Whispers in the Dark-Chp17

“So, shall we get started?”

As soon as Fortuno and the gang left, Joey wasted no time into getting into the task. Obsidian nodded and wordlessly led them to middle of the abandoned-looking stone monuments and ruins. He held out his staff, closed his eyes and concentrated. Soon a huge energy circle appeared in thin air, containing dozens and dozens of inscriptions and incantations looking foreign to the five. Using his staff, he scooped out some of the incantations from that energy circle and wound it around each of the five’s wrists and linking them together, like a police officer would to a group of bandit if he is making a big scale arrest. The interesting thing was that once the incantation got in contact with the five’s wrists, it hovered about a few millimeters off them, not exactly touching. The five looked in interest at the incantation link and watched as Obisidian continued doing his thing.

With his staff, he raised the energy circle until it stood upright. It began to shine brighter and brighter until it was a huge explosion of light. The five had to close and cover their eyes with their hands from the blinding light and had to adjust their vision before they removed their hands. Replacing the energy circle was a huge door that looked like the ones you would see when you go into the royal throne room in all those children fairytales they used to read when they were kids, but the only difference was that it was made of lead instead of wood, and it was popping quite an amount of static. He went up to the door and gave it a little push. It opened with a loud groan and Obsidian jerked his head, gesturing the five to follow him, in which the five eagerly obliged.

Once they went through the door one by one, it disappeared in thin air and they found themselves floating in the middle of an aurora-filled atmosphere. The five soon understood why Obisidian created the incantation chain line for them; at the rate they were floating around like being in an anti-gravity spaceship, if it weren’t for the chain line, they’d be bound to separate and get lost in the middle of nowhere. Kaleidoscopes of aurora colours weaved in and out of the tapestry of time and space and surrounded the five with a serene feeling. Obsidian took Yugi, who is in front of the chain line, and led them forward through the aurora current. They floated through the current, going left and right, up and down, above and under in it as Obsidian led them to their destination. Some of them were getting a little giddy with the motion but managed to hold it in. They didn’t want to worry their mates to death with their green sick look once they meet them.

After about almost an hour of traveling, Obsidian stopped in front of a vortex and stuck his staff through. The vortex parted and the five finally had the first glimpse of the Sky City. All their homes can glow in the dark in a sort of dreamy look and it was like a city on trees. Trees of all shapes and sizes inhabited the place—from the tallest of oaks to the shortest of birch to the biggest of pine to the smallest of ferns. Every species of trees imaginable were there, and they were all supporting homes that looked both Egyptian, Arabic and Celtic meshed together as one culture, and, as Obsidian landed them on a random rest stop, they found out that the structure of their buildings were made of wood but were as smooth as ivory, and seemed to grow out of the branches like some sort of parasitic entity, but it did not seemed like it was harming the tree in anyway. The difference between trees in the human world and those in Sky City was that their leaves were not green, but luminous white and seemed to glow in the dark like the aurora vortex they were in. Even the branches they walked on were glassy-looking, sparkled and shimmered like the diamonds in a jewelry store.

Obsidian waved the chain line away with his staff and gestured them to follow after him. As they walked down staircases and going across bridges, they passed by what seemed like a playground for young Whisperer pups. They were happily laughing about with their game of tag and hopscotch, and giggled as they played house. Ryou and Yugi couldn’t resist going up to the playground to get a closer look and marveled at the way the Whisperer pups looked in toddlers’ age, wondering whether this was how their children may look like if they were their age. The Whisperer pups, who have never seen nor smelt a human before, looked up and gazed in curiosity at Ryou and Yugi. One was bold enough to reach over and rub Yugi’s belly, and giggled when he felt a movement within. Soon, as the rest of the gang urged the two to come back, they were bombarded by excited squeals as dozens of little hands come up to want to feel their protruding bellies. Some climbed up onto Ryou’s wheelchair and played with the handles and wheels, being their first time seeing a human mechanism. They felt rather awkward at first, but their ‘motherly’ instinct soon kicked in and they quickly warmed up to the pups, much to Obsidian’s dismay.

Their parents and babysitters, who were on benches at a distance relaxing while keeping a watchful eye on the pups, caught a whiff of human scent and looked up to see the five playing around with their pups. They were shocked and let out a loud hiss, urging the pups to come to them. The pups pouted at the killjoy and reluctantly went over to them. They growled and glared at the five and Obsidian, hugging their pups protectively. Obsidian raised a hand in surrender and, using his telepathic power, asked one of the parents where he can find the Head of the Clan. He pointed towards a huge palace-like building that was dominantly Egyptian in design and quickly left the playground along with other parents and babysitters and their pups.

“Those children are so cute,” Ryou said dreamily. “I wonder if my triplets would look like them.”

“However they look like, I’m sure they’ll be the most beautiful things in the world,” Tristan replied while pushing Ryou’s wheelchair.

“I dinna reli care how dey look like,” Joey stated. “As long as dey ‘av ten fingers n ten toes, n a set of wings if possible, dat’s good enuff fer me.”

“Joey’s right,” Yugi agreed. “As long as they’re in a clean bill of health, I don’t mind how they look like. But if possible, I want my child to be Human-dominant…”

“We all do, Yug,” Malik replied. “We all do.”

After walking (and taking breaks in between) for a few miles up and down stairs and across connecting bridges, they’ve finally reached the palace and into the royal gates. They were halted by bulky-looking guards, but after very long telepathic conversation between Obsidian and the guards, with a little mixed emotion, mostly tense, one of the guards escorted them into the palace and told them to wait at the room of the counseling of commons. The five were getting rather restless after waiting for more than 15 minutes.

“What’s taking them so long?” Malik asked.

“I dunno,” Joey grumbled. “If dey dun c’mere in da next 5 minutes, Imma gonna make one helluva noise.”

“Forgive our lateness, ladies. We were in a middle of an important meeting.”

The five turned to see Lord Seth and Lord Katz coming into the room. The first thing that took Joey’s breath away was the fact that he thought it was his Seto standing in front of him, only that instead of the usual garments he wore, he was sporting a royal spread, from the royal headgear to the tip of his silver sandals. Lord Katz, on the other hand, was holding onto Lord’s Seth’s arm lovingly, and Joey’s eyes flared with jealousy as he saw Lord Katz’s protruding belly behind its dark red velvet robe.

“Seto,” Joey glared as he pointed at Lord Katz’s direction, “wat is da meaning of dis? Who’s he?”

“Hmm?” Lord Seth was taken aback by Joey’s sudden reaction, but the realization soon sunk in and he smirked, “Ah, you must the human counterpart my blood brother is so infatuated about. Our resemblance to each other definitely precedes my assumptions.”

“Huh?” Joey, who was used to speaking in his accent, couldn’t really understand what Lord Seth was saying in that old English style.

“He means that he and your Seto are twins,” Ryou, the ever studious one, explained. “You must’ve mistaken him for Seto.”

“T-Twins?! I dinna know Seto had a twin brother!”

“Did my blood brother not tell you? That is so like him to disregard important information. I wonder what my blood brother sees in you…”

“Sorry to burst your bubble here, milord,” Malik stepped up and said, “but we’re here to see our mates. We heard from sources that you have kept them in custody.”

“Ah, you mean Brother Seto, Yami, Bakura, Duke Devlin and Marik? They’re…” Lord Katz wanted to speak but was stopped by Lord Seth.

“They’re in no position to see either of you. We have issued them what you humans call a ‘restraining order’.”

“How could you do that to them? All they did was being a responsible father and mate looking out for us,” Yugi said. “They’re done nothing wrong!”

“They have violated their sacred royal duties to be chasing after rainbows and pots of gold,” Lord Seth replied. “They broke the tradition and left their posts to be with people that could never be. It was a necessary evil to keep them on their toes.”

“All because they love us?!” Tristan exclaimed. “All because they love the children that they sired?! What kind of necessary evil is that when you separate a father from their child?!”

“We Whisperers do not believe in emotions but to our own kind. You do not belong here with us or our hearts, and neither should they.”

“But…But that’s not fair!” Ryou cried. “Lord or not, you have no right to tell us who we should love or not love! Love is of free will! We should be together! You can’t say otherwise!”

“And what if I have allowed you to do as you please? What if I allowed you all to be united as one? You are a fleeting race that succumbs to the sands of time and dwindle in the brink of life and death. Your lives are as brittle as glass. Do you wish to die away and leave them in eternal sorrow and curse their immortality? Do you wish for them to enter into eternal despair and sought the inevitable? Besides, they have obligations to their own people and their roles here in our city is just as valuable. Do you wish to deny us that value?”

“Fer twins, ya definitely dun act like twins,” Joey growled. “Yer cold n without feelins, ya dun deserve tuh be Lord of dis place.”

In a split second, Joey finds himself against the wall with Lord Seth’s hand around his throat, his ice-blue eyes glaring deeply and murderously at him and an intense rumble of anger escaping from his throat. Joey was almost at lost of breath as Lord Seth continued gripping him and pinning him against the wall, with Obsidian holding the rest of the gang back and Lord Katz looking at them with worry.
“Beloved, please! He’s with child!” Lord Katz exclaimed, but fell on deaf ears.

“My blood brother must’ve been blind to see a pig like you as his beloved,” Lord Seth growled as he tightened his grip. “Has he not taught you to bite your tongue? It is not in a female’s place—especially human females—to question whether or not a Lord or King deserves the throne. It is for males to decide. You are no different than a common female, and I can snap your neck like a twig. Do not make me commit such atrocity.”

“Brother!!! Release him!!!”

Lord Seth turned to see Seto glaring at him with murderous intent as he saw the horror he was doing to his mate. Seto was supposed to expect his twin’s arrival at the briefing of new recruits, but after waiting for quite a long time, he went off to look for him, only to find him about to strangle his mate to death. He was about to come up to him when the mark on his shoulder reacted, shining its bright blue that rode up to his veins on his neck. Soon he felt the wrath of the Forbidden Blue mark and collapsed to the floor as his air passageways were blocked and he was struggling to breathe.

“S…Seto!” Joey exclaimed. “Bastard, what did ya do tuh him?!”

“It’s the mark,” Lord Katz said. “Whenever they are out of Sky City or within your proximity without our direct permission, it will shrink and block their airways and suffocate them. Unless I issue them a suppressant, they will die.”

“Oh god no! Not like that!” Ryou cried, his hands covering his mouth in horror.

“Seto! Please, stay away from me! You’ll get killed!” Joey shouted but Seto would not hear of it.

“Won’t…let…him…hurt…you…” Seto struggled to speak in Human Tongue as he came closer and closer towards his twin brother, his face almost going blue. He gripped on the offending hand that held his beloved’s neck and tried to pry it away from him. Lord Seth released Joey and Seto, despite being out of breath, hugged Joey protectively.

“Please, please, Seto,” Joey immediately broke into tears, his heart ached at the sight of his mate suffering for him. “Please get outta dis room! Get away from me! Yer gonna kill yerself!”

“Missed…you…” Seto breathed as he held Joey even tighter, not wanting to let go.

“Please, milord!” Yugi begged. “We’ll do anything you want, just stop Seto’s pain, please! Can’t you see he’s dying?”

Lord Seth, seeing Joey crying while trying to struggle out of Seto’s embrace while Seto struggled to breathe and keeping Joey in his arms, refusing to let go—and also listening to the frantic begs of Joey’s fellow human friends—sighed and finally jerked his head at Lord Katz. He quickly came over, spoke loudly at Seto in their Whisperer language and took a tiny vial from his robe pocket. Whispering a Whisperer language chant, he put a drop of red liquid onto the mark. The bright blue light subsided and turned black, forming a sort of hard crust on his shoulder, and soon Seto was gasping for air as it filled up his deprived lungs.

“Seto! Seto, ya bastard! Dun scare me like dat! Dun eva do dat again!” Joey cried as he wrapped his arms around Seto’s neck, sobbing like a baby. Seto, after regaining composure, purred and hushed his mate lovingly.

“It seems that no matter what I do, everything goes out of plan,” Lord Seth sighed. “Very well, I shall allow you to see your mate for two hours. But you must promise us never to return again, or I will not be inclined to be so compassionate the next time.”

“Th…Thank you, milord,” Yugi and Ryou sighed in relief, and Tristan and Malik looked at each other with glee as they finally get to see their mates once more after so long.

“Well, what are you waiting for, brother?” Lord Seth growled at Seto. “Go with your brother-in-law to give your fellow brethren their suppressant and meet up here before I change my mind.”

Seto didn’t need to be told twice.