(OOC: Greetings. This is the sequel to my first fic 'Crusade of the Thousand', which stopped almost exactly one year ago. Now it continues at last.
A bit of an obvious warning here, but I might as well say it: Reading Part I is probably smart if you want to understand and follow this story. Anyway lets begin)

New Testament 001: In the Beginning there was Nothing

Half a year had passed since that awful day. A year since a lethal plague swept the country-side, and affected the lives of so many english citizens. Most recovered physically, if not mentally, but there were some with less fortune. This disease had been released accidentily by the company formerly known as Tum'aga, a mining business that once dug too far. A strange enterprise they ran, with their wealth they tried to overtake a gaming company of all things, only because its vague connections to older more magical times. The higher ups of this company all suffered the same infection as the country of the United Kingdom apparently had. Their Kartel had been reduced to one member, the rest 'fell' to the plague. Their employees were not even mentioned in televised reports. What was included were the various nightmare descriptions that all survivors suffered. Green unworldly light, inhuman apparitions and demonic terrors, all of them were but hallucinations induced by the epidemic. Or so they say...

Some were never convinced by this 'fact'. The government was hiding something, they had to be. What they had seen was so lifelike, so memorable. A monster that just did not stop, and that claimed many lives. In truth, Tum'aga had unleashed a demon from the depths, one that threatened to consume all life on earth. It did not just 'contaminate', it destroyed souls. It was only with the combined efforts of seven unlikely heroes and all of the firepower in England, that the side of good managed to put a stop to it. Yet nothing of this adventure was shared with the main land, not even the families of the people that the demon killed were given the true fate of their loved ones. None the less, the fallen received a grave. Most were buried in the same lot, soldiers and marines that died in the battle. There was a special graveyard, for those whose bodies were never found. It took time, a lot had to be arranged. Eventually the realtives were able to get one for the lost ones, and they took what small comfort it provided.

Among them were three children: Nicolai Zoro, Venice Gray and Andre Carter. How they ended their lives, those tales were too unbelievable to be told, nobody would understand. Would you listen to a story that involved such outlandish scenes as cyborg assassins attacking blimps, people riding dragons from an ancient dynasty and vampires that could drain life energy. He did not think so, he never even told their parents. As far as anyone knew, his friend Nicolai had been caught in a disastrous crashlanding, the pilot of a zeppelin suffered a fatal heartattack from the Tum'aga plague. His other friend Venice had apparently drowned in the middle of the sea, she tried to escape the virus by swimming. And poor Andre, that name did not even have a cover-up story. He was simply missing, neither a lie nor the truth could tell anyone where he had ended up. His brother saw his soul die, but not the body, Tum'aga robbed him of that privelege. He just knew, that voice would never be heard again.

Andre Carter
1983 - 2008
He gave his Life for a Better World

There was his grave, a private grave for him and his family alone. It rained today, but it had to be visited. Today was the half-year anniversary of that sacrifice Andre Carter made. The other could not ignore it, how his brother dueled a man to his death, to save the life of another victim. He never even got to hold him, or say what he wanted to say. No eulogy or coffin could make up for that. This was William Carter, once the younger brother, now the only brother. He was the one relative to understand why it happened. His parents were not here today because of that, they still could not accept that Andre was gone, William did not have the heart to tell them. Life went on, so many things had happened these last six months. If the spirit was nearby, he could tell them about these things. They were free to talk here... or so he thought.

"I see you are getting in touch with your overly emotional side."

William Carter flinched, he turned around immediately. Behind stood a man he did not know, a man whose face was obscured by the hood of his raincoat. "Who are you?" He was shocked, appaled and mystified; how could this man get into this secure and private location, how? "So how long did it take for your family to get him a decent spot? I imagine the undertakers threw a fit when they were told that there was no body." He seemed to ignore the question, and filled Wills mind with even more. This man said things no normal person should know about, he spoke as if he .. "Yes, that is the right look, William Carter; brother of Andre Carter. I know all about you and him." A soft chuckle escaped his lips. "....how." The questioning of all those riddles could be summed up with one word now. "How do I know these things? Oh lets just use this popular phrase: I have been following you for some time." Thunder started to crack, and a bolt of lightning flashed across the cemetery, illuminating the twisted expression on the strangers face.

"How nicely timed." He cackled. "Look, I do not know what you want, or why you know so much. I will just ask to leave us alone, come back some other time!" Carter tried to compose himself again. "Us? Hoo boy, he thinks he can see dead people. Gotten a little crazier as well, eh?" The man reached for something in his pocket. "Then again. You already know about 'spirits', so why not?" He pulled out a deck of cards. "Wielder of the Dragon Sword, Timaeus." And Wills eyes widened. His visitor knew even about that. "What are you!?" This guy could not be human, could he? "I am a duelist. Like you." Next he took out a dueldisk, in it he could insert all of his cards. "I play the same game that you and your brother played. The same game that got him killed and 'saved' the world." That was a dueldisk, and it was the same model that Tum'aga's liaison company Templesoft had made. The device that made holographic images of duel monster cards, simulating a real-life duel. "You want me, to fight you...here?" He could not believe it, he could not allow it! "Get out! I will never insult my brothers resting place like that." Besides he did not even have his cards with him, let alone a disk. "We think you will."

"What?" Next thing he knew, there was a dueldisk near his leg, he tossed it there. "How did.. when did.." He then noticed something, his cards were already in it, all of them. "I stopped by your house this morning. Picked up what you might need." Another roar of thunder shot across the sky. "I still will not do it, I will not.." He was about to take it off when. "Your brothers grave hmm? There is nothing in it, but I supposed you would still defend it with your life." He took a step closer to the tombstone. "You...leave him alone." Instinctively Will stepped in between him. "Ah. I was correct." He backed off and activated his disk. "Then do me a favor, for the sake of your dear dead sibling. Duel me. That's all I came here for... one game, and I will be out of your hair." For the first time since they met, he seemed to think about what what said. He was confused and enraged, not two very good emotions to help him with decisions. "I should not, but this guy... I can not stand him, there is something..." Just then he realized something and flinched.

"Wait... we?"

On the other side of the country was Christine Rose, another of the seven heroes. And she was running late for a special kind of meeting. She was taking public transport, even though she hated it, to get where she wanted. Today was the day that famous novel write John Nelson would hand out new autographs for his latest book 'Chaos for Chaos', and she could not wait to get her hands on it. Which was why she was desperate enough to take the bus, since her parents, god bless them, were affraid to let her ago after the previous 'vacation experience'. "I knew it.." Of course just when things looked up, and when she felt movement once more, the subway ceased moving. If the first minute already showed delays, she would never make it there. "Oh for the love of.. why is this happening to me?" She looked out the windows, if she could see whatever was blocking her path outside. But the source of the disturbance was inside... "Hey.." Nobody else was complaining, because strangely, everybody else was asleep.

They looked perfectly awakw just a few seconds ago. "Are they that tire...d?" She had the answer soon enough. "No." Well all but one were sleeping. One man rose up, silently and looked at her from behind his dark tinted glasses. "This is not normal, is it?" He turned towards her. Rose pinched her arm to make sure that she was not sleeping, it still hurt. "This is really..really... real." He came closer and closer, she got nervous really fast. "Look, back off.. I do not know you and.." Then he pulled out a dueldisk. And it became clear to her, that this stranger was a duelist too. "You want to play with me?" She was surprised, this was not as dangerous as she had feared, but this situation was still too odd for comfort. Something like mass hypnosis would not be followed with a simple game. "You put these people to sleep." She realized. The other still did not answer. Just like the one that stalked William, he had her dueldisk in his hand as well. "What the..how did you?" He tossed it to the girl, and activated his own. "Lets Duel." He finally said.

And on the other side of the world, back in England, Colin Sairve could be found, the third of seven. He was where he could always be located, inside one of his makeshift stands, behind a table with a cheap crystal ball and a tarot deck. He was still the worst fortune teller in the world, and damn proud of it. But today the customers were not biting, which he had foreseen. "It's boring lately. In fact it is so boring I almost want something foreboding and excitingly lifethreatening to happen." That sentence and all of its variants were the number one topic of today, and yesterday and probably tomorrow. Despite these thoughts, the seer was confident that that would never happen, since tempting fate always worked the other way around for him.

"Your fortune telling sucks."

But then he did get a customer.

"What?"

He rose up, and looked at her. There was only a girl in front of his stand. "You heard me. You suck.." She said with even more bluntness then before. "Is that so? So I should do...what exactly?" He shrugged. "Should I prove you otherwise? Do I even have to try?" There seemed to be a stand-off. "No. I just came to tell you that you stink at fortune telling. I would know." She giggled. "Eh? What does that imply?" His left eye twitched. "Call me a fan. Or an anti-fan, I think that fits better." Then things happened really fast. For no reason other then that he had it with him, he took out his dueldisk and activated it, so he could challenge her. "Oh?" Here, she was the surprised one. "That was fast. I did not expect you to ask me.." She had a dueldisk as well of course, she planned to goad him into dueling, yet he took initiative. "When did you figure out that I was a duelist?" She asked. Sairve blinked. "Hm? Oh..ehr..didnt really think about that." He shook his head. "So you are one! Aha, I knew it!" And corrected himself quickly.

The girl sighed and took out her disk. "You really are easy to manipulate." Colin cringed again. "Look, this is a duel for ..ehr.. honor... yeah. If I win, you have to get your future read by me. If you win, you can tell the whole town I suck." He smirked and inserted his deck. "Big deal, everyone knows that already." She laughed. "Grr... Well then what do you want?" She stroked her chin, thinking it over. "Dunno. I will think of something. Let's do this." Both players started the game, drawing their cards. "...what kind of deck do you have anyway?" He asked. "Now now, I can't tell you in advance. Fair play is underused, is it not?" She drew five cards. "No, this time girls don't go first." Colin suddenly remembered someone else who said something like that, said during a duel from six months ago. The girl saw that the seer was in deep thought. "You are thinking about her, aren't you?" She said with a smile. "...wha..." It took him a second to figure out.. "You mean...." One of the fallen, one whose body was recovered and given a hidden grave.

"Yeah.. I mean 'Ananka'."

(To be Continued in New Testament 002: Drown your Sorrow)