for the askmeme atem as ☠☠☠ bonus if its with kaiba reacting anyway you see fit :)c
Seto peered down at theblack marble headstone, squinting to read the epitaph.
“The most gifted and selfless soul to grace this land with his presence…”He snorted, “You were just a blundering fool who threw his life away to save afew soldiers from a pack of angry Aeternae.”
The cool bluemoonlight cast a silvery shroud on the headstone and the bouquet of whiteflowers lying at its base. The flowers were slightly withered, seeminglyexhausted from the elements.
Seto swept a hand overthe flowers. They burst into bright blue flames, quickly burning away.
He then took off thenecklace he was wearing, holding it over the dancing flame. The dragon-shapedpendant instantly caught alight, glowing brighter and brighter as if it was stealingaway the moonlight itself. There was a low rumble as the earth around thegravestone trembled and cracked. A circle of blue flames erupted from thecrevices, twisting and morphing into the form of a spectral dragon spreadingits wings over the magician’s back.
He exhaled. “Lead theway.”
The dragon answeredwith a sharp cry, diving head first into the mound. The whole graveyard beyondthe circle of flames crumbled and disappeared, quickly engulfed by a thickexpanse of purple-red miasma, leaving only a small island of earth where themagician stood, the gravestone standing at one end like the hull of a smallboat. The deafening roar of water thundered all around them. Skeletal forms canbe seen rising from the depths of the miasma and approaching the “boat”,clawing and beating at an invisible barrier as they screeched in agony,scorched by the purifying flames.
Seto closed his eyes, shuttingthe relentless noises out of his ears. Then a voice sounded from the back ofhis head, dark and hollow as if it was coming from deep below the waters.
“You are demanding passage for a wanderingsoul. Where is your fare?”
The rasp of an elderlyman sounded hauntingly like the old keeper of the graveyard, but Seto knew hewas speaking to a different person.
“I have it here. Takeit.”
He braced himself assplitting pain dug through his skull. He held his stance through sheer force ofwill, only letting out a grunt as he pressed a hand over the now hollow socketof his right eye.
“Ah… but you wish to bring this soul back withyou to the realm of the living. I charge more for that.”
“Fish-reeking oldgeezer,” The magician muttered, cursing as the reverberating voice cutpainfully through his throbbing head. “Fine. Take what you will.”
He cried out as ablunt force carved through his insides, bringing him to his knees. Good… I am still conscious, He thought,clenching his teeth and tasting blood. Theorgans he took were probably dispensable.
He lifted his head asthe black gravestone crumbled, the rubble rising in a dark torrent that suckedin the earth from all around it. It gradually solidified into a human form.
Blood was blurring thevision in his remaining eye, but it took no more than one look to recognise theslight frame of his rival.
He was succeeding –but there was still a little more to go. Earth and stone serve as an excellentmedium to tether a soul whose body had been buried for over six moons, but somethingmore viscous was necessary to bind them together – the flesh and blood of akin. Fortunately, Seto had this close at hand.
He slumped heavily onthe ground, blood soaking his robes from the stump that was once his right arm.
The boat-island hadcrumbled away to a mere wedge of land, the blue flames now licking at themagician’s ankles. He fought to keep his focus on the work at hand, carefullystitching his flesh between his rival’s materialising ribs.
Yes, you insufferable ignoramus, Seto huffed, his lips twisting up in a madsmirk. Who else do you think would bothercome fetch you from this blasted place?
His moment of glee wascut short by a sharp ache from his legs, almost drowned by the pain coming fromeverywhere else. He looked down and cursed at the sight – his left foot was bendingat an alarming angle, dark marks of clawed fingers burning into the leather ofhis boots. He glanced back at Atem, growling in rage when he saw more skeletalclaws reaching past the wall of flames to tug at the strips of particlesforming his body, unravelling them. Residents…I don’t have time for this! He grabbed a handful of dirt, tossing them inthe air. The clumps of earth turned into a flock of black wyverns, swooping downon the ghostly claws, tearing them away and tossing them back into the blueflames.
Now for you… Seto turned back to the lone claw still firmly latched to his boot. It was all your plan to distract me, wasn’tit? But It’ll take more than you rotting mongrels to get in my way… Hepressed his hand into his left thigh, hissing as he cut off his own circulationat the calves. Let’s see how much more youcan steal from me that I won’t take back! He sharpened his focus on hiscaptured limb, shredding the flesh into particles and yanking them out of the skeletalfingers.
He ignored his rival’s flustered plead, only coming to astartled halt when he felt warm hands closing over his wrist.
“I can take it from here.”
At his words, the circle of flames turned fromblue to dazzling gold, roaring to life as they pushed back the relentlessspirits. The roar of the flames grew loud enough to obscure the sound of theriver, and when it finally receded, the miasma had cleared, the wanderingspirits nowhere to be seen. They were back in the graveyard, full moon hanginghigh in the cloudless night.
Seto’s eyes were fixed on his bounty, althoughat this point it took all his strength to simply lift his head. And he didn’tknow whether he should be glad or incensed at what he saw.
Atem’s body was still incomplete, wrapped in a purple-red haze that was pullingup particles from the ground around him. Seto had only managed to put fleshback in his face and half his torso – having lost his remaining “material” whenhe was distracted by the residents of the Nyx – but Atem seemed to be workingaround it. Flowers and leaves were sprouting from between the ribs of hishollow ribcage, vines twisting out into the shape of limbs.
This was the gift ofthe greatest magician Domino had ever seen – in his freshly resurrected statehe should have been no more adept than a newborn babe, yet he was already ableto use magic that would envy the Kingdom’s best mages.
Moments later Atem wasflexing his newly formed limbs, clicking his tongue on the daisies stillsprouting out of cracks in his skin. “We’ll deal with this later… lets see whatwe can do abut your leg.”
Seto only had time toyelp in surprise as golden threads sprout from the ground and wrapped aroundhis mutilated leg. Before long he found himself staring down at his own foot,minus the boot, but the appendage was fully and miraculously healed, withouteven a scar left on the skin.
“Hmph,” Seto blinkedunintelligently, “You’re always doing such unnecessary – ” His retort was cutshort by a warm hand touching his face.
The entire right sideof Seto’s face was numbed from pain, but somehow he could still feel the warmthof Atem’s fingers slipping down his cheek.
“Don’t patronise me!”He reached up instinctively to swat away the offending hand, but halfwaythrough he changed his mind, instead settling for grabbing the warm wrist in a painfullyfirm hold.
Atem tipped his head.“Did you miss me?”
“Absolutely not.Things were going swimmingly while you were gone, I got the Council seat withoutyou there to offend every Elder alive, Doma had been running rampant with theirnew chimeras but we’re pushing them back to the East borders…” How could a handfrom someone who had been dead for six months be so sickeningly warm? “…I don’t miss you. I just need you back.”
Atem smiled. “Well,I’m back now.”
Seto grunted. A lostbattle from the start.
lol i feel like i need to learn to draw all over again… as for writing i never learned how to write XD anyway hope this entertains!
