Yu-Gi-Oh!: Enter The Dark Duels

Chapter 2: The Summons

By:

NOTE : Some of the effects of magic cards or monster cards or the rules of play may be bent or broken for the purpose of this story. If you want an explanation, it’s because they’re in the shadow realm. :P

Isis stumbled through the tall false grass of the Shadow Realm, the tears in her eyes serving to distort her vision even more than the perpetual mists. Nazianzus hadn’t spoken to her since the duel. In fact, he’d only looked at her to give her a look of extreme pity – like an owner would give a loved pet that had to be put to sleep. She fell to her knees in the grass at the thought.

She couldn’t explain the feelings that she held for him. The reactions he caused in her. Every time she saw him she felt the urge, the need to wrap her arms around him and draw him close to her. Somehow she knew that the meeting of their lips would undo all the wrongs of this forlorn place.

“But those lips belong to Gwenhwyfar…”, came the undeniable thought, floating up from the depths of her mind to heighten her misery.

Her tears were wasted on the Shadow Realm’s unending darkness. Her sobs carried for miles in the emptiness of the forsaken place, but not even a predator – some ferocious, horrible, life-ending beast – heeded her piteous call for sympathy.

She was alone.

She cried herself to sleep, hoping that she would not see the grayish monotonous expanses of the Shadow Realm ever again. When she woke, she was disappointed to find that she had not died of the cold, or lack of food or sheer exhaustion or any of the other thousand ways that a broken person could die in this realm. She tried to wipe her face with the back of her hand and ended up creating a muddy mixture on her face, with the remnants of her tears.

Without really wanting to, she pushed herself up out of the dirt and tried to clean off her wings at least. They were painful to the touch and a good bit of the feathers had fallen out. Looking behind her, she saw that she had been leaving a trail of feathers for quite some distance. They’d never work for flying, she’d have to walk the rest of the way… wherever it was she was going. Discarding her soiled clothing, she started off in the direction of the Magic Rulers region after gingerly folding her sore, aching wings. She didn’t know exactly how she knew where she was going, there was no landmark that she could use, she just knew. One thought seemed to elude her though :

Human beings had no wings.

Nearby, an invisible Lady of Faith knelt, hands still clasped, smiling at her handiwork, knowing that The Mistress would be very pleased with what she had done.

** ** * ** **

Somehow, the whole scenario just didn’t make sense to Nazianzus. He and Gwenhwyfar had just left Aile and were now walking through the mists towards the Magic Rulers region. What was strange, was that the Waboku priestess, after being forced by his Red Eyes Black Dragon to stop the duel, had politely handed them each ten magic cards and five trap cards and then offered to give them directions to the Magic Rulers Region. This came after days of unanswered questions about the region and its inhabitants. They had been told that the Waboku had already arranged for another guide to meet them there.

He almost asked Gwenhwyfar what she thought of it, but then he remembered that she had been refusing to speak to him ever since the duel. He wasn’t sure whether it was because he had stopped the duel or if she had some other grouse that he was unaware of. Whatever the reason, he was trying hard to stay out of her way. As she had already proven, she could be quite dangerous when angry.

Nazianzus was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t even realize that Gwenhwyfar had stopped walking until he bumped into her.

“Sorry”, she said looking him directly in the eyes as she spoke, “I just wanted to talk before we got to the city.”

“What about?”, asked Nazianzus knowingly. It wasn’t like Gwenhwyfar to apologize outright for her actions and he felt that she wasn’t referring to the fact that she had stopped unexpectedly. His smile told her that no feelings were damaged beyond repair. He sat down on the ground and Gwenhwyfar did the same.

“This whole situation doesn’t make sense”, said Gwenhwyfar, echoing her husband’s earlier thoughts.

“I know. Why would they suddenly want us to go to the Magic Ruler’s Region?”, he asked.

“That’s not what I meant!” replied Gwenhwyfar impatiently, looking at him as if he had missed some incredibly obvious point. If there had ever been times when Nazianzus had wondered why he’d married such a woman, now was certainly not one of them. He had always admired her ability to grasp things more quickly than other people – to find subtle clues that no one else could see. More than that, he loved the way she got excited when she was about to disclose one of her revelations to him.

“Didn’t you notice it about the people in Aile?” she asked.

“Didn’t you see what was wrong with the whole feel of the village?” she continued without waiting for him to reply. He had barely started to answer when she said, “None of the people there seemed anxious to leave! Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to leave this forsaken place?”

Nazianzus had indeed noticed the people’s lack of enthusiasm when they were told that there might be a way for them to leave the Shadow Realm, but there hadn’t been a chance to discuss it with Gwenhwyfar until now.

“There’s something seriously wrong with the way those people think,” she said, “they seem contented to spend their lives suffering here, when they could be living in a place with sunlight.”

“I think that there are two possible explanations”, said Nazianzus when she had finally stopped to breathe, “Either their entire way of thinking has been changed since the first humans arrived here all those centuries ago.”

“Or?”, prompted Gwenhwyfar.

“Or they aren’t human, as we’ve been led to believe.”

She stopped to consider his statement.

“They did say that the humanoid monsters can use the decks too” , said Gwenhwyfar, half to herself, “But then again, they’d have to be really powerful to be able to acquire other monsters like that.”

“Or, they could be granted the ability to use the cards by a human.”, said Nazianzus, “But then, it does seem unlikely that so many of them would have the ability.”

“So then… why pretend to be human?” asked Gwenhwyfar.

“Good point… maybe –”

But he cut his words short and turned to face the purple-clad stranger floating towards them out of the darkness. Both reached for their decks, causing the stranger to stop and make what he apparently thought was a peaceful gesture.

“I am a Dark Magician of Yamimaki” said the stranger, “your presence is requested in the main city of the Magic Rulers”.

“How do you know who we are?” asked Nazianzus suspiciously.

“The Waboku sent word” said the Dark Magician, “Come quickly, I have other duties to attend to as well.”

The humanoid monster turned and floated off. Evidently, Nazianzus and Gwenhwyfar were expected to follow.

“Well” said Gwenhwyfar walking after the spellcaster, “Why not?”

** ** * ** **

“Quickly!”, hissed the Waboku priestess, “Get her inside before they see her face!” The two Mysterious Guards under her command hastened towards the unconscious figure lying just inside the gate of the city and carefully picked her up.

“Now get her back to the room!” ordered the priestess.

“But… shouldn’t she be taken to the infirmary? She looks like she’s in a very bad-”

“Do you dare to question the orders of a Waboku priestess!?!” came the priestess’s telepathic response. The meddlers were already within earshot and she didn’t want to call more attention to herself by having to discipline the slow-witted guard. “Go! Quickly! Take her back to the room!”

As the guards rushed away as quickly as they could through the back-alleys of Yamimaki, the priestess walked towards the main gate and fixed a smile on her face.

“Nazianzus! Gwenhwyfar!” she said with the air of one greeting old friends, “How nice to meet you at last!”

She embraced them each in turn. Gwenhwyfar looked as if she were about to say something but then she seemed to change her mind. Turning to the Dark Magician, the priestess said, “ If you wouldn’t mind, I’m sure you could escort our guests up to the castle. I unfortunately, have other business to attend to.”

“What was wrong with that Dark Witch?” asked the Dark Magician.

“Nothing that I can’t fix.” she replied, a bit more roughly than she had intended. The human couple looked at her with suspicion.

“I’m sure I’ll see you both at dinner tonight”, she said to Nazianzus and Gwenhwyfar, before making the Waboku hand-symbol for good fortune and teleporting away. Nazianzus and Gwenhwyfar, who had never witnessed teleportation before, were a little confused, but appeared to be less affected than the Dark Magician, whose eyes slid out of focus for a few seconds before he said “Very well, I will escort you to the castle myself.”

“Are you a part of the Waboku too?” Gwenhwyfar asked the Dark Magician while they walked towards the castle.

“No. The higher classes of Spellcasters report directly to Queen Hikari” he replied without looking at her.

“Oh. Then how come that priestess just made you walk us up to the castle?”

“She didn’t, I have business at the castle.”

“Uh-huh”

This time he didn’t reply, but floated in silence until they reached the castle.

After conferring briefly with another Dark Magician at the gate the three were allowed in, joined by a Mystical Elf. They walked through long stone corridors (with Nazianzus and Gwenhwyfar craning their necks to try and take in everything at once) whose floors were covered by thick carpets and whose walls were lit with magical torches, until finally, they arrived at the throne room. The Mystical Elf looked them over, then pushed open the doors and led the way into the huge room.

In spite of the lavish furnishings in the room, the exquisite tapestries hanging on the walls, the thick fur carpets that covered the floor, the various jewel encrusted items arranged on pedestals, its most striking feature was the dark-skinned, blue-robed, woman sitting in the large chair at its far end. Neither Gwenhwyfar nor Nazianzus actually noticed the Mystical Elf rush forwards and bow before she whispered something to her Queen and stepped back.

Queen Hikari played idly with a lock of her night-black hair while she considered her servant’s words. At length she said, “Very well, come back after dinner. I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time right now.”

The two humans didn’t know what to make of the Queen’s words after just having been made to travel a great distance to see her. Before they could reply however, she continued, “So, now that we’re finally alone. We can all speak freely.” Nazianzus realized with a start that the Dark Magician and Mystical Elf had left the room and that they were, in fact, alone with the queen. For the first time, Nazianzus saw that the parts of the stone floor that weren’t covered by carpet had the images of face-down card etched into them. As he watched, they began to glow white and then the glow slowly dissipated.

“Why did you have to see us so urgently?” asked Gwenhwyfar.

“Because it’s been so many years since I’ve set eyes on another human being.”

End of Chapter 2 (Ok, so it is confusing, and I did take a really long time to write it so :P just keep reading!)