The twins kept embracing each other until Luna stopped sobbing. She let go of her brother and rubbed her tears away. "Okay, I'm fine now. What should we do now?"
"Actually I… have no idea. We need to get into that castle, but it is floating in the sky" said the teal haired boy. "I might be able to help you" said Max as he walked over to the siblings. "Really, you can?" said Leo with a sarcastic tone. "Leo, don't be rude"
"I think I might be able to get us there if we get a little bit closer. You two have duel boards, right?"
"Yes, we do"
"Meet me on the street, I have an idea" said the boy and left the apartment. "I still don't like him" said Leo. "You don't need to like him, he can help us and we will use his help" said the girl. The twins took their duel boards and headed downstairs. Max was already waiting for them on the street. He had his own duel board in hand. It was much wider than the ones that belonged to the twins and was white in color. "So, what do you have in mind?" asked the teal haired boy. "Just follow me" said Max and sped off down the street. The siblings looked at each other, shrugged and followed the boy.
They caught up to him pretty fast. They were heading in the direction of the flying castle. "Luna, can you drive up a little bit closer to me?" asked Max. The girl nodded and got closer to the boy. Suddenly their duel boards connected and Max threw an arm around her waist in order to support her. "Hey, what are you doing to my sister?!" yelled the infuriated Leo. Max didn't seem to be bothered at all. "Sorry for my boldness, but I don't want you to fall. A neat feature that my dad had implemented into this board. I can connect to any one duel board. It is handy since mine is a bit faster than the most and this way, you will be able to stay by my side" said Max with a smile. Luna blushed for some reason. Luna and Max started going faster, easily outrunning Leo. Soon enough the teal haired boy was left far behind. "Luna, I want to talk to you about something, it concerns your brother…"
Leo saw his sister and that Max driving away from him. It looked like Max's duel board was much faster than his own and he didn't like the fact that Max holding his sister by the waist and that they were whispering something to each other. They were getting out of sight. Leo took a sharp turn into a nearby alley. He rode between the buildings until he reached an entrance into the sewer. It sure had a disgusting smell, but it would allow him to reach Deadalus bridge as fast as possible which was the place where the castle was located at the moment.
He drew through the sewer, he took out his phone and opened the map of city's sewers. Don't ask him why he had it on his phone, he just did. It came in handy in one prank on Crow and he decided to keep it there. Several minutes later he reached his destination. He stopped his duel board and went up the ladder. He opened the hatch and climbed out of the sewer. He drove to the bridge and looked back. A smirk made its way onto his face. Luna and Max were about a hundred meters away from him. Once they had noticed him in front of them, a surprised look appeared on their faces.
"So, I'm listening" said the green haired boy. Max nodded and took out a card from his Extra Deck. He laced in onto his duel disk and suddenly a large white dragon materialized behind Luna and Max. The dragon had a humanoid look. It had a long neck covered in armor, his whole body was covered in white armor. The scales on his wings looked like they were forming something similar to feathers. The dragon was radiating light. "You see, I am a psychic duelist. I am pretty good at controlling my powers, so summoning my dragon is not that hard. He can carry us to the castle, but I can't keep him solid for too long, that is why we had to get closer" explained the boy. The dragon bent down and allowed Max to hop onto his back and outstretched his hand to Luna. He pulled the girl up. Once Leo walked over to the dragon, the monster suddenly stood up. Leo almost lost his balance from surprise.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" yelled the boy. He looked at his sister. She seemed to avoid looking at his eyes. "Sorry, Leo, but we have agreed that it would be better if you stay out on this one. You are not a signer, that means you are not as strong as we are, which could prove to be dangerous. Trust me, it is for your own good" said Max. "I faced the Dark Signers and was just fine without being a signer!"
"Leo, we had Yusei and the others back then, now there only the three of us and I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you" said the girl. She still didn't look at him. The dragon spread his wings and with one powerful swing of his wings shot into the sky. It headed off in the direction of the flying fortress. Luna stared at her brother until he became a tiny dot. She did agree with Max's idea of leaving Leo behind, but she felt like she had betrayed her brother.
Leo let out a frustrated growl. He swore that he could breathe flame at the moment. He looked at the sky, anger radiating from him, "Dude! Seriously?! That Mr. Perfect is a signer and a psychic duelist AND he is in a perfect control of his powers?! Even Akiza couldn't do that in that age! If he sooo good, then why didn't he participate in the whole Dark Signers thing?! So I repeat the question, what the hell?! I get that I can't be a signer because I am not competent enough, but couldn't you give the power to someone less annoying. Here I am yelling at the sky thinking that my words will reach, you overgrown lizard! I just want to protect my family and friends, is that too much to ask?!" Then he did something stupid. He punched the nearest wall. He waited for the pain to shoot through his arm… but the pain never came. He opened his eyes and saw that his fist went into the wall up to his wrist.
Leo didn't have too much time to pounder on what had just happened as a monstrous roar shook the skies. Everything got covered in crimson light. The boy looked up and saw a descending form of Crimson Dragon. If he said that he wasn't scared at the moment, he would be lying. He did just yell at this almighty deity. The dragon landed on the street in front of the boy. The violent red light ceased to a gentle red glow. The dragon was intensely staring at the boy. Leo thought that he had just found out how a cockroach feels, staring at the foot that is about to crush him.
"Listen, big guy, if you came for an apology, you won't get one. I know that I am an insect barking at the elephant at the moment, but I meant those words" despite his bold words, his voice was shaking. "Didn't expect any"
Leo jumped from surprise. Did Crimson Dragon just spoke to him? Could he even speak? He never done so before. His voice was deep and… powerful, yeah, that's the word. Something you would expect from such old and powerful being. "To answer your first question, yes, I indeed can talk and I am not angry at you for those words. I believe that you have the right to say those words" said the dragon. Upon hearing this Leo calmed down a little bit. "Wait, if you didn't come here to scold or obliterate me, than why did you come?" asked the confused boy. "Almost all of my signers were reduced to mere bits of paper. I came here in order to help you rescue them. This is one of those rare occasions when I will reduce myself to a mere steed"
"Wait. Do you mean that you will carry me there, like a horse?" asked the boy. "It sounds much more lowly when you say it like that" muttered the dragon. He lowered his neck to allow Leo to climb on, but the boy was hesitant. "Listen, aren't you some kind of energy or a ghost, I mean can you really carry me and wouldn't I get zapped or something if I touch you?"
"Climb on child. I don't have too much time energy left to keep my physical form. Don't worry, I wouldn't come here if I couldn't help" said the Crimson Dragon. The boy nodded and walked over to the mighty deity. He touched his neck, it felt weird, like myriads of particles were flowing underneath his fingers. He climbed onto his back and the dragon flew up into the sky.
While flying to the castle Leo finally mastered up the courage to say what was on his mind for the past few minutes. "You know, I didn't expect that you will be like this"
"What do you mean by 'Like this'?" asked the slightly confused dragon. "Well like, easy to talk to and everything. I kind of expected you to be all dramatic and, I don't know, talk in riddles"
The dragon let out a snort. "Yeah, I certainly could've been like that, but what the point. You probably wouldn't understand if I has been talking like that and I thought that it would be easier for you to trust me if I would talk casually" explained the dragon. "Why wouldn't I trust you. You did save my life a few times"
"I am a mighty, dragon-like, red colored deity. The last characteristic is the most suspicious… and that was supposed to be a fun joke, but I am pretty bad at those. Leo, just, don't put all your trust into someone who is believed to be almighty. They tend to let you down at the most important times" said the dragon. His voice seemed a bit sad near the end. Leo wanted to push further with the subject but there was a sudden drop in height. "I think I am running out of energy"
"You still can get me to the castle, right? We almost there"
"I think I can get you to that cave"
"Wait, cave? What cave?" asked the confused boy as he was trying to spot any entrance in the stone underneath the fortress. It was hard to see in the darkness of the night and the green haired teen failed to see anything. "That cave!" said the Crimson Dragon and lounged forward. Leo almost fell from the dragon, but somehow managed to hang on. The Crimson Dragon started slowly disappearing. Piece by piece his body was vanishing. It looked like a giant fire snake was shading her scales. One by one the flickers of energy were disappearing into nothingness. First disappeared his tail, then it started creeping forward. Then his lower part of the body was gone and his wings were on the way. With the loss of the wings came the loss of the speed. Only his head and a part of the neck was left. In the matter of seconds he would be gone for good.
Luckily Leo had already stepped onto the ground of the flying fortress. The Crimson Dragon was right. There was a small hole that led into a cave system. "Will you be alright" asked the worried duelist. The dragon chuckled, "I am immortal Leo, it is just that my physical form is vanishing".
"Hey, I know I am probably asking for too much, but could you look after my sister?" asked the boy. He was looking at the ground due to being ashamed of asking something after getting so much help. When he looked up only the eyes and horns of the Crimson Dragon were left. "I will"
The last flickers of red energy floated through the sky before disappearing completely. Now Leo was on his own.
Luna and Max had reached the castle wall. They quickly climbed down from the dragon and it had disappeared. Max grabbed Luna's wrist and dragged her to the nearest tower that had a staircase that led to the castle grounds. The knight had undoubtedly noticed a giant glowing dragon reaching their HQ. They needed to find a place to hide or they would be running a risk of getting overwhelmed by the knights.
The teens reached the castle grounds and then ran into the nearest door that turned out to be leading into the stables.
The castle was oddly deserted. You could see cobwebs here and there. The wooden slabs were rotten and were risking to collapse at any moment. Despite the horrible state of the wooden part of the castle, everything that was made out of stone was perfectly intact. The teens ascended the staircase and were now walking down a dark corridor. "Luna, wait for a second"
"What is it Max?" asked the girl. The boy took out something out of his pockets and out the object into Luna's hand. "I want this little gift to be the foundation of our long and, I hope, close friendship"
Luna looked at the object in her hand, or to be more precise, objects. Those were two Duel Monsters cards. "Romeron and Juliana, thank you Max" said the girl as she put the cards into her deck. The teens continued on walking. "You know, I think those cards represent the two of us very well"
"Yeah, sure 'course they do" said the girl with a sheepish smile that made her look like her brother. Max just smiled back. Suddenly Luna grabbed Max's arm and stopped him. He was about to question her actions, but Luna had hushed him. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the sounds around her. Now she was sure. She heard footsteps. They were faint, but Luna always had good senses and she was sure that the steps were getting closer. "We need to hide, someone is coming this way" except there was nowhere to hide. The teens prepared to fight.
Two knights appeared in the hallway. They have immediately noticed Luna and Max. "Well, well, who do we have here. Two rats have infiltrated out fortress"
"Do not be so rude, Bors. They are our guests and we should give them a warm greeting" said the second knight. "Hey, hey, don't mind us. We just got lost, you know, looking for bathroom" said the girl. The males gave her a weird look. It was one of those moments that reminded you to exactly who she is related. "What?! I had to try"
Max: LP-4000
Hand-5
"I draw. I summon set one monster face down and one card face down. I end my turn"
Max: LP-4000
Hand-4
Bors: LP-4000
Hand-5
"I draw. I summon Noble Knight Borz and equip it with Noble Arms of Destiny. I activate his ability and search my deck for three Noble Arms cards and add one of them to my hand. I take Noble Arms – Caliburn, Noble Arms – Gallatin and Noble Arms of Destiny. I add Noble Arms - Gallatin to my hand. I equip Gallatin to Borz. I attack your set monster"
The knight charged at the face down card. It popped up and revealed a man dressed in white robes. It was Cleric of The Law.
Cleric of The Law: LV-4 ATK-1500 DEF-1100 Attribute-Light Type-Spellcaster
"Whenever Cleric of The Law is destroyed I can draw one card"
"You wasted the attack of my monster on that, how annoying. I set two cards face down and end my turn"
Bors: LP-4000
Hand-4
Luna: LP-4000
Hand-5
"I draw. I reveal Golden Ladybug from my hand and gain five hundred Life Points. I play a spell card Painful Choice. I select five cards from my deck and my opponent choses one of them. I add the selected card to my hand and the rest are sent to my grave. I choose three copies of Marie The Fallen One and two copies of Fire Princess. I think I'll let you make a choice Mr. Unknown knight"
"That is very kind of you, young miss. My name is Gaheris. I choose a Marie" said the man. "Okay, I add that card to my hand and the others go to my grave. I activate a spell card, Monster Reincarnation. I send Marie The Fallen One from my hand to my grave and add Fire Princess from my grave to my hand. I summon Fire Princess. I equip her with Mist Body, now she can't be destroyed by battle. I attack Gaheris directly with my Fire Princess"
Gaheris: LP-4000→2700
"I set two cards face down and end my turn"
Luna: LP-4500
Hand-0
If everything would go alright, then Luna might be able to finish off this Gaheris on her next turn. The damage from her Fire Princess would sum up to three thousands since her traps were two copies of Solemn Wishes. She just has to survive to her next turn, easy enough.
Gaheris: LP-2700
Hand-5
"I draw. I summon Noble Knight Brothers. I special summon Noble Knight Borz and Noble Knight Peredur from my hand. I activate Double Summon and now can conduct a second normal summon this turn. I summon Lady of The Lake. I tune my level four Noble Knight Brothers and Noble Knight Borz to my level one lady of the lake. I synchro summon Exalted Knight Gaheris"
Exalted Knight Gaheris: LV-9 ATK-3100 DEF-2900 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior Synchro
"I activate his ability and until the Standby Phase of my next turn the effects of all cards that player controls are negated. I assume that those two trap cards are Solemn Wishes. You would've finished me off on your next turn. Now, it is my turn to attack. I attack you… boy"
"I activate a trap card, Gideon's Phalanx. Whenever I am attacked directly I can activate this card. I special summon four level two monsters from my deck. They can't be destroyed by battle until the end of this turn. I special summon Knight of The White Orchid, Gideon's Avengers, Gideon's Lawkeeper and Council's Lieutenant"
Knight of The White Orchid: LV-2 ATK-800 DEF-600 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior
Gideon's Avengers: LV-2 ATK-900 DEF-300 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior
Gideon's Lawkeeper: LV-2 ATK-200 DEF-1200 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior
Council's Lieutenant: LV-2 ATK-500 DEF-500 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior
"I special summon all of them in defense position"
"Not bad, kid, not bad" said Gaheris. He was smirking despite the fact that his attack failed. Luna didn't like it. "I equip my creature with Noble Arms of Destiny. I end my turn here, go, child, show us your power"
Gaheris: LP-2700
Hand-0
Max: LP-4000
Hand-5
"I draw. I summon Kytheon, Hero of Akros"
Kytheon Hero of Akros: LV-1 ATK-200 DEF-100 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior Tuner.
"Once pert turn I can make one monster on my opponent's side of the field switch the battle position. via Kytheon's effect. I choose Noble Knight Borz. Then Kytheon's level becomes equal to the level of the card that had changed the battle mode. Now I tune my level two Knight of The White Orchid and level two Council's Lieutenant to my level four Kytheon Hero of Akros and synchro summon White Knight Dragon"
White Knight Dragon: LV-8 ATK-2500 DEF-2000 Attribute-Light Type-Dragon Synchro
"Now the ability of Knight of The White Orchid activates and I can add one Hieromancy trap card from my deck to my hand. I add Hieromancy: Arrest. Then the effect of Council's Lieutenant activates. The synchro summoned monster gains two hundred attack points for each of its synchro materials. That would be six hundred attack points. Now I tribute Gideon's Lawkeeper and target White Knight Dragon. Now it deals piercing damage. I attack Noble Knight Borz with my White Knight Dragon"
"I activate my trap card Sakuretsu Armor. Now your attacking monster will be destroyed"
"I discard Gideon's Buckler spell card and White Knight Dragon can't be destroyed by card effects until the End Phase of this turn"
Bors: LP-4000→1800
"I set three cards face down and end my turn"
Max: LP-4000
Hand-2
Bors: LP-1800
Hand-4
"I draw. Finally, it's here. I summon Noble Knight Brothers and special summon Noble Knight Gawayn and Noble Knight Peredur. I play a spell card Foolish Burial and send Lady of The Lake from my deck to my grave. I equip Noble Knight Peredur with Noble Arms of Destiny. I tune my level four Noble Knight Peredur and Noble Knight Gawayn to my level one Lady of The Lake and synchro summon Exalted Knight Bors. First of all I add one Noble Arms card from my grave to my hand via Peredur's effect. Then the effect of Noble Arms of Destiny activates. I equip it to Exalted Knight Bors"
Exalted Knight Bors: LV-9 ATK-3500 DEF-3000 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior Synchro
"Whenever I special summon this card I can search my deck for up to five Noble Arms cards with different names and put them onto the battlefield attached to the appropriate creature. I choose Noble Arms of Destiny, Noble Arms-Gallatin, Noble Arms-Caliburn, Noble Arms-Excaliburn and Noble Arms – Arfeudutyr. First of all Bors gains additional thousand attack points if all of the spaces in my Spell/Trap card zones are occupied by Noble Arms cards. Now I attack you, little girl, or your Fire Princess to be precise, but that wouldn't matter. You are done for"
Luna's eyes got vide. She looked through her hand, but there was nothing that could help her. She was, indeed, done for. She closed her eyes and prepared for the strike to come…
"I activate my trap card Noble Sacrifice. I redirect the attack to me and halve the battle damage"
Max: LP-4000→1000
This boy had saved her, again. Max looked at Luna and gave her a charming smile. The girl blushed for the reason she didn't quite understand and, for the first time, that smiled made her feel weird, but in a good way. It was making her feel warm and safe. She liked the feeling.
"Oh, well, there goes another attack. I end my turn"
Bors: LP-1800
Hand-0
Luna: LP-4500
Hand-0
"I draw. I get six hundred life points due to Marie's effects"
Luna: LP-4500→5100
Luna looked at the card she drew. It was one of those two cards that Max had given her earlier. She didn't really like the cards that she haven't tasted in the past, but right now she didn't really have any choice. " I summon Juliana. Whenever I normal summon this card, if there are no other creature cards on my side of the field I can special summon one Romeron monster card from my deck to the field"
Juliana: LV-3 ATK-0 DEF-0 Attribute-Light Type-Spellcaster Tuner
Romeron: LV-4 ATK-1950 DEF-1500 Attribute-Light Type-Warrior
"I tune my level four Romeron to my level three Juliana and synchro summon Ancient Fairy Dragon. Whenever I use Romeron for a synchro summon I can special summon both it and Juliana to my opponent's side of the field in attack position. Whenever Juliana and Romeron are both on the field they can't be destroyed by battle or be tributes. I attack Romeron with Ancient Fairy Dragon"
Gaheris: LP-2700→2550
"Whenever Romeron is destroyed by battle, Juliana is destroyed as well and she deals damage to its current controller equal to the total number of attack points of all face up monsters on each player's field. That would be over fifteen thousands points of damage"
"Well I'll be damned. I am about to lose. I tribute my Exalted Knight Gaheris and one Noble Arms card on my side of the field and negate all effect damage that would be dealt to me this turn. There goes your plan, little girl"
Luna let out a growl and ended her turn.
"I draw. I discard all cards from my hand and special summon Exalted Knight Gaheris from my grave. Whenever it is special summoned this way I get to double its attack points. I attack Ancient Fairy Dragon"
Luna: LP-1000
The green haired signer got thrown backwards, but luckily Max managed to catch her. He held her by the arm, helping her stand.
Gaheris:LP-2700
Hand-0
Max: LP-1000
Hand-2
"I draw. I play a spell card Hieromancer's Might. I change all monsters my opponent controls to defense position. This ends now! I activate my trap card, Swordcarier. I special summon it as a level one monster. I summon Majestic Dragon. I tune my level one Swordcarier and level eight White Knight Dragon to my level one Majestic Dragon and synchro summon Majestic Knight Dragon"
Majestic Knight Dragon: LV-10 ATK-3500 DEF-3000 Attribute-Light Type-Dragon Synchro
"I change both of your creatures to attack position and their attack points become zero via Majestic Knight Dragon's effect. I can attack all of them during this battle phase. I attack Exalted Knight Bors"
Bors: LP-1800→0
"Then I attack Exalted Knight Gaheris"
Gaheris: LP-2700→0
Bors dropped to his knees with wide eyes and Gaheris was… laughing, laughing like a madman. "Good kid, really good. Say, do you want to become a part of something greater then all of this?"
"What do you mean?" asked the boy. Luna gave him a confused look. Did he really was considering on taking any offer from these guys?! "We, the Noble Knights, are going to reshape the world. We will use the power of Excalibur in order to make this world better. A world where justice and peace would be dominant. Join us, become our Mordred. We will achieve greatness, people will write about us in books. We will become legends"
Luna looked at her companion once again. He was deep in thought. He was actually considering this offer. She needed to return him on the right track, or she will get another powerful opponent. "Oh please! Who will believe that. You people are turning others into cards, for goodness's sake! We will never join you. Oh and while we are at it, why the hell aren't you two are turning into cards. You friends did when they were defeated." said the girl. Max looked at her, taken back by her, somewhat violent outburst. "I wasn't talking to you, girl, but I will answer your last question. Agravein and Gareth were the newest members of The Round Table and honestly, they weren't that strong. We have the trust of our king, that is why we can avoid some punishments, but now let us return to the topic. What is your choice, child?"
Max looked at the knights and then at Luna. "No. I will not join you. Luna is right. People that use such dishonorable methods as turning people into cards can't bring justice and peace to the world. I will never join the likes of you!"
"That is too bad" said Gaheris. He put his palm on the wall and ran his hand over it. It awfully looked like he was looking for something and Luna knew, from all those movies she watched with her brother, that when someone runs his hand over an old, stone wall that means there probably some sort of a hidden pressure plate. The knight seemed to find what he was looking for. He pressed one of the stones and the wall near the teens suddenly flipped, taking Max and Luna to a dark tunnel that was going almost straight down. The floor was rather slippery and the teens ended up sliding down the tunnel. They have been sliding for about a minute and ended up in yet another dark room. The girl turned on a flashlight on her duel disk.
The room was pretty long. It had chains attached to the walls and some wooden shackles. Two tables were standing near the opposite walls. They had several metallic instruments and Luna didn't want to think about their purpose. The room looked like a torture room. There was a large wooden door at the end of the room. Max walked over to it and tried to open the door. It was locked. "It is locked. We need to find a way out of this room and fast" said the boy. Luna walked over to one of the tables. "Okay, Luna, don't think about what these things were used to do, just don't"
The girl grabbed one of the instruments. It was an awl. The girl bent down in front of the lock. She put the tip of the awl into the lock and tried to break it. "Luna, don't get me wrong, but it think that your attempts are futile. Even if you could break a regular lock, this one is ancient and uses a different system and…"
There was a soft click and the door opened. Luna gave him a smirk and walked out of the room. Max followed her with a very surprised face. They found the staircase and started going up. They have just defeated two of the Knights of The Round Table, maybe they weren't as strong and scary as they were trying to be.
Leo was walking through the cave. It was good that Yusei had installed a flashlight onto his duel disk. The cave was pretty big but was straight forward. It was rather hard to go through it since the floor was bumpy and uneven and was covered in stalagmites and his aching head wasn't helping. It started hurting once he entered the cave and the pain was getting stronger with each passing meter. Finally the boy reached a stone staircase. It was rough and bumpy but usable. Leo went up. Each step was getting harder and harder due to the headache. The staircase was leading to the natural balcony that was overlooking the whole cave. There was another staircase to the left of the boy. He walked over to it and was about to leave the cave when his headache amplified tenfold. He leaned onto the nearest wall in order to support himself. His vision got blurry and he felt that his consciousness started slipping away. He was getting weaker with each second and was slowly sliding down to the ground and in a second the world went blank.
Leo opened his eyes. He blinked a few times and looked around himself. All he saw was darkness. He started panicking. Was he dead? Did someone card him? Why the hell everything was so dark?! Leo tried to stand up but found out that there was no floor to stand upon. He was just floating in this darkness. "I finally managed to get you here"
The boy looked around, trying to find a source of the voice. He found no one. "I am here" the voice was coming from above. Leo looked up and his eyes got wide. An enormous European dragon was descending from above. He lowered himself onto the same level with the teen. "We've been waiting for you"
"What?! Who are you and what do you mean by 'We've been waiting for you'?!"
"Calm down child. I will explain everything to you, follow me" said the dragon as he turned around. A portal appeared in front of the dragon and he entered it. Leo hesitated to follow. Why should he trust this guy. He appeared out of nowhere and telling him to follow into some unknown portal. "Go, he is on our side"
The voice was in Leo's head and it was very familiar. It was the Crimson Dragon. "Do you know him" asked the boy out loud. "You could say that"
"Okay. Let's see what is going to come out of this" said the boy as he entered the portal. He saw a flash of light that blinded his vision. Once his eyes adjusted he saw something amazing. It was an enormous valley. Everything was covered by green grass under beautiful blue sky. The valley was covered in small round houses. Leo was observing everything from the sky. He was floating there along with the unknown dragon. People were walking around the village. Kids were playing on the grassy hills. Everything looked so peaceful. Leo almost got lost in the picture. "Beautiful isn't it?" asked the dragon. "Yeah, it is. Why are you showing this to me?"
"Look closer" said the dragon. Leo squinted his eyes. Now he saw something unusual. The people that were living in the village weren't exactly humans. Their bodies were covered in scales and they had tails and draconic faces. They weren't humans at all, they were some sort of humanoid dragons. "What is it. Some other dimension?"
"No, it is the past. In the ancient times, when dragons were still roaming the earth there was a race of humans that possessed draconic blood. They looked like humans at first, with a few minor distortions scales here and there, sharper teeth and so on, but as the time went on, with each generation the draconic blood was becoming stronger and dominant. Several generations later these humans became known as drakonids, a race of humanoid dragons. They possessed natural magical abilities and had incredible engineering skills. Their devices could rival the ones from the Atlantis…
"Whoa, whoa. Atlantis? As in the drowned city Atlantis?"
Yes, that Atlantis, but that is a different story. As I was saying, they were bound to become arrogant. When their ambitions reached the limit the races of this world united and crushed their empire. A lot of the drakonids had died, but a lot had survived. They started living a humble life just like the people of this village. They tried to stay out of human's radars and slowly everyone forgot about them and the drakonids lived a peaceful life"
"Wait, wait, wait if they were leaving a peaceful life then why there are none left?" asked the boy. "I was leading to that. First of all saying that their presence in this world is completely gone is wrong. Those that have powerful summoning abilities are in fact people with tiny bits of draconic blood in them. Not enough to materialize physically, but enough to give them some powers. I think you call them psychic duelists. The reason why you do not see the drakonids nowadays is because they were exterminated. Not everyone forgot about them, but that someone wasn't a human. Funny enough it was someone closer to them than humans. It was a mighty dragon. One of the warriors of their protector. You see every race has a guardian. Humans have their God, the drakonids had someone you are very familiar with, The Crimson Dragon"
"I probably should gasp and say, 'How' or, 'No way', but I am really not that surprised."
"You shouldn't be. You see The Crimson Dragon is like a king and a commander of all the dragons. He considered the drakonids as his subjects. He helped the remainders of the race to stay hidden from the vengeful humans, but there was someone from his inner circle that considered the drakonids to be dangerous even after the destruction of their empire. He led others who shared his opinion against the hidden villages of drakonids and destroyed them one by one. He had many followers and they made sure that The Crimson Dragon didn't know about all of this. When he found out it was too late. He did punish the ones that were connected to the whole situation, but he left them alive. The one who destroyed the remaining drakonids was one of the signer dragons. I knew him by the name of Celiastor. You know him by the name White Knight Dragon"
"What?! You mean that dragon that is used by that jerk Max?"
"Yes, him. He was the one that destroyed the remainders of the drakonids. Some people had those kind of relationships with some of the draconids and that is how the psychic duelists managed to survive, but they are only a shadow of their distant ancestors" explained the dragon. "Okay I got that, but how is that connected to me?"
"You see, you are the last one of the drakonids. I know what you want to ask. Does it mean that my sister and parents are connected to the drakonids? The answer is yes and no. Your parents do have tiny bits of dragon's blood inside of them, but the amount is incredibly small. This whole story is connected to you through different reason. You see, the signers are chosen even before they get out of the belly of their mother. The dragons connect their souls and destinies so with their first breath in this world the child is already a signer but the problem with your sister was the fact that she had a twin. For all these millenniums there wasn't a single twin of a signer. When the child, that is chosen by a dragon, is born it unleashes vast amounts of energy. You would've died. Most of the dragon's convinced Ancient Fairy Dragon that it was a sacrifice for greater good and she was ready to, essentially, kill you, don't hold a grudge against her, she really didn't want to do it. The crimson dragon decided to interfere. You being a twin of a signer made your spiritual energy unstable and easily alterable. He also used his power to alter your DNA, to make it as close as possible to the one of the drakonids. The only thing that would be needed to recreating the drakonids in the form of, well, you was energy, a lot of it, but luckily that was provided. The experiment was a success"
"Wait, let me guess, now I need to duel someone incredibly powerful in order to unlock my true power?"
"Actually, no. That is a scenario for some anime and this is real life"
"Wait, how do you know such words as 'anime'" asked the confused boy. "I've seen and heard everything you did, so don't get surprised of my knowledge of the modern world. Now back onto the topic. Your powers will be growing stronger as time goes on. You have already seen a few of them. You are becoming stronger and you can call out for the spirits of both ancient and newborn spirits"
"Wait, you mean those new cards I was getting recently"
"Yes them. Now you know who you are, go, help your friends and don't forget, you are never alone" said the dragon with something that really looked like a smile.
Leo felt himself getting pulled back. The valley was getting further away from him until he, once again entered the darkness which enveloped him and carried somewhere. He felt his eyes getting heavier and a feeling sleepiness washed over him. He closed his eyes and let his body being carried away.
Leo opened his eyes and found himself sitting on the ground of the cave where he passed out. He just had a really weird dream. He stood up and stretched his arms… "Whoa!". His arms were covered in scales! He had claws and his elbows had hook shaped spikes. He shook his hands… and they returned to normal. "Okay, that wasn't a dream" said the boy. He started ascending the staircase. He could figure out what exactly it means to be a drakonid later. Now he had to save his friends and find his sister.
"What do you mean they are not there?!" yelled Gaheris. He was standing in front of two knights, those few knights that were allowed to be present in the castle. They weren't strong enough to be the memebers of The Round Table, but they had potential. Gaheris sent these two to check the dungeon where Max was supposed to be. They came back empty handed. "You are lucky I haven't carded you two yet!"
"What is happening here, Gaheris?" Arthur emerged from the hallway. The knights came down to their knees. "Stand up, now explain to me why are raising your voice"
"My king, I think I have found someone who can become our Mordred" said Gaheris. Arthur raised an eyebrow and gave him a skeptical look. "His name is Max Ardo. He turned out to be a signer and a strong one at that. He defeated both me and Bors. I have sent him, and the girl he was accompanying, to the dungeon, but they have escaped"
Arthur put his hand to his chin, deep in thought. "Okay, find them, they couldn't have escaped this fortress. That boy had sparked my interest" said the man.
The knights nodded at him and headed off to find the teens.
Okay, I hope you've enjoyed this one. Sorry for the delay, summer is a busy season. Leave your reviews and tell me what you liked about the story and what you didn't. It would help me in improving the story. Well, have a nice day.