Chapter 1: The Hanged Man
The waves moved gently from the sea, crashing onto the shore, bringing shells to cover the soft sandy beach. Then, the water receded back slowly into the sea, only to repeat the same process. It created such a peaceful and relaxing sound, which was what Bastion Misawa sought as he sat on the border of the beach, watching the waves hit the shore, then rise up, barely wetting his feet before receding. Things had been different ever since he had joined the Society of Light. The changes, however, were not for the best. In his search for recognition, to prove he did have "skills", he joined the Society of Light. He had the means to avoid it, but voluntarily lost the duel to Chazz. He had hoped he would gain the recognition he rightfully deserved by joining, but his wish had not come true. Sartorius had kept him in the sidelines, only watching as the students who had not "seen the light" were converted by those who had, while Bastion himself was assigned no such task. In his doubt, he had dyed his hair black once more.
"I'm no better than when I joined," he said to himself, watching another wave hit the shore, then recede back into the water, which glistened by the Sun's rays as it touched the peak of the horizon, signifying the beginning of the sunset, "Perhaps, I made a mistake." He sighed, as rested his body back, looking up into the darkening sky. "But how?" he said, as the ideas of the Society made sense. Life being pre-destined, already formulated. Such ideas suited his thinking, but yet, he felt as if he was missing some sort of context clue as to how such ideas were different to his own thinking, despite the blatant similarities. It was almost like a magical force was holding him back from thinking beyond those similarities. He had always thought it just wasn't his fate to look beyond those similarities, but now, he had to question himself: Was there something he was not seeing?
Sartorius, on the other hand, sat on a wooden chair, looking at his table. He had the Wheel of Fortune card, and The Fool card next to each other, as he started setting up, almost unconsciously, the cards for the Tarot reading. As he finished, he was quite upset, almost bothered. He had noticed that the Strength card was not with him as he had originally thought. Even though he had power from The Prince, which represented Aster, it still didn't seem enough. However, interestingly enough, the Strength card wasn't near The Fool, which represented Jaden, but rather, it seemed to manifest itself near the Hanged Man card, which was a card he wasn't used to seeing in his own fate. Even more surprising, was the fact that the card was backwards. The Hanged Man usually represented sacrifice, or surrendering in the quest or goal. One could even call it failure, however, due to its backwardness, Sartorius was confused.
"A defeated foe rises again?" he said to himself, as he tilted his head to one side and looked out his windows. Through the forest's trees, the unclear image of Bastion could be seen. "Perhaps it might concern him." He could not let The Fool gain more strength by recovering his friends, and thus he had to keep a hold on Bastion. "Recognition he desires, so he shall obtain some. It is, after all, his fate." He said, smiling at his choice of words. "However, I don't know whether keeping a falsely enlightened person is better than Jaden increasing in power." He said to himself, but merely shook his head as he called for someone. He heard some footsteps as a young woman entered his office. He grinned at her sight. "Jasmine, it's good to see you."
Aster rested on chair, on his yacht on the sea. The view was rather lovely, looking at the sunset, in a similar fashion to that of Bastion. He sipped a drink off his glass, which contained grape juice, as he watched the sunset. "It's always a beautiful sight," he said to himself, "watching the Sun the cast its rays on the water." He had grown to this feeling of loneliness, ever since his father's disappearance, he had hoped to become more independent, and, even though he had succeeded, partly, he still felt he needed the guidance of others, such as Sartorius. He wouldn't admit to himself, but he knew that he did. He needed to rest, however, and not think of thoughts such as that, as he heard more of the Pro League would soon arrive.
More suitable opponents.He thought, as he took another sip. Most of the duelists in the Academy were not in his caliber, of course, the exceptions being Jaden Yuki among others. As he was about to take another sip, he heard a very faint sound. It was as if someone had gotten on the yacht; however, such thoughts were ludicrous. Regardless, he set his glass down and moved downwards, to inspect the yacht. As he moved around the short halls, he heard slightest of movements, almost like footsteps. This had caught his attention and he moved forward with more speed and with more carefulness. It seemed as he moved, so did whatever he was chasing but stopped at the same time Aster did. This gave Aster the impression that maybe he really wasn't chasing anything, except maybe his own footsteps. Due to the turns of yacht, he was never sure if whatever he was chasing just hid after every turn. He moved ever so slightly; However, just before he could make the turn, a crow, that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, attacked Aster.
"Ah!" he shouted as he stumbled back as the black crow moved against his head. Aster lifted his hands and grasped the bird, trying to pull it off him. He succeeded and held it by its wing. The crow struggled, trying to get away. Then, at full force, he threw the bird into the air. At first, it just moved around in the air, moving down but it recovered and soon started flying away. "Accursed bird…he must have been what I heard. Though, they are really rare…at least by these areas." He sighed and left back to his seat. Then, just went on Aster went out of hearing range, a sigh came, soon followed by a soft, dark laugh.