Hey, look! Chapter!
I feel the need to clarify the end of the last chapter since I wasn't really clear enough about what was going on.
The reason why Saturn can't simply attack around Téa is the fact that Téa steps in with full intent of using her body as a shield, meaning she is close enough to Viola to become collateral damage to his attack (not that she actually expected Lorna to go through with her attack -ehehehe) and since monsters are real during Shadow Duels, it's very likely that an attack from Saturn will severely injure (if not kill) her. I may amend the previous chapter later to include this so nobody else is confused haha
I hope that cleared things up for you, lovelies :3 and I'm sorry about the confusion -that was my bad.
Also, I would appreciate it if anyone who hasn't voted for a new subtitle yet could go and vote, because I only have 4 votes so far, and I know WAAY more people than that are reading this. If you don't like the options and would like to suggest something else, you're welcome PM me :D my inbox is always open for you guys!
A girl, draped in emerald silk and wielding a silver bow, drops onto an icy ledge, panting with exertion. White cloth is covering her eyes, and in the middle of her forehead, a bloodshot third eye struggles to stay open. Without thinking about it, her hand reaches for a silver arrow and aligns it with her bow. She doesn't even know what she's fighting right now. All she can think to do is aim and shoot whatever she deems a threat.
In front of this girl is a large flailing figure, oozing black mist -actually, at this point it's much more viscous than mist; it's dark tar, reeking of something rotten, a scent that is powerful even in a place as open as the mountain peaks. The girl can tell that the distressed creature is beginning to suffocate, and perhaps even lose parts of its -no, her soul. The archer recalls something an acquaintance of hers mentioned about the one in trouble being a girl, and a blur of a face comes to mind. That face, however, is also covered in darkness.
An albino boy stands side by side with a titan, a divine being with enormous raven wings who had joined this battle not too long ago. The boy's claws dig into the dark substance, prying it away only for more to pour liberally from a crack in white armor, replacing what was lost. The titan, his eyes glowing with determination, was striking at the inky black beast, fireballs of pure holy energy forming at his fingertips.
"Hey, White-Hair!" the girl, Serenity, calls out to the boy. He is startled for a moment, but turns his head when he realizes that was meant for him. It isn't like he and the girl have exchanged names, so it's only natural that she not know. "This isn't working."
The boy, stepping away and resigning for a moment from the battle to collect his thoughts, calls back, "Whatever it is that's attacking her, it keeps multiplying and getting thicker!"
"And what happens if it keeps doing that?" she asks, her voice struggling to stay higher than the sound of the wind.
"The only thing I can think of is that it may eventually solidify, and I don't know how much damage we can deal to it if it does. I just hope I'm wrong about this."
"Then what do we do?" she asks again, sounding frantic. A part of her soul feels like the end is near for the being -girl -that she has been trying to protect.
The boy muses for a moment before setting his gaze on Serenity. "Hey, I want to ask you. Why are your eyes covered?"
"What?" she hisses and he can't hear it, but he can tell his question caught her off guard. Her bow is lowered and her hands begin to shiver.
"Your eyes!" he repeats more firmly this time. "You're only using one of them."
"One?"
"The one in the middle of your forehead."
She moves her hand up, across her face, and lets it linger over her blindfold for a moment. Even with her hand blocking vision from both of her eyes, she can still see. Her hand moves up slightly to rest right where the boy had indicated and, surprisingly, her vision is blocked. There is one more eye than she is supposed to have, yet this one is different; she's not quite sure how exactly, but for one, it blinks horizontally rather than vertically. But that can't be right? I only have two eyes.
"You didn't know, did you?" It's more of a statement than an inquiry, and he hops off of the mountain, where a titan is protecting his queen, and gracefully lands on a cliff right below Serenity. "I have an idea, but you'll have to take off your blindfold."
"Wha -" Serenity suddenly feels protective of the piece of cloth over her eyes. She's planning to keep it on until she sees her older brother. And if her vision is just a result of a third eye, then maybe she can still keep that promise to herself. "I- I can't do that."
"You have to try!" the boy hollers up to her, over the growing sounds of chaos that are beginning to fill the mountain tops. The white warrior is still struggling and her knight is still protecting her, its attacks causing some damage to the black substance, but not enough to be permanent.
"N-No…I can't take it off until…" she tries again, but her resolve is wavering. She knows that she can't be selfish -not at a time like this.
"If you've taken on the form of Goddess with the Third Eye, then you must be Light. How can there be light when you refuse to see?" he asked.
"What do you mean," she counters. "I can see!"
"Can you really?"
"Yes!" she insists.
"Without your eyes?"
Her attention immediately goes back to the blindfold over her eyes. It has been there since this battle started, and subconsciously, she's aware of that fact. She starts to speak, but sighs instead, clenching her fingers around the rough fabric of her blindfold. She tugs the knots loose and pulls, and as she does this, consciousness dawns on her -the consciousness that her eyes have been closed this whole time. She opens her hand and feels the fabric being carried away by the wind, but where it goes doesn't matter to her now.
"Open your eyes."
It's almost as though her eyelids are glued shut, and the feeling is otherworldly as she can see clearly through her third eye, the existence of which she had not even realized until a few moments ago. After a few seconds of seeking the muscles in charge of her eyelids, she manages to open them, feeling cold air and a burst of sunlight rush into the sockets. It almost blinds her and she has to blink several times for her newly awakened eyes to finally adjust to the light. All the while, Serenity becomes aware of the severe headache she had been dealing with as the muscles in her forehead begin to relax and the eye begins to close.
Using her normal eyes, Serenity's visual range is wider than ever, and perhaps that's only to be expected when is looking through two eyes rather than one. She casts her gaze down at the boy beneath her and smiles gently in gratitude. He hasn't really done much for her really; after all, he only told her to remove her blindfold, but the relief she now feels between her aching temples was giving her a different sort of clarity than her third eye ever could, and that was something that deserved acknowledgement.
Her mind knows exactly what she has to do now, but she needs to get closer to the girl. She leaps from the cliff to the lower level beside the white-haired boy, however, she miscalculates the leap. Her heart clenches; her whole body clenches. It's all over for her now… and she was so close…
Something warm closes around her hand and the sinking feeling in the pits of her stomach is replaced by the abrupt feeling of something knocking the wind out of her. She tries to get her bearings and comes to the conclusion that she has slammed into a wall, suspended by her arm. Looking upwards, she sees the boy's face, frowning and concerned. "It seems your third eye was giving you your agility and reflexes."
"Then why did you have me close it?" she snaps at him, trying not to look down.
"I didn't, but once you opened your real eyes, it must have closed on its own." He begins to pull on her arm, prompting her to grab the ledge with her free arm, which she did, climbing beside the boy and looking over to the nearby platform.
"Can't I open them at the same time?"
"I don't know…" the boy replies solemnly.
"Well, my real eyes aren't doing me any good, are they?" she mutters, trying to figure out how she's supposed to get over to the battle before it becomes too late.
There's a moment of silence shared between the two acquaintances before the boy speaks up again. "You're a fairy type. Can't you fly?"
"I'm… a fairy type?"
He notes that it was probably not the best way of wording it as it seems like the girl is completely unaware of what duel monsters are, let alone the fact that she is currently taking on the form of one. "The point is, you must have the ability to fly. Try it!"
Serenity gets to her feet and tries to remember exactly how she managed to fly earlier, because she did recall flying at the start of this battle, but that was also after opening her third eye. Can she still do it? No, she can't afford to think like that. She has to believe she can absolutely do it. Without looking back at the boy, without truly seeing his face, she knows she can trust him. She asks even though she doesn't need an answer, "Will you catch me if I fall again?"
"Absolutely."
She takes his word as her cue and lifts off of the ground, her eyes fixed firmly on the warrior in white. The wind ruffles the fabric of her cape, her dress billowing at her feet as she wills herself forward and towards the next platform. She doesn't shut her eyes because she wants to see exactly where her mind is taking her, focusing on her destination as though that thought alone is what is keeping her afloat.
The shadow of her feet appears on the snow, which is dirtied by the slimy menace. It's still wriggling around, a thick liquid refusing to take form or shape. It's almost as if the very darkness of her shadow is nurturing the tar-like beings -or is it all one just one being. It frightens her, but somewhere in her consciousness (she isn't quite sure which part of her consciousness, however) she is absolutely certain she can conquer it.
As her toes touch the icy ground, she feels a cool rush travel up her body followed by an overwhelming heat that she's certain is emanating from her very being. Her soul is fighting off the frigid cold and releasing some form of bright energy, and it doesn't make her afraid; rather it makes her feel even braver than before. What she can't see are the shadows at her feet, slithering as fast as they can towards their dark, silver and gem-covered home, making their host shudder uncontrollably.
Serenity's eyes widen as she watches them eat her up inside, thinking that perhaps it was less painful for the white warrior to madly and blindly project the darkness rather than keep it inside like an unstable chemical in a fragile flask. She locks her gaze with the winged being standing beside his leader, anxiously trying to figure out how his master could be helped now that the enemy was untouchable.
The Goddess with the Third Eye nods at him in understanding, approaching the two of them slowly, her feet causing ripple effects on the ice, melding the cold harsh winter into spring with her mere presence. By the time she reaches her ward, they are no longer on the mountain tops; they are back in the blossoming meadow. It was almost as though they had never really left it, untouched and beautiful, not a petal out of place, every blade of grass uncut.
And the warrior is docile, hovering several inches off of the ground in the middle of the field, panting heavily like a wounded beast. Her face, first obscured by glass, and then by the liquid darkness, is now fully exposed to Serenity and her companion. Her complexion is a light brown, perhaps only a couple of shades below Serenity's own, and her skin is smooth but dry and sickly, giving the redhead the idea that this other girl is not at the pinnacle of health, but rather a very ill girl. Her hair is dark and her bangs are glued to her face by sweat. What surprises the Goddess is that this white warrior didn't seem much older than her, perhaps only a couple of years at most.
"Who is she?" the boy asks, and Serenity had almost forgotten that he was still there.
She shrugs and moves even closer to the girl. She wants to raise her hand and move the dark bangs out the pallid face, but the warrior is hovering way too high for Serenity, who has decided that she won't attempt flight unless she needs to. Still, she can't help but feel her heart tug at the sight of the girl. "It looks like she's dying," she finally says, releasing into the atmosphere the words that were on her companion's mind as well. "But before… when she was fighting me, she seemed healthy. Did the black stuff do that to her?"
"I don't know…" the boy responds, running his hands through his thick white hair and sighing.
"Are you okay?" Serenity asks, his sigh beckoning her concerned gaze.
The boy hesitates but replies nonetheless. "I'm just not sure where to go from here. I've been here for a while now and I thought perhaps that it was so I could help you. I mean the Mystical Elf told me…"
"Mystical Elf?" Serenity interjects, giving the boy a quizzical look. "S-sorry!" she apologizes quickly. "I just… I've heard that name before."
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, she is a duel monster."
At this, he eyes widen and she stares right through the boy at a distant point in the meadow, her mind finally making the connection. "That's the game my brother plays!" she exclaims all too loudly for the serene setting. However she couldn't be bothered with her voice stirring the flowers beneath her feet. "How is it possible though…" Her voice becomes lower, realizing how ridiculous it sounds… Talking duel monsters? Really?
"I must confess… I don't know really." The boy looks down and scratches at the back of his head. "And I don't know how to leave, either," he adds solemnly, trying to avoid the girl's forest green eyes, but luckily for him, he's never in their line of sight, being as they have ventured long off into the horizon, searching for an end to the haunting yet unnerving beauty and serenity. Only her ears remain with him, waiting for him to speak again. "Goddess, are you alright?"
"Yes," she answers him, moving away from the girl, the ivory axis of the meadow and trying to find out which direction she had come from. "I just don't know where I started from. I think I have to find Peten."
"Peten? As in The Dark Clown?"
The words 'Peten the Dark Clown' click in her head and she turns her gaze towards the boy. "Is he a duel monster too?"
"Well… yes, he is. Though it's strange that out of all the monsters you would meet here, it would be him." The boy contemplates for a moment, his hands clenching and unclenching idly, before coming to a conclusion. "Maybe it has something to with elements… maybe…" he suggests, adding in the last word reluctantly and with uncertainty. "You are the Goddess with the Third Eye, or at least, that's the form this place has given you -a Light monster, yet the monster who comes to guide you is one with the element of Dark." He turns to look at Serenity's face to see if she is having any trouble understanding, and he resumes when he sees that there are no complaints on her part. "I took on the form of a monster called Dark Necrofear upon arriving; and you can probably tell that this means I am a Dark monster. If you recall, the monster I told you that I had met earlier was the Mystical Elf, who is a Light monster-"
"And what do you mean by all of this?" she finally asks, and Dark Necrofear isn't surprised because it is a lot to take in for someone who is not very familiar with the game Duel Monsters.
He speaks again, this time, more slowly so that Serenity can understand him completely. "You are Light, and you are met with Dark. I am Dark, but the one who meets me is Light. Don't you see the strange connection? Each of us was met by the element opposite to us. It seems a bit deliberate."
Serenity attempts to put her knowledge together and come to a neat conclusion like the other boy, but she just doesn't have the information to do so. Her mind wanders to other things though, namely the identity of her new acquaintance, Dark Necrofear. "So, you're not really Dark Necrofear?"
The boy smiles kindly and jokes, "Well, as long as it's safe to assume that you're not really Goddess with the Third Eye, are you?"
"I'm not really! Though, it's one of the cards that my big brother bought for me. I haven't used it yet… but I cherish it." She puts her hands over her heart and the edges of her lips tilt upwards, as her brother's face flashes across her memory. It has been so long since she's seen him, truly seen him with her two eyes, and she could only vaguely remember his goofy grin and the love and pride in his two eyes when he looked at her, and it hurt her to count the years.
"It sounds like you and your brother have been apart for a while," the boy remarked perceptively.
She nods and feels the dampness in her eyes and the sadness tugging at her face. "Actually, it hasn't been a while, technically, but… you see… I'm -" She's about to tell him about her blindness, until she realizes that she's standing in that field without her blindfold, seeing the white haired boy as clearly as the violets on the ground around her. "I was blind. Well, not blind so much as my vision was receding to the point where you could say I was blind… And I haven't really seen my brother in so long. And it's worse because our parents are divorced, so we've been separated for a while." She doesn't understand why she's telling the boy all of this, but she can see in his light brown eyes that he can be trusted. After all, he did help her save that white warrior.
He nods in understanding and gives her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. You'll see him again. We'll definitely find a way out of this field." He cranes his neck, looking around for a sign until a dull glowing figure in the distance catches his attention. He grabs Serenity's arm abruptly, causing her to jump away from him in surprise.
"What are you doing?" she snaps at him, narrowing her eyes in irritation.
"S-Sorry!" he apologizes, pointing towards the figure he saw. "But look over there!"
She turns her head to see what he's pointing at, and she sees it as well. "What is that?" she asks, forgetting her irritation towards her companion and forcing her eyes to make out whatever is standing there.
"Should we go to it?"
She looks at him again and nods determinedly. "It's as good a sign as we're gonna get. Let's go!" Without even sparing a glance at the white warrior, she dashes towards the light, the boy following closely behind her.
Somehow, the run is shorter than they anticipate as only a minute after they set off, they are standing before a tall woman with pale blue skin and long blonde hair that frames the ethereal beauty of her face like a halo of silk. Atop her head is a crown and adorning her body is a flowing green dress that moves around in the wind, brushing against her legs like waves upon a sea shore as she hovers a few inches above the ground. Her most remarkable trait is the light that radiates from her entire being as she beckons the two unwilling warriors towards her.
"Mystical Elf…" the boy breathes as he steps towards her, oblivious to Serenity's hesitance.
'You have done well, Warrior of Darkness.' a voice speaks from the pits of the earth and the infinite extremities of the sky. 'As have you, Warrior of Light.' Serenity is jarred when the Elf addresses her, unsure about what to do or what to say to this majestic being.
The Elf puts her hands together and closes her eyes in prayer. The young girl looks to her companion for answers, but the only thing he offers her is a smile and a nod, and she puts her faith in those gestures.
At the sides of the Elf, the two warriors can see two different sets of specks joining together and slowly growing, multiplying, and thickening. To the Elf's right, the specks are golden dust and light, each unattached unit expanding and forming bonds with the adjacent units. Whereas to her left, the units are black and violet, swirling like smoke given life and absorbing darkness from nothingness. The two different sets slowly grow into two enormous translucent orbs, each having a diameter that easily surpassed either of the warriors' heights.
"What are those?" Serenity asks without a single forethought.
'Portals to the realm of the living, my child.' the woman replies raising her head from prayer.
"Realm of the living?" the boy asks; clearly, he is just as uninformed as Serenity. "Then where are we now?"
The young girl clearly recalls what Peten informed her before he left. 'This is the Inbetween.' The Elf echoes his words. 'The terminal between the realm of the living, and the realm of the dead.'
The boy's face pales when he hears this explanation. "I -I was… before I came here I was in hospital…"
Serenity catches on to what her companion was suggesting, and she, too, felt the sinking sensation of terror rack her being, like an anchor wrapped around her center, dragging her into a fog. "I was in the hospital, too…" The words fall like puke out of her mouth, and she holds a hand over her gut, overcome with nausea.
'Fear not, warriors. You belong in the realm of the living. Something other than your demise has brought you here by force.'
"What brought us -"
'That is enough.' Her voice is gentle, but her tone is lined with annoyance. 'You must leave this place now before you lose yourselves in this realm. Enter through these portals that I have created.' She gestures to her right, tilting her head ever so slightly for emphasis. 'This Light portal will lead the Warrior of Light back to her body in the physical plane.' Gesturing to her left she speaks again. 'This Dark portal will lead the Warrior of Darkness back to his own body.'' She straightens and addresses the two gravely. 'No idle moment in this realm is without danger, so say your goodbyes if you must, but hurry.'
"We understand," Serenity speaks for the both of them, nodding at the Elf and then at the boy. "Thank you for helping me," she finally tells him.
Looking away from the Elf and towards his companion he replies warmly. "You're welcome."
"Before we leave… I wanna tell you my name, so maybe we can find each other in the realm of the living. I'm Serenity Wheeler."
Recognition flashed in his eyes and he replied cheerfully. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Serenity. My name is Ryo Bakura, and I'm certain we will meet again."
"Alright, Ryo," she says. "I look forward to it."
The pair separates, each going to the portal assigned to them by the Mystical Elf. Without looking back, the Goddess with the Third Eye steps into her own portal, hoping that by the time she emerges, she will be simple Serenity Wheeler again, but still yearning to meet with her new friend again.
A warm feeling washes over her as her vision becomes so engulfed by light that the only thing she can see is a featureless white blank. Just as it appears though, it is gone, replaced by darkness; however, it isn't a scary darkness, but a familiar one. Her eyes are shut, and she can feel something scratchy against her eyelids.
Muffled voices steadily become clearer as she regains awareness, and she is almost certain that the recognizes at least one of the unintelligible voices. A comfortable breeze blows through her hair and the surface on which she lays vibrates slightly, familiarly.
"I don't know, man, but Joey's sure to be pissed once he sees the sister he entrusted to you unconscious," one of the voices says darkly -a male voice with both maturity and immaturity in equal measure.
"Can it, Duke," the fierce voice she recognizes as her brother's friend, Tristan, snaps back.
"I think the both of you should can it," a smooth soprano with a voice like honey calls out. "You've been bickering non-stop and you're giving me a headache."
Serenity decides that it's time to make her consciousness known and shifted slightly on the cushion where she rested, a seat in a car, if the wind and vibrations were an indication. She sat up wearily and said, "Tristan? What's going on? Who are these people?"
I'm trying to update more often (haha it's not working as well as I'd hoped) -y'know to keep my muse alive. And plot progression keeps my muse alive! Especially plot twists (not that this much of a plot twist, but if you didn't realize who he was in "Lumen I" then this must be quite a surprise)
Ahh I can hear the chorus of Bakura fangirls singing.
Neeeeeext chapter, is also not a Lorna chapter, unfortunately (or fortunately, whatever floats your boat) It's going to be called "Caelestis I"
And like I said earlier -vote. Do it. Go click on my little "sass-bot" profile button thing. You don't even need to go through miles of profile bullshit to get to it. The poll is right at the top of my profile. It will literally take you 4 clicks. You can do it! I BELIEVE IN YOU!