Be sure to check out 'Shadows of the Roses', an sequel to this, and other stories of Mine. Don't worry, SOR will not give away any major Spoilers.

As always, Review Below, Let me Know!

*Temple of Anubis, Sahara Desert, 3:37 P.M. LST.*

The group entered the main hall of the temple lit by only a few torches. The yellow stones gave off a musty oder and dust hovered around like flies. Perfectly lined up along the halls were statues made of ebony black stone of a being with the head of a jackal on a human body laced in golden jewelry for its attire. Clyde Edwards pulls out a cloth and holds it over his mouth and nose.

"Ugh! This place reeks of death!" Edwards complained, his voice muffled by cloth.

"You know, I'm having doubts about why we're here." Shigeru expressed.

"What's there to doubt?" Jeremy asked. "These guys want to kill an old friend of mine, so I got to stop him."

"So we're going to the lair where the crazy killers live? That's very clever." Shigeru said sarcastically.

"I still want to know the real reason why these guys want to kill Trinity." Renee said. "It's not like she's anybody special."

Trinity then drooped her head down in misery. "I am too special." She moaned.

"They wish to use her blood as part of an occult ritual in belief that it will bring back an ancient god." Yuki stated.

"Oh, yeah right." Renee rejected the idea. "Who would be stupid enough to believe that a god from an ancient world is real? Let alone one that seeks out people for stupid reasons?"

Jeremy and Makoto glared at each other with a look saying 'Is she for real?'.

"She did not just say that." Makoto said.

"Hm? What's up?" Renee asked.

"Don't worry about it. Let's just keep going." Jeremy said.

They continued down the hall and it eventually led to a main chamber. A large spherical device shined brightly in the center of the room like a marble sun. Hundreds of Rift goons surrounded it and walked around with their heads down as if they were in a trance.

"Christ! This is the entire team I sent here!" Edwards was surprised.

"BROTHERS!" A voice echoed. "The Gatekeeper continues to prevent us entry into the chambers of our god! Should we bring the blood to him, I guarantee he shall open it!"

The man announcing the speech walked up the stairs on top of the sphere. He was dressed like an Egyptian priest, wearing white silk robes laced with gold. He wore the makeup of a priest too, with black eyeshadow painted. The man wasn't Egyptian though, he was as pale as a Scottsman.

"Bloody Hell!" Edwards said, recognizing the man.

"And the intruders come!" He shouted as he saw the group. "You stand before Servinius! High priest to Anubis! And I see you come with a gift! The young maiden whose blood will free our master!"

"My God, man, you've lost your mind!" Edwards yelled.

"You know this psychopath?" Jeremy asked.

"His name is Johnathan McDougal." Edwards answered. "He was the man in charge of excavating these ruins. He's also the man who designed and built my Bianca."

"Clyde?" Servinius noticed him. "You're here, too? You came to pay homage to the great Anubis?"

"What the hell happened?" Edwards questioned. "This was a money-making expedition! Not some crazy cult party!"

"I am not crazy!" Servinius proclaimed. "The god Anubis will reward us for freeing him!"

"Anubis doesn't exist!" Edwards shouted.

"He was the last." Servinius continued. "The last to be sealed. Not sealed by the Roses like the other gods, but sealed by a force that is darker and more easily broken. Osiris could not know! Kronos could not know! But he is here! He was sealed here to be used as a weapon."

"Listen to this guy. He's crazy. Isn't that right, Jeremy?" Renee said, looking at Jeremy with a grin.

"Who sealed Anubis here?" Jeremy asked Servinius.

"WHAAA? !" Renee was shocked. "You can't actually believe this guy!"

"Ask her!" Servinius pointed at Trinity. "She carries his blood! The blood that made the seal! The blood we need to break it!"

"So that's it." Makoto mentioned. "Those Rift goons were chanting something about blood before they died. Now I know what it means."

"And what will happen when you free Anubis?" Jeremy asked again.

"Anubis shall grant us all his gift!" Servinius answered. "Death."

"'Death'?" Shigeru needed clarification.

"Anubis can choose who lives and who dies!" Servinius explained. "Hades can't even do that! Being able to point at someone and saying they could live and they could die? There is nothing more powerful! MWAHAHAHAHA!"

"I called it!" Jeremy proudly said. "See? I said he would do that!"

"If Anubis is so powerful, why doesn't he just kill the person who locked him up?" Makoto asked.

"He was tricked." Servinius said. "Promised gifts that the wizard promised. Then he was lead here and sealed, just for his power of death. That was 5000 years ago all this happened. All for his power to choose life and death."

"I've heard enough of this." Edwards said. "This man is only a threat to himself. Let's call the authorities and have them deal with this bullshit."

"Well, hold on a sec." Jeremy suggested. "Maybe we should investigate what he was talking about."

"Are you out of your bloody mind? !" Edwards exclaimed. "Because he's clearly out of his!" Edwards pointed to Servinius.

"Jeremy, just listen to the guy." Renee told him. "There's no way any of this is real."

"Maybe we should just beat his brains out until he comes to his sense." Shigeru suggested.

"YOU! AND YOU!" Servinius pointed to Jeremy and then Makoto. "You bear the mark of the Roses! Godslayers! You came to slay Anubis!"

Jeremy and Makoto then looked at their Rose marks.

"Maybe we should have covered these up." Makoto stated.

"RISE, MY BROTHERS! KILL THE GODSLAYERS!" Servinius commanded.

As if on cue, all the dormant Rift members' heads came up and revealed their black-as-night eyes. They then started to move like zombies toward the group.

"Aw, to hell with this!" Edwards said.

Edwards called forth his Dark Armed Dragon, which took its claw and slammed all of Rift goons to the walls.

"Ugh! Is that really necessary? !" Makoto asked.

"I'm not screwing around anymore!" Edwards stated. "I've had enough of this bullshit!"

"How?" Servinius wondered. "How can you summon a monster? Only Lord Anubis can allow you to summon that creature!"

"SHUT UP!" Edwards demanded. "Now get down from there so we can take you to an insane asylum!"

"NEVER!" Servinius shouted. "I'd rather die!"

Servinius put on a Duel Disk and it powers up.

"I thought there was an EMP thing frying all the Duel Disks." Jeremy pointed out.

"Electrical current abnormality." Yuki said.

Jeremy just looked at Yuki. "What the hell does that mean? !"

Edwards looked at his precious Bianca Duel Disk and it powered up.

"I'll take care of this asshole quickly." Edwards stated.

Servinius (LP 4000) Edwards (LP 4000)

Servinius drew first. "I activate the Field Spell Necrovalley!"

The area around them became Necrovalley.

"Then I'll set one monster face-down in defense mode and end my turn!" Servinius concluded.

Edwards then drew his first card. "I summon Armed Dragon LV3 (Lv.3 1200/900) and then I activate the Spell Card Level Up!"

Armed Dragon LV3 leveled up and transformed into Armed Dragon LV 5 (Lv.5 2400/1700).

"Next I activate the Spell Nobleman of Crossout!" Edwards continued. "This will banish your Defense position monster!"

The Nobleman of Crossout appeared and slashed Servinius' face-down monster, which was Gravekeeper's Guard (Lv.4 1000/1900).

"Since it was a Flip Effect monster, we have to banish any other monsters of the same name from our Decks!" Edwards pointed out. "I doubt I have that card, but I'm sure you have more of them!"

Servinius was forced to banish the 2 other Gravekeeper's Guards from his Deck.

"Armed Dragon LV5, attack him directly!" Edwards declared.

Armed Dragon LV5 attacked Servinius and dealt him 2400 points of damage.

Servinius (LP 1600) Edwards (LP 4000)

"I end my turn by placing one card face-down!" Edwards finished.

Servinius then drew his next card. "I summon Gravekeeper's Commandant (Lv.4 1600/1500)! And Necrovalley grants him 500 extra attack and defense points! Now I equip him with Sword of the Deep-Seated to increase his attack power by 500 more! Gravekeeper's Commandant, attack his dragon!"

"I activate the Trap Prideful Roar!" Edwards responded. "I pay Life Points equal to the difference in our monsters' attack points and then my monster gains that amount plus 300!"

Edwards only had to pay 200 Life Points to increase his Armed Dragon's attack power to 2900 and then have it destroy Gravekeeper's Commandant, inflicting Servinius with 300 points of damage.

Servinius (LP 1300) Edwards (LP 3800)

Edwards then drew his next card. "Because my Dragon destroyed a monster in battle, he can level up and I can Special Summon Armed Dragon LV7 (Lv.7 2800/1000)! Now Armed Dragon, end this!"

Armed Dragon LV7 attacked Servinius and reduced his Life Points to 0.

Servinius (LP 0) Edwards (LP 3800)

Servinius grabbed his chest and fell from the sphere. He rolled down the sphere and fell onto the ground, heaving in pain.

Jeremy hurried over to his body and checked on him.

"You," Servinius coughed. "You can free him! The Gatekeeper will let you through."

"Why would we free him?" Jeremy asked. "The god's tried to destroy the world."

"His gift...Whoever receives his gift...will seek revenge...against the...the...*cough*" Servinius began convulsing and foamed at the mouth. After moment he stopped moving and his skin turned to dust.

"Poor bastard." Edwards expressed. "and Good riddance. Now for that EMP, lets find so we can signal for help and get the hell out of here."

The Sphere in the center of the room began to glow. A a wave of energy circled around and descendent into the depths of the temple. The floor began to shake and rearrange as a passage way with stairs opened in the floor.

"Hey what did you do?" Trinity asked.

"Nothing!" Jeremy said. "The guy just died."

"Should we check it out?" Makoto asked.

"I think maybe we should head back into that camp and find a radio that isn't fried yet." Renee brought up.

"That would not be possible." Yuki said. "Our way back has been blocked."

The group looked back at the corridor they came from and it had inexplicably been filled with the desserts sand.

"When the hell did that Happen?" Trinity asked.

"Looks like the only way's forward." Jeremy said. He then began to walk down the stairs.

After about an hour of Walking, the walls began to glow as if light from the outside was seen. They then approached a Steel gate with an Old man, wearing only rags over his body and another rag wrapped around his eyes, was standing at an Old podium reading an even older book. He heard the groups approached and closed the book.

"5000 years." The man spoke. "I've guarded the temples true entrance for 5000 years, to wait for this time."

"You expect us to be you were waiting for that long just for us?" Shigeru asked.

"Not you." the Man said grabbing a Walking stick. "The Roses. You know who you are." He walked a little closer to get a better look at them. "Ah, you are the two who battled Rudianos and Yinglong. I'm impressed."

"If you spent your time waiting here, how do you know we did that?" Makoto asked.

"I have the gift of sight." The man said. "I may be blind, but I only see what I need to see. And I see you."

"Who are you?" Trinity asked. "Whats your name?"

"My name?" the man asked. He seemed confused. "It's been so long I can't remember. I was entitled Gatekeeper. I guess that could be my name now." The Gatekeeper walked over to the gate and place his hand on one of the steel bars. "But know with a rose here, We can kill Anubis."

"I thought Anubis was sealed to be have his power stolen right?" Makoto asked.

"Impossible," The Gatekeeper spoke. "His power can not be controlled. He was sealed because he could not be killed. The sealer knew this, but also said a Rose would be need to defeat the God. That is you two. We can kill Anubis while he slumbers."

"That simple?" Jeremy asked.

"Your coming was foretold." The Gatekeeper continued. "There trials ahead. 7. One for each of you."

"Oh Balls!" Edwards spoke. "This is a waste, we need to find-"

"Clyde Edwards." The Gatekeeper spoke. "Should I convince you, the rest will follow."

"How the hell do you know my name?" Edwards asked.

"Don't insult me." the Gatekeeper said. "All you need to know is that Bianca is the name of the woman you bore a child with. A girl. Innocent and only wishing for a fathers love. You abandoned her to a river-"

"STOP!" Edwards shouted. "Fine I get it! You're a psychic. What do you want from us?"

"You!" The Gatekeeper said to Jeremy. "Violet Rose. Place your hand on the bars."

Jeremy looked at his hand and then at the bars. He did what the Gatekeeper said and the second his right hand touched the steel bars, Jeremy felt a swirl of energy surround his body. His Violet rose mark began to glow. Jeremy began to feel light headed. The gate opened, and Jeremy collapsed.

"JEREMY!" Makoto shouted. She ran to him and lifted his head off the ground to see if he was alright. "He has No pulse!"

Makoto tried shaking him.

"Jeremy! Jeremy!"