Frozen Beauty || Yu-Gi-Oh Book 2 ||

Chapter 24

Seto woke up slowly, his whole body was aching. He had a strange feeling of déjà-vu. Seto was chained to a stone tablet and that wasn't a feeling he was all too happy to recall or re-experience for that matter. The first time he had been chained in his virtual world thanks to those five idiots of the Big Five rewriting his program and trying to imprison him in his own game. This time, however,... it was all real. He couldn't feel any real chains, not the normal way at least but something was binding his wrists and legs in place.

His vision was still blurry but soon, Seto could focus and look around. It was some kind of old warehouse but Seto had no idea where it was. The memories came back to him, he'd hit his car then the goons arrived. Seto was more than capable of standing his ground but using cowardly ways, while one distracted him someone else sneaked up to him, hitting him on the head. He'd been hit twice for that matter, so that's why his head hurt so much. Seto was almost back to his senses when the realisation of what had happened fully sank in. His pursuers had finally captured him and there was only one reason they needed him – the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. In a panic, Seto tried to break free but his shackles did not budge an inch.

Seto looked up now that he was fully conscious and aware of his surroundings. He glanced at his spread arms in utter confusion. He seemed to be pinned to some kind of stone tablet. His manacles weren't made of iron or any other metal. In fact, there were no such chains but rather magical ones? At one time Seto would've laughed at the absurdity of it but he knew better now. It was all real and they were impossible to break free from. Seto might've had more of a chance with regular iron ones, not this powerful golden light that tightened every time he even attempted them. Seto's current predicament was bad, and he could do nothing about it. The great Seto Kaiba was rendered absolutely powerless to do anything to save himself. Feeling utterly tired, Seto leaned his head on his shoulder blade.

In the shadows, a dark figure was watching him. Finally, his victim was awake and fully aware, that's exactly how he wanted him. He would be conscious to experience the suffering to come. Aknadin watched in sick amusement the boy try and escape, but he only managed to hurt his wrists. There was no escaping the enchanted binds of the stone. Eventually, he gave up and Aknadin took it as a cue to greet his son's reincarnation.

"You've no idea how long I've waited for this moment," Aknadin spoke taking Seto by surprise.

That voice... it couldn't be. Seto looked up in bewilderment. He was supposed to be dead. Even his rotten mind was gone in his cyberspace. How was he standing here perfectly fine as nothing had happened? Seto then realised he had to be behind this. Gozaburo was back to make his life a living hell again. Wait, how did Gozaburo know about his ancient past and the dragon inside him?

"How?" Seto managed to say in confusion.

"Let me make it clear for you," Gozaburo approached him. "I'm not exactly who you think I am," the old man had an evil twink in his eyes.

He used a portion of his power to show him his true glorious self. Seto recognised him from the Pharaoh's memories he'd been part of at the time. This was his past self's father. He was the former pharaoh's brother. From what Seto recalled his name was Aknadin but he should've been gone. Seto had seen it with his own eyes, just like he'd seen Gozaburo disappear for good.

"You... you're Aknadin but... how? I saw you go into the Shadow Realm," Seto blinked in confusion, the vision of his true appearance was gone.

"I found a way out and this body was a perfect fit, don't you think so?" Aknadin laughed making Seto cringe. It was some sick game of kidnapping him and using that body to do so.

"What do you want of me then?" Seto was stalling for time until he found a way to escape himself.

"I think that's fairly obvious Seto," Aknadin crossed his hands behind his back. "You're my son's counterpart so naturally, I want revenge for what he did to me and you're the perfect candidate," Aknadin explained simply.