Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh. The characters all belong to Mr. Kazuki Takahashi. However, the OC's and the fantasy world in which they live are of my creation. Original monsters created by me will be bolded.
Valar Morghulis. Farewell.
A Song from the Divines
I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied. Then, in my head, I begin to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, its depth... I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle, as if it had been cast, and only the labour of writing it down remains.
-Ludwig Van Beethoven
Bakura
Rain violently poured onto the roof of the Lady Luck Inn, a cozy tavern nestled in the middle of the Askar Forest in the Earldom of Ashford. The trees whistled in the night as the bullying winds rustled their leaves which fell from their branches and glided in the darkness covering the dirt road that cut through the forest and bumped into the sturdy stone walls of the inn.
The warm orange glow in the windows gave relief to the stranger in the dark leading his black horse by a leather bridle. He had a black cloak over his shoulders with the hood down to protect him from the storm. He had traveled all the way from Dragon Rock, a kingdom many leagues from where he was. He noticed an iron lamp, sturdy against the gale, hanging over a moldy wooden sign that pointed west. It read: Ashford.
It is a small town on the border of the Province of Thara, meaning that the stranger still had many miles to go before reaching his destination in the Blue Ridge of the Great White Mountains. The stranger felt his stomach growl at the smell of sweetmeats and freshly baked bread coming from the smoking chimney. Quickly, he led his horse to the last free stable and locked up the gate.
The stranger followed a stone path, passing a garden pond. A frog was croaking on a lily pad but it stopped upon seeing the stranger pass through. Something about him spooked the amphibian causing it to hop off the lily pad and dive into the water with a loud plop.
The stranger opened the wooden door and was graced by a kiss from the hearth burning at the entrance.
In a den lit up by paper lanterns in the shape of fire-breathing dragons, a band played songs of merriment with drums, tambourines, lutes, and wooden pipes.
The innkeeper at the counter grimaced at the sight of the hooded stranger. Men like him always came into his tavern to start trouble. Behind the counter, he kept his hand on the leather-wrapped grip of his rusty iron sword in case the stranger in front of him meant ill intent.
"What'll it be?" he asked.
"Meat," the stranger responded. His voice was scratchy and cold as if someone took a dagger and slid it across the surface of a block of stone. "I require lodging as well, the road was long and I still have a ways to go."
The innkeeper paused while wiping a mug with a linen washcloth. "We have no lodging available," he said. "But you are more than welcome to lay your head down on one of the tables for the night."
"That will suffice," the stranger said.
He looked around for an available spot to rest and eat. He located a table right by the window and slowly walked to it. The maple floorboards moaning under the weight of his belted boots. He pulled up a wooden chair, and sat down, thankful that he was out of the storm. The hairs on his arms stood when the fire in the hearth warmed his body.
An iron chandelier hung from the high ceiling with nine white candles burning bright and scenting the air with the aroma of vanilla and pine. The patrons of the inn spoke of the day's labors and the politicians of the land. From the dimwitted lord of Wingleaf to the good looks of a princess who lived in the White Spire, a castle perched on the peaks of the Great White Mountains, once the stronghold of a powerful lord from House Kaiba.
But those conversations never lasted long in the tavern, for the ale flowed like the flooded creek behind the establishment and the Duel Monsters cards were taken out.
For the farmers of Ashford, nothing beat ending the day at the Lady Lucky Inn with a tankard full of ale and a round of cards. Duel Monsters was the most beloved sport in the land of Termnnia (Term-Nee-ah).
The object of the game was for players to bring down their opponent's score, called Life Points, to 0. And they did so by casting spells, setting an array of deadly traps and, of course, summoning monsters. There was a variety of monsters to play with. In fact, there were hundreds of thousands of them from cute little fur balls like the Kuriboh to magic-wielding wizards like the Dark Magician and fierce dragons such as the feared Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Here in the tavern, Duel Monsters was but a mere game of cards. But out there in Termnnia's grandest cities, players, called Duelists, had the ability to call monsters in a real form giving the game a greater sense of urgency.
Nothing fogged the mind like an angry Red Dragon Archfiend, which could stand more than ten meters tall, staring you in the face.
The beasts have caused some Duelists to wet their pants and flee from the game in fright. Playing this way was mostly mastered though by the youths who traveled to the school, Duelist Academy, and perfected their craft learning complicated Dueling strategies, sometimes not even flinching at the sight of the monsters.
But as romantic as it was summoning real monsters to the field, the patrons preferred to just play with cards and table tops. A large group of them gathered some tables together and started the annual weekend tournament with a pot of two gold Star Chips as the prize to the winner.
The innkeeper even held out an ultra-rare card to be won as well. A Gaia the Fierce Knight, a warrior whose power was at the top of the charts with a devastating attack power of 2300.
A player with that monster in their deck would be a force to be reckoned with, for the citizens of the town had creatures with 600, 900, even a mere 100 attack points in their decks.
The games were going well with nearly five participants being eliminated from the tournament. The top player, a farm boy of seventeen, was being surrounded by the inn's wenches coming to root him on.
They were scantily dressed in bodice corsets which exposed their shoulders, and tan linen skirts opened at the side to expose their legs.
A lacy garter wrapped around their thighs with rare Duel Monster cards tucked into them as payment.
In Termnnia, rare cards were worth their weight in gold. Sometimes being offered as payment instead of Star Chips and coins. Cards could be used to enhance one's deck and possibly participate in the city tournaments for bigger prizes. Or they could be sold for a handful of coin and chips to purchase enough food to last them a week.
The pretty wenches offered the farm boy kisses of good fortune in exchange for a rare card, and his binder was full of them. He was good friends with the son of the Earl of Ashford and had access to his collection, which was why he was trouncing the competition this night.
Sitting alone by the window, away from the festivities, the stranger was drinking from a jeweled goblet which he took out of his traveling back. Its sparkling gems caught the eyes of many of the patrons. He drew attention with his black coat, armored in layers of engraved black steel over his chest, shoulders and around his waist forming a tasset.
His face hidden in the darkness of his hood trimmed with silver, but the nearby fire revealed a mouth twisted into a grin.
He reached under the table and took out a bottle of Scarlet's Kiss, a bottle of delicious wine from the finest winery in the land of Emboldor, a country far to the West. He poured it into his extravagant goblet and took a loud satisfying sip. The goblet was enchanted to keep his drink as cold as the Arctic North.
Bakura was his name.
He was of the Eldori, a colorful race of people who were born of drawings by Nala, the goddess of art and song. They had an uneasy relationship with Men, but these tavern patrons knew better than to pick a fight with Bakura. There was something about him that made them feel uneasy. They left him alone so that they could play cards in peace, yet many were eyeing his jeweled goblet.
"The Dark Magician Girl!" the farm boy said, slapping his rarest card on the table.
"Oooh," went the other patrons. They circled around the boy to get a better look at the card and admire the suggestive art of the most beautiful monster in the game.
The farm boy continued with his turn.
"I will destroy your Eyearmor monster and that wins me the Duel, and the Gaia the Fierce Knight!"
He picked up his winnings, a pile of copper pennies and three gold Star Chips. He held up Gaia proudly.
"A shame we don't have one of those Duel Disks," said the farm boy's opponent, the son of the town blacksmith. "I'd like to have a look up that skirt of hers when she's played. See what color knickers she's got on...if any."
The other patrons laughed and howled with agreement.
Bakura rolled his eyes. Naturally, tavern patrons would make crude comments about their favorite female Duel Monsters. Kanan the Swordmistress was a good topic for discussion, and the Gemini Elf as well. But no monster stiffened a male's manhood like the sensuous spellcaster: The Dark Magician Girl.
"I heard of an old Duel Monsters legend," said a bearded fellow with a round red nose, sitting near a wooden pillar. "They say that those who lust after the Dark Magician Girl just enough, are then visited by her in the night!"
"Ahh, and what does she do?" asked the town baker.
"Anything her chosen lover wants!" the bearded man replied.
The patrons let out haughty laughs.
"Bah, that's an old wives tale," said the farm boy.
"No, it's true," said a veteran warrior with an eye-patch. "There's talk that she visited The Delight of Termnnia, after the Battle City tournament in Eredas."
The men groaned with lust. Meanwhile, Bakura shook his head and took a violent gulp of wine.
"The Dark Magician Girl and Mai Valentine. In bed with one another," the veteran said, licking his chops. "Aye, now that's the stuff of legend. I'd love to see that action take place."
The farm boy gave a great scoff. "Exactly, it's the stuff of legend. It can't be true. I've had the card for months and she never came."
"Mayhaps, she's just not into your scrawny cock!" said the bearded man.
The others laughed again, slamming their hands on their tables, knocking down flasks and silverware.
"I can think of a few things I would do with that rod of hers if she ever visited me!" laughed the owner of the inn. "And I tell you it won't be for making magic!"
"What a bunch of drunken miscreants," grumbled Bakura.
But he had to let them slide and have fun with their petty legends. Who knows how long it has been since these men had any contact with women, save for the Lady Luck's pretty, young waitress who came by to serve him.
"What would you like to eat milord?" she asked.
"Pulled pork," Bakura answered. "And I am not a lord."
The waitress bowed and scampered away.
A miner nearby could no longer hold his curiosity. He sat up and arrogantly walked towards Bakura. He pulled up a chair and sat down. The wooden frame of the seat creaked and moaned trying to support his weight. The miner leaned forward, placed a gloved hand under his chin and eyed Bakura's cup greedily. The leaves of the bushes outside brushed against the rain-soaked window by his table as if pleading to be let inside.
The miner licked his teeth to remove bits of chicken meat and then he stroked his mustache. Despite his presence, Bakura remained oblivious to his guest.
The inn's waitress arrived with Bakura's meal, a steaming plate of pulled pork doused in herbed honey sauce. Bakura paid the girl handsomely with a small sack of gold Star Chips, and with a wave of his hand sent her away.
"That's a mighty fine cup you've got there," the miner said at last.
Bakura paid him no heed and placed a handkerchief over his lap so the sauce would not drip onto his coat and stain the beautiful leather. He picked up his fork and knife and began to eat his meal. He gracefully dug the fork into the juicy strands of sweetened meat and raised them into his mouth where he chewed them slowly. His mouth arched into a satisfied smile, a sign that he enjoyed the taste of his dinner.
The miner continued to watch Bakura eat. There was tension brewing inside of him, and many of the patrons in the inn could sense a brawl was about to begin any moment now. The musicians felt it too, but they had to proceed to play their songs.
The miner was a bulked-up bully with thick arms covered in hair and marred with tattoos and scars from the many years that he toiled in the mines. He spoke to Bakura again, but he said not a word and poured himself another drink.
"Would you care for some?" Bakura finally said. His cold and scratchy voice almost sending a chill up the miner's spine as though embraced by the winds of winter.
"Ah, so he speaks," said the miner. Yes, I have a brother who works up in Emboldor. He delivers me a few samples from the winery owned by a family of Elves. I hate them pointy-ears, but they sure do know how to make a good drink."
"You have a dislike for the Elves?" said Bakura. "How do you feel about my kind?"
He removed his hood to reveal himself to the miner. He looked like he walked out of picture book. His pink hair was multi-layered and spiked, and his eyes were cold and unforgiving. His face was angular, and his skin as pale as death.
"You're one of them Toons?" said the miner. "Can't say I like you lot either."
"Then you must find elsewhere to sit," said Bakura. "For I do not take kindly to the company of bigots. You, humans, are all the same: Greedy, hateful...and destructive."
The miner let out a heavy snigger. "Be that as it may, you've got a nice, fine cup and I want it."
"Do you?" said Bakura. "Are you accustomed to the game Duel Monsters?"
The miner grinned, showing off his teeth, yellowed from years chewing tobacco. "I couldn't call myself a Termnnian if I didn't play Duel Monsters. If you're insisting on wagering the cup, then I say you're on."
"Very well," said Bakura. "I will wager my cup. But you must wager your soul."
The miner laughed. He didn't believe in that sort of nonsense. He thought the man in front of him was probably another Murk smoker from the Indigo Mountains who read palms and tarot cards. He agreed to the match, reached into his pocket, and slammed his deck onto the table. His cards were old and wrinkled. The edges, once a crisp white, were now a shade of brown mold.
Bakura placed a black rubber mat on his side of the table before putting down his cards. The miner's eyes widened with awe and greed, for Bakura's cards were shiny as if polished, and the borders were in a bright gold that reflected the firelight beautifully.
"What's your name, good sir?" asked the miner.
"Just call me Bakura."
A loud blast of thunder broke the calm of the night once again.
The miner nodded. "Very well, Bakura, I'll start first."
He drew his card from the deck, adding it to his five-card hand.
"Fine," said Bakura. "We will play with two-thousand Life Points, as I am short on time."
"Fine with me, that'll mean I'll be taking that cup a lot sooner. I summon Bio Plant! With a strength of six hundred attack points. Got anything to beat that, do ya?"
"Is that all?" Bakura chuckled, drawing a card from his deck. "You disappoint me. I will summon Three-Headed Geedo in attack position, and he has a strength of thirteen-hundred, more than enough to take out your Bio Plant."
"All right, you got lucky," said the miner.
He now had 1300 Life Points. He drew his next card after Bakura ended his turn.
"Aha, this'll do nicely," the miner said with a smile. "I summon Crazy Fish, with an attack power of sixteen-hundred. And he will destroy your Geedo."
"Nice move." Bakura picked up his defeated monster card and placed it in the discard pile. "I might have underestimated you. But how can your fish fare with this?" Bakura slapped his card on the mat. "Ghoul with an Appetite."
"That ghost has the same attack points as my Crazy Fish," said the miner. "They'll destroy each other if they battle."
"No, they won't," cackled Bakura. "For I will combine it with the power of the Malevolent Nuzzler."
The miner gasped. "A spell card!"
"Indeed. And a very powerful one too, for this card will increase my ghoul's attack by seven hundred for a total of twenty-three hundred attack points. And with that, I will destroy your Crazy Fish."
The miner was stunned when he did the math and realized that Bakura brought him down to 700 Life Points. He drew his next card, muttering prayers of blessing from the Goddess of Luck. His worried look faded and turned into one of joy. His spirits lifted, thinking his prayers had been answered.
"Wait till you see this!" he boasted, smacking his card onto the table. "The Millennium Shield in defense mode; now you can't strike my Life Points."
"Hmm," thought Bakura. "A defense strength of three thousand. Impressive, but you'll have to do better than that I'm afraid."
"What are you talking about? You don't have any monster that can match up to my shield. Your cup is as good as mine."
"So you say," Bakura said with a sinister smile. "But watch as I play the spell card, Stop Defense! This will force your monster into Attack Mode."
The miner slammed his fist on the table. "Shit! My shield has an attack power of zero!"
Bakura sniggered at the miner's despair. "I will strike your shield with my ghoul. That wins me the game and your soul."
The miner suddenly pulled out a dagger from his belt.
"You think some Duel Monsters game is going to stop me from getting your cup!"
He leaned over the table, raised up his arm and he jabbed his weapon into Bakura's chest. The man sneered and rammed his dagger farther and farther into his foe's flesh. He looked up to see if his victim had passed but gasped in utter horror when he saw Bakura didn't even flinch, despite the ten-inch dagger was deep inside of his chest.
Bakura looked at the miner and sneered. He raised his index finger and wagged it to and fro over the man's face.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," teased Bakura.
The inn suddenly got cold. The fire went out and the patrons were gone. The calm music was nowhere to be heard. There was not a sound, save for a spine-tingling moan from the souls wandering the darkness outside the windows. They were nothing but hideous, faceless masses walking about outside.
"What are they!" the miner babbled.
Bakura let out a laugh. The look of fear on people's faces made him hard. "They are lost souls," said he. "Doomed to wander the shadows for all eternity. You shall be joining them soon."
The miner's teeth chattered seeing Bakura's face light up in the gloom. At this moment, he knew he would never again see the sunshine. Never again feel the sensation of cold beer run down his gullet. Never would he feel the flesh of the tavern wenches. After this moment, he would know only darkness and suffering. He heard a loud crunch, followed by a sharp, fiery pain below the waist. He coughed and looked to see what had happened.
Jowls made of shadow were clutching his legs and pulling him to the floor snarling with hunger. The miner grabbed the table with all his might calling for help.
"Fool," said Bakura. "It will do you no good. As of now, nobody even knows you're here. They'll have no memory of you. I promise you'll get used to the darkness soon enough."
Bakura took the dagger out of his chest. He licked the blood from the blade and laughed when he saw tears pouring from the miner's face and snot oozing out of his nose.
With a powerful chop, Bakura cut off the miner's fingers. The miner screamed as the jowls dragged him into the darkest depths of the Shadow Realm. And he was never seen again.
When the miner was gone, the fire returned and the sound of music and laughter came back to the inn. Bakura shuffled his cards and put them back into his coat, before sitting back down. His wound healed instantly.
The waitress approached to take his clean plate.
"May I recommend something to follow with your meal, sir?" asked the waitress. "We've got cream caramel, or may I recommend a slice of apple pie?"
"The caramel will be fine, my dear," Bakura said, finishing the last of his pulled pork. "And a little something extra if you could quench a little more than my thirst tonight."
He placed a velvet sack of small diamonds onto the palm of her hand.
The waitress blushed and gave a cute giggle. "I get off my shift after eleven, sir."
"I will see you then," Bakura said with an ear-to-ear grin.
The waitress suppressed another giggle with her fingers and walked away. Her pigtails were flailing up and down as she playfully scampered back to the kitchen.
The doors to the inn opened, letting in a gust of wind that caused the fire to stutter and the chandeliers to shimmy and shake.
"Welcome to the Lady Luck," the innkeeper said to a man, hooded and cloaked to shield him from the elements outside. "Would you require anything?"
"A glass of water if you don't mind," the man said from the darkness of his hood. He quickly shut the door and spotted Bakura.
"So there you are," the man said taking off his hood to reveal his face.
Like Bakura, he too was of the Eldori race. He had light-blue hair, fringed like Bakura's, and he had a green eye and a gold eye. There was a chain with a green gem hanging over his forehead.
"Dartz," Bakura said, gleefully. "So good of you to join me."
Dartz disapprovingly shook his head. "We march to battle, and yet I find you here feasting, drinking and fraternizing with wenches!"
Dartz pulled up the chair the miner once occupied and sat down.
The waitress came back and brought Dartz his water. Afterward, he waved his hand and shooed her away.
"What reason do you have to be so worried?" Bakura sneered. "We have all but won this night."
"There has been talking as of late. Whispers that the song that thundered in the sky a fortnight ago was the harbinger of a great and ancient power."
Bakura scoffed and shrugged his shoulders without care. "It's just gossip."
Dartz leaned forward. "But it speaks truth. The Celtra you were supposed to eliminate gave birth to a child up north. They were hiding from the church inside of a stable until Yugi Motou rode in from the night and rescued them. The child's birth only adds to my chagrin of that flying Duel Monster: The Winged Egg of New Life. It is a special creature the foresees the birth of children. Special children. The egg flew all over Termnnia the night heroes such as Tiberius Pendragon and Gabriel the Black were born. Now it flies all over Termnnia and then a song that causes dragons to dance shakes the earth. The child that the Celtra has given birth to is the offspring of Gabriel the Black, our fellow Eyar (eh-yar)."
"Gabriel?" Bakura snickered, spilling wine out from between his teeth. "I should have known he had something to do with the Celtra's disappearance."
"He is no fool," Dartz said ominously. "He knew we were hunting his wife. I blame you. You give yourself off too soon summoning that Diabound monster. Gabriel can sense darkness and your creature reeks of fell power."
"But now we have him cornered," said Bakura. "There is nowhere for him to run. Our orc's numbers are far too many for those self-righteous Silver Paladins to contend with."
Dartz shook his head slowly. "We should call off the assault."
Bakura let out a laugh in which the entire inn ceased what they were doing and looked at him.
"Outside!" He got up and stormed out of the inn.
Dartz followed cautiously. Though a wizard of great power, he knew Bakura was just as potent, if not more than he.
"Call off the assault!" Bakura shouted over the pounding rain. The frog on the lily pad jumped back into the water when the two men were outside together. "Do you have any idea of the sacrifices I had to make sneaking those brainless orcs into Thara!"
"I have a bad feeling about this, Bakura. There is a force beyond our own at work here. I fear even the Dark Lord is in great danger. He still has yet to recover from his battle with the spirit of the puzzle!"
"How are you an Eyar of the Higher Power?" Bakura flashed his sinister grin. "You will let rumors, stories, and speculation stop what we have worked so hard to achieve?"
"If you wish to go forth with this madness you shall do so without my Orichalcos Soldiers."
"Then I will have the glory, Dartz. I assure you, turning tail on the master will be paid for with deadly consequences."
"I fear it shall be you and your orcs who will suffer on the battlefield. Though a word of warning before we depart. Vivian Wong and her all-woman mercenary group have been bought for by Yugi. She will be waiting with the Silver Paladins in the battlefield. According to our scouts, they have beaten us to the estate where Gabriel and the Celtra live. Hiding in the mountain fortress of Karad-Antha was a tactical choice for Gabriel, but a foolish one. Our fiend riders patrol the skies so they will not get far. Unless the Silver Paladins beat your orcs there will be nowhere for them to run. Good luck. I pray my suspicions are not justified this night."