Atem's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Yugi Muto had felt watched for three days. He told no one. The golden puzzle on his chest grew warm each time, and the spirit inside it stirred. That spirit was Atem, a pharaoh who woke without his own name. Atem had one purpose burning under the missing years: find the dark sorcerer whose curse sealed his soul in the puzzle for three thousand years. But he could not hunt a ghost from inside a boy's body. Not yet. The man in the gray coat stepped out from behind a market stall. He did not blink. His eyes fixed on the puzzle, not on Yugi. "The pharaoh is awake," the man said. His voice was flat. "My master will want the puzzle back." Yugi's hands went cold. He gripped the strap of his bag. "I don't have anything for you," he said. "Please leave me alone." The man smiled. He drew a card deck from his coat, the case bright with red and gold patterns. "You know the rules, boy. Duel me. If I win, I take the puzzle. And the soul in it." Yugi felt the cold in his chest turn to warmth. His shoulders straightened on their own. His voice dropped and steadied. Atem had taken over. "You serve him," Atem said. "The one who trapped me." "You remember nothing," the man said. "You are not ready." He was right. Atem knew it. He had no memory of this servant, no read on his cards, no plan. The market crowd thinned around them, as if they sensed something wrong. But if he refused, the servant would follow Yugi forever. Atem could not run and hunt at the same time. "I accept," Atem said. They played fast. The servant's monsters swarmed the field. Atem's life points fell to almost nothing. He read the man slowly, one move at a time, learning as he lost. The servant kept a single card face down, guarding it like a wound. Atem watched his hand hover over it and pull back. That card was his fear. Atem drew. He held the spellcaster in ornate armor, the one who had answered him before. He set the pieces the servant did not expect. He forced the man to flip the guarded card. It was a trap meant for a monster with high attack. Atem sent his spellcaster in with low attack instead. The trap failed. The staff came down. The servant's life points hit zero. The man staggered back. "Impossible," he breathed. "Tell your master I am coming," Atem said. "Tell him the pharaoh remembers he was buried." The servant ran. Atem let him go on purpose. A servant who fled would lead him home. The warmth faded. Yugi returned, blinking, weak in the knees. "He got away," Yugi said quietly. "No," Atem answered from within. "He just gave us the trail."