Notes and Acknowledgements
First of all, thank you for taking the time to come and take a closer look at this story. I've been working on it for quite some time, and I really hope you will enjoy all the hard work and effort which has gone in to producing it.
While most people on this website make use of Author's Notes throughout their works, for this story, I am going to try and avoid it. I often find myself skipping over them; not because I am not interested, but because I am so caught up in the story, I want to keep reading it. I'm going to do my best to make limited use of them, like now, as an introduction. Really, if I could, I would like this bit to be separate, for the sake of neatness. However, Posting Guidelines say I can't so *shrugs* meh.
Before I begin the story, there are many people who have helped me with writing this, and each and everyone deserves a thank you.
Characters and Inspiration
Courtney Elsworth
Shaun Nicholls
Joe Parmenter
Daniel Pulley
Matthew Allenby
Clara Cortsen
Jack Stockdale
Nathanial Dennison
Annabel Smith
Proof-Readers and Editors
Zoe Fleet
Danny Beattie
Shyam Bhardwa
Everyone on here who has inspired and helped me
Nordic Twin
(Please go and check out their work)
This list will be added to as the project continues.
Just to let you guys know, after I have finished chapter 1 of the story, I will be taking the NaNoWriMo challenge for this story. From the very start of chapter 2, I have to write 50,000 words before the end of November. This will all be first draft work and will need editing before I will publish it here. In theory, that will mean I have 11 or 12 chapters to edit and publish once the month is out. Wish me luck; I have a feeling I will need it.
Also, please note that the full names of any cards played in any duel over the course of the story will be highlighted with italics, just to make is easier for people wanting to look them up.
That is all from me as your author. Please turn to the next chapter for the prologue of the story.
Again, thank you so much for reading.
Mitsuki
Prologue – The Strangest Dream
Darkness.
Nothing but darkness to surround.
She stirred. She felt the floor beneath her; solid stone and ice cold. Running her hands across the floor, she could feel something rough and rolling.
'Sand?' she pondered as she sat up and looked around. Across the room the dancing flame of a torch illuminated the wall to which it was affixed. She carefully stood up, unsure of the height of the ceiling, and began to slowly shuffle towards the light. The sand rolled beneath her bare feet as she carefully slid herself closer and closer. She reached out and pried the torch from its fixture and lifted it above her head, in attempt to make sense of where she was.
It was near impossible to make out anything in front of her; the room seemed to be so big, the torch's amber light could not reach the opposite wall. She turned to take a closer look at the wall behind her and what she saw surprised her. It was covered in intricate carvings, which seemed to be aligned vertically. She ran her finger down, looking carefully at each one, as if trying to understand them. She started to follow the wall, reading the carefully carved pictograms as she went. Occasionally, she would stop and gaze at the tall figures which frequented the carvings. Some reached up to the top of the scriptures and all the way to the floor, while others seemed to be indented into the text - everything seemed to have a purpose.
After a while, she noticed the light seemed to be a little stronger; she stopped, turned and was met by another wall, also covered in carvings. She looked around and was in what appeared to be a very long passageway, for she could neither see where she had come from, nor where she was going. Taking a deep breath she raised the torch and continued walking. The carvings she was previously fascinated by no longer seemed to be of interest. The mysterious passageway seemed to go on for ages, but finally, a light was visible at the end. She picked up her pace a little, until she had broken into a run.
When she stopped, she was in a chamber lit by a fiery glow like the one she held. She looked around. It was laid out in a rather regal manner, with pillars lining the central walkway. Each pillar was decorated with the same intricately carved figure, which looked like a guard; they all faced inwards. Their spears leaned in such a way that it looked like they were lit by the torches hanging on the inner face. The walls were also covered in carvings. Still clutching the torch, she slowly walked across the middle of the room, watching the guards as she passed them. She stopped at the bottom of the stone steps and looked up; what she saw caused her to step back. After a moment, she carefully climbed the stairs and put the torch in to an aged metal stand, which was conveniently nearby and gazed in awe at the stone tablet in front of her.
Two men stood either side of a basket of flames; each one had a hand raised towards the light. On the left, a fairly tall man stood; his seemingly short hair was hidden by his large ceremonial hat. He held a long sceptre in his right hand. The man on the right seemed to have a somewhat regal presence about him. He was clearly better dressed than the first man, but that wasn't saying much. His spiky hair was ordained with a headdress and round his neck hung an inverted triangle. Above them, two creatures seemed to float; over the left-hand man, a dragon, and the right, a strangely dressed mage. Surrounding them were more hieroglyphs, as well as some smaller images encased in rectangles. At the top was an inverted triangle, just like the one the man on the right wore.
She stood for what felt like ages, studying the tablet in all its detail. It was exactly as she thought it would be. Suddenly, she sensed a presence behind her and turned to find the room had completely changed.
She was now stood on the top of a tall plinth. Below her was a darkened chamber with two men, one on each side. It was difficult to make out any detail on either of them. They raised their hands towards the flaming basket between them and the room began to shake. Tablets of stone began to rise from the floor in front of them. She stumbled, trying to keep her balance. When the stones clicked in to place, the shaking stopped. As the tablets turned to the centre, a breeze brushed across her face.
She turned.
A door.
She turned back.
The room was as it once was; the pillar guards stood, watching, their spears ablaze. She turned back again. The door was still there. After looking back and forth several times to see if the room would change again (it didn't), she started to walk towards the door.
The door seemed rather out of place. It was large and made of metal, but was surrounded by sandy-coloured, hieroglyph covered stone. She reached out and tried to open it; it took a little persuasion, but eventually, the door opened towards her. She peered inside. It was dark, but another door was opposite the doorway she stood in. She looked around; all she could see was darkness, to the point where the room seemed to have no shape to it. She decided to chance it and stepped through. She turned around to see the door shut with a loud bang. She gulped and turned back to look at the door on the far side of the room. 'I guess the only way is onwards' she thought.
She took a step and found that there appeared to be no floor, but her foot stopped and she felt stable. She took another step and the same thing happened - it was as if she was walking on air. She moved through the darkness, towards the door. She reached out and pulled herself towards it; it opened as she did. There was a blinding flash of light before she found herself somewhere else.
Grey stone; everything was made of it. There were floors and stairs going every which way. None of it made any sense. The walls were littered with more of the same plain metallic doors. She looked around in awe at the number of them. She wandered towards one of them and opened it. The room on the other side was empty; the same plain grey stone. She didn't go in, she just closed the door again. She pondered before going to look at another door. She did the same – open the door and peer in to the empty room, then close it again – for the second and several doors which followed. She was not scared or panicked by any of this; in fact, quite the opposite. Something about this was familiar; she knew it, but what, she couldn't quite figure out.
She continued to wander around through the labyrinth, taking random turns whenever she felt like it. She checked the doors she passed every so often; all the rooms were empty. The fact she was finding nothing was beginning to concern her. But even so, she kept going, she kept searching.
Then she found it; something different to the twisting corridors and stairs which seemed to lead to nowhere. An open space with only one door on the opposite wall. There was only one problem. She was a long way above that open space, and she didn't think jumping would be a good idea. She turned to start walking again, but something made her stop.
On the corner of the walkway she was on, stood a man. His hair was mostly spiked up in long dark points; the tips of each one seemed to shimmer with a magenta sheen. His fringe was blond, and some of it seemed to stick up at peculiar angles. She couldn't help but stare in to the eyes looking back at her; amethyst. Something about him exuded power, though what she didn't know.
He didn't say a word. Instead, he turned and began to walk away. She wasn't sure if she would have been more shocked if he had said something.
"Hey!" She called out; she started after him.
He turned a corner and she followed. She tried to catch up to him, but he was too quick; every time she could see him, he just turned the next corner. The way he walked was unwittingly regal and slow, frustratingly so since, even almost running, she couldn't catch up to him. Upstairs, downstairs, u-turns; his path seemed to make no sense, but he knew where he was heading. She kept going, following him, until, suddenly, he was no longer there.
She looked around. The stone was still as grey. The doors were still made of metal. There were still flights of stairs which made no sense. Then she noticed the wall in front of her; there was just one door, decorated with a golden eye. He had been leading her to the exit!
"Thanks!" She called out, but trailed off, unsure of whether he could hear her. She turned and walked towards the door. As she opened it, she could almost sense him smiling. She took no notice and stepped through the door.
Now she was out in a corridor. Darkness was the only thing which could be seen at either end. Just a little to her left was another door. It was made of a varnished golden wood; light seemed to play off of it, despite the lack of a source. It was set into a wall of purple-coloured stone.
The door behind her closed with a bang, causing her to jump. She stepped back and looked at it. A golden eye stared back at her. The surrounding wall was covered in vine-like patterns in a multitude of colours. It seemed eerie, yet she was not afraid. She turned back to face the other door. It was closed. She took a deep breath before reaching out and knocking.
"Hello," she called out somewhat nervously. There was a small pause.
"Hello?" A voice called back from inside; it sounded young and male.
"C-c-can I come in?" She stammered. There was another pause.
The door then opened, and out peeked a young man, no taller than her (and she was not exactly tall either). His hair was mostly black and spiked with a magenta hue. His blond fringe hung limp around his face. He stared at her with his amethyst eyes for a few moments while she stood still, once again shocked by the appearance of the person in front of her. After a while he opened the door to let her in. She seemed to relax and walked inside.
It was an incredibly light and airy space; it looked just like a young boy's bedroom. It was filled with toys and games, a lot of which were left, played, scattered across the floor. On one side of the room was a fluffy looking bed. It had two chests beneath it, one of which was open and slightly over spilling. There were a few pictures hung on the walls, adding to the impression of innocence. She turned around to see him closing the door behind him. She began to look nervous again.
"So..." He looked a little nervous as well. "Who exactly are you anyway? And how did you get here?"
"Well... eh..." She looked around. It was clear how nervous and confused she was. "My name is Jessica. Jessica Snowfield. And, to be honest, I don't know how I got here."
"That's strange." He sounded concerned. "What do you mean?"
"Well... All I remember is waking up and being in darkness. I managed to find a torch, then found myself wandering through several labyrinths before..." She paused, unsure of whether or not to mention the other man she saw. "Before I found myself here."
"Hmmm..." He looked away from her for a moment. 'How did she end up here?' He wondered. It was not that he didn't believe her story; something still didn't add up quite right. He looked back at her again. She nervously nudged a wooden block with her toe.
"Sorry it's not very tidy in here." He looked slightly embarrassed. "I wasn't expecting any guests; least of all here."
"It's fine" Jessica's friendly smile shattered the previous awkwardness. "I wasn't expecting to end up here either!" It was only a half truth. Originally, she didn't know where she was going to end up, but that changed when she met the other man in the labyrinth.
He laughed. 'She seems nice enough, whoever she is.' He offered out his hand.
"I'm Yugi, by the way. Yugi Muto."
She reached out and shook his hand. The two smiled at each other. Something seemed to click between them in that moment, but that moment didn't last for long.
The room suddenly seemed to go dark and cold. A sense of malevolence seemed to seep under the door.
"What's going on?" Jessica shuddered as she looked towards the now duller door.
"I-" Yugi started, but the room started to shake violently as a satanic laugh pierced the air. Jessica clung to Yugi's arm as he made for the door. He threw it open so they could hide beneath the frame, but what was on the other side caused them to stop and stare.
The corridor Jessica expected to see had vanished; it was as if it had never been there. Instead, a small shelf of smouldering stone was beneath their feet, but they could feel no heat from it. An eerie red glow seemed to cover everything in sight, but that was not very much. The slab of rock they were on extended barely more than two metres in front of them.
But then they looked up and found that the extent of the ledge was the least of their worries.
A giant crystal matrix hung in the space in front of them, glowing crimson. Just the sight of it was enough to send a shiver of terror through even the most courageous of men, and Jessica and Yugi were no exception to the rule. Without thinking, she gripped his hand tightly, but Yugi didn't seem to care. 'What kind of crazy nightmare is this?!' She struggled to comprehend what was happening. As if wandering through several labyrinths weren't bad enough!
Suddenly, there was a loud crash behind them; the door they had come through was no longer there. No sooner had their lack of escape route sank in, the satanic laugh began to fill the air again. It seemed to be coming from the crystal itself. The pair of them froze, their gaze fixed on the crystal, neither knowing what to do.
Suddenly, Jessica sensed something behind her. She turned and looked to see even more people there. She barely had time to register them all before a scream pierced the laughter. She quickly turned back.
Around the crystal, scenes of chaos seemed to float like clouds. Terrified people, fleeing from multi-story buildings as they collapsed around them, but there was too much red smog to make out the time of day. Somewhere else, a burning mushroom cloud formed, obliterating everything for miles around. Above them, another scene materialised; trucks driving along a dirt track road, people's heads hung out of the slats on the sides, gasping for clean air, looking lost and forlorn.
Suddenly, a thick fog began to develop around them. Jessica and Yugi clung to each other as the crystal faded from view. Despite the thickness of the fog, it did not choke them. A scene began to form around them; a city. The skies were dark and smog-filled. The artificial street light gave everything a disconcerting glow. They looked around the empty streets. Nothing was there, and then suddenly came a screech of some kind. She had never heard anything like it before. They looked up at the sky as a dragon, skin like searing lava, flew overhead. It flew low along the road they were on; its wingspan was so great, they couldn't see the tips of its wings as it glided up the street. It launched a fireball at the tower at the end of the block. People's screams filled the air as Jessica and Yugi stood there, watching in horror, able to do nothing. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed another dragon; bright blue and silver, shining like a star.
"We should get out of here." Yugi was clearly worried and not sure what to do. He grabbed Jessica's hand and began to run; she didn't resist. She looked over her shoulder for the other people she vaguely remembered seeing to find them gone. She didn't have time to question it before Yugi had pulled her round a corner, onto another street. The pair of them kept running. Yugi seemed to know where he was going. Jessica didn't question it. They turned several more corners; several more dragons flew overhead: a pale turquoise one, with crystal-covered knees, a black one with glowing red eyes, one which was half back and half white. On and on they ran.
A dragon flew down, stopping the pair in their tracks. It stared at them with its bright blue eyes. They stared back at it, not sure whether staying still of fleeing was the better option. It tilted its head. It looked just like the dragon in the stone tablet she had seen earlier.
Neither party moved, then, suddenly, the dragon launched itself into the air. Jessica and Yugi watched the dragon hover; it still had its eyes on them. It opened its mouth and a ball of white hot energy began to form. They didn't have a chance to move before it reared its head and prepared to strike.
But nothing hit them; before it could, the strangely dressed mage from the tablet darted in front of them. He stopped the blast with his sceptre, the energy split and defused. He turned to the pair, both who were still clearly in shock.
"Run." His tone was deep and clear. Jessica grabbed Yugi's hand this time and began pulling him along. They ran round, past the dragon, and kept going in the same direction as they had been.
"Which way Yugi?" Jessica called to him.
"Next left!"
They dodged round the corner and kept going. Suddenly, Yugi stopped and pulled Jessica down an alleyway. As his back hit the wall there was a loud crash as another bright blaze of energy hit a building, which would have been just in front of them, causing it to come crashing to the ground.
As the light faded, Jessica became aware she was in Yugi's arms. She looked at him as he pondered whether or not it was safe to keep on running. A sense of power seemed to come from him. Then he turned back to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Jessica nodded. She was confused; had he changed or not? She didn't get a chance to finish the train of thought before Yugi grabbed her wrist again.
"Let's go." He pulled her out on to the street, and the pair started dodging round the blocks again.
After a while Yugi began to slow down, as did Jessica. She looked up. He building they were approaching had a sign above the door; 'Kame Game'. It was at that point she realised where she was.
But before she could say anything, the ground began to shake so violently that they were both thrown off balance, and couldn't move. Cracks began to form in the ground in front of them as the ground kept shaking.
Then the ground split. Everything seemed to float for a brief moment. Then everything plummeted down the newly formed hole, including Jessica and Yugi. They screamed and reached out to keep ahold of each other.
But then, they suddenly stopped. They looked down into the dark abyss as the rubble around them kept going. They looked up; the hole they had fallen through was no longer there. Around them was only darkness, yet they could see each other perfectly clearly.
For a while, all they could hear was each other breathing.
"Are you alright?" Yugi reached out and put his free hand on Jessica's shoulder. She nodded.
"You?" She asked, to which he nodded.
Suddenly, whispers started to come from around them. They looked around, trying to spot the source. Small flashes of light, tiny voices in the dark; they came closer and closer.
"Help me!"
"助けて!(Tasukete)"
"Helfen Sie mir!"
"Pomóż mi!"
"Help me!"
"Giúp tôi!"
"Aidez-moi!"
"Hjælp mig!"
"帮帮我吧!(Bāng bāng wǒ ba)"
"Help me!"
Flashes of people from all walks of life appeared in the bursts of light.
A girl with long golden bunches - "助けて!"
A dark haired man with olive skin – "Aiutatemi!"
A teenage girl with bright red hair - "Hjælp mig!"
A blond man with a curled eye-brow - "Aidez-moi!"
A dark haired boy with a lightning bolt scar – "Help me!"
A young girl with long deep purple hair screwed up her face - "助けて!"
A robotic voice let out a deathly cry before a brunette screamed – "Help me!"
The pair of them watched the people's cries. So many people calling for help and there was nothing they could do.
"Only you can save us all."
The voice which said it sounded clear and stern; a voice wizened with age. Jessica and Yugi looked around for the source of it. It was certainly closer than the other voices they had been hearing.
A man materialised in front of them. He was quite tall and dressed in a long white robe. His head was covered by a white turban. When they looked in to his eyes, their instinct was to trust him, though neither of them would have been able to explain why.
"Please," he pleaded. "You are the only ones who can help."
"But what can we do?" Yugi asked what Jessica was thinking.
Before he could respond, the space seemed to darken further and the man started to fade from view.
"I don't have much time." He looked incredibly worried. "Remember what you have seen." Around him, six faces appeared. They were only visible for a moment, but Jessica was sure she had seen each and every one of them before.
As quickly as they had appeared, the robed man and the six faces vanished from sight. Jessica and Yugi were left in the darkness. They clung to each other, neither knowing what to expect next.
Then, opposing gusts of wind tried to wrench them apart. They clung to each other as tight as they could, but even then, that was not enough.
"Don't let go!" Jessica screamed against the blast of air. Yugi fought as hard as he could, as did she. But it didn't work. They lost their grip.
"Yugi!"
"Jessica!"
Jessica sat up violently, causing the cards covering her lap to shower off her duvet, on to the floor. She held her swimming head, trying to steady herself and make sense of where she was. She looked over at her desk. The electric lamp was still glowing and the clock said five to seven. She sat back against the headboard and looked up at the ceiling.
"Wow…"
