Chapter Twenty One – Legendary Shadows, Legendary Darkness
The purple light, the only entity remaining in the spiritual place, mused. "Only the last one left now - the hardest one. Swift and sudden would be best, I suppose - and forgiveness to be asked for later." Through the window, Yugi placed the Shadowblade against the proper side of the Point, the unleashed energy of the sword shot across the sky to the designated place, multiplied, and returned, sweeping the Purple Knight and Ashelocke, the Curse of Dragon, through before the Lord of Shadows and Blood followed. Energy flowed into the spiritual space, some of it fractionally increasing the glow of the purple light while the rest coalesced into a discrete golden light.
"You!" The golden light exclaimed.
"Me." The purple light agreed.
"What is going on? Where are we?"
"I regret that I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain right now. All will become clear - eventually."
"I demand to know! What are you...?" The golden light pulsed with displeasure.
The purple light sent a spike of light toward the golden one. It had the force of a magical gesture. "For now, I need your soul to sleep."
"Sleep?" The golden light wavered, as if suddenly groggy.
"Yes. Sleep, and dream - while I direct your actions."
"What do you mea-!"
The purple light, which had watched each sequence of the ritual from within the confines of the spiritual place, swept toward the window to reality, gathering up the golden light up to itself along the way.
Yugi watched with a hopeful, unblinking gaze, as the shadows within the dimensional nether-space slowed and a figure formed.
Teal, he thought. His armor is teal. It should have been purple. No, the True Lord probably didn't like the same colors Yami did. Why am I thinking of him as if he's gone - for good? He promised me...
The negative side of his personality answered. He may not have had any choice.
"Hero," The voice addressing him sure sounded like Lord Yami. "I am Timaeus. Now that the Kindly Lords have completed their task, and you have returned our souls along with our full power into this world, you are free to leave the Point and confront the Lord of Blackness and Chaos."
"Yami...?"
Timaeus' face assumed a slightly forbidding expression. "I regret to inform you that Yami's promise to you is one he would not have been able to fulfill. That part of me knows the pain you must feel at that, but I will not have you distracted from your task with a false, useless hope. Even if it were possible, I assure you, once that part of my soul that had once answered to the name 'Yami' tasted the fullness of being that a True Lord possesses, he would not wish to regress back into being merely a Kindly Lord. Sorry."
Critias glared at Timaeus as Yugi walked away wrapped in a disappointment too deep for words. "Still as short-sighted as ever, and still missing your eye. You'd think with all the power you had at your disposal in returning to existence, you would have managed to take care of that - oversight."
"Your 'clever' word-play bores me. In part, it is for that missing eye that I continue to fight. Remember who deprived me of it. I would not weaken my resolve to fight by restoring it now."
"Useless revenge," Hermos scoffed. "Go after the Hero, Critias. He seems to object to your presence least of all. Timaeus and I will start talking tactics and design a strategy."
Yugi turned from the edge of the Point. The truth was he was stranded. There wasn't anywhere else he could go on his own. There were no dragons who could ferry him to the ground any more. He could barely stand being around the True Lords - each of them looked and sounded like his friends, even many of the unconscious gestures were the same - and those similarities somehow tore at him more deeply than if the True Lords were completely different from the Kindly Lords. It wasn't as if the True Lords were evil, or even mean. Even Hermos seemed like less of a jerk now that the other two True Lords had been recovered.
Recovered. Yeah, for them, it was a recovery. For him, it was nothing but loss. Yugi thought about it. He'd come to the Point this time around in the company of three lords, three dragons, one sentient sword and one knight - each and every one of them a friend. Now, he had three 'True' lords, whatever than meant, and no friends.
"Not true."
Yugi whirled, not realizing he'd said anything aloud until he heard the voice behind him.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, and certainly didn't mean to startle you, but that's not true. Each of us, Hermos, Timaeus, and myself knows, and more to the point, feels the bonds of friendship you formed with each of our lesser, 'Kindly' manifestations. We would not have it any other way."
"But... You aren't..." Yugi sighed, frustrated with the impossibility of trying to explain his feelings, but trying anyway. "Look you aren't bad, in fact, of the three, you are the kindest one, if I can say that without somehow insulting you by using that word, but you aren't Seto. Maybe you have his memories, buried in you somewhere, and maybe, I can learn to trust and become friends with each of you, eventually, but to me, it's as if my friends - died."
Critias regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. "Not death, more of a translation into what they should have been all along. I can't explain it, maybe the Water Sage can, once we defeat the Dread Lord of Chaos. It was his spell after all that sealed Chaos, hid our souls, and kept our power safe in the keeping of sword, knight, and dragon all these years. For now, please, stop moping so we can defeat the Lord of Blackness and Chaos once and for all. You have no idea how long we've waited for this moment to arrive!"
Yugi looked at the monolith of the Point. It still reached up toward the sky, but now seemed like an inert, dead thing - a fitting gravestone marking the spot where he had lost all his friends. What was that prophecy the Purple Knight recalled? That the Point was the grave and birthplace of Legends? It all made horrible sense, now. "I guess there's no reason to stick around here."
"Well then, Hero. Allow me to take you back to where our armies wait on our return," Lord Critias said, before he morphed, right in front of Yugi's eyes, into a dragon. The dragons who accompanied you before are gone, but you are not completely without the support of dragons, even now, Yugi.
"You're talking to me - in my mind?" Yugi asked, staring up at the dragon that was even more massive than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon had been. Critias, as a dragon, possessed deep blue scales and lethal-looking silver claws.
Cool, huh? Trust me, Hero, you have gained far more than you know by releasing us Legends. It might take some time, but we will prove our worth to you. I could give you wings, as Lord Seto used to, but after the light shows the Point put on while recovering us, it would be best for me to carry you, myself, in case the Dread Lord of Blackness and Chaos is waiting to attack. He has most certainly been alerted to our return.
There was that. Yugi hadn't even thought of it. If nothing else, these three True Lords had years of actual combat against the Dragon of Chaos on their side, and knew what the unpredictable enemy would likely do, Yugi reflected as he clambered up and seated himself on the dragon's back. Perhaps, with their power and help, it will be possible to defeat Chaos once and for all.
That's the spirit. Now, come on! Hermos' voice 'sounded' across Yugi's mind. It was colder than Critias' but nowhere near as disdainful as Yugi would have thought.
Yugi could only gape as a gigantic red dragon, and a colossal teal dragon winged away from the Point. Critias sprang skyward and took his place drafting off of Hermos' right wing, with Timaeus on his left. It took Yugi only a moment to realize why the dragons flew in this formation. It was to offer him the most protection. He'd assume that Critias was the most adept flier, after all, Seto had been the Lord of Ice and Dragons and that had to mean something, now. Hermos, no doubt, carried the twin skills of Fire and Warriors that had been Joey's, so his taking the point position made the most sense from a combat point of view. And Timaeus, with his skills of Shadows and Blood could undoubtedly offer excellent support from his off-wing position.
And that is why you are the Hero, Yugi. It is that skill of yours that will lead us to our victory over our foe, Critias' 'voice' in his mind carried a blend of pride and warmth, which suddenly, somehow, eased Yugi's heartache, just a little.
A long, low laugh rolled out and boomed across the sky like gentle thunder. A giant spectral paw, banded in dusky red and indigo scales, reached down from the clear blue sky to knock at the top of the Point, and snag a talon through the chain of the small object so dislodged. "It seems the Hero forgot something - something important. I will be certain to take advantage of his absent-mindedness. The best-laid plans of magic and men..." The Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos, with the Pendant of Pharaoh clasped in one mighty claw, manifested fully, and flew away from the Point.
Yugi had to admit, to himself, even though he wondered if it was possible to keep anything to himself now, that flying a-dragonback, with three dragons mind-speaking with him, was one of the coolest things that had happened since he left home. The focus of the conversation never strayed far from the subject of the Lord Blackness and Chaos, but Yugi didn't mind. He learned a lot on the flight back to camp.
Aeons ago, the lords Timaeus, Hermos, and myself were the supreme power throughout all the lands. Though we had our differences, and at any given point we were waging various battles with each other, the balance of our powers assured that never would one lord triumph completely over the combined might of the other two. Eventually, except for skirmishes where our lands marched alongside those of another lord, peace settled.
Timaeus added the next part of the history lesson. That is, until the Lord of Blackness and Chaos appeared. To this day, we have no idea from whence he came. Faced with such a foe, we three True Lords did what we had never done before - combined our powers against a common enemy. We found that he was far too powerful for us to defeat, even with our combined might.
Yugi nodded, before realizing the dragons couldn't see. "I see." That was no good either. The wind ripped the words out of his mouth so fast he was sure no one could hear him.
Don't worry about it. We sensed your 'nod' the first time, Timaeus told him. You will get used to talking to us this way.
Is this something we can use in battle, for silent communication? Yugi asked internally.
Only if we are in dragon form. Otherwise, we must follow the limitations of the human form. Critias replied. I usually assume dragon shape and fight alongside my forces, he added.
Realizing that the Chaos Lord represented something our magic could not fathom, we enlisted the aid of the greatest magic-weaver in the land, the Water Sage. He warned us it would take time for him to research what he could and devise some means to stop Chaos - if such a thing were even possible, Timaeus continued.
It took a year and a day, Hermos' mental tone was subdued. A span of time when the Chaos Lord ruined my once-beautiful lands, and destroyed more than half my people.
Hermos' people did suffer the brunt of it during that dark time. Timaeus' mental tone was soft, bringing Yugi to the realization that the three True Lords were in better accord with each other than the three Kindly Lords had been, maybe even better accord than they, themselves, knew.
But all of our lands felt the Chaos Lord's destructive pall. The Water Sage told us we would not be happy with the results of his research. It was possible to stop the Lord of Blackness and Chaos, but it was beyond our power to do so. Also, the one who might have that power would not be born for thousands of years and would yet need our help and abilities. We are long-lived, but not as long-lived as that. The only consolation the Water Sage could give us was that he had devised a massive spell we could cast that would not only ensure that the 'Hero' would have everything he needed at the fated time, but that we could trap the Chaos Lord until the moment of the Hero's birth as well. Even if the Hero failed in the end, our sacrifice gave our lands a time free from the terror of Chaos, Critias explained. Therefore, we met at the Point, the one spot that is of equal distance from all three of our lands. The Water Sage brought a fabled, ancient relic, the Pendant of Pharaoh, and through its magic, we were able to combine our powers.
Hermos shivered, and Yugi abruptly realized he knew what Timaeus meant, when he told him that they could sense his nod. That moment felt like death.
It was death, in a way, Timaeus noted. He turned his head to look directly at Yugi. Each of us True Lords had not only our individual powers to distinguish us, but also three other mighty forces. Our swords. Our dragons. And, our guardian knights. We had to somehow preserve them for this time, when the Hero arrived so that we could be reborn as ourselves in the world. So, the Pendant of Pharaoh powered our swords to serve as the keys. With these keys we could use the Point to stop time for our dragons, sealing them in stone. They, along with our knights and the Kindly Lords were the guardians of our power, and the key to release our souls and bring us back into the world at the appointed time. The Water Sage had found a way.
Yugi nodded, then clutched at his head in sudden pain from a shockingly overpowering input from the dragons. It overwhelmed him, blinding him with agony. What - is - happening -? he managed to grate out against the triple mental wave of suffering.
Calm down! We must calm down or we will kill him! Critias mind-shouted. Then, the pain tearing at Yugi's skull lessened. I can at least calm myself and serve as a mental barrier against the other two until they rein in their emotions. As to what is happening, the Lord of Blackness and Chaos is attacking our forces. Each of us felt it, as our vassals came under assault.
Hurry! Yugi shouted. We have to get there and help!
Almost there, Critias told him. And, there it is, below us!
Yugi looked under the dragon's wing and almost wished he hadn't. The field below, that had once been the organized camp for the three Kindly Lords' forces, was a seething, chaotic mass of Dragons clashing against Drakors, Warriors vying against Knaves, and the weirdly flickering movement of Shadows fighting Shades. It took only that single glance for Yugi to tell that the Chaos Dragon had descended upon the Lords' forces with a very effective sneak attack. The number of forms that remained utterly still upon the ground, both dragon and man-shaped, for the Shadows dissipated immediately upon defeat, distressed him greatly.
What can we do?
We are the True Lords. Do not doubt our power, Hero.
Timaeus and Hermos landed and opted to return to their human forms. Timaeus drew his blade, but remained near, indicating with a gesture of his left hand and a nod that he would guard the Hero. Hermos, with a great rallying cry, charged off into the thick of battle. Despite the frenzied skirmishes between them, Yugi's eyes were drawn to a familiar figure several yards away as Critias landed and allowed him to descend to the ground, before the dragon sprang into the air again.
Vialla knelt on the ground, cradling a still form across her lap. "Look, brother, look!" Tears streamed down the elf's beautiful face as she smoothed blood-soaked hair gently from her brother's death-closed eyes. "If only you could see! The Legendary Dragons, the True Lords of the Legends are returned! The Hero has found them and brought them to us! They will have the might to defeat the Chaos Dragon and bring back the time of wonders. Oh, look, Celador! Open your eyes, brother, so you can see!"
Yugi could only watch in horror, unable to do anything, as a figure rose up behind the grieving elf-maid. The blade was short, befitting the stealthy manner of its use, and its stroke cowardly, befitting the Knave who used it. Vialla slumped over her brother, instantly slain by the sneak attack.
It was as if the tide of battle slowed to a crawl and the clash of weapon against weapon, and the cries of agony and battle receded to a far distance. "She was an innocent!" Yugi bellowed. "She wasn't a warrior, she was a healer!"
The Knave grinned impudently at the outraged Hero's cry and shouted a reply. "I'm sure she's happier to be with her brother again in death's cold grasp, anyway, Hero. The Lord Dragon will reward me handsomely if I can bring him news of your death as well!"
Yugi, incensed beyond endurance, snatched the Gloomblade from Timaeus' grasp, leaned into the augmented battle skills Joey, the Lord of Warriors, had evoked within him seemingly so long ago, and charged at the Knave. "Your span is at its end," he promised.
Timaeus summoned the Shadows of his command to clear a safe path between Yugi and his target, while two Warriors, sword drawn, races alongside and protected his flank. The skirmish was brief, but fierce. Yugi felt a brutal satisfaction when his borrowed blade found its mark. "Go into death before your lord to warn hell that he will be arriving shortly." Yugi told the wide-eyed Knave. A moment later Yugi lifted eyes that glittered with a hard, cold gleam to meet Timaeus' gaze as the True Lord approached. Yugi wiped the gore from the edge of the Gloomblade on the Knave's cloak, and returned it to Timaeus. "Let's end this, so no more innocent people must die."
The very presence of the Legends among them heartened, and even healed the Warriors, Dragons, and Shadows. The tide of battle turned as Timaeus and Hermos organized their forces into protective units to battle against the berserk attacks that had taken them unaware in the first place.
The sky darkened with the clouds that always seemed to accompany the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos, and the enormous dragon himself descended from the sky. "Oh? So you've revived the Legends. How quaint! Hero, it will take more than these relics to triumph over me."
These 'relics' have something to say to that, Critias said as he stooped down onto the back of the Chaos Dragon from above in a devastating dive attack. Now!
The madly gibbering faces in the clouds were not able to do anything to help their lord break free of the assault. Warriors, Drakes, Dragons and Shadows coordinated their efforts as never before, preventing any of Chaos' forces from coming to their lord's aid. Hermos let loose a great war cry, transformed into his dragon form, and soared up to help Critias fight the Chaos Dragon directly. Timaeus waited on the ground, sweeping his one-eyed gaze across the field again and again looking for any weaknesses in their forces that might need reinforcement, taking care to never be more than a step or two away from Yugi's side.
"Go," Yugi suggested softly. "I have never seen such unity among the forces of the three Kindly Lords before in all our battles. Your presence has rallied them. Help Critias and Hermos bring down the Chaos Dragon, and we can put an end to this."
Timaeus turned and assessed Yugi with his good eye. A moment later, he too assumed his dragon shape and winged up into the critical battle taking place across the sky. The three True Lords, working together with an accord the Kindly Lords had never achieved, brought the mighty Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos crashing to the ground. Yugi walked over to where the three Legendary Dragons kept Chaos' struggles from freeing him.
"You think you've won, Hero, do you?" The Chaos Dragon managed to free his head enough to turn and pin Yugi with a baleful eye.
Yugi didn't say anything, he just stared.
"It is not over, yet. The prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. There are two lines left and until you complete them, I cannot be conquered."
You look pretty conquered to me, Hermos mind-spoke.
"Appearances are always deceiving." Chaos shuddered, from the tip of his snout to the tip of his tail, an action that somehow threw all three of the Legendary Dragons restraining him off. He drifted upward, and hovered above the battlefield. "I cannot be defeated until the Hero finishes every last line of the prophecy."
"WHY?" Yugi shouted.
"Why what?" The Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos seemed confused by Yugi's question.
"Why did I have to lose so much - all my friends - to gain the Legends, only to lose to you again?"
"Aw, is your resolve to fight against me finally weakening, Hero? Might you be finally seeing the truth of the matter?" The Chaos Dragon contrived to sit back on his tail in the air and seemed to cup his chin with a front paw. "How does it feel, Yugi, to know that the three 'Kindly', pardon moi, 'cowardly' lords, whom you had formed bonds of comradeship and friendship with were nothing more than elaborate ruses - puppet souls designed to protect the True Lords from my wrath? You've been duped, Hero. Join me, and perhaps you need not die for the affront of attacking me. You were - misguided."
"Don't listen to him, Yugi!" Hermos said.
Yugi looked at the True Lords, and, despite their dragon forms, recognized the tension around their eyes. It hurt, like a knife stab through the heart, that they thought he'd put any faith in the words of the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos. Joey, Seto, and Yami wouldn't have doubted him. Then again, these True Lords didn't know him as well as the Kindly Lords did. Not yet.
"I'm not misguided about what you do to innocent people," Yugi shouted up at the dragon. He pointed. "Look at my friends, there." His finger shook at he centered it on Vialla and Celador. "They were killed in your name, to further your cause. People go mad when you simply fly over their homes. People go missing whenever your forces are near. I might not know everything that's going on, but I'm not misguided. Your own actions betray you!"
The Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos smiled down at him. "Can't fault me for trying. It'd be far easier if you'd just given up. Very good, Hero. Your resolve, despite your misgivings, is firm. It will make it much more satisfying when I defeat you, along with your pathetic True Lords, once and for all." The dragon sighed theatrically. "But, that destined confrontation must wait until you've solved every last line of the prophecy. I can give you the second to last one, Hero. 'Claim their might' There. I will send you no more dream hints. I cannot give you the last line - you must find it for yourself. It is only within the heart of the hero that the last line, and the power to defeat me, dwells."
Timaeus, Hermos, and Critias leaped at the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos from three different directions at the same time, evidently communicating with each other in such a way that even Yugi hadn't been aware of it.
"Tsk, tsk!" The Chaos Dragon bounded above their attack, and waved a single talon tauntingly at them as the three crashed together in the air under him. "Haven't you been listening? Nothing you three do can end this conflict or bring me down - it is only the Hero who can defeat me!" He turned his head and surveyed the vast battlefield. "For now, Hero, I go. Attend to me, my minions!" He beat his wings fiercely, driving the three dragons beneath him into the ground while the tortured faces of the chaos clouds laughed at them. He inscribed a lazy circle in the air, creating a magic funnel that lifted only Drakors, Knaves, and Shades up into the sky to become part of the forming Chaos Storm. A moment later, the storm dissipated.
"Good riddance," Hermos said, clutching at his head against the sudden shock of being forced to resume his human shape upon his crash landing.
Timaeus approached where Hermos and Critias were marshaling their commanders to bring order once more to their gathered forces, set watches, and designate areas for tents where the wounded could be tended. They also decided to restore the full camp for the night as it was late afternoon. One of the sad but necessary duties was the gathering of those felled in battle into one place. Yugi grieved as he knelt next to Vialla and Celador who were not far away from the tragically growing area set aside for the gathering of the dead.
"I have walked the outer edges of the battlefield, and sent as many as I can on my own into the Realm of Darkness. I need your help with the rest," Timaeus told them.
"It serves to increase your forces," Hermos countered.
"Eventually, yes. But, would you risk leaving those who fell fighting in your name open to becoming Shades of the Dread Lord? It would be far better to send them into the Realm of Darkness, even if it helps me in the end, would it not?"
Critias nodded. "Hermos, even now there are people growing up and taking up arms to become Warriors for you, and eggs are hatching and dragonettes are maturing to become new forces for me. I would much rather those forces of mine who fell in honorable combat become part of Timaeus' forces, than to damn them to an eternity of useless wandering and suffering here - or subjugation to the one who they died fighting against in the first place."
Yugi, unwittingly overhearing the growing argument, planted himself before the lords. "Explain."
"There is a Realm of Darkness adjacent to our land, and that of the Realm of Shadows. We learned, years ago, that those of our forces who are killed in battle against the Lord of Chaos are apt to not rest peacefully. I recognized many of the Shades we battled today as the twisted versions of Warriors or Dragons who were on our side in the past. One of our abilities is the power to send those defeated in battle through the Shadow Realm into the Realm of Darkness," Timaeus explained.
"But - why?" Yugi asked.
"The Realm of Darkness isn't evil. It's dark and peaceful. It gives the souls of those defeated in battle time and quiet to come to terms with what happened to them."
"It is one way Timaeus increases the forces fighting for him - the Realm of Darkness converts the fallen into Shadows. My Warriors, or Critias' Dragons become his Shadows!"
"It is not for that reason that I do this - I've explained it before!" Timaeus flared at Hermos.
"Not all the fallen become Shadows," Critias pointed out. "Most of them move on, or dissipate, or whatever is the final fate of a being's soul."
"Enough of them switch sides," Hermos argued.
"Did you never wonder why I always sent Shadows of monsters and dragons against you in the past?" Timaeus demanded. He turned toward Critias. "Or how you always faced Shadows of monsters and men?"
Critias nodded. "So we never had to fight against any who used to be our vassals," he realized. "Is that good strategy, preventing wavering allegiances from disrupting a battle - or compassion, not making anyone fight against those they used to side with?"
Timaeus shot a twisted grin, that reminded Yugi achingly of one of Yami's expressions, at his fellow lords. "Both. It would not do to have one or more of my forces change sides during a skirmish, and the Shadows are my subjects, even as Warriors and Dragons are yours. I would not give a command that would make any of them unhappy without a damn good reason."
"What happens if you leave the fallen here? Well, not just leave them, but bury them?" Yugi looked across the field of those fallen in battle, dismay stabbing him anew at how many there were.
"For whatever reason, perhaps something to do with a power of the Lord of Blackness and Chaos, many of the fallen would become restless spirits haunting this place, but most of them, in the next day or so, would rise and become Shades to join his army," Timaeus told him.
Celador, as a Shade, turning his blade against one of Hermos' Warriors who he had trained with? Vialla, the gentle healer, rising from a natural shadow on the ground to knife the back of a Warrior or Drake with a sneak attack - slaying another in the cowardly way she herself was slain? Yugi shook his head against his own dark imaginings. "We can't let that happen! Wouldn't it be better for those who fell fighting against the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos to return, even if it is as one of Yami's - er, Timaeus' Shadows to fight for our side? Isn't that a fate you would choose for yourself?" Yugi turned and looked up into Lord Hermos' face.
To his surprise, the lord couldn't keep his gaze. "Yeah, maybe. Don't look at me like that, Hero. We'll send th' fallen to the Realm of Darkness."
Yugi watched as the three lords walked away from each other until each lord served as one point of a great triangle inscribed around the fallen. Each concentrated and began to glow with a gray sort of energy. The rest of the army - Warriors, Dragons, Drakes, and Shadows formed a giant circle surrounding the lords and watched with silent reverence. After several minutes, the energy sprang from one lord to the next, visibly outlining the triangle they created. A field effect shimmered between them, softening the bodies they surrounded with the gray energy until the fallen disappeared entirely.
The amassed fighting forces of the True Lords sent up a great keening cry of loss to the heavens before breaking apart to finish setting up the camp. The three True Lords returned to where Yugi stood and stared at the now-empty place where the fallen had been gathered.
"I think - they would rather this be their fate, if they should fall in battle against the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos," Yugi noted softly as he watched the subdued warriors return to their tasks. A few passing knights heard his comment and nodded, before bowing respectfully to the lords.
"It is one of our horrors, my lords, to think we might die in battle only to return as an evil Shade trying to kill those we used to fight with," one of the knights said. "Promise me..." The knight's eyes widened and he fell silent. The other knights hurried away, to lose themselves among the rest of those restoring the camp.
"You fear to ask us something?" Critias realized.
The knight nodded. "You are the True Lords of Legend - tales of your might and power have been handed down for ages. For me to dare to address you directly is an affront that - that the stories tell us is punishable by death," the knight told him. "Forgive me this offense, my lords! If I must die for it, place me in the front ranks so that I die in combat!"
"What horrible tales have been told about us?" Timaeus wondered.
"Tell us!" Hermos demanded.
The knight, imposing as he was, quailed into silence. Yugi latched onto the man's arm. "They are the True Lords, it's true, but I'm the Hero, right? Nothing is going to happen to you if you talk to me, right? And the True Lords are supposed to help me, so, even though I don't command them, or anything like that, I'm sure you realize they listen to me, and they wouldn't do anything bad to someone if I asked them, very politely, not to, right?" Yugi babbled to distract the man from his dismay, and turned him slightly away from the astonished True Lords. Yugi got the knight, whose name he learned was Gaia, to tell him everything he knew about the True Lords from the fables as he walked with the knight back to his designated campsite.
"So, it seems as if the legends about you highlight the power you have, but also mention that each of you is, well, uhm, kinda set in your ways, or something like that, and that you are apt to take offense pretty easily. It's one reason Yami, Seto, and J-Joey were known as the 'Kindly Lords' because they were a lot nicer than you are supposed to be." Yugi told the three lords a short while later. "I hope you don't mind, but I told Gaia that those parts of the stories weren't true, that you were just very, very concerned about the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos, and that's why you seem so harsh. I, uhm, presumed you didn't want those fighting on your side to fear you - I hope that was okay?" Faced with the blank stares of all three True Lords, Yugi felt disconcerted and he hoped fervently that he hadn't stepped on the toes of the three touchy lords. Timaeus and Critias smiled, and even Hermos' expression lightened.
"No one should fear us - not even you, Yugi," Critias told him.
"Except the Lord of Blackness and Chaos," Hermos added darkly.
"Perhaps we should talk to our vassals ourselves?" Timaeus suggested. "Find out their apprehensions, do what we can to solidify their support for our cause, and alleviate any fears they might hold in regards to us. What did the knight Gaia want from us, Yugi? Were you able to find out?"
Yugi nodded. "Yes. He wanted to ask you to promise that if he ever did fall in battle, you would send him to the Realm of Darkness. I think all of those fighting on our side would like that promise. They are terrified that they might instead become Shades fighting for the Chaos Lord."
Each of the True Lords nodded. Yugi watched, as a short while later, Hermos, Critias, and Timaeus addressed the army directly, dispelling many of the dark myths surrounding the True Lords. They gave their promise to all of their forces that they would not be abandoned to the fate of becoming either a wandering spirit, haunting the land where they died, or a Shade in the army of Chaos. Afterward, Hermos and Timaeus wandered among their Warriors and Shadows, offering direct reassurance, while Critias, once again in dragon form, addressed all of his Dragons and Drakes for the same purpose.
"How long does it take for a fallen spirit to return as a Shadow, if they are going to?" Yugi asked Timaeus a few hours later as the sun set and the camp settled down for the night.
"It takes many years, sometimes decades," Timaeus replied.
"That long?" Yugi asked in surprise. "But, you said the dead would become Shades in only a day if you didn't send them to the Realm of Darkness?"
"The Lord of Chaos somehow forces released spirits to become Shades. Even if I could, I would never force someone fallen to become a Shadow and return to battle - it should be by choice. If their spirits are content with moving on, I would not do anything to stop them. Have you noticed how all the Shades seem to be the same? They don't seem to have as much personality as the Shadows do. I think it is because the Lord of Blackness and Chaos forces beings into becoming Shades. I think it loses the true essence of the person to do that - at least, I hope that's what happens. If so, perhaps the actual soul of the person so forced is truly released and beyond the grasp of Chaos." Timaeus looked very serious.
"I see." Yugi was also very serious. "Can you tell if someone is going to move on, or return? Become a Shadow that is?"
"I have no way of telling who will return as a Shadow and who moves on. Oh, you are wondering if you will see your elven friends again? Forgive me that I didn't realize their deaths were another sorrow you have to deal with." Timaeus shook his head. "They will not return during this conflict, if they return at all. Many of the fallen sent to the Realm of Darkness do not become Shadows, and some that do return do not recall the specifics of their previous lives."
"So, when you told Critias and Hermos you don't send Shadows that might have once been their warriors against them because the Shadows would be conflicted and might switch sides...?"
Timaeus smiled that lopsided 'Yami' grin at him. "I suppose that is part of it, but it's mainly the other reason."
"The 'compassion' one? Why can't you say it?"
"I'm a warlord, Yugi. 'Compassion' has no place in a warlord."
"Really? So, reassuring your army that they won't become the enemy's forces was -?"
Timaeus' eyes suddenly glowed red, he growled, darted forward, and snagged Yugi playfully in his arms in a hauntingly familiar way. Both stilled. "Forgive me. I don't know what came over me." Timaeus moved as if to pull away.
"I do," Yugi said softly, grasping Timaeus' arms so he couldn't let go. "Is it so bad if 'Yami' is perhaps more evident within you than you want to admit?"
"Yes!" Timaeus pushed Yugi away forcefully enough to break Yugi's grip. "And he isn't. I am Timaeus; Yami was merely the vessel-soul that served as the key to return my soul with my full power back into the world. We mustn't allow ourselves to be distracted from defeating the Lord of Blackness and Chaos. Not for any reason. Forgive me, Hero. My lapse in focus will not happen again." Timaeus turned as if to walk away.
"Wait!" Yugi called out.
"What do you need, Hero?" Timaeus demanded coldly, while half-turning toward him.
I need Yami back, along with all of my friends, and Chaos defeated never to rise again, and... Yugi thought. Aloud he said, "I know what happens to Warriors, Dragons, and Drakes that are defeated in battle, but what happens to your Shadows?"
Timaeus turned and faced him fully at that. "Shadows that are utterly defeated dissipate, never to be seen again."
Yugi's eyes widened. Somehow, the idea that Vialla and Celador might return some day as Shadows made their deaths seem less final and less of a cause for sadness, almost as if it were something of an inconvenience, but not an ending. That the Shadows were gone, for good, brought the finality of death back to the conflict with stunning force.
"You see why I cannot relax and behave as if each defeated vassal isn't a dreadful loss," Timaeus said softly. "My fellow lords might be reassured that death isn't necessarily an ending for their vassals, but mine do not have that comfort - and they know it."
"So, while Hermos and Critias were reassuring their forces that they would not become Shades upon defeat, what were you doing?" Yugi asked softly.
"I was reassuring my forces, as best I could, that I wouldn't throw their lives away uselessly. That if they followed me, we would help the Hero to the extent of our power and strength to defeat the Lord of Blackness and Chaos. That I would fight alongside them until the end, if needed, so that they wouldn't go into the final darkness alone." Timaeus stared at Yugi for a long moment. "Do we understand each other, Hero? There is nothing light and frivolous in the task before you."
Yugi nodded. After a moment, Lord Timaeus bowed his head acknowledging Yugi's unspoken commitment, and left.
Author's note
My, things have taken a rather darkened turn, haven't they? Yugi has allies, strong ones, but it seems as if he is continuing to lose his friends.
Next chapter teaser – Legendary Chaos
(uh-oh!)