Shadowchasers: Conspiracy

by 0ccam's Razor

A fanfic of the Shadowchasers by Cyber Commander. Odd things are happening, and Shadowchasers all over the world are encountering criminals with strange and peculiar goals. Is a conspiracy afoot, or is some deeper plot in the works?

46. Ashes to Ashes

GREETINGS!

Occam Razor here, the writer formally known as Cyber Commander.

April is finally here, and so is the new chapter. This was difficult to say the least, and I'd like to thank both 7th Librarian for his suggestions and Thoth's Lab Assistant for the amazing new Shadowchaser File.

The duel in this chapter was hard to write; for maximum enjoyment, I suggest finding some collections John Williams music.

Why? You'll see.

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Part one of Eden's plan, getting herself captured, was complete. Now came part two, relaying information to another prisoner.

Problem was, the second part was also part of Beatrice's plan, and Eden knew it. She also had no idea how part three, which was getting that other prisoner out, would be accomplished. And she was sure that was not part of Beatrice's plan.

She knew she'd likely have a part four too, but she was very in the dark herself about what it would be.

She did know, however, it would not involve her own escape. Or even her own survival. In fact, both were on the low end of her list of priorities.

And that was, truthfully, where they had always been.

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Ashes to Ashes

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"I like what they've done to the place," snarked Eden.

"Just move it," grumbled Diogenes.

Eden's cheery attitude was rather misplaced, seeing as she was clearly a prisoner, held with the same shackles Karen was, and the same amulet (the same color too, incidentally). And Diogenes wasn't taking chances this time.

His entourage now consisted of six mechanized creatures that were humanoid and vaguely the same design as he was, armored, with metal plating over clockwork innards. Two of them were holding Eden by the shoulders, while the other four had a two-handed weapon of the same basic style, two each pointed at her heart and head and prepared to fire with a lethal setting should the order be given.

Still, she gave a cheery "Hello!" when she saw Beatrice up ahead.

The Damned Magician Girl didn't answer, but her cold look of fury made it easy to convey her reaction.

"Well, you won," said Eden. "I'm here." She stopped, waiting for a reply. "Well?"

"Well what?" asked Beatrice.

"Give me the whole routine," goaded Eden. "I mean, come on, aren't you gonna give me the old speech about how pathetic I am? You guys always cherish the times the heroine is captured and helpless so you can brag about your 'superior mental capacities' and shit like that, so let's hear it, okay?"

"Cut the comedy, Eden, you know as well as I did that you let yourself be caught there." The word "let" was not directed to Eden, but subtly aimed at Diogenes, who had gone quiet for a minute.

"Look, you got what you wanted, let Karen go," demanded Eden, her tone changing quickly. "Or was that a lie too?"

Beatrice turned her back to her, while speaking. "We will, eventually."

"She's not worth anything to Antisthenes!" snapped Eden. Then her voice lowered a little. "She's just a kid, she has a family and a future ahead of her."

"I know," replied Beatrice, "she has far more to lose than you do, so I have to wonder if getting the answers from her might be easier." She turned around again and looked at Eden hard. "Unless you want to tell me them now? It could make things much more pleasant for you."

Eden didn't answer, and her facade was slipping. "Maybe Antisthenes wants her for something else," she said. "Are you so naive as to not figure it out yet, Damned Magician Girl?" Again, the emphasis on the title had an unsubtle dual meaning that Beatrice didn't like.

"I'll let him decide that, in the meantime, you and Karen can get acquainted." She turned slightly to one of the drones holding Eden. "Put her with the Shadowchaser and use a concordant splitter."

"Now, listen," said Diogenes, butting in.

"Both of them are Earth," said Beatrice, sternly, "the intermediary crystals will boost the efficiency of the primary ones even further. This time we do it right."

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Francis pulled his bike to a stop. The circle of stones was in front of him, as ominous and unassuming as before.

Really didn't want to come here again, he thought.

He casually checked his left arm. He blinked once, and the tattoo shimmered as the eclipse started. His very heart paused for a second, then started to beat erratically.

No matter how many times he started the countdown, he'd never get used to it. Hopefully he wouldn't have to use the berserk this time, but he would have it ready.

Like before, he examined the stones.

Thou shalt know when thine time is right. Celestial orb first horns at night.

He was pretty sure he didn't need that part of it this time, as he figured the moon was only there to indicate the right stone to a first-timer. Well, he was almost sure. With that in mind, he approached the stone at the north part.

Stand to shun the northern star, atop the stone from south is far.

Like before, he scrambled up the stone, which seemed steeper and smoother this time. A little struggling ensued, but he clamored onto the top.

"Now comes the kicker," he said to himself.

Find the stones the horns connect. The sinister stone is the stone correct.

Last time, with the moon to guide him, that meant he had to find the stones the "points" on the moon indicated, and find the left one. There was no moon to guide him now, so he hopped to the one memory indicated.

"So far so good. Let's see."

Circle widdershins four stones more…

He felt a small chill. If what Bartholomew said was true, this was the part where the hex activated. Here goes nothing, he thought.

As the brownie had instructed, he blew on his thumb three times, then tucked it inside his fist, then leapt to the next stone, then the next, then -

His train of thought was torn from him with a loud BLAMPH! as something hit him in the side and knocked him off the stone in mid leapt.

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"Sir?" said Beatrice.

The dark figure was still hunched over his multiple control panels, and didn't turn his head as he said, "Report."

"We have Eden," she said, very quickly. "She's with Karen."

"Very good," he said, still not turning around.

Beatrice noticed the clock nearby, indicating her death in just under two hours. "Uh, sir, can you please…"

There was a low hum, and it stopped, then the red numbers turned to green zeroes as it reset. Eden felt overwhelming relief, putting her hand over her heart as it started to beat normally.

"So, uh, what about Karen, should we let her go or -"

"Watch her for now," replied Antisthenes. "We may yet find more of an advantage here. Dismissed."

Beatrice bowed politely, and backed away from him, but as the door shut, she let the breath out and slumped against the wall.

"She survived, pay up," said a familiar - annoying - voice.

She lifted her head and saw Bonnie and Antione, the latter handing the former a Twix bar. "Totally worth it," said Antoine.

"Do you guys take anything seriously?" shouted Beatrice.

"This from a babe dressed as a Duel Monster," said Antoine. "And they call my duds loud."

The two laughed, then Antione put his arm around Bonnie and both turned away. "You gonna eat both of those?" he asked, to which Bonnie answered with "Don't even think about it."

Idiots, thought Beatrice.

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Boy, this is getting annoying, thought Jalal.

Again, "annoying" might have been the wrong word. Whenever he had to make more than three trips to the max-security wing of the detention center in a single week, it was a crisis that even frayed his nerves. He was even starting to notice that the operators in charge of the checkpoints were getting more accustomed to him showing up. Still, after he and Dolores went through the multiple checkpoints and being frisked and scanned for what was likely the tenth time in as many days, they arrived at the cell they needed.

"Aysis!" he announced.

The demonic assassin didn't warrant as much attention as Joka did, her cell having a bulletproof (and magic proof) glass wall separating it from the rest of the cellblock. Much like any other prisoner, she was reclining on her cot, casually reading a magazine, having switched her immodest outfit for the standard prison greys.

"What?" she snapped, not looking up. "My lawyer here yet?"

"You said you didn't want one, but the offer still stands," he replied. "I need answers."

"Drop dead," replied the jahl. "Like I told you before, I just do what I'm paid to do."

"Broken Reach," he said, "I assume you're familiar with the place."

That made her look up. "Why, you planning to go there?" She smirked at him. "Hanging yourself not painful enough?"

"I'm pretty sure a Shadowchaser was taken there," replied Jalal. "I need information. I can make it worth your while."

Her smirk turned to a frown. "Right," she said. "As in a plea bargain?" She resumed reading. "If you know a judge you can convince, I do not want the lawyer you have."

Of course, that was the kicker. She was a jahl, and few judges or juries could be persuaded to show mercy to demons. Policy usually called for them to be banished to their home realms, which would ensure they wouldn't trouble mortals for centuries. If at all. A fiend who was captured by mortals and banished would be a pariah forever by its fellows, and depending on the type of fiend its superior was, be enslaved, eaten, or tortured to death. And no-one would ever lose sleep over it. For good reason.

"I could arrange something else?" said Jalal, his patience clearly wearing thin.

"Such as?" asked Aysis. "Some quid pro quo? Maybe some better entertainment than this." She indicated the magazine she was reading. "I mean do you even read this junk an -"

She was cut off by two strong arms that yanked her off the cot. "HEY! Get your -" Then again as he slammed her against the wall.

"Not in the mood, where is she?" he ordered. "You spill your guts or I swear I'll spill them over the floor."

Aysis looked at Dolores, who was watching with stony silence. She giggled. "Oh, I get it, Stormbringer, the old 'good cop, bad cop' trick, right? Who'd have thought you'd be the 'bad cop'?"

Jalal stopped, then nodded to Dolores. "You heard her," he said.

Dolores removed her glasses then cracked her knuckles.

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Karen was shocked, appalled, and horrified to see Eden dragged into the cellblock.

"Let go of her you big piece of," she threatened. She was cut off as something she couldn't see brutally yanked the shackles backwards, taking her with them and slamming against the back wall of the cell.

"I suggest you refrain from threats, Ms. Taft," he said. The door slid open and he unceremoniously dumped Eden. "And as for you," the door shut again, "I suggest reconsidering the offer."

He gestured, and the odd device released Karen's shackles, and she fell on her face.

"Bastard," growled Eden.

"Well, this isn't exactly getting better," said Fezz.

"Karen, I'm so sorry," said Eden.

"You're sorry?" answered Karen. She hugged the injured gautiere for a minute or two. Diogenes shook his head, and left via the outer door, which closed.

"You aren't just bait, Karen," answered Eden, "the gnome was right, things just got much worse. So what did the bitch do to 'convince' you to stay?"

"Hey, careful," said Fezz, "they can hear, you know."

"Trust me, I know," said Eden. "That's why I'm here and not in the cell down the hall."

"Kind of obvious," said Karen.

"Staying quiet isn't going to help forever, nanobytes in your system are helping the ones mine. They're trying to hack into here, literally." She pointed to her forehead. "To put in computer terms, it's like trying to hack a system using a phishing attack, except the system is a living being's memory, and you're the phisher."

"That's impossible!" shouted Fezz.

"Says the guy who brags about how he can solve a Rubik's Cube in three minutes," growled Berger.

"I've got some scruples bub!" snapped Fezz. "Some things are just beyond the bounds of science. And for your information, it was two minutes, fifty-two seconds."

"They said that about going to the moon about hundred years ago," replied Berger with a smug smirk.

"Touche," grumbled Fezz.

"Ignore them, Eden, you'll just get a headache," said Karen. "As crazy as this sounds, it does make a little sense, but just what the hell is in there that's so important?"

Eden sat on the cot and didn't answer for a minute or two. "Well, okay, I guess you deserve that much. One thing, however. Beatrice works for them because she, like you, was a prisoner, and found this stuff out. She learned a long time ago that promising loyalty to them is the only reason she's allowed to live. You want me to go on?"

Karen swallowed hard, then nodded.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning. As one mentor I had used to say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

"Lao Tzu said that," added Karen.

Eden finally smiled and then nodded. "It was one of the first things Old Lao told me."

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"Oh, it's you," said Francis.

Perched on one of the stones was that ugly, diminutive spriggan he had seen days ago, the one who had tried to steal the cake, for reasons he had never learned.

"Nice to be remembered," said Mr. Pux.

"It was hard not to," replied Francis, clearly indicating it wasn't a pleasant memory. "Care to tell me why you were so intent on getting that thing? Maybe it's the same reason you're here now?"

"I'm just do what I'm paid to do, kid, a spriggan has to eat, you know?"

Francis leapt to his feet and lunged at him, only to grab air as the spriggan blinked away.

"Over here!" laughed the spriggan. He was waving while reclining on another stone. Francis leapt at him again, but he vanished a second time.

"I can do this all day, kid, and you're gonna get tired eventually."

"What do you want?" demanded Francis.

"Question," asked Pux. "Why do you do it?"

"Do what?" asked Francis. "Why'd I come here?"

Pux hopped to the ground and rubbed his chin. "I mean why do you care? Why are you so dead set about this? You'd have to be some sort of screwball to come here. Course, most folks who barge into the Feywild are screwballs, but they're the crude type who hear the stories about wealth beyond imagining, eternal youth, power, all that stuff. You? You I can't figure out."

Francis landed next to him, and he flinched a little. "Hard as it is for guys like you to understand, some humans are motivated for reasons other than greed."

"Well yeah, there's a lot more reasons than Greed," said Pux with a slight giggle. "Lust, Anger, Pride, Gluttony…"

"You think humans have no control over their base instincts?" asked Francis.

Pux pointed at the tattoo on Francis' left arm. "So what's that for?" he asked.

"A tool, nothing more," replied the Shadowchaser.

Pux chuckled again, reclining back as he did so. "You want to know where Karen is, and i could tell you how to find her, no skin off my nose. But I want a little something in return."

"You want to duel, right?" asked Francis.

"Not just any duel, a special duel."

He snapped his fingers, and then pointed down. Two small pine boxes were were he was pointing, one with a red ribbon, one with a black ribbon.

"I suppose I have to choose one now?" asked Francis.

"Know how Pandora had a box, kid? How she thought it had treasure inside, but it really it had all sorts of of demons in it that caused all the vices and sins of humanity? Well, it had one treasure, that she was allowed to keep."

"Hope?" asked Francis. "Well, that's one interpretation. The other is, Hope was the one she managed to keep from escaping, and by doing so and holding it there, kept mortals from losing it."

"Someone's done his homework. Well, here's the thing kid, these two boxes have nothing to do with that story. One is Reason, the other is Emotion.

"Choose."

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Karen was shocked, of course, but Eden went on. "You see, Karen, for thousands of years, the gautiere have selected one of their number to undertake a special task. That of the laqui. The best translation in the ancient language might be 'he who walks', but I guess 'he who searches' or 'he who investigates' might fit better. Most gautiere call them a term you might compare to a 'chaser of windmills' at best or even a 'misguided fanatic' or 'obsessed fool' sometimes.

"We look for answers and reasons. We want to know why he betrayed us. Legends tell only so much. Facts would tell so much more. Besides, it's the only way we can ever hope to get back what we once cherished so much."

"Purpose," replied Karen.

Eden nodded. "The gautiere won't last forever, Karen. We have a low birthrate and our numbers are dwindling. None of the records of the ancient tiere remain; most gautiere can't read or write because there are more important things to learn. When we die out, there'll be no records, and we'll be forgotten. But hopefully by then, we'll at least have closure.

"Anyway, they can assign gautiere to do it and can do it by lottery if they have to, but they prefer volunteers. I was a volunteer. I wanted to be a laqui. I wanted to from a very young age. Even now I have no regrets. By the time I met Lao Tzu I had already circled the Great Wheel once, made several allies – and enemies – witnessed so much, and learned bits and pieces, adding anything I thought useful to a simple journal.

"Earth has always been a good spot, giving how many diverse races are here. Most worlds and races have 'hats' that define them, you know." She pointed to Fezz and Berger, saying, "Gnomes are all folks who love building, verbeeg are all brutal, warmongering mercenaries."

"Damn straight!" snapped Berger.

"Earth? The only 'hat' that defines it is no hat at all. That's a compliment, by the way."

Karen nodded, and Eden went on. "Over the centuries I convinced a lot of folks to mentor me, Aristotle, Spinoza, Locke, and that was just philosophy. You'd be surprised how easy it was to convince all the great geniuses in history to share what they know.

"Probably cause all of them like having folks listen to them," added Fezz.

"Exactly!" said Eden, laughing slightly. "Not exactly the most dignified way to learn at times, but efficient. But I did a lot of snooping and searching on my own, and it often led me to places I didn't belong. I never had much to lose, and I would make the most of every second I had.

"Then one day, about three hundred of your years ago, I followed a lead to an old keep outside of Santiago. Humans said it was owned by a grouchy old woman who hated people, Shadows claimed the owner was an old witch who hated everybody, but a few Shadows told me she had a book with some information I needed.

"Maybe I should have knocked on the front door instead of sneaking in like a thief. You see, the outside of that old house was deceptive – it hid a palace inside."

"Let me guess," asked Karen, "you didn't realize until it was too late that you were trespassing in a house belonging to a very powerful sorceress with a reputation for being grouchy and hating people?"

Eden slowly nodded again. Then Karen giggled a little. "Some people never learn," she added. "You know how hard it is these days to find an actual princess willing to kiss a frog?"

"Well, this was worse," replied Eden. "Far worse. Suffice to say, it belonged to Ms. Exhibitionist out there. Well, sort of. It was a different 'her'. Damned Magician Girl seems to be a title that quite a few folks have had. Anyway, she let me live, but took me here, she claimed for, uhm, 'observation'. I didn't expect it to be a short stay."

"So where is 'here', exactly?"

"Broken Reach," answered Eden. "The Commerce Center of the Lower Planes, home to some of the most degenerate assassins, thieves, and black marketeers in existence. While the lease you have to pay to open shop here is astronomical, setting in Broken Reach ensures not only protection from Lower Planar rulers, but patronage from them, making it the ideal location for anyone with no morals at all."

She stopped and looked at Karen, unsure how she'd take that, but Karen nodded and said, "Please continue."

"Now, their experiments in nano-technology were crude back then. Karen, do you know what Borrowed Time and Mercy are?"

Karen looked stunned. "Borrowed Time was a poison used by Xem the Executioner," she said, her expression turning to one of terror. "It took twenty-four hours to work, and when it did, caused horribly painful convulsions, paralysis, and eventually death. The antidote was called Mercy, but that only delayed the effect another day."

"And he used it to keep his own minions loyal and keep them from leaving," added Eden, nodding again. "I assume you've already seen the sick sense of an 'honor system' this place has. Most folks here are given Borrowed Time, and receive the Mercy once a day. If they leave, they die when they don't take it. Horribly. At least that's what I was told. Back then.

"Didn't matter because I was able to use this place to my advantage. Broken Reach has a few decent libraries, and I learned their routines pretty quickly. Snuck out, learned the layout, studied what they had whenever I could –"

"You were never caught?" asked Karen.

"Sure I was," replied Eden. "Lots of times. I knew I'd be punished, but when you grow up in a place like Minethys, you learn how to stand torture. I just had to wait awhile after each time to make sure." She stopped. "Oh, sorry."

Karen was shaking a little, the talk of torture and cruel death having brought up the duel again. Eden hugged her silently. Berger looked slightly amused, coyly reclining with his hands behind his head, hardly even noticing the dirty look Fezz was giving him.

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Francis had heard of this. Reason and Emotion were supposed to be conflicting terms, often personified by Spock and McCoy in the old Star Trek episodes.

Say you have this problem: A natural disaster - like an earthquake - has freed a monstrous creature from centuries-long hibernation, and it's angry at being woken up; whatever language it speaks is unknown to those in the present time, and a city near its lair is about to bear the brunt of its rampage.

Now, one who adhered to Reason would propose using lethal force against the beast right away, as there'd too much risk to innocent life to find another option. One who followed Emotion would equate this with murder, as it's likely this being is intelligent, and just as much a victim of an uncontrollable disaster as anyone else.

Indeed, this is a no-win situation, unless a third option exists in a "middle-ground", and in this sort of conflict, a "mediator" was needed to find it, a role that, in the aforementioned example, was filled by Kirk.

Of course, the underlying theme was, without such a mediator to settle the argument, Reason and Emotion would oppose each other at every opportunity with contradicting views.

This guy is trying to scare me, thought Francis. Just a grab-bag duel, right?

He reached for the box with the red ribbon, and grabbed it. As he looked at it, he was surprised to see it had turned into a deck of cards.

"Here's how it's gonna go down," said Pux. Francis noted he was now holding another deck - the other box, he assumed - and was wearing a Duel Disk. He quickly loaded the former into the latter. "The decks we have are special ones that adjust to the users' dreams, desires and goals, one directed by the user's Reason, the other by his Emotion. No mixing the cards; you can only use what you have. You win, you get what you want."

"And if I lose?" asked Francis.

No answer.

"I'm game if you are," he continued. He shoved his regular deck into the pouch on his belt, and loaded the new one.

(Francis: 8,000) - - - - - - - - - - (Pux: 8,000)

His opening hand debunked his worst suspicion; it wasn't a deck consisting solely of high-level Normals. He had one Level 3, a Level 6, one Trap, and two Spells. He wasn't exactly familiar with these, but they seemed usable.

As he drew a sixth, he started to see the general idea. "I summon, uh… Kozmo Farmgirl," he announced.

The Disk caused a multicolored shimmer, producing a young lady in a black, sleeveless top and shorts, leather shoes, gloves, two belts, and a grey, tattered cloak. Her red hair was worn in long pigtails, with an odd pair of goggles worn on her forehead. Most notably, a weapon resembling a blaster pistol was in a holster on her belt. As she crouched and eyed Pux, there was a barking noise, and a large dog hopped to her side. Or rather, a robot dog. (1,500 ATK)

"Ooh-kay…" he said. "Think I'll end with that…"

Pux's eyebrows narrowed a little, looking lecherously at Farmgirl. He drew, and played a card, Foolish Burial, making a choice from his deck right away.

"Now I'll summon Kozmo Soartroopers," he added.

A stiff, formal marching noise heralded the arrival of his monster, or possibly monsters, plural, as the armored, Masked Soldiers who stepped forward numbered three. Each of them wore pitch-black, dull, powered armor, with metal wings on the back, and faceless, emotionless masks. They each carried a rifle. (1,000 ATK)

Brother, thought Francis, it's gonna be that kind of duel.

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"I had no idea they'd go after her, I swear!" sobbed Aysis.

The rakshasa assassin was cowering in the corner of the cell, Dolores silently standing over her.

"If there hasn't been a ransom demand by now, she's dead or has been delivered to whoever wanted her," she cried. "They don't keep them there any longer than they have to, that's all I know!"

"Is there any way to find out?" demanded Dolores.

"Devil's Garden!" she cried.

"What?" asked Jalal.

"It's a place in Utah, the most well-used portal to Broken Reach!" she sobbed again. "It's two way! Please…"

"Back off, Dolores," said Jalal.

Aysis took some deep breaths as she lay on the cot and the door was shut again. "You're a pro," said Jalal to the aide.

"I can look into that place," said Dolores.

"No need," he replied, "think I know about it already. It's a protected area with no use except tourism. A pretty decent location for the Prime side of a portal." He rubbed his chin. "Using it might be a problem."

Again, an understatement. If what Philip said held up, this would be tricky...

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"By spending 1,000 Life Points," continued Pux, "I can summon a Psychic-Type Kozmo monster from my Graveyard." There were more marching noises, and another set of the Soartroopers turned the three-man group to six. (1,000 ATK)

"Heh, heh," he snickered. Two set cards appeared behind them. "Over to you, kid."

Something's awfully suspicious here, thought Francis.

Indeed, that was the case. Pux wasn't about to let him in on this, but the magic he had used to summon those boxes hadn't conjured them up out of nothing. A big secret that fey and genies try their hardest to keep secret is that they have no ability at all to grant wishes. None whatsoever. Such reality-changing powers were far beyond their scope. They did, however, have access to vast stores of wealth and resources that humans could only dream of, and as a result, could easily pretend to grant wishes.

While Pux, being a criminal among the fey, had little access to the larger vaults, he could summon a few novelties from them, and while he didn't know beforehand just which decks would be summoned, he knew the ones available. This one he recognized, and felt it wouldn't be hard to figure out how the mortal would use them.

This is some sort of weird deck, thought Francis. Fortunately, he recognized the card he had just drawn so he used it quickly. "I'll use Emergency Teleport to summon a second Farmgirl! Two for the price of one."

The card appeared, causing a twin of the first to hop from it. (1,500 ATK)

Then he gestured, and both Farmgirls crouched on one knee and drew their hip blasters, opening fire on the Soartroopers, blasting half of them to particles. The first one's robo-dog yipped happily.

"Nice shooting," said Pux.

(F: 8,000) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 6,000)

Francis was reading the card closely, as Farmgirl blew across the barrel of her weapon. "Uh, okay, I think I can use their effect here," he said. "I'll use 500 Life Points for each and," he sorted through the cards in his deck, Pux tapping his foot as he did. "Okay, okay, this one and this one."

The auto-shuffle sorted the cards and he switched took one of the two Farmgirl card from the Monster zone, being careful to choose the one he had summoned via the Spell. "I'll use this effect to summon Kozmo Sliprider!"

The second Farmgirl and her dog disappeared, and there was a roar of jet engines, with a one-man spaceship with a bright orange hull descending into the clearing with blazing underside rockets. (2,300 ATK) The remaining Farmgirl smiled smugly while putting her hand on her hip.

He deposited that card in his jeans pocket. "I'll set these, and it's your move." The cards he set formed a monster and card behind it in soft, white light.

(F: 7,000) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 6,000)

Pux's grin widened. The dope forgot to use that monster's effect, he thought. Ah, well, his loss.

"I'll start by using the Soul Absorption Spell Card," he said. (Ah, crap, thought Francis, at the sight of it.) "And with no monsters, I can Special Summon Kozmo Dark Raider."

He used the card, and a new type of soldier with a gaudy, colorful, and somewhat torn uniform appeared. His face was covered with bandages, and the weapon he held was a long axe with a mace head on the end. (1,200 ATK)

"And he's trouble, because by banishing the Soartroopers in my Graveyard, I'll use his effect and see your Sliprider while raising you a Delta Shuttle!"

The strange Psychic lifted its weapon, and an even larger downdraft buffeted the whole clearing, knocking two saplings over as a slightly larger by much less friendly-looking craft descended. The hull was bone-white, and it had three large wings, one of them on the underside of the craft. (2,000 ATK)

"I know what you're thinking, yours is bigger than mine. Well, not for long." He tapped his deck, causing a card to slip from it, and then discarded it. The Delta Fighter emitted a rippling wave from its nose, and Sliprider started to quiver. (700 ATK)

"Discarding another Kozmo causes your monster to lose 200 points times it level, and I can do that every turn."

Francis just frowned as he kept eye contact. "Eh, quiet all of a sudden, huh? Well, in the meantime, Kozmo Wickedwitch, front and center!"

The dark forest got even darker, and a new monster somersaulted from behind Pux with a flip, clad in dark robes. As she - yes, she, lowered her hood to look at Francis, the red and black facial tattoos forming a mask-like visage, it was clear now what the idea here was.

Now, Francis' interest was piqued, especially when the unholy offspring of Darth Maul and the Wicked Witch of the West produced a baton that ignited, illuminating the clearing with a dual blade of scarlet light. (1,900 ATK)

He barely had any time to react as she rushed towards Farmgirl, who was savagely impaled through the torso with the weapon...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Like I said," continued Eden, "I was punished for it, beaten, whipped, threatened with death and all that, and they tightened security, but I just waited for them to go lax again, because I had time. I was here more than three centuries, and the Damned Magician Girl who brought me here is not that one.

"But the thing is, every time they confiscated the journal, they never destroyed it. They left it somewhere, and I found it again. Didn't take long for me to figure out they did it on purpose, and that they wanted me to write something in it, and I figured out exactly what. I'll get to that later.

"I did more snooping and found out a few secrets about Damned Magician Girl and the other mortals who are part of this group. The Borrowed Time they used was actually just a property of the nanomachines, and everyone who works for them has them. Not exceptions. It not only keeps them in line, it gives the guy in charge other benefits."

"Such as?" asked Karen.

"For starters, he can 'download' the memories of one of his servants into another, or into a computer, or even his own memory. So should one of them die, it's no big loss to them. If he has to punish someone he never kills them right away. He claims this is due to generosity and the desire to learn from a 'second chance'. I'm not sure how genuine this claim is, but the biggest reason is for him to 'backup' the collective data and possibly 'improve' the program within, should that happen."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Farmgirl collapsed, shattering as she hit the floor. Pux shifted his sight and pointed to Delta Shuttle, and torpedo rockets opened fire, blasting into Sliprider and blowing it to pieces.

(F: 5,200) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 7,000)

"Heads up, kid, aren't we here to have fun?" laughed Pux.

Depends on your idea of fun, I guess, thought Francis, before speaking out loud. "I banish Sliprider to summon Kozmo Tincan!"

There was a whir of beeps and whistles, and a cute little robot on tiny wheels with large (proportionately) arms and a funnel-like cap above its small face. (0 ATK)

"Oh right, so scared," laughed Pux. He threw two cards on his Disk, setting them in his Spell Zone. "Your move, chump."

"And that's my cue," said Francis. "I activate Kozmo Reversion!"

The Trap opened up, and Farmgirl leapt from a pool of light below, furiously looking towards Pux. (1,500 ATK) There was a wry beep from Tincan, and she calmed down a little.

"This card has three different effects, and I can use two of them, the downside being, both players use them. I choose the first and third effects, which let both players summon a low level monster from the Graveyard, and draw once."

"You catch on fast, kid," grumbled Pux, "you know I ain't got any there that qualify."

He nonetheless drew a card, as Francis drew and went over the cards he had now. He flipped a card on his Disk, causing the set monster to appear. The woman seemed to have a similar clothing style to Farmgirl, but that was it. She was older, resembling an elf maiden with pointed ears, long auburn hair, and piercing, enchanting eyes, along with gossamer dragonfly wings on her back. (1,800 ATK)

Several wolf-whistles and catcalls came from the forest around him, causing Francis to briefly look over his shoulder. Clearly Pux hadn't come alone.

"First," he said went on, "I'll pay 500 Life Points to use this guy's effect." He indicted Tincan, who beeped and whirred as steam shot from its spout, creating a holograph in front of him, showing three blank cards. "You choose a card, and I keep it, then send the others to the Graveyard, so it's your pick, Pux."

"Eh, very funny," replied the spriggan. "Left one."

The other two crumbled, with the third forming alongside the rest of his hand. "Think I'll bring him out now, Kozmo Strawman!"

He fit the new card on his Monster Zone, causing a very, very thin robot to shamble next to Tincan. It looked like an old, undressed mannequin that had been hastily soldered together out of pipes and aluminum plating, moving in a rickety, clumsy fashion. It's head seemed to have no face at all. (500 ATK)

"Let her have it, Kozmo Goodwitch!" he commanded. The feminine pronoun made it clear who she meant; Goodwitch outstretched her palm and pink orbs of magic flew towards Wickedwitch, causing the darker one to keel and cough before collapsing into a set card.

"That effect turns her upside down and powerless," continued Francis. Now I'll use Kozmo Lightsword!"

The Equip Spell appeared, and Goodwitch moved her cloak aide with her left hand, and the hilt of a sword flew from her belt, easily grasping it in the other. A green bolt of light ignited from it, creating a lethal energy sword. (2,300 ATK)

"Ah, the 'elegant weapon of a more civilized age'," he mused. "And pretty damn awesome too! Attack the defending monster!"

Gripping the weapon in both hands, Kozmo Goodwitch leapt, flipped, and as Wickedwitch appeared defending, slashed through her foe, cleaving through the waist. Pux shouted more violently than he had the last time they had dueled.

Just my luck to get a movie fanboy, thought Pux.

"And if that effect doesn't make you feel it, this sure will." Goodwitch made an even greater leap, over Kozmo Delta Shuttle, thrusting downward as she descended, impaling the craft. It shuddered and sparked as she leapt clear, exploding as she landed on her feet.

(F: 4,200) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 5,700)

"I activate the effect of Delta Shuttle, and banish it to summon DOG Fighter!" shouted Pux.

He was clearly angrier than he was exuberant, but nonetheless, his move caused a slightly smaller craft to descend, the hull having two connected cockpits and grey plating, looking slightly like an "H" on its side. (2,400 DEF)

Farmgirl didn't seem to care, drawing her weapon again and firing, hitting the Dark Raider and vaporizing him, the strange weapon falling with a clatter. As she blew the smoke from the gun barrel, Francis took another card from the deck.

"Fine, fine, you're very smart," replied Pux. "I activate Psychic Trigger." one of his Traps opened, and he pulled two cards from his discard pile. "Banishing these two Psychics lets me draw twice, which leads to my other Trap, Brain Hazard." He drew the cards, and the other Trap lifted. Two hands appeared from a black orb in mid-air; they pulled on the edges of said orb, stretching it out into a dark portal.

"My monster returns," he gloated. The portal stretched to accommodate its user, Kozmo Wickedwitch, who casually stepped out of it.

"Yeah, yeah, you guys are like cole slaw," said Francis. He set another of his cards, behind the others. "Gotta admit though, this is kinda neat."

(F: 3,700) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 7,000)

"In that case," said Pux. He paused a minute to draw, then played a Continuous Spell. "I activate Infernal Smelter."

Francis knew - vaguely - what a smelter was for, a furnace that used heat to melt metal into ore (metals like copper, lead, silver, tin, iron and mercury were rarely found pure in nature, and had to be processed to be used) but he had no idea what this thing was. I was a huge furnace shaped like a demon's head, the mouth wide open with green fire burning inside. It was easy to see that, whatever it was, it was an evil thing.

"Destroy that clinking clanking clattering collection of collagenous junk!" ordered Pux.

It took a brief moment for Francis to realize he meant Tincan, and it almost didn't have time to react to Kozmo Wickedwitch igniting her blade and swinging it. Almost.

"I activate Luminize!" he shouted. One of his Traps lifted, and the lightsword bounced off an invisible shield as Tincan beeped, its ATK rising to 1,900.

"Close, but no banana," he added.

"Meh," said Pux. He set another card in his Spell Zone. "Move."

Francis drew, and smiled slightly. Well, what do you know, he thought. "I'll summon Kozmo Scaredy Lion."

The rainbow shimmer appeared again, and a new Psychic formed in his last slot, a tall, furry alien with a lion's head. It wore a black, leather jacket and trousers, with a bandoleer over the shoulder. It was trembling and cowering as it appeared. (1,200 ATK)

"Stay strong, big guy," said Francis. "Goodwitch, show that novice Sith Lord how the pros do it."

Goodwitch prepared to use her effect again, but there was a flash, and Wickedwitch disappeared.

"What?"

"You're right, kid, Darth Maul was nothing but a weak copy," said Pux, smiling broadly. "And seeing as I used that monster's effect, I can summon the, as you say, 'pro'."

The deep, distinctive sound of a breathing apparatus seemed to make Francis' other four monsters as nervous as Scaredy Lion was. (Or rather, as nervous as he was a moment ago; now he was on the floor covering his eyes.)

Well, guess I asked for it, thought the Shadowchaser as the taller monster actually started to form.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Keep going," said Karen.

"So about a hundred and fifty or so years ago," continued Eden. "I worked up the gumption to find the books even they couldn't read, and as I suspected, they had exactly the stuff I needed." She looked outside briefly, then went on. "The stuff they wanted me to translate. I continued writing the information down, and burned the original copies. I was even able to learn some special alchemy techniques to write in concealed script.

"About forty years ago, I met Belle, a new Damned Magician Girl, and she was friendlier then than her predecessors. She gave me more leeway than the others. It eventually changed from jailer-prisoner to mentor-student between us, sort of. I made far more progress then, seeing as she was willing to look the other way. I even gained access to secret rooms around here I had never been able to enter before, and labs with better equipment. Eventually, she even taught me a few new alchemic formulae, and I was able to learn a powerful Chaos Wards, making it hard for them to decipher my writing."

She stopped and looked outside again. "Then I put part of my plan into action, breaking into Antisthenes' main lab, hoping to find something to sabotage. I hit gold. The Pan Dimensional Homing Device.

"See, that was the biggest reason they wanted me here, the Device was built by the tierre, and they wanted info on how to use it the way a tierre could. Again, be careful what you wish for."

"So, uh, you sabotaged it…" said Karen.

"Right, see, it was pretty easy for me to figure out how tierre magic worked. So without giving much away to the bitch who's eavesdropping on us, I hacked into Antisthenes' main computer grid, found the system he had jacked the Device into, and used it to enchant the core of the Device so that it used wild magic as a fuel source."

A low whistle came from Fezz.

"That's right, platonics use axiomatic magic. Trying to use an artifact with a wild magic source would be the cosmic equivalent of oil and vinegar. I'd hoped it would create the standard reality breaking paradox and cause this whole stronghold to collapse in on itself, drawing them all into oblivion."

"This stronghold?" gasped Fezz. "It would have atomized Broken Reach and everything within a hundred miles!"

"If they were lucky!" added Berger. He been a soldier under some of the bloodiest and most ruthless of Acheron generals, and even they had never considered something so destructive.

"Wait, wait," interrupted Karen. "If did that, and destroyed the whole stronghold, how would you survive?"

"I would be in the clear, thanks to Belle," replied Eden. Her voice had gotten sadder and more morose. "She had, by then, become my accomplice in all but name. A partner. Almost a friend."

The word "friend" had a tone indicating it was a painful word for her to say, while the "almost" part had a different tone, marking it a white lie.

"She helped me hack into the central computer with a simple trick to ensure I could use it without detection and unopposed. First, she used the information I obtained to install a special rootkit in the system, activating it with a special password that she purposely did not share with me. I was then able to bypass the system's base security via this 'open door' and program a 'backdoor' that allowed access, which used a different password, something I memorized and kept secret from her. She then programmed a, well, special security system that would discourage anyone from trying to use the backdoor."

The tone she used there had very clear intent. She was indicating that this was something she couldn't say out loud. It was the information Beatrice needed.

"So it's like the Minuteman launch crews?" asked Berger.

"Sort of," answered Eden. "The only way to access the rootkit is to use the backdoor, and the rootkit prevents safe access to the backdoor. As of now, the backdoor allows anyone with the third password full access to his entire database. He doesn't like that. But Belle's rootkit can't be disabled due to a security system that even I can't turn off."

Damn! thought Karen.

"Anyway, with this access and Belle looking the other way while covering me, I made far more progress. I even found ways to send cloaked programs to the nanomachines in my own system, enabling me to be even more inconspicuous, able to go places I really didn't belong."

Karen's eyes opened in silent revelation of what the most important secret was. She knows how to cure the nanos! she thought. This is the big secret!

A slight smile from Eden and equally slight nod affirmed the notion, and she went on. "And Belle hoped I'd be out of here before the Device was used, and the 'bomb' went off.

"After I recovered my journal, she was willing to help me escape with it, and we planned in secret for weeks. After I did my work on the Device, I wanted her to come with me, but she insisted on staying to maintain the charade until the last possible instant. She led me to the safest portal, and then told me to sock her in the face a few times, make it look like I had overpowered her and fled.

"I was in the clear now and the fuse was lit, so to speak, but," then she stopped. She looked much sadder now.

"She double crossed you and your sabotage was discovered," answered Karen, her tone turning sympathetic.

"No, no, it was my fault," said Eden. "The sabotage worked, but not the way I had hoped. Maybe my escape was discovered too soon and they were more cautious when they used it, or maybe a wrong wire had been crossed. Chaos magic, you know? Unpredictable. The implosion I caused wasn't as powerful as I'd hoped. They contained it in time and the rent it caused only consumed the Device itself. It was sundered, and hurled into the ether.

"And it didn't take long before they found out who had helped me."

Now Karen was the one who had to give Eden a comforting hug. She didn't continue for a while.

"I later found out that the Device had been found in Acheron," she finally said, "but its four control nodes remained missing until, I assume, this mess started to fall into your hands.

"But that's getting ahead. I was brought back here five years ago, courtesy of the current Damned Magician Girl, the one you met. She isn't as nice as the one I knew. From what I fathom, she was another prisoner who had been considered as a possible replacement. Much like I was. Like I told you, everything Belle learned had been backed up and stored, and it was 'downloaded' into her replacement."

Karen was shivering even more now, and Eden knew exactly why. "Always a good idea to keep a few 'possible replacements' around, I guess."

"True, but – I used a little 'insurance' to make sure I was still in a position to bargain." As she said that, Eden looked over her shoulder again, and stopped.

Karen could tell right away what her concern is. Damned Magician Girl was listening. This was the info she personally wantedfrom Eden, and for that, she needed her own access to that 'backdoor'. Once she knew it, she could "dispose" of the "malignant system" that was hindering her. Again it was a cruel but incredibly efficient method.

"So I'm her insurance," she sighed.

"Karen, I had hoped to get it to you guys fast, and now, you have to get the complete info to them. One way or another. In order to access the backdoor, you need the info in that journal. Beatrice can't find that backdoor and destroy the rootkit without Belle's password, which she'd discover if I said it now."

"Uhm, small problem there," replied Karen.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The Psychic monster standing before Francis' five monsters was a head taller even than Goodwitch, the slender, svelte shape of a female, but with long, dark robes. Black hair cascaded down her back, under a pointed witch's hat, and a dark mask hid her face. (2,200 ATK)

(F: 3,200) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 7,500)

"Okay, doesn't look that tough…" said Francis. "Goodwitch…" He stopped, he looked at his monster and then at Kozmoll Dark Lady.

"Second thoughts?" asked Pux. "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

"Alright, you asked for it," answered Francis. Goodwitch gripped her weapon in both hands and sprang towards Dark Lady. Only for Pux to flip his set card.

"Tailor of the Fickle?" he exclaimed.

Dark Lady's hand reached out, the Lightsword wrenched from Goodwitch's hand towards hers. As the Dark Psychic caught it, her Attack Score shot up to 2,700 while Goodwitch fell to 1,800. With a forward thrust, the villain ran her Light counterpart through.

(F: 2,300) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 7,500)

Okay, that tears it, thought Francis, this is too much of a coincidence for some grab bag duel.

Fortunately, of his four remaining cards, all of which weren't monsters, he was familiar with two, and the others were pretty easy to figure out. He set all but one, then moved Tincan and Strawman's cards, changing their positions. (0 DEF, 1,800 DEF) He gestured to Pux.

"I sense much fear in you," chuckled the spriggan. He drew a card, then looked over the five monsters. DOG Fighter hummed, and a second Token Fighter alighted from above. (2,400 DEF)

He's building an entire fleet! thought Francis. What is he planning on summoning?

"Move to Attack Mode, DOG Fighter!" laughed Pux. The craft shifted its panels, and a beeping crosshairs focused itself on Farmgirl. (2,000 ATK)

"I have you now…" he chuckled. "FIRE!"

A salvo of missiles and rockets blasted, honing in on the young heroine…

"What?" he said. Farmgirl was still standing, frowning and tapping her foot while looking at the spriggan. "I missed?" Then he saw the Trap.

(F: 4,300) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 7,500)

"Naw, that was my Draining Shield card," said Francis. "And might I add, the mad cackle didn't fit the quote."

"I'll show you," he growled.

Dark Lady's blade flashed, and she sped towards Farmgirl… But the smaller monster lifted her hand, a flashing silver light covering her. Dark Lady was blown to particles, the hilt of the Lightsword falling with a clatter. And now, Farmgirl was standing between a Quickplay Spell and an Equip Spell.

"Hard to see, the Dark Side is," said Francis. "But I saw that coming from a mile away, dummy! The Spell Card Master Magician's Incantation let me activate my Moon Mirror Shield Equip, meaning Farmgirl can overpower any monster she fights by 100 points.

"Oh, and it also means I can use Farmgirl's effect and pay 500 Life Points to gain another Kozmo, and speaking of Equips, I can pay that much a second time to take back my Lightsword."

There was more giggling from the bushes, and given Pux's expression, they one they were laughing at this time wasn't Francis.

(F: 3,800) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 7,400)

Stay focused, Pux, thought the spriggan to himself. Stay focused… Baby steps…

"I'll set this monster," he said, "and then use Card of Demise."

The reversed monster appeared, and he made three draws from his deck. "But I have to discard whatever I don't use here, so…" He set them all, face-down, in his Spell Zone. "There."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Freddy Krueger," muttered Eden. "Yeah, that's a toughie. Still, it could have been worse."

"So if I fall asleep without this dream suppression program, the dream picks up where it left off," explained Karen, "I'd lose the duel, and then, well, you know. Thing is, I have no idea how they're doing this, summoning these nightmares. Uh, no pun intended."

"Like I said, it could have been much worse. They haven't fixed the alteration I made, and as a result, can't use the Pan Dimensional Homing Device to its fullest potential. I assume an intermediary located outside this facility is using it. But they were never able to unlock it's true potential even before that. Hell, I don't know if anyone can who's still alive today. Like I told you, the Pan Dimensional Homing Device was one of many devices of unimaginable power constructed by the tierre, back when they were capable of such things, and its power can potentially rival the Machine of Lum the Mad."

"Okay, now you're scaring me," said Fezz.

There was, of course, good reason for that. Even Lum himself could barely comprehend the dreaded Machine, that had been named after him, and most believed its powers could have been limitless, given the sheer number of potential settings it had.

"It's a device that draws upon realms beyond the dimensional boundaries," continued Eden, "created via mortal belief."

"Wait a minute, it can create life?" asked Karen. "That's impossible!"

"True, and it can't," said Eden. "It summons them by drawing on the creations of those who can.

"Ever hear the old story of how the Keepers came to be? Supposedly, some bigwig bureaucrat

discovered something about the laws of the universe he shouldn't have, a way to 'find' entire universes just by thinking them up, so he 'found' one where the Keepers lived and told them to come here. The Device works on the same principle."

"So you're saying, in a sense," said Karen, "that when Wes Kraven thought up the screenplay for the first Nightmare on Elm Street, a whole other dimension was created where Freddy was real."

"Maybe, or maybe it was there all along, and he just wrote down information about it," answered Eden. "The universe is infinite, Karen, and belief is powerful. If you can think it, it can exist somewhere. The illithids imagined their god into existence, after all."

"Belief made manifest," said Fezz, in an ominous tone.

Everyone looked at him. "Well, it's really only a theory here, but…"

"No, no, go on," said Berger.

Now Fezz was making the strange look, mostly because he knew how ridiculous he was sounding, and it made him uncomfortable. "Well, it's the theory that if a work of fiction is viewed enough times by enough sentient beings, the characters in said fiction can develop a type of pseudo-life. Let me put it this way, you ever hear the claim that Robin Hood is loosely based on a real story?" Seeing the nodding, he went on. "Well, that's all wishful thinking. There were lots of rebellious outlaws back then, but nobody ever thought to sit down and write a biography of one. It was always complete fiction. Same with William Tell, King Arthur, John Henry, that whole crowd.

"But, here's the but. When authors turned the old stories of oral tradition into written word, and then into printed word, more and more people read them. The idea that these were historic figures came naturally, and it was hard not to think, at least subconsciously, that they were once real. Sparks of life developed in the minds of mortals who dreamed and imagined these characters.

"And when the modern era made films, radio, television, and finally internet able to broadcast those stories to millions, these sparks could turn into raging bonfires. Giving birth to new realities elsewhere. Belief made manifest.

"Course, it's only a theory."

"A pretty stupid one," replied Berger.

"Well what do you think made folks believe the War of the Worlds broadcast was real? Fear of the unknown leads folks to believe strange things. It makes more sense than the ability to just create life out of nothing!"

"So why in the world is this Antisthenes guy trying to do this?" asked Karen. "How does one enforce Law by making false things real?"

"Because conspiracy theorists take a false concept and believe it's real," added Eden. She stopped for a moment to let that sink in. "Antisthenes does indeed believe lies lead to chaos, and his goal is to create order in all things. His plan seems to be using controlled exposure to administer a cure. Like snake venom, only on a global scale. By sowing untruths in mortals, he causes distrust and a desire to find what's real. Eventually, he hopes humans will have enough doubt to question their very senses, to doubt their eyes and ears.

"Because, as you, a Shadowchaser, knows too well, your senses can fool you."

"The Veil that hides Shadowkind," gasped Karen.

Eden nodded. "A lie instinctively created by humans via their own subconsciousness to protect them. The more humans doubt, the closer they come to shattering the biggest deception of all. And in Antisthenes' misguided brain, it would mean a triumph for Law."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Seeing as I have your undivided attention now," said Francis. He drew a card, then pointed to Strawman. "I'll use his effect, and pay 500 Life Points…" There was a loud WHOOSH, and Sliprider flew from behind them. (2,300 ATK)

"I activate Escape from the Dark Dimension!" yelled Pux. He slammed his fist into his Disk, and of his Traps opened. The dark portal appeared again, this time on the ground, and Kozmo Wickedwitch jumped out of it. (1,900 ATK)

"And I'll use her effect, paying 1,000 Life Points to make her invulnerable."

"Get the feeling here that one of us is being ripped off?" asked Francis. He pointed to Scaredy Lion and the newly-summoned Sliprider, causing both to disappear. "Those two are out so I can summon this."

The sky lit up with celestial light as a much, much bigger spaceship started to descend, a disk-shaped craft with two double-wings and two cylindrical extensions on the front. (2,800 ATK)

Francis then activated the recovered Lightsword card, and it ignited in Farmgirl's hands. (2,000 ATK)

(F: 3,300) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 6,400)

Those same crosshairs - now green, started to focus on DOG Fighter, but Pux used another Trap. "Staunch Defender!" he shouted. The crosshairs shifted quickly to Wickedwitch, and Forerunner opened fire, the powerful missiles and energy torpedoes exploding around Wickedwitch.

Of course, Francis didn't stop. Farmgirl attacked next, her blade cutting through her foe twice.

Farmgirl backflipped back towards Francis, who stopped to take two cards from his deck, looking at Wickedwitch as he did, the unfortunate Sith kneeling while breathing hard, her sinister, dark robes having been shredded.

"Man, put her out of her misery already, Pux," said Francis. Tincan disappeared, another Sliprider appearing from behind. (2,300 ATK)

"That supposed to scare me?" asked Pux. Then the craft fired, blowing through the Soul Absorption card. "Okay, okay, I get the hint!"

Francis' Trap Card lifted Psychic Overload. He took three cards, Lion, Goodwitch, and Tincan, from his discard pile, and shuffled them into his deck, then made two further draws.

Francis crossed his arms. "Your move, shorty."

(F: 2,300) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 5,800)

Pux actually found it difficult to unclench his fist before drawing, but managed to do so. A third Token landed from above. "I'll move DOG Fighter back to Defense Mode, then use the Spell Card, Telekinetic Charging Cell." As the Machine shifted, one of his set cards activated, and a purplish-orange veil covered Kozmo Wickedwitch. "That means from now on, she'll be able to use her effect without me paying a thing, and it's your turn."

As Francis drew this time, Kozmo Forerunner hummed an odd, eerie melody. "This monster's effect gives me 1,000 Life Points a turn."

"Well, like I said, I'll use Wickedwitch's effect," started Pux.

"Uhm, actually, you don't," said Francis.

He discarded a card, and as Wickedwitch started to cast her spell, she gasped and burst.

"HEY!" shouted Pux.

"Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit," replied Francis. "That card I discarded caused her effect to backfire."

"Now one minute, that card," said Pux.

Then he stopped cold. Francis was looking at him hard. "Yes?" he asked.

"Uh, nothing," said Pux. "I pay 1,000 Life Points to gain back Telekinetic Charging Cell."

He gained the card, but then covered his head as Farmgirl's Lightsword made two brutal slashes, cutting through DOG Fighter and one of the tokens.

"I use DOG Fighter's effect!" yelled Pux.

Nothing happened. He looked at the Disk and tapped it. "Hello, I said I use -"

"Sorry, not gonna happen," answered Francis. "Take a look." He gestured to his new Trap Card. "Kozmourning. DOG Fighter didn't go to the Graveyard, it went back to your deck. But Farmgirl didn't need to send them to your Graveyard."

He casually took two more cards, then signaled to Forerunner, who opened fire on a second Token, blowing it to little bits.

(F: 1,300) - - - - - - - - - - (P: 3,800)

"Two monsters left, fellah," he said, indicating the last Token and set monster. "I have two monsters - for now - and one's a double-attacker who can pierce. Do the math. Next turn, you're next."

As angry as he looked, Pux was even more infuriated inside, the giggling from his soon-to-be-former partners making it worse.

He closed his eyes, and concentrated, his dark fey magic causing a card to form on the top of his deck. Sure, it was cheating, sure it was playing dirty, sure the Court of Stars would revoke his parole if they found out, but he was not going to be humiliated by some stupid mortal!

He drew it, then set it in his Disk without even confirming it, then he flipped up his set monster, causing a little guy in a green hobe and wide-brimmed hat that covered all of his face except his eyes to appear. (300 ATK)

"My Kozmo Scrounger's Flip Effect activates, so I can banish it to gain a little something special from my deck." The little Psychic covered itself with its cloak, disappearing. "You draw once, so lets deal with that first."

He watched Francis make the draw closely, then went on. "You were wondering what this is, right?" he asked, pointing to the Infernal Smelter. "Well, here's the 401." As he spoke, two diminutive imps with hog-like faces wearing overalls appeared and started shoveling strange, green stones into the smelter. "After three turns on the field and at least three monsters destroyed, I can banish it to gain back these." The evil furnace swelled, strained, and burst, three cards flying from it to be caught by Pux. "Thing is, if I summon or toss them this turn, I lose 3,000 Life Points for each. However…" He turned two of them forward Dark Raider and Delta Shuttle. "But because their combined Levels equals 10…"

The look on Francis' face indicated he was catching on quickly. Pux shoved the two cards in his pocket as the sky began to darken. "So, you were wondering what my little surprise was?" asked the spriggan. "Well, my little surprise ain't all-that little."

Francis waited a minute for him to say something else, and when he didn't, looked back and forth, looking for the monster. Pux pointed upwards, to the sky.

"Oh… my… God…"

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Eden's next comment was interrupted by Beatrice's voice through an intercom, which sounded annoyed and bossy. "Move away from the bars everyone," she demanded.

"Now what?" asked Karen.

The door to the cell block started to open.

"Chow," answered Berger. "Unless you want her to show you that trick with the shackles again, do what she says."

When it opened, the troll in the other cell started to growl and strain, then roar and struggle as it saw Beatrice, vainly trying to reach her.

"Aw, shut up," she snapped at it.

Two of those smaller droids came in with her, one of them carrying a bag over its shoulder. It withdrew two wrapped packages, tossing them to Berger and Fezz.

"Need a bodyguard now, Beatrice?" asked Eden, noting that there were two of them.

"Don't get smart, Eden," she answered. The robot tossed two more of them into their cell. "This is really only common courtesy for you now anyway."

"Ah," said Eden, sarcastically. "So what's it gonna be now, a quick hanging or has Thingol actually taken a fancy to gladiator fights now?"

Beatrice looked at her very, very hard. "Trust me, Eden, it will be quick, and it will be swift."

She turned to leave, and the troll roared louder.

"HEY, aren't you gonna feed him?" snapped Karen.

Beatrice practically laughed. "Not without a rhino tranquilizer, I'm not. Be quiet or I'll handle two birds with one stone and have Eden do that."

The door slid closed. "You don't think she'd actually," started Karen.

"I wouldn't put it past her," said Fezz, "but they really should be feeding that guy soon, probably using safety gear. When he getsangry like this it means the sedatives are wearing off."

"So it's in the stuff they feed him?" added Eden. "Hmm…"

Given her expression, it was clear to Karen that the "hmm" came with an idea, and she hoped it was a good one.

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Francis had expected to see the moon. After proving himself wrong, he at first thought the summoned monster was the moon.

Then it became clear, that was no moon...

The colossal thing was hovering overhead in the now darkened sky, a sphere surrounded by rings that formed a cylindrical frame. As he looked closer, he could see entire towers and fortresses built on the thing's surface. (4,000 ATK)

"Look at the size of that thing," he gasped.

"That's right, Kozmo Dark Planet is bigger than anything you've got, kid. Now you see the difference between Reason and Emotion. You can use your gut feelings all you want, but in the end, it all falls to the one using the better strategy.

"Still, maybe there is something about that whole thing about how one draw changes everything…"

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Jemorille: Indeed, that line was, perhaps, the most profound (and possibly only profound) statement attributed to Judai Yuki. Unfortunately, it not only contradicted his statement Reason cowing to Emotion (if I had to label Judai as one, I'd pick Emotion), but the spirit of the remark was clearly tainted by the speaker here, who had summoned his ultimate beast through underhanded - and clearly illegal - methods in a contest he had tried to rig from the start.

Still, while a spriggan's cheating would come as no surprise to a rilmani scholar like myself, the revelations claimed by Eden would come as a shock to most. I admit, initially, I had doubts.

Until I realized, to my horror, that everything she claimed made complete and absolute sense, after every piece of information I had was applied, compared, and interspersed.

This story - and this duel - will continue, with more revelations to come, which were as shocking to me when I first viewed them as they are to those reading these words.

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Master Magician's Incantation (Quickplay Spell)

Image: Dark Magician with his outstretched hand, casting eldritch symbols forward:

Effect: You can activate 1 face-down Spell Card or 1 Spell Card from your hand as if it were a Quick-Play Spell Card.

First used in Yu-Gi-Oh GX (manga) 021

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Kozmo Dark Raider (Effect Monster)

Psychic/Dark/Lvl4/1,200/300

Effect: This card may be Special Summoned if your opponent controls at least 1 monster and you control no monsters. If Special Summoned in this manner, you may banish up to 2 "Kozmo" monsters from your Graveyard to select 1 "Kozmo" monster from your deck with a Level lower than the combined Levels of the banished monster; Special Summon the selected monster. The effect of "Kozmo Dark Raider" can be used once per turn.

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Kozmo Scrounger (Effect Monster)

Psychic/Dark/Lvl2/300/600

Effect: FLIP: Your opponent draws 1 card: Add 1 "Kozmo" monster from your deck to your hand. You may not Normal Summon the turn you use this effect.

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Kozmo Reversion (Trap Card)

Normal Trap

Image: Kozmo Farmgirl (background) confronting Kozmoll Dark Lady (foreground) in a dark wood on a road of yellow brick, with an alien sky overhead. Dark Lady conjures a fireball as nasty trees reach for Farmgirl. (In effect, the scene combines the climax of The Empire Strikes Back with the scene in The Wizard of Oz right after rescuing the Tin Man.)

Effect: You may activate this card during the End Phase of a turn where 2 or more "Kozmo" monsters you control are destroyed by your opponent (by battle or by card effect). Select 2 of the following three effects and apply them:

Both players draw 1 card

Both players Special Summon 1 "Kozmo" monster from their respective Graveyards.

Both players Special Summon 1 of their banished "Kozmo" monsters.

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INFERNAL SMELTER (Continuous Spell)

Effect: When a "Kozmo" Machine-Type monster you control is destroyed, place 1 Smelting Counter on this card (max: 3). You may banish this card to select 1 "Kozmo" monster from your Graveyard for each Smelting Counter; add the selected monsters from your Graveyard to your hand. If you summon or discard any monster this turn take 3,000 points of damage during the end phase for each monster summoned or discarded. Skip your Battle Phase for the turn.

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Shadowchaser Files

The Church of Starry Wisdom

NOTE: This file is an excerpt from the essay Eyes of Insanity by Althea, curator of the Musée Arcane. While the accusations made are troublesome, she fails to provide any evidence whatsoever, as is her style. Thus, its contents should be viewed with cautious skepticism in case they turn out to be factual.

Many call me a charlatan and an eccentric, something I have never denied. Indeed, one who looks upon the darkest mysteries of the universe - which many would desire to stay dark - one must be somewhat mad. Especially since such things are known to drive researchers to madness, and for each question that is answered, more questions are found.

The rather startling revelation that the Mad God Tharizdun is, in effect, a servant of the Great Old Ones caused a lot of questions to be asked. One that is often posed is, "Why do the Great Old Ones make no effort to escape their prison when their pawn, who possess their former power, spends every waking moment raging against the walls of his confinement."

Well, this is actually easy to answer. While the abominations do indeed have powers that equal or rival the gods, they have no true divinity, and as such, have less of an ability to influence mortals. Gods are symbiotic in nature, gaining power from mortal worship while granting boons to their worshippers. Elder Evils are parasitic; they cannot benefit living beings, as their only true purpose is to eradicate them. They hate all life.

But then, doesn't that make Tharizdun himself an oxymoron? The god of destruction seeks to destroy all of existence, has several cults who worship him, and they have divine powers he grants. Why can't the Great Old Ones do they same? Are they just too stupid?

In a word, yes. The are pretty stupid, as far as IQ goes. Even Azathoth's cultists refer to him as the "blind idiot piper", reduced to a near-mindless state by the Elder Gods. While still incredibly powerful, his position is only due to his own ignorance and self-centered nature.

But the true reason is… They are trying to break free, just more discreetly. At least one of them is.

Before we go further, I should remind readers that I still cannot prove one word. This time, however, I must add a disclaimer, that all those who sought to prove - or disprove - what is contained in this text came to bad ends.

My story starts with a device that I have dubbed the Crown of Snakes (if its builders had another name, it has been lost.) This device had a long and violent history:

In the early days of the universe, when our sun was just a spark in a cloud of stellar mist, as the Gods were still being born, the walls separating universes were much weaker. Then, the multiversal walls were like a steel-link fence as compared to the metaphorical stone walls that exist today.

Meanwhile, another universe was nearing its heat death. The resident civilization commissioned a team of scientists to find a way to escape. Unfortunately, said civilization, in its desperation, failed to note that the team (numbering 66) was filled mostly with psychotic bastards. Said psychotic bastards did create an escape route, but soon found they lacked sufficient power. At this point, the psychotic bastards lost their patience, and located an ancient book. Using a ritual detailed in this book, they harvested the collective electrical energy of every member of their civilization and used it to power the device. Now then, this device was not elegant. It was crude, like a cleaver.

But it did it's job, and the scientists escaped their collapsing universe. It would be useful to name their species at this point; I call them the Kottos. The ship they used to fly through the machine landed, spatially speaking, on Earth. Temporally speaking (when traveling through the multiversal Void, time is as fluid as space), it crashed in the late Cretaceous period, initiating the KT extinction event. The dazed survivors (not all of whom were psychopaths) noted the atmosphere, and began the long and painful process of changing their bodies method of respiration. Some of these attempts went badly resulting in beings like the antlered Cernunnos, and the serpentine Coatlicue roaming the earth. In any case, these beings ruled the Stone Age of Earth, and while many of them were terrible, awful tyrants, the eleven survivors who retained their sanity took on benevolent roles.

I believe even these eleven survivors eventually died from infighting and other violence. My encounter with the one I gained the Crown from, well, it was not something I am proud of, and we'll leave it at that.

Now that that is out of the way, I will explain the Crown of Snakes. This surviving member of the Coatlicue, while quite psychotically mad, was a brilliant scientist. Using Kotton science, she created a great many artifacts, the most infamous being the Crown. You see, the Crown is something like a mental fax machine; it takes thought and illustrates it on papyrus. Coatlicue would take the two cables attached to the machine and place them on either side of the subjects head. Then, she would flick a switch, and the memories would be translated onto papyrus.

I had recently added it to an exhibition when, from what I can gather, an illithid criminal known to legal and psychiatric authorities as Samuel Greg had broken in, and commandeered the device in a rather… sloppy fashion. (Editor's note: He took two of the device's cords and hooked them to his temples like jumper cables. Witnesses beforehand claim he was acting insane even by illithid standards.)

It is only fair thus to credit him here for providing this information. Posthumously.

Your name is Frank Lau. It's the year 1950. You are a first-generation Chinese-American, teaching children geometry. It might not pay well, but you like your job. You're walking down an alleyway, your white suit creased and torn from the actions of extremists. You had fought them off, but you knew they wouldn't settle for beating you and ripping out your cravat. As you walk down the alleyway, you notice a strangely-colored gas. It flows into your nostrils and all is black.

You wake up. You're in a wooden chair. Silver electrodes are attached to various places in your body. You don't know what they are, but the gas comes again into your nostrils and you lose consciousness.

You wake up again. Did you fall asleep? Feeder tubes have been placed into every orifice available for entry. A steady stream of electric-blue gas flows into your mouth, ears and nostrils. Your eyelids are stretched apart by two metal manipulator claws. You can see two men - the attackers from earlier, you think absentmindedly. They wheel a man in a wheelchair to you. He is wheeled closer to you until your nose brushes with his. The old man opens his eyes.

Now you can see why they kept your eyelids open. The man's eyes are electric vortexes filled with streams of multicoloured energy. As you are forced to stare into them, a terrifying mine crashes into yours. Nonsensical rhythms fill your head - ba-ba-ba-bum, ba-ba-ba-bum. You can suddenly do amazing things - you can count the number of molecules in the chair you're strapped to. You giggle as you know the number - ten septillion. You can actually taste the rooms color's. Rose and green and yellow and so much electric blue.

Then you feel the real impact and scream as Nyarlathotep shunts your mind to the base of your skull, realising, too late, that the sensations had been to soften you up. You are effectively dead.

As you die, you can see the plans of the Crawling Chaos - equations so complicated, no machine could calculate them, engines that run off of conceptual energy. You watch in mute horror from the base of your skull as Nyarlathotep begins his plans. Henry Pickman's body ages into a skeleton as the spirit vacates him. Nyarlathotep twiddled his thumbs. His voice is clear in your mind:

"Tharizdun must die."

This, I must add, is a recreation of what I believe he intended to write, as several other sheets of parchment had the paragraphs repeated over and over, with smudged ink making many other parts unreadable. previous entries blotted out by the ink. I can only surmise this unfortunate(masquerading as a human named Samuel Greggs) had been rendered brain-dead by an alien and extremely powerful telepathic presence.

As you might imagine, I was intrigued, and began my own research, eventually finding information in a decrepit church in New England. I will not share my experiences there, nor will I state the exact location, lest some foolish gloryhound decide to investigate. Suffice to say, I got what I needed.

History of the Church of Starry Wisdom

If a man would look at the criminal underworld of Shadow, he would see many odd things. However, a Shadowchaser can ignore the oddities in the normal criminal underworld. Some Shadow syndicates have managed to evade attention via masquerading as Mundane syndicates.

However, these are just underneath the surface, like fish. If one looks deeper beneath the surface, one can find far fouler things, like anglerfish. Such is the case with the Church of Starry Wisdom.

Founded in the spring of April 1844 by Enoch Bowen, the Church of Starry Wisdom began as a fraternal lodge made up of rich and influential landowners. Much like the Masons, they were a secretive, exclusive group, but not truly, at that point, a cult.

Partial funding for this group came from the opium trade, as profitable a business back then as cocaine is today. Eventually, however, their membership requirements became lax, and a few Shadows joined. The leader at the time, a man named James Eve seemed to be a Sensitive, and he was intrigued by the idea of these odd beings, and wondered if Awareness could be obtained artificially. He started to experiment with new types of narcotics, most of them quack remedies, until his lover (actually a dark elf, unbeknownst to him) suggested that more profit could be made with more exotic drugs her clan could supply. While it was widely believed she had no goal other than money, her idea doomed the whole group on a downward spiral to darkness.

Thus, the Church became a supplier of narcotics like mushroom powder, baccaran, redflower leaves, and Terran brandy, considered "casual" by shadows, but dangerously addictive to most humans. While it did indeed make profit, successes towards Bowen's goal were scant. This made him explore deeper into the industry, and they added sannish, rhyl, and dreamleaf to their stock, drugs dangerous even for Shadows. Eventually, they started to approve of sales of the highly dangerous Moradyn vapors, a drug made only by foul worshippers of Noctyrn the Witch Queen.

Moradyn, or "dream mist", is a hallucinogen that is notorious for the unique way it is taken. To do so, one seeps a small amount of the rare herb in boiling water, then inhales the vapors. (Drinking the water or actually eating the herb causes an overdose that nobody has ever been known to survive.) If taken "properly", it causes beautiful hallucinations of dark seduction, a feeling much like that of being seduced by a succubus intending to devour your soul.

Still, members of the Church started developing symptoms from the moradyn their customers did not, developing mental illnesses such as paranoia, schizophrenia (to be specific, sliding in and out of nightmarish trances similar to the ones experienced by Doomdreamers) and depression. It eventually became clear that the cult of Noctyrn they had been dealing with was a front for the Crawling Chaos, worshippers of a greater evil called Nyarlathotep.

Many members of the Crawling Chaos, now their ally - they assumed - had already become members of the Church, leading to a large influx of followers, leading to Nyarlathotep taking notice. Nyarlathotep appeared in visions before the customers, offering them varying cures (killing one personality, taking away the pain of suddenly-induced Awareness, or suppressing their depression) in exchange for their eternal servitude.

Finally, Nyarlathotep appeared before Eve, and his inner circle (all of which had become truly mad), telling them three things in the gibbering tones of the Outer Gods:

1. To continue expanding the drug empire.

2. That he would supply the eldritch ingredients for said drugs.

3. That James Eve would no longer be heading the cult.

With those words, the crazed light left Eve's eyes, and he slumped forwards in his chair. Abruptly, his index finger twitched. This was followed by his boots tapping against the floor, his neck twisting 360 degrees, his eyes rolling. He sat up, his formerly blue eyes now an alien color that defied description. It was clear that the Crawling Chaos was now walking among men.

Now, by "eternal servitude" as a condition, Nyarlathotep didn't mean simply giving him their souls (although he did take those). Using some awful book of necromancy, those four cult leaders, or what was left of them by then, kept their bodies alive for centuries. Today, original members of the group are shambling corpses, maintained by Nyarlathotep's eldritch magic. Over the centuries, he has swapped hosts over and over, due to his tendency to burn through them. Bodies tend to live to seventy-five years at best.

The Cult Today:

The Church of Starry Wisdom now has alliances with the American and European mafia, several yakuza families, the Russian mafiya, and several Central American syndicates. highly powerful cult, members may number in the millions, masquerading as a powerful drug syndicate. Most rank-and-file members are just crooks, unknowing of the dark being they work for. Higher ranking members are either insane, brainwashed, undead, or a combination thereof. Some are perfectly lucid and knowing of who they serve, but could care less. These horrible men are the true damned.

While they do sell the usual suspects, heroin, cocaine and the like, along with drugs of Shadow origin, they are most infamous for their most potent drug, N1. Short-term effects include temporary Awareness, visions of abominations and the temporary ability to understand the eldritch code and runes lying in the sky.

Long-term effects include permanent Awareness, chronic pain, all senses blending into one, the permanent ability to see ALL of time and space, and madness.

The cult has many aims, the primary one to summon their object of worship, Nyarlathotep, in his true form, rather than the meat suits they provide for him, allowing him to tear through the Veil and something he calls the Vale, which is a deeper Veil that prevents humans from seeing the maddening true forms of beings they were not meant to look upon. Their goal, of course, is to slay Tharizdun, restoring the Great Old Ones to their true power.

Their abilities are myriad and vast, but they can be fought. At some point, they must be destroyed. Fortunately, as of now, Nyarlathotep's powers are limited to the mortal shell he inhabits.

Sadly, I cannot prove one word.

Story Ideas

Fans of Lovecraftian literature know how such things work. However, Nyarlathotep stands out among his monstrous kin in many ways. While Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth are gargantuan monsters who have been exiled to the void between stars, Nyarlathotep can pass for human in his usual form. He can speak the language of mortals, not just the maddening noise made by his brethren. And while the others are often described as mindless or unfathomable rather than truly malevolent, Nyarlathotep is clever, cunning, and truly evil. A being of infinite cruelty, he delights in toying with the hopes and desires of others. (And should his toys break, what of it?)

Nyarlathotep still cannot benefit worshippers the way actual gods can, yet. However he is unique among entities in that he leads his cult personally, "wearing" the bodies of mortals like one would clothing.

Currently leading the Church are Alphonse and Grace Verrückter, a couple originally from Munich who now reside in Texas. Possibly a strategy applied by Nyarlathotep for the modern era, even other high-ranking members of the Church know exactly which of them is his host. (Although, the other is obviously an accomplice of darkest evil.)

Stories involving the Church are highly recommended not to focus mostly on the card game, although if it is required, Nyarlathoep's host has a special unique deck that will be detailed eventually. Alternatively, an author can focus on history, detailing the schemes of the cult in the 19th and 20th Centuries, as their plot to slay Tharizdun and restore the dark power of the Great Old Ones progresses.

The Shadowchasers will likely not be the only ones who oppose them. The Elder Gods are still moderately powerful but should be used sparingly. (Even in "canon" stories where they appear, they have often been a deus ex machina. Still, it's obvious they won't simply "contemplate their navels" while their old enemies are out and about.)

Those interested in further reading of Lovecraft (and Lovecraft-inspired) works should read The Nyarlathotep Cycle, an analogy of stories centered on Nyarlathotep, edited by Robert M. Price.