Disclaimer- The song that is played in this fic is actually Paranoid by Black Sabbath

"It was about a year ago that my life started changing. I'm not exactly sure if it is for the best or for the worst, but there was definitely some changing. My name is Darren Fantasy. I was never very popular because I'm not social. The earliest memory I have is when I was about three or four. My mom was taking me for a walk. At the time we lived just outside of New York City. We were walking down a cleaner street when I wandered into a music store. It was the first time I had ever seen the dark red, True Tone hollow body electric guitar. I looked into the body and could see my own reflection. Once I was old enough, I would come to see the guitar as often as I could. There were even days that I would come twice.

When I was in grade school, I wouldn't talk to other children. I had grown up in a neighborhood with no other kids my age. In fact, I think the closest person to my age got up early to go to work and support his family everyday. So I never had that good of communication skills, which wasn't all bad. It gave me time to study for school. I was also able to learn the value of money at an early age. I got jobs like walking small dogs.

As I grew, my social skills didn't improve. People actually thought that they were getting worse. The summer between sixth and seventh grade was when I got my first real job. I would mow the lawns for some of the elderly and busier neighbors. It still wasn't a lot of money, but I was determined to buy that red True Tone.

In middle school was where I made my first friend. His name was Luke Ace. He was very smart and fairly popular. I will always remember how he would spike his blonde hair up as hard as possible. Luke was the greatest guy in the world. He was one of those guys that were picked first for everything. He figured out early on that I wasn't much of a people person. But he helped me with that. He introduced me to some other people. One of them was Brandy Dream. She was like a golden-haired goddess that lived among her mortal creations as one of their own. Being the smart guy that Luke was, he saw that I liked her before I did. But I wouldn't let him tell her.

Luke taught me a lot about life that no teacher could. Like me, his dad died when he was in the lower grades. He showed me how to read people. He was very good at this, where as I didn't catch on well. He also showed me how to play a card game called Duel Monsters. This wasn't nearly as hard. All the learning I had done as a child had finally paid off for something other than making second best grades in school (Luke always was number one). For my thirteenth birthday, Luke bought me a bunch of Duel Monsters cards so I could have my own deck. At the time, I thought that it was the greatest day of my life. Not only did I make my first deck, but I also got another great present. Brandy Dream didn't come from a very wealthy family so she didn't have a gift for me. Instead, she insisted on showing me how to French kiss. Somehow, Luke knew without being told, as usual.

Luke insisted on asking Brandy to go out with me. He said that he could tell she liked me. But still, I wasn't a very social person and declined his offer. Toward the end of the school year, another kid my age moved into the neighborhood. He was a smart kid as well, but he was home schooled. His name was Blaine Illusion. He too played Duel Monsters. I was never sure if he was smarter than Luke was, but it was obvious that he was a far better card player.

During the summer Luke, Blaine and I all got together and decided to get part time jobs at a gas station. By the time school started, I had finally earned enough money for the red True Tone. The three of us went into the city and I received that which I had fanaticized about for years. I had always been into rock music and couldn't wait to learn to play.

When school started, I was one of the few eighth graders in my music class. But Brandy was another one there. We sat next to each other. She too wanted to learn to play the guitar. But because she couldn't afford one, she was forced to borrow an acoustic one from the school. She would constantly say that she wished she could play as well as me. I don't think she ever listened to how well she played. At the end of the semester, we had to take different classes.

I took study hall so I could hang out with Luke and Blaine, who had started attending public school. We would finish all of our work earlier than the other kids. We would pull a table aside and practice dueling. I wasn't very good, but it was amazing to watch the other two go at it.

On my fourteenth birthday, Blaine and Luke took me to a Metallica concert. When I got home that night, I found Brandy sitting on my front porch. My mom wasn't home that night because she was taking classes to get a better job. She handed me a book that showed how to play every song written by Metallica, including the ones I had heard only a few hours earlier. I noticed that her guitar was sitting on the ground behind her. She picked it up and played Happy Birthday for me. Before she left, she gave me the same present as the year before.

From that night on, I had spent as much time as I could trying to write a song. School was out before I could finally finish it. I planned to play it for Brandy on her birthday. But that's when the worst day of my life came. My mom finished her classes and had gotten a job in the city. But we would have to move there before Brandy's birthday came. I said goodbye to Luke who gave me a Duel Monsters card called the Beast of Talwar. Blaine gave me the Amphibian Beast. I thanked my two best friends and left for my new life in New York City. I took a class at he community center for a month before school started to practice a bit more on my guitar.

The city was a lot like my old neighborhood: no kids. But my mom said that the kids at the High School were also into dueling. School started and I signed up to join the school's band. It wasn't like those bands where you have to march and dress up weird. All you had to do was wear a school shirt and play better than the opposing school. Obviously I tried for the electric guitar with my red True Tone. But the song I played wasn't the best one to choose in front of an entire student body that listens only to rap. I was a song I had written during the summer because I was so depressed after not getting to play the first song I had written to Brandy. In fact, this song was actually started about me missing her, but turned into something different. The reaction to the song was one I'll never forget.

I got up onto the stage and said my name, that I was a freshman, that I was trying out for the electric guitar, and that I wanted to play a song that I had written. I plugged my guitar into the amplifier and began playing the chords.

'Finished with my woman 'cos she couldn't help me with my mind.

People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time.

All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy.

Think I'll lose my mind if I don't find something to pacify.

Can you help me… occupy my brain?

I need someone to show me the things in life that I can't find.

I can't see the things that make true happiness I must be blind.

Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry.

Happiness I cannot feel and love to me is so unreal.

And so as you hear these words telling you now of my state.

I tell you enjoy life I wish I could but it's too late.'

The three judges told me immediately that I would never make the band. And because the entire school was also watching, it wasn't long before I was shunned by everyone. This wasn't as bad as one may think. I was actually given time to study again and practice the guitar. Not too long after the tryouts, a kid two years older than me with a bad attitude saw me in the study hall looking over my deck. He challenged me to a duel and made me bet my True Tone against a black ring he was wearing around his middle finger. Thanks to the cards and teaching I received from Luke, I was able to get myself a brand new ring. This would have to be the start of the weird changes.

Ever since I won the ring, people began avoiding me. I could hear them talk about me in the hallways. They would say things like, 'That kid has serious problems. You should have heard the music he played during the band tryouts. I think he hates life or something'. But I didn't care. I was easily able to ignore them thanks to growing up without friends. But the ring also seemed to give me attention as well. It attracted other duelists that wanted it. They all wore a black ring as well. There were nine of them in all. But they didn't all come at once. They took their time.

It was actually during the last week of school when I received the tenth ring. But when I did, the rings flashed a strange golden color and disappeared. In their place was a strange necklace. It was a medallion made of pure gold. An emblem of an eye was carved in the front. I placed it around my neck and instantly I felt different. A voice echoed in my head.

Its distinct words were, 'I must thank you for reuniting the ten black rings. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Arcturas, the Seventh Guardian of the Pharaoh'".

I know that this still isn't a great story. But I'm working on getting to the good parts. I thought it might be nice if you guys just had some background information on the main character before the real story actually started. I hope you like this, even though it is all the first things that came to my mind in the course of an hour.