Chapter 1 - The Heavenly Bastille
"I'm telling you Alex, people keep disappearing. From all over the city, people are vanishing, and it's all connected to this one specific building," she said, wandering around the room. "Public records say that it's a residential building, but there isn't a single person registered as living there. I've been staking out the building on and off for a few weeks now, and every so often, usually in the dead of night, someone's brought there, always accompanied by at least two people, and then they're never seen again."
"People mysteriously disappearing, being taken away in the middle of the night," Alex said in reply "I think you're trying to make your life seem more interesting than it actually is."
"I'm telling you, something's going on here," she continued, completely convinced of her theory's truthfulness. "Strangest thing is, once these people go missing, nobody seems to remember them. Friends and colleagues completely forget that they ever existed, only their closest relatives can somewhat remember them, but they're too afraid to ask what happened. On top of that, the missing person is wiped from all public records. A few days ago, I went to a restaurant one of the missing people worked in, and asked about her. They just looked at me like I was insane."
She stopped pacing back and forth, and looked at Alex, who was staring at her with a blank expression, unsure of what to think about his friend's seemingly mad ramblings.
"So are you right now, actually."
"No, I just–" Alex mumbled, then decided to stop talking before he dug himself into a hole.
"You just what?"
"How did you find any of this out, anyways?" he dodged her question.
"A family member contacted the newspaper I work for, and begged for us to investigate into it," she explained. "A couple of people had a quick look, but since they couldn't find any proof that the missing person even existed, they just ignored the tip and assumed that the caller had gone crazy or something."
"But you just couldn't settle for that," Alex said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Of course I couldn't. Real or fake, this person sounded way too distressed for me to ignore them, and after I investigated further, some parts of their story did turn out to be true, because I guess whoever is covering up the disappearances got sloppy."
"So, why are you telling me this?"
"Well, because you asked."
"No, I mean, why are you telling me this entire story?"
"Well, I want to investigate this further, I need to go into that building."
"Don't say what I think you're about to say," Alex mumbled.
"And I was hoping you might be able to help me," she finished.
Alex stared into her bright green eyes, as she eagerly awaited his response.
"Absolutely not."
"Huh?" she tilted her head, slightly surprised at the response. "Why not?"
"Are you expecting me to go charging headfirst into blatant danger? You just told me that people are going missing, and that it's all tied to that place."
"Come on, aren't you the least bit curious?"
"Admittedly, I am. But I'm not going to go and risk my life for the sake of sating my curiosity."
"You're the most boring person alive."
"I'd rather be boring than vanish off the face of the earth," Alex said.
"Fine, whatever," she pouted. "But don't think that you can change my mind about going."
"There's a reason I haven't tried," Alex said. "I know how stubborn you are."
He couldn't help but be worried, but his friend giggled as soon as she heard his comment. She didn't seem worried at all.
"Just… be careful, alright?"
"Careful is my middle name," she replied with a goofy, infectious smile on her face, and Alex couldn't help but laugh as well. She ruffled his hair, and headed for the exit of his room.
"Stay boring," she winked at Alex, and headed downstairs, forgetting to close the door behind her. Just as she was about to leave the house, she noticed a stack of post-it notes on the kitchen table, and came up with an idea.
"Do you have any pens?" she asked Alex, who she realized was now walking around his room, trying to find something or other.
"There's a few on the fridge!" he shouted, but the very end of his sentence was drowned out by the sound of a closing drawer.
"Why does he keep pens on the fridge?" she thought, grabbing a random one. She scribbled a couple of words on a post-it, walked to the living room that was opposite the kitchen, and stuck the note on Alex's TV. She flicked her hand through the air, bringing up a small floating display which revealed that it was nearly nine in the evening.
"It's late, I should get going if I want to be there on time," she thought, and finally made her way out of Alex's house, carefully closing the front door.
"See you tomorrow," she looked back at his house, still with a smile on her face. Regardless of her optimism, she was still rather anxious because of what she was about to do.
A man, wearing a dark blue tie and charcoal-colored suit, hurriedly walked into a circular office, and stood at the outer edge of the room, pausing to catch his breath. Behind the glass desk in the centre sat a woman with brown, shoulder-length hair, facing away from the entrance, and the man who quite clearly had something important to say. She was carefully observing a screen opposite her, which was displaying a map of sorts.
"What do you want?" she asked, clearly noticing that someone had entered the room, but not bothering to turn around to face them.
"Miss Ward, sorry to bother you," the man started saying, slightly stumbling over his words. "But, the city-wide data scans reveal that another person is getting suspicious about the disappearances."
"And why have you chosen to bother me with this information, Mr. Taylor?" the woman behind the desk asked, addressing the man by his last name once she realized who he was. "I think you are more than capable of handling this situation yourself."
"Yeah, I know, but–"
"But what?"
"This is the second time in the last thirteen days someone found out about what we are doing, and I thought that we might want to consider a different way of handling those who find out."
"That will not be necessary. Keep the current approach, and let them move around freely, unless they decide to act on their suspicions."
"That's just the problem, Miss," the man walked up to the map, and tapped one of the dots that was moving around on it. Upon doing that, the dot turned red, and was accompanied by the name of the person it represented, their picture, with a number next to it, as well as information about where they were headed. "She is already on her way to investigate."
"Nell Wynne, six years and a journalist," the woman read the data in front of her, as her eyes carefully tracked the dot that was hastily making its way to the edge of the city. "Well, it would appear that you have no choice."
"So, standard procedure?"
"Correct," the woman nodded. "Oh, and don't forget to check if she's given anyone else this information. If she has, you have my permission to increase the strength of the data wipe."
"Understood," the man said, then rushed out of the room and started heading back to his office. Once he walked in, he gave his colleagues an affirming nod, and they immediately began preparations.
"Aidan, you're dueling today," he said, pointing to the blonde-haired man in the corner of the room with his feet up on his desk, who looked half-asleep.
"Come on, why me?" Aidan asked, hoping that he'd somehow be able to get out of doing this, but his higher-up was having none of it.
"Because you've barely done anything in the last few weeks," he replied. "So stop complaining and make yourself useful. And knowing you, this'll be a routine victory anyways."
"Whatever you say, boss," Aidan snarked. "Just don't do what you did the last time. I don't need your help."
He got up, and walked to the exit of the room. The overly-large glass doors opened automatically once he approached them. He let out an exasperated sigh, shrugged his shoulders, and left the room.
"Should we run the assistance program?" someone asked once they were sure Aidan couldn't hear them.
"Of course," the boss replied. "Just make sure you're a bit subtler about it. We don't want him noticing that we're helping him again."
Nell was sitting on a bench across the suspicious building, waiting to see if anyone would come along, occasionally checking the time.
"It's almost midnight. Whoever is taking people away, they would've been here by now," she thought. "I must've lucked into coming on one of those days when they don't take anyone away. All the better for me."
She started sneaking towards the building, armed with the knowledge that there were no security cameras on the outside, which was something she found out while staking out the building previously. Once she entered the building, she was greeted with a well-decorated hallway. Everything in it, from the elevator doors to her left, to the pitch-black stairs to the right, was polished to a shine, and looked as if it was never touched by a human. Nell decided to take the stairs, so she wouldn't alert anyone, but she couldn't help but notice how loud her footsteps were. Once she reached the second floor, she was greeted with a lot of nothing.
"What the hell?" Nell mumbled, looking at the room in shock. This one room made up most of the building. Despite the fact that it looked like it had ten floors from the outside, all of them were merged into one big, bland white room. There was nothing on the floors, and the walls were barren, apart from the windows, which were placed in regular intervals on opposite walls, to make it seem like there's more to the building than there actually is.
"Ms. Wynne, if I'm not mistaken," a sudden voice came from behind her. Nell turned around, and was face-to-face with a blonde-haired man, who was standing in the stairwell she just came from. She stumbled a couple of steps back in surprise.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Aidan Everett. And I'll be the one asking the questions from now," the man said and snapped his fingers, upon which the staircase behind him was sealed off by a mechanical door, closing off the only possible exit from the room.
"I would ask you what you are doing here, but I think we both know," he continued. "You found out that people are going missing in this building, and decided to investigate. Am I correct?"
"Are you the one responsible for this?" Nell asked, not actually expecting to get a serious answer.
"Not me personally, no," Aidan replied. "I work for the people responsible, though."
"What are you doing to them?"
"That's hardly your business."
"It's very much my business!" Nell insisted. "You're taking people away from their friends and families!"
"If it makes you feel any better, we try our best to make everyone forget that person ever existed. And we'll do the same to you, Nell."
"How do you know my name?" Nell asked, stumbling a couple of steps back.
"I know more than just your name," Aidan walked past her, slowly heading for the centre of the room. Nell started walking back, and tried desperately to open the door that shut off the stairwell. Predictably, it wouldn't budge.
"You're stuck in here with me," the blonde man said. The smile at the corner of his lips started off subtle, but quickly developed into a full-blown grin. "I've said that seven or eight times already, but that sentence never gets old."
"You're insane," Nell said, realizing she was in over her head.
"You're not the first person to say that," Aidan laughed. "Now, I might be insane, but I'm not unreasonable. Tell me, do you duel?"
"What?"
"No need to answer that, everyone in this city knows how to duel."
"You really want to duel?"
"I think it'd be only fair if I gave you the same chance we gave everyone else. If you win, I'll let you go and you can try to make people believe your crazy conspiracy theory that there are kidnappers running amok, taking people away in the dead of night. But, if you lose, you'll become just another forgotten name, missed by no one."
They both activated the small bracelets around their wrists. The touchscreens attached to them lit up, indicating that a duel was starting. They then swiped the air from right to left, after which five cards appeared, floating in front of them.
"Now then, let's see how you'll do with your life on the line!" Aidan said.
Turn 1 - Nell (LP - 8000 / Hand - 5 / Field - X)
"I've seen better," Nell thought, carefully looking through her hand, thinking about which line of plays to go for. After half a minute of consideration, she continued.
"I Normal Summon Lumina, Starlightsworn Invoker! (LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000)"
A tan woman, with short blonde hair, appeared on the field in a flash of light. She wore a sparkling white dress with golden highlights that went down to her knees. To contrast this, the cape around her neck was a deep blue colour, with specks of white scattered around the fabric that made the garment look like a painting of the starry sky.
"When Lumina is summoned, I can send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard!" three cards appeared above Nell's head, before scattering into thousands of light particles. "Then, when it's sent from the deck to the graveyard, I can Special Summon Wulf, Lightsworn Beast! (LIGHT/Beast-Warrior/Effect/Level 4/ATK 2100/DEF 300)"
A white humanoid wolf leaped onto the field, armed with a golden axe in its left hand, and a set of sharp claws that were part of the armour that covered its right hand.
"Then, I activate the effect of Lumina, Starlightsworn Invoker! I send one card from my hand to the graveyard and shuffle one Lightsworn monster from my graveyard into the deck, in this case Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress," Nell continued. "Then, I Special Summon one Starlightsworn monster from my deck with the same Level as the shuffled monster! Come forth, Garoth, Starlightsworn Soldier! (LIGHT/Warrior/Effect/Level 4/ATK 1850/DEF 1300)"
The blue-haired man that appeared raised his golden axe to the sky, and its marble handle glistened under the artificial lighting in the room. His armour was split in two parts, and covered his legs and shoulders, but left his muscular stomach exposed. The armour itself was a similar shade of dark blue as Lumina's cape, and had shining strips of silver connect the places where it was welded together.
"Then, when Garoth is summoned, I can send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard!" Nell said, as two cards from the top of her deck were consumed by a blinding light.
"Three Lightsworn monsters, huh?" Aidan thought. "I get the feeling she's not stopping there."
"I set Lumina and Wulf in the Link Markers! Descend, exalted goddess of wisdom, and cleanse this world of the faithless heathens! Link Summon, Minerva, Starlightsworn High Priestess! (LIGHT/Fairy/Link/Effect/Link 2 [Markers: BL/BR]/ATK 2000)"
An angelic being appeared above the field, and spread her majestic white wings. Shining gold adorned her dark blue dress, which had a large dark orange amber on her chest that matched her hair colour. Minerva put her right arm out, and a large owl with dazzling white feathers landed on her forearm.
"Using Minerva's effect, I can target one monster she points to, and send cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard equal to that monster's level! I target Garoth, which means I send four cards to the graveyard," Nell said, and another four cards appeared above her, only to be consumed by the light moments later.
"Next, using Garoth's effect, I shuffle Lumina, Starlightsworn Invoker and Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn from my graveyard into the deck, and draw one card!" she grabbed the top card of her deck, then let it float up into her hand on its own. "And, using Minerva's second effect, I can draw a card whenever a Lightsworn monster is shuffled from my graveyard into the deck!"
"Not bad," Aidan remarked. "Not bad at all, but it'll all be for nothing in the end."
"Don't get too confident," Nell said as a face-down card appeared vertically in front of her. "I set one card, and end my turn."
Turn 2 - Aidan (LP - 8000 / Hand - 5 / Field - X)
"Draw!" Aidan declared, and nodded once he scanned through the cards in his hand. "First of all, let's get rid of that pesky face-down! I activate Cosmic Cyclone, and pay a thousand life points to banish your Trap!"
Aidan: LP 8000 » 7000
A strong wind blew towards Nell's field, annihilating Solemn Strike, which was supposed to serve as her primary defense against any oncoming threats. Aidan paused for a bit, and brought up a display of Minerva, allowing him to read the card's effect so he could plan ahead.
"She banishes when sent to the graveyard," he thought. "If that's the case, I just won't give her the opportunity to activate that effect! I summon Apex Assault Swordsman! (LIGHT/Thunder/Pendulum/Effect/Level 10/ATK 1300/DEF 2300)"
A huge, winged creature flew onto the field, and the dark green garments that covered most of its body fluttered in the wind. Lightning struck the ground in front of the monster as it landed, and a gleaming sword materialized after the flash of light, stuck in the charred ground. Its robust hilt was made out of dark steel, and the blade was composed out of pure emerald.
"All Apex Assault monsters can be summoned with any number of tributes, including zero," Aidan explained. "And, when Apex Assault Swordsman is Normal Summoned, I add Apex Assault Sorcerer from my deck to my hand!"
Nell brought up the display, and read the effect of the monster Aidan just added to his hand.
"Sorcerer gets its effect when Normal Summoned," she thought. "But he's already used his one Normal Summon for the turn, so I should be safe."
"Next, I activate Photon Sanctuary, which allows me to Special Summon two Photon Tokens! (LIGHT/Thunder/Level 4/ATK 2000/DEF 0) in defense position!" Aidan said, and a pair of bright blue glowing orbs appeared in front of him, gently bobbing up and down. "Then, I activate the Continuous Spell, Apex Assault Strategy!"
"So that's how he plans to get an additional Normal Summon," Nell thought, reading the card's effect. "This could be an issue."
"Using Apex Assault Strategy's additional Normal Summon, I tribute Apex Assault Swordsman and the two Photon Tokens to Tribute Summon Apex Assault Sorcerer! (LIGHT/Thunder/Pendulum/Effect/Level 10/ATK 1000/DEF 2200)"
Another bird-like creature flew onto the field, replacing his comrade. The white-feathered sorcerer was draped in crimson cloth, and wielded a dark staff made out of pure obsidian, with a large and smooth emerald embedded on the top of it.
"All Apex Assault monsters gain ATK equal to the combined original ATK of the monsters tributed for their Tribute Summon!" Aidan said.
Apex Assault Sorcerer: ATK 1000 » 6300
"Then, the unique effect of Apex Assault Sorcerer kicks in, dealing you five hundred damage for each tributed monster!"
Lightning started gathering around the bright green gemstone in Sorcerer's staff, and once the attack was ready, a bolt of lightning shot towards her, leaving her unable to move for a few seconds due to the shock.
Nell: LP 8000 » 6500
"Next, I activate the scale 9 Apex Assault Visionary in my Pendulum Zone," a smaller winged creature appeared, wearing a black hood and loose-fitting robes. In the creature's left hand was a translucent orb, in the middle of which was a small shard of turquoise emerald that emitted a bright green light. The monster was floating in a pillar of light to Aidan's left. "This will raise the ATK and DEF of all Apex Assault monsters by a further three hundred!"
Apex Assault Sorcerer: ATK 6300 » 6600 / DEF 2200 » 2500
"Battle!" Aidan declared. "Apex Assault Sorcerer, attack Minerva, Starlightsworn High Priestess!"
The magician raised its staff, and started getting ready to attack again, as lightning bolts gathered around it.
"He doesn't have enough to defeat me this turn, which means Minerva's effect will–" Nell's train of thought was suddenly interrupted as Aidan revealed he had one more card up his sleeve.
"I target Apex Assault Sorcerer, and activate Rage of the Thunder Deity!" Aidan declared. "This reduces the ATK and DEF of all your monsters by the original DEF of Apex Assault Sorcerer!"
Minerva, Starlightsworn High Priestess: ATK 2000 » 0
Garoth, Starlightsworn Soldier: ATK 1850 » 0
"End this, Sorcerer!" another burst of lightning shot from the gleaming emerald, this time towards the helpless goddess on Nell's field. She couldn't do anything but look on as Minerva got repeatedly shocked. The once-powerful angel collapsed to her knees and let out her last breath.
Nell: LP 6500 » 0
"You never stood a chance," Aidan said. "Now then, you're coming with me."
"No, I'm no–" Nell started saying, but couldn't even finish that short sentence. With a simple clap of Aidan's hand, she lost her ability to speak, and felt her body slowly fade away. Immediately after putting her in this state, Aidan completely disappeared from the room, and was nowhere to be seen.
"What is happening?" she asked herself. Her limbs were becoming more numb by the second, and not long passed before she was completely unable to move. A minute of agony went by before she finally passed out.
As Nell's eyes opened, she found herself trapped behind glass, staring at a blank white wall. Right opposite her, painted on the wall in a bold, black font, was a number: 068.