Yami grabbed a magazine and flopped stomach-down onto the nearest lounge and sighed, flipping it open to look at spring-themed clothes to buy for next season, marking the nice sets with paper tabs so he could show Yugi when they shopped together.

Seto was away at an 'Order Meeting', which, in Seto's words, was 'all the snobbiest dragons discuss politics and other boring shit, while dragons like me who don't give a shit, say nothing', so Yami was inclined to believe him.

After all, Seto's description of the banquet was, 'annoying orgy of people you never want to deal with again but end up seeing every month anyway. Oh, and the food might suck. Don't eat anything you don't know the name of.'

And that turned out to be way too correct.

Ugh! Yami hung his head, hating how the word 'banquet' now had a terrible memory attached to it. He wanted to have a good time, but was robbed of it.

He wanted to redeem himself, and Seto.

This wasn't 'suicide canyon' or whatever horrible nickname people called it.

He shut his magazine and glanced up when he thought he saw a shimmer in the air.

"Seto?" Yami swung his legs over the edge of the couch and sat up, staring at the shimmering orb hovering just above his head. W-What was this?

"Seto's Human…" A feminine voice echoed from the orb. "I'm knocking politely but I fear you cannot hear me. There's no doorbell, and there's a barrier beyond my casting level at the cliff's edge. I'm at your east entrance."

The orb vanished and Yami sprang off the lounge to run down the stairs to answer their 'front door' which was one of the paths that led to the main hallways. He was getting a hang of this labyrinth because he'd helped Seto refine it.

Wrenching the heavy door open, Yami was shocked to see the beautiful wine-pouring girl from the banquet. Her blond hair was braided across the top of her head in a neat band, and her face was sharp and beautiful. She wore a pair of spectacles that made her blue eyes even larger and prettier.

"I'm here to be your friend," the girl announced, and she marched in right past him without another greeting.

Yami blinked rapidly and closed the heavy door and chased after her, bursting with questions but quite happy.

"Welcome! Nice to meet you! I'm–"

"Yami, I know. I heard you at the banquet. Blue-Eyes White Dragon, blah blah," her harsh tone made Yami quiet down instantly. Her delicate face and rough words did not match. It was startling. "He's at the meeting, I assume? As if he wouldn't be. You can call me Rebecca. My queen is The Ancient Fairy Dragon."

She raised her hand and shot a spell at the front door which glowed with a complicated seal, and Yami's mouth dropped open again. Wait…wow!

"Can you teach me?" Yami begged shamelessly, hearing loud knocking coming from behind the door, and his confusion rose. "...Coming!"
So many new friends?!

"No, you idiot!" Rebecca grabbed him by the elbow and looked scared for the first time. "They're coming to kill you! I said I'm here to be your friend! All the dragons are out at a meeting, so some bullshit is happening right now! Lay low!"

"What?!" Yami breathed, and he heard more thumping on the other side, and muffled shouting.

"Knock it down!"

"Can't! It's sealed, level 7 barrier magic."

"That spiky-haired annoyance has no magic! I appraised him!"

"An elf wench might be in there with him. I saw her sneaking through the west wing."

"This is the east, you idiot–"

"SHUT UP both of you! We can get someone else to cast a level 8 or higher to break it! Let's go, you lugs."

Yami held his breath and didn't dare let it out until Rebecca at his side let out a huff and crossed her arms, glaring at him, "See?"

"I see," Yami said wearily, brushing his bangs out of his eyes with a sweep of his hand. "Why do they want to kill me? I have been nothing but a nobody since the day I arrived."

"They want to sabotage the Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Rebecca replied with a calm blink. "They know he's happy this decade and want to see you dead, to make him spiral, explode, or cry, and ultimately leave the clan."

Yami struggled to understand why there was so much hostility towards Seto, and the confusion showed on his face, which led her to explain, "his cliff has caused many deaths, as I'm sure you know. The other dragons want him to pay for their pain of losing loved humans. They want to push you over the edge to make it look like you jumped too, but that's how they discovered there was a level 8,000 barrier."

Yami merely blinked and nodded.

Okay, okay. Not cool and not fair.

"Hana jumped by herself. I didn't even lead her up there," Yami was getting tired of repeating himself, but Rebecca was having none of it.

"I'm 3,000 years old, so I've seen it all, and I know that even if you had nothing to do with it, living near the cliff is all it takes," the girl said with supreme smugness, and Yami fell silent.

"So I've got your back," she said, giving him a leveled gaze, making Yami shiver. "I've been watching you since the banquet. He gives you everything even when you don't ask, and he lets you into the city to visit your brother every week. You have freedom. He loves you and you love him. It's…cute."

Uncomfortable at this news, Yami forced a smile on his face, "thank you for spying on us in our most intimate moments–"

"You're welcome, and you're alive now because I did," Rebecca replied with the same, terrifying coolness, and Yami was beginning to feel put off. She was flippant and scary.

"Well I'm sure your dragon gives you freedom too, seeing how you're here, helping me. Thank you," Yami enunciated, trying to express that he was grateful for the help, even if she was abrasive. Her beauty was less intimidating now that he'd heard her talk in a rough tone.

"You're welcome…and…damn," her face darkened when the seal on the door began to flicker. "Guess they got some level 8 or higher motherfucker to come and break my seal. Let's go. We're leaving."

She grabbed him by the hand and Yami followed, offering escape routes, "there's a hidden staircase on the 3rd floor of this lair. It leads into Joey's kitchen. There's a ramp to an exit to the north hallway…"

They skidded to a halt when a group of three armor-wearing men carrying spears came trooping down the wide path and shouted, "there he is! GET HIM, BOYS!"

Rebecca turned on her heel and cast with one hand, the silver orb hovering by her cheek while she shouted at it, "master! Help! They've got both exits and might kill me too! But I have Yami with me!"

And a shimmering portal opened to their left, so they sprinted towards it, but one man blocked their opening, advancing on them with a spear while the rest of his buddies caught up and surrounded them from the back.

They were trapped, with their portal only two steps away.

Rebecca was enraged, "you guys are all cowards! Who even is your dragon?!"

"Need-to-know, you elf bitch," the heavily armored man breathed, and Yami's stomach twisted with fear. Disgusting!

The ground glowed underneath their feet, and Yami watched with bated breath as all the hostile men sank into the ground with howling screams and disappeared into bright puddles of light, their weapons clattering to the ground at the places where they once stood.

"Thank you, Ancient Fairy!" Rebecca cried, and her hand was damp in Yami's palm as she dragged him forward into their portal.

They arrived in a magnificent throne room where a voluptuous woman with shining blonde hair was wearing a completely sheer dress, being fanned by two muscular men.

Yami swallowed his shock and fear.

W-Well, he could see all her things.

"Ancient Fairy," Rebecca fell on one knee and gave his shin a painful nudge with her elbow, so Yami quickly copied her and knelt down on one knee too, not daring to look at the woman's breasts anymore.

His heart pounded in his ears from how he kept narrowly escaping death.

"You may go," the woman's voice was like a musical tone, and Yami felt a wave of relief wash over him. Oh, thank gods.

Rebecca stood respectfully with her head lowered, so Yami copied her and also stood, but the woman called out to him, "not…you! Sweetie. Spiky hair. Come here."

Now terrified, Yami gave Rebecca a frantic look, but she had her head lowered as she brushed past him to leave.

His legs wobbled and trembled as he walked up the baby pink carpeted steps towards the throne, and he quickly bent down on one knee after he got to her platform, not daring to even look up a little.

Hopefully this was correct.
He'd never bowed to anyone before, not even a king or princess.

"Yami Mutou, age 25, human…no special abilities or blessings, wow…that sucks," she said with a laugh, her musical tone vanishing, replaced with a more callous one. "How the hell are you still alive, babe? I've been to Seto's lair once, a million years ago. It's a shithole. Pitfalls everywhere."

Yami was still speechless and he saw her manicured foot come for his shoulder to give him a nudge, "Speak!"

"I…-I, we-he-he renovated it with me-together, I helped," Yami was losing his composure the longer she kept her bare foot on his shoulder, and he knew she enjoyed his fear, so he kept stammering. "We're in love. I love him. P-Please don't kill me."

The fairy laughed a chortling laugh and Yami's ears burned.

When she uncrossed her legs, he could see up her legs!

Eyes down, eyes down! Yami was sweating, trying to remain present.

"Okayyy," she drawled, eyeing the crop of spiky hair by her feet. "Stand up. I wanna look at you properly. Do a spin. Yeah, go on. Spin around. Front and back."

Yami rose to his feet slowly and did a slow turn, then turned around again, extremely nervous.

"Ah gosh, Seto. What's good about this one?" The woman faked a yawn and rolled her eyes with a pretty bat of her eyelashes. "I faked sick to keep you safe. I mean, thanks for getting me out of Order Duty. Ha!" She laughed to herself and then barked at the man to her left, "Fan faster! It's my vacation and I'm not relaxed!"

And the man stiffened and hastily waved his fan with a harder rhythm, making her hair puff over her shoulder.

"Good," she sniffed and sank back on her throne, giving Yami another intrusive up and down look. "Okay I'm bored. You may go."

Yami blinked rapidly and his feet didn't move. He'd been struck…with an idea…

"Hello? Yami Mutou no special abilities, you may…" she waved her hands with an arrogant flap. "Go? Or did you not hear me? Oh, stunned by my beauty, huh? I'll let you look once. Okay, look now."

Yami raised his head respectfully and held her gaze, noting she had lovely amethyst eyes framed by dark lashes, and he made his request carefully and as politely as possible, "Ancient Fairy Dragon. I'm in awe of you. Please help me gain special abilities, if that's even possible. I no longer want to burden Seto with my weakness as a human who can't do magic."

"He'sin awe of me!" The dragon fanned herself and glanced at the man to her left. "Did you hear that? How sweet!" She leaned forward and propped her elbows on her knees, giving Yami an intentional eyeful of her pillowy breasts. "Say more!"

"I just…love your…hair, and your beauty, and your pose when you sit on your…throne," Yami was pulling words out of his ass now, eyeing her nails. "Pretty color on your claws and feet. They match, and I just read that olive green is …in for spring this year. Will you wear anything like that? A green would look very nice with your pale skin."
By beauty, he meant boobs.
By pose, he meant flashing her vagina every time she uncrossed her legs.

The dragon fake gasped and touched her chest, continuing to act flattered, "this baby knows how to talk! My pale skin and my posture on my throne! He noticed! AH! No one has ever complimented my posing this last centum-millenium! Oh, he reminds me of my darling Anzu who I dearly miss!"

Yami was supremely uncomfortable, but he'd say anything to not die on this platform. If compliments were a way out, he'd talk until he was blue in the face.

"Iiiiii get it, Seto, I get it," she was talking to herself, twirling a strand of her hair on her finger. "Okay Mr. Mutou, age 25, blood type A, with no special abilities. What special ability would you like to gain? I can grant wishes as I'm sure you know I'm a powerful fairy, given…my name? Like, duh?!" She laughed brightly again and Yami swallowed his excitement.

"For a price, obviously," she propped her chin on her palm and gave Yami another up and down look. "What do I get out of this? Think carefully nowwww…."

Yami's mind churned and he dared to speak again, "...well, what do you usually want?"

"Oh gosh honey, that's not how this works," she looked instantly serious and sat up right on her throne, her bare feet now flat on the ground. "You tell me what you want, and then I decide if it's worth my time, and if it is, my payment is a favor you'll be performing for me. Usually forever."

Not a favor. Servitude, Yami eyed the two men fanning her and had to ask, "what did they wish for?"

One man turned dark red, and the fairy dragon laughed again, her voice making Yami's ears hum as she said, "this one? Lefty here wanted riches for life. Dumbass. Look at him now, very rich, working forever, not spending a dime. Righty here, wanted love. And he goes home to his love every night, but he comes right back to work for me every morning and afternoon."

Yami blinked and nodded, his heart swirling with dread and the questions came up in a rush. "What if I…want to control time? The ability to change past events? Turn back time? Freeze time?"

"Time magic is just magic, hon, but if that's what you want," she said with a toss of her hair over her shoulder. "Easy peasy for me. Now, what doI want–"

"Wait," Yami held his hand out flat and his heart raced even more. "Our world is connected to magic, right! You're right, Great One. So, I want to become…the most powerful caster this world has ever seen."

The dragon blinked prettily and stared at him.

"Mr. No Special Abilities wants to become a powerful caster?" She laughed and shook her head. "That takes studying. Training. Giving you high mana reserves and a high level isn't going to just make you powerful overnight, babe. You are so lost, my little lamb. Ask for something easy, like money. Or Pizza. Infinite pizza. Hm? Or moneyyy? You want money."

"Power," Yami said flatly, and she gasped again, but for real, and her face split into a mischievous, dark smirk.

"I know why he likes you nowwwwwwww!" She sang, rising to her feet and shaking the sleeves back on her silky dress. "You wantthe ability to become…the most powerful caster. That's what you want, right?"

"Right. So I just need…abilities," Yami was getting the hang of her wish granting and had found a loophole. "But I'm not special at all. So I don't know anything about anyone." But he knew that he needed a starting point, and she was giving him one.
For a price.

"I'll do you one better," she said, her eyes glowing with a sinister light. "I'll give youthe ability to become the most powerful magical caster on two legs in this entire dimension. Yes, babe. Not just the world, as you'll soon learn. My payment for this gift," her voice lowered, and Yami felt another twisting pang of fear.
Here it was.

Eternal servitude.
Fanning her.

Painting her claws.

"Is that you keep Seto in check for the rest of the foreseeable ever," she said with a cold nod. "You won't break up with him or run away with another human or a dragon. And when you gain abilities to cross dimensions, I want my darling Anzu back. You ask her if she wants to return to hang out with me, okay?"

"That is two favors," Yami said slyly.

The dragon lost her composure for a second with a shriek, "and you're about to become an immortal tier 8-bajillion Super Mega Ultra Grand Arch Mage! Ithink I'm owed favors from you for life after you master each tier of quantum magic, darling!"

"She thinks," Yami dared to mock her and her mouth dropped open with playful shock, and she threw her head back to laugh loudly again.

"Well, you'll be sticking around for a long time because I'm not done with you," she giggled, wiggling her fingers at him. "Okay. Get naked. This requires a ritual."

Yami opened his mouth and held his hand out to refuse, and she gave him an incredulous scoff, "Perv. Magic is being imbued in you. Seeping it in through your clothes is a waste. Off. Everything off. Lay down at my feet. This is the most challenging, long-cast I've ever done in a while so I'm gonna need to jussssst…." She flicked her finger in the air and materialized a heavy book that emitted a cloud of dust when she opened it.

She coughed and waved it out of her face, then barked at him, "clothes off, lay down!"

Alright! Yami wailed as he moved to shrug his shirt off and step out of his shoes, jittery with fear.

He was taking a strange path in this life, but hopefully this would help him keep up with Seto…!

His ass rubbed against the soft pink carpet when he laid down and stared upwards at the fairy, her sexy silhouette incredible as she glowed with a magnificent light.

Yami had to wince and close his eyes. His body was burning hot with a strange pain, and he briefly wondered if he would survive this.

She was merely putting magic in his bones, right?

Hopefully he would grow an inch.

That would be nice.

She began chanting and Yami felt a tight pressure building in his chest that made it suddenly hard to breathe. His vision was fading in and out, with spots dancing in his vision.

He wanted to yell and say he was in pain, but the moment he lifted his head, he blacked out.