anguish looking into his "Many bad things..."
Connected to his destiny? Now she was talking like Saiou, but he didn't get any prediction about having problems now or in the future, in truth, his life was almost at its peak, his only goal of finding the killer of his father remains, but aside that, there was not much he was unsatisfied with.
"Are you saying you ran away from your homeworld to come here and help me, a stranger whose face you never saw before? And you did that because… My destiny is connected to this world's destruction..." he repeats in a skeptical tone.
"You don't believe me..." her shoulders drop in disappointment "But it's true, master Ed. I saw you and many others in my dreams, you were all…" shadows cover her eyes for a moment "I came here to prevent that! I will not let this world be destroyed!"
"And how do you intend to do that?"
"I don't know…" her eyes flicker in some sort of panic "I… Just knew I had to come here to prevent it… But I still don't know how..."
"A step of faith, huh?" he thinks to himself, not impressed even in the slightest.
"If you are so determined to do it, then why were you imprisoned?" he points at her wrists "You had fetters binding you all over, how come? Shouldn't your people be helping you with this important destiny?"
"I have decided to come here following what I believe, but many of my people did not think the same. They considered me as an heretic, thus, I was jailed to await my demise. Even now they might have sent someone to deliver my punishment..."
He is the one flinching at the words this time. Did she really say "demise"? Not that he trusted her fairy tale, but he couldn't deny she looked like a runaway prisoner.
"Why would you be considered a heretic…?"
She lowers her gaze, her hand finally coming off from the praying position, she rests them on her lap, creasing her clothes within the grip of her fingers.
"My dreams from another world. They are considered heretical. I was judged a traitor by my people because my dreams were those of someone who does not belong to my world… They say the spirits of the gods abandoned me and I have no truth in me..." her eyes flicker with hope "But I know it's not true! I know it's not because Master Ed is here in front of me! My dreams were not wrong! You are right here… It can't be wrong..."
He is taken by surprise with her last words, averting his gaze, he just can't stand looking at her hopeful eyes. It bothers him to think someone would torture and imprison a girl like her. This is just so messed up.
"If you were imprisoned, how did you escape? To this world, I mean."he peeks at her face again with certain curiosity.
"A great friend of my father did him a favor. He broke my chains and held the guards back to let me go… He said my destiny was not in our world, but in yours."
"What happened to him?"
She shakes her head off in silence, a tense mood installing in the room. Is what she says true? It seems her people consider killing others as something completely common and acceptable.
"Were you often imprisoned?" the finger tapping becomes harder and louder as his impatience grows.
"Pardon me?"
"I am asking if you were imprisoned multiple times. Your scars. Where do they come from?"
He closes his eyes, letting out a heave in subtle annoyance while trying to keep his tone low and controlled. The image of her back crept to his head, and that angered him. He wishes he could just unsee that.
"Before I was a priestess, I was a slave. At those times, I would often be punished for getting food or not doing my job properly. I was a worthless tool that couldn't work properly."
His tapping ceases and another vein pops out on his face, his lips curve down as he stares deadly at her.
"What do you mean with worthless tools and 'slave'?"
"Slaves are punished when they don't work the way their master wants them to. Wouldn't you also punish your servants if they do wrong or ignore your orders, master Ed?"
"I wouldn't..." he is flabbergasted. "Look, I don't know who those masters were, but they were wrong!"
"Why is it wrong? A tool that cannot work is useless and disposable… It is how my people believe it to be."
There is no pain or regret or even hope in her eyes, she is so convinced of this truth as if it was the fairest, it disturbs him.
"How can they believe it is right…?" he slaps the table in fury "Which kind of degenerate society are they?"
Seeing the slightly frightened expression on her face, he sits down, trying to tranquilize himself.
"W-why are you angry? Did I say something wrong?"
"No… It's not your fault..."he puts a hand to his head, closing his eyes to rest his mind for a brief moment "I just can't understand or accept it..."
"Is something troubling you, master Ed?"
She blinks in confusion, completely unaware of the reason he is feeling wrath. Is she really that clueless? Can she not even understand when someone is enraged for her sake? What is the point of him fretting over like that if she can't even tell what is the issue.
"The scars on your back, when exactly did you get them?"
"They were given to me as a mark to never forget that I shouldn't take things from others after I became a priestess in training..."
"You stole something? I thought the priestess shouldn't be stealing anything..."
"I was a young child and I was happy to be accepted by the Great Pharaoh. This happened because my powers of light awakened and the Great ruler took an interest in me, a slave. Because of that we went to live at the temple of the Pharaoh. There I saw a beautiful flower. I had never seen one in my life because our soil was not fertile. I took it into my hands. I was so happy." she smiled faintly, but it disappears "That flower was a present given to the Pharaoh, when the guards found me, I should have my hands cut off and sent to my death, but my father pleaded for me, he begged for forgiveness and I was left alive with a hundred whippings."
He isn't sure if what makes him more dizzy is the fact she was punished for plucking a flower or that they'd beat a kid with a hundred whippings.
"What about your father? Is he fine?"
"He had one of his hands cut off to take my place in the punishment..." she closes her eyes, as if making a prayer for him "And I was forgiven with the beatings… But my father is no more. The gods took him a few moon cycles before I came here..."
He died? Ed is gaped, he still can't wrap his head around her story, but there doesn't seem to be a mistake that she was clearly abused physically many times like the doctor said. And she doesn't find it any wrong.
"Are you not upset they did this to you or your father?"
"It is all in the past. I was foolish and young. But I know what it is I must do, even if my people don't believe me, I know the gods have not forsaken me."
A smile flourishes on her face bright and free of guilt or weight. He finds himself in awe for a brief moment, before his grumpy mood comes back to bite him. How can she believe so firmly in those daydreams? Another world? This sounds absurd. Does she really have powers like Saiou?
Her bubbly and naive personality implies she is most definitely not lying, perhaps she truly believes in this whole tale, but can he really disprove her tale as he thought? Putting a finger on the middle of his forehead, he closes his eyes again..
She keeps talking about a Pharaoh and a infertile land, it must be referring to some sort of land like Egypt, right? Even so, she says she is from another world, so maybe it is not the Egypt as they know in this world. But how or where?
His flux of thoughts is interrupted by a voice calling him, his eyes blink in puzzlement when he sees the girl in front of him, on the ground. She is sitting over her own legs, with a worried glance, her hand resting on her lap as she looks up to his face.
"Is there something bothering you, master Ed?"
"You… What are you doing…?"
His eyes open wide. Does she like to be on the ground or what? Is it because of the slave treatment she was raised with? Just in which country did she live to behave like this?
"Get up!"
The wrinkles in between his forehead give a somber shade to his expression, she flinches wondering again what is wrong. His hands grab her shoulder and lift her again:
"I told you to get up! How many more times do I need to repeat myself?"
She is surprised even though he didn't know he had this much strength to raise her in a second. He freezes for a moment after seeing her expression.
"D-Did I make you angry again? I-I am sorry master Ed. I..."
"Stop it! Just… Stop it!" he closes his eyes in frustration and slaps his own forehead, turning around. "Get out of my room!"
She is startled with the declaration but hurries away after he casts a side glance with a deadly sharp look. She looks over her shoulder, scared of the enraged aura pouring out of him, surrounding his whole body. Closing the door, she runs towards her own room.
He breathes deeply to calm himself down, this never ceasing anger of his simply explodes, even more at the sight of injustice. Burdened by destiny or not, heroes are heroes, aren't they? How could there be so much injustice? His father, a girl that was barely his age, all of them, suffered so much. For what?
"Who in the world would raise a girl like that…?" He supports his hands on the table, still feeling the bitterness of her tale. "Ugh… This is infuriating..."
In her room, the priestess looks through the window, she touches the raised glass and the wooden frame, the curtains flutter with the wind, she feels the thin, transparent cloth, studying it with her fingers.
"It is all so different..."
Her eyes roam around the room, a fluffy bed with soft white sheets, her bare feet can feel the cold, plain and hard texture of the ground. The rest is all very different, but something is familiar: the coldness of the walls and the emptiness of the ambience.
Back at her homeworld it was also like this. There is no liveliness. Kneeling under the moonlight, she closes her eyes, bringing her hands together, her voice silently singing a prayer for the future.
In Ed's room, he receives a call while checking his cards again. It's Saiou, his eyebrows furrow in concern.
"Saiou… What happened for you to call this late?"
After listening to the words coming from the other end of the line, his eyes oscillate in bewilderment. He puts the phone away from his ears after the call has ended.
"Did he say… A new card appeared in my destiny...? What does that mean…?"
Rushing out of the room, opening the door with a thud he walks at a fast pace and gets a ride to Saiou's place immediately as asked. In the white room, he shuffles his cards. The younger teen leans on the wall in a relaxed manner, crossing his arms. His gaze stops at the back of his friend.
"Saiou, for you to call me here so urgently… What did you see?"
"Nothing to worry too much about. I was just surprised with the results of my predictions, that is all." A brief smirk comes to his lips, but it disappears as his grave voice declares "Your dueling career is very fine, however, I saw a disturbance in your mind, it is not a big problem, but I saw doubt in you. In the future, this may lead to a deeper issue if you don't cut it off by its roots."
"Doubt? Me?" he frees his arms in astonishment "I don't have any doubts currently."
"Do you still remember what you must do and why you wanted to do it?"
"Yes, of course I..."
"Then, when time comes, you'll need to choose which path of destiny you'll follow. Arguably, both of them will lead you to the same end, however, you may have greater obstacles in the other…"
"I don't get it… You told me my destiny won't change."
"And it won't. Regardless, a sudden bifurcation arose in your path. Soon you may need to choose something, and when you do, then your true path will be set. In the end, this will not interfere with your goals, however, you'll face hardships for your own choices, some of which I may not be able to help you with."
"How…? It should be all fine, then, how suddenly things changed so much…?"
"You would know better than me, wouldn't you?"
Squinting slightly his eyes, he throws an arcana card at Ed, the other grabs it skillfully and looks at it in confusion.
"This is the inverted High Priestess… It seems your doubts are caused by someone around you. But I am sure you can settle it on your own, after all this card also means wisdom that comes from inside oneself. Don't let your thoughts be in disarray, it may affect your actions."
The pro duelist firms the grip on that card, hearing the words priestess makes his mind travel to a single person. That girl. All her talk about being a priestess and this exact card… It can't be just coincidence, right? Does she really intend to try and change destiny? But that is not what he wants. All he ever wished for was… To find the miserable man who took away his father's life and recover the last card, the legacy of his father.
He calmly walks and gives the card back, closing his eyes with a frown. A faint smirk appears on Saiou's lips.
"It seems you know what the problem is. Well, you don't need to tell me as long as you choose the right path as destiny dictates."
"I will not fail." his confidence in words is reflected in his eyes as he affirms to the manager.
"Hmph. This is all I had to say. You can go now."
With a dense mood hovering over his shoulders, he goes back to his apartment, there are many other questions he never asked that girl, moreover, to think Saiou would see a new path and a slight change in his choices, was it really happening because she came there?
If she has this much influence to appear even in Saiou's predictions, could she really have mysterious powers?
He ponders about it during the whole ride home, even after he arrives, his mind dives into those thoughts. While passing by the corridor in which the rooms are, he stops by the door of her room.
He was trying to make sure she gets everything she needs as a guest, but he indeed shouted and vented his anger on her. She often seemed scared of his gaze too, but he couldn't help besides being harsh when she behaved like a slave. This is not what he envisioned at all, he does not take pleasure in seeing others groveling on the ground and behaving like that, even though he may admit he takes pride in defeating people.
Unconsciously he has been causing issues for many with his way of acting, all those around him or those who had contact with him just became more miserable: Kaiser, Judai, even Saiou. This was because he felt miserable, he was enraged and frustrated and through his words and actions, he just infects everyone around like that, even if he can't notice it.
He raises his hand to knock on the door, but sighs and shakes his head off, stepping away until he hears the creaking noise of the door opening. He turns around instantly, from the crevice of the barely opened door, he sees her eyes taking a peek at him with curiosity.
"I thought I was silent, then how…?" his mind tries to elaborate as he frowns, she is again startled by his puzzled glare.
"Why did you open the door?" he comes back, pushing the door even more open and casting a defiant glare at her.
"Master Ed, I felt your presence the moment you stepped inside here."
"My… presence?" He raises a brow.
"Hm. Your aura."
"You can feel it?" he sneers, averting his gaze to the side.
"It is not a lie..." she lowers her gaze, playing with her fingers "Master Ed, I know when you are around because your aura is strong, but it is so filled with rage and sorrow… I can feel it from afar..."
Her eyes are saddened, he flinches at the way she words it, snapping into a state of confusion and uneasiness again.
"How can you say those weird things?"
"Master Ed, if you came here now, shall I assume I might be of use?"
She smiles sheepishly with expectancy on her eyes that shine brightly, as if she has been waiting the whole time for him to come and ask for help. Why does she need to be like this? What is it with her complex of wanting to help and be of use to others?
"No!" he closes his eyes, his right eyebrow twitches in irritation "I don't need your help now, you were the one that opened the door. Just close it and go to sleep!"
He looks down at her, even though they are around the same age she is much shorter, so much his eyes need to direct downwards when looking into hers. After breaking her expectations, the light on her eyes dims out in deception.
Not wishing to waste any more time than he did, he turns around and steps onwards to his room, but after just the first step, a hand grabs his wrist. She tugs him back, surprising him. She was this forceful a couple times when she was scared before, but why right now…?
"What are you doing?" he protests.
His irritation transforms into astonishment when he sees her expression covered in fear as she looks around, her hand trembles. She comes closer and places a hand on his shoulder.
"Master Ed… I feel something coming…" there is dread in her eyes, she grabs his shoulder but her hands tremble so much she has barely enough strength to close her grip "Please, don't let him get you!"
A chill runs down her spine after saying those words, he is flabbergasted. She drops to her knees, her hand that held his wrist slides down his suit to the ground, to support her body. She is bowed down on his feet.
"What are you…?" his hand moves on its own, almost reaching to her.
An ominous air invades the ambience. In the next second, they both are in shock when the glass of the windows in her room shatter out of nowhere.
She jumps up, grabbing his sleeve and pulling it to call his attention, her expression is even more panicked.
"We must run!"
Still intrigued by her words, he doesn't have time to struggle when she suddenly pulls his arm and starts running to the others rooms of the corridor, as they pass by his room, they again hear the sound of glass shattering, she doesn't stop, but the path she takes leads the end of the corridor. A dead end.
He impatiently halts his steps, pulling her back abruptly with his hand, turning around to see the glass shards that flew to the outside of the room, on the walls and ground. It flew all the way to the corridor?
"What is happening here?!" he gasps at her awaiting an explanation.
"He… He is here!"
She looks at his room's entrance, he walks forwards fearlessly avoiding the shards and looks in there, his eyes open wide upon a realization. The sky outside his window is pitch black, no, to say it better, there is no sky, just darkness outside the window almost as if… The world outside doesn't exist.
He is puzzled, there is a figure coming out of the darkness, a strange looking man with egyptian clothes and two short scythes. His eyes are sharp and his face is covered by a dark cloth.
"How did he climb here? This floor is too high up… Did he jump with a rope or what?!" He thinks with an alert posture.
The girl clings to him, hiding behind his back and sweating desperately, he can feel her creasing his suit with the nervous grip. A drop of sweat rolls down his face by watching her condition. What is happening, who is this man and how did he do this?
The man's body completely comes out of the broken window and his bloodshot eyes glare at the young priestess. What will happen to her? And what will happen to Ed himself? Was all she was saying not a schizophrenic desilusion, but the actual truth?
