Rock Bottom: Season One

Musuko

"Croquette."

"Yes, Master Pegasus?" The head of security was at his employer's side in an instant. The competitors and their guests were feasting in the dining room, but Pegasus had gone to a room beyond them.

"Get me those children's bodies back."

"Yes sir."

"And Croquette, have them taken to the tunnels."

"Yes, Master Pegasus." Croquette bowed and left to follow his orders.

Even if I lose their souls, I can still use them in a blood sacrifice, Pegasus contemplated coolly. The power will be temporary, though. I'll need to use it fast, which means, win or lose, I'll have to leave as soon as my duel with Yugi-Boy is over. Otherwise they may try to claim the bodies before I have a chance to use them.

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"Is he really that smart?" Mai asked incredulously as she and Seth walked together towards their guest rooms.

"He's a genius," Seth answered. "I've never met anyone smarter than him."

"If he's already graduated high school, he must be at least half as smart as you say he is." Mai thought it touching how enamored Seth was with his host. It was the most fitting word she could think of to encompass both his affection and his awe. Seeing Seth talking about Seto was actually pretty sweet. Seth seemed to implicitly trust Mai, maybe because they'd once been on the verge of making love. Whatever the reason, he was eager to speak about the tall brunette that had captured her attention on the ferry to the island, and she was eager to listen.

"He does his best for his brother, and when he—" Seth froze, his eyes narrowing as he tilted his head to the side slightly. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Mai stopped too, even though she'd heard nothing. Before Seth could answer, they were both grabbed from behind and knocked unconscious before they even had a chance to fight back.

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Seth woke up before Mai. He was stiff and cramped, his hands bound with rope. He and Mai were seated back to back on a limestone floor, and the whole room smelled quite familiar to him. On the very edge of his hearing, he could also hear voices.

Incense.

Limestone.

Chanting.

Seth forced his eyelids open, although they were reluctant to obey. He turned his head in the direction of the only source of light: a row of fiery torches a hooded figures. It made him feel strangely nostalgic.

"Hm. Wh-Where are we?" Mai muttered in a low voice, sounding quite confused, and rightly so.

"I don't know, but I'll get us out of here. Stay calm." Seth started to twist his wrists, working at the rope. It only succeeded in burning his own skin, though, so he reached out and found Mai's hands. "I'm going to untie you first, then you can untie me," he whispered. "Don't let them know that you're free, though. Let me handle this."

"Okay." She sounded scared, but calm, which was the best he could hope for. As he tugged at her ties, he turned his head to the side and scanned the room. Then a sickening sight caught his eye: Mokuba and Adina were bound at the foot of an altar on an elevated dais at the front of the room. On top of the altar was the Millennium Rod. Nobody had noticed that they'd woken up, the cultists too busy with the "duel" they were attempting with large stone tablets carved with the images of monsters.

Mai twisted her wrists free and started pulling on the rope that kept Seth's wrist's together. The former pharaoh's blood was boiling, and the moment he was able to, he slid one hand free and pushed away the rough rope.