INTERLUDE
Light dappled through the thin shell and splashed on the water pooling in the middle of the central chamber. Solemn quiet permeated the room. Nothing stirred in the peaceful chamber until a purple light, followed by a red one, appeared, floating above the water.
As if summoned by the presence of these strange lights, the Water Sage appeared at the doorway.
"I hope you don't mind if I wait here instead of transforming into a merman, again," he said.
"It is best to conserve your magic. We have a situation," the purple light replied.
"Oh?"
"The memory-seal on Yugi..."
"It's my fault," the red light interrupted. "I forgot my role and introduced myself – by name."
"Ah." The Water Sage pondered this information. "That is a problem. The young one is remarkably attuned with each of us – it is dangerous enough to permit Celador, Vialla, and the others to use their names."
"There is only one name that will most certainly break the spell," the purple presence said serenely. "If you but strengthen the forgetfulness spell on Yugi now, he should forget learning Akai's name as it was only the one slip. Deepening it on him will cause the others to forget it, too. All will be well."
"The situation grows – complex," the Water Sage noted.
"As we knew it would. Still, I am pleased with how things are unfolding. The outcome we discussed becomes more certain with each – complication."
"I am sorry to have added a problem to the mix," the red presence said.
"It is not something that can't be undone," the purple light reassured. "Isn't that correct 'Water Sage'?"
"And it falls to me – why?"
"He's connected to me deeper than I realized. Unless I'm forced to, I dare not act, or else the charade falls apart. I would prefer it if my role in this adventure were to remain completely hidden."
"Hmm. And, the Purple Knight?"
"He is playing up his sorcerous and chivalric nature – to the hilt – so to speak." The Water Sage rolled his eyes at the purple light's pun. "The memory-seal on Yugi is tightly in place with regards to him, though the young one's curiosity is roused by the Purple Knight's tragic past, again. If we counter Akai's slip, I can distract Yugi's attention from contemplating that history too deeply, and everything should be as it was before."
"Very well." The Water Sage reached out, grasping the green pearlescent staff that appeared next to his right hand. His water garment flowed away, revealing purple armor and robes in their wake. "Give me a sight-line, if you please."
The purple presence pulsed, once. A moment later, a distant purple pulse gave the Dark Sage the target he needed. He sent a mighty, specially-shaped magical attack along the line the purple light had given him.
Miles away, Yugi, in his chamber in the Stronghold of the Champion Lord of Warriors, subsided into a deeper sleep as the magic touched him.
"It is done. We must not slip up again, though. Deepening this spell on the young one once more could well harm him. As it will take me time to recover enough to resume my disguise, make certain no one has need to consult the 'Water Sage' for the next day or so," the Dark Sage commanded.
"Not to worry. I sense that the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos is about to make another move. Subtle, that one is not!" The purple light sparkled.
"Yes, that will most certainly distract our Hero from trying to discover things we do not wish for him to learn," the Dark Sage replied. He turned a steely blue-eyed stare the red light's way. "Watch yourself. Do not forget your role again."
"I am the Red Knight, in service as the Guardian for the Lord of Fire and Warriors, and a Warrior Knight myself. I won't break my role again," the red light promised, dipping toward the surface of the water as if bowing to the Dark Sage.
"We are near the time for the first of the Hero's real challenges, aren't we?" The Dark Sage turned toward the purple light.
"Yes. I'm certain Yugi will get more lines of the prophecy after his next encounter with the Chaos Dragon."
"Don't you know?" The Dark Sage seemed surprised.
"I know only the broad outline. The individual actions of all the participants are not in my direct control."
"Risky."
"I have faith in Yugi."
"Me, too," the red presence added.
"As do I," the Dark Sage admitted softly.
Chapter Twelve – The Lord, the Hero, and the Flameblade
Yugi looked dubiously into the inferno revealed when Joey opened the stone door of the tower. "I, uhm, am not going in there!" he called.
Joey turned and walked toward him. "How else are you going to claim my sword for me?" he asked reasonably enough. "You went into the Well of Shadows and the Heart of Ice. Why not the Crucible of Fire?"
"Because he's not insane?" Seto suggested.
Yugi nodded and gaped at Joey. Even at this distance, about twenty feet away, the heat alone from the fire revealed to be raging in the tower smack in the center of both halves of Joey's Stronghold made the hairs on his arms shrivel and curl up. "I wasn't in my right mind when I did that – either time. Huh."
"'Huh', what?"
"Look, I can't just go walking in there the way you do. I'm sure if I try to do that I'll just burn up and die. But, I'm guessing that at some point I'm going to somehow get the notion to go wandering in there." Yugi looked at the fire again, and shivered. His hand crept up to clutch the pendant and heartstone where they hung in front of his heart. "I just hope I survive this one." He looked up at Joey again. "Chances are I'm going to lose track of time, and common sense, and wind up in there, and you are going to have to get me out. I can't just – walk in there now. The timing of it is – mystical, I guess."
"Whatever you say, pal," Joey replied, as he gestured, and closed the door. "It'd be easier to know when I'm supposed ta find you in there, though."
"Yeah, it really would –" Yugi's voice trailed off oddly.
Without any sort of warning at all, Yugi swiftly walked forward, yanked open the door, and calmly walked into the tower that contained the Crucible of Fire. Shelleene uttered a piteous cry as she was forcibly ejected from Yugi's shadow when he passed through the doorway.
"Holy smokes!" Joey exclaimed. "That was...!"
"Weird? Yes. Don't stand around here talking about it! Go in there, find your sword, and get him out before anything else happens to him!" Yami demanded.
Joey shot them a cocky grin, started to say something, shrugged his shoulders, and dashed into the blazing fire. The door closed behind him.
Unable to do anything else, Yami and Seto waited, and watched. Yami held his arms open as a haven for the traumatized shadow guardian, who mewled miserably at being separated so suddenly from Yugi. Shelleene quivered in his arms. Seto surprised Yami, and himself, by reaching a hand out to comfort the little shadow monster.
"Only because you help the Hero," Seto muttered self-consciously. "That's all." Shelleene made a gentle purring sound and stroked her cheek against the Lord of Dragons' hand. At the silky touch of her fur on his skin, Seto pulled his hand away, shook it violently, and stalked off to find his Guardian.
"Don't mind him, Shelleene," Yami said to comfort her. "Seto is a jerk. And don't worry. Joey's an idiot, but he is the Lord of Fire. He will be able to bring Yugi out of there – safely. Yugi is the Hero, after all!" He stared at the closed door to the Tower of Fire and hoped that Yugi did return safely, and soon.
– – – – –
Joey watched in amazement, as Yugi, in some sort of a trance, calmly walked through the flames to the center of the tower. Once there, he lifted his hands, and appeared to rise up on the intense heat of the flames.
"Yeah, pal. I know all about the thermals in here. I've been through this entire towel brick by brick and flame by flame. There's no place to hide a sword in here, that I haven't looked at, so I'm not sure how you're gonna find..." Joey interrupted himself. "Yeah, that's right. You don't know, either. The other two think they had to bring you out of whatever hypnotized state you were in, and then you did – whatever it is you do – to find their swords."
Joey rode the main thermal updraft to the level Yugi had floated to. He was relieved to note that Yugi's hair and clothes were intact, and not on fire.
"Some weird abilities you have, kid." Joey said. "Not that I'm complainin'! I don't want anything to happen to you. So, what are you supposed to do to get my sword for me?"
Yugi's eyes were open, but he didn't appear to see Joey.
"You're creeping me out with this," Joey muttered. "How long are you actually safe in here, anyway? I'm good, but I'm the Lord of Fire. When you come to, or wake up, or whatever, are you gonna just..."
Joey's thoughts ground to a halt. Yugi floated in the very center of the Crucible of Fire. If something happened to break his current invulnerability to the flames, he'd certainly die before Joey could take him either up, or down, or toward the wall where it curved around them in even an attempt to try to get him away from being in the fire. Suddenly it seemed as if waking Yugi was the last thing Joey should try to do – at least until he'd figure out how to keep him safe in the core of the fire.
"Yami wrapped you in shadows, and Seto reached out to give you wings. Seto said you weren't affected at all by being in the Heart of Ice once you woke up, but... That's ice. It's not fire. Fire is far more destructive." Joey clutched at his head. "What am I gonna do?!" He looked around, even though he'd been here thousands of times before. The fire burned without fuel, raging in a backward torrent from the ground to lick at the top of the tower. The stones that made up the tower glowed white-hot. Joey knew that some enchantment had been placed on them to prevent them from burning up in the fire, too. Previously, anything that he carried with him in here was safe, but burned instantly as soon as he let it go – stone, metal, gems. Nothing survived in this inferno except the magically enchanted stones of the tower, himself – and now Yugi.
But Yugi was in some trance, and Joey feared to break it. Yugi wouldn't even have time to register that he was dying before he burned completely away – beyond even ashes.
"Wait a minute...!" Joey closed his eyes tight, blocking the sight and roar of the fire, as best he could, so he could concentrate. An idea had wandered across the margin of his mind. He stilled, hoping to catch it and think it through.
"Yami used shadows in the Shadow Realm – but Yami's always been weird. Besides, blood would have been..." Joey swallowed convulsively, and pushed the rest of the thought away. "Seto didn't use ice, even in the Ice Realm, at first – Yugi was still okay even after he woke up. But Seto did..."
Joey opened his eyes, resolved on his course of action. Really, there wasn't anything else he could do. Just as Seto was master of two areas of power, so was he. He was the Lord of Fire – but he was also the Lord of Warriors. He shaped the strongest armor he could with his power in his mind. He imagined imbuing it with power to protect the wearer from even the most intense flame. It was massive, but it had to be, since channels all over the surface were needed to cool the air that made it into the suit of armor so that the wearer could breathe. What purpose would there be in protecting Yugi from fire when the scorching air would kill him on his first breath?
Holding the image of the completed armor firmly, yet carefully, in his mind, Joey didn't have enough magical resources to blythefully send it forth to its intended target as he usually did.
"I sure hope this works, pal. This is my best shot – and all my magic!" Joey dropped his hand to Yugi's shoulder, releasing the magic armor to encase him. Unfortunately, he hadn't taken into account the volume of the special armor he crafted, as it suddenly smashed him hard against the wall of the tower.
"Yeouch!"
After Yugi's armor pinned the Lord of Fire against the inner wall of the tower for a long moment, gravity finally took notice. A massive screeching, scraping, rumbling noise accompanied Yugi, now surrounded by a ton of metal, all through the tower to crash and settle with a massive thud on the ground. The inferno abated for the merest of moments at the alien, fire-impervious presence in its midst, then flared up even higher, as if affronted by this puny effort to put it out. Joey caught himself on the renewed updrafts before crashing on top of the massive metal form that was Yugi.
"Joey?" Buried though he was in his massive suit of armor, Yugi's magically amplified voice could still be heard. Joey had thought of everything. Almost.
"Yeah, Yuge?"
"What the hell did you do?!" Yugi shouted. "I can't move!"
"Well, yeah. I had ta protect you from the flames, so there's – I dunno – a ton or so of metal in that armor suit. Even my magic has its limits, you know."
"Get me out of here!" Yugi grunted as if he were trying to flail around, but the armor didn't budge at all.
"But, Yugi..."
Yugi heaved a sigh. "I'll be fine. I promise. I think it has something to do with – with being the Hero. I couldn't just come in here before, when you offered, but now that I've sleepwalked into here, or whatever that weird state is, I'm fine. Look, what else are you going to do? I'm way too big to leave by the door in this – this tank, even if I could move."
He had a point. Another of Joey's oversights. The only way to get Yugi out of here – in the armor – would be to take the tower apart. And Joey had the definite notion that was a very bad idea. Once free of the magical containment of the tower, he was sure the Crucible of Fire would happily torch the entire world. "Uhm..." Joey dithered a moment more. "Please be okay, Yugi!"
He reached out and touched the massive magical armor. Instead of removing it entirely, he reduced it to the shape, size, and ability of the armor he'd given Yugi before, albeit with as much protection against fire as he could manage.
"Much better!" Yugi declared, lifting his arm and opening the visor. Joey scrunched his eyes tight, fearful that Yugi would hurt himself trying to breathe the super-heated air without the visor in place.
Yugi chuckled. "I'm fine. See?"
Pounding on the door startled them. "Yugi! Yugi! Are you okay?!" Yami's voice carried through the stone slab that served as the tower's door.
"Trust that idiot Lord of Fire to mess things up. He better not have gotten the Hero killed." Seto's complaint sounded next.
"YUGI!"
"I'm fine, Yami! Both of us are!" Yugi called, hoping his voice too, would carry through the stone.
"Thank all the... Can you get out? We can't open the door!" Yami replied.
"Unless you want to burn to a crisp, don't touch the door!" Joey warned. "In fact, you should probably back away from it. It's too hot for anyone to withstand for too long."
"He's right," Seto said. "It's too hot. I hate to admit it, but we should back away and let Lord Flame-Brain do what he needs to get Yugi out of there – safely."
"I heard that!" Joey shouted.
"Okay. We are waiting for you out here, Yugi. Hurry up, get Joey his sword, and get out of there!" Yami called. The lowering sound of his voice indicated he was walking away from the door. Yugi wondered if Seto was pulling him away. He sort of got that feeling.
"So, now what?" Joey asked.
Yugi looked at him for a very long, unblinking moment. "Uhm, you do, uhm, have a fire attack, of some kind, don't you?" Yugi winced. "I probably should have asked out there, just in case. If you don't, I'm not sure what to..."
Joey grinned, relieved that he wasn't the only one who sometimes did rash things. "Yeah, pal. I've got a fire attack. I suppose you need me to shoot it at ya?"
Yugi grinned. "Yeah, I think that's how this is supposed to work."
"Have it your way. One Hero Flambé Special, coming right up!"
"Hey! That's not even funny!"
"Ha, ha!"
– – – – –
Author's notes –
Next chapter teaser – Chapter Thirteen – Confronting Chaos