I'm back with a new story. This one is quite different than the others I wrote. It's AU (Alternative Universe) filled with mystery and not only that, since my imagination sometimes is out of control and I love Greek mythology I think I can mix a lot of things and info.
A war, prophesies, hidden secrets, bloodlines, ancients forces, legends, forbidden love… mostly a narration surround it with everything unnatural. So prepare yourself to read the unusual… the strange one… because into the world of inspiration and imagination, there are no rules.
Disclaimer 1: I don't own the cover image! I found it on the Internet so the credit goes to the original artist! I just edited it and put the title.
Disclaimer 2: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I own only the title and the plot of this story.
Chapter 1 – Memories
I took a deep breath... The night was dark but in the tranquility of the darkness, myths and legends were resting. Lost for eternity as the memories fade and the years dazzle them, condemning them into oblivion.
Sparks flared in my hands, faintly illuminating the ground. Faces, pale and tired, but full of life, stirred around me. I'm not alone and the mere thought of my companions calms my heart and sweetens the bitter taste of breathing.
Who am I? I'm a simple human. A humble man. Is what I hold within my heart the most precious treasure? Is this where the knowledge and the wisdom abandon me, giving me the greatest gift...? The ultimate blessing and the final choice... but beyond this decision, there is no way back. No one can serve two camps…
Sparks flared again and this time flames sprang to life, slowly being fed as the wind embraced them. The flames wavered as they slowly began to lick the timber and grow further. Soon a fire smoldering with the auburn flames began to sway in an irregular rhythm.
Cold wind blew, making the flames flicker. The frozen gust of wind made my body shiver and instinctively I rubbed my bare arms in an attempt to soothe my body through friction. My little companions gasped and crouched further together, fixing their gazes upon the fire as the flames began to dance in the night breeze, rocking their auburn bodies in the wind.
"It's alright." My voice was a whisper and barely audible, but enough to calm them down.
"This night is more daunting than the others," the youngest girl murmured, pulling her knees into her chest and hugged them.
I lifted my eyes into the dark sky. There was no moon tonight and the darkness around us was thick. I felt that if I were to stretch my hand I would be able to touch it. Within the subdued light I can see deep into their eyes...I can see their fears and their suffering. The war affected us all… All of us! It has left its mark, engraved with indelible ink, inside our hearts, our minds and our lives. Nothing is the way it used to be.
"When can we go home?" a boy whispered, but his question was seeking no real answer.
He knew, just like everyone else knew, the answer. It was more like a complaint, or a legitimate question inside his pure heart. We can't go home. The war had come so swiftly and we had no choice but to leave… leave our home forever. For me it's not the first time. My memories are still clear, but most of my kind prefers to turn a blind eye. They – we, never learn from our previous mistakes.
History repeats itself simply because nobody listens… nobody sees but most important… nobody remembers. But I can't blame them for forgetting. The mind is just too complicated to control and it has a will of its own; sometimes seeing when the eyes are sealed, others understand when we refuse too.
But it's not our minds that scare me the most. Because there's something else that we – as humans - are carrying within us… we have a heart whose beat are limited, and one day it will stop beating. And seeing what I saw, I surely can say that the most deadly weapon is the heart and everything it begets. Our feelings are untamed and wild like horses running freely in the plains.
The night looks as hard as diamonds. Nevertheless it was not quiet. I don't even need to concentrate to hear the messages that the wind carries with it from the distant edges of the galaxy.
Secrets screaming in the night, calling for attention. But the world has forgotten to read the signs. Cries and screams are now covering the nights, tuning the clocks to flow more slowly, leaving us and many others to suffer more in the world of those who are still dreaming.
I touched the ground, wondering if what I feel is true or not… I closed my eyes trying to see the world –the real world - around me. But I can't. I'm still dreaming, just like all the others… Perhaps it would be enough as just a thought... an idea... and the whole world is changing form and status... A single question emerged once again through the dark chaos of my recollection, spinning around my head, and burning me from the inside, like a hot poison…
'What if I had the chance to change it…? What if I had the chance to prevent all…? The war… the distraction…'
But who am I to be able to fight against gods and demons? I'm just a man… and it doesn't matter if I wasn't always like this… even if the mark on my forehead still shines and inside my veins the Code is still alive.
I brought my hands before my eyes; staring at them I couldn't help but wonder…
What am I capable of doing in this form?
He said that humans are the most formidable and dangerous species in the universe and to never underestimate them. And since the one, who said it has no reason to lie, and no lie had ever sounded from his lips, I too have no reason not to believe him. But still… why did he say it?
We are just humans… we hold no special gifts. We control no forces of the outside world. We cannot see or hear or feel what the others can… or possess the same knowledge. The only thing we know more than them… is that we will face Death one day… unlike them, we are mortals.
And again he said that this was the one gift that Kami gave to us, and for many years of my short life I wasn't able to understand why Death is a gift. But now I do… and maybe… maybe the answer to every question begins with the one and only privilege that we – as humans - have against all the others.
"This night seems endless…" one of the older girls said and her voice sounded like she was far away.
"Just like the war?" the youngest girl's eyes were filled with terror.
"No," I stated slowly, immediately gaining my companions attention.
"About the night or the war?"
"As long as there is life in the universe the war will never end," I refused to meet her eyes. After all, this statement wasn't exactly the best or the most hopeful and the kids around me needed comfort.
But I believe that even with such an awful truth, it is always better to comfort than to lie.
"Why does Kami allow it?" one of the girls asked.
"For reasons we will never be able to understand."
"But why?" the older boy protested learning forward, searching for my eyes. I glanced away. "We are not babies anymore nor are we stupid. If you explain we will understand."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and I found myself in an unpleasant position, where I had to explain the Kami's will, a will that will always be a mystery to us.
I took a deep breath and sealed me eyes closed.
"Everyone…" I opened my eyes and locked their gazes in mine. No one dared to look away, as all of them were hanging on my words. "Big or not have its own plans. But all of them promote Kami's plans."
"Tell us please. You said that one day you would narrate the story," the youngest girl pleaded looking at me with a slight smile in her face.
"Yes, tell us!" many of kids requested all in one voice.
"You have to go to bed soon, perhaps tomorrow…" I tried to find a decent excuse but they cut me off.
"You always say that, but you never tell us the next day. We want to know!" the older boy said again, but this time he raised his voice a bit.
I was ready to disagree when something caught me, stopping me from raising my voice too and ordered them to go to sleep. It wasn't the first time anyway, but tonight it was different. I lifted my eyes into the moonless sky… a new moon… clouds were running above us and I thought I saw some flashes inside them. Maybe some gods out there are fighting again… or soon rain will fall to the ground.
"Tell us please, but from the beginning… we want to hear the entire story," the youngest girl purred and I finally gave up.
I did my best to save and protect them from the war but they are right… the war reached us wherever we were; it was only a matter of time.
I moved my hand to touch the ground. For only a moment I wished I was one with the earth… the Earth…. I trailed my fingers through the soil.
"No matter how many years go by… this land will still be here. It would persist, unaffected and uninvolved and one day will cover us all…" I muttered sadly before I steeling myself, forcing a smile onto my face.
The night was dark… a silence reigned, which can be easily broken. All I have to do is to speak the right words. How many battles I will have to narrate, I wonder… I never counted them.
"…At every start there is a balance, as there is no being without dual nature. The world that eyes show to us as are fake, but also digital. You will find positive and negative standing side by side. Fighting one another, but also to cooperate so their existence continues to exist. They are natural allies and enemies. And any matter that we can perceive with the five insufficient senses and everything that exists in the World of Dreams, has it's one self, but it's opposite too…"
My voice faded slowly as my mind traveled back into my memories. I placed a hand above my chest, counting my heartbeats, as they suddenly rose up as something else… something more than blood flowed in my veins.
First chapter and I bet you are already confused. But don't worry; things will clear up soon… I hope. This will be AU to the max…
My special thanks to my lovely friends Scarletleaf66 and Ria D'Arcy, for beta reading this for me!
Please review! I love reading your thoughts… ^_^