[Episode 18955] [Episode 18955]The card Yugi was looking at seemed to grow, filling his field of vision. His head swam, as he grew dizzy and disoriented, and the colors danced before his eyes. And when he finally came back to himself, he was...
...elsewhere.
Torches flickered around the edges of the great stone vault, casting shadows across the hieroglyphs and columns. A man in Egyptian garb -- bare chested, kilted, wearing many bracelets and necklaces -- stood before an altar, where a giant slab lay, an image chisled into its surface. Across from him, a bed stood, shadowed in the torchlight. He seemed to be concentrating, or praying, perhaps...
'What's going on?' Yugi tried to ask, but found his voice wouldn't come. Yami's voice echoed in his mind, though -- he had obviously heard.
"A memory... A memory I didn't even know I had. The Hathor rites were tied deeply to powerful emotions and images. It seems... seeing the cards again was enough to make me remember. This scene... I believe it was perhaps my first experience with the beings sacred to Hathor."
'But that's great!' Yugi 'said.' 'You've been trying so hard to regain your memories -- maybe the Hathor deck could be the key to unlocking them all!'
"It's not that simple. The Hathor rituals were... not suitable for someone of your age, I think, Yugi. If I could only break free of this memory before..."
At the altar, the man (who, Yugi now realized, bore a striking resemblance to him) gestured abruptly. "In Hathor's name, she who holds dominion over love and beauty, I invoke thee! Grant the boon of your presence to me, and chain yourself to my will! I summon thee -- Black Enchantress!"
The slab glowed a brilliant scarlet, casting stark new shadows across the room, and a woman's shape rose up from it -- slender, female, seductive. She was clad in a very revealing black gown, ankle-length but slit on both sides to the hips, that clung lightly to her, emphasizing her full breasts and hips, and slender waist. Her dark hair cascaded out from under a familiar-looking dark helmet, which framed her cool, stern face, and she cradled a curiously-shaped staff in her hands. She bowed her head to the one who had summoned her, and Yugi couldn't help but notice that despite her cool expression, small, hard nubs tented the fabric of her dress over her breasts as she looked at him.
'Who is that?' Yugi breathed silently.
"Perhaps less a 'who' than a 'what.' She is the Black Enchantress -- the Hathor counterpart of the Dark Magician you know so well. Not a true living being, but a summoned creature... Summoned for whatever whims her master or mistress may have."
'Mistress?' Yugi stared in rapt fascination as the man stepped forward, gently taking the Black Enchantress's chin in one hand and forcing her to look into his eyes.
"Male or female, there were many with the power to play the Shadow Games -- and Hathor's counterpart, the Games of Twilight. Some used only concubines of the other gender, while others chose their own, either from preference or because they felt it would grant them greater power. But the more power one used, the more risk they faced of falling into the lure of passion forever..."
"Black Enchantress," the man commanded quietly, "Black Passion Arise."
With a visible shiver, the Enchantress clutched her staff. For a moment, the world appeared in negative colors -- much, Yugi recalled, as the hologram systems made the Dark Magician's attack appear -- and then the woman's dress seemed to shatter, cascading as particles into the wind, leaving her standing naked in the torchlight. Yugi glimpsed her only for a moment as the man reached for her full, beautiful breasts...
And then the world shattered again.
-----
"Yuug? Hey, Yugi, snap out of it!"
Yugi blinked as Joey waved his hand in front of Yugi's face. "Joey? I'm... Sorry. I must have zoned out for a moment there...
Joey smirked. "Don't blame you -- not with a picture like that in front of your eyes. Man, my little bud's finally growing up."
Yugi blinked, and then looked down at the card on top of the deck. It was the Black Enchantress, in a pose strikingly similar to the Dark Magician's. But where his made him look powerful, hers was both forceful and seductive. One entire leg was visible through the slit in her gown, and her dress appeared to be on the verge of falling off... or, as he recalled, blowing away. He blushed heavily at the thought.
"Let me see that!" His grandfather poked his head around Yugi's shoulder to see the card. "Oh, my!" He snatched the deck out of Yugi's hand and blatantly ogled the Black Enchantress, then flipped over to another card, and another, and another, drooling over them all. "Yugi, I'm afraid I can't in good conscience let a boy as young as you be exposed to such lewdness as this. I'm going to have to take these for... ah... personal study. Yes. Oh, my, yes."
"You just want to drool over the girls, don't you?" Yugi ran after his grandfather, trying to grab the cards back. "Grandpa! Give them back!" His grandfather ran before him effortlessly, ogling the cards and laughing merrily at his grandson's antics.
In the meantime, Tristan and Tea were doing their best to ignore the childish antics behind them, and were studying the poster. "Look here," Tea said, pointing to a blurb. "Industrial Illusions is going to sponsor a Duel Monsters: Hathor tournament soon. All are welcome."
"Really? Huh." Tristan scanned the text. "Guess they really don't need Pegasus to call all the shots for them after all. What's the prize?"
"Let me see. It says... Oh, my." Tea blushed.
"What, what?" Tristan asked eagerly, scanning the sheet.
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(Posted Mon, 06 Jan 2003 21:29)
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