Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Ryou Bakura: Game Master! ❯ Born Free, Died not so Free ( Chapter 21 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Final Fantasy, Death Note, or Castlevania. I'm getting tired of listing all these people, but they said I have to. So, without further ado, YGO is owned by Takahashi, Final Fantasy is owned by SquareSoft, Death Note is owned by Ohba, and Konami owns Castlevania. Also, this disclaimer is way too long.

 

“Elocht du Zellos!!” Sith screamed, which translated roughly to `damn it all to Zellos' in the Esper tongue. They had found the airship, but soon enough, they found an even bigger problem: they had to actually get the ship out. And it was grafted into the side of the cavern wall, making that ordeal treacherous at best. At first, Sith had tried using her affinity for space to get it to move, but it did no good. The airship was fortified with ancient ore; no spell would touch it. And to top it off, Hidon had no reason to help them. He merely watched in amusement as the Esper, such a tiny creature compared to him, continued to slander her own gods over the hand she was dealt.

 

Ryou and Matt had to give up quickly. As humans, they lacked the strength needed to push the ship anywhere, and it seemed more often than not that they simply got in Sith's way. Matt had gone to try and convince Hidon to help, but Ryou stayed, knowing that if it got too tough, Sith would simply push herself until she died. He had prayed that it wouldn't reach that point, but Sith was simply too stubborn. She refused to believe she couldn't move the damn ship. But when she finally collapsed, Ryou had to force her to stop.

 

“Sith, you can't keep doing this, you're going to kill yourself,” Ryou said firmly, walking over and taking her wrist, “We'll find a different way.” Sith wasn't easy to convince, however. She shrugged him off.

 

“I will not stop until I'm dead,” she growled, and resumed her work, “Mello needs us, Ryou. I won't let him die.” Ryou just stared for a moment. Then he just shook his head in frustration. He was prepared to let Sith go, but not when it could kill her.

 

“And what will I tell him if you die?” the white-haired man asked her, “You know he'd kill me.” Surprisingly, that actually made Sith stop. She regarded her companion curiously, and then snorted, turning back to the ship.

 

“You're right. He would,” she wisely agreed. She took a step, looking at her progress. She hadn't done anything at all, despite the effort she put in. Maybe taking the ship wasn't the best idea. Perhaps she should just fly to Kefka.

  

She shrugged the notion away. Her wings barely worked, and she was in no way strong enough to carry Ryou or Matt that far. If she were to fly, it would be alone. And even then, it was suicide. If Mello hadn't gone to the tower, she'd be forced to traverse it alone. And for all of her strength, for her legend, and for herself, Sith Winchester knew she'd never make it out of there alive. She sighed. This was just too damn hard.

 

“I'm one for just busting the damn thing up right now,” she said tiredly, and Ryou just patted her back. For all her bluster, Ryou found he couldn't blame the older woman. They'd worked hard to get here; it was almost cruel that their new airship was trapped in a rocky prison. In his peripheral vision, Ryou saw Matt walking back. The damned idiot was grinning, too.

 

“Don't do a thing, Sith,” the red-head called, and Sith turned, “I got a buddy to help us out, babe.” Sith blinked for a long moment. Matt, and help, surely didn't mix in her mind, and her expression clearly said that. Ryou nearly laughed, except he knew Matt hated him almost as much as Mello did.

 

“And what, dare I ask, is this help?” she asked, though Sith knew above all else that she did not truly want to know.

 

Sith barely had her memories, but she remembered enough to know that she should never have trusted Matt with a task like `speaking to Hidon.' When she originally gave the order, it was simply to see if the monster had another way to get to the tower. But Matt, ridiculous, somewhat half-assed Matt, took her order in a totally different direction. And now, as they stood there, watching what was in her mind, the worst idea ever, she knew she should've expected what had come to pass. Not only did Matt speak to Hidon, he managed to screw it up royally.

 

But perhaps Sith was being too harsh. Hidon had managed to get the ship out of the rock; he literally rammed the craggy wall until it collapsed, revealing the hazy, evening sky to them. All Sith could do was watch in speechlessness. Technically, Matt had done as she asked. But technically, he was supposed to ask for a new vessel, not for the undead beast to kill itself a second time. Sith wasn't sure how she should've reacted. Technically was an ironic word. It meant anything could've happened at any situation and that its user allowed room for errors and mishaps. Sith, however, hadn't done so. She didn't think she had to.

 

“At least we have the ship,” Ryou tried to reason, when they climbed onto the deck. Sith glanced at him suspiciously, wondering why he was trying to side with Matt. As far as she saw it, they had a vessel, but there was a chance the monster managed to break it as well.

 

That wasn't the case, however, when Sith took control and managed to get the engine to start. With Matt as a guide, she angled the ship and they left without another word to the dazed monster. Soon, they had left Ebot's Rock altogether, as well as the knowledge that Strago had meant to kill them there. But that knowledge was what led to Sith's drawing silence. Ryou glanced at her as the ocean began to sprawl out around them.

 

“How's it feel to drive a ship?” he asked her quietly. She looked at him, and then laughed, her grim visage cracking a bit.

 

“As normal as magic, to be honest,” she replied, “I had an uncle that created these, back in my own world. I must have flown a few in my time.” Ryou didn't doubt that. Sith had flown the ships in his own world without so much as a crash to mar her record. And for her physical age, which looked around twenty-three, that was a pretty good feat. It certainly was better than his father's own record.

 

“Good to know,” Matt commented, as if he'd participated at all. Sith and Ryou both turned to him, and his eyes glinted again as he asked, “So, where are we going now?”

 

“We could head right to Kefka's tower and intercept Mello,” she began, but Ryou noticed that her tone suggested she had other ideas, “But I think we need a few things. It's finally coming to my attention that we have a very real problem in proper magical support. We'll need to change that.” Neither Ryou nor Matt seemed to sit well with that idea, for there were many, more pressing matters that concerned all of them. Mello was one of them, and Falnika was the other. And if both collided, the damage would probably be catastrophic.

 

“Sith, what about Falnika?” Ryou reminded her in exasperation, “Don't we need to stop her?”

 

“And you're going to expect me to actually use all of my power to support us?” she countered angrily, and Ryou hushed, “That's a big expectation, one I won't be fulfilling. Besides, where I'm taking us will allow you both to see firsthand the powers that allow my kind to live.” Ryou had thought he saw those very powers just fine, and Matt seemed to agree. They both continued to stare for a long moment.

 

“Why?” Matt finally asked flatly. Sith eyed him for a moment before her own smirk crossed her face again. Ryou did not like that look. At all.

 

“Because only magic can kill the monsters within the place I'm heading,” she replied. That caused both men's skepticism to rise. That meant only Sith would be fighting! Matt had no magic, and Ryou's magic was simply a heightened perception of evil and power.

 

“Sith, have you lost your goddamn mind!?” Matt blurted out, “You have any idea how ballistic Mello will go if you die!?”

 

“What on earth is in the tower, anyway?” Ryou demanded, and Sith's look went flat. Obviously, she didn't appreciate her friends' concerns, or their doubts of her. She held the wheel for a minute, nearly halting the ship.

 

“An artifact that has many different names in many different worlds. Here, it's known as the Gem Box, but in many others, it's called Shalidor's Coffer,” Sith told him, “As for why I want it, should I get it and bring it out of this world, I will be able to cast two spells at once.” Ryou's mouth dropped, and he didn't need Sith to continue on with the possibilities. Two blasts of any one of her spells would kill most monsters; Two blasts of any forbidden spell would kill most monsters, and everything else within a few miles, excluding Sith. Now he understood her reasoning.

 

“You think you could actually get it?” he asked in barely a whisper. Sith laughed again. If he honestly thought it'd be that easy, Ryou had no idea how the world really worked. She shook her head.

 

“Not easily,” she replied, “There is someone guarding this sacred treasure, one not even I can take lightly. Like myself, he possesses the Five Forbidden spells, and unlike me, he can use them.” Ryou's eyes widened. Now he was afraid again. Of course someone that strong would guard such a powerful item. He should've known. But… how?

 

“How can someone else know those spells!?” he asked her, as Matt slowly processed what she was saying. Sith turned to Ryou fully, and he said, “You've released them again, but you said no one else could possibly learn them!”

 

“There are others older than myself,” she said simply, “The one we will face is a direct messenger of Kratz himself.”

 

“Shit,” Matt mumbled, and both his companions regarded him, “Sith, do you know him?” Sith nodded grimly. Ryou couldn't hide his terror at that statement. And neither could Matt. Sith knew who they were fighting, and though Ryou didn't know who Kratz was, he knew he was an evil god, one Sith did not follow. At least, one she didn't appear to like too much.

 

“I know both this messenger and Kratz himself,” Sith admitted, shocking them both again, “Kratz will not be angry, should I unleash chaos here, but he certainly wouldn't like my killing his minion. Now do you understand, Ryou?” Ryou did not, he admitted. If Sith wasn't going to unleash those spells, then how was she going to possibly win? Was it possible Kratz forbid anyone to harm her? No… that couldn't have been. Sith was no follower of his, or of many of the gods she'd told Ryou of. Then, what was her plan?

 

Ryou didn't have time to ask. Sith continued the course, and it was her grim expression that kept him silent. He knew the memories she was experiencing were only getting more painful as time passed, and this must not have been a particularly good one. But, damn it, the more time they spent away, the further away they were becoming from Malik and Yugi! Ryou had little idea where they could've been, but he had a feeling, a slight one, that Mello had taken them with him as well. But if Sith knew this, she had never once mentioned it. Surely, she should have.

 

An hour later, going far northwest of the rock, Ryou spotted land below them. It looked like a narrow strip, stretching northwest from their position, to the far east. He recognized the landscape; they had been there not even a day ago! It dawned on him that this world must not have been very big. Perhaps there was no worry, with what Sith was doing. Ryou continued looking, and as Sith continued driving, he saw an even smaller break in the strip, slanting southwest. Squinting his eyes, he tried to see beyond that.

 

What he saw was that the strip connected to a huge continent, comprised of nothing more than barren, dead plains and nothing more. Ryou shivered. He felt no trace of human life for some time, no trace of any life, and did not know who had caused it. He had considered Falnika, for her power was far deadlier than even Sith, but Kefka was a likely candidate as well. He had nearly killed them. But then again, he too was halted by Sith eventually. Far more disconcerting than that, however, was the power Ryou did feel. It was nothing like Sith's, and only slightly similar to what Amber's had been, when the Mystic had still been alive. Only far more powerful, far more suffocating. He knew that, if it hadn't already breached the barriers Sith had warned him of, it soon would. Was his world safe at that moment?

 

“Ryou, are you okay?” Matt asked, noticing the boy's growing silence. Ryou blinked, but did not turn. For an instant, they had gone uncomfortably close to that source of evil energy, but abruptly, Sith had turned more northward, and the feeling diminished slightly.

 

“I felt something,” Ryou said gently, and glanced as Matt joined him at the rails, “Evil magic?”

 

“We're close to this world's pinnacle of power,” Matt commented, and Ryou looked over at him, “Kefka's tower. I'm not surprised you can feel it, too.” Ryou's brows went up. Matt implied he felt it, too. And perhaps he had. Did he have magic, then?

 

“But what can it mean?” Ryou asked him, and Matt stared in concern, “I mean, it's powerful… suppose it's already in another world, too.” Matt's lips thinned. Ryou guessed the man was already two steps ahead of that. He continued with, “Suppose Mello and the others walked right into it.”

 

“I have no doubt the idiot's going there full force,” Matt said grimly, and his eyes narrowed behind his goggles, “And I also have no doubt that this Mystic of ours is sending her new power throughout any network this world has. That's probably why Sith's collecting this world's artifact. She's probably not thinking she's very strong right now.” Ryou frowned a bit, looking at Matt once again. He'd have liked it if the man was joking, but Matt wasn't all fun and games. Now he was serious. He meant what he said.

 

“Can she win?” Ryou asked him in barely a whisper. Matt's expression broke slightly, and Ryou could tell he was losing confidence as well. Despite the lack of direct damage, they were losing ground with every second.

 

“I don't know. That box of hers will help, but...” Matt sighed, shaking his head, “I'm not sure. If Falnika's been to other worlds, she must have other artifacts to counter Sith. Even with Shalidor's Coffer, Sith might not have an advantage. Falnika might have even taken it by now.” Ryou didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to know what other trinkets were waiting to drain Sith's already dwindling energy. He returned his gaze to the ocean. The currents were raging near that large continent, he noted.

 

“Matt… how many artifacts are there?” Ryou asked him, “What are they? What do they do?” Matt looked up. Sith had asked him, some twenty years ago, never to tell anyone of them. She couldn't trust Mello not to look for them, but she had confided in Matt. Could he break her trust like that? He knew he had to.

 

“Not many. Normally, every twenty worlds to one has one,” the red-head replied, “Every world has a core item that supplies it with magic, but normally those are shards of time. Some, however, are legendary weapons and artifacts crafted from Espers, as early as Sith's time at least.

 

“I'm not sure what they do. Zealacht is one of them, and your sword's another,” Matt continued, now looking up at Ryou, “Mello's rifle is a third one, and Aeon has a few shards of time on him.” That explained why all three of them were so powerful. But if they all were heading for Kefka's tower… that meant they'd be bringing artifacts right to Falnika. Matt seemed to sense his thoughts, for he said, “Sith isn't stupid. Falnika could never wield Zealacht, Zerrkandr, or any artifact we have.” Ryou considered that, and it made sense. Their weapons were forged with holy magic, after all. The wicked could never touch them, and he couldn't imagine anyone but Sith wielding her legendary sword.

 

“I hope so,” Ryou said, but Matt, so intent on Sith's concern and the location of his dear friend, barely heard him.

 

They landed some time later, when the sun had fully set and the air was thin with the cold. There were no stars out that night, and the shadows of the circling mountains around them cast darkness over everything. Sith had been forced to land on a miniscule clearing within these ranges; most of the dot on land in the center of the circle was occupied by a gigantic, ninety-story tower that stretched higher than most of the mountains. Ryou guessed - no, he knew! - that this was the tower Sith had wanted to come to. The power emanating from it was terrifyingly palpable. As if the pulsing purple lights weren't sign enough for it.

 

Ryou wasn't quite sure what scared him more, as Sith led them from the ship to the tower's front doors; the sheer size of the massive structure, or the men directly outside of it. There were seven of them, all dressed in white, but they appeared to be frozen in time. They did not move, and didn't appear to even breathe as Sith and her companions passed. Ryou stopped, looking at one of them. He felt no evil, but he felt no good, either. He felt, in actuality, nothing at all. Most humans had a subtle sense of good and evil, and to feel neither made him uneasy. He turned to Sith.

 

“What is this place?” he whispered, and Sith stopped as Matt turned back, examining one of the men alongside Ryou. He rose an interested brow. Humans shouldn't be able to stay so still! Matt knew he sure couldn't have achieved it.

 

“Think Aeon came by here?” he joked, knowing this to be a working of time, and waved his hand in front of the man, “Hellooooo. Can you hear me, you son of a submariner?” Ryou actually laughed as Matt continued to taunt his silent victim. Sith, however, wasn't in the mood to play. She shook her head, turning quickly toward the tower doors.

 

“I'd have hoped you'd take Falnika's inevitable siege a bit more seriously than this,” she said sharply, silencing Ryou's laughter, “But by all means, go ahead and unfreeze her fanatics.” That sent a chill up Ryou's spine, and he found he didn't want to know how powerful these seven actually were. Matt wisely agreed, and they ran after Sith as she opened the stone doors.

 

The interior of the tower was shocking beyond all reason. When Sith had told them of the tower's namesake, they had been so sure that what they'd find were chambers upon chambers of covens, laboratories, and studies to fight through and raid. But what they found instead was that the tower was one colossal chamber spanning the entire height of the tower, with stairways and narrow ledges constituting the ninety-floor interior. Ryou's mouth dropped. He could feel shadows all around them, waiting to strike, and he understood the terrain was entirely without their favor. One wrong move, and they'd shatter onto this floor. It was no wonder magic was the primary source of destruction; one could not easily wield a sword in this place!

 

“Are you serious!?” Matt asked no one in particular, and this time, Sith chuckled. She started for a narrow staircase that'd bring her to the second tier of the building.

 

“Did I ever imply I was joking?” she countered, and Matt just sighed. Sith's idea of a `quest' made no sense to him. Then again, he wasn't one to believe in suicide missions.

 

The further up they went, the more the shadows seemed to surround them. Ryou was glad he could detect such darkness. Sith was focused entirely on scaling the tower, and Matt wouldn't know a shadow if it actually managed to hit him. But for the first three or so floors, they'd avoided all manner of battle simply because Ryou told Sith of them. And while those shadows knew they could kill either Ryou or Matt, they knew Sith could easily kill all of them in one blast if they tried. But Sith's endurance ran only so far. By the sixth floor, she was growing tired. And, in Ryou's mind, with good reason. Half of her time was spent trying to keep her balance.

 

“Sith, they're getting cocky!” Matt yelled, and Sith turned just as he managed to slug one short, beaked thing in the nose. She tried to scream out, to stop him, but for once, he was faster. No sooner had his hit connected, that he was thrown back mercilessly, nearly falling off the ledge and to his death. Ryou managed to stop that, but just barely.

 

“Leave them to me. I said we can only fight with spells,” she reminded him, and with a snap, sent four javelins of ice slamming into the hearts of four shadows, one being the man Matt had attacked, and the other three not even forming yet. They dispersed into darkness, and Sith turned to unleash a blast of fire on another round of shadows behind her.

 

“Can you handle all of this!?” Matt asked her, as Ryou helped him back to his feet. Sith grunted as the group tried to resist her spells, but her will was far greater. They crumpled when a blast of lightning from her sword hit them.

 

“We'll just have to see,” she mumbled, and dove headlong, spell ready, at another group of approaching shadow-beasts.

 

It seemed to continue on forever. Ryou lost all semblance of time as he watched Sith continuous slam her spells into the beasts before them. And as soon as she finished, not ten paces later, they'd reform, always reform, into something nearly twice as strong. Sith's will was powerful; her lowest spells got them through the first twenty-three floors with no problem. But when it reached thirty, she was already using moderate to the highest level spells she had, and by the fiftieth floor, she was running nearly as much as fighting. It was clear that her power was running out.

 

The monsters continued to grow confident, even against an Esper as powerful as Sith. They gave chase, often with Sith taking the heaviest blows from their targeted spells. But the Esper refused to let them kill her. Not when Ryou and Matt needed her so badly. They would never survive against even one, even half, of the beasts that came after them. But when they came to the next floor, and were caught in a pincer assault, Sith considered unleashing Maetrlekt - the most powerful of space magic - and annihilating everything in her path. The only problem was, it was a forbidden spell. Damned Esper laws.

 

“How many more floors!?” Matt called, as one beast dashed. He dove, and it went right over him, soaring and crashing into one of the monsters behind. They slammed down the stairs and kept rolling, and soon three more joined them as Sith unleashed several bolts of lightning at once.

 

“How the hell should I know!?” she yelled back, and was nearly pinned by a hellhound that had charged. Her only save was that Ryou grabbed her and pulled her down just before those claws cut into her very mortal flesh. He looked at her for a moment. Did he actually just save her life?

 

“…look out?” Ryou offered, and Sith laughed heartily. It was a bit late, but his sentiments were shared. She stood, and looked at the never-ending hoard. And she smiled, as if this was what she aimed to do until she was dead. And that was probably a good guess; it didn't look as if the line would stop soon. Sith raised her palm, intent on casting the world's biggest inferno possible. If she was going down, she'd take this hideous structure with her.

 

That didn't happen. At first, the monsters around them halted entirely, seemingly in horror from the thought of Sith pulling such a thing off. But then, the monsters shattered like thin glass, each and all of them, their fragments cracking and splintering as they hit the floor. Sith watched in wide-eyed curiosity. That was not by her doing, nor could she ever have done such a thing. She didn't know how it happened, or by whom, or even when it actually occurred. But she knew one thing: she suddenly had nothing to fight.

 

“Sith?” came a voice, and Sith looked up, her eyes still wide, but now her skin paled. Aeon was running fast down the stairs, with Yugi and Malik behind him. Aeon! Sith couldn't have been more relieved at the sight! He stopped, and the two collided in a hug. And when he let go, she stared at him for a long moment. The last she had seen him, he was in bad sorts. Now, however, he looked as healthy as ever.

 

“Aeon!?” she said, and looked behind him, “And Yugi and Malik as well! But… where is Mello?” Ryou noticed he was missing, too, and guessed he had been at Kefka's tower. Aeon's expression confirmed it, too.

 

“I'd been sure you'd come to collect the box, but Mihael wouldn't hear of it,” the time-keeper told her regretfully, “He's gone to try and kill Falnika himself.”

 

“Mello hasn't changed a bit,” Sith commented, and shook her head, “Damn it, he should have waited. Did you at least get the box?” Aeon's expression dropped, and now he just looked scared. Too scared to tell Sith he didn't retrieve it. But he had a feeling his face yet again gave it away, for Sith's frown worsened.

 

“In his defense, there's this loser who won't get out of the damn way,” Malik said, trying to help Aeon's cause. Sith looked at him, and her brow rose. It was possible they had tried to fight the messenger above, but to see them alive… Sith nearly laughed at him.

 

“That loser is a messenger of Kratz,” she informed him flatly, and on his bewildered look, she added, “Kratz is the god of death, Malik.” But to the younger man, who worshipped Egyptian gods, this Kratz meant nothing to him. He shrugged.

 

“Whatever. Point is, he's in the damned way and we're not fighting him,” he replied in his usual unhelpful way. He looked at her and grinned, however, something quite unlike him. He didn't normally grin at Sith, “You ready for a fight, Sith?”

 

“I'm ready to leave,” she stated, but drew Zealacht with her own customary smirk on her face, “But if this is what it entails, I'm up for the challenge.” Malik seemed happy to see Sith so ready, so Ryou didn't argue. But for Aeon, he wasn't quite ready to let Sith go and kill herself for this. He stopped her immediately, his arm shooting out and grabbing her with a speed and strength that shouldn't have been afforded to his slender build. She yelped, and he turned her to face him.

 

“Sith, no! You can't rush so blindly!” Aeon said to her sternly, and she stared at him, “Think about it for a moment, dear. Suppose this messenger has the box in his possession.” Sith did think, and slowly, fear set into her eyes. Kratz's spells were forbidden, but not to himself or his minions. This minion could double-cast any of the ancient spells, and that would surely wipe them all out, as well as half the world. But could she let that happen? She shook her head. She truly could not.

 

“And also suppose he casts them regardless!” Sith was quick to counter, and then said gently, “Aeon, the danger is much more severe than that. Suppose that Mello isn't quick enough, and Falnika gets the box. Suppose this minion works for her already. Are you willing to risk that?” Aeon could honestly say he wasn't. As much as this world didn't mean to him, he could not let Falnika win. It was against his purpose as a keeper of time, and it went against his undying loyalty to Sith. He looked away, unable to meet the woman's gaze.

 

“Sith…” he began, and then sighed, “All right. But if it comes to a fight, focus on destroying the box.” Sith nodded, understanding the man's logic. With a resigned sigh, Aeon took Sith's hand and led the procession up another floor.

 

Aeon's power, while severely weakened in the corruption of the world, was strong enough to create a small rift that took them right up to nearly the final floor. When Sith saw the portal, she guessed that that was why he had gotten to her so quickly. And she didn't complain. If Aeon's worries rang true, she'd need all of the time he could give her to kill Kratz's little guard. And so, without so much as a word, she ran and jumped right into the portal, crashing into a roll when she flew out the other side. Matt and Ryou followed soon after, with everyone else bringing up the rear. And Aeon wisely closed the portal; there was no sense in allowing monsters to follow them.

 

Wasting no time, Sith rushed up the steps to the final floor. There were only two guards lying in wait, but Sith had expected that. She came at them with a spell fully charged, and let it loose just as she skidded to a halt. The casting left her defenseless, and while one of the two guards got a good hit in, Sith's full fury was more than enough. Both creatures suddenly found their faces melted straight off, and their bodies turning into oozing puddles that slipped through the cracks. Ryou twitched at such a sight. But Sith did not. She merely continued on, with Aeon quickly coming right behind her.

 

The resounding blast sent the door bursting fully open, and Sith flew right through it. She came out on the roof, and stopped again, looking around. The air was too thin, and it was freezing, too. She folded her tiny wings, and felt Aeon right behind her, similarly concerned. Something didn't feel right, but what it was, neither Esper nor immortal could say. But nothing was in sight. Nothing but a single, smaller room atop the roof. Sith eyed it with worry.

 

“Where is he?” she asked Aeon, as the time-keeper looked toward the room as well. His face grew grim as he took out his watch and waited. Ryou saw his eyes glint, much like Matt's occasionally did.

 

“He's in there,” he told her. But Sith wasn't so sure. She felt absolutely nothing up here. It was as if everything stopped, as if Aeon had cast one of his spells. Except that he hadn't, and that really worried the Esper. Sith couldn't keep waiting. She walked into the room, and found it was a plain room with nothing but a pedestal in its center. But as she walked in, she saw what was on that pedestal: a golden box inset with jewels that even a dragon would kill to have. It twinkled, and then emitted a pale, green light that shone off of Sith's skin.

 

“Shalidor's Coffer…” she whispered, as Aeon and Ryou ran inside. Ryou stopped, however, when he saw the box. There was a feeling about it that he didn't like, and he looked concernedly at Sith. She seemed unusually focused right then, and though he wanted to think it was because of the gems, he knew it wasn't. Sith had found something that could afford her incredible power, something that could possibly kill Rath and end whatever punishment she was handed. For an Esper, that was the rarest thing on earth.

 

“We should leave it,” Ryou whispered to Aeon, and the older man stared at him. He hadn't wanted Sith to hear, fearing that something about that box was `communicating' with her on some level. But she had heard, and when she turned sharply, there was a look of malice in her normally calm eyes. Ryou had never seen it before.

 

“NEVER!” she yelled at him, and he knew now that what he feared was true, “Do you not understand, Ryou? I can cast any spell twice in succession! I have power above most others! I can…”

 

“What you want isn't like you, Sith,” Ryou reminded her gently, and she stopped, staring, “I understand, Sith. I understand you're confused and that you have incredible power, but this isn't you. You'll be no better than Rath if you actually use it.” Sith's face fell, and she thought long and hard about what Ryou had just said. What she had said, she knew, sounded exactly like Rath. If she took that route, she would become Rath, as well. How could she live with herself if that came to pass?

 

“N…no,” she said, shaking her head, “You're right… but we can't leave it, not for them to find.” Ryou put a hand on her shoulder. He understood the terrible force within such a box, and now knew why it was guarded. Perhaps Kratz did right to keep it that way.

 

“No, but you can't hold it, either,” he said to her, “It's in the box, something that's driving you insane with hunger. If we take it…” He frowned, not liking where this could lead, “…then Aeon will hold onto it.”

 

“What!?” That idea didn't sit well with either Sith or Aeon. But Ryou's reasoning was sound. Aeon was the only one beside Sith who had active power. Ryou would have no use for the box, and no one else had any magic within them. Unable to find a reason to argue, both Esper and time-keeper were forced to agree. Ryou handed Aeon the box, and it was promptly dropped into a pocket.

 

“I'll keep it,” Aeon promised, and turned to Sith, “He may have left. Shall we?” Sith nodded, and the three of them walked out of the room, where the others waited. The odd feeling was gone now, and Ryou wondered if it had come from the box. Whatever it was, it had nearly driven Sith to insanity. And she had barely touched it. But he shoved the worry away. Now, they had to get out and find Mello.

 

Not one of them realized that the messenger was well aware of what they had done. And he was not so willing to let Sith or Aeon have such a power.

 

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

 

After making it out of Ebot's Rock, Sith takes her companions to the Fanatics Tower to claim that world's artifact of power. Along the way, they're reunited with Aeon, Malik, and Yugi. However, Mello is still out there, and he's running out of time. Worried, Sith makes her way to Shalidor's Coffer. But now a new problem arises: she can't hold it without becoming possessed. Can Aeon safely carry it until they can unlock it? And will Kratz's messenger rid them of their souls before they can escape? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!