Disclaimer: Don't own Yugioh, blah blah blah. You get the picture.

I wandered around town, searching for Papa and Meg. They were nowhere to be found. The dreaded white egg was getting heavy, and I was more than tempted to make an omelet with it, but then I remembered that it would hatch in two weeks. It was too late to make an omelet with it.

Tristan saw me and waved me over. "Did you hear the news?" A goofy grin spread across his face. "I'm going out with Serenity!"

"Great! Have you seen Papa or Meg?"

"I don't know. But isn't this exciting? I finally got her to say yes!"

"That's nice. Bye Tristan," I said, walking away.

I heard him in the background talking about Serenity's attributes.

Boys. Where are Papa and Meg?

"Hey Kisara," I heard a friendly voice.

"Hi Yugi. Have you seen Papa or Meg?" My hopes were up, since Yugi was a naturally helpful person.

"No, I haven't. Have you seen Joey?"

"Not since yesterday. He's probably flirting with his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"Mai asked him to go out with her. I'm not sure if she used feminine charm or blackmail to get him. Probably both," I said, echoing Serenity's words.

Yugi laughed. "I'll have to agree with you there."

"Well, I have to go. I haven't seen Papa or Meg all day. Bye, Yugi."

"Bye Kisara."

I walked away. Not for the first time, I wished I were a summoner. Being able to summon monsters would have been amazing. As long as the monsters weren't dragons. Then again, they would be useful in finding Papa and Meg.

I had tried entering into summoning contracts, but the monsters I had tried all rejected me. I liked beasts and winged beasts, but they rejected my contract. Warriors weren't really my style, and neither were beast warriors. Aquas and fish weren't smart summoning choices, since it was hard for them to survive out of water. Pyros were notoriously hard to control, though they were normally nothing compared to dragons or sea serpents (which wouldn't survive for long periods of time out of water). Dinosaurs were difficult to control, too, plus the majority relied mostly on instincts rather than intelligence. Insects creeped me out too much. Plants often couldn't move. Psychics relied too much on my life force. Machines were too vulnerable to the elements, and you had to program all their new attacks. That was way too complicated for me. Reptiles could be difficult to control. Rocks couldn't communicate with you. Thunders were weak against earth, and could be difficult to control. The ones I really wanted to enter into a contract were either fairies or spellcasters. The problems with those were that they were very proficient in magic, and if you weren't careful, they could summon you to take their place. So I didn't enter into a contract with them. Fiends were often too malicious for someone like me, though not all fit that category. Only necromancers summoned zombies. It was highly believed by our village that the dead never belonged with the living. The living would say goodbye to the dead, then leave them be. Desecrating the bodies of the deceased was punishable by death in our village. That made necromancy even more frowned upon by the villagers. Controlling the dead was abhorrent. That was that. Not to mention that dead things stink. A lot.

"Hey Kisara," I heard someone say behind me.

"Marik, right?" I asked. His lavender eyes twinkled.

"That would be me."

"You don't seem serious enough to be a temple cleric."

"Why does everyone say that about me?" He looked exasperated. He paused to collect himself. "Eh. I'm an Ishtar. Tradition holds that all Ishtars are temple clerics. So here I am. Though, honestly, I would rather be a traveler than a temple cleric. There are too many responsibilities for my taste."

"I believe it. You seem like a wanderer."

"I wish. Oh, by the way, your unborn member of royalty," he paused to gauge my reaction.

"ARE YOU SUGGESTING THAT I'M PREGNANT!"

"It depends on how you interpret my words."

"HOW DARE YOU! I AM A VIRGIN AND PROUD OF IT! SAY ONE MORE WORD AND I'LL CASTRATE YOU!"

Marik winced. "Fine then. Your little secret may let you enter into a summoning contract with some fine flying beasties. If you can control your royal secret, you can control the rest of its species."

"I don't want to control those monsters. And why do you keep saying it's royalty?"

He looked around. Seeing no one, he lowered his voice. "Blue-eyes White Dragons are considered draconic royalty since they're both rare and insanely powerful. They're the strongest species apart from certain mutations and fusions."

"I don't want it."

"Tough luck," he said.

"And how did you know I was thinking about summoning contracts?"

"I didn't. It was merely chance," he replied. "I heard about your first meeting with Odion. You need a summoning contract to properly defend yourself. Odion won't always be there to save you."

"Are you calling me weak?"

"No, far from it, but you would be so much stronger if you had a summoning contract."

"I've tried summoning contracts with beasts and winged beasts, but they rejected me."

"That's unusual. I haven't heard that before."

"Dragons are very hard to control. Plus, weaker monsters rejected me. How am I supposed to get a summoning contract with strong creatures and be able to control them?"

"It's basic knowledge that you work your way up with strength. Start with weak dragons or babies and gradually move on to the stronger beasts."

"And what's the deal with the egg? Wouldn't it be too hard for me to control?"

"That dragon will be a newborn hatchling. It will have instincts, but it will be highly impressionable. Take advantage of that. Make it realize that you're more powerful than it at least for the time being, or make it think that it will be better off if it obeys you."

"I thought you said that we were bonded. I won't be able to get rid of it for too long according to you."

"That reminds me. Your bond will make it all the easier to control it. It will want to serve you, and it may or may not see you as its mother."

"Well if I'm its surrogate mother, what do I teach it? What does it eat? When does it learn to fly?"

"Teach it anything you want. Dragons are carnivores; you should know that. It should be an adequate flier by the time it's six months old."

"How fast does it grow? Where would I keep it?"

"Dragons grow very fast when they're small. It should be big enough to ride by the time it's eight months old. And I would suggest you don't keep it in your house."

"How big does it have to be before I can ride it?"

"It shoulder should come between your elbow and your shoulder. By then, its body will be strong enough to support you."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No, far from it. If anything, you need more meat on your bones. Lay off the diet. Eat the extra cookie or two!"

"Kisara," I heard Meg behind me.

"I gotta go. Bye, Marik."

"See ya later, Kisara," he waved cheekily and walked away.

"Kisara, I've been looking for you. Where have you been?"

"On an adventure I'd rather forget than continue."

"What happened?"

I told her about the bandits, temple clerics, the dragon egg, and Marik's and my conversation about summoning contracts.

"I hope you take care of that dragon, Miss," she said.

"That's why I need you, Meg. Can you teleport things?"

"Of course. Do you doubt my magic?"

"Not really, but I need you to do me this favor. You have to teleport that dragon egg somewhere far away. I can't do this," I moaned.

"Kisara Claire Evisti!" I winced at the use of my full name. "Do you even realize how much energy teleporting costs? I can teleport myself and very small objects, but you ask too much of me when asking me this. Besides, it's about time your fear of dragons was cured. It'll be good for you, raising this dragon egg!"

I was stunned. Meg never lost her temper.

"What's wrong, Meg?"

"What's wrong? There's a necromancer among the temple clerics! The unholy among the sacred!"

Now I knew what was bothering her. Even though she was a monster, she used to be a temple cleric. It was why she always wore white.

"How did a necromancer get among their ranks?"

"I wouldn't know, but I could sense pure evil in his heart. It baffles me that he hasn't been evicted from their inner circle!"

"How did you know that he was a necromancer?"

"His aura gave it away. It was dark and gloomy, and there was little to no sanity there. I could sense a Ka within him. They're rarer than ever now that Egypt fell. I daresay that Egypt had many Kas, but the majority were sealed in stone."

"I heard about Kas when Ishizu talked about them. I didn't know that they even still existed."

"They're incredibly rare now. Less than half a percent of people alive now possess them."

"How did you know this necromancer even had a Ka?"

"I sensed it within his aura. It was like a shadow, lurking in the deepest recesses of his soul. This necromancer clearly knows about his Ka. Their auras almost combined, which happens the more that Kas are used. Eventually, their auras will combine into one, and when that happens, this realm and that of the monster realm will be in danger from the shadow realm."

"Why the shadow realm?"

"This creature was both of the monster realm and the shadow realm. Only the most evil creatures dwell in the shadow realm, and the fact that this creature could dwell in both means that the monster realm is in danger, and when the monster realm is endangered, so is our own. Our realms work together, but the shadow realm affects both, even if it is indirectly. The shadow realm, as I'm sure you know, holds the spirits of the dead. That makes necromancy all the worse, for the spirits and monsters summoned from the shadow realm have been touched by evil. Even spirits of light will become corrupted when exposed to the shadow realm for too long. Light spirits corrupted by the shadow realm possess both the powers of light and darkness, and when both combine, chaos emerges. Even if they don't mean it, those spirits will weak destruction among all that it comes in contact with, since the power of chaos dwells within. Let that be another lesson why you shouldn't mess with the spirits of the dead."

"I wasn't planning to become a necromancer," I said.

"Good. I never said you were. I would say that dragons would make the best summons for you."

"Why them?"

"Because you're taking care of a royal dragon, and that might make them more likely to obey you. And because I sensed something else within that necromancer."

"What did you sense?"

"Few people know this nowadays, but there was an ultimate being of darkness eons ago. The gods banished this being from their realm. This being, a god himself, created the shadow realm. Evil ones eventually found the shadow realm, and this being. Together, they cast a spell that would draw all evil to the shadow realm. The creatures of our realm and the monster realm, being imperfect, committed acts of evil, and so that spell drew them into the shadow realm once they died. The only ones safe from the shadow realm were the Blue-Eyes White Dragons, and the ones who possessed them as Kas. There were only two. One was Pharaoh Seto, the other his queen, Kisara."

"I wish I had a Ka."

"I suspect that you might. If Queen Kisara is your past life, which I'm sure it is, you could easily possess a Blue-Eyes White Dragon as a Ka. However, your hatred for dragons may have suppressed it for time being. Even so, I cannot guarantee that you have a Ka in the first place. The only time Kas come out without specifically being summoned is when their host is in mortal peril. The only way I would know for sure would be for it to reveal itself, since I can't sense one within your aura."

"What's my aura like?"

"It's white and filled with love and selflessness and courage. I would bask in it all day if I could, but I'm unable to do it with all my other duties."

"Have you seen Papa?"

"Not since this morning. He disappeared on me. I was hoping you knew where he was."

"I don't. Where did you last see him?"

"He went off to the market to buy you something. He didn't say what."

"Can you sense his aura?"

"I can't. It's probably because there are so many other auras around that I might confuse his aura for another. Sometimes, when there are a lot of people around, their auras seem to mix, and it can be nearly impossible to separate them."

"I wish I could sense auras."

"It's a skill I picked up as a temple cleric. Though it astounds me that the other clerics haven't picked up on the necromancer. I almost wonder if there's something that hides his aura from the other clerics."

"If there is, you might be able to pick up on it because you're not a cleric anymore."

"I bet you're right. Where are the other temple clerics?"

"Their camp is in some field. Or maybe they're in town now. I don't know."

"I'll look for them. You head home. Try finding the Taylors. You might be able to hitch a ride with them."

"Okay, Meg."

"Once you get home, stay there. Don't let anyone in. I'll have a key."

"Even Serenity, Joey, or the Taylors?"

"Don't let ANYONE in. Something's not right."

"Okay, Meg."

"Now that I think of it, I haven't seen the Taylors for a while. It's not safe for you to go alone in the woods now. Stay with me, Kisara. Let's go."

"Okay, Meg," I said again.

We headed to the market. Asking around didn't help us with our search, since the last time he had been seen had been several hours ago. We found out that he had bought something from the jewelry stand, though the shopkeeper refused to say what. I ran into Joey, who couldn't provide us with further details. We searched all over the village, but there was still no sign of him. Evening came, and Meg scrounged up what little money she had with her at the time and we stayed at a tavern for the night. We skipped dinner, since we didn't have enough to pay for it. It was true that it wasn't exactly the first time I had skipped a meal, but my stomach was killing me.

There was a single bed in the room.

"Looks like we're sharing a bunk tonight," Meg said.

She started walking all over the floor.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked.

"I'm testing for creaky spots in case we have to escape from something."

"What would we escape from?"

"I don't know," she sighed.

She encountered several creaky spots, one that was by the bathroom.

"This one's a dead giveaway. It's too big to step over."

I recalled Meg's conversation about the shadow realm.

"Hey, Meg."

"What is it?"

"You were talking earlier about something you sensed within the necromancer, but you never mentioned what it is," I said.

"Ah, yes. Something you said distracted me. This creature from the shadow realm was somehow… different from the other spirits of the shadow realm. It seemed even more… sinister than normal. In fact, it was so malevolent that I suspect it had something to do with Zorc himself. I have never experienced something that evil in all my years as a temple cleric. To know that something so nefarious is among them and they aren't doing anything about it worries me greatly."

"Hold on, Meg. I gotta use the restroom."

I walked to the bathroom, and to my surprise, I didn't hear a creak on the floor by the door.

"Didn't you say that this spot right here was a giveaway?"

"Jump on it."

I did. I heard a terrible screech, but it didn't come from the creaky floor. Oh no, it came from the creature that reached its green hand out of the floor and grabbed my leg. I screamed as the rest of the creature came out of the floor and attacked me.

Meg fired a blast of lavender magic at the creature. It let go of me and tried to bite Meg. She modified her magic to bind the creature's arms and legs to its body. It started trying to thrash its way out of the bonds. Even though it was squirming so much, I got a good look at it. It had very sharp claws on both of its hands. It was green and had red spots on its arms and body. It had what looked like tentacles on its mouth and a short dark mane on the back of its neck. Its too-many eyes matched the red spots on its body, which was covered with black markings. It seemed to try to avoid looking at sources of light.

"Meg, this thing doesn't like light. Use that to your advantage!"

"Of course it doesn't. It's called a Wall Shadow for a reason."

"Can you get rid of it?"

"Yes."

"Will you please do so?" I asked with mock formality.

"Why, yes. I think I shall," she replied with the same mock formality in her voice.

She fired another blast of lavender magic at the creature. Purple electricity stunned the Wall Shadow, and slowly but surely, it disintegrated.

"That was nasty," I commented.

"Indeed it was. It takes a powerful spell to fuse a Shadow Ghoul with the walls and floors of buildings. I'm afraid that the necromancer was at work here. Shadow Ghouls are zombies, which you know are necromancer's personal summons. Fusing it with the wall made it lose its zombie status, which means it won't come back unless the necromancer reanimates it. But it takes powerful magic to reanimate corpses, and this one is so thoroughly destroyed that it probably won't be worth it to restore it to its original form. Plus, he would have to refuse it with the walls of the building. It's just not worth the effort."

"Can you place wards around this room?"

"Oh, definitely. It was probably waiting for us to fall asleep before it planned on attacking."

She started chanting, and the walls, ceiling, and floor had a slight lavender glitter to them. Meg's wards were working.

"I'm going to use the restroom. Then I'm hitting the hay," I said.

"Okay. I'll go ahead and get under the covers."

"Good night, Meg."

"Sleep well, Kisara."

I opened the bathroom door. The room smelled slightly musty, and the mirror was slightly foggy. Small flecks stuck to its surface.

Oh well. You can't have everything in life. A clean mirror here is just one of those things.

When I left the bathroom, Meg was already asleep. I climbed into bed next to her and fell asleep, wondering where Papa was.

Author's note: Yes, I finished this chapter! It was fun writing it. The next chapter is going to be interesting. Where is Kisara's father? And what is she going to do about the White Stone of Legend? I'll try to write the next chapter faster, I promise! :D Reviews are always welcome! Plus, if you give me ideas for the story, I might just incorporate them. ;)

Seto will appear in a few chapters. It isn't time for him to appear in the story just yet.