I don't own Yugioh.

Seto's pov

"So I take it Rorex beat Fang?" I asked after a while of flying.

"Sort of," Aksira responded as Rorex snorted. "Rorex adamantly insists that he scared Fang off, but I think Fang realized that he was free because he flew away. Then we had to find you."

"Sorry about that," I said. "Ibris needed a break from flying."

"I'm surprised that you're taking such good care of Kisara," Aksira commented.

"That's her name?"

"You've heard it before. I know you better than you realize. You're trying to forget who she is."

"Maybe."

"Her Ka is a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I think you'll be stuck with her to make sure her dragon doesn't come out."

"If you're actually as good at magic as claim to be, it shouldn't be a problem. You're an expert on Kas. I'm sure you can suppress Azrael before he surfaces again, though this necklace that the old hermit enchanted seems to be doing a good job. I don't know how we found that cave where he was. You and Rorex were fighting Fang, but I know you saw Azrael vanish."

"What are you talking about?"

"How can you not remember? You were right there when he put on the necklace and suppressed Azrael!"

"Seto, I think the desert heat has addled your brain."

"No, it's addled your brain, Aksira. Azrael was heading for us when that necklace made him disappear."

"Seto. There was no hermit. I suppressed the dragon."

"I can't believe you've actually forgotten. The heat and smoke have affected your brain. When we find the others, you had better get treated."

"And who's Azrael, anyway?"

"Her dragon."

"How did you learn its name?"

"The hermit."

"Seto, we both need treatment. Then we'll see who's right. In the meantime, we'll need to find the others."

We didn't say anything else until dusk began to fall.

"Is that them?" I asked when we saw what looked like a line in the mountains.

"Probably," Aksira nodded.

The two dragons descended towards what seemed like a giant snake from our height. As we dropped, the slave girl – no, Kisara was her name, started to slide off of Ibris's back. I had to clutch tightly to her thin arm. We descended for several minutes before finding the group of people who came from the now-ruined castle. Several people screamed, mostly slaves, as we landed. Almost immediately, a patrol of soldiers ran up to us.

"Lord Seto, Lady Aksira, Master Gozaburo requests your presence for a meeting immediately. It concerns that girl," one of the soldiers spoke as he made a ward-evil sign at Kisara as he spoke.

"Fine. Where is he?" I asked.

"He's somewhere near the front of the company."

"Any other orders?" Aksira asked.

"Bring the girl."

"Right," I said, grabbing Kisara as I jumped off Ibris's back. She truly needed a rest after all her flying and perhaps fighting today.

Kisara still walked strangely. It was almost as if she had forgotten how to walk.

We hiked up the mountain trail to Gozaburo's tent (by now, the soldiers had determined that the slaves and nobles couldn't go any further without collapsing, so they had set up camp).

"Lord Seto," I heard a general come up to me.

"What is it?"

"Do you have the girl?"

"What does it look like, idiot?" I gestured to Kisara.

"My apologies. Master Gozaburo wants to know everything he can about her because of her dragon."

"Her dragon has been suppressed."

"How did you do that?"

"We were running away from Azrael – that's her dragon's name – when we reached a cave. There was an old hermit that put on this gold necklace that suppresses the dragon."

"I see," he didn't sound convinced.

"Gozaburo can check my memories. I'm not lying."

"If you insist, follow me to the meeting you're late for."

"It's not my fault. Continue to insult me, and I'll demote you to polishing Flypaper's boots."

"Who's Flypaper?" one of the soldiers asked.

"You know him as the creep with golden glasses."

The soldier flinched. "Not him…."

"I'm glad you realize the significance of my threat. Get lost."

They skedaddled.

"Like they were even invited to the meeting," Aksira said sarcastically. I followed her inside the black tent.

"Seto, Aksira, you are late," Lord Zigfried said.

"You don't say," I snapped. We had never gotten along.

"What took you so long?" Gozaburo asked.

"Suppressing Azrael took much longer than we anticipated," I said.

"Azrael?"

"Her dragon," I gestured to the slave girl.

Everyone turned to give her an appraising look.

"She is the host of a White Dragon?"

"She looks like a human version of one, doesn't she?" Aksira said.

"Yes," Gozaburo said. He seemed calculating. "How did you manage to suppress it?"

"There was an old hermit. He put on that necklace that suppresses her Ka."

"Really," Gozaburo didn't seem convinced.

"Why does no one believe me?"

"Zat necklace looks like vone Aksira vould vear," Zigfried said.

Immediately, Aksira spoke up. "It's not mine. The only jewelry I have anymore is what I'm wearing now. Plus someone took the time to etch those runes into it that bind the necklace to skin. That necklace suppresses Kas. Why would I wear something that suppresses my own Ka and that I can't remove?"

Her reasoning convinced Gozaburo. "Very well. Seto, would you step forward?"

I did, unsure why. Instantly, I felt a severe pressure on my mind as Gozaburo examined my memories. While Gozaburo couldn't use magic, his skills at telepathy often overwhelmed mine, especially when I wasn't prepared for mental combat. It was the main reason he was head of the army: he was fat and completely worthless when it came to magic, but he could force any man into submission by learning his weaknesses from his mind. He could instill ideas and even change people's personalities; I'd seen him transform the most timid boys on the planet into mindless killers. Everyone feared him.

"Interesting," Gozaburo said as he withdrew his mind from mine. I was surprised to feel a touch of fear as he pulled out.

"What's interesting?" I asked.

"What do you think?" Gozaburo glared. "You have an unusual tale, yet your mind confirms its truth. I shall have to look into the matter of that hermit you saw. He could be a dangerous threat."

Oh, so it's the hermit that worries him.

I noticed everyone's gazes had shifted to Kisara, ogling in the cases of some of the Thieves Guild. The pale slave didn't react at all to the attention. She just kept staring into space.

"So she houses the King of White Dragons," Gozaburo broke the silence. "We'll have to find a way to extract him from her."

"That won't work," Aksira immediately said. "Seto and I have come to a conclusion that she and Azrael possess a dual soul."

"Isn't that what we have?" Bakura said, lounging back.

"No. You, Seto and I both possess double souls, meaning that we have a Ka, but our souls are separate. People with dual souls are different. Their Ka and Ba are combined, so half of each being's soul exists in the other. If Azrael weren't suppressed, to extract him would require subduing two of her and two of the King of White Dragons. Even subduing the mind of one dragon is hard for you. Then there's the issue of the combined Ka and Ba. Extracting Azrael would kill both of them because their life forces are combined. Also, that necklace has powerful magic suppressing Azrael. It would be too much even for me to handle removing."

I remembered our earlier conversation. She was thoroughly convinced that she had enchanted the choker and placed it around Kisara, but I knew I was right. Why was she going along with my story?

"I think we should search for Atlantis instead of worrying about Azrael," Aksira said.

"Vat are you talking about?" Zigfried asked.

"That hermit we discussed earlier had a treasure trove of scrolls and tablets. Some of the magic is stronger than what we had in our library. The tablets also contain a detailed history of the lost civilization of Atlantis. Including its location."

Everyone was stunned.

"But I thought that Atlantis was a myth!" one of the thieves exclaimed.

"All myth is based off of fact," Gozaburo commented, though I could tell that he was very impressed with this information. "Where is it?" he demanded.

"We're actually pretty close to its location. This desert used to be the seafloor. Atlantis was in the middle of this desert."

"I need a map. We're going to find Atlantis and claim it for ourselves."

"I've got one," Aksira pulled out a scroll. "This one's ancient, but the mountains look the about the same. We need to figure out where in the mountains we are before we search for Atlantis," she pointed at a dot on the map.

Everyone stared intently at the dot marked Atlantis, which was written in runes.

"I can't read what it says," another thief complained.

"This is Atlantian. The language of magic is said to be Atlantian."

"Why did that guy have all this stuff on Atlantis?" Bakura yelled.

I answered, "He claimed to be a survivor."

"Impossible! There's no vay anyvone could live for ten sousand years!" Zigfried exclaimed.

"He's at least a descendant of the Atlantians," I said. "I'm sure of it."

"I think he is an actual survivor of Atlantis," Gozaburo said quietly. "I've seen him once before. He never gave his name, but he claimed to be a 'guardian' of this realm. I've read about these so-called 'guardians' somewhere, but I can't think of what it said about them. All I know is that they are few in numbers, extraordinarily powerful spellcasters, and that they know more than they should about any given person or subject. What exactly they are is a mystery to everyone but themselves. We must avoid that man at all costs."

I sensed that Gozaburo was troubled by the hermit. What had happened in that encounter to induce such fear?

Yes. I'm alive. I've been busy, and then I had writer's block and low motivation for this story because I'm working on a novel I want to publish for which I also had writer's block. Review, please!