Dream Prince

Chapter 19

Droplets in the Stream of Time

The following morning Yugi went to see Atemu to find out what alternative weapon the other had planned for him. Yugi had been slightly sceptical while he had been making his way to the same spot where he had met the prince during the previous day but when Yugi had seen the pair of daggers Atemu had brought him, he had been caught within a wave of anxiousness.

It was not the first time Yugi had been given a dagger to use. The boy could remember very well when he had been taught to use the weapon in question, by Atemu's teacher Rishid. Learning to use a weapon had not been in Yugi's interest when he had first approached the man. Yugi had wanted to ask about his fiancé from one of the people who had known him the longest and could offer good insight on the person Yugi so wished to impress.

Rishid was not a talkative man, however, so Yugi could not get much out of him. The elderly man spoke very little but he had offered to teach Yugi what he could. At first Yugi had thought it meant to teach him about weapons and he had accepted in hopes that being able to defend himself would somehow make him worthier in Atemu's eyes. But, in between the lessons in the use of daggers, the weapons Rishid had deemed suitable for him, Rishid had told Yugi stories. They had been tales of Atemu when the prince had been learning his own sword skills, of lessons just like the one Yugi had observed, admiring his fiancé's skills and strength.

Atemu had known about Yugi's lessons, and the prince had come to watch him a couple of times as well. At first Yugi had been uncomfortable with the attention but as his skills grew, so did his confidence. Perhaps that was one of the reasons using a sword was so difficult for him; Yugi had already grown accustomed to having a different weapon in his hand.

But, the reason Yugi remembered all of this was not because of the familiarity of the dagger in his hand, but because Atemu had chosen this particular weapon. This was the same type of weapon Atemu knew Yugi had used, and it was the type he had chosen to give to Rasui. Did that mean that Atemu had found him out and was now telling Yugi just that?

In the end, all these fears vanished from Yugi's mind when Atemu started the lesson. The way the prince talked to the shorter male like the other had never as much as seen a dagger before told Yugi that Atemu was far away from figuring Yugi out. It actually annoyed Yugi to have the other be so helpful to Rasui in a way he had never been to Yugi. Not to mention it felt extremely patronising when the other spoke to him in such a manner.

A familiar feeling of confidence was stirring within Yugi now that he was in possession of a dagger once again. He spared a glance at the practice puppet Atemu had put up before Yugi's arrival as he listened to the taller male's instructions with half an ear. His grip on the handles of his weapons loosened, allowing him to spin the blades around slowly, lazily. They were well balanced, familiar. It was with that same familiarity that Yugi used the knives to slash the practise puppet. The two cuts across the would-be chest of the doll crossed each other, creating an almost symmetrical X shape.

The sudden movement from the boy had caught Atemu's attention, the other's speech trailing off in the middle of a sentence, and now the Egyptian was looking at Yugi with a surprised expression.

"You know how to handle daggers?" Atemu queried, his tone slightly incredulous.

"A little bit", Yugi replied easily. His words were dismissive, humble, but his tone certainly was not. There was an undertone of smugness that Yugi could not remember ever voicing before. He had never felt this rebellious before. He was starting to wonder if perhaps spending so much time in Bakura's company was starting to influence him just a little bit.

"That certainly doesn't look like a little", Atemu stated as he lifted a brow at Yugi. "Do you even need me to teach you?"

"Well, I suppose some pointers would be nice", Yugi answered. "My skills are very basic at the moment, so I'd really like some advice on where to go from here."

"I'll see what I can do", Atemu said, looking at the practise puppet again. "We can start off with you showing me just what these basic skills of yours consist of, and then work forward from there."

&

Odji frowned at the walls of his father's chambers as he waited for the man in question to make his appearance. He had to wonder what had the other so busy, there were not supposed to be any court meetings that way. He should know; he has asked from several guards separately to make sure. And still there was no sign of his father. It was an annoyance, as he would have to take off back to the camp as soon as this was over and done with. Because of that sooner would be better than later, as he needed to keep an eye on both Atemu as well as Rasui's progress.

Even though he was expecting company, Odji still jumped when his father walked into the room. This was because then man appeared in the entrance of the inner rooms of the quarters. Odji had to wonder what the man had been doing there that had taken so long and could not have been interrupted for a meeting with his son.

"Odji", the man spoke instantly upon entering the room, his tone urgent. "How is the young prince doing?"

"I've managed to delay the squadron's departure by weeks in the very least", Odji answered swiftly, having known very well that his father would question about his progress; that was the whole reason he was here: to report in. Atemu and Seto did not consider him anything more than a minor nuisance, someone who was getting on their nerves for his own amusement. But there was much more to it that that. Odji did not actually personally have anything against the prince and his cousin, but his loyalty was to his father first and foremost. And his father did not want Prince Atemu to have an easy time.

"Perfect. The pharaoh himself will be leading the majority of the forces. They will be leaving in three days", Odji's father spoke and smirked in a pleased manner. "There's no way the prince is going to make it to the first confrontation with the enemy." The man turned his deep jade eyes to Odji again. "I need you to show me the exact location of the training camp on the map."

"What for, father?" Odji questioned, feeling confused. What would his father do with that information? Odji was taking care of his mission well, the man had said so himself.

"In order to measure the time Prince Atemu's forces would need to reach the battle field", Odji's father answered. "I will also need you to send me a notice as soon as you move out. It will have to be on the exact same day." The man's expression turned severe. "Do you understand?"

"I understand, father", Odji replied hastily; he did not want to anger the man. "I will send a messenger hawk as soon as the prince is ready to join the battle." The boy thought back to the sad excuse of a soldier that was the key factor in his plans. "Which won't happen too soon at all."

"Make sure you do so", the man said with a nod and then indicated a table with his hand. "Now mark the training camp's position onto that map and then you can leave."

Odji did as his father constructed, after which the man shooed him out of his quarters. Odji was by far used to this rather cold treatment from his father so he did not stick around to dwell on the matter and directed his attention to more immediate issues and started heading down the hallway, his full intention being to reach the courtyard as soon as possible so that he could take off again. Who knew what might have happened around the camp in his absence.

"What do we have here?" a voice suddenly hissed, so close that it could have come from right beside Odji. The green-eyed male instantly froze and turned around, only to see nothing but an empty hall. However, he did notice that the hallway had suddenly turned a lot darker. And the shadows were growing deeper with each moment that passed, hiding the walls from sight. A shiver went through Odji's body as he felt a pressure that he could recognize easily.

"Shadow Magic…" Odji murmured, glaring into the shadows and trying to penetrate their darkness even as he knew it to be impassable. "Who goes there?"

"Is that a deceptive human soul I smell?" the voice came again, and Odji now recognized its lizard-like quality. He then realized that this was no wizard speaking, but a Shadow Monster, and it sounded like it was hungry for a soul, Odji's soul to be exact. But he had done no bad deed that would draw in such a being, so why was this creature here?

"…No", the voice spoke again in a thoughtful manner. "The scent is stuck to you, but it isn't your own." Odji stared hard into the direction the sound was coming from but could still see nothing, so he tried to sense the being. Soon afterwards he wished that he had not.

The mass of Shadow Magic Odji could feel seeping from the monster was overbearing. This was no normal creature gone rogue; beings of this magnitude could not enter the human realm without being summoned. However, Odji could not feel any sorcerers nearby, which meant that the monster had been brought into the world with free reign over its own actions.

Every member of each of the noble houses were taught in the art of Shadow Magic in hopes that one of them could become a member of the pharaoh's most trusted court and be granted ownership of one of the legendary Millenium Items, the mystical artefacts that would increase a person's magical ability beyond human means. Even though Odji was not in possession of such an amplifier, he had been paying attention on his lessons and was therefore sensitive towards the magic and beings of the Shadow Realm.

This monster should have been in the Shadow Realm, or by its master's side. A being with this much magical power should not be able to exist in the human world if it sustained its earthly form by its own power alone, at least for a long time. The being should not be able to come here and affect the hallway with its magic. Because of these factors Odji tried to seek out an anomaly with his senses, and finally he felt it.

There was a rift in the universe. It felt more like a ripple than any real rip in what made up the worldly boundaries, so it was strange to think that the monster had come through it. But it seemed that the matter was so; as a matter of fact, it felt as if the monster was standing right where the rift was. The creature was within the rift, caught between the two worlds.

"You're awfully far from your home", Odji spoke to the Shadow Monster then, hoping that the half-existence meant that the being did not have full access to its powers. "What are you doing here?"

"Keeping an eye on you", came the threatening response and Odji fought against his first impulse to run. He did not want to egg the beast on, the last thing he needed was a Shadow Monster treating him like a pray to be hunted.

"I'm not doing anything", Odji said hastily. This creature seemed to be one of those used for inflicting Judgement of the Shadows; its first comment on smelling deception was certainly a hint towards that.

A dark, condescending chuckle came from the monster, followed by the other uttering: "I couldn't care less about what you petty mortals plot against one another. However…" The shadows shifted, pressing closer to Odji and the noble shivered once again. "You had better make very sure that my prince is not harmed, or I will take your soul as penalty."

"Y-" Odji started, trailing off in fear and still forcing himself to continue: "You will not give me orders!" That was right. He would be ordered around by no one, least of all a faceless creature that was only half real.

The being laughed again, the sound short this time, before cutting itself off abruptly. The pretended amusement served no reason other than to make Odji feel even less confident in face of this creature, and it was working. Odji felt his fear rising again, clogging up his throat and making him feel like he was about to throw up.

"You misunderstand me", the monster spoke with a deep rumble, like a growl. "I wasn't ordering you, it is not possible to force anyone to do anything with mere words. In such cases it's always the person's will to do as instructed." And then Odji got his first glance at the creature, in the form of glowing red eyes regarding him from the darkness. "Threatening someone, however, produces a completely different result." Those eyes narrowed, as if daring Odji to argue. "I am threatening you, Lord Odji, so it would be in your best interest to obey." The pressure increased as the eyes moved closer. "Do not harm my prince."

"I don't intend to harm anyone", Odji said truthfully. "I'm only interested in Prince Atemu's reputation, nothing more." Egypt needed a king who could be counted on, someone like the current ruler Akhenamkhanen. Atemu could not match up to his father; this much was obvious to Odji's father, and so the man had told Odji to make sure the prince would either shape up or lose the faith of the public.

"Make sure it stays that way", the monster spoke and in the next instant the eyes had vanished, along with all of the shadows the creature had brought along with it.

Odji stood still for a few moments, both his outer and inner senses focused on trying to spot any traces of the monster still remaining in the hall. Finally Odji determined that the creature was really gone. Along with that realization came a sharp inhale, as Odji realized that he had been anxiously holding his breath.

As normalcy slowly crept back into Odji's mind, the noble realized that he must have spent quite some time in the hallway trapped in a pocket of shadows. Certainly the soldiers were growing antsy with his lengthening absence. So it was with shaky legs that Odji continued his way down the hall, determined to carry on his duties more efficiently than ever. It would serve as the best way to forget what had just happened.

To be continued…

Author's Notes: Finally done! Such a relief! You guys wouldn't believe it if I told you just how much schoolwork I have. So, I won't promise quick updates. I will, however, not allow this story go to a hiatus.

Also, I decided to take a new path in character development in this chapter. You will see more of that in the next instalment.