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Chapter 3:
Shielsia Jams and
The Tomb of Lost Souls
The desert ran on for miles under the guise of the sun’s blanketing heat. For some the journey amongst this Egyptian infinity was just foolish, but to a father and daughter willing to risk it all for riches and glory it was just another con operation. Unfortunately they were about to lose it all in a fiendish gamble.
The sputtering engine of a busted old jeep, accompanied by the offbeat singing of our protagonist Shielsia headed down a broken and cracked road. The road, by definition only was several plates of rock cleared of sand only by wind. Davoski, Shielsia and a plump looking driver, with curly hair sprouting from beneath his turban filled the jeep, well some supplies too, several cantinas filled with water, and many more emptied already.
“Sa’miss, please stop, you’re hurting my ears…” The chubby driver covered both his ears to block out Shielsia’s Gaga-esque tune. The car sped briefly off the road, prompting the head banging girl’s silence, her sun glasses locked into the braid of her bouncing hair fell to her forehead.
Grabbing the wheel and forcing the driver back onto the road, with a dirty glance. “You know, we are paying you extra to allow us entrance to the tomb, right?” Davoski wearing a sweat soaked bandana and a sand stained khaki ensemble sat beside the driver.
“Sir, must take heed of warning, we only go so deep, for tragedy lurks-“ The drivers deep Arabic voice began to speak, but Davoski wasn’t listening, instead Shielsia in the back was nagging him. Her bright brown eyes glared with life and adventure.
“You sure we can trust this guy? He’s got like 9 liquor bottles back here!” She complained.
Davoski laughed at his daughter, his eyes also filled with anticipation of their findings. “Ah, a reward for an excellent discovery amongst the ruins of Atem!”
“They’re empty.” She held one of the large green bottles up, her braided hair blowing in the sandy wind, flopping her sun glasses from her forehead to her eyes. “Aint it pronounced Ate-moo?” She tried to correct her dad.
“The moo is silent.” The driver interjected as they reached a sand filled hole in the ground. “Here we are, what remains of Atemu’s tomb. Is very tragic story of boy who play card games and make tomb collapse over thirty year ago.” He rubbed his chunky chin recalling the events. “Government blame Tum-pah for damages…” He was Tum-pah and had the habit of speaking in the third person.
Gritting her teeth and speaking under her breath. “Yeah, he’s not drunk at all.” Silently sarcastic.
“Well, let’s get the rope!” Davoski hopped out of the jeep and tied a rope around his waist, as did Shielsia, they tied the other end of their ropes to the jeep and headed for the sandy pit.
“Ah miss- ah sir, what is you doings, you no want go in there, is dangerous, you will lose-“ Tum-pah was ignored, but the breeze blew his alcohol smelling breath to them.
“Ah, smells like I need a Coors when we get back to America.” Davoski chuckled.
“Smells more like vomit.” Shielsia rolled her eyes, cautiously stepping into the sand, her foot slowly sinking. “You sure this a good idea, I mean, what if it’s just a sand pit?”
“Hey, we got these roooooooooopes!” As Davoski stepped, his size caused the sand to suck him in, the following slope caught Shielsia too, and who made the mistake of clinging to her rope, her hands getting burnt as she was sucked in. Last thing she remembered of the light was the guide holding his hand out for them and yelling something about souls.
Eyes opening she saw her dad holding a flash light. “This is it!” He gleefully yelled. “Check it out girl!” He pointed the light to a wall, Shielsia a shattered stone idol with the indents of the specific items they were searching for. “This is where the millennium items were held.”
“Umm… That’s nice, but where are they?” Suddenly they heard a loud roaring sound. Sand kept falling from above raining down on them. “Hey my rope…” Her rope was becoming looser and looser and seemed to be falling.
“Move!” Davoski knew what was coming. He grabbed Shielsia and ran to a canopy of rock.
While they huddled together in the canopy the flash light was jammed against the wall, and a loud thudding sound and crash was heard. It sounded like a car crashing into a light post. The whole room shook and more sand kept falling down at them. Soon they were trapped in the tiny spot holding each other.
“Dammit, what was that?” Shielsia groaned.
“Sounded like our jeep…” He could also hear the sound of Tum-pah shouting. “Hey, we’re down here, just stuck! Dig us out!” He yelled back. Shielsia cringed because it was right in her ear. The sandy tomb became silent. Still silent, for some time it remained.
“You still there?” Davoski called for Tum-pah, but there was no answer. He groaned fidgeting to check his phone.
“You have a phone?!”
“No service, just checking the time…”
“It’s probably like 5:30 by now.” She exclaimed.
“3:08.” He declared.
“Jeez, I’m getting a cramp.” She groaned wiggling out of his arms, moving for the endless mound of sand in front of them.
“You’ll suffocate!” He warned, but she ignored, a moment later he heard his voice.
“Ha, it’s wide open over here. Yep, it was the jeep…” She shuffled about grabbing a shuffle and began digging.
15 minutes later Davoski was out of the hole, but they were still in the dark tomb, the sand had filled in more. Both of them tried to climb their way up the mound, but as they moved the mound grew wider and larger from falling sand.
“This is quite conundrum of sorcery.” Davoski rubbed his chin, now just watching Shielsia fail to climb the mound. He turned away pointing his light. “Hey, I’m sure Thumpadump is going to get help to get us out of here.”
“Depends…” She looked back at him, his flash light making her stout face look almost demonic. “You didn’t pay him yet?”
A contorted expression of stupidity came a cross Davoski’s face, his eyes bulged at his glasses as he gritted his teeth madly. “I…did…”
“What ever happened to rule four, never pay until you get what-“
“Don’t quote the guide now.” He held up his hand then gazed at his child solemnly. “Without transportation Tum-pah probably won’t make it out of this desert alive and us, well…”
She hopped off the mound of sand and glared. “This is our tomb now…”
They ventured for a while, finding passages and all sorts of strange traps, luckily all the traps in the ruin had already been sprung or were broken.
“Those items have to be here somewhere.” Davoski murmured, Shielsia rolled her eyes, but kept searching anyways.
Each millennium item had it’s own back story and were believed to have some form of magic. The two gypsies weren’t interested in the fairy tale, they only knew how much they were worth. Any government would pay top dollar for any undiscovered item, and for the folklore surrounding these seven mystical trinkets, they were sure to become millionaires and never have to grift or live the nomadic life ever again.
Now it seemed as in their greed for these items, they were trapped with no escape. For hours they searched, going back to at intervals to see if Tum-pah actually came through for them and dug a path, but there was no such luck.
“Hey, we have to stop…” Davoski watched as She went down a passage way they hadn’t check.
“You bringing the light or not?” She saw the lit up wall flicker and turned to him. “The jeep must have extra batteries!”
“We’ve gone through all the batteries…” He shook his head, shutting the light off to conserve what little energy it had left.
“Great…” She slumped her back against the wall and sunk to the ground, her hands caressing the cold sand beneath her. “I guess…” Her eyes trembled.
Davoski fumbled through the dark over to her, cradling his large arms over her. He didn’t know what to say. They were now facing their doom. She didn’t either. They were so close, but no situation this dire had ever occurred.
“Remember that time we had to duel those Siamese Lesbians?” He spoke in a soft tone.
“Amazoness cards, feh.” She giggled. “Their Scouts were a bother, how about that Kaibaman cosplayer?”
“Still got his Blue eyes.” Davoski smirked fumbling into his khaki shirt, pulling out his deck. “Hey, how about a duel with your old man?”
“Be a great final use of the light.” She was half sarcastic pulling out her deck from her sleeve pocket. As both decks were drawn the room lit up, but it wasn’t from the flash light, it was a crack in the wall.
“Hey help is here!” Davoski clenched his deck and kicked the wall, it was mostly dirt so it crumbled away as he kept hammering at it. Shielsia stood back and then high kicked the wall, flying right through it deck in hand.
She landed on her feet and froze like a deer in head lights. Several roaring fires surrounded her and there was a man with a full head of colorful hear, wearing a golden angular crown which covered his forehead in a V shape. He was garbed in what looked like sheets and cut up robes.
“Dad… get in here…” She gulped.
As Davoski came in he saw the figure as well. “Must be a ritual, I hope he can help us. Excuse me sir!” Davoski cupped his mouth in his hand yelling. “we got a little lost, can you help us get out of here?”
The man’s violet eyes turned to him and his deep voice spoke. “I can.”
“Really?!” Shielsia cupped her hands happily, the joy of life returning to her.
“I will free you, but first your soul’s must be cleansed, pass my judgment and you can leave here intact.” He held his hand up and a large stone tablet rose from the ground, shaking the whole earth bound temple.
“By the gods, that tablet bears resemblance to a Yu-Gi-Oh card!” Davoski shouted, showing Shielsia a picture of an older Curse of dragon card.
The tablet began to glow and a bony serpent leapt from it. Davoski knew what to do.
“Ha, this is a shadow game!” He drew a card from his deck and held it in front of him.
“A shadow game? What are you doing-“ Before Shielsia could question her father anymore his card glowed just like the tablet and a large white dragon appeared with glowing blue eyes.
“You played it, without a duel disk?! What the hell is going on?!” She shrieked, placing her hand over the triangle shaped pendant on her wrist, it’s meter reading 2000 life points.
“This is how the game used to be played. It’s technology for the past, each card has within it a spirit that can be activated when in the shadow realm.” He tried to explain as his Dragon launched a burst of white energy blasting apart his opponents Curse of Dragon.
The violet eyes of the opponent looked shocked. “So you hold the Blue eyes white dragon.” He frowned, three smaller tablets rising and then smashing. Soon a giant metallic flaming bird appeared. It’s beak opened and sprayed the whole tomb with fire. Shielsia cringed at the heat, watching her father get consumed with the fiery rage.
“Dad!” She shouted and as the fires ended, Davoski and the Blue eyes white dragon were no more.
Tears flowed down her face and she turned to the man who just annihalated her father from existence. “You b*****d, how could you!”
“A thief’s debt is often a steep one.” He calmly spoke closing his eyes as his giant fire bird vanished. He reopened them glaring at her. “Your soul is next.” He held his arm out and a tablet appeared, on the tablet was the image of a magician. It glowed and out came a purple cloaked mage, holding a green staff.
“You’re Dark Magician doesn’t scare me!” In anger she revealed three Spellbook cards and placed her Priestess of prophecy onto the open spot of her small duel disk. The pink haired holy woman hovered in front of her holding a Spellbook in it’s hand. The spell book opened as Shielsia played the Spellbook of Power to make her priestess have 3500 attack, more than Dark Magician’s 2500, she went to attack, but her opponent cast a veil over him.
Dark Magician went from a singular target to becoming five separate beings, once one emerged from the veil to accept Shielsia’s attack, the others defended.
“Die! Holy magic attack!” She screamed having her Priestess destroy the Dark Magician. She searched her deck for a new Spellbook card, but while she was searching, her opponent was already on his next move.
Three of the Dark Magician’s vanished and the temples roof exploded. Shielsia was distracted from searching her deck, seeing the stars in all their glory. From the skies though a large red string seemed to slither from star to star. It soon became closer and closer, it was a gigantic serpent with two arms and wings. Upon closer inspection, Shielsia could see the horrible god of death’s teeth as it’s mouth opened, she noticed it had a second mouth.
She froze. She knew that the beast’s power had to be beyond her own Priestess’s. Then suddenly her monster turned to sand. Next thing Shielsia saw was a bright light, until it blinded her. She could no longer see or feel anything in this blinding light. She also lost the feeling of fear, she felt no heat, nor did she feel cold from the frosty Egyptian night.
In the midst of the empty abyss she heard the man’s voice again. He gave her a message. “Live, but your soul is forfeit, destined to commerce with the forlorn treasures you sought.”
“We both heard that exact same message the moment we lost…” Davoski stared blankly.
“The guide saw us again in the town.” Shielsia added to the story, staring at the table, holding her cards out that they were using to tell the story with.
The drown family fell in silence. Neither Gaidra or his mom believed the story, but his father, Tomarrak knew such things had happened before.
“Your souls were forfeit?” His deep voice grumbled.
“What does that even mean?” Gaidra glared. “You don’t seem pretty broken up about it?”
“Shut it boy, don’t you understand, we have no souls!” Davoski’s voice thundered to make the point no.
“Oh that must be so sad for you.” Gaidra’s mom said with a grimace.
Shielsia looked at her Priestess of prophecy. “That’s the thing, without a soul feelings like sadness or joy doesn’t really, it’s just gone. I can’t cry, even if I wanted too.”
“It’s some scam.” The wiser Gaidra glared at the Derru’s. “Idono the angle, but I’m sure of it!” He knew not to trust Shielsia after she boasted ever so vainly about beating him in such a fierce way.
“Ha, you’re just mad because I wiped the floor with you!” Shielsia stood up, again gloating.
“Probably cheated, I doubt your Priestess has that many effects.”
“Well she does, so there.” She pulled her eye lid down and stuck her tongue out.
“Let me see it then.” He held his hand out, expecting her to give him the card.
She held the card away defensively. “No way, this card’s way too valuable to let your grubby hands grease it up.”
Mr. Drown and Davoski stood up and walked outside to the porch to get away from the bickering. The night’s breeze fell upon them. Davoski looked to his old friend. “That wind, can you feel it?”
“Mmm, just a late night breeze.” Mr. Drown didn’t dare say how nice it felt, unsure of where Davoski was going with this.
“I can feel it too, but in a way I can’t.” Davoski gazed to the sky, looking at it emptily. “This star filled night, it can inspire, but to me they are just balls of fire in a night sky… I cannot look at them like I used too.”
“You’re just trying to romanticize things.” A retort from Mr. Drown.
“I would love too, but all I can spit out is facts, any comment I make is hollow, I don’t believe in anything anymore.”
“Stripped of your belief’s your inspirations?” He rubbed his chin. “We’ve battled in shadow games before staking it all, but back then no matter how hard it was we never lost our souls. Now to think, you had faced the legendary shadow master, the pharaoh himself and paraphrasing here now.. ‘The price was indeed steep.’” His hand moved from his chin to his lips, rubbing into his mouth, scraping away grime from the previous meal from a tooth with his finger nail. “How have you fallen so low Derru?”
“I cursed my whole family…” Davoski turned to him a feint of desperation contorted his face dramatically. “Please, if not for me, let my daughter and I stay and make a new life for ourselves, for her sake if not any other!” He pleaded.
“If what you say is true and you have no soul.” Mr. Drown snapped his finger to break Davoski’s façade. “You’re lying about it being just for her sake.” Though he wasn’t about to turn down his friend and a financial opportunity in such dire need for money. “Very well, both of you can stay, but no more lies…”
Suddenly the glass door slid open and out ran Shielsia holding a deck of cards. “They’re mine you can’t have them!” She laughed jumping on the railing of the porch running away. A sign hanging wobbled as she ran past.
[Caution, don’t lean on railing]
Gaidra came out too, with new found hatred for Shielsia. “Dad! That’s the girl who conned me when I was little, she stole my e-hero deck!” Gaidra accused.
“Ha, I won it fair and square, besides Stratos wasn’t even out back then. So it’s worthless.”
“It’s sentimental, my first deck. Give it back, if it’s so worthless!”
“Beat me in a duel and I wi-wah-waaah!!” The railing she was on began to give out from under her. She fell, landing on a mossy old tarp, her clothes getting muddy and gross. She glared up at everyone staring back down at her.
“Serves you right harlot.” Gaidra cursed, going back inside, slamming the glass door shut, branches of shattered glass formed from him slamming it so hard.
“I just hope my house can survive our two families under its roof…” Mr. Drown let out a sigh staring up at the sky, reminiscing.
 Shielsia · Tue Aug 06, 2013 @ 02:02am · 0 Comments |
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