Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Love of a Priestess ❯ The Pharaoh ( Chapter 1 )

I didn't find what I was looking for until recently, on the first of my days at Domino High School. I could sense their presence at the edge of my mind, power that was at once comforting and terrifying.

Comforting, because I had found them, I wasn't alone anymore, and my life would finally have meaning. Terrifying, not because purpose heralded death, but because I could sense that those who controlled the power knew nothing of it or how to control it.

I did not find them. Wandering from class to class all day, I never ran into them directly. When the final bell rang I slumped in my seat, discouraged.

But I had waited so long. Another few days would make no difference.

~~~~~

After school, as I shuffled "home," I came across a quaint game store. Small, tucked away, yet bustling with students. As I stood before the door, the feeling grew stronger. One of them was here. I had to know.

I stepped through the doorway.

~~~~~

Yugi.

His name was Yugi. And he possessed the Puzzle-the infinite power of the Pharaoh. No wonder I had felt his presence so strongly.

I needed to know who he was. What he knew of the ancient scriptures, the events of five thousand years ago. I knew nothing. They knew nothing. Only a few stone tablets they had unearthed. That was all any of us knew.

~~~~~

Later that night I sat on my bed. I could hear the movements downstairs, but ignored them, clearing my mind for the Channeling. It was a skill granted to me by the Crown. My breathing steadied, and I slowly began the ancient chanting. The meaning of the words I have forgotten.

As I opened our minds to each other, I was caught off-guard by the walls around his mind. They were not walls against intruders like myself, for the Pharaoh had enough power to know I was there-and enough to stop me if he chose. No, they were walls built by time, walls that blocked even the Pharaoh from his own memories. I didn't understand. How could the Pharaoh not even know?

The walls formed a giant maze, a puzzle as strange and complicated as the one housing his power. I wandered through it aimlessly, searching for a clue of any kind. I stopped short before a door. As I stepped towards it, he materialized before me.

"I should warn you now," he said, "that my mind is complicated and dangerous. I myself do not know what lies behind these doors. For all any of us know, it is empty, a crumbling floor waiting to drop you into infinite darkness." He was tall and handsome, with the aura that comes with royalty and power.

"I have little fear of that. I am here to open them and discover what I can. Our destinies are bound. I must know how," I replied smoothly. "I think I can tell which doors are real and which are false."

He gazed down at me, staring straight into my dark eyes. Finally, he nodded. "I see. I am dealing with power here that I do not understand. You may call me Yami. I see that there are doors here that only you can find, that only you may open. That which is behind them is not meant for me to see."

And with that, he turned and disappeared into the darkness.