Tournament of Souls Chapter 17
Shadow Duel
"We do not consider ourselves heretics." Roger Zelazny, This Immortal
"If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. If you can't crawl, run." – A motto of Lucien's
Lucien looked to the side of the field where half of his family remained. His mother, his uncle, his dog, and his former step brother had all disappeared. Only his aunt, former step dad, cousin, and cat remained. He tried to rationalize; with eerie success. I've never gotten along with my uncle. My dog was a demon in disguise judging from her behavior. My step brother hardly acknowledged my existence. My mother… she wouldn't want me to mourn her too long. Who am I kidding? She'd want me to mourn. She'd hate me if I didn't, but I just don't have the time right now though.
His chances of winning the duel and keeping his life weren't looking too good. His opponent had two strong monsters on her side, and he had none. He was ahead in life points, but that wouldn't last long. His deck wasn't made to endure a beating like this. The entire point of the deck was for each card to do at least 1000 damage during its life span, or allow a direct attack for 2000 or more to take place. And it had worked up to a point. He still had a fighting chance though. If he could draw the right cards, he could win this.
Lucien drew and maintained a poker face. "I summon Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000). At the end of my turn, you take 500 points of direct damage."
: 800
Lucien: 3550
The woman drew and smiled, slowly and cruelly. "I play Soul Exchange. This allows me to tribute your monster for one of mine at the cost of my battle phase. Now, I summon Mefist, The Infernal General (1800/1700). I have to end my turn there."
Lucien was seriously worried. He had only the one card in his hand and the card that he had just drawn. If this didn't work he was finished.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aliya snuck out of her bedroom clothed in jeans and a t-shirt. She crept down the hallway in socks holding her shoes in one hand. When she came to the front door, she grabbed the backpack that held Lucien's cards. She heard the stairs creak and hid in the hall closet. She heard her father humming to himself as he walked into the kitchen. Aliya sunk down to the floor of the closet and prepared herself for a long wait. At least I know who's been eating all the marshmallows.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucien breathed deeply and made his move. "I play Lightning Vortex. All face up monsters on your side of the field are destroyed. I discard the last card from my hand to activate it." Lightning struck the field, starting with the point of Mefist's axe, and traveling down it like a lightning rod, and then traveling along the ground until nothing was left.
Lucien looked towards his family. "I can do nothing else."
The woman drew her card and looked over her hand. Then she smiled. Lucien felt his heart drop. She began setting cards down with the care and precision of a surgeon. "First I will set a monster, and another card. Then I will play the continuous spell card License to Torment."
Lucien's brow creased in a scowl. "I've never heard of the card. What does it do?"
The sanguine haired woman's eyes took on a dangerous aspect. "This spell card causes all fiends on my side of the field to be unaffected by trap cards. As if that wasn't enough power, battle damage with fiend type monsters being attacked is halved. Not as useful an ability as the first, but not to be scoffed at either. Unfortunately, that part of the effect extends to both of us."
I've never heard of such a card. How can I be sure that it isn't an elaborate fake? It is certainly powerful enough to warrant faking. He voiced his concerns. "How did you get a card so rare that I haven't heard of it?"
"There are benefits to being in a position of power. Sometimes my opponents will have valuable cards which I will have them ante in our duel. I never lose these games. If I can find a use for the card, I will use it. If not, I know others who would gladly take the cards. This one was given to me by someone returning the favor. I end my turn by the way.
Lucien drew glad to have avoided a direct attack. His draw was a fortunate one, one that could win him the game. "I summon Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000). It will attack your face down monster." The beast let loose a searing flame that destroyed the face down imp.
"You just destroyed my Spear Cretin. Its special ability allows us each to special summon a monster from our graveyards to the field, either in attack mode or face down. I will retrieve Mefist. I would love to bring back my Dark Ruler, but it cannot be special summoned from the graveyard." The dark knight reappeared on the field.
Lucien grinned. "You know not what you have done. I summon my original Solar Flare Dragon. At the end of this turn you die. Even so, you wouldn't have been able to attack."
His opponent grinned maliciously. "Did you think that I had no reason for playing License to Torture last turn? You were wrong. I activate Torrential Tribute!" A wave of water came over the field, covering all the monsters. The tide ebbed and only Mefist the Infernal General was left standing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A chair scraped back in the kitchen. Aliya held back a sigh of relief. How embarrassing it would be to be caught now! Not to mention infuriating. She hadn't just spent all that time in the closet for nothing. She waited for the sounds of her father's foot steps going back up the stairs, and the closing of the bedroom door.
Only then did she heave a sigh of relief. Practically falling out of the closet she got up and stretched. It was cramped in there and one of Lucien's binders had been poking into her arm through the backpack.
"Note to self: never hide in a closet unless there is absolutely no other way. When hiding in a closet one must wear padding."
Ignoring the fact that both of her parents were in their room and in all likelihood asleep, Aliya snuck as quietly as she could to the inside door of the garage. She then tried to move the boxes and the old water guns, pogo sticks, and other unused paraphernalia without putting anything on or in the way of the car. After a few minutes of rather noisy, start and stop flurries of activity, her bike was revealed. She patted the seat and dust puffed into the air.
She grimaced. Just because she hadn't ridden her bike in awhile didn't give it the right to collect dust. She opened the garage door and rolled the bike out. She sat down on the bumper of her father's car and put on the shoes which she had set aside to move junk. She considered going out without a helmet, but decided that she would rather get caught with a helmet than without one. On that note she looked around the ill-organized garage until she found a reflector and attached it to the back of the bike. Wearing a helmet was standard, but here was an extra precaution that she could show her parents. She wasn't going to get caught of course, but it was always good to be cautious. Plus, she might just get caught.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The red head started her turn without a signal from Lucien. He had no cards, no potential moves. She looked at her cards and cursed under her breath. Lucien smirked. That at least meant that she held nothing that could kill him this turn. Then she looked towards his family and it was his turn to be worried. I can't afford calculated risk. I can't afford reasonable losses. Lives are at stake. Lives have already been lost…
Lucien's current opponent wasn't of the 'give them time to torture themselves' breed. She preferred the hands on approach. "I summon Skull Knight #2 (1000/1200). Both my monsters will attack your life points directly." As the monsters struck Lucien down she continued unwavering. "It's a pity that you don't have any card to lose. Normally Mefist would cost you one."
: 800
Lucien: 750
Three more relatives disappeared until only his former step dad remained. All of their deaths hurt, but for some reason, it was the cat's disappearance that most shook him. That such an innocent creature could be punished like that angered him beyond anything else. Perhaps, he thought, it was because it was only now that he had the chance to be angry. Historically cat's can be replaced. When a relative dies, or even if they are murdered, you are sad first. You have lost something irreplaceable. With a pet, you can be angry. You hold the funeral in the backyard, after you file the law suit, or yell at the guy on the lawn mower in front of the body.
Lucien had come to a realization. He couldn't win this. Anything he could do his opponent could stop. Sure there were a few cards in his deck that would win him the game. He wouldn't draw them. And while one or two would give him a win unconditionally, the rest could be stopped by smart playing.
His opponent hardly had time to end her turn before he took the top card off his deck. "I summon Giant Orc (2200/0) and end my turn." All he could to was set up an offensive wall. Where were the odds now? Statistically he should have drawn something to kill her. Yet the cards wouldn't come to him in a deck that was designed to do well in this type of situation.
He could have won if it wasn't for that thrice cursed spell card. License to Torment's second ability made it so an attack from Giant Orc to Skull Knight #2 wouldn't do enough damage to defeat her. Yet with Mefist the Infernal General's ability to do damage through defense, even with the halving due to Giant Orc being a fiend, would be enough to set Lucien on the fast track to death, doom, and destruction. And if he attacked Mefist, Skull Knight #2 or a weaker monster would be able to clear his field while the other attacked for the game.
His opponent drew and was disappointed. Evidently the odds weren't with her either. Assuming that she possessed the usual assortment of fiends, she had a good number of cards that could win her the game. Lucien took desperate pleasure in the odds defiance of his opponent as well as of himself.
She glared at him through shadows that writhed in anger. "I set card face down and end my turn."
I can't win this…
"I mimic your move, setting a card and passing the turn to you." He was doing his best to remain impassive. The worst thing that could happen here was for her to see through his move; to see the fear.
I can't afford to lose…
She mocked him as she drew. "Ah, going suave in our old age are we? This is as old as you're going to get you know; right down to the minute. 'I mimic your move.'" She imitated him. She knew his fear.
If I can't win I'll lose it all.
The nemesis placed her card. "I summon Winged Minion (700/700) to the field and use its special ability to sacrifice itself to increase the power of Mefist the Infernal General (2500/2400). Now that it is strong enough to get past your hulking excuse for a fiend, it will attack so that my Skull Knight may destroy you and bring me victory!" The demon knight rode forth and raised its axe to destroy his last defense.
If I cannot win, then neither shall she.
A ring appeared around one of Giant Orc's biceps. "I activate Destruction Ring, sacrificing my monster and dealing both of us 1000 damage."
: 0
Lucien: 0
The resulting explosion sent the world up in flames.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aliya was getting annoyed. She had made a wrong turn somewhere and had spent no small amount of time getting back on track. She was still around a mile from Lucien's house when she heard the explosion.
It rang out across the roof tops. It ran through the streets on the feet of the night. Aliya skidded to a stop and listened. No further sound was to be heard. No lights turned on, no shutters were opened. A few years ago sound proof windows had been designed. While it prevented being woken by bird song on a Spring morning, it also prevented being woken by random cataclysmic explosions. There was no sign of the noise other then the translucent veil of smoke draped from the stars rising upward.
Aliya biked onward with new urgency.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A solitary figure stumbled out of the flames. Somewhere a late night traveler turned on the engine and motored out onto a street. The figure paused panting and ripped off the duel disk that it wore, pocketing the cards. It tossed the disk back into the flames and stared at the figures it saw there. It stared for almost a full minute before stumbling away and breaking into a run.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aliya turned the corner a block away from Lucien's house and saw the fire. At the same moment, a figure ran into her knocking both of them over along with the bike. As it scrambled up, she saw its face and recognized it.
"Lucien!"
He looked at her, his eyes wide and unrecognizing. He fled down another street before she could get back on her bike and had disappeared into the darkness before she had the chance to mount a guided pursuit. She peddled hard and caught sight of Lucien. No matter how she yelled his name. No matter how she tried to comfort him, or convince him to stop he kept running. His breathing grew ragged yet he ran on.
In the end she herded him like an animal. When he tried to take the wrong street she would peddle ahead and make him turn the way she wanted. She didn't understand where his stamina was coming from. He fell. He ran on. He dry retched as he ran, unable to regurgitate what was long gone. After what seemed like hours she finally got him to her front door. When he came to the driveway she got off the bike and grabbed his arm. She left the bike dropped in the driveway.
Aliya opened the door. In this class neighborhood very few locked their doors. She led Lucien inside and resisted the urge to find something to tether him with. He seemed to have calmed down some. He hadn't tried to run since she'd established a grip on his arm. After a moment's thought, she led him to the couch and had him lie down. With luck he would fall asleep. That would help her case with her parents. It was harder to order someone out of the house when they were already asleep.
She headed upstairs and knocked on the door to her parents' room; no response. Waking them up in the middle of the night wasn't going to help her case any. She opened the door.
Ten minutes later, she had entirely convinced them. Do to the tragedy they were ignoring the fact that she had snuck out in the middle of the night. Plus, Lucien was asleep. They were planning to take him to a hospital in the morning. He looked as if he may have suffered some burns and was a bit bruised.
Her parents didn't get the chance to gush on about how sorry they were. Those asleep are not known for their hearing. They instead instructed Aliya how to treat him when he woke up. There was no question about him going to school. It wasn't going to happen. The principle would understand that a boy who has just lost his family isn't in the best condition to learn.
They left him there on the couch and they all went back to bed. As an afterthought Aliya left the backpack with his cards next to the couch. She went to bed wondering. What happened to him?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucien woke a couple of hours later wondering where he was. He was on a couch, and someone had covered him with a quilt. After looking around he began to recognize his surroundings. Then he realized that he was at Aliya's house. Next his confused and shocked mind tried to figure out what had happened. His mind flashed back to what had just happened.
The ring exploded. Their life points plummeted to zero. He watched the closest thing to a father he had ever had disappear into the shadows and the flames. The red haired woman was gone. Even as the shadows faded the flames remained, burning everything.
He remembered the fire, the duel, the loss. It was a draw. That's why I'm still alive. The duel was tied. She would be back. He knew it. He couldn't just lie around waiting for it to happen. She was going to come for him. He needed to get her first. He took the quilt off and folded it as neatly as he could before placing it on the couch. He slipped his deck from his pocket into the backpack at his feet and put it on.
He walked out the front door and into the warm night. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know why. Only that he couldn't bring retribution upon his friend. If she was going to come for him, she wasn't going to hurt anyone he cared about. He needed to get away. Lucien broke into a fast walk.
He tired fast. He was exhausted and the places where he had been hit during the duel hurt. He sped up the pace. He sought to escape his pain in exhaustion. He ran out of the residential area and into the city. Aliya's area let out into the 'fat district' and Lucien found himself following the path that had taken him part of the way home after the tournament. The tournament that had made him the regions champion.
He reached the poorer area across from the courthouse. He was tiring fast. His muscles ached with fatigue. The sun had long ago begun to peak out over the sky line. It was Monday morning and his mind was far from ready for school. For the most part his thought processes had shut down. They had only enough in them to connect a few dots. My family is dead. I am an orphan. There is an orphanage. They have to take me.
Having no idea what he would find, Lucien knocked on the door of the residential house that served as the orphanage. Later he would note that it was approximately twice the size of the normal house, though it had no space that it did not require. A tired looking woman opened the door. She couldn't have been past her early thirties yet she seemed older.
"Yes?"
Lucien did his best to come out with a succinct response. How is one supposed to go about explaining that they have just been orphaned and are looking for a place to stay? Evidently it is done by saying just that.
"My family…dead…fire. Can I, that is, do you, can you take me?" His words made little sense, and were arranged according to no known laws of grammar or order. Somehow the tired woman understood and her eyes softened.
"You poor dear, come in. You look like you've just come out of the fire yourself." Which of course, he had; but this can be ignored for the moment. The door opened into a kitchen where there were several people about Lucien's age. When he saw them he knew exhaustion was over coming him. Not only was everything blurry around the edges, but some of the girls in the room had blue hair, and others had green. Or was there only one? Lucien couldn't tell, the world was spinning, boys with white hair, red hair, the tired woman, and another taller one. A slightly squatter girl with brown hair walked into the room and gasped.
Lucien picked this opportune moment to collapse. He remained semi-conscious as the red haired one that was in fact a girl and the tired woman in her thirties half carried him to an empty room and placed him onto a bed.
He dreamed of shadows and fiends. On the stage of his mind, the two dreams battled. The shadows won and consumed his dreams.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Yes, that was an original card. There will be more never fear. They will not come overly often for awhile yet. Nor will they be announced.
Editor's Note: Green, blue, white, purple, orange, and just about any color hair were not unheard of, merely uncommon. Just as red hair was fairly uncommon before around 2010 unless you lived in certain areas, so was other colored hair in the current day. It was estimated that approximately three in every two hundred thousand had a 'rare' hair color.
License to Torment
Continuous Spell
As long as this card face up on the field, all battle damage caused in a battle involving a fiend monster that the controller of this card controls is halved. In addition all fiends are unaffected by trap cards.
The image is of a driver's license, the head shot is of Goblin of Greed winking and it says 'Torment' along the top.