Memories

A knock at the door, to which Mateo does not respond to. Still, he sits on his bed, silent, in the dark, saying nothing, feeling nothing. Jack's voice pierces through the door. "Mateo! Open up the door and take your dinner. Remember what happened last time you refused to?"

Of course, Mateo remembered. A week ago, Jack had kicked the door open and forced Mateo to eat, as it was the week before that, and the week before that. "Come on, you've been in there for a month. You have to know that it wasn't your fault."

The door opens quickly enough for Mateo to grab the plate and slam the door shut, leaving Jack standing in front of the door, his hand still thinking it was holding something for a brief moment, before he brought it down. He sighed and walked away. Inside his room, Mateo ate the food off the plate quietly, when a sharp buzz and a voice pierces his head. He grunts at first as the voice speaks to him. "Do not despair, Signer of Light. Your destiny comes soon, and you cannot have a broken spirit to do battle."

Mateo does not respond, as he continues eating. He finishes eating, and he puts the plate on his bedside table and lies down in bed, falling to sleep.

Mateo wakes up abruptly, and sees a woman sitting on his bed, glowing with white energy, looking at his cards. She muses to herself, especially at some of the older monsters. "Ah, yes, Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I remember when there was only four of them. Then three. Now hundreds. Mateo Yurigaya, you have made some strong additions to your deck since last we met."

"Do I know you?"

The glowing lady turned and looked at him, and then realized that he was serious. "Yes. But for the time being, no."

"Stop speaking in riddles."

"As you wish, Mateo." Illeya cocks her head. "You are hurting, suffering from that shattered spirit. I have come to heal you."

"Good luck with that."

"Mateo Yurigaya, I challenge you to a duel."

"No."

"I need to show you something." The glowing lady stood up and extended her hand with Mateo's deck in it towards Mateo, but he sat, staring at the deck. Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking on the door can be heard.

"Mateo? You okay? Who are you talking to?" Crow's asked through the door.

"He can't perceive me unless I will it. But regardless if you want to duel me or not, there is something I need to show you." The glowing woman used her other hand, and touched Mateo on the forehead with her index and middle fingers, flooding the room with light. Outside the room, Crow sees the white light flooding the room, and he knocked down the locked door as the light faded away, seeing the empty room.

"Mateo? Mateo!"

Mateo opened his eyes to see pure white. He sat up, and all he could see was white light. He felt the ground, but it didn't feel like the ground, and there was no separation between the white sky and the ground. "What the hell? Where am I?"

"Very far from Hell, I can assure you." Mateo turned to face the glowing lady, who wasn't glowing anymore. He felt his Mark of the Dragon dig into his skin and started glowing.

"What do you want from me? Why did you bring me here?"

"I told you. I'm going to duel you."

"I don't want to duel."

"You don't have a choice." The lady waved her hand, causing a table and two chairs to appear, and she placed Mateo's deck at one side of the table. "Come."

Mateo sighed, and stood up, walking over to the table. "If you think this will help me, it won't. Everyone I duel lately dies, I can't save anyone."

"Not everyone can or wants to be saved. Sometimes they don't think they need to be saved until it's too late." As she said this, she looked sad for a moment. "But you are not to blame. It is the Darkness who causes the death you see. Phillip Vulcan knew what he was getting into when he challenged you, and he decided on the penalty of losing. He accepted that his loss would mean his death."

"Regardless." Mateo replied. The lady sat at the other end of the table and placed her deck on the table, and gestured for Mateo to join her at the end his deck was sitting on. "Fine. But I want to know your name, first."

The lady smiled. "My name is Illeya, subservient of the Beings of Light."

"The Beings of Light?"

"They are the beings that live here, in the Dimension of Light." Illeya replied. "Anya, the lady who controls the people whom you have dueled lately… I suppose you could consider her the subservient of the Beings of Darkness, which live in the Dimension of Darkness. That is what were the Dark Seal will send you if you lose a duel and are killed by something that it incites, such as that man on the Duel Runner."

"That's heartwarming." Mateo walked over to the table and sat down, and then looked at the table. "This looks familiar."

He looked up, and Illeya was no longer in front of him. Instead, she was a few meters away, sitting at her own, identical table. "Shall we?"

"I guess so." Mateo drew the top five cards of his deck and looked at them.

"I'll go first." Illeya replied. "If you are ready."

"I am."

"Let's Duel!"

Mateo: 4000 LP
Illeya: 4000 LP

"I summon Shining Angel in attack mode." Illeya slapped the card down on the table, and the monster appeared in a flash of light. Mateo looked at it, and then back down at his own cards. "I end my turn."

"Alrighty, my turn. I draw." Mateo drew the top card of his deck, and then looked at all the cards in his hand. "I summon Mirage Dragon! Go! Destroy the Shining Angel!"

Mirage Dragon roared, and then flickered, appearing and disappearing around Shining Angel before using its claws and obliterating the monster. Illeya chuckles. "You've activated the special ability of Shining Angel, which allows me to special summon a light attribute monster with fifteen hundred or less Attack points from my hand or deck. So I'm going to summon my second Shining Angel."

Mateo looked puzzled as her saw the monster appear to the field. "This is all so familiar… Agh!"

Mateo held his hand to his head as a sharp pain pierced through it. The feeling of a door or wall collapsing in his mind. Memories flooding him, of a duel that started the exact same way that this one did.

"Come on, Mateo, you can do it." Illeya said. Mateo looked down at his cards, his small hands being barely able to hold all the cards.

"Um… I summon… Uh… Mirage Dragon? Yeah, Mirage Dragon. And… Uh… I'm gonna use him to attack." Seven year old Mateo stammered as he placed the card on the table, fifteen years ago. "So… You take… How much damage?"

"Two hundred, little one. But you've also activated my Shining Angel's special ability." Illeya explained. "It lets me special summon a light-attribute monster that has fifteen hundred or less attack in attack mode, so I'm going to choose another Shining Angel."

Illeya: 4000 LP-3800 LP

"Aww, man!"

"Ha ha. Don't worry. This duel is just for fun." Illeya replied. "Sort of. Anyways, it's my turn. I'm going to summon Graceful Angel, and then I play Double Summon. This card will let me make a second normal summon this turn, so I'm going to tribute the two monsters I control to summon Guardian Angel Joan."

"Aww, no!"

"I use her to attack your Mirage Dragon, and you will take twelve hundred points of damage." Illeya looked down at the card, and then back at little Mateo. "Then I gain attack equal to the original attack of your monster."

Mateo: 4000 LP-2800 LP
Illeya: 3800 LP-5400 LP

"What? No, that's not fair!"

"Sometimes duelists won't be fair. You have to be ready for anything."

"Oh. Okay."

"Agh! What did you do to me?" Mateo looked up, and realized that everything he had remembered had happened in the actual duel, as well. "What the hell?"

"This duel has been predestined. I was requested by the Beings of Light to erase most of your memories of my meeting you, that you think you trained yourself." Illeya answered. "It was done so that you could be spared the knowledge of the War of Dimensions as long as possible. But now that you know, you must remember what I told you, all of it."

Okay… Ummm… My turn…" Little Mateo drew a card from his deck. "I summon Dragonic Synchron in defense mode, and I'll put one card facedown to end my turn."

"My turn, then. Since your monster is in defense mode, I can't inflict you with battle damage. But if Guardian Angel Joan attacks it, I will gain one thousand life points, so I'm going to attack it." Illeya declared, but Mateo smiled.

"You activated Dragonic Synchron's effect! When he's destroyed and he is in Defense mode, I can special summon one Dragon or Warrior-type monster from my deck or graveyard, so I'm gonna summon my Delta Flyer!" Mateo flipped through his deck until he found the card, and be placed it down on the table. Illeya returned the smile.

"Good work, Mateo."

Illeya: 5400 LP-6400 LP

"I'll place one card facedown to end my turn."

"Okay, so it's my turn! I draw!" Mateo drew a card from his deck, and then placed down a card from his hand. I summon Hunter Dragon! Now, using the special ability of Delta Flyer, I can raise my Hunter Dragon's level from three to four! So I'm going to tune the level three Delta Flyer to my level four Hunter Dragon to synchro summon Exploder Dragonwing!"

"Oh?"

"Next, I activate a spell card from my hand, Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy your facedown spell card." Mateo placed the spell card in his graveyard after utilizing its effect. "Now, I activate my facedown trap card, the Castle of Dragon Souls. This card lets me banish a Dragon-type monster from my graveyard to increase one monster on my side of the field's attack by seven hundred, meaning that Exploder Dragonwing now has enough attack points to destroy Guardian Angel Joan! And with his special ability, if I attack a monster that has less attack than the attack of my dragon, then I can automatically destroy the monster and inflict damage to you equal to its attack, and since Joan has three hundred points less than my dragon, you'll take its entire attack as damage. Right?"

"That's right, Mateo." Illeya replied.

Illeya: 6400 LP-3600 LP

"Awwright!" Mateo jumped out of his chair in glee, and Illeya chuckled.

"Now, now, this duel isn't over yet."

"Oh, right!" Mateo set back down in the chair, and picked his hand back up. "Okay, I end my turn."

"Remember, not all duelists are dueling for fun. Some will be completely serious, and when that time comes, you will have to be serious, as well." Illeya explained, to the dismay of Mateo.

"Aww, but I hate being serious!"

"Believe me, someday you will accept it as commonplace, as much as I regret to inform you so." Illeya sighed. "Don't let what the darkness does effect you adversely, because your survival will depend on it."

"What does 'adversely' mean?"

"Never mind. My turn." Illeya drew a card from her deck. "I play Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards from my deck. Next, I activate my Field Spell card, The Sanctuary in the Sky! So long as you are attacking a Fairy-type monster, battle damage is reduced to 0. Next, I activate the spell card Cost Down, which reduces the level of all monsters in my hand by two. Now I can summon my Airknight Parshath!"

"That goy's not strong enough to defeat my Exploder Dragonwing!" Mateo replied.

"That's not all, young one. By releasing him, since I control The Sanctuary in the Sky, I can special summon one of my most powerful monsters." Illeya placed her monster in the graveyard and slapped her next monster onto the field. "Neo-Parshath, the Sky Paladin, in attack mode."

"He doesn't have enough Attack, either!"

"Not quite. My monster has a special ability that allows him to gain attack equal to the difference between our life points so long as I have more Life Points than you and control the Sanctuary in the Sky." Illeya explained.

"Oh, no!"

"That is, unless you use your Castle of Dragon Souls." Illeya pointed out. "With it, you can make your monster's attack points match mine. Unless, of course, I play this card. Shield and Sword."

"Say what? Shield and Sword? What's that?"

"This card switches the Attack of all monsters on the field with their Defense points. And my monster will gain eight hundred Attack points due to the difference in our Life Points, no matter if you use your Castle." Illeya described as she revealed the card in her hand. "So now, I'm going to use my monster to attack yours."

"Well, I may not be able to destroy your monster, I can at least reduce the damage I will take, I think. Because by removing the Hunter Dragon in my graveyard, I can increase my monster's Attack by seven hundred." Mateo replied. "Okay, so, I think… Yeah, that brings my monster's Attack to 2300."

"And my monster has an Attack of 3100."

Mateo: 2800 LP-2000 LP

"Hmmm…" Mateo looked at the monster Illeya had down on the table, and then at what he had in his hand. He smiled. "I've got it. I know how I can win."

"I know how I'm going to win this duel, Illeya." Mateo stated. "And it's unlike anything you've ever seen before."