He remembered little in the time following Seth's demise, except to marvel at the beast lurking just below the surface, that insidious rage that ran as a dark undercurrent where his meekness used to be. After the slaying, Yami had fallen into a blissfully numb indifference-from shock, from rage, or maybe the same old vulnerabilty that rose so painfully when Seth reappeared. Yami could label his revenge as just retaliation, or even sanitize it as "ridding the world of an evil person." But, Seth had been completely at his mercy, stunned, and sickened, and tormented even more than he had been. Yami had honestly believed that his noble impulses were always enough to shield himself from the lie that he was as shamefully human and fully subject to the baser instincts of animals. But, now...after sitting in the dark for hours, staring stupidly at his bloodied, clenched fists, and feeling the surging rush of revulsion mixed with awe, and terror at himself for what he had done...Yami knew that something horrible within himself had irrivocably changed. And it left him shivering in anguish where his sobs might have been, at one point.
He felt guilt, of course. Overwhelming sadness over the death of the one he once called friend. Even a bit of pity for the wretched way that Seth had been
slain. But, Yami could not summon enough grief to assage his guilt, and he could not even bring himself to cry.
He felt as if he had become a monster. It was that searing realization that almost broke him. When the Puzzle had its delight in its torment, at least then,
Yami had a clearly defined enemy, whose motives could be understood, resisted, and on occasion, conquered. Now, from the reverberating terror that radiated
from the walls around him, and even the eerie sensation of the Puzzle's core scuttling away from him like a scared rodent fleeing for a rock,it only served
as confirmation for Yami's deepest fears...that he had become the horror he had despised at one point. It mattered little if it was by his choice, or not.
So, in a perverse way, Yami wound up accomlishing for himself what the Puzzle could not...a complete shattering of everything he once thought as truth.
Yami spent most of his time doing little but indulging in self-torturing misery, stewing over all that he had done wrong, the fear leaving him crippled,
and the guilt leaving him feeling unworthy of freedom. So, he simply stopped fighting the Puzzle, prefering to sit and stew.
So, while Yami spent his time brooding in the darkness, the world outside had changed profoundly. Gone were the ancient gods of Anubis, Isis, Osiris.
Hathor no longer nurtured her children. Egypt's riches were plundered, the sacred tombs broken open, and the bodies of the Pharoah's on display for the
public in museums around the world. The age of the god-kings had passed, faded to memory, and the Nile herself was like a caged tiger, altered by dams,
modern ingenuity, and now subject to man's odd whims. Isis, the high priestess, had long passed into intiquity,there was no memory of Seth, save Yami's
scarred neck, and Yami himself was only known as an etching on a tomb's wall, a golden box where the Puzzle resided, and Yami's sacrifice reduced to the
legend of the "Nameless Pharoah." Yami may not have been displeased with such a title. Until one day, the old tomb was broken open, and Yami's slow
deliverance began.
Solomon Moto stood with hands on his hips, and his mouth drawn into a considering frown underneith his brimmed hat. He was a short, squant man, with wild spikes of silver that jutted out of his headband, as he surveyed the dunes and rocks around him with narrowed, violet eyes. His instincts-longed honed by years of excavations, and incredible success, kept him drawn to the rather obscure wall that coiled back into the ancient ruins, carved out the slope side of the valley.He was known for being a pitbull to those who disrespected the ancient's resting place. He himself preferred to leave the dead where they lay, but that was hardly his choice now. The clatter of a falling rock drew his attention as the small stone shattered against the bricks. He heard the eager, scurrying footseps, as his beloved young grandson came trotting down the side of the hill, almost falling from the sand.
"Yugi! Come away from there, and let those men work!" Yugi Moto's bright, tri-colored hair emerged, spikes first from behind the slope, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Okay, Grandpa." Solomon waved the boy over, impatiently. "Come now, Yugi. I have something important to show you."
Solomon smiled fondly at Yugi, who gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Grampa. What is it you wanted to show me?" Solomon ruffled the spiked hair, fondly,
as he pointed to the wall. "Let's see how well you studied Egyptian history, my boy. What do those carvings look like to you?"
Yugi stared at the massive carving, eyes widening to see the humanesque figure, the faint lines gracefully depicting the Eye of Horus, in swirls that crowned the figure baring familiar looking spikes and a hand raised in salute, or combat against a tall, lean figure.
"I don't know, Grandpa. Does that symbol mean Pharoah? It looks like it shows a battle, and those carvings say the Pharoah has no name. Did I get it right?"
Solomon tenderly squeezed his shoulder, warmly. "Yes, my boy, that is all correct. Pretty soon, you will be better at this than I am. Now..what do you say we do a bit of investigating on our own?"
Yugi gave him an eager, heart-warming smile. 'Why don't you get the flashlights, and tell the diggers where we'll be. I know you wanted to see the burial chamber up close, right?"
Yugi quickly returned with the flashlights, and he was figeting like a newborn colt as Solomon slowly led him down to the mouth of the chamber. "Now, Yugi. Before we go in, I want you to remember, that this area is sacred. Don't break anything, or be disrespectful. We wouldn't want to invoke the wrath of the Egyptian gods, now would we?" He asked with a smile.
Yugi nodded, solemnly, and wide-eyed, as Solomon aimed the flashlight beam into the huge, mouthlike opening, and carefully trod forth. He beckoned Yugi with a wave over his shoulder. He heard Yugi's soft footsteps following close behind.
"It is perfectly safe, Yugi, if you want to look around. Go ahead!" Solomon waved the boy ahead, after stepping aside. Yugi gave him a cautious glance for permission, and only stepped forward after Solomon's welcoming grin. Solomon's grin faded, and his thoughts darkened when he knew that Yugi was not preoccupied with displeasing his grandfather.
The fact that Yugi had actually seemed eager, and happy was heartening to the old man. It had been a little more than two months since the boy came to live
with him permanently. His mother-Samantha Moto-Solomon's granddaughter-had signed custody over to him after a long, and bitter trail of broken years in her wake.
As a child, then a young girl, she had always been a flighty, pretty, untamable creature, unable to be caged, contained, or forced to take responsibility
for any of her actions. As a teenager, and then a young woman, she alternated between the promises to reform, change, and live a good life, begging
Solomon for money, or returning to the same swarthy men that used her with her own permission and left her with the bruises, and the intolerable lie
that there was something better out there than what she had. She held no belief of responsibility, and had no interest in any pursuit beyond the day's pleasure.
Of course, motherhood and such a lifestyle were definitely not a good mix, but from the free and easy tendencies she had..it was only a matter of time
before she found herself with an unplanned baby, and no interest in keeping him.
Solomon had taken his wayward daughter in, of course. He gave her shelter, security, and demanded nothing in return except that she take care of herself and the baby. So, she ate his food, slept in security, and made an attempt to reform herself, far more of an attempt than Solomon had seen in years. She worked hard at the game shop, and started taking classes in the evening. She attended her prenatal doctor's visits promptly, and glowed with the news that she was going to have a healthy baby boy. And, for a few months, father and daughter were closer than they had ever been.
It was after Samantha delivered the bouncy, happy, violet eyed boy that she named Yugi, things had turned sour again. She dropped out of school. Her interest in the gameshop wanned. Gradually, she drifted away, making a token effort to care for her infant son, while Solomon resumed more and more responsibility for his poor grandson.It was the night that Samantha came home drunk and covered with bruises, and passed out on the floor next to the screaming infant that Solomon had finally garnered enough courage to confront her.
He was gentle in his words, wary of Yugi baring the brunt of any reprecussions. Samantha screamed at him, threatening to remove Yugi permanently, and Solomon backed down, with a tearful glance at the sleeping infant.
After changing and feeding the young boy, Solomon rocked the baby to sleep, and put his grown daughter to bed, still in her torn, sodden clothes.
He woke in the morning to find an apologetic note in the crib in her scrawled handwriting, and the gaping abscence of both his daughter and grandson.
Samantah had completely vanished for a year after that. One night, though, she made a pleading phone call from the police station. Her demons were after
her again, and she was arrested on disorderly conduct charges. Yugi was left at her rundown appartment, and she was worried. Solomon, of course, bailed Samantha
out of jail, after collecting the one year old, in protective arms shaking with rage. It was a bitter, tortured time after that. He made it clear to
Samantha that she would always have a place to stay as long as he had breath, but she was a mother, and needed to care for her son. Samantha never did
grow up enough for that, and Yugi was shuffled between her place and Solomon's, in between Samantha's sporadic jobs, stints in rehab, a few nights in jail,
or whose bed or bruise her insanity had earned her.
It was when Samantha dumped Yugi off with an ill-disguised bruise on his left cheek that Solomon had had enough. From the too-large clothes that reaked
of cigarettes, to that wary, weary terror that now blazed in those violet eyes, to the half a dozen cigarrette burns that decorated the inside of his
left arm, Solomon stared at his grandson with sorrow, then looked at Samantha with rage. His daughter recieved a sound slap across the cheek, as he
herded her to the door. He left her with the oath of, "My grandson will not be subjected to any more of your irresponsibilty"
Samantha had stared at her son, with one long, tearful glance, backwards, then drew the wet hood over her streaming hair, and walked away. Solomon
had not heard from her since. Nor did he care to.
Solomon's thoughts grew brighter as Yugi peered at the dark surroundings, not with fear, but an eager smile, as he waved the flashlight over the barren walls.
Yugi glanced at his grandfather,then cocked his head to the side with narrowed eyes, as he shined the beam over the unnoticed crack in the wall.
Puzzled, Solomon's eyes traveled from Yugi's concentrated squint to the crack in the wall, with an uncertain twist beneith his mouth. "Yugi? What is it?"
Yugi shook his head, as he crept forward. "I don't know, Grandpa...I just feel like there's something weird about that corner, there."
Solomon allowed a tolerent smile. "Well, Yugi...go investigate it. You won't harm anything." Yugi practically leapt to the corner, and gave an exploritory
flash of light to the crevice, and his eyes widened, as he waved Solomon over, urgently. 'Grampa!" his voice was shaking with awe,"there IS something here!
Something gold!Come here and look!"
Solomon followed the trail of light to see the unmistakeable glint of gold from the black, and with a gentle nudge pushing Yugi aside, he carefully reached
into the crack of the rock and drew out the golden object. He heard Yugi's gasp of shock, as he placed the heavy object on the floor, carefully.
"Grampa, what in the world is that?"
Solomon did not answer, as he raised an appraising eyebrow, his hands quivering with excitment. "Well, Yugi, you may have just uncovered an object that has not been viewed for the last few thousand years. Well done!"
"Really?!That is awsome! But, Gramps, what is it?" Solomon studied the strange, swirling eye of Horus, the elaborate curved carvings that went from lid to
bottom, and then spun back across the sides. "It's not the box itself that is extrordinary, Yugi. It's what is inside." Solomon carefully lifted the lid,
and lowered the box so Yugi could peer inside. Yugi saw the jagged edges of many gold pieces glittering in the dark. "What is this"
Solomon set the lid back in place, and handed the box off to Yugi, with a warning glance to be careful. "It is a Puzzle, Yugi. From what the carvings say,
this Puzzle contains the essence of the nameless Pharoah. Perhaps you will find some amusement putting the thing together, Yugi"
Solomon's eyes sparkled with laughter. "Does this mean I can keep it?" Solomon nodded with a grin. "Of course. Just be very careful with it."
Yugi gave him a glowing smile, as he stared thoughtfully at the Puzzle. He felt drawn to it, somehow. 'Thanks, Grandpa!"
-
Yami felt the sudden shift that rattled the Puzzle to its shivering core, as he glared, quizzically at the shivering walls, in silent demand for an explanation. "What inspires so much fear that you openly acknowledge it in my presence?" The Puzzle did not answer imediately, but Yami felt the fear coiling in itself, as it searched for the words to appease its captor.
"We have changed hands, my king." The uncertain answer was offered up, hesitantly as Yami scowled.
"What do you mean by this?" The Puzzle wisely kept its rancor to itself, as it was most eager to rid itself of the formerly tormented Yami.
"Your deliverance, my king."
