Author's Note: Sorry to everyone for not updating in weeks. I've been a little bit distracted by life, as of late. Plus I had a few bouts with insomnia during a couple nights last week, and it's kind of hard to do any major attempts at writing when you haven't had enough sleep the night before. Anyway, I hope this chapter is worth the wait.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 26: The Tablet of Memories
The stadium had quickly emptied after Alit's duel with Samantha had ended. Many of Yuma's friends had gone home as well, but Yuma and Astral had remained behind. Once the two had said their goodbyes to everyone, Yuma and Astral headed for the hall where the Tablet of Memories was being displayed. As soon as they were sure that the stadium was totally empty, Astral and Yuma approached the tablet. It was the first time that Yuma had taken a close look at the ancient slab. Seeing a depiction of what was probably one of the very first duels in history filled him with a sense of awe. A part of him wondered if the pharaoh depicted on the tablet and the priest he dueled had any idea at the time that the game they were playing would continue on for thousands of years.
"Hey Astral. This is a cool tablet and everything, but why'd you say we needed to take a look at it?" Yuma asked.
"This tablet is not only tied to the game of Duel Monsters, but is also tied to the thing that the Death Queens are after." Astral answered. "The demon they call Zorc Necrophades."
"And how is the tablet going to help us find out about that?" Yuma asked as he crossed his arms.
"I can sense a sort of power coming from this tablet." Astral explained. "If I can somehow tap into that power, perhaps it can give us some of the answers that we seek."
With that, Astral floated up to the top of the tablet. When he came close, the eye of the Millennium Puzzle carved into the stone began to give off a feint gold light. The energy being put his hand over the eye, and as soon as he did his entire body gave off a dazzling gold flash. At the same time, the gem in the Emperor's Key that Yuma wore around his neck began to shine with a golden light as well. Suddenly it seemed to Yuma as though he was being pulled up through a tunnel of light.
When the light cleared, Yuma and Astral found that they were standing in the middle of some kind of alley. It was night, and before the duo could fully take in the surroundings, they suddenly heard the sound of screaming coming from beyond the alley. Yuma quickly exited the space between the two buildings with Astral close behind, only to come upon a horrible sight. They were in a small village of sundried brick, and all around there were ancient Egyptian soldiers killing every person that they came across. Men, women, children, young and old alike were all being stabbed and cut by the swords that the soldiers carried.
"What… what is all this?" a horrified Yuma asked.
"I believe we are seeing… the massacre of Kul Elna." Astral answered, trying hard to maintain his composure. "The village that Alnia told us about."
Yuma heard footsteps coming from back down the alley. He quickly ran to go investigate, for no other reason than to get away from the spectacle of death he had just witnessed. At the other end of they alley, Yuma and Astral found a young woman and a little boy, both with long white hair. Yuma instantly recognized the young woman as Alnia.
After looking around to make sure they weren't followed, Alnia turned around and kneeled closer to the little boy. "I think we're safe. None of the soldiers saw us leaving the house."
"What do we do now, sister?" the little boy asked.
"You go and hide." Alnia told him. "I'm going to head back to see if mother and father have survived. Just stay where you are until I come find you."
"But sister…" the little boy tried to argue.
"Do as I say, Bakura!" Alnia ordered.
"Well… okay." Bakura finally agreed as tears came to his eyes. "Just come back and find me soon."
"I will, little brother." Alnia assured him as she pulled him into a hug. "Be safe, little one."
As Alnia and Bakura parted ways, the entire area became washed out in a golden light. When the light faded, Yuma and Astral found that they were in some sort of underground chamber. Before them was some sort of round metal object with molten gold being poured into the center. Four ceremonial torches had been placed around the iron mold. Five men in white robes stood in front of the metal object as the gold poured in. At the very front was a man with a dark beard who appeared to be in his forties.
"It shouldn't be long now." The bearded man told his companions. "Very soon when the gold hardens, the Millennium Items will be born."
"Are you certain that this was the best course of action, Lord Akhenaden?" one of the other robed men asked him.
"These treasures are the only things that will ensure the future of the kingdom." Akhenaden answered.
"Maybe so. Yet the cost of forging these treasures may have been too great." Another of the robed men interjected. "Think of all the blood that has been spilled this night."
"It has all been for the greater good." Akhenaden calmly responded. "The lives of this miserable village were a small price to pay for the lives of the entire kingdom. In the end, the needs of the many will always outweigh the needs of the few. I need not remind you all that if we do not come back with the Millennium Items, those marauders will slaughter all of Egypt."
"I for one am not shedding any tears for this rat hole of a village." A third robed man interjected. "This was the Village of Thieves after all. In the end, they all got what they deserved."
"But… to kill even the women and children?" the second robed man asked.
"It was the only way." Akhenaden told him. "The ritual required ninety-nine human lives. We could afford to spare no one."
"But… will the pharaoh even approve of this?" the final of the robed men asked. "He has never approved of this sort of cruelty."
"The pharaoh does not need to know anything about what we did here." Akhenaden told him. "All he needs to know is that we have created the keys to saving the kingdom."
"Hey Astral. Alnia said that she blamed Pharaoh Atem for the creation of these Millennium Items, but it sounds like he didn't know anything about it." Yuma observed.
"Indeed." Astral agreed. "It seems that this Akhenaden acted on his own. Alnia's anger may be misplaced."
After a few moments, the gold stopped pouring into its iron cast. Soon after, the metal lid was lifted, and beneath it was the stone tablet with the seven Millennium Items fitted into it.
"It is done." Akhenaden told his followers. "We shall never speak of what happened here this night ever again."
Another flash of golden light washed out the entire chamber. When it cleared, Yuma and Astral were standing on a raised platform in the middle of what looked like a temple. Decorating the walls of this temple were several large stone slabs depicting different monsters. As Yuma and Astral looked around, they saw Akhenaden pinned against the high wall of the temple in a crater that had once been another stone slab. He was much older than when Yuma and Astral first saw him and dressed in hooded white robes. The Millennium Eye had since replaced the old priest's left eye.
"What's going on now?" Yuma wondered.
"Yuma, look!" Astral told him after taking a look to their left.
Yuma looked, and saw standing next to them a young man with long white hair and purple eyes that showed a madness and thirst for blood. He had on a long red coat, and hanging from his neck by a brown leather string was the pendant that Yuma recognized from Alnia's Number as the Millennium Ring. A very large scar covered the left side of the young man's face.
"Astral, am I wrong? Or is this guy Alnia's little brother?" Yuma asked.
"I think he might just be." Astral agreed. "And he's not alone. Look."
Yuma looked at where Astral was pointing, and looming behind Bakura was a massive demonic-looking creature with dark-grey skin and a muscular upper body. It had a hideous face with two yellow. A spike grew from the front of the demon's forehead, and growing from the sides of his face were fins that resembled a pair of wings. It had a large pair of feathered wings on its back, and the demon's lower half was a long tail that ended with the head of a hooded cobra.
"It would be easy for me to kill you right here and take your Millennium Item," Bakura told Akhenaden, "but what if I could get you to work for me? The Millennium Ring can infuse objects with a part of its owner's soul… What would happen if I sealed my evil will into your Millennium Eye?" At the thought of this, Bakura chuckled. "You'd become my pawn."
"N-Never! I am loyal to the Pharaoh! You can't control me!" a frightened Akhenaden declared. "I summon a Ka from the stone slab!"
Akhenaden's Millennium Eye began to shine with a golden light, and soon after a dog-like creature emerged from one of the slabs decorating the walls. But with an annoyed glance from Bakura, the demon accompanying him threw a ball of energy from its clawed hand and vaporized Akhenaden's monster.
"I could tear you limb from limb right here," Bakura pointed out to the old priest, "but that wouldn't be enough. It wouldn't make up for Kul Elna."
The little color that was left in the old priest's face instantly drained away upon hearing the name of the village he massacred years ago.
"You can still hear them, can't you?" Bakura continued. "The death screams of Kul Elna, the Village of Thieves? I am the sole survivor of that village… of Kul Elna."
"I can't really blame Bakura for being so angry." Yuma admitted. "Or Alnia, even. What this Akhenaden guy did to make these Millennium Items… it was horrible!"
"Yes, but that does not excuse the actions of neither Bakura nor Alnia." Astral pointed out.
"Now… this city, too, will drown in blood…" Bakura continued, "and you'll be the one to spill it… as you become the ruler of shadows!"
The temple was then suddenly washed out in another flash of gold light. When the light cleared, Yuma and Astral were back in the underground chamber where the Millennium Items had been forged. Akhenaden was walking up to the slab with two of the Millennium Items in his hand and a vacant expression on his face. Four of the other Millennium Items had already been fitted into the slab, and Bakura's dead body was on the ground next to it. Yuma glanced to his right and saw that he and Astral were standing next to the young man whom he recognized as the famed Pharaoh Atem.
Atem called out to Akhenaden to stop what he was doing, but the old priest completely ignored him. After placing the two items he was holding into the slab, Akhenaden laughed madly as he pulled the Millennium Eye out of his eye socket and placed it in its slot in the tablet. Once the eye was placed, all seven of the Millennium Items began to shimmer with a golden light.
"Come to me, Zorc Necrophades!" Akhenaden called out as he raised his arms in the air.
A pillar of blinding red light shot up from the ground behind the tablet. When the light subsided, a massive demon had appeared inside the chamber. He had purplish-black skin and a muscular upper body. His face was a pair of eyes with a large fanged mouth, and a pair of thick curved horns grew from the sides of his head. A pair of massive bat-like wings with pronounced veins grew from his back. A long cord-like tail grew from the demon's rear end, and extending from between his legs was a serpent-like head.
"Holy crap!" a horrified Yuma exclaimed. "That's really the Zorc that Alnia and the other Death Queens have been trying to bring back?"
"Incredible!" Astral exclaimed. "Though what we're seeing is but an afterimage, I can sense an immense power coming from Zorc. Even Don Thousand's power doesn't compare."
Zorc kneeled down to get closer to Akhenaden, resting his arm on his knee. "Who awakens me? Who desires the power of shadows?"
"It is I." Akhenaden answered as he bowed to the demon.
"With the seven forbidden treasures, you have opened the door to darkness and released my power in this world…" Zorc responded, "and the heavens will turn black with clouds, and the earth will be crowned with terror. One beat of my wings will peel flesh from men's bones… one breath from my lungs will burn bones to dust… and you wish to receive a part of that power?"
"I do." Akhenaden answered.
Zorc let out a hideous laugh. "Priest Akhenaden, I knew you would come here to complete the dark contract with me. Because you are the one who created the Millennium Items."
"Yes… all was according to your will, Lord Zorc." Akhenaden responded.
"First you gained the power to summon monsters," Zorc continued. "You trafficked with demons willingly… and with that power in hand, the ambitious ones began to fight among themselves. I knew that one day, one of you would gather the Millennium Items in one place… and awaken the great darkness."
"What's he saying?" Yuma asked. "Did Zorc somehow trick Akhenaden into making the Millennium Items?"
"It would seem so." Astral answered. "Zorc must have devised the ritual to forge the Millennium Items and somehow sent it into the human world in the hopes that someone would use it. When Akhenaden chose to conduct the ritual, he began a chain of dark events that could only end with this moment."
A ball of crimson light formed in Zorc's right hand. "Akhenaden… I give you my power! Become the slave of my soul… and rule this world!"
With that, the demon god threw the ball of light at Akhenaden, causing a pillar of blood red energy to shoot up around him. Akhenaden let out a maniacal laugh as his body transformed. When his transformation finished, the old priest had gained a head of long red head and had gained black and gold armor with a long black cape. Covering his face was a featureless white mask that showed only the empty socket that once contained the Millennium Eye.
The dark priest took his artificial eye back from the tablet and put it back in his face before turning to Atem. "And now, 'Great Pharaoh'… the Millennium Eye will soon watch your death throes."
Suddenly the chamber became bathed in another flash of golden light. Yuma felt himself falling again through the same tunnel that he and Astral had originally came through.
Yuma fell back onto his butt in front of the tablet, reeling from the events that he had just witnessed. Astral backed away from the ancient slab with an expression of shock on his face. The energy being's hands were trembling.
"That… that was nuts!" Yuma declared. "You were right, Astral. I don't think Don Thousand could hold a candle to Zorc."
"Pharaoh Atem must have wielded an immense power to have defeated such a monster." Astral assumed.
"And now Alnia and Mitaka are trying to bring that monster back from the dead." Yuma added.
"…That too may be part of Zorc's grand design." Astral theorized. "I do not know for certain, but perhaps the Death Queens were a sort of failsafe he put in place in the event he was defeated."
"Do you really think so?" a surprised Yuma asked as he got back to his feet.
"It would not surprise me." Astral replied. "From what we have seen, Zorc was quite the manipulator of the human heart. His scheme with the Millennium Items went exactly as he had planned."
"But how'd he know that Bakura would go after Akhenaden and the Millennium Items like that?" Yuma asked.
"Evil begets evil, Yuma. If it had not been Bakura, or even if Kul Elna had not been the village slaughtered to make the Millennium Items, a survivor from the massacre required of the ritual to make the Millennium Items would have come for revenge." Astral replied. "Zorc played upon the darkness of the human heart to set in motion a chain of events that would've eventually resulted in him being unleashed upon the human world."
"This is nuts…" Yuma declared. "Maybe we should call it a night, Astral."
"Indeed. We have quite a day ahead of us tomorrow." Astral agreed.
With that, Yuma and Astral headed out of the stadium in silence. After they left through the front door, they found Kotori waiting for them at the bottom of the steps.
"There you two are!" Kotori spoke. "What the heck were you guys doing in there?"
"Oh, just checking out that tablet they showed us all at the start of the tournament." Yuma answered as he rubbed the back of his head. "Astral wanted to get a closer look at it."
"I see…" Kotori replied. "Astral, can you give Yuma and I some time alone?"
"If you wish." Astral answered. "I should begin devising some new strategies to fight Mitaka and Alnia anyway."
With that, Astral turned into particles of light that flowed into the Emperor's Key, leaving Yuma and Kotori totally alone.
"So Kotori, is there a reason you were waiting for me?" Yuma asked as they began walking.
"Well… I guess it was mainly because I'm a little worried about tomorrow." Kotori answered. "You're probably going to be facing both Mitaka and Alnia in the tournament. I'm just worried that… things might not go well."
"Hey. Relax Kotori. Astral and I have got it covered." Yuma assured her. "There's no way that Mitaka or Alnia can beat us. I mean c'mon! We've already beating Kaito and Hikari."
"Good point." Kotori admitted. "Hey Yuma? Do you think you could call your sister and tell her you're staying over at Kaito's or Sharks? I've already called mine to tell them I'm spending the night at Cathy's."
"Um, okay. I guess I could." Yuma answered. "But how come?"
"Just trust me." Kotori told him.
As soon as Yuma finished making his call, Kotori took him to a little motel that wasn't far from the stadium. When Kotori asked the older woman manning the front desk if they could check into a room for the night, it didn't take long for Yuma to figure out what she had in mind. He had already suspected as much when Kotori asked him to call home and lie about where he was spending the night. The woman at the front desk gave the couple a slightly disapproving look, but went ahead and gave them a room key regardless. With the key in hand, Yuma and Kotori headed for the room.
The room that Yuma and Kotori ended up with was fairly small, and the furniture looked as though it hadn't been updated since the early 1990s, but it was still perfectly suitable for what Yuma and Kotori were planning to use it for. After Kotori placed the Do Not Disturb sign on the outside doorknob and locked the door behind her, she removed her shirt and tossed it away to a far corner of the room, revealing the pink bra she was wearing underneath. Yuma's pants had already formed into a tent as Kotori removed her skirt and tossed it towards the same spot her shirt had landed.
With one of the most seductive looks that Yuma had seen Kotori give him, the green-haired girl sauntered over to him, and before he totally realized it they had become locked in a passionate open-mouthed kiss. As they became lost in passion, Yuma reached around and somehow undid the clasp of Kotori's bra. When she finally pulled away for air, her bra dropped to the floor, revealing her bare chest. Smirking, Kotori began to pull off Yuma's shirt. Yuma eagerly helped her along, and with his shirt finally discarded they became locked in another passionate embrace, moaning at the sensation of their bare skin touching each other.
Somehow the couple made it over to the edge of the bed. When they were forced to part for air again, Kotori pushed Yuma onto the bed on his back. Then, after removing her panties and tossing them away, Kotori deftly removed Yuma's pants and underwear in one deft move. The green-haired girl got on top of Yuma, straddling him and leaning forward to give him another fiery kiss before finally lowering herself onto Yuma's rock-hard manhood. Kotori then began rocking her hips, gradually picking up speed as time went on. Every now and then she's stop and bend forward to give Yuma another fiery kiss on the lips. Eventually Yuma could feel Kotori's inner walls tightening around him, and he could feel himself getting close to the edge as well.
"Oh man!" Yuma cried. "Kotori! I think I'm gonna…"
"Not yet! Not Yet!" Kotori moaned as she picked up the pace. "Hold on!"
At long last the two of them managed to climax at the same moment. Kotori could feel Yuma's warm essence shooting into her. As they came down from their orgasms, Kotori collapsed onto the bed next to Yuma.
"You know… I think we're getting better at this." Yuma told her as they finished catching their breath.
"I think you're right." Kotori agreed with a small chuckle. "…You can go again, right?"
"Uh, sure." Yuma confirmed. "Whenever you're ready."
Smiling, Kotori got up on all fours on the bed. Yuma got onto his knees, and taking hold of Kotori's hips he inserted his re-hardened rod into her from behind. The young duelist bucked his hips into Kotori at a slow speed, gradually picking up the pace as time went on. Eventually Kotori managed to bend backward and grab onto the back of Yuma's head. Turned on by how flexible Kotori was, Yuma began to pound into her even harder. Kotori's beasts bounced with the force of Yuma's movements. They somehow continued in that position for what seemed like an eternity, their bodies becoming covered in sweat. Then at long last they managed to come to a hard climax in the same blissful moment.
The two of them collapsed onto the bed in what was almost a tangle of limbs. With what little energy he had left, Yuma pulled the blanket over them both. The two of them remained cuddled together in silence. After what were probably several minutes, Kotori noticed that a troubled expression had formed on Yuma's face.
"Is something wrong?" Kotori finally asked him.
"…I was just thinking about Mitaka and Alnia." Yuma answered. "This might sound weird, but… I want to help those two. I mean I know they've done some pretty bad stuff, but Astral and I have seen what they've been through in their past lives. I can't blame them for wanting to destroy the world after what they've been through. And… I'm not really sure, but I think all of the Death Queens are being used."
"By who?" Kotori asked as she propped herself up with arm.
"By Zorc." Yuma answered. "Don't ask me how or why, but I think the Death Queens are no different than how Shark and the other Barian Emperors were."
"Well, if the Death Queens really are being used, I'm sure you and Astral will be able to help them." Kotori assured him.
"Thanks." Yuma replied before giving her a light kiss. "I know I'm going to do everything that I can for them."
Author's Note: Another reason why it took me so long to get this chapter up was I was figuring out how to do the flashback. The dialogue for the two later parts of the flashback were taken from the original manga, with a few little alterations here and there. As for the little revelation about Alnia and Thief King Bakura being related, I had been going back and forth on whether to do that little plot twist since before starting the story. The reason I hesitated was because I thought it might be too much of a coincidence that a possible older sister of Bakura's would end up being the leader of the Death Queens.
Please review and let me know what you think. I'll try not to take too long with the next chapter.