Chapter Fifteen – For an Honor Greater than Ourselves
Yugi looked up at the great, stone statue. If he squinted, unfocused his eyes, and tilted his head, it sort of looked like a dragon, but then again, it could just be a strangely shaped chunk of rock. He might well have walked past it, except for the massive stone block, covered in sinuous flame carvings, situated in front of it.
The fire carvings all around the six foot square stone block appeared decorative. There were no convenient indentations that looked like his Pendant. There weren't any words or runes. The red beam that sprang from the center of his Heartstone when he raised the gem pointed directly at the stone block.
"A – keystone?" Yugi murmured. "There doesn't seem to be any sort of puzzle attached to it for me to solve..." He walked around it again while his companions watched. They had walked around the stone block with Yugi the first time.
Yugi stopped after he completed his circuit and looked up at it. "Aha!"
"You have an idea?" Lord Yami asked.
"We haven't seen the top of it. Maybe the clue to solving this puzzle is up there."
Yami nodded. "That seems possible."
"White Knight? Would you mind...?" Yugi began. The Red Knight stepped forward, breaking his line of sight, and shook his head.
"Hero, there is no need."
"No need? What do you mean?" Yugi asked.
"I knew this day would come. I know what must be done." The Red Knight stepped forward and held his hands out imploringly toward Joey. "My lord, it's time for me to fulfill my true destiny, and restore the full power of your sword."
"What do you mean?" Joey demanded. "What full power?"
"It is easier to show you, my lord." The Red Knight locked a meaningful gaze on the White Knight and Purple Knight. Each nodded understanding.
"We will exxxplain it," the White Knight offered.
The Red Knight waited until Joey placed the Flameblade in his hands. He strode over to stand before Yugi, finally kneeling before him. "Hero, I wish I could guard you and continue by your side in this adventure to the end. Please accept the power of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in my place. I only wish..." the Red Knight shook his head.
Sensing that something important was happening, Yugi murmured, "You wish – what?"
"I would have liked to meet the dragon, that's all."
The Red Knight leaped up and stood upon the center of the large stone block. "My soul is kindled of Fire. I am the weakest of the Three. My Fire must be sacrificed to release the Dragon of the Fire Lord."
Before Yugi or Joey could do or say anything to stop him, the Red Knight drew the edge of the Flameblade across his left palm. Blood that has licks of flame in it spurted from the wound. He turned the sword point down above the center of the stone, and clasped his bleeding hand around the hilt. As his blood flowed down the hilt it gathered in the void in the cross-piece. He grew weaker and weaker as his blood flowed faster. All were horrified to realize the sword was absorbing his blood.
"No! Don't do this!" Joey cried out.
"You were right to call this a keystone, Hero. For centuries it has remained here, serving as the lock keeping the Red-Eyes Black Dragon safe, hidden in the shape of stone, untouched by the passing of time, waiting for the right moment to be released, and fulfill his destiny. The fire in my blood empowers this sword to become the key to free him."
"But..." Yugi protested.
"No, no!" Joey's voice was filled with a low, anguished tone. "Not at this price. Not your life, Red! Come down from there and leave the dragon sealed."
"My lord – I cannot. Too much rests on what happens from here." With a cry of triumph, and the last of his strength, the Red Knight drove the sword into the keystone. A fiery flash momentarily blinded everyone. When they could see again, the flame keystone was gone. The Flameblade, somehow standing upright on its tip, had changed – lengthened, gained a broader edge, and the guard now appeared to be fashioned of licks of fire. More astonishing, they realized the dragon had been freed from stone. Its giant head nuzzled the stricken knight gently. The Red Knight's right hand lifted weakly from his grasp on the sword to stroke the dragon's muzzle.
"I did – get to – meet you!" The Red Knight turned his head and smiled a final time toward his lord, his travel companions, and Yugi, before fading into a red dazzle that flowed toward the sword. A red glow centered in the cross-piece sparkled, showing that a red gemstone has appeared in the sword.
"Nooooo!" Yugi slumped to the ground in despair. Hands helped him up. He looks up into the eerie glowing purple and dragon-like blue-white eyes of the two remaining knights.
"It isss our dessstiny. The only way to free the dragonsss, and releassse the full power of the ssswordsss for our lordsss to ussse, isss for usss to willingingly sssacrificcce our livesss."
"It's too... It's too harsh!" Yugi cried out. "We've traveled together. Each of you has saved me. How can I let you...?" Yugi shook his head, unable to articulate his horror.
"Would you render our existence worthless, then? Each of us knew, when we met you, that the time for our destinies was at hand. We could have turned our backs, we could have run away, but we didn't," the Purple Knight said.
"We believe in you, Hero. With the power we willingly give you, you will free our land from the terror of Chaosss," the White Knight added.
"But, the Red Knight just died!"
"Not quite. More of a transformation. He is no longer a knight. He has become the soul of the sword. The Sword of Fire is a far more powerful weapon than the Flameblade. One better suited for the Lord of Fire to wield," the Purple Knight explained.
Joey reached out toward the red sword. He placed his left hand over his heart in a gesture of respect as he touched the hilt with his right. Incredibly, a smile lit his face.
"He's still here! I can hear his voice in my mind. He doesn't want us to grieve, Yugi. He's truly happier this way – claims it's his destiny." Joey snorted. "He's warning me he's still got a few surprises in store for me." Joey lifted the Sword of Fire up high. The blade suddenly blazed with fire.
"Oh, ho! Quite a nifty little trick right there, Red!" Joey's words and voice were merry, but Yugi could see the anguish in his eyes. He felt the same sort of anguish in his own heart.
The dragon dropped to its belly and lowered its head to the ground. It took Yugi a moment to realize the mighty beast was bowing, as best a dragon can, to Joey.
"So," Joey reached a hand out to stroke along the dragon's jawline. "You're my dragon, huh? 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon' – right? I wish..." Joey's eyes widened. "Daire? Your name is Daire? Now that's a very cool name for a dragon!" Joey laughed. "And you can tell me things in my mind? This is gonna take some getting used to!"
While Joey and his dragon were getting acquainted with each other, Yugi, still trying to assimilate what had happened to the Red Knight, looked at each of his traveling companions in turn.
Lord Seto, with the blankest non-expression on his face, stared at his White Knight. The White Knight watched the Lord and Dragon of Fire, as did the Purple Knight.
Yami stared intently at a stand of trees not far from where the dragon had been trapped in stone. "What is it?" Yugi asked quietly, stepping nearer to the Lord of Shadows.
"I thought I saw something," Yami murmured, before blurring into a shadow so fast Yugi nearly missed it. A moment later, he had returned. "I was right. One of the Chaos Dragon's shades was watching us. It ran off before I could trap it. We should go. It's not safe to remain here."
"Okay," Yugi agreed readily enough. Anything to avoid running into the Chaos Dragon again! "But where...?"
"The Point," the White Knight said.
"But..." Yugi began weakly.
"Yes, the Point," Seto insisted.
The Point had changed. The side facing the Fire Lands now bore a reddish hue. One of the other sides now held the socket for the Pendant of Pharaoh, and the light indentations of a sword with the blade facing up toward the top. Yugi could tell at a glance, now that he knew what to look for, that the Frostblade would fit those markings. He shook his head against the sudden pain crushing his heart.
"No..."
"Hero, it must be done," the Purple Knight placed a gauntlet-clad hand gently on his shoulder. "It is the only way forward, and the only hope we have of defeating the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos."
"I am eager to fulfill my dessstiny," the White Knight added. "I have been many long yearsss waiting..."
Yugi didn't want to lose another knight, even if it meant freeing another dragon. While he went through the motions of the puzzle before him, placing his Pendant in the proper place, slotting Lord Seto's Frostblade above it on the side of the Point, and settling the Heartstone once more in the indentation at the top, his mind raced to find some way to save the White Knight's life from the ritual that would use his life to free the dragon. He noted without realizing it where the blue-white beam of energy erupting from the Heartstone lanced. It was not until he'd retrieved the Heartstone and the White Knight was winging them back down that it hit Yugi. It he weren't successful in finding another way, this would be the last time he could fly with this strange creature, this fearsome-seeming, yet gentle drake, who had become his friend.
He squeezed his arms around the arms holding him, an involuntary hug. A slight tightening of the White Knight's arms around him answered. "There has to be a way to stop this," Yugi whispered. The White Knight shook his head softly, then grinned. His slit-pupiled eyes were as alien as ever, but Yugi had learned how to read them. "You aren't frightened?" The White Knight shook his head again. "You – want – to do this?"
The knight nodded. "Dessstiny," he whispered.
Yugi still wasn't sure what he would do when they got there. His mind wrestled with the puzzle of how to save his two remaining knights. He tried to reconcile the new piece – that the White Knight appeared to be not only willing, but eager to fulfill his role, what he kept claiming was his destiny – with the rest of the pieces.
He failed.
– – – – –
Seto nodded curtly and handed the Frostblade over to the White Knight. He then looked on with a stony expression in his eyes. Joey, Yami, and the Purple Knight prevented Yugi from interfering. "This is truly what he wishes. Once one finds one's destiny, one seizes it with both hands, no matter the cost," the Purple Knight reminded him.
The White Knight flew up to stand on the top of the glacial keystone. "My soul is limned in Ice. I am the weakest of the Three. My Ice must be sacrificed to set free the Dragon of the Ice Lord."
The White Knight looked up, smiled grimly at the Purple Knight, bowed toward Seto, and drew the edge of the blade across his left palm. His blood, befitting his draconic nature, flowed pale blue. It sparkled with crystals of ice. He grasped the sword by the hilt as the Red Knight had done before him, encouraging his blood to flow toward the empty setting. His strength ebbed with his life. As he slumped to his knees, he drove the sword into the keystone.
A brilliant flash of lightning blinded everyone. After the dazzle had passed, Seto strode forward and claimed the transformed Frostblade – now the Sword of Ice. Unlike the Red Knight, the White Knight was nowhere to be seen. A blue gem sparkled in the cross-piece.
"Is he – okay? Is he – happy?" Yugi whispered.
"He's not here. He's gone," Seto replied. "I don't sense him in the sword."
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon, freed from his paralyzing prison of stone, dropped his head to the ground before his lord. He regarded the Lord of Dragons with calm, intelligent eyes. Seto stiffened under that regard, and the merest hint of a smile crossed his face.
"What? What is it?" Yugi asked.
Seto snorted. "It makes sense, I suppose. The Lord of Warriors' knight is content to reside in a sword. My knight's soul is the soul of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Evidently he always knew he was." Seto surprised everyone by reaching out to buffet his dragon's jaw playfully before turning toward everyone else.
"There's one knight left."
"And we are running out of time," the Purple Knight warned. "The Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos surely realizes what we are doing. He will try to stop us."
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon stepped forward using his sheer size and bulk to force everyone to back away from conversation distance.
"My dragon – Tekhenu – suggests we mount up. He will take us back to the Point more swiftly and safely than any other way."
Yugi pondered, as he rode upon that great, white dragon's back, that his fear from before had not quite come to pass. Certainly it was quite different than it had been before, but here he was, still able to fly with his fearsome-yet-gentle friend.
"Destiny", he mulled the word over in his mind. If the White Knight knew he was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, that this was his true form and power, how frustrating it must have been to be merely the drake for so many years. Didn't the Red Knight say the dragons had been trapped in stone for centuries? No wonder the White Knight had been so eager to shed his drake-knight form and regain this! Still, Yugi couldn't help but feel as if he had somehow let everyone down that this was needed. If only he were a better Hero...
Not surprisingly, the Point had changed again. One side, facing the Fire Lands, remained tinged in red. The side facing the direction they had just flown in from was now tinted blue. The final side held the Pendant socket, and faint impression of the Gloomblade.
Yugi turned, after placing both, looking for the White Knight to fly him up to the apex to place the Hero's Heartstone, and got confused when he came face to face with a gigantic dragon head instead. He laughed at both his confusion, and the familiar expression of mirth on the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's face – in the disconcertingly toothy grin, and faintly glowing blue eyes.
"Tekhenu would probably crush you, accidentally, against the side of the Point if he tried to lift you on the top of his head as he's suggesting," Lord Seto noted in a dry tone of voice. "Allow me."
Yugi felt a familiar twisting of his spatial awareness as wings suddenly erupted from his back. "Thank you – although it was more comfortable to have the White Knight – er, Tekhenu, fly me up to the top." It took Yugi a couple of passes under his own wing-power to line the Heartstone up with the concavity designed to hold it, but he finally managed the feat. "Easier, too!"
He hovered proficiently enough as the Point pulsed three times. The Heartstone shot a beam of purple-black energy into the Shadowlands. Yugi had to try three times before he managed the aerial dexterity necessary to snag the Heartstone again.
"You need more flying lessons, Hero," Seto called.
"Yeah, probably," Yugi agreed. A shiver shooting down his spine made him wonder suddenly if he would ever have the chance to take Lord Seto up on his offer. As he winged about looking for the best place to land (or crash-land, possibly) he noticed how Yami stared off into the distance on the side of the point away from his own lands, while the Purple Knight stared directly toward them. "Always a distance between them," Yugi noted to himself sadly.
Losing the Red Knight was horrible, but he hadn't known it was going to happen. In a very real way it was as if the Red Knight had died. Only Joey could sense him, or hear his thoughts, from the Sword of Fire. Losing the White Knight had been wrenching, because he knew what would happen, but the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a being Yugi could see, behaved much as the White Knight had – and did seem to be happy. But, the Purple Knight... Yugi knew this last knight's tragic story. He knew the guilt that Yami felt over how his friend had perished, and what he had done to force him to remain in this plane of existence.
Aside from all that, among his traveling companions, the Purple Knight had been the first, and the kindest, and had saved him many times. He didn't feel quite so – helpless – around the Purple Knight. The lords, once he'd proven himself, had become allies and friends, but Yugi had never needed to prove himself to the Purple Knight. To lose that, to lose the one being who simply accepted him without tests, was not something Yugi wanted to contemplate.
– – – – –
The Purple Knight gazed at keystone that, even though it was formed of stone, appeared to writhe from the way the patterns trapped and twisted the light in the shadowed carvings. He turned a somehow beseeching gaze toward Yami. "My lord, I am not as my brother knights were. My life was sacrificed long ago. That I have substance still in this world is because of your power. You saved me from passing on years ago when you forged this armor of shadow to contain my soul. I can not be free of it – I can not be released from it – without your help."
"But – what will happen to you?" Yami demanded harshly. Though his manner and voice were rough, it didn't quite hide his anguish.
"I – I don't know, my lord. This semblance of life I have, this shadow existence, is your doing. Perhaps I will continue my journey and finally pass on as I started to do – so many years ago."
Yugi cried out an inarticulate sound of protest. The Purple Knight turned toward him. "It is not what I want, Hero. I hope to yet share in your adventures and continue to help as both the Red Knight and the White Knight do, in their altered forms. But, I do not know."
"It has been – hard on you, hasn't it? My selfish wish to keep you by my side?" Yami asked in a low tone of voice.
"It has been my wish to remain by your side, guard you, and assist you, all these years. But, I am nothing more than a soul trapped in shadow armor. My usefulness, in this form, has come to an end. I hope my soul is strong enough, despite my current state, to do as my brother knights have done, and release your dragon, my lord."
"This is your wish? For yourself, not just to help us, but, for you, also?"
"Forgive me, my lord. I know you meant only to help, but – this partial existence has been..."
Yami dropped his head so suddenly that Yugi knew it was to hide his anguish that he had unwittingly caused his friend so much pain.
"No, forgive me that I wasn't strong enough to let you go, and yet couldn't bear the reminder of my failing that your very presence brought me," Yami finally murmured. "But, I am stronger now than I was then. I think – I think I can give you more than a semblance of life, at least for a short while."
Shadows gathered abruptly around their lord, hearkening to his unspoken call. With half-lidded eyes, whispered words of power, and subtle gestures he shaped them and sent them flowing over his knight. The imposing and frightening aspect of the Purple Knight dwindled until he was the same shape and size of a normal man. He remained clad in purple armor as befitting a royal knight. But, the shadows has not completed their work. The visor of his helmet lifted. Yugi was amazed to see handsome features form. He was surprised to realize the knight's eyes weren't purple, they were blue. Their task completed, the shadows flowed away, and dissipated.
"My lord!" The Purple Knight pulled off his left gauntlet and looked at his hand. It appeared as flesh and blood. He flexed his fingers, delighting in the feel of his body, instead of simply using his will to direct a shadow-filled suit of armor around. "Truly you have become stronger in your power!"
"This power has always been a double-edged sword. The cost to gain it was far too high."
The Purple Knight smiled, and bowed respectfully before his lord. "It was my destiny to help you gain that power. I don't fault you that I perished."
"You don't have to. I blame myself."
"I knew I would die. The Water Sage told me the time and manner of my death years before I met you, my lord."
"You knew?!" Yami exclaimed. "And you still befriended me?"
"If I hadn't, you would have been killed, and the power to control the Shadows, and master the Cold Shadows, would have been lost. I am not, was not, strong enough to command them, Yami. Only you are. I hold no regrets for the path my destiny placed me on. Then – or now."
"I regret." Yami admitted in a low voice. "I regret how I have treated you."
"Sorrow and guilt ill suit you, my lord. I knew the reason you pushed me from your side. Please, permit me to show my devotion one final time, and give you the power you need to help the Hero save our world."
Yami threw his arms around the Purple Knight. "I don't... I don't want..."
The Purple Knight gently, yet firmly, disengaged himself from the embrace. "I sacrificed my life years ago to save you. If you do not permit me this, that sacrifice was in vain – for you, Yugi, and the world – will fall before Chaos."
Yami nodded, and steeled his expression. He unsheathed the Gloomblade and handed it to the Purple Knight. "Find a way, somehow, to stay with me, even as the Red Knight and the White Knight remain with their lords," he begged.
The Purple Knight nodded. "I will try, my lord."
The Purple Knight leaped up and stood proud upon the keystone. "My soul is wrought of Shadows. I am the weakest of the Three. My Shadows must be sacrificed to bring forth the Dragon of the Shadow Lord."
The edge of the Gloomblade bit into his left hand. Black and purple shadows oozed along with the Purple Knight's flowing blood. Yami watched with a pain-filled, unblinking intensity as his knight bled to death to awaken his sword, and free his dragon. Yugi watched too, as guilt washed over his soul that such sacrifices had been needed to help him on his quest. He felt he must not be a very good Hero that three such splendid knights had to die.
Yami broke, at the end, unable to watch and do nothing. He dashed over and leapt upon the keystone as his knight began to fall, catching him, and easing him to the surface.
"Do not – try to – stop me, my lord," the Purple Knight whispered. Yami shook his head.
"I won't. But, you shouldn't have to face this alone. Perhaps my power can help you to stay in this world, if I hold you."
"I won't deny your help, but..." The features of the Purple Knight began to flow, and darken. The details of his armor softened. "My soul is your eternal servant, my lord. Now, and forever!"
The weight of his dying Guardian lessened as the Purple Knight's shadow-life ebbed. Yami's arms filled with shadows that melted at his touch. These shadows, unlike any others, he couldn't command. They surrounded the Gloomblade and forced it down into the keystone. It turned into shadows that dissipated as swiftly as flowing water, bringing him down to the ground with gentle care. His transformed sword gained a gem that glowed with a faint purple hue. A giant dragon head, one of skeletal bone and shadows, dropped to the ground next to him as if the now-freed, mighty beast shared in Yami's sorrow.
Yami reached out and took the sword, running gently questioning fingers all along its length. He looked up and gazed into the red swirl of light that served as the skeletal Shadow Dragon's eye closest to him. He closed his eyes, and sighed. "He's not here. My Purple Knight isn't in either sword or dragon. I think he..." A sound very much like a sob escaped him as he dropped the Shadow Sword to the ground. "Excuse me!"
Yugi tried to follow to offer some sort of comfort, but Yami entered a shadow and disappeared. Again, a bitter tide of failure lapped at Yugi's heart. "Now what?"
Lord Seto gazed with extreme disfavor toward the shadow that Yami had walked through. Wisely, he kept his more critical comments to himself. "It's too dangerous to stay here. Yami will find us when he's finished..." At Yugi's impatient huff and narrowed gaze, Seto eased up a little with the disdain in his voice. "...sulking."
"Lord Icewater-For-Blood has a point, Yugi. It would be far too risky for either of us to touch the Sword of Shadows, so you better carry it. Yami will be able to find us and rejoin us whenever he's able." Joey glared at Seto on his own, then turned an encouraging smile toward Yugi. "Look on the bright side, willya? The worst is over, isn't it? Now that we have these babies," Joey drew his sword, lifted it, and let it flare dramatically. "and our dragons, the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos won't have a chance!"
– – – – –
Author's notes –
Yeah, remember the warning about character death? Mwahaha! – Ahem! – Er...
Next chapter teaser – Chapter Sixteen – Yugi Meets the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos (again)
Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome. Please feel free to PM if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed.