Author note: Hello everyone, I hope you enjoy this fanfic story. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. No flaming, please! If you don't like my story then don't read it, simple as that. However if you do like it please make sure to add it to your favorites and/or follow me.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh or any of its characters or settings. I do own all my original characters.
Dartz entered his lair and cast his gaze upon the stone wall in front of him. Here were the souls of millions of people both adversaries and innocent. For ten thousand years he labored to collect the souls of men, woman, and children. Anyone in the right mind would think he was some sort of monster for carrying out this madness, however, he justified his actions by telling himself that it was for a good cause.
A vibrant green light radiated from the stone around his neck. The stone of Orichalcos had exposed him to the truth, opened his eyes to what he was too blind to see before. The stone showed Dartz that the world was a cruel place and that humans had inherent darkness in their hearts. He grimaced thinking back to the day it all began.
It was 10,000 years ago when he ruled as King of Atlantis, an island located far from the rest of the world. Atlantis resembled a perfect civilization, one superior to all others existing on the planet. One day a meteor shower rained upon his kingdom, containing the powerful stones of the Orichalcos. The stones gifted the people of Atlantis with great knowledge and power eventually, Atlantis became the most advanced civilization on earth, however with power came corruption and greed.
The Orichalcos began to reveal the evil side of people, turning those with malice on the inside into horrible, ugly beasts on the outside. He clenched his fist tightly thinking of his own wife Iona. How he hated himself for what had happened, but at the time he had no other choice. Despite being the image of beauty and perfection, she herself had morphed into a vicious, wolf-like creature. She had tried to attack him and having to think fast he used his sword to stop her. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to remember the painful memory.
Scared and confused, Dartz looked to the Orichalcos stone for guidance. It promised him that if he were to collect enough souls he would be able to resurrect the great Leviathan to help him destroy the earth and restore it to the paradise that it once was. For this task, he knew what was required of him. He needed powerful souls and he knew exactly where to find one. He witnessed the Pharoah Atem in ancient Egypt, learning of his special ability to control duel monsters and even the mighty Egyptian Gods themselves. However, he was unable to capture his soul back then as the Pharoah had another enemy that stood in his way. He had to wait patiently for 5000 years for the Pharoahs return, it was only now that he recently discovered that the spirit of the Pharoah was contained in an ancient Egyptian artifact held by a school boy in Domino, Japan. To him obtaining the Pharoah's soul was quite a simple task one that he thought very lightly of however he couldn't say the same for another task that he had to complete.
Along with the rebirth of a perfect civilisation, the stone of Orichalcos had recently made Dartz another offer, one much too good to refuse. The chance to be reunited with his true love Iona. Yes, the stone promised that it would return her to him, not as the malicious beast that it had brought out of her, but as his beloved wife, his soul-mate, his beautiful queen. In exchange for his wife's revival the Orichalcos wanted one thing in return. The soul of one girl. Not just any ordinary girl, but just one girl in particular. The Orichalcos had told him that in order to bring back the one he loves he would need a powerful soul, one of sorrow, bitterness, and hatred. This soul existed in no one other, but a teenage girl. Her name - Natalie Summers.
He knew exactly where to find her as the stone had told him that she resided in Domino City. Now he just needed a way to bring her to him, and he knew just the guys to do it. He was yet to send his three underlings to pay the Pharaoh a little visit and to obtain the three Egyptian God cards, however, he felt that it would be a bit too much to send all three males to retrieve her at once. So he had three choices - Valon, Alister, and Rafael. He knew that he had to choose carefully, as the incorrect choice could cost him dearly.
Firstly there was Rafael, the eldest of the three of them. He was a burly man, quite tall and broad. He was a serious character and the most responsible out of the three of them. He had a gruff voice and appeared to be quite intimidating to those who didn't know him. Perhaps he was not the best choice...
Secondly, there was Alister. Unlike Rafael, he had a tall, lean build. His grey eyes were always stoic and void of emotion. Sarcasm and arrogance were second nature to him, being evident as he constantly argued with Valon. "Maybe I should reconsider my options..." Dartz thought to himself.
Lastly, there was Valon, he was the youngest out of the three. His facial expression always contained the most emotion in comparison to his older companions - Rafael and Alister. The Australian was the most vocal out of the boys and his blue eyes seemed to glimmer cheerfulness and hope. One could say he was the friendliest of the lot. Yes, Valon would be the one to bring the girl to him. Dartz nodded at his mental decision.
"Rafael, Alister, Valon!" he called out.
"Yes Master," they all replied, kneeling before him.
"There's something I need you to do,"
"Of course, Master," Rafael spoke up "You want us to find the Pharaoh and obtain his Egyptian God cards, correct?" Even though Rafael was responsible and required less direction than the other two, he was somewhat of a know it all and this often irritated Dartz.
"Why don't you try listening for a change? It's a good skill, you know." he snapped. Rafael silenced himself and gave Dartz an apologetic nod, prompting him to continue. "Yes, but there's someone else I need you to attend to,"
"Lemme guess, it's tha' Mai Valentine chick righ'?" Valon jumped in. Dartz scowled as he was interrupted once again, but this time, he decided not to say anything.
Mai Valentine had actually shown great promise in carrying out his plans. She was a broken duelist, trapped in the inescapable cycle of loneliness which had continued through her childhood into her adulthood. She was tired of being stuck in the shadow of her friends, simply wanting to be the best. The initial plan was to get her to side with them, but since the Orichalcos had made him the offer that day he had to get his priorities right. She wasn't going to be any use in bringing Iona back, so why bother with her at all?
"No, I've actually found someone else who shows more promise," Dartz replied
"Who is he?" Alister questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"It's a she," he answered.
Valon then began to chuckle to himself.
"Give it a rest Valon!" Alister said, glaring at him. "Just because we're dealing with a girl, it doesn't mean you have to get all excited and riled up,"
"I'm not!" Valon yelled through gritted teeth.
"Oh yeah?" Alister questioned, raising his voice. "Then what do you call what you did just before?"
"Stop it, guys!" Rafael growled, "We're in the presence of Master Dartz,"
Both boys stopped arguing and diverted their attention back to Dartz. Seeing that they had all calmed down, he began to speak again."And I want you to be the one bring her to me," he said, pointing at the young Australian.
"See, I knew 'e would want me for the job fellas!" he said, turning to Rafael and Alister.
"But why him?" Rafael and Alister, both questioned in unison. They both had a shocked expression on their face.
"I believe that Valon is the one most suitable for this job," Dartz replied casually.
"Where will I find 'er?" Valon asked, his smile had dropped because now he was thinking about the seriousness of the plan.
"Valon, you will attend school with her," Dartz informed. "You will befriend her, gain her trust and bring her to me,"
Alister simply snorted in response to Dartz's request. Dartz then quickly diverted his attention to the tall red-head. "Is there a problem Alister?" he questioned, his eyes slightly narrowing.
"Um yeah!" Alister replied matter-of-factly. "How can we be sure that Valon won't get into any fights?"
"We can't," Dartz continued. "And that's why you must accompany him, Alister,"
"I'm not sure that's a good idea Master...," Rafael began. Valon and Alister were like fire and oxygen, to put it simply the two guys just didn't mix. This made Rafael wonder why Dartz was crazy enough to assign those two to work together.
"Are you questioning my sense judgement, Rafael?"
"No, Master," he quickly replied.
"Good," came Dartz response. Then he cast his gaze towards Valon and Alister, "You both will behave."
"Yes master," they nodded.
"I will organise you a flight to Domino tomorrow," Dartz stated, before exiting the room.
Tomorrow they would start their big mission.
