Sekhmet's Move (Part 1)

Border between the Afterlife . . .

Masika looked around herself. She was no longer in the shadow realm? The air felt strange. She was surrounded by several old statues, short along the borders of the wall. "Where am I?"

"The Border, Between Death and Life. Call it Limbo if you want to."

Deadly voice. She could feel her skin want to crawl as she shivered to it. "Are you a god?"

"No. I'm sure you can sense that."

Masika didn't know what to do. What did Atem do, where did he send her to? "This isn't the shadow realm."

"The shadow realm is my territory. The goddesses know this."

"Masika!" Sekhmet was in front of the doorway, but she didn't come in. She held out a paw. "You are going to be okay." She pulled her paw back. "This is as far as I am allowed to step. You are in a spot that gods nor demons inhabit. It's neutral." She lied down. "It was the best I could do. I sensed when the shadow realm was coming near our goddess, but I could not reach you. How dare that Atem try something so sinister!"

"He is a Pharaoh. Pharaoh's demand obedience." Strange. She wiped a tear away. "I can still cry?"

"You are still alive, you are in the neutral border," Sekhmet told her. "Zorc tossed you in there, but he cannot retrieve you easily. Both sides of god and demon must come to an understanding to deal with the area humans so easily possess."

Zorc. "He grabbed me in the shadow realm."

"I couldn't get to you, but I could hear you. I heard Atem's words, and I was not going to let that mongrel trap our daughter in the shadow realm for eternity! Imagine. A goddess, a new goddess, trapped in the shadow realm."

"She'd be a new demon," Zorc's voice came from around her. "Interesting company."

"We knew somehow Zorc would get involved in the god's game," she growled. "Thoth wrote it, it must be true, but we didn't see how. It was Atem this whole time! As much as it pained me, I told Isis, and the future once seen will be." She propped herself back up. "Zorc will join the god's game."

"God's game?" Masika asked.

"It's the other dimension's problem, not yours." Still, Sekhmet tried to put her paw in again. "Come here."

Masika didn't feel a threat from Sekhmet. She came closer.

"Our sweet goddess is at risk of becoming a demon, due to Zorc's presence always being here. Bastet and I have to navigate all around between dimensions, but Zorc will camp out right here. He has nothing to lose."

Masika heard a deep, sinister chuckle.

"Taweret has agreed to stop when she can. Bes, a god you don't know, but also an ally for you, will also be here. He will probably drive you batty with his music," Sekhmet said, as if trying to joke with her to lighten the mood. "You may have human visitors too, but they will have to come in a different way. Almost every Seto Kaiba out there was drawn to make a way to cross into the afterlife to win against Pharaoh. Only one was allowed to cross, but Isis will let your Seto Kaiba cross the threshhold now."

"Téa?"

Sekhmet put her paw on the ground, and put in her other paw. The ground seemed to pain her and she pulled back. "A regular human will have trouble getting inside."

"Then I can leave?" Masika asked.

"Zorc won his way into a reward, but there is no way I can stop him from interfering with you when you come out of here." Sekhmet actually seemed pained. "No human can last more than a few minutes in there. You will need Silhouette to be born to survive, but then she will be at even greater risk of being taken by Zorc. You won't be able to leave until Zorc leaves this area."

"Oh, it's quite homey here," the evil voice said again. "I'm not moving. That dark energy is mine, that means it's mine too."

"He will leave you unsecured, when the other version of you comes here," Sekhmet said. "She won't be here in this sanctuary with you, she'll be in another one far enough away Zorc will have to move."

"To . . . take her over." It was beginning to make sense now. "The other me will have no protection." Zorc could hear every word though.

"Infecting a small amount of goddess is one thing, a chance to erase all of existence is his ultimate goal. He will move. When he does, the humans must be ready to collect you."

"What about the other me?" Masika asked.

"That you does not have to survive for everyone to win the game. She also is not carrying our precious goddess. It is a crueler fate, but we have bent over backwards to make everyone recast the millennium items in your dimension. It would pull him back to Earth, and into your dimension. If they do not, he will be here." She roared like something hurt her heel. "Damn them, if this wasn't enough, then I will hit it where it hurts for their sacrifices!"

Oh, Sekhmet was angry! Masika bowed to her. "Please, not Mokuba!" She didn't want anyone to pay the same sacrificial price but Mokuba never did anything wrong. "Please."

"We know you care for him," Sekhmet answered her. "We have not involved him at all. It would be a better chance to make Seto Kaiba make the items, but we know he means much to you."

"Can he visit?" Masika asked.

"Visits are going to be rare, they take power visiting this way," Sekhmet reminded her. "It'll probably be just the Pharaoh's since they are potential future gods if they pass a test- insepid Atem! I can't believe I have to share my goddess with him."

"What about Hikaru?" Masika asked.

"Téa will be fine," Sekhmet said.

"No, she won't," Masika said back. "This has frightened her so much. It will haunt her forever. It isn't right to take her life for this. If this place is safe for humans, and she can birth Hikaru here, then can't we survive this way? Seto Kaiba could come retrieve us like he has to now."

"It is a way to survive, but no one has stated they will build the millennium items. It's more than just a way to get Zorc to leave. The dimensions balance against each other. Bastet and I had no choice but to create two sets of millennium items in the other dimension. We used a lot of power to do it."

Sekhmet laid back down. "We used a very good deal of power on a lot of things. We are still using our power to give everything we have. We need time to recooperate to take on such a massive task again."

That was why they just didn't recreate it. "Balance."

"Everyone who could help, is helping somewhere else, or are reserving power to help afterward. A lot of forces are in motion. If they did it? It would save both of you, and the god and goddess would be fine on Earth. Drained, but fine on Earth." Sekhmet once again tried to step in. "Come as close as possible, I do not have much time. This is going to hurt, but you'll die with the goddess in you if I . . . don't . . ."

Masika watched as she roared and headed right for her.