And now, for the next installment, PART I of the Legend of the Blue Eyes White Dragon!
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1000 Years After Exodia's Sealing
The world had undergone many changes after the end of Exodia.
When the planet was created, each power that Exodia granted to the planet had created its own continent. With six powers, including darkness, six continents were all separated by the Sea of Darkness.
Each of the continents was one of the places that had emitted a beam to disable Exodia, so long ago, and thus, the beings that lived on each of them were influenced by the residual energy of the continent.
Upon the continent of Light, the beings there became more angelic, some even attaining the powers of Fairies or the abilities of Thunder.
In the Wind continent, the creatures had gained the powers of flight, causing Dragons, Insects, and Winged Beasts to arise there.
In the molten land of Fire, Pyro, Dinosaur, and Reptile types flourished.
Water's swampy area was the home of Fish, Aqua, and Sea Serpents.
The continent of Darkness twisted the life-forms in its boundaries into Fiends and Zombies.
Earth's continent was the most varied of all, in the center of all the others. Men stayed the same on this continent, developing armies of Warriors and Machines. Some men turned to the magic arts, becoming Spellcasters. The natural life, like Beasts and Plants, stayed mostly the same.
The pieces of Exodia, now long forgotten, resided on 5 of the continents, the one that didn't have a piece being that of Darkness, as they could not be trusted when they had such evil hearts.
And as such, the world continued.
3000 Years After Exodia's Sealing
For reasons unknown to this day, the five continents that held a piece of Exodia became seismically active, and in a great Cataclysm joined together as one giant continent. Each of the lands still retained their energies, though, and the creatures that left their homelands for new areas of the continent were undeniably altered by their new surroundings.
The terrain of the planet was now different. The one great continent was a ring-shaped one that encircled the planet from north to south. To the west, there was nothingness in the unexplored endless sea. To the west, there was the Continent of Darkness contained within the Sea of Darkness.
Unknown to the inhabitants of the continent, the powers of Darkness were gaining ever more strength. The Dark Continent gained more land day by day, and its agents infected the other lands with the taint of evil.
2000 Years after the Cataclysm
Civilization finally seemed to have landed on it's feet. The continents had both separated into several kingdoms.
The inhabitants of the Sea were governed by The Furious Sea King, using his trident that contained the Power of Kaishin.
The creatures of the forest were led by the Green Phantom King, a simple plant sprite.
The beings of the Dark Continent were divided between King Fog and Dark King of The Abyss.
The central kingdom of men was overseen by the Ruler of the Blue Flame, aided by his loyal swordsman Kagemusha.
The rest of the planet seemed to simply be a system of natural order.
This is where our hero's story begins.
"Gaia, get up, you lazy dog!"
A young man of no more than eighteen got a rude awakening as he was doused with a bucket of icy water.
"You're not hurt, you landed on your back, not your head!"
An older man pulled Gaia up to his feet.
"You need to get better, and fast. The jousting tournament is in two days and you're still acting like a rookie!"
"Sorry, Dad. I'm just not great at keeping my balance on a rabid Frenzied Panda!"
The angry beast huffed at Gaia, then went back to eating his bamboo.
"I wish we could afford a horse, son, but this is the best we can do. You can just use one of the horses that the tournament is supplying."
"How am I supposed to practice when even the animal cops an attitude?!"
"We don't have many options! I'm too old to enter and we need this money...our family could finally afford to move out of this kingdom to somewhere with opportunities. We're doing this for you and your sister!"
Gaia promptly let the subject drop.
"Anyways, let's break for lunch. Maybe you'll perform better on a full stomach."
They had gone up to a hill about five miles away from the city to train for an upcoming jousting tourament. The hill was clear and flat to allow for easy training without any distractions from the markets. It was always such a boring little village. It was by no means as big or grand as he'd heard the Fortress of Blue Flame was, and he had always wanted a little more action. Bored and hungry, he decided to take a nap while lunch was being prepared.
The skies, previously blue, darkened with ominous clouds. Gaia's father took notice.
"Something's not right here...Gaia, wake up."
"Huh? I smell smoke...you didn't burn lunch, did you?!"
"No, Gaia, I haven't even gotten the fire up yet...and the skies have darkened....it's strange."
"Dad, I think we should get out of the forest...it looks like maybe there's a fire."
With that, they took their Panda and left the hilltop, heading out of the forest.
When they reached the forest's edge, they stopped dead in their tracks.
The city was a flaming inferno. The smoke from the fires was so severe that the sun itself had been blotted out.
Gaia jumped on the Panda and rode as fast as he could...his thoughts turned to his family.
Mom...Sis! I've got to get them out!
As he rode, he discovered the cause of the destruction.
A strange dragon, like nothing he'd ever seen, came diving from above the smoke. It was strafing the city, firing blasts, the likes of which no human had ever witnessed.
It was massive, at least fifty feet tall and over one hundred feet long. It's coloring was a luminous white, with massive wings and piercing blue eyes...Gaia had never even heard of such a creature.
He was only a mile away from his house when he sighted his mother and sister running out of the city. He immediately yelled for them.
"Mom, Sis!! Over here!!!"
His family heard his call, and began their run to him. Had only ten more seconds passed, and they would have been safe. But it was not to be.
The dragon's blast came over them, and in a flash of blinding light, no trace of the women were left.
Reality stopped then for Gaia. He no longer comprehended anything. He stopped dead in his tracks, motionless. He stayed like that for an hour, tears running down his cheeks silently.
The Day After
Revenge. Vengeance. Payback.
Many names for the same thing, but all had possessed Gaia. In the chaos of the cleanup, he claimed for himself the finest of the town's horses. He had one last talk with his devastated father.
"Dad. You know this is what I have to do."
"I know...I just wish that I could help. Wait...maybe I can."
His father walked over to the wreckage of their home and felt around on the floor. After a few seconds, he pulled up a trapdoor on the floor and pulled out something wrapped in cloth. He then proceeded to hand it to Gaia.
"This has been in our family for thousands of years. It's supposed to be able to empower any warrior to his limits. It's the Legendary Sword."
Gaia unwrapped the weapon from it's cloth holder and strapped it to his back.
"Thanks, Dad. I'll return someday."
His father told him to seek out a certain magician in the nearest town...it had been rumored that that man knew something about the wereabouts of the white dragon.
And so Gaia arrived in the nearby city which his father had spoken of the next day. He dismounted and asked a passerby.
"Excuse me, sir, but I've heard rumors of a powerful spellcaster that knows much about the dragon that attacked yesterday...by chance, do you know of him?"
"I think you're looking for the Dark Magician. He's a bit of a drifter, but he's staying in that cottage at the outskirts of town."
And so Gaia headed for the cottage and walked inside.
"I'm looking for the Dark Magician! I need to know where that dragon that destroyed our city is!"
A voice in the dark house answered.
"You shouldn't enter without knocking, boy. It isn't polite."
Gaia's body was suddenly surrounded by a strange purple light. He then was flung through the straw roof of the cottage and landed outside. The man who had been inside walked out into the light. He was a tall blonde man, wearing a strangle purplish suit and a pointy hood.
"Now, what was so important that you felt the need to burst into my home uninvited?"
Gaia, more than a bit irritated at this point, tried to contain his temper long enough to get some information.
"My city was destroyed by some strange white dragon yesterday! Hundreds are dead, and it's up to me to avenge my family!"
The dark mage stiffened at the mention of the dragon.
"Tell me, kid, did this dragon have eyes that were oddly colored?"
"Yeah, they were really blue. What does that have to do with anything?"
The magician sighed.
"It's as I feared then...the Blue Eyes White Dragon has returned."
"What are you babbling about? I want to know about that thing that killed my mother and sister!"
"Come in, we've got much to discuss."
The Dark Magician spent the rest of the day teaching Gaia about the history of the world. Spellcasters were widely known for their excellent historical knowledge, and the Dark Magician was no exception. Gaia was shocked to learn that the old legends of Exodia were actually the truth.
The Blue Eyes White Dragon was one of the very earliest creatures on the planet. In the beginning, when Exodia had granted the planet with life-forms, dragons had been among them. But when the energy streams left the planet to seal Exodia, a creature had been used as an avatar to transfer the energy of the planet to a stream that could leave into space; the energy gave the creatures incredible powers of whatever attribute's stream they'd been used as an avatar for. The Blue Eyes White Dragon was one of these creatures, the avatar of Light's energy stream; it gave the dragon vast energy and power, as well as unnaturally long life.
The Dark Magician told how the avatars became so powerful that they, too, had to be locked away. This had been the duty of the Dark Magician's family.
"If it was your family's responsibility to make sure the Blue Eyes never returned, what happened? Why are my mother and sister dead?!"
"The Dark Continent has been gaining too much power during these last three thousand years. And when any attribute of this world becomes too powerful, the avatar of the opposite attribute awakens. The Blue Eyes is back because evil is starting to take a foothold on our continent. I couldn't do anything to stop it."
"Then tell me where it lives and I'll do it."
The Dark Magician pulled a Book of Secret Arts out and handed it to Gaia.
"There's a map of the world in there. To get to the Blue Eyes, you must pass through two kingdoms: Celtia and Dracon. The Celtic land is mostly meadows and some forests, but Dracon is a dark land of dragons...the Blue Eyes White Dragon would undoubtedly go to be with it's breathren."
"Then that's where I'm going."
Gaia prepared to ride out of town, heading to the land of the Celts. Before he left, the Dark Magician gave him something wrapped in cloth.
"Keep that hidden and out of sight until you've found the Blue Eyes. It's an old relic, but it's as powerful as ever. While you're in Celtia, keep an eye out for an elf swordsman...he's a friend of mine."
"Thanks for your help, magician."
With that, Gaia left the Dark Magician and rode south to Celtia.
::::NEXT TIME, the conclusion of the Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon!:::