Hey everyone! Sorry that I was away for such a long time. I was at the end of the school year and things were pretty hectic for me. I didn't have a lot of time on my hands to sit down and type this chapter up, but now I do. That's why you're seeing this update! xD

Anyways, I would like to thank all of you for your kind and wonderful reviews! I'm ecstatic to see the big amount of followers, so I just hope you all continue to keep following and favouriting as we go along. Reviews would be nice too you know! :D

I'll stop talking now.

Enjoy!

Secrets Underground

Chapter 2

"This way, follow closely."

I took deep, slow breaths as we made our way through the tomb. It was damp, dark, and very musky, the scent of decaying bodies and age the only thing I could smell. Covering my nose, I looked up to see Jonathan walking at a good pace ahead of us all, followed by Sabrina, Kevin, Professor Arthur, Grandpa, and then myself at the end of the line which we had somehow made.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of the interior as we made our way down the cramped space. Nothing but dirt and stones surrounded us, and the only thing keeping it up was the wooden beams that bordered the ceiling and walls, and occasionally the floors. Kevin was right. By the look of the beams, I could see that they were extremely weak. They were chafing off, and some parts of the tunnel didn't have any support whatsoever. Why were they dodging the fact that it had to be replaced? The thought of the tomb collapsing just brought me even more worries.

We made another turn in the tunnel, and I watched as we just passed more tunnels that probably led nowhere. It was all making me feel very nervous, but at the same time it exhilarated me. Egypt was so fascinating so I could help but feel excited, but I was also scared. However, they do say a bit nervousness is good. You don't ever want to be too cocky, because who knows, you might never make it back out, and one can never be sure as to what they should expect.

I kept close to Grandpa as we walked down the tunnel, and I could see another bend coming up. It was a long channel. How much time did they take to dig all of this?

I shone my flashlight on the ground, hearing the scrapes that our boots made as we trekked through the darkness. It was still dark even though we had our hardhat lights on and flashlights on. It was hot too. Taking my jacket, I pulled it away from my skin a couple of times to let my body breath. I could feel sweat at the back of my neck, trickling down to my back slowly, but I kept my gaze forward, refusing to take my eyes off of the group. If I got lost…

A cold breeze teased the back of my neck.

I whipped my head around to stare behind me as soon as I felt the chilling wind. My heart milled against my chest in quick beats, but I just shone my flashlight behind me to see if anyone was there. Why did I even suspect that anyone would be there? Eyeing the darkness carefully, I let my guard down. I saw no one, obviously, except for utter darkness.

"Yugi?"

Startled as soon as I turned back around, I closed my eyes in relief when I realised that it was just Grandpa who had his face way too close to mine.

"Gramps, don't do that," I said breathily, opening my eyes again to look at his smirking face.

"What, are you scared?" he teased, and I quickly walked up ahead, him following me.

"No," I shot back, hiding my embarrassed expression by pretending to be interested in where we were going. He chuckled lightly to himself, but seemed to have dropped it since he walked up to talk to Professor Arthur. As soon as he wasn't looking and I was at the back of the line again, I dropped my act and took another look behind me, just to make sure. Cold wind. Where the heck did it even come from?

"Ow, shit!"

I didn't have much time to ponder on my thoughts because a curse from Jonathan had all of us looking down at him. He was on the floor, flashlight strewn aside, and was rubbing his arm fretfully. By the looks of things he seemed to have stumped his foot and fell face first to the ground.

"Watch where you're going, Jon," Sabrina scolded him, and she stepped forward to pick his flashlight up, giving it to him as he stood up.

"Damn Pharaoh, why the hell did he have to build this intricate thing," Jonathan grumbled, still rubbing his arm.

"Hey, Jon, it wasn't the Pharaoh's fault. You stumped on a wood that we had set there," Kevin taunted, and Grandpa and Professor Arthur sniggered. I smiled, watching as Jonathan decided to just complain some more and glare daggers at the wood.

"Whatever. The Pharaoh probably cursed this forsaken place."

"Hey, we don't know that Jonathan. Stop blaming the poor man," Sabrina spoke up as we all continued down the tunnels to our destination. "We hardly know anything about him."

"He has a lot of power though, doesn't he?!" Jonathan shot back quite angrily. I kept quiet. We had only been walking for ten minutes and people we already getting irritated. Not a good sign, especially when you're deep underground and surrounded by dirt with no way out but back.

"Don't blame the King for your downfall. Just, don't," Kevin piped up, and I could clearly see the grin on his face. It seemed to me that Kevin was the only relaxed one here, you know, when you ignore his outburst earlier about the beams.

"He's evil!" Jonathan continued to say, and it was then that I got confused.

"Evil?" I couldn't stop the question from slipping out of my mouth. I wasn't aware that he was considered evil, or bad. Grandpa turned to answer my question, but Kevin beat him to it.

"He's not evil, or at least we don't know that for sure yet," Kevin began. "All we know is that he has a lot of power, and from hieroglyphs that we saw engraved on the walls, there were a few words that kept on popping up. Dark. Darkness, the shadows… It's everywhere."

"Meaning he's evil!"

"Jonathan, give it a break!" Sabrina shouted, exasperated.

"It's possible though," Kevin went on. "All we've seen so far is negative things about him. From tablets we found earlier on about him, he apparently slaughtered his family, like his brother, mother, etc. in their sleeps, took their blood… It's a whole bunch of dark stuff. Maybe that's why they scratched his name out of existence. There's not a trace of it because they didn't want his name on live on. And, maybe that's why his tomb is built like this, so no one would get in."

"Really?" I didn't know about any of that. This Pharaoh, was he into dark magic? "I thought he was amazing though," I then questioned, looking at the black haired man.

"Yeah, he's amazing because he has incredible dark powers that he used to torture his victims. He had a sick mind. He chopped off a slave's hand just because they spilled water and it splashed on him." Kevin said that with a cheeky grin, and it made me wonder how loose he actually was. Seemed to me that he loved to joke around way too much, especially with topics that laughter shouldn't be used to explain.

None of what they were saying added up though. It just didn't make any sense to me. He sounded awful, and a bit immature for chopping off a slave's hand like that, but his father was a great Pharaoh, so, what happened to him? Temper? I don't know. Why am I doubting their facts anyways? There has been evil Pharaohs in Egypt's history. He was probably just another one of them. Dammit. I didn't know much about him since he's just recently been discovered, but it was too little information to judge him on. There's got to be something else. However, if I was in their shoes I would be forced to do the same. Assume, because we haven't got real answers yet. So for now, this King is considered evil when you put all the evidence together, and it sounds like strong evidence.

"Isn't he also a master gamer?" I asked, just wanting to shed some positivity on the spirit. No need to badmouth him in his own tomb… We are kind of trespassing after all. "His father, Pharaoh Aknamkanon did dedicate a stone tablet to his little Yu-Gi-Oh. His son, the King of Games. His father said that he would grow up to be a great person, and that he's proud of him."

"Yeah, but there's more to that tablet, isn't there?" Sabrina said. "On the tablet there's something that we also found. That 'he', his son, this Pharaoh, shouldn't worry as someone will come and save him."

"Still stumped about that. What did the man mean when he put that in there?" Kevin asked.

"Well," Professor Arthur began, "We don't know if it is Pharaoh Aknamkanon that ordered that tablet to be made with that message."

"If it's there then obviously he would have put it," I said, and Professor Arthur turned to look at me.

"Precisely. That's what we thought too. But, taking a closer look at the tomb and that message, we found something different. It was newer than everything else. So new in fact that there were tools lying next to it that wasn't invented yet in Pharaoh Aknamkanon's time, and probably not in his son's time either."

"We're still trying to figure out if it was put there by his son though," Sabrina said, and I watched as she climbed over a rock that was in the middle of the passageway. "Maybe he knew of his downfall and wanted to make himself look good. He does seem egoistic too. Men, the same no matter in what time they are…"

The others chuckled at Sabrina's last comment, but I couldn't even bring myself to smile. The thought refused to leave my mind. Why? Why would he do something like that? The Pharaoh was evil, and by everything they were saying it seems to be true, but there's still that part of me that… I don't know. I just don't know. I rubbed my forehead, wiping the frustration from my mind. It was all so confusing. I always used facts to make a judgment, but now I'm doubting the facts for a gut feeling? This was very unprofessional of me.

A tingling sensation at the back of my head brings me out of all my thoughts once again. My footsteps slowed, and I could feel that someone was staring at me. That was impossible though. Everyone was in front of me. The memory of the cold breeze from earlier returned and I gulped deeply. Clenching my fists, I took a deep breath, and spun around. I stared into darkness. There was no one there. Hesitantly I turned back around and walked quickly to catch up to the others who were not too far. Being here was already putting me on edge. I needed to calm myself down or I'll really have a heart attack.

"Okay, we're almost there!" Jonathan called, glancing behind him, and I sighed in relief. Finally we can stop walking and get to the exciting part.

I grinned, brushing my fear off. This after all was my first excavation. It was an honour to be here to witness such a moment. And the door, what was behind the door?! My heart pounded quickly out of anticipation instead of fear. There was so much uncertainty and so much wonder that it was becoming hard to contain. Now I know why Grandpa loves this. The rush is amazing!

The tingling sensation returned.

I froze once again and watched with wide eyes as everyone walked up ahead of me. I could feel it, someone staring at me. I turned around and stood there, staring into the pitch black again. All I saw was the bend that we had just turned, and, a flash of white shooting out from the bend and disappearing into the walls. I shone my flashlight on the ground, and my hands started to shake from fear. This was driving me insane. Was that a ghost? There was white, someone was following us. A low howl of the wind met my ears, and it was cold again. I gulped, frozen to the spot.

"Yugi!"

A shout from Grandpa forced me to turn around, and I saw that he was standing a few metres ahead of me, signalling me over to him with his arm. I nodded and took a last look behind me before walking up to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked as I took yet another look behind me, half expecting to see the shape again. I didn't.

"Ah, nothing. I guess the darkness is getting to me. I thought I saw, something…" I trailed off, and he just shook his head and sighed, shooting me an assuring smile.

"Yugi, it's probably nothing. No one is allowed in here without a pass, and even if someone does try to sneak in here, it's impossible because there are people at the entrance making sure no one gets through. Calm down."

I sighed, taking a few breaths to help me calm down. Grandpa was right, and I was just going insane. That's all there is. It was just my mind playing tricks on me.

"Oh, wow," Grandpa exclaimed suddenly, and I was snapped out of my train of thought. Looking up, my mouth fell open as well.

"Here it is, the mysterious door that would hopefully lead us into the Pharaoh's tomb," Jonathan said as we entered a wider area. Everyone separated to take a better look at the door, and I stepped forward to see it for myself as well.

There was a defined outline of a door that was covered by dirt and dried up mud. They seemed to have cleaned some of it because there were more hieroglyphs written all over it, and the eye from before was on it again, vein-like designs popping out of it. Unlike the door we entered through, this was stone and not metal.

"How do you plan on opening it?" I asked, staring in awe at the door. There was no handle, so surely there must be some way for the door to open.

"With this thing right here," and I watched as Jonathan produced a crowbar from his bag.

"Careful, Jonathan. We don't want to be using that just yet. We might damage the door, and for all we know there may be an easier way in opening this thing," Grandpa said, wiping some dust off the door.

"Aw, you're no fun Solomon," Jonathan whined playfully, but he put the crowbar down.

"What does it say, Gramps?" I asked, stepping up to inspect the door further. I watched as Grandpa's eyes squinted, and I shone my flashlight on it so that he could see even better. Little bugs crawled around and I stepped back in fear, but Grandpa seemed to not care even a tiny bit.

"I can't make it out," Grandpa replied. "Sabrina, think you can lend me your eyes?" I stepped away as Sabrina came up to us, and I watched from a distance as the others bustled around, getting things ready. I stood at the back, not wanting to be a disturbance to them.

It didn't take too long for them to get everything ready, and soon they were all digging a little bit here and there, looking over notes and had everything spread out. They lit a few torches, and the entire area was illuminated in mere seconds. The door hadn't budged at all though, and it didn't take long for Grandpa and Jonathan to get into a friendly argument on how they should go about opening the door.

Again, I stiffened when I felt the presence and the obvious sense of chilling wind.

"No, it's nothing. Don't you dare turn around Yugi Moto," I scolded myself, and I steeled myself to the floor, refusing to take my gaze away from the group. If I turned around, it would be clear that I was hallucinating. Nothing was there. The breeze was just trapped air, and the white was probably just made because my eyes switched from light to darkness too quickly.

I felt the wind again, and it was longer this time. There was howling, whispering, in my ears, and I used my shoulder to brush my ear as if it was going to help the sound go away. The howling thought just got louder, more desperate, and I had to wonder how no one else was hearing it. It got to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore and I had to turn around. "It will turn out to be nothing, you'll see," I mentally yelled at myself, and with one go I turned around, to almost drop my flashlight from shock.

There, at the end of the passageway, stood a tall man dressed in white robes. He was tanned, a white turban on his head, and he stared at me with a calculating gaze. I clenched my fists in anger as I realised that it was just a worker. How did he get in here, and why was he following us like this?! Feeling anger swell up inside of me due to the way he made me feel like I was going insane, I looked back to call out for the others only to stop when I saw that they were busy. I shook the thought of getting them involved away. I'll deal with this man myself.

With purpose I marched over to the man, and as soon I opened my mouth to yell at him, he took off. He turned around and raced down the passageway. I was confused at first, but this man had annoyed the crap out of me for long enough. I gave chase without a second thought. He didn't make a sound, and his robes flowed behind him as he ran. He was odd, but all I knew was that he was going to get yelled at. He turned left, and without thinking I turned left too and continued to follow him, going down tunnels that I didn't go through when coming in with the group.

"Stop!" I yelled out, but the man didn't listen. I watched with irritation as he turned another corner, and as soon as I turned the corner too, I stopped in my tracks.

There was a wall in front of me. There were no other tunnels, just a dead end. "Where did he go?" I asked myself as I breathed deeply to catch my breath. This was crazy. Did he take another turn somewhere? I looked at the wall in front of me, only to step closer to it. This wasn't a random dead end. It was a wall. A stone wall with hieroglyphs all over it. I stepped forward to read what was on it when I felt the presence again. Whipping my head around, I came face to face with the man. He stared down at me, and it was then when I noticed the big height difference. No matter.

"Hey," I raised my finger to point at him, "What are you-" and I didn't get far because the man grabbed my wrist in a tight grip, his eyes glowing a golden colour fiercely.

"He's waiting," the man said hauntingly. His grip with strong, and by hearing the sound of his voice, something in the back of my mind ignited the need to get away as fast as I could. I struggled, but he held on to me tighter.

"Let go of me!" I yelled, and the man moved towards the wall, and I watched with horror as the wall glowed a golden colour. He began to walk into the wall, and seeing it made me want to run even further away. "No, stop!" I screamed, fear-stricken, and I tried my best to pull away.

"He's waiting," the man repeated in the same tone, and looking at him I saw that his entire body was through the wall. He was taking me with him! I whimpered helplessly as he pulled my arm through the wall, and seeing my hand gone, I panicked even further.

"Let me go! Let me go! Grandpa!" I shrieked loudly, crawling and thrashing about the walls and digging my boots into the ground to get away. In a frenzy, I took my flashlight and threw it at the wall, and it was then when I was catapulted into the passageway. I stood up, staring at the glowing wall, and without waiting I dashed away as fast as I could.

No proper thoughts came into my head as I ran, and I could feel tears coursing down my face. It was then when I realised that I was lost, and I look back and forth into two directions. I was close to breaking down, and I began to pace, watching the tunnel I had just come out from expectantly. My heart was beating irregularly. What the hell?! What the hell just happened!?

"Grandpa!" I yelled, and by this point I was openly sobbing out of frustration and confusion.

"Yugi!" I heard Grandpa's voice in the distance, followed with running footsteps. "Where are you?!" Grandpa shouted, and without hesitating I ran in the direction of the voice. Seeing him run towards me, I immediately grabbed him tightly in a hug. He was surprised, and looked very much worried, but sighed in relief. I just hugged him tightly, hyperventilating.

"Yugi, what happened? Where were you?!" he asked, and seeing my state he held my face and rubbed my back to calm me down. "What happened?" he asked again.

No words came to my mind. I couldn't get the incident out of my head. I just stood there before everyone, having a mental breakdown. "Grandpa, I- I saw…"

"What did you see?" he asked quietly, but I just continued to cry.

"Okay, you know what, maybe we should call it a day," I heard Sabrina say quietly. No one said anything, so they all must have agreed.

"C'mon Yugi, let's go," Grandpa said, and I felt him push me in the direction of the entrance of the tomb.

"Kevin, walk with them. The rest of us will pack up and come out," I heard Jonathan then say, and from the corner of my eye I saw Kevin nod.

"C'mon, let's go," Grandpa urged again, and I was more than willing to leave as soon as possible.

There we go! The end of the chapter! How did you all like it? Did you like the little horror at the end? I know I sure did. Tell me what you think by leaving a wonderful review. I really want to know you thoughts! Besides, reviews inspire me to write and if I get good reviews, I'll update ASAP. So, I hoped you liked it. Keep reading!

Thanks! Review… xD