Prologue
In the year 2100, technology had become much more advanced. Now people are spending much of their free hours going to a virtual world known as Teknisk Wereld (translates to Technical World in English). This place is only able to be accessed when turning thirteen. Why? It's a dangerous area-while safeguards usually prevent deaths, serious injuries are still possible.
Anyway, when turning thirteen, you are given three things: an Envoyant Machine, a Duel Disk, and a Soul Card. The Envoyant Machine is basically a helmet-like device that "transports" your mind to Teknisk Wereld. The Duel Disk generates holograms of the cards that are used in the real world and Teknisk Wereld. Oh, forgot to mention that, didn't I? People carry around decks in both worlds. They are from a game called Duel Monsters. Played for fun and for serious reasons, hardly anyone lacks a deck these days.
Then you have the Soul Card. From this card comes your Soul Monster. This monster, based off one in the Duel Monsters game, is to remain bonded with you for life. Also, this monster is to be your Deck Master in duels. Deck Masters give the game a unique twist; each one comes with a special ability that can turn the duel to your favor.
In Teknisk Wereld v.1, Hope Gales was finally able to go to Teknisk Wereld. There she met most of her best friends; Rue, Max, Will, Claire, and Brandi. She also met their Soul Monsters; Ruecian, Olympion, Neo, Perseus, Mana, and her own, Gaston. When the Generals of Hell began to kill innocents to fulfill the conditions of the Ritual of 1000 Souls, the six teens went out to stop them. Through many sacrifices, Hope was finally able to confront the one they revived; Satan himself. How she managed to survive is still unknown, but apparently there is more to her than meets the eye…
In Teknisk Wereld v.2, they were up against a new group: the Commanders of Heaven. But instead of wanting to revive God, they wanted to overthrow him. Although the Commanders were much more clever than the Generals, the group had new friends as well. Miles, a thief and Commander, turned traitor and joined Hope and her companions. Draken, a former General, was brought back to life and wanted to help those that helped him see the truth. Fell and Larka, brother and sister, were helped out by Hope when escaping a laboratory where they had been specimen, and they remained with the group. Zack, a cyborg hired by the Commanders to kill the group, joined as well after Hope managed to convince him to switch sides. Matt, a companion of Max and Brandi, and Amy, Hope's half-sister, also assisted at various points.
After many duels, they finally managed to reach the lead Commander, Kouten. But before they could face him, they had to go through an ordeal that involved each of them seeing a vision, all important in their own way. They also got a few words of advice from God's messenger, Gabriel.
Kouten actually had one of the three god cards, Immense Divine Soldier of Obelisk. Max managed to defeat Kouten though, even though he had Obelisk. Max volunteered to hang on to Obelisk for the time being, which took care of one god card.
But there are still two more god cards that must be found. For if all three god cards are played in duels, unsealing them, Satan will awaken…
Chapter 1: Vengeance
It had been about a month after defeating Kouten, and so far there had been no other signs of trouble. The group often went to visit each other in Teknisk Wereld-in fact, they did this pretty much daily. Hope had advised a while back that they do this so that if someone did not come on for a few days, then they would know something was wrong and could try to find that person. After what had happened with Max, they had agreed that this was a good plan.
It was early in the morning on a beautiful day of July, in Illinois. But Hope had not realized this, for yet again, she was watching an argument with amusement.
"Please?"
"…"
"Come on Fell! They're just shoes! Please put them on so we can get going!"
"…"
"Hope spent her own money on these! Is this any way to show your gratitude?"
"…"
"ARGH! You can drive me insane sometimes!"
Hope laughed softly. This had been a common sight to see for her, ever since she had let Larka, Fell, and Zack live in her home. Although her mom had been hesitant at first to let them, she agreed when hearing that they had no home to go to yet. Zack used his free time to scan the internet for likely locations, but had not found one so far. Fell and Larka were still just teenagers, and they had no jobs or money, so they did not even bother to look yet. Fell seemed to have an idea of what he wanted to do, but whenever Larka asked, he never answered.
Although Larka loved her brother, he could indeed drive her crazy by just staying silent, as Hope had soon learned. She had also learned that neither really cared much for fashion. Hope had succeeded in getting them some new clothes to replace their old, torn up ones-black for Fell, white for Larka, since that was used to what they were wearing. She had also managed to get them socks and shoes, which was a new concept to them. They had never had to wear them for the ten years they had been in the lab. Larka did not mind wearing them, but Fell always tried to get around having to put them on. But seeing as that wasn't always an option, Larka was constantly having to try and force, beg, or bribe her brother into wearing them. She always managed to convince him in the end, but sometimes it could take a while. The only two reasons Fell didn't just find a way to throw the shoes away was because Hope had spent her own money on them, so it would have been a waste to just get rid of them, and because Larka would have killed him.
"Has she convinced him yet?" Zack asked as he walked up. He too had gotten used to the daily ritual the two of them had developed.
Hope had to admit that Zack was an easy houseguest to look after. While Fell and Larka could not eat anything but meat and they needed new clothes and such, Zack did not face any of those problems. The only thing he requested was a quiet room to recharge himself in, which was basically his version of sleeping. Hope was grateful that he did not need to eat, or else she was afraid her mom would have kicked the three of them out a while ago for the amount of food bills she would have needed to pay.
"Not yet," Hope grinned. "I've seen this so many times, yet it never fails to entertain me."
"Indeed. How long until they are done?"
"I think she nearly has him persuaded," Hope assured.
"Fell, they're waiting for us! And you can't go into Teknisk Wereld without these!" she exclaimed, indicating to the black shoes that lay on the carpet innocently. "It won't kill you to put them on for a few hours!"
"…"
"Are you trying to make me want to murder you? Because you are succeeding!"
"…"
"That's it! If you don't get these shoes on NOW, I'm going to take your deck and tear up every card in it! Let's see you duel then!"
Fell raised an eyebrow at the threat before finally reaching over and grabbing the shoes.
"THANK YOU! For crying out loud…" Larka sat down on the sofa nearby with sigh.
"Good job," Hope said, coming out of the hall. "You finally convinced him, even if it had to be done through threats."
"I don't understand him sometimes!" Larka complained. "It's not like those shoes will hurt him or something!"
"I think he prefers that we don't understand him," Hope joked.
Fell stood up, this time wearing the shoes, and Larka looked over him.
"Finally! It's about time you got those things on… FELL! Did you forget to brush your hair AGAIN?!"
"…"
"I swear, if I am sent to the madhouse, then I'm blaming you!" Larka snarled, grabbing a brush and seizing her brother's arm to prevent him from trying to get away from her. Then she forcefully began brushing his very long hair, while he concentrated on looking up at the ceiling with a sense of impatience.
Another thing that Hope had introduced to the two of them was brushes. Larka had been rather fascinated by the whole thing, seeing as her long hair often got painfully tangled, but Fell could have cared less. He absolutely refused to have anything to do with it, so Larka was always left to take care of his hair. An interesting thing about being part wolf was that their teeth did not seem to need brushing or any form of attention whatsoever. (Unless breath mints count as attention) So toothbrushes were rather unnecessary. Also, cutting their hair was out of the question. Larka had explained that it just grew back in a few days anyway. Another side effect of being part wolf, Hope guessed.
Speaking of side effects, Hope had been quite worried about the full moon that had been coming up. Luckily, Daine and Malon were able to stay with their masters while it occurred, so it went by uneventfully.
"I think we're finally ready," Larka growled, giving Fell's hair one last painful stroke before tossing aside the brush.
"Then let's get moving," Hope said.
-----
Will was preparing to go to Teknisk Wereld as well, but was currently trying to find a book. He had left the news on as he scanned his bookshelf for a good novel.
"Ah, here's one," he muttered, grabbing a book titled The Outcast.
"Are you trying to read all of your Redwall books again?" Neo asked. He was sitting on a chair nearby, waiting for Will to finish.
"Yep. I love rereading them," Will answered. "So, shall we go?"
"Hold on. The top news story is coming up. Something about a new disease? I wanted to hear it."
"Since when have you been into the news?" Will inquired, sitting down on another chair.
"Since we started looking for god cards?" Neo shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe we'll find our next major opponent by the news."
"I guess you have a point, for once…"
Will did not continue, because the news was finally back on.
"Now, for our top story… A strange new virus seems to have been taken into effect. This deadly disease has already killed three people. Scientists are currently looking into the matter, but cannot seem to find out what the symptoms are. A mother of a boy who died, who wishes for both names to remain unknown, says that he his skin had turned black, or something similar. He would often have fits, and his skin was burning hot. However, there are no stories to back up this claim. We are unaware if this virus transfers through the air, so if anyone else that you know falls mysteriously ill, please contact your nearest doctor. Now, onto weather…"
"Interesting, but not very helpful," Will commented. "Well, Neo? Want to watch the weather?"
"I'll pass," Neo said, shutting off the TV.
"Hm… before we leave…" Will walked over to the VCR and ejected a tape from it.
"Why are you doing that?" Neo inquired.
"So the VCR doesn't record Home Improvement while we're gone. I don't need you wrecking any more of my house."
"Aw man!"
-----
Hope, Fell, Larka, and Zack all arrived at the lake at about the same time.
"About time you guys got here," Rue commented.
"We were delayed for certain reasons," Larka said, glaring at Fell. He chose to ignore her look, so she went on. "So you and Claire are here… who else?"
"Max and I got here too," Brandi greeted. She was casually dueling Rue; in other words, they weren't using their Duel Disk or their Deck Masters. Ruecian was lying on the ground, not really paying much attention, while Mana was watching with interest. She also happened to be as far away from Olympion as she could be, while still managing to watch the duel. Olympion was actually standing nearby Ruecian, and looked bored. Max was reading a book titled Children of the Mind. Claire and Perseus were also watching the duel, from lack of anything better to do.
"What about Will?" Hope inquired.
"He should be here soon."
"Did Gen show up yet?"
"Yeah, he did. And he said the same thing as always." Brandi sighed. "Why isn't Miles coming himself? I thought that out of all of us he'd be the one who'd want to talk the most. That guy always used to be the joker of the group."
"Yeah…" Hope agreed.
Every day since they had started the new procedure of logging in and making sure they were all still there, Gen had shown up to tell them that Miles was doing ok, but did not want to see them yet. Ever since they had left the church, Miles had remained in his home, wherever that was, and had kept to himself. Nobody had seen him during the rest of the month.
"It must have something to do with the ordeal he went through," Hope said. "The rest of us got through our fine, but Miles looked completely terrified by whatever he had seen."
"That's true," Brandi nodded. "But it isn't like we can do anything to help. We have no idea where Miles lives, so we can't contact him. And Gen won't tell us if Miles doesn't want him to. Besides, Gen usually leaves before we even have a chance to ask."
"You're right… I wish we could talk to him though," Hope commented.
"Maybe he'll get over it," Brandi shrugged. "Let's hope he does, anyway."
"Did Draken come?"
"Nope," Brandi said. "This is the third day that he hasn't come on. Hope, you have his cell phone number, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"Would you call him and ask what's keeping him from coming?"
"Sure, when I get back tonight I will," Hope agreed.
This was indeed the third day that Draken had failed to show up. He had given them no mention of not being able to access Teknisk Wereld on his last visit, so Hope doubted that he was on vacation or something. Still, she was worried that he hadn't called to say that he wouldn't be on. If his Envoyant Machine had broken down or something, he would have just called to let her know. So she wasn't sure what the problem was.
"Then I guess that's settled then," Claire said. "But what about Will?"
At that moment, the person in question appeared with his Soul Monster.
"There you are!" Larka exclaimed. "We were wondering."
"Sorry. Neo wanted to watch the news," he said.
"Uh… ok…" Hope blinked.
"Yeah, I was surprised too."
"Anything interesting?" Claire questioned.
"Some new virus is going around, so the doctor's are trying to find a cure for it. Or something. Their details were sketchy, at the best."
"Oh…" Claire looked over at the others. "So, what are we going to do today?"
Hope took out her Soul Card, and Gaston emerged. "I'm not sure. Do we have any plans?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Larka replied, letting Malon out. Malon tackled into her, being very happy to finally be let out of the Soul Card. Daine had also appeared, and was watching the proceedings with interest.
"Then let's just hang out here all day and duel," Claire suggested. "We haven't done that for a while."
"You have a point," Hope said as she looked over at Brandi's hand. "Hey, Rue, you've pretty much lost."
"I'm well aware of that," Rue muttered as he laid another monster in defense mode.
-----
"So, how is it coming along?"
"As well as it can be expected, sir. I need to ask you for some supplies though…"
"Give me a list and I'll see to it. What about you? Have you started yet?"
"Yes… it is spreading… I am assisting it… already several have died… so many deaths…"
"Ok, that's enough. I don't need to hear words of insanity. As long as the plan is working so far, then I am satisfied. Hand over that list, and I will get the materials needed."
"Of course. But I must ask you something, sir."
"Go on."
"When do you think we will…?"
"Ah, that. Do not worry. You will get your request soon enough, as will you."
"Yes… soon… it must be soon…"
"Alright, that's all I wanted. Go back to work, both of you. I have business I must attend to. And then I will retrieve these items for you."
"My thanks, sir."
-----
"When the heck will I actually manage to win a duel?!" Rue snarled as he lost yet again.
"When I become old, blind, and deaf, you might stand a chance. Might," Brandi grinned.
"Ha ha ha. Not," Rue muttered.
Hope looked up at the sky. "As fun as this is to watch, I think it's about time we get going. It's about to be dark."
"That's true," Will agreed. "Alright, then I guess we'll see you guys here tomorrow."
"Bye for now," Gaston said as he and Hope left. Fell, Larka, and Zack followed, Daine and Malon coming as well. Will and Neo left afterwards, and then Rue, Ruecian, Claire, and Perseus were gone. Max, Olympion, Brandi, and Mana were the last to leave.
-----
Just as Max and Brandi were detaching their Envoyant Machines, they heard a knock on the door. Wondering who would be coming at this late of an hour, they went to the door, and Max opened it.
"Hey," Matt said.
"Hi," Max replied, letting their friend in. "Why are you here?"
"I just wanted to give you an update on Abby's condition," he explained. "I'll give it to you straight; she's getting worse. The doctors are doing what they can, but it isn't looking good."
Max and Brandi didn't know what to say about that.
"I'll keep you updated though," Matt assured. "If there are any major changes, I'll be sure to tell you."
"Thanks," Brandi said. "Is there any other reason you came?"
Matt hesitated slightly before grinning. "Well, since it is almost dinner time…"
"How did I know?" Brandi sighed.
"If you were always eating fast food and take out, you'd be pretty sick of it too," Matt pointed out.
"That's true," Brandi agreed. "Alright, you can stay for dinner. But it will take a while for me to make it."
"That's fine, thanks," Matt said, walking in. "As long as I don't have to eat at Subway again, I could care less."
Brandi went to the kitchen, while Max decided to watch TV. Matt followed him.
"Anything interesting?" Matt inquired as Max turned on the TV.
"Will mentioned something about a new virus, but that's about it. Nothing that would really involve the other two god cards, anyway."
Matt nodded. "I see."
Although Matt had not gone to the church, Max and Brandi had told him of what had occurred there. Rue had done the same for Claire, and Hope for Amy. But none of the group had told of the visions they had seen. That was something private, for only the respective viewer to know.
"We'll find them, eventually," Max said as he flipped through the channels in a bored manner. "Not much on at the moment…"
Neither of them noticed the five year old boy watching them.
Keep concerning yourself with your petty challenges, Ender thought, glaring bitterly at his half brother. For soon, you will have far more important things to worry about.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Brandi had started cooking dinner. She had decided to make ziti. Ziti was a lot like spaghetti, but its noodles were hollow. Brandi was quite skilled at making it, and it was a dish she enjoyed eating, so she was anticipating it. She started it right away, and soon had the pot with water on the over. While she waited for it to boil, she began to prepare the sauce. When that was done, she put the pot with it onto the oven as well. It was around that time that Chasity walked over to her.
"Sis?"
"Hi Chasity. What is it?"
"Will you take me swimming?"
"Again?" Brandi asked, exasperated. "You ask me so often that I've begun to wear my swimming suit under my clothes! But I can't right now. I'm making dinner. Maybe later?"
"But I want to go now! Please?" she begged.
Brandi made the mistake of looking down at her little sister. Chasity was giving her a look that just spoke of pleading. Her eyes were irresistible.
"Oh fine!" Brandi growled, tossing her spoon onto the counter. "But not for too long."
"Yay! Thank you!" Chasity cheered before running towards the front door. Brandi gave a great sigh before following.
"I'll be right back!" she shouted over to Max and Matt.
"Looks like she got you again," Max joked.
"Shut up," Brandi snarled as she walked out of the kitchen and to the front room.
Mana and Hime were there, chatting with each other. Brandi went over to the front door, and called back, "Mana!"
"Yes?"
Brandi winced at the thought of what she was about to say, but went on. "You're going to have to finish cooking dinner for me."
"Ok!" Mana immediately rushed over to the kitchen.
Brandi sighed again. "I know I'm going to regret saying that…" she muttered before leaving the house.
The condo they lived in was, luckily, very close to the swimming pool. Brandi and Chasity made it there in less than a minute, seeing as it was right behind the condo. Chasity leapt into the water without a moment's hesitation. Brandi soon followed her in.
Back in the kitchen, Mana was actually enjoying her task. Although she often unintentionally destroyed kitchen utensils when cooking, ziti was something rather easy to make, so Mana felt pretty confident that nothing would go wrong.
Unfortunately, she had not counted on the sauce acting up. For when she gingerly lifted the lid to check on it, the sauce went everywhere, hitting her in the face.
Brandi was just about to dive under the water again when she heard Mana's scream of shock and pain. Taken by complete surprise, Brandi accidentally swallowed a mouthful of water. It took her a few minutes to finally quit coughing.
"Sis! Are you ok?" Chasity asked.
"I'm fine… but what about Mana?" Brandi started swimming back to shore. "Just wait there! I'll be right back!"
She didn't wait for an answer, but began to run towards the condo. She leapt through the window, and ran into the kitchen.
Mana was carefully wiping sauce off her face with a damp paper towel when Brandi entered. Brandi looked over at the sauce-covered oven, then at Mana's stained paper towel, and said, "I don't even want to know what happened."
"Don't worry, I'll clean it up," Mana assured, grabbing some more paper towels.
"You had better," Brandi muttered before stomping off.
Luckily, there were no more incidents, and dinner was soon served. It was excellent, and more than one person went for seconds, and even thirds.
Finally, Matt laid down his fork. "That was great, Brandi."
"What about me? I helped too!" Mana complained.
"Yeah, good job," Matt nodded. "I'm sorry to have to leave so soon, but I have errands that I need to run, and Abby is expecting me to return."
"Alright," Brandi said. "Thanks for coming by."
"Thanks for letting me stay for dinner," Matt replied. "It was quite a nice change from my usual routine."
"Well, hopefully you'll come back soon," Max said.
"If I can, I will," Matt guaranteed. Then he got up from the table, deposited his dishes on the counter, and kissed Brandi before leaving. They had grown quite open with their relationship.
Brandi cleared away the rest of the plates. "It's getting late. I think I'm going to turn in."
"As should you two," Hime told Chasity and Ender.
"Awww! Five more minutes?" Chasity protested.
"It won't work," Hime stated. "So don't even bother to try and argue."
"Darn," Chasity pouted.
Ender hadn't said anything during dinner, but the others were used to that. Ender liked to remain silent most of the time, as Max and Brandi had soon learned.
"I'm going to bed as well," Max decided. "Night guys."
They each went to their own rooms. Chasity and Ender slept in the same room, which was next to the living room, and Mana and Hime watched over them while they slept. This meant that Brandi had to sleep alone, but she did not mind. In fact, while Abby was in the hospital, she got to sleep in her mother's room. Max slept on the couch in the living room, and Olympion stayed nearby him.
No matter how much Brandi tried to clear her mind and fall asleep, she simply could not do it. After about an hour of just laying there, she gave up, and got out of bed. Perhaps a walk on the beach would help.
When swimming, Brandi wore her black and silver two-piece swimsuit. But when it came to just walking on the beach, she preferred to wear her blue one-piece. So she quickly slipped out of her nightgown and into her swimsuit. Then she quietly made her way out of the condo and went to the beach.
It was a tranquil night with a clear sky. The stars and moon were easily visible. Brandi strolled along the shore for a while before sitting down on the beach and simply staring at the sky.
The regular rhythm of the water calmed her. Before long, she was fast asleep.
-----
Ender lay in bed, waiting. He know that if he was patient, then he would get his chance soon enough. He just had to wait…
There. At last, Mana had drifted off into slumber. He had known that she would. Hime had already been resting, since it was Mana's turn to watch over them. Chasity had fallen asleep a while ago, so Ender was the only one awake in the room.
Ender slowly got out of bed, hardly even daring to breathe. He was good at stealth though, and managed to make it out.
Max usually kept Olympion's Soul Card in his pocket, but tonight he had placed it on the table. So Ender proceeded to the dining room.
He snuck over to the table carefully, and picked up the Soul Card. Then he looked around, to make sure nobody was watching him.
When he was sure he was alone, he tore Olympion's Soul Card in half.
He stood still for about a minute, to make sure that nobody had heard it. Then he placed the card pieces on the table, and went back to his room.
Mana woke with a start, and mentally berated herself for falling asleep. She had thought that she had heard the door open, but when she looked, it was closed, and both children were asleep. So she thought nothing more of it.
But Ender was still awake, thinking to himself.
Finally, it is done. My revenge for father is complete. Feel the pain of loss, Max, as I have!
-----
Brandi also woke up suddenly, only to find herself being drowned. Coughing and sputtering, she managed to drag herself onto the shore.
Got caught in the high tide… again… she thought in disgust. But that wasn't why I woke up… I feel as though something is wrong.
Brandi began to run back to the condo.
-----
At last… the time has come… I can awaken!
Max bolted up, panting.
That voice… from the ordeals… Max took a few deep breaths to steady himself. Where is Olympion? Hm… Then he got up. Maybe a glass of water would help…
He got up and walked through the dining room, and glanced at the table as he passed it.
Then he froze, staring at Olympion's torn Soul Card in horror.
Olympion's Soul Card! It's torn! That means… that Olympion is…
At last… the time has come… I can awaken! That's what it meant! I'm going mad… I have to get away!
Blinded by his fear, Max didn't stop to think about what he was doing. He ran towards the door, threw it open, and ran out, only to stop short. Brandi was standing right in front of him.
"Max! What's wrong?" she asked.
"It's nothing. Leave me alone." He tried to get by her.
She grabbed his arm. "Max, tell me what's wrong. I can't help otherwise!"
"I said, leave me alone!" Max snarled, and he threw her off of himself.
What he had not noticed was the direction he was throwing her. They were standing on a ramp on a five-story building, and even though they were on the first floor, they were currently a fair distance from the ground. She crashed through the railing, and fell with a shout. Then she hit the ground, and was still.
"Brandi!" he yelled. "N-no… NO!"
Mana leapt up, hearing a cry of sorrow. She ran outside, and immediately saw Brandi laying there.
But Max, the one she had heard, was nowhere in sight.
To be continued…