Swordmaszter: Hello everyone, and I decided to update a lot sooner than I had expected. I was pleased to see that I got a few character posts, but I would like to see more. Feel free to post as many as you want, even if it's 20. I'm still trying to get the entire storyline thought up, and to do that, I need more characters. I have already put one of the characters that was posted into the character section, and he will be a main one. Well, here's the first chapter.

Note: Just to let you all know, I hate starting off stories because sometimes I have no idea how to. So if you don't like this chapter, then I promise it will get a lot better. There's a little bit of action in this chapter. Oh, and when I say the name of a character, then I will put its' duel monsters' name in ( ).

CHAPTER I: THE SLAUGHTER

The wind blew harshly, as Neo stood upon a cliff, gazing down at his beautiful hometown.

"You know, you've been in that same spot for almost an hour," a female voice said. Neo turned around to see his friend Cara (Amazon Archer) standing there.

"This is just what I do, now back off," Neo said getting aggressive. Cara laughed.

"Hey, calm down ok." She walked up closer to him.

"So what are you doing here?" Neo asked.

"Well, your mom has been worried sick about you, so I came to look for you. You know, you should start telling her where you're going sometimes."

"My bad, I guess I just forget." Neo turned around and began to walk away from the edge of the cliff.

"I'm going back," he said.

"I'm right behind'ja." On their way back to their hometown, Ghai, the two friends talked for a brief moment.

"So I see you're still using that crappy sword," Cara said. Neo drew his blade from its' sheath.

"Hey, my father gave me this, and this is the only sword I'll ever use. It's not that bad." Cara laughed.

"It's a piece of junk." Neo didn't find any of that funny.

"So how's your archery coming along," he asked her.

"Oh it's fine. My aim could be a little better, but hey, I'm better than most. And what about your magic skills?"

"They're ok. I only know basic spells like fire, ice, wind, and thunder." Neo held his hand at his waist level, and gathered energy into it. Fire then burst out, and spark flew everywhere. When Cara looked at his hand, she could see a flame hovering over it.

"Whoa! Amazing, I wish I could use magic spells."

"My magic is nowhere near as strong as those magicians, and wizards you hear about."

"Ah, that's ok. It's still pretty cool though." A noise was heard by the two friends nearby, and both of them stopped.

"What was that?" Neo asked.

"I don't know," Cara replied, loading her bow with an arrow. Both of them stood back-to-back ready to attack. A tree branch sudden broke off from a tree, and was hurled at them.

"Look, over there," Neo said. Cara aimed her bow in that direction, as Neo summoned a flame. He lit Cara's arrow with the flame, and she released it. The arrow, engulfed in flames, whistled through the air, and collided with the branch, exploding it.

"Nice shot!" A voice said. Both of them turned around to see a half-tree, half-woman standing beside them.

"Gaudria! (Queen of the Autumn Leaves)," Cara shouted.

"It's nice to see you again," Neo said to her.

"I see you two are still tearing up my forest," Gaudria said, laughing.

"Well, if you hadn't thrown the tree at us, then we wouldn't have had that problem," Cara said.

"So what brings you two to my forest?"

"Uh, I just came for a walk, and Cara followed me for some odd reason," Neo explained. Cara playfully hit Neo on the shoulder.

"I see you two still have a crush on each other." Neo, and Cara both looked at each other, and began to laugh.

"Yeah right," Neo shouted. Cara felt kind of bad once he said that, but it all just blew past her, once the three of them proceeded.

"So how is your family doing Neo?" Gaudria asked.

"Ah, they're fine. My mother is always worried about me, and my sister is always trying to boss be around (Neo's father once went on a journey, and never returned)." Gaudria laughed again.

"Sisters can be that way," Cara said.

"Well, I should let you two get going. I'm sure you are expected to be home by now," Gaudria said.

"Alright, see you later Gaudria." Neo and Cara both said goodbye to their old friend, and walked out of the forest. They began to walk down the steep hill that let to their town. Neither of them said a word to each other on the way down. Both of them were just thinking about things. Neo was wondering about his father. No one knew if he was alive, or if he was killed. He's just been gone for two years, and Neo's life has changed a lot. The two of them arrived at the entrance of their town, and they stopped before entering.

"Well Cara, I'll see you later," Neo said.

"Yeah, same to you." Cara left Neo, and walked away into Ghai. Neo did the same, and he went over to his home. He opened the door, and entered. His mother was waiting for him in the kitchen.

"Hey mom," he said. She turned around, and looked at him.

"I'm glad you're finally home, even though you didn't tell me where you were going."

"Sorry mom. I was just in a hurry to get out."

"It's ok honey, just don't do it again." Just as Neo was about to walk upstairs, his mom told him something.

"There's going to be a town gathering tonight, so make sure you are up and ready."

"Alright," Neo said. He ran upstairs, and entered his room. He collapsed on his bed, and just gazed up at his ceiling. Without even noticing it, he dosed off into a soft sleep. When he awoke, he looked outside to see that it was nighttime.

"Crap, I'm missing the gathering," he said. He dashed up off his bed, and grabbed his sword, racing out the door. He ran down the street, where he could see lights, and heard a lot of noise. When he arrived at the sight, he saw the entire town sitting down in chairs listening to some man speak. Neo spotted Cara, and there was an empty seat beside her. He went to her row, and fought his way to the seat. When he sat down, he looked at Cara.

"Sorry I'm late," he said.

"It's ok, we just got started."

"So what's this guy talking about?"

"Just some stuff about upcoming events that the town is hosting. I'm really not listening." Both of them laughed. Neo then began to feel a cold chill go past him, but no wind was blowing.

"Did you feel that?" he asked Cara.

"Feel what?"

"Never mind." Neo listened to the boring man for a few minutes, then he heard noises behind them in the bushes. Neo looked behind him, but saw nothing. Moments went by, until the man finally walked off the stage. Then someone else walked up on it. They were wearing a long black cloak, along with a black hood. Black smoke appeared around their feet, with every step they took.

"Who is that?" Cara asked Neo.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this." The man reached into his cloak, and drew a darkened sword. He slashed it near the crowd of people, and it released a black wave, killing anyone it touched.

"Oh my god," Cara said. Suddenly beasts with axes (Battle Ox), and fiends with swords (Swordstalker) appeared everywhere, and began to slay any human in sight. Panic spread through the town, and people began to flee for their lives, while others were being slaughtered. Neo drew his sword, and ran for a nearby Battle Ox. He slashed his sword, but it was blocked by its' ax. Neo spun around and slashed his sword again. The blade cut straight through the body of the creature, and he exploded, releasing a dark mist. A Swordstalker appeared behind Neo, and held his sword in the air. An arrow flew the air, and struck the monster in the heart, killing it. Neo looked in front of him to see Cara with her bow.

"Let's go, we should help kill these things," she said. Neo dashed up, and began to look for any creature that was nearby. Whenever he found one, he ran for it, and sliced it up. Cara rapidly fired her arrows at the darkened force that were devouring their town. A shadow then appeared below Neo, and he dashed sideways, dodging the claw that rose from it. The shadow then formed into the cloaked figure that was the first to enter the town

"Who the hell are you, and why are you killing everyone?" Neo demanded to know. The person let out an evil laughed.

"They call me Xilant, the Night Assailant, and our business here is of no concern to you." He drew his sword, and released a dark wave towards Neo. Neo flipped into the air, and shot a lightning bolt at him. The bolt was nullified by the wave.

"You are a weak one. Maybe you deserve to die like the rest of this pathetic town," Xilant said. Neo landed on the ground, and looked around him. Barely any of the townspeople were left, and he knew that his family had been killed. He no longer had a reason to live.

"How could you do something like this?" Neo asked Xilant, as a tear fell from his eye. Xilant laughed.

"I'm just following orders from the Emperor of the Shadow Empire. You shouldn't feel too bad. You're going t die also." Neo tightened the grip on his sword. As he was about to dash for Xilant, something appeared behind him.

"Nice of you to join us Zombyra," Xilant said. Neo looked behind him to see a tall muscular demon, wearing a long red cape. He grabbed Neo by the arm, and threw him across the field. Zombyra walked over to Xilant.

"I've searched everywhere. It's not here."

"What do you mean, it's not here? We were told that the pendent was held in this town. The emperor won't be pleased to hear this."

"Ah, he'll get over it. In the mean time, we got to finish off that kid and anyone else here." Zombyra walked over in the direction that he threw Neo in, while Xilant searched for any survivors. When Zombyra looked into the spot, he saw nothing. He then sensed something coming from behind him. Neo slashed his sword towards Zombyra's head, but he stopped it with his arm.

"You should have just ran away," Zombyra told him.

"I'm no coward. One of these days, I'll destroy that damn empire, and make all of you pay for what you've done." Neo flipped backwards, and landed on his feet. He formed an ice lance in front of him, and hurled it at Zombyra. He gathered dark energy into his fists, and shattered the ice into pieces. Neo backed away, knowing he couldn't win. Zombyra walked closer to him, thinking of what way to kill him.

"So have you finally realized that you can't win?" he asked. Neo didn't respond. Just as he was about to strike Neo, something flashed by them, and a bright light blinded everyone whose eyes were opened. Neo had no idea what had happened. He only knew that someone had grabbed him, and saved his life.

Swordmaszter: I hoped you all liked it, and don't forget to review, or post some characters you would like to see. Chapter 2 should be up soon.