Lion's Mouth: Part 2 (Yu-Gi-Oh)

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Darkness engulfed me everywhere I turned. I was a child again, alone in the tunnels and caverns I did not understand. I hated the darkness. I hated it and yet did not run in fear like other children. What I hated most was the attraction to the dark. It reminded me that a small part of me feared the light. Perhaps that was what drew us to each other.

Suddenly I was not alone. I sat cross-legged in a room with a boy my age who had darker skin than me. We played jacks and marbles, our games illuminated by a single candle. The boy paused our game and passed his hand over the flame of the candle – not close enough to singe but close enough to send my heart racing.

"D-don't do that!" I stuttered. "Fire is dangerous. Fire destroys."

The boy smiled, his eyes still fixed on the flame. "Fire gives life. It gives warmth and light. Where there is light, the darkness cannot hide."

"And I can't hide."

Before he could respond, the scene changed. The walls faded away, and the candle extinguished. I looked back and forth for my friend, but he was gone. Fear pricked my heart when I realized my aloneness once more.

A light flashed before my eyes. It grew closer and gradually formed a shape. I gasped when I realized it was fire – fire shaped like a mighty phoenix! I cringed and shielded my face as it swooped towards me.

Someone leapt in front of me to protect me. The phoenix struck the person and then disintegrated in the air. My eyes fell to a lifeless body before me, and I instantly felt sick.

"Mother!"

I jolted up in bed when I felt something move against my cheek. Heart pounding wildly, I struggled to see in the dark. My vision focused on my cat, lying on my stomach and staring at me with innocent eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just a dream.

"Thanks for waking me, Sophia." I stroked my hand across her back, earning a purr of approval from the feline. Sometimes I felt she shared some of my powers and could sense when I was in distress. "This is getting old fast."

I leaned back onto my pillow and sighed. The dreams – no, nightmares – had grown frequent over the past two weeks. They usually involved a combination of Egypt, my parents, my grandmother, and the boy I once knew. I did not understand the source. It had been six weeks since Duelist Kingdom and any sort of magic. It would at least make sense if Yugi or Bakura starred in my dreams, but that was not the case.

My mother had nightmares leading up to her untimely death. I shivered at the thought that my subconscious mind was trying to tell me something important. If there was a message in there, I could not decipher it. Most of the time I caught glimpses of my past anyway.

I closed my eyes and focused on sleep. I did not want to go back to the past. It was time to move on. I had a new life with new friends and nothing was going to ruin it.

"It sounds like your dreams are getting worse," Bakura said on our walk to school together. "Do you have any idea what's causing them?"

I shook my head, my eyes fixed on the sidewalk. My best friend was the only person I had confided in, for I knew anyone else would ask too many questions. "I'm not sure. Nothing unusual has happened recently."

"Well, what if it means something is going to happen in the future?"

My heart thumped. Of course he knew what I had been thinking. "But I've never had prophetic dreams before. And I mostly dream of memories."