Reaper of Despair
12-26-2004, 12:07 PM
Episode 20: Dark Shadow Gate Opened! Signs of the End
Atem and Yugi looked out the window of the card shop as Jason sat on the bed, desperately trying to decipher the book’s final text. The sun was beginning to set, which was a bad omen for the world in Atem’s eyes. He looked back at Jason, who was buried in the ancient text.
“Have you figured out anything in there about the Shadow Gate yet?” he asked.
Jason looked up from the book and spoke in a grim tone.
“Yeah, and what I’ve figured out is not good. It turns out that in order for this Shadow Gate to be opened, the blood of the innocent and one thousand souls, at least five of them infused with magic, must be offered to the shadows. Seti’s girlfriend was little miss 1000, and the dagger of Philios was for the blood. It also turns out that Seti didn’t resurrect those spirits to take revenge on you. He raised them to be sacrifices. He knew that they couldn’t beat us, so he sent them to us with the intent of them losing in a shadow game, because he wasn’t yet strong enough to put them in the Shadow Realm himself for good. He used us, pharaoh.”
Yugi looked away from the window and straight into Jason’s eyes. “What do you know about the Shadow Gate?” he asked, holding in his anger at being played for a fool.
“Not much. Just that when it’s opened, some great power will be unleashed, and the world will be engulfed by the shadows soon after. For all we know, this could be a gateway into the Shadow Realm for all those trapped spirits to escape.”
Yugi and Atem shuddered at the thought of having to face the wrath of an escaped Yami Malik again.
“What do you know about closing it?” Yugi asked quickly, trying to dispel the memories of Yami Malik.
“Now that I can tell you. In order to close the gate, one of two things must be done. First, another sacrifice must be made to the shadows, this one of a pure heart. We obviously can’t do that, so the only other option is the defeat the one who opened the gate in a Shadow Game.”
“But first, we need to find Seti Bakura,” Atem said.
Don’t worry about finding me. I’m right here, came the dark voice.
The three looked around the room, but couldn’t see anyone rising from any of the shadows.
Don’t bother looking. I’m not there. I’m speaking with you telepathically, just as I once did with Jason, after I gutted his neighbors. You don’t have to look for me, because the pharaoh’s presence is not only requested, it’s demanded. So hang on, because it’s going to be a rough trip.
Suddenly a strong wind blew through the room, and the lights all went out. The shadows crept slowly across the floor and the walls, towards Yugi and the others. The entire room became pitch-black, and Jason could feel a chill running through his entire body. He became dizzy and closed his eyes, feeling himself fall, but never hit the floor. He descended into the darkness.
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Yugi awoke in a daze, and in complete darkness. He could still feel the room spinning around him. The boy held his head in his hands and closed his eyes, hoping for the spinning to stop. Suddenly the spinning stopped and Yugi opened his eyes. He was in a simple room with stone walls that was lit by small candles.
“This is weird. Where am I? Pharaoh?”
Atem responded.
“Where are we?”
[I don’t know. But my guess is that Seti has something to do with this.]
“Yeah. Why did he bring us here, though?”
Yugi looked around the room and spotted a door. He walked up to the door and uneasily pulled it open. The boy steeped out into the narrow candlelit hallway.
“I wonder where Jason is,” Yugi said as he made his way down the hall.
[I can still sense the Millennium Ring close by, so he’s here as well,] Atem said.
The spiky haired duelist got to the end of the hallway where he came face to face with another door.
[Yugi, be careful. This might be a trap.]
The boy took a breath and pulled the door open and a blinding flash of light met him.
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Ages passed. Or at least what felt like ages passed since Jason fell into the darkness. He could slowly sense the feeling return to his body. Jason opened his eyes and looked around. He was no longer in Yugi’s room, but instead he was in a dark stone room, lit only by candles. He called out.
“Yugi? Pharaoh? Where are you?”
Jason looked around the room and spotted a door. He walked out of the door and into a dim hallway that was only lit by candles just as the strange room was. Jason walked through the dark passage until he reached another door at the end. He took a deep breath and opened the door. A brilliant white light shined in his face, blinding him.
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Yugi stepped through the light, and into a large chamber, that was lit by large torches. There was a door on the other side of the room, which slowly creaked open. Jason stepped in through the door.
“Hey, Jason!” the boy called out.
“Yugi. I’m glad to see that you’re still alive,” Jason replied in a smooth voice.
He began walking toward the boy, and a smile slowly crept across his face. The Millennium Ring around his neck began to glow. The boy could no sooner understand why than could he could dodge the blast of energy that Jason hurled at him, knocking him to the hard stone floor. The Millennium Puzzle slipped over his head and into Jason’s waiting hands, weakening Yugi’s connection with the pharaoh.
“Jason, what’s going on here?! Why are you doing this?!” Yugi yelled out.
“Why? Because I’m sick of your goody goody attitude towards everyone. You’ve been holding my power back for the longest time now, and quite frankly, I’m tired of it. I’m much stronger than you or the pharaoh, yet I’ve had to sit back and watch you two survive through everything as if you were challenging me. Well no more.”
Jason raised the Puzzle over his head and threw it to the floor, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Yugi screamed out.
“No! My Puzzle!”
Suddenly Jason gave a quick gesture and Yugi floated into the air, choking. Jason tightened his grip around Yugi’s throat and laughed with evil intent as he stepped on the remaining pieces of the Puzzle, crushing them.
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The two doors in the large chamber opened slowly with creaking sounds. The two duelists walked into the room and toward each other.
“Jason!” Yugi called out.
“Hey, Yugi! I was hoping that I would find you here,” the blonde said as he walked to the center of the room.
Yugi walked up to him and looked into his eyes. Jason stared back at the boy, and immediately recognized that something was wrong.
“You, you’re not Yugi!”
The boy’s puzzle began to glow and Jason found himself hurled into a stone pillar with tremendous force. Pain tore through his back as he slid down the stone structure and Yugi walked toward him with a satisfied smile on his face.
“I’m Yugi alright. And I’m sick and tired of having you holding me down. I’m the most powerful duelist in the world, and it is I who should be ruling as pharaoh,” the boy’s voice began to change into Atem’s as he spoke of being pharaoh. “My power is uncontested, while yours is nothing. It is my destiny to rule.”
The pharaoh picked Jason up with another display of power and threw him back over towards the center of the room. He let out an evil laugh as he advanced toward Jason, intent on ending the boy’s life.
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Yugi hung in the air for a moment before Atem appeared before him. He simply thought that it was a hallucination from the lack of oxygen. But the pharaoh spoke.
“Yugi. I’m still with you. I’m giving you my last bit of Millennium power. Use it to survive.”
The pharaoh disappeared and Yugi could feel a new power surging through him. He broke Jason’s spell, and waved his hand, sending the blonde to the Shadow Realm. Yugi fell to the floor and took in deep breaths. Tears streamed down his face as he realized the truth.
“Pharaoh!” he screamed out.
But the ancient man’s spirit could no longer be felt. He was gone for good and there was no way to bring him back. Just as Yugi was about to give up hope another door appeared in the middle of the room. The boy looked up and swallowed his misery, taking courage in the memory of Atem. He got up and walked through the open door.
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Jason looked up at Atem, who was walking towards him slowly with a purpose. “Pharaoh, I don’t want to have to do this, but you’re on a serious power trip and you need some sense knocked into you!” Jason leaped up and rushed at the pharaoh, swinging his fist, and cracking Atem across the face with all the force he could muster. The pharaoh simply turned his head and shrugged off the impact, forcing Jason back with another blast of energy. “Now I [I]know you’re not Yugi. The pharaoh would’ve dropped like a sack of bricks from that shot. Why don’t you tell me who you really are, and I might take it easy on you.”
Atem continued walking towards Jason with deadly intent burning in his eyes. The blonde stood up.
“Not talking, eh? Well I was going to let you off with a beating, but since you want it that way, goodbye!” Jason held his hand out and prepared to send the pharaoh to the Shadow Realm, but the Millennium Ring shot out from around his neck and into Atem’s hands. He smiled and broke the Ring in two, releasing all the dark energy into a swirling vortex of power. “No way! That’s it! This is where you go down, whether you are Yugi or not!”
Jason ran at Atem, ready to start swinging, but he ran directly into the pharaoh’s grip, crushing his throat. Jason coughed and sputtered as Atem came closer to his face. He fell to one knee and began to lose consciousness.
“Now you die,” Atem said with an evil gleam in his amethyst eyes.
Jason looked over and spotted a large rock close to his hand. He reached over and picked up the rock. “You first, pharaoh,” Jason said as he swung the rock with incredible force.
The stone slammed into Atem’s skull, knocking him to the ground. Jason could feel the spell break as he stood up and took a deep breath. He looked down at the pharaoh’s body on the floor, as the blood began to trickle down his face.
“Damn it, Atem! Why did you have to be so stupid?!”
Another door appeared in the center of room. Jason walked over to it, deciding to leave the pharaoh where he was, in case he was still dangerous. The blonde walked through the door.
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Yugi walked into an identical room and looked around. He had no clue where he was or why he was there, but he knew that someone had to pay for Atem’s destruction. As he started to walk, another door appeared behind him, and Jason walked in.
“You?!” the two screamed out simultaneously.
They rushed at each other, delivering blow after blow in a fierce melee. Though surprised that Yugi could actually fight, Jason continued to swing at the boy, catching him a few times in the face and stomach. Suddenly, a force threw them back into the opposite walls and held them there, paralyzed. The dark voice laughed.
“It’s so funny that you two are actually ready to kill each other over a foolishly simple illusion.”
Seti Bakura walked through the wall, carrying in his hands the Ring and the Puzzle. Yugi and Jason looked across at each other and then back at Seti.
“You played us like a fiddle!” Jason yelled.
“Very perceptive of you. You two are lucky, though. You get to witness my rise to power and glory.”
The two duelists hadn’t realized up until now that there was a large jewel hanging from the ceiling and an altar under it. Seti looked up at the jewel and pulled the dagger of Philios out of his shirt. He placed the weapon on the altar and held the Millennium Items up over his head.
“Great spirits of the shadows, hear my voice. I am your master, Seti Bakura, and I command you now!”
The jewel began to glow with a deep crimson red, as if though it were filling with blood, as Seti began chanting.
“Seti anee paret lothos, remol kitha tonsu minar! Poldus saree geathar ihar hore remuu! Come forth, mighty spirits! Come to me!”
The jewel exploded in a flash of light, and the Shadow Realm itself flowed out from it like a river, engulfing everything in darkness. Moaning ghosts floated all around Seti, passing through him. With each ghost to pass through him, his body jerked and convulsed, until he was on the floor with each ghost still slamming into his body.
“Jason! What’s going on?!” Yugi yelled over the deafening screams of the spirits.
“This…is the Shadow Gate! It is a realm that lies between the world of the living and the world of cursed spirits from which there is no escape!”
Seti began to speak in tongues as the influx of spirits into his body increased, until he was buried under the glowing orbs of souls. The spirits formed a glowing red dome over Seti’s body, as Yugi and Jason looked on. Jason spotted the Millennium Items on the floor.
“Yugi, look!” he said.
The boy looked over and saw the Items. Jason tapped into the Ring and broke Seti’s spell, freeing himself and Yugi from the wall. He ran over to the Items and picked them up, tossing the Puzzle over to Yugi. Suddenly, the strange dome of spirits grew larger and larger, until it exploded in a flash of light that seemed more like darkness than actual light. Yugi and Jason screamed out, as the entire world seemed to drop away from them, becoming engulfed in the strange darkness. This was it. The world was gone. Humanity as they knew it had ceased to exist, and Seti Bakura had won.
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Well, yet again, I leave you with a cliffhanger. Did Atem and Jason survive the opening of the Shadow Gate? And what will become of the world? Find out on the next episode, which will be up shortly.
Atem and Yugi looked out the window of the card shop as Jason sat on the bed, desperately trying to decipher the book’s final text. The sun was beginning to set, which was a bad omen for the world in Atem’s eyes. He looked back at Jason, who was buried in the ancient text.
“Have you figured out anything in there about the Shadow Gate yet?” he asked.
Jason looked up from the book and spoke in a grim tone.
“Yeah, and what I’ve figured out is not good. It turns out that in order for this Shadow Gate to be opened, the blood of the innocent and one thousand souls, at least five of them infused with magic, must be offered to the shadows. Seti’s girlfriend was little miss 1000, and the dagger of Philios was for the blood. It also turns out that Seti didn’t resurrect those spirits to take revenge on you. He raised them to be sacrifices. He knew that they couldn’t beat us, so he sent them to us with the intent of them losing in a shadow game, because he wasn’t yet strong enough to put them in the Shadow Realm himself for good. He used us, pharaoh.”
Yugi looked away from the window and straight into Jason’s eyes. “What do you know about the Shadow Gate?” he asked, holding in his anger at being played for a fool.
“Not much. Just that when it’s opened, some great power will be unleashed, and the world will be engulfed by the shadows soon after. For all we know, this could be a gateway into the Shadow Realm for all those trapped spirits to escape.”
Yugi and Atem shuddered at the thought of having to face the wrath of an escaped Yami Malik again.
“What do you know about closing it?” Yugi asked quickly, trying to dispel the memories of Yami Malik.
“Now that I can tell you. In order to close the gate, one of two things must be done. First, another sacrifice must be made to the shadows, this one of a pure heart. We obviously can’t do that, so the only other option is the defeat the one who opened the gate in a Shadow Game.”
“But first, we need to find Seti Bakura,” Atem said.
Don’t worry about finding me. I’m right here, came the dark voice.
The three looked around the room, but couldn’t see anyone rising from any of the shadows.
Don’t bother looking. I’m not there. I’m speaking with you telepathically, just as I once did with Jason, after I gutted his neighbors. You don’t have to look for me, because the pharaoh’s presence is not only requested, it’s demanded. So hang on, because it’s going to be a rough trip.
Suddenly a strong wind blew through the room, and the lights all went out. The shadows crept slowly across the floor and the walls, towards Yugi and the others. The entire room became pitch-black, and Jason could feel a chill running through his entire body. He became dizzy and closed his eyes, feeling himself fall, but never hit the floor. He descended into the darkness.
-------------------------------------------------
Yugi awoke in a daze, and in complete darkness. He could still feel the room spinning around him. The boy held his head in his hands and closed his eyes, hoping for the spinning to stop. Suddenly the spinning stopped and Yugi opened his eyes. He was in a simple room with stone walls that was lit by small candles.
“This is weird. Where am I? Pharaoh?”
Atem responded.
“Where are we?”
[I don’t know. But my guess is that Seti has something to do with this.]
“Yeah. Why did he bring us here, though?”
Yugi looked around the room and spotted a door. He walked up to the door and uneasily pulled it open. The boy steeped out into the narrow candlelit hallway.
“I wonder where Jason is,” Yugi said as he made his way down the hall.
[I can still sense the Millennium Ring close by, so he’s here as well,] Atem said.
The spiky haired duelist got to the end of the hallway where he came face to face with another door.
[Yugi, be careful. This might be a trap.]
The boy took a breath and pulled the door open and a blinding flash of light met him.
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Ages passed. Or at least what felt like ages passed since Jason fell into the darkness. He could slowly sense the feeling return to his body. Jason opened his eyes and looked around. He was no longer in Yugi’s room, but instead he was in a dark stone room, lit only by candles. He called out.
“Yugi? Pharaoh? Where are you?”
Jason looked around the room and spotted a door. He walked out of the door and into a dim hallway that was only lit by candles just as the strange room was. Jason walked through the dark passage until he reached another door at the end. He took a deep breath and opened the door. A brilliant white light shined in his face, blinding him.
-------------------------------------------------
Yugi stepped through the light, and into a large chamber, that was lit by large torches. There was a door on the other side of the room, which slowly creaked open. Jason stepped in through the door.
“Hey, Jason!” the boy called out.
“Yugi. I’m glad to see that you’re still alive,” Jason replied in a smooth voice.
He began walking toward the boy, and a smile slowly crept across his face. The Millennium Ring around his neck began to glow. The boy could no sooner understand why than could he could dodge the blast of energy that Jason hurled at him, knocking him to the hard stone floor. The Millennium Puzzle slipped over his head and into Jason’s waiting hands, weakening Yugi’s connection with the pharaoh.
“Jason, what’s going on here?! Why are you doing this?!” Yugi yelled out.
“Why? Because I’m sick of your goody goody attitude towards everyone. You’ve been holding my power back for the longest time now, and quite frankly, I’m tired of it. I’m much stronger than you or the pharaoh, yet I’ve had to sit back and watch you two survive through everything as if you were challenging me. Well no more.”
Jason raised the Puzzle over his head and threw it to the floor, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Yugi screamed out.
“No! My Puzzle!”
Suddenly Jason gave a quick gesture and Yugi floated into the air, choking. Jason tightened his grip around Yugi’s throat and laughed with evil intent as he stepped on the remaining pieces of the Puzzle, crushing them.
-------------------------------------------------
The two doors in the large chamber opened slowly with creaking sounds. The two duelists walked into the room and toward each other.
“Jason!” Yugi called out.
“Hey, Yugi! I was hoping that I would find you here,” the blonde said as he walked to the center of the room.
Yugi walked up to him and looked into his eyes. Jason stared back at the boy, and immediately recognized that something was wrong.
“You, you’re not Yugi!”
The boy’s puzzle began to glow and Jason found himself hurled into a stone pillar with tremendous force. Pain tore through his back as he slid down the stone structure and Yugi walked toward him with a satisfied smile on his face.
“I’m Yugi alright. And I’m sick and tired of having you holding me down. I’m the most powerful duelist in the world, and it is I who should be ruling as pharaoh,” the boy’s voice began to change into Atem’s as he spoke of being pharaoh. “My power is uncontested, while yours is nothing. It is my destiny to rule.”
The pharaoh picked Jason up with another display of power and threw him back over towards the center of the room. He let out an evil laugh as he advanced toward Jason, intent on ending the boy’s life.
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Yugi hung in the air for a moment before Atem appeared before him. He simply thought that it was a hallucination from the lack of oxygen. But the pharaoh spoke.
“Yugi. I’m still with you. I’m giving you my last bit of Millennium power. Use it to survive.”
The pharaoh disappeared and Yugi could feel a new power surging through him. He broke Jason’s spell, and waved his hand, sending the blonde to the Shadow Realm. Yugi fell to the floor and took in deep breaths. Tears streamed down his face as he realized the truth.
“Pharaoh!” he screamed out.
But the ancient man’s spirit could no longer be felt. He was gone for good and there was no way to bring him back. Just as Yugi was about to give up hope another door appeared in the middle of the room. The boy looked up and swallowed his misery, taking courage in the memory of Atem. He got up and walked through the open door.
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Jason looked up at Atem, who was walking towards him slowly with a purpose. “Pharaoh, I don’t want to have to do this, but you’re on a serious power trip and you need some sense knocked into you!” Jason leaped up and rushed at the pharaoh, swinging his fist, and cracking Atem across the face with all the force he could muster. The pharaoh simply turned his head and shrugged off the impact, forcing Jason back with another blast of energy. “Now I [I]know you’re not Yugi. The pharaoh would’ve dropped like a sack of bricks from that shot. Why don’t you tell me who you really are, and I might take it easy on you.”
Atem continued walking towards Jason with deadly intent burning in his eyes. The blonde stood up.
“Not talking, eh? Well I was going to let you off with a beating, but since you want it that way, goodbye!” Jason held his hand out and prepared to send the pharaoh to the Shadow Realm, but the Millennium Ring shot out from around his neck and into Atem’s hands. He smiled and broke the Ring in two, releasing all the dark energy into a swirling vortex of power. “No way! That’s it! This is where you go down, whether you are Yugi or not!”
Jason ran at Atem, ready to start swinging, but he ran directly into the pharaoh’s grip, crushing his throat. Jason coughed and sputtered as Atem came closer to his face. He fell to one knee and began to lose consciousness.
“Now you die,” Atem said with an evil gleam in his amethyst eyes.
Jason looked over and spotted a large rock close to his hand. He reached over and picked up the rock. “You first, pharaoh,” Jason said as he swung the rock with incredible force.
The stone slammed into Atem’s skull, knocking him to the ground. Jason could feel the spell break as he stood up and took a deep breath. He looked down at the pharaoh’s body on the floor, as the blood began to trickle down his face.
“Damn it, Atem! Why did you have to be so stupid?!”
Another door appeared in the center of room. Jason walked over to it, deciding to leave the pharaoh where he was, in case he was still dangerous. The blonde walked through the door.
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Yugi walked into an identical room and looked around. He had no clue where he was or why he was there, but he knew that someone had to pay for Atem’s destruction. As he started to walk, another door appeared behind him, and Jason walked in.
“You?!” the two screamed out simultaneously.
They rushed at each other, delivering blow after blow in a fierce melee. Though surprised that Yugi could actually fight, Jason continued to swing at the boy, catching him a few times in the face and stomach. Suddenly, a force threw them back into the opposite walls and held them there, paralyzed. The dark voice laughed.
“It’s so funny that you two are actually ready to kill each other over a foolishly simple illusion.”
Seti Bakura walked through the wall, carrying in his hands the Ring and the Puzzle. Yugi and Jason looked across at each other and then back at Seti.
“You played us like a fiddle!” Jason yelled.
“Very perceptive of you. You two are lucky, though. You get to witness my rise to power and glory.”
The two duelists hadn’t realized up until now that there was a large jewel hanging from the ceiling and an altar under it. Seti looked up at the jewel and pulled the dagger of Philios out of his shirt. He placed the weapon on the altar and held the Millennium Items up over his head.
“Great spirits of the shadows, hear my voice. I am your master, Seti Bakura, and I command you now!”
The jewel began to glow with a deep crimson red, as if though it were filling with blood, as Seti began chanting.
“Seti anee paret lothos, remol kitha tonsu minar! Poldus saree geathar ihar hore remuu! Come forth, mighty spirits! Come to me!”
The jewel exploded in a flash of light, and the Shadow Realm itself flowed out from it like a river, engulfing everything in darkness. Moaning ghosts floated all around Seti, passing through him. With each ghost to pass through him, his body jerked and convulsed, until he was on the floor with each ghost still slamming into his body.
“Jason! What’s going on?!” Yugi yelled over the deafening screams of the spirits.
“This…is the Shadow Gate! It is a realm that lies between the world of the living and the world of cursed spirits from which there is no escape!”
Seti began to speak in tongues as the influx of spirits into his body increased, until he was buried under the glowing orbs of souls. The spirits formed a glowing red dome over Seti’s body, as Yugi and Jason looked on. Jason spotted the Millennium Items on the floor.
“Yugi, look!” he said.
The boy looked over and saw the Items. Jason tapped into the Ring and broke Seti’s spell, freeing himself and Yugi from the wall. He ran over to the Items and picked them up, tossing the Puzzle over to Yugi. Suddenly, the strange dome of spirits grew larger and larger, until it exploded in a flash of light that seemed more like darkness than actual light. Yugi and Jason screamed out, as the entire world seemed to drop away from them, becoming engulfed in the strange darkness. This was it. The world was gone. Humanity as they knew it had ceased to exist, and Seti Bakura had won.
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Well, yet again, I leave you with a cliffhanger. Did Atem and Jason survive the opening of the Shadow Gate? And what will become of the world? Find out on the next episode, which will be up shortly.