Chapter 8: Lucid Dreaming Part I
The bright light triggered Yami and Akana to cover their eyes; it was though the sun had entered the realm of darkness. Quickly, Yami turned and covered his partner with his own body. He continued to hold Yugi's limp form with a strong grip.
"What's going on? Why is there a bright light within the Shadows?" he mused while still protecting his worn out friend.
As the light toned down, both the hero and villain studied what the bright flash had produced. A beautiful Egyptian woman with chocolate-brown eyes and raven hair wearing a modest tan dress and a simple pair of gold earrings stood among the shine. Her waist length hair was held back with a meek gold headband. Behind her was a small boy, about the age of ten, with short brown hair and simple brown eyes. He, too, had on an artless tan outfit and was clinging onto the woman's dress.
"This madness must stop," she stated with a stern look on her face.
"Amisi, Akhom," Akana began in shock. "Is that really you?"
The lady grew a warm smile across her face and replied, "Yes, it's been too long."
Yami turned his attention towards his seditionist while continuing to hold Yugi tightly. He grew surprised how his enemy's voice had changed; it was not filled with rage or arrogance, only despair and slight relief. A feeling of an empty hole filling.
"What is the relationship between these two?" he asked himself. He glanced back towards the woman and then towards the child. He noticed the young boy resembled both Akana and the woman.
The mood shifted from a happy reunion to a break into a harsh reality when Akana bellowed miffed, "And we wouldn't have to be in this situation if it wasn't for this unprofessional pharaoh!"
Yami turned his focus back towards Akana. The man' eyes morphed from blessed to full hatred once more. His tone also fully revamped his wrath once more.
"If that man had shown responsibility and leadership, neither of us would be in this situation!" the detractor yelled while pointing his finger over at Yami. "I have dedicated my life into the service because of skills! I have witnessed great horror, and even my face has been forever desecrated for my commitment."
He slid one hand down the side of his face where the scar had been implanted. And in his hand was the coin he had sealed himself into. He continued, "But yet, I have found everything to have been taken from me upon my return! I have sealed myself into a coin, a coin that was given to members of the pharaoh's army, and plotted my revenge!"
Yami became speechless; he carried no memory of the events the man had stated. All he remembered was what Ishizu had told him, but he could not help but feel out of character for doing such a deed. He always saw himself as someone who faced his own battles, as what he had been doing for his past tournaments and great duels. So much of that one battle remained hidden beneath the many tales the world hid. He wondered if such secrets would ever be fully uncovered.
"Akana," the wife pleaded. "That war was not the fault of our Pharaoh!"
"Of course it is!" Akana argued back. "He's the reason why our beloved country was at war, why we were losing, and why everyone was taken away! A better, more mature leader could have solved the problems without having to go to the extreme of taking the lives of others!"
He lowered his voice into a far more malicious, quitter one as he uttered, "Now he knows all the pain he had caused to the people who had to live through it."
Those piercing words struck the former pharaoh's heart. He looked down at his light, and his eyes transposed his grief. Yugi was still breathing, but it was very thin. His heart continued to beat, but his pulse was extremely weak. His face grew paler. His body was almost completely limp.
Yami knew it was only a matter of time before the Shadows had taken complete control, causing the boy to spend an eternity within the darkness, forever in pain with no chance of hope. Yami now grasped what heartache Akana had borne through all these years. Losing a person he truly cared about placed a gigantic hole within his heart, a hole that can never be filed again because he would never see his lighter half again. No one would see Yugi's smiling face or hear his child-like laugh. He will be stuck in a coma-like state forever while Yami would be in his own darkness. He would be forever entombed within the dark maze of the Puzzle, wandering around with no purpose and no hope of ever seeing the light again.
"Even if all this was true," Yami mumbled. "Yugi doesn't deserve this. He's never done any harm to anybody, and here he is being punished for something that took place several millenniums ago."
Tears formed once again on his face.
"The only problem he had endured on his own was the loss of his parents. We all tried to help even though none of us knew the entire story. But he pushed us back. He did not want anyone to feel the pain of losing loved ones."
"That is not at all what had happen!" the young woman shouted, snapping Yami back into his current situation.
"Akana! Please listen to those who care about you," Amisi pleaded. "Yes, it's true our beloved country was under attack, but the idea of taking our souls was not the pharaoh's fault!"
Tears formed on her as she continued to explain, "You went off into battle, and your son and I never saw you again. We had assumed you were killed. Rather than suffer through the pain of living in turmoil, Akhom and I decided to sacrifice our lives too so that we would be able to save our country and be with you for all eternity…"
Amisi managed to choke out what she needed to say next through her sobs, "But I guess you didn't die after all."
Yami and Akana turned shocked about what they had just heard: A battle, a miscommunication, a loving family broken apart, all wrapped into a twisted situation that had return after five millenniums ago.
The young boy left his mother's side and walked over towards his father.
"Akhom," Akana mumbled.
"It wasn't anyone's fault," the child said with a wisdom that becomes lost with age. "We all just wanted to be together, like a family. That young boy and the pharaoh don't need to pay for what had happen. The pharaoh was in enough pain, and that boy has nothing to do with what had happen."
"Young boy?" Yami thought to himself. "Yugi is older than what that child is… err… was."
"Isn't there a way for all of this to be undone?" the young boy asked his father.
Akana knelt down and looked into his son's eyes, eyes that he had not gazed into for over an eternity. A small breached enlisted in his heart, which permitted his anger that he brew over the centuries to cascade out like sand falling from a person's hand. However much he wanted to relieve his son of his concern, as he always tried in the past, he could not revert time for his loss of his previous life, and he could not undo his heinous actions against an innocent soul.
"I'm afraid not," he stated in defeat, finally understanding his mistake. With his features hidden, he walked over to Yami.
The spirit of the Puzzle clutch his fainted partner even tighter to ensure no harm would continue onto the innocent soul that is Yugi, for the former pharaoh still carried hope there was a way to save his light.
"I won't cause him any more harm," Akana announced in a tone that contrasted his haughtily appearance from before.
Yami reflected what the formal villain just uttered. He knew if Yugi was fully awake, he would have forgiven the man and listen to what he had to say; that was simply the nature of Yugi Muto.
Akana placed his hand over Yugi's deck. He surrendered the duel making Yami the victor.
"But… but if you surrender," Yami stuttered in shock. "It means Yugi'll be the one the Shadows will take!"
Akana stood while looking at the floor with no expression on his face. "I don't deserve to be in the same happiness with my wife and son. I have chosen the path of hatred and revenge rather than forgiveness and acceptance."
Yami stood up still carrying Yugi's body. He understood what the man had established and replied, "I don't know if this'll mean anything in the Shadows, but I know this soul right here would have forgiven you."
Akana nodded. "My wife, Amisi, will help you out with the spell that has been placed over the boy."
He turned his attention towards his wife and son. They had figured out that sadness will soon follow.
Tears formed on their faces as their husband and father said to them, "I love you both very much."
With his final breath the Shadows took Akana, for the dark magic does not care how righteous or evil, justice or vengeance; a person is taken away as a punishment for holding the weaker heart.
The Shadow Realm slowly faded away.
Xxx
A small breeze came across the green grass. The only noise that could be heard was if one listened closely to the breathing of the group of people waiting. No crickets were chirping, for even nature had tried to protect itself from the strange chaos that had suddenly arrived. But the balance was soon restored as the black dorm with flashes of sapphire, ruby, and amethyst faded away.
"Hey, what's going on?" Tristan asked.
"Looks like the game is over," Joey observed.
"I sure hope that those two are ok." Tea pleaded.
The group of friends slowly saw Yami carrying Yugi through the dark fog.
"Hey!" Joey shouted with happiness.
Yami turned towards his friends who were glad to see him and vice versa. He was glad their voices of encouragement helped during his match. He also strongly believed that it was their belief that kept Yugi from being snatched by the Shadows.
The crew of adolescents ran towards the spirit and each asked him questions at the same time confusing him.
"How did the duel go?"
"What was your trump card?"
"We all tried to cheer for the both of you!"
"I can see that he's still not awake," Solomon perceived.
Everyone paused. Among seeing Yami emerging victorious from the darkness, they saw Yugi was still trapped within the spell.
Yami nodded, "Yes, and I'll explain what had happen after we deal with this."
Yugi may have been taken out of the Shadow Realm, but he was still pale, and his breathing remained in a panting state. Not only had his body just came out into the light, but his mind remained under the dark art. He still needed to be saved.
Tea looked at her fallen friend and noticed this as well. She hoped her friend since childhood could pull through again like he has in the past. She prayed the answers would be awakened soon.
Yami looked back towards the Egyptian people, the wife and son who had pulled through their own tough time, sacrificing themselves for the greater good of their country and loved ones. The silver light of the moon shined through their bodies; their forms were no longer solid like in the Shadow Realm.
"Who are they?" Tristan asked, carrying suspicion.
"They're Akana's wife and son," Yami answered, no longer carrying disgust in his heart.
"Really!?" Joey asked in disbelief. "How can someone so evil get a wife that pretty?"
Amisi smiled, "Pharaoh, you must know none of this is your fault. You did the best you could, and under circumstances I think what you did was right."
Yami nodded and waited for her to continue. "I will try and help you, but in doing so you may cause harm to that young boy."
"How so?" Yami asked with great curiosity. "Hasn't he been through enough? He's already lost his parents and was nearly taken to the Shadow Realm. Why must more pain follow?"
"As you may know, the spell involves keeping the victims to forever sleep." Amisi explained. "The key is to find what makes that person the most happiest; with that happiness, the victim to the spell will never want to wake up. They may have their happiness confused with reality, and their body in the real time will suffer the consequences from a lack of food and water. And if they do break it, they may enter a mad state, unable to handle reality. They may disregard truly happy moments in favor of the illusion.
"I know you were part of the Puzzle for several millenniums, and you have a greater destiny to complete in due time. So I will send you back, connecting you once again with the boy."
The former pharaoh nodded. He had spotted a similarity found between the wife and son with his partner: a will for the greater good despite the pain in heart. He knelt down and tried to gently place his partner into a comfortable position on the ground. However, Solomon had also knelt down onto the ground. He took his grandson from Yami's arms and placed Yugi next to him. Tea also knelt down, but she was on adjacent to Mr. Muto. Yugi looked so peaceful; his breathing and heat beat had return to normal as his color also slowly stabilized.
Yami stood up and waited for Amisi to finish.
"Wait, can't we go, too?" Joey requested, wanting to do more for his friend than just wait and hope.
"Isn't there something else we could do?" Tristan asked, feeling the same way.
Amisi shook her head with discontent. "The balance within the Puzzle would be shaken. It would be not only dangerous for your friend, but for you both as well."
The two guys sighed with frustration. It didn't matter to them if they had placed their lives on the line. They had done so many times in the past! But to endanger Yugi would be abysmal, especially if something went wrong. Yami may not be able to break the spell if he had to look after two humans with no power. All they could do is to continue to do what they have been doing.
The woman turned her attention to her former leader. "Pharaoh, this boy is an innocent soul, and you must help him. Once he breaks free, he may struggle with both the good and bad of reality. Even people with good hearts need helping hands."
Yami nodded, "He has done so for me in the past. In light of our great bound, we shall help him out in his time of need."
Amisi looked at the cluster of teens. Seeing their eyes filled with determination of a loved one, feelings she had spotted in the soldiers during the time of war back in her time, she understood. She began to chant a spell.
A bright, yellow light wrapped around Yami's body. Unlike the first spell, this one had a warm feeling to it. Yami knew this was because he was about to be connected with Yugi once more. He closed his eyes and accepted what had been placed over him.
All of their friends wished him luck as he vanished from sight.
"I'm on my way, Yugi…"
Xxx
Yami felt the warm glow fade away. He no longer carried his own body, a privilege that he gladly sacrificed for the greater good. He opened his eyes and found himself once again among the dark walls within his maze. Even though he had never liked the atmosphere, now was not the time to focus on himself; he had to uncover and defeat the spell wrapped around his partner, his light, his Yugi.
With a set mission in mind, he inhaled a breath of cold air before running towards his main entrance to his Soul Room. He passed by many doors and walls to arrive to his main room.
After running for several minutes, he finally arrived. He opened the door of his Soul Room, and to his happiness he spotted his partner's Soul Room was right across from his. However, to his dissatisfaction, a closed door stood right in front of Yugi's room.
"Odd, there was never a closed door in front of here before." Yami observed out loud. "Yugi is an open person and has always welcomed everyone into his life."
He crossed the hallway and placed his hand on the doorknob. To his surprise, the doorknob was cold.
"This is so unlike Yugi," he noted to himself.
He tried to open the door, but it was stuck. He let out a sigh. He knew the spell would be tricky. He widened his legs, placed both hands on the doorknob, and after three tugs he successfully unlocked the door. He reminded himself of his mission, finding the strength to go on. He saw in front of him was a bright light. Beyond that is where Yugi was.
Yami took a deep breath and walked into Yugi's Soul Room.
To be continued…