The next day, Yugi and I stood outside a large marble building partially buried in the side of the West mountain. It resembled a Roman Pantheon, complete with Latin writing. As we approached the entrance, two guards stopped us.
"What business do you have here?" The first asked.
"I've come seeking knowledge on the Dark World for the benefit of my friend."
"This is a holy site, dumbass. Go to the next town if you want a necromancer." The second huffed.
"Let them in." A light voice stated.
"Priestess Caroline!" The guards gasped, uncrossing their spears so that she could pass through.
Caroline was an old friend of mine, even though she was a good 3 years older than me. She had wavy black hair and green eyes. She was dressed in the usual garb of the priesthood, a long white robe and a circlet that sported a blood red gem. I was surprised that her fraternal twin, Laura, wasn't with her.
"Mira, I haven't seen you in a while. And who's this? You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend now." She said with a smile. My face flushed bright red.
"Er... He's not my boyfriend." I said, fiddling with the end of my ponytail.
"I know, I'm just messing with ya! Actually, I'm kinda glad you came. I need your help with something." She said.
We followed her through the foyer and through the long winding hallways.
"What do you need our help with?" I asked.
"A few days ago, Laura locked herself in the basement, saying that she needed a few hours to do some research on an object that she found earlier in the day. That wasn't the unusual part. The weird part is that she hasn't come out since then, and no one I sent down there to check on her has come back."
"And you want us to go check on her?" I asked.
"Exactly. Mira, you're very skilled at combat, but I don't want you to hurt her unless worst comes to worst. Take this." She said, handing me a thick wooden hammer.
It was just now that I was aware of my surroundings. The bright marble hallways had turned into a dark, depressing staircase of some sort of black stone. We stopped at a wooden door that said "Research" on it. The door looked like it had been scorched a bit.
I rattled the knob on the door. It was locked, just as Caroline had said.
"Laura, are you ok in there? You haven't come out for days!" I shouted through the door.
"I'm coming!" Laura's voice said from the other side. Something was up. Sure, it was Laura's voice, but it didn't sound right. There was something in her voice that wasn't there before, but I couldn't figure out what.
There was a metal clink on the door, and it opened. On the other side was Laura, looking the same as ever. Her straight white hair was wild on her head, her green eyes sparkling. Her black robe was covered in soot, and the circlet with the blue gem she wore was shifted to the left a little.
"Hey Mira! Long time no see! Come in, come in!" She said with a smile. It was too unusual. She never wore a smile just by seeing an old friend. But since I didn't know the whole situation, I went along with it.
"Laura, Caroline says you've been doing extensive research on an artifact you discovered. We came to check on you, as she said that you've been down here for days on end." I said, stepping into the room. Yugi and Caroline followed.
The room was completely smooth stone, lined with various work tables that were filled with beakers and vials. It looked more like a chemist lab than anything. Glowstone provided illumination in the ceiling, giving light to read stacks of hastily scribbled notes.
"I'm worried about you, Laura." Caroline said. I picked up the piece of paper on the stack and began to read it.
It had a diagram of what I assumed was the artifact Laura was researching. It was some sort of ring on a leather cord. Dangling from the ring were five very sharp looking prongs. In the middle of the ring was a triangle with a raised rune in the center. It looked exactly like the rune on Yugi's Puzzle. The hastily scribbled notes on the space the diagram hadn't taken up explained possible uses for the artifact, as well as some of its aspects. One paragraph in particular made my blood run cold.
"This artifact seems to have a very strong negative energy attached to it. Nothing in my lab seems to affect it, much less destroy it. Nothing, not even lava or diamonds even scratches the surface. How such strong gold can be found is certainly puzzling. When I hold the artifact, I have an overwhelming urge to put it on. I have been able to avoid doing so for the time being, but it is unknown if and when I will succumb to this suggestion."
No. It couldn't be the case, right? But if Yugi's Puzzle had a spirit inside it, this artifact had an equal chance of having a spirit inside it as well. While Yami had managed to make his intentions clear, he was undoubtedly a good person. What if the spirit of the ring was a malevolent one?
I looked around the room frantically for any sign of the artifact. It wasn't on any tables, and it wasn't in any cupboards, so that could only mean...!
"Yugi! Caroline! Get away from Laura!" I screamed.
"Huh? Why?" Yugi asked. He got his answer when a yellow glow emanated from Laura's chest. But the two just stood there, seemingly paralyzed. Caroline, I could understand, but why Yugi?
Regardless, I got in between Laura and he others, and pulled out my bow. It was immediately hit with a knife that came out of nowhere and buried its blade deep in the upper limb. When the glow subsided, a totally different person stood in Laura's place.
How did I know it wasn't Laura trying to kill me? Well, first of all, her eyes had changed from green to brown. Then there was the fact that her boobs were gone. But most importantly, the missing artifact was around her neck.
"You're a smart one. I haven't encountered a person who could detect my presence that quickly in a while." The man sneered. His voice was deep, but harsh.
"Who said anything about detection? I just put two and two together." I grunted, pushing against his force. He was strong, despite his wiry figure.
"Regardless, I cannot let you three leave alive. Especially you, Yugi." He grinned.
"Look, I don't care who you are, where you come from, or what your accent is. The only one dying here is you!" I said, giving a big heave in his direction. It caught him off balance and I threw a punch. He dodged it and brought his knife down. He was too quick for me to block it, and I found the knife buried into my shoulder.
I screamed as a pain unlike any other shot through my torso, making its way through the rest of my body.
"MIRA!" Yugi screamed.
I shot a look at Yugi and Caroline that screamed 'get out of here before you end up like me.'
"I have to say I'm surprised. I can't remember the last person who put up a fight." He said, kicking me on my side.
"Not that it matters anyway. You're all about to die, and your souls will burn for an eternity in the Shadow Realm!" He laughed, taking another knife off the nearest table and cornering Yugi and Caroline.
I grimaced in pain. It didn't matter whether I was going to bleed out or be murdered. If I didn't act fast, everyone died. I pulled the knife out of my shoulder and crawled towards the spirit.
"Now die, and let the Pharaoh die with you!" The spirit laughed. He raised his knife above his head... And I plunged mine into the back of his foot.
A sound like a gunshot echoed throughout the room. I smirked, even if my face wouldn't let it show. I had hit the Achilles Tendon and snapped it like a twig. His foot buckled under his weight, and blood stained his pant leg.
But I heard no scream of pain, not even a grunt. He looked down at me, seemingly annoyed.
"Feh. You mortals are stupid creatures. You think a pitiful thing like that will stop me?" He growled, trying to shake me off his foot. Though the pain in my shoulder burned like fire, I refused to let go of his leg.
"If you think I'm just going to roll over on my side and let everyone I care about die, then you're the stupid one. I didn't survive training from Hell itself to be murdered by a spirit." I hissed, twisting the blade deeper into his foot. I could make out a grimace.
"Get off of me!"
"Like hell!"
We exchanged spats like this for at least 5 minutes. I even threw the hammer at his head, which missed.
"Keh, you couldn't hit the broad side of a tomb!"
My face twisted into a gaping hole of shock. Yugi and Caroline had started to push a bookcase that was against the wall over.
"What? What are you gaping at?" He asked, turning to mimic my expression.
"HOLY MOTHER OF-"
The bookshelf crashed on top of both of us, scattering books everywhere. I felt myself being pulled by the arms out from under it.
"Mira, are you ok?" Yugi asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I grunted, holding my shoulder, which was still gushing blood.
"No you're not! You have a giant gash in your shoulder!" Caroline said.
"Look, I can patch myself up later. What's important is taking care of him." I said, pointing a finger at the spirit, who had started to crawl out from under the bookcase, but had gotten stuck at the waist.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF RA WAS THAT?!" He screamed. Caroline responded by picking up the hammer and striking his head as hard as she could.
"That's for possessing my sister." She growled.
I crawled over to the spirit and took the ring from around his neck. A soft yellow glow shone from the ring, and Laura turned back to her old self. She stirred and looked up at us.
"Laura, how do you feel?" I asked. She let out the loudest scream of pain in the history of humanity.
"Back to normal, I guess."
