Grettings dear guests and welcome to my humble abode. And today I, the Evil Eye Beholder, have a special little something for you.
For today is September the 2nd... wait what? It's the 4th already? FU-
*WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK.*
Okay, this story was meant to come out 2 days ago, but I was unfortunately not able to finish it until then. Why is that important, you ask? Well, unbeknownst to probably a lot of you it is the birthday of a rather overlooked character in one of my favourite franchises. I'm speaking of none other than Ryou Bakura...
Wait, you don't know who I'm talking about? That one character from the first series Yu-Gi-Oh! that is constantly overlooked. No, not Joey Wheeler. How dare you insult the Godfather of Games like that? I meant the guy who's name we usually forget... No, not Tristan and Duke. The latter at least tried to make his own game whereas Tristan was just there nd both just wanted to be Serenity's boyfriend. I meant the white haired boy. The one with the Millennium Ring? No, not the evil spirit of that ring possessing him... Yeah thought so...
To be honest Bakura never has been a real antagonist and it was all that alter ego, which is probably why he doesn't get a lot of representation in fanfictions at all. And I know, Dark Side of Dimensions tried to give the boy some appreciation there, even if it was at the expense of completely retconning as to how he got the ring in the first place as well as his dignity and pride by becoming a femboy sought after the female population of Domino City. Geez, how is he doing that? How did he have that much rizz?
In either case, something that I also plan to do aside from my usual story ideas is to shed some of the spotlight on characters that more often than not simply don't get a lot of appreciation from their fandoms. Therefore, the name of this series is "Appreciation for the Unloved" where I plan on making stories centered around such characters that simply seem to have either been forgotten or unjustly hated.
Unfortunately, I am not quite sure when I'll be able to make the full story yet. So instead, I decided to publish this as a teaser for things that are yet to come. And of course as a slightly belated birthday present to our boy Ryou Bakura.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor DanMachi.
Prelude - Shadows of the Past
The winds seemed to whip up waves of sand over the dunes, though much of it couldn't be seen as the sand blocked out most of the sight, drowning the world in a blanket of yellow and brown. The landscape that had just minutes ago been iluminated by the bright sunlight was now cast into shadows. One could barely see what laid ahead of them in this place and even less look as the grains of sand were like a constant and uncomfortable hail storm on one's skin. The long and thick robes of the caravans, tents and merchants were meant to protect them from such weather conditions. It was even worse when the sand had been heated up by the sun to the point where the scorching hot winds could flay someone's skin off their body if it was left exposed to the elements. What the robes could not protect from was to lose one'sway in the desert and become lost, leaving one to die in this place.
For reasons like this traveling through a sandstorm in the desert was only something the brave or the foolish did... Or those that are desperate or that had no other choice.
Walking at a steady pace against the wind, a figure clad in a plain brown robe was marching through the sands. Their legs were hidden beneath the robes, but with each step they had to drag them out of the loose sand, kicking up more sand that was carried away by the harsh winds. Their body was hunched forward as to move forward easier. Every now and again a stronger gust washed over the figure, threatening to push them backwards onto their back. They kept going though. On their back, the figure carried a large bag that was thrown side to side by the wind, causing the metal items to slightly clang against one another. It was a bit irritating, but nothing compared to the wind rushing past their ears. Walking along the ridge of a dune was still the best option despite the harsh winds being even stronger and theatening to send them tumbling down the dune's side as the sand was easier to step on. However, due to the weather they had a hard time to walk in a straight line.
The robed figure had been walking through the desert for the whole day now. Evading the venomous critters that inhabited this place alongside far worse beings and doing their best to conserve their strength had taken its toll on them. Exhaustion clawed at their limbs and mind, but they had to keep going. Even over the howling winds of the desert, it was as if they could hear the sounds of the ones following it, though clearly not on foot. When they had departed in the early morning and when their had been no sign of the sandstorm, they had made sure to leave before anyone would notice. They should have been far, far away especially in this storm, but apparently they were more persistent than he had originally thought them to be.
The thought of that brought a grin to their face behind the fabric of the hood and mask they wore to shield their face from the sand that hit their body. It was like a game of hide and seek and catch. Except that if they got caught, they'd probably be killed immediately.
And that was considered the good outcome.
As they reached the top of the dune, a sudden noise mixed itself with the howling wind and the sound of sand grains hitting the fabric of their cloak. A low rumbling noise that grew louder for a moment before becoming quieter. They stopped dead in their tracks at this, turning only their head around in hopes to spot the source of this noise. But even from the top of the dune they were walking on, the sandstorm seemingly swallowed everything around them, not even allowing them to see the foot of the dune he was standing on while their traces were blown away. It was quite the unsettling moment as they were out in the open like that with no indication what was truly going on.
A few moments later, other sounds managed to reach them through the sound of the wind. First was a loud rumbling as something burst from beneath the sands and the surprised and fearful outcries of both men shouting and animals. Then came a haunting noise as something large caused the ground and air to vibrate before there was another loud sound of something diving back into the sands below.
One of the reason why traversing this desert was so dangerous were the monsters that called it their home. Namely sand worms, that could grow to truly tremendous sizes, though most of them were about the size of a horse, were a menace in this region on both regular travelers and caravans alike. These yellow annelids burrowed through the ground, hunting those on the surface when they felt something above them. Then they would burst out of the sands like sharks out of the water and try to swallow their prey whole with large circular mouths lined with razor-sharp teeth. Because of monsters such as the sand worms, caravans would often employ soldiers and mercenaries to guard their wagons and fend off the unnatural creatures of the desert when traversing through them.
The tremor sense of the sand worms had a flaw though. As the monsters had no eyes, they were solely relying on that sense to find prey. However, it only worked when their prey was moving on sand, meaning that if a person was to walk on solid rock, which occassionally broke through the cover of the sand before being swallowed by the dunes once more a short while later, they would not be able to sense them. That and the sand worms seemed to ignore prey that they found too small, causing people to adopt a careful and slowl traveling speed when crossing the desert. Sandstorms usually also provided caravans with cover as the storms disturbed their senses, but it appears that their pursuers had made enough noise to give away their presence to one that was nearby while it ignored the robed figure entirely. After all, a group of men on the backs of camels was a far bigger meal than just one person.
They had faced the horrors of the desert plenty of times. Things such as sand worms did not scare them anymore. It was a place where only the strongest or smartest survived and they were not foolish. The deaths of their pursuers was simply the price they had to pay to the desert.
Suddenly, the wind picked up once more, stronger than before and actually knocked them off of their feet. They tumbled down the side of the dunes, rolling across the sand and trying to shield their head with their arms. Trying to grab onto something was useless as the sand would only give way and cause more sand to tumble down the side which might end up burrying a person alive. As they came to a halt, the ground beneath them caved in and the robed figure stumbled down as short distance onto a mound of sand.
"Dammit!" They cursed as they got up and pulled the hood from their head to better look around. Beneath the hood was a young man with white shaggy hair and purple eyes. His skin had a deep tan colour and a scar ran down beneath his right eye. As he was about to assess his situation, he heard a loud rumbling followed by the roar of a sand worm, likely having been attracted to his position due to him tumbling down the dune like a spider. However, the sound solely emerged from above where the hole leading to the surface now was. The white-haired man held his breath out of reflex as there was little more than the clouds of dust visible. For a moment everything was silent before the monster dove headfirst back into the ground and departed from the place.
He let out a sigh at this. It appears that he had been lucky this time. Looking around himself, the man's eyes widened as he realized why the worm had not found him here.
The mound of sand he had landed on was inside a tunnel made of cobblestone. The only light came from the hole in the ceiling he had accidentally created, yet he could clearly see that the tunnel extended in two directions from the new entry point. Along the walls hung old metal holdings meant for torches.
At the sight before him, a wide grin split his face. Places like this, ancient ruins that had been buried under the sands of the desert, were the stuff of myths and fairy tales that the merchants and peddlers told at bazars to anyone who would listen. And for a thief like himself, places like this were like a mythical treasure trove. There were places like that scattered all over the world. Places where the constant onslaught of monsters on the people had brought once mighty empires down and left their treasures untouched, waiting to be found. The people that allied with spirits to fight monsters were seen as heroes, but he was no hero.
"Looks like today is my lucky day. There's bound to be something worth money here." He said to himself as he slid down the mound of sand and looked at the two ends of the tunnel. Both of them looked the same with no indication on what laid ahead. Inside one of the holders on the wall was still a torch left, though it was very old from the way it felt like. The young man let out an annoyed huff as he grabbed a piece of worn and torn cloth from his back and wrapped it around the old torch, which he then lit on fire with a piece of flint. The cloth caught fire quickly and smoke billowed forth from the new flame and espaced through the hole in the ceiling from which sand still dropped into the tunnel before heading deeper into the structure.
For a while, he was simply in a straight and narrow tunnel. There were no decorations on the walls or ornaments he could have taken. Overall it was rather underwhelming as he noticed that the tunnel had a certain slope, indicating that he was indeed moving deeper under the earth. Part of him thought about turning back and check out the other tunnel or going back to the surface in case that the sandstorm would block the only entrance and exit into this underground catacomb. However, the stronger part of his mind urged him on to go deeper as he was sure that there was something worth taking down there.
The tunnel eventually lead into a wider corridor. With the light of the torch in his hand serving as the only source of light, it was impossible to see the end of it. He walked cautiously closer to the wall while one hand moved to a curved dagger at his hip and scanned the room for any indication of a trap or monsters hiding in the shadows. But when he turned back to the wall he suddenly came face to face with the visage of a monster. Immediately, he pulled out the dagger and jumped back, ready to defend himself. But the monster was not moving. It was that moment he realized that it was no monster at all, but merely a statue. And as his eyes wandered across the walls he noticed more of these statues.
No, they were no statues. Murals. The walls were lined with tablet-like segments made of stone with each depicting some sort of monstrous creeature. Some looked similar to the monsters that he knew, but others looked just different and bizarre. The grave robber let out a sigh of relief at this as he put the dagger back into the sheath beneath his robes, before taking a closer look at the mural that almost caused him a heart attack. It looked like some sort of emaciated human being with somewhat fine clothing, reminding him of a shriveled up corpse of a wealthy merchant that had been left in the desert. Despite the picture being rather simplistic, the way the wide eyes of the thing were looking at him with its mouth wide open as if to scream made him for some reason uncomfortable.
"Tch! Nothing but some weird artistic choice. No one would want that..." The grave robber told himself as he kept walking through the corridor, now noticing similar murals of monsters on both sides of this chamber. Each was different and yet also unsettling.
He saw a wyvern with a face on its stomach as most of it was occupied by a giant mouth with sharp fangs.
Another showed a griffin like creature, but its head was bat-like with only a single eye sitting in the center of its face.
The next was a spider like thing with four legs connected to a humanoid torso that sported two long arms with large claws and an elongated heard with far too many eyes.
Turning around to the other side, he spotted one that looked like a goat with tiny bat wings on its back and a tail akin to that of a horse.
The next depicted a brain with worm like appendages coming out of its wrinkles, causing him to feel slightly nauseous.
Even on the ceiling were more of these tables such as one showing a humanoid fish creature akin to the mermen he had heard about from merchants on bazars and a humanoid with many eyes all over its body.
A shudder ran down his spine as he looked at the strange pictures as if they were looking at him and would at any moment separate themselves from the wall and come to live in order to attack him. Even pictures that looked like humans instilled a strange feeling of wrongness in him, which he simply could not explain to himself. Weirded out by this, the man quickened his pace, trying his best to not look at the walls and instead looking ahead in the dark corridor. Finally he made it to the end where the entrance to another dark tunnel laid ahead like the open yawning mouth of some great beast about to swallow him whole. Despite the unease in his guts, he kept moving forward.
The tunnel led further down with a notably steeper incline like a spiralling flight of stairs. The young man began to question whether there was anything at all that was worth taking in this place, even though even he had to admit that this place was far larger and impressive than he had first anticipated it to be. Compared to the nomadic tribes that roamed the dune sea now and the few settlements that took root at oasises, this place was far grander in its design and size. It truly made one question how such a place had been left abandoned and forgotten beneath the sands, though the answer was probably the same as it always was. Either it was an attack of powerful monsters or war with other people. Most likely a combination of both. He himself held no such childish delusions of heroes and people being good. No, people were scum that would stab one another in the back at any given opportunity. And he was one of them.
His thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly saw a light from an exit at the bottom of the tunnel. Beyond a door way stood a large hall. Crystals glowed in a warm golden light and illuminated the entire room. The walls, the ceiling and even the floor were covered in murals and symbols that he couldn't even believe he was seeing in that moment. Two statues as tall as the entire room stood at the end of the hall, standing silently guard behind a single altar. Almost subconciously, he stepped deeper into the room to take it all in.
The murals showed people fighting against monsters of the desert. Strangely enough, he could also see other monsters akin to the ones on the stone tables he had seen previously fighting alongside the humans. In fact, it looked as mages standing behind those tablets cast some sort of spell and thus the monsters from the tablets sprung forth and descended on the likes of Vulture Hunters, Sand Scorpions and Sand Worms. The symbols across the walls and ground seemed to have some meaning that had been lost to time. Other murals showed massive triangular monuments that were raised while a person stood on top of a podium of sorts, holding an ankh.
The tomb raider couldn't help but smirk at his discovery. Despite the fact that he understood nothing around him, being in this place as the first in who knows how many years was quite satisfying. However, his smirk turned into a fullblown grin as he laid eyes on what laid on top of the altar. From where he stood it was clearly made out of gold. Carefully he moved closer towards it, still cautious of any traps that this place might house. Before long, he stood before the altar and examined the object, which turned out to be a large necklace.
It looked very impressive, despite having a rather simple design overall. The necklace had the shape of a circle which encompassed a triangle with an eye in the middle. Around the lower half of the circle were 5 spike-like prongs attached, which hung loosely over the edge of the altar. on top of that, the whole object was completely made out of gold. The young man could barely believe his luck as he lifted it off the altar and turned it around to look at it from all sides.
"There's a hole, but no cord. Hm..." He said with a look of annoyance. It clearly would have been nice if the necklace also came with a golden cord to match it, but it did not matter. It was clearly something very valuable and would fetch a good price regardless where he'd sell it.
But then he suddenly had an intrusive thought, that completely made his greed vanish. It was as if the golden shine of the necklace and the eye in its middle were beckoning him.
"...now that I think about it, this would probably look quite good on me." With that he fished out a short rope out of his bag and pulled it through the hole on top of the ring. Tying the ends into a firm knot, the simple cord was finished. Something about this felt wrong as if he was about to put a noose around his neck to be hanged like some other thieves that unlike him had been caught stealing. By far one of the more merciful fates in this place, but like the murals before it felt wrong in some way he couldn't quite put a finger on. But that thought was overpowered by an urge to put it on and so he did.
Looking down at his newest piece of jewelry, he couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.
"Huh. Not bad. Not bad at all. Almost a shame, I'll need to sell it. Unless there's something else here..." He thought.
Suddenly he felt the ring no longer pressing against his chest. It glowed with a faint golden light as it seemed to hum with power. The young man grabbed it and brought it up to his face as if that was going to somehow make him understand what was going on. He was no mage and therefore had no clue what was happening. Then he saw the prongs of the ring lift their tips slightly, all five of them pointing into one direction. He followed them with his eyes, spotting a wall full with the symbols he did not understand. There was a strange sensation in his mind as something invisible was if pulling him towards it and telling him to go there. He followed the direction blindly until he stood before the wall.
The symbols had all sorts of shapes ranging from seemingly meaningless lines and patterns to pictures of birds, snakes and objects, all of which were in collumns running in vertical lines down the walls. The prongs of the necklace pointed towards one of the symbols at the wall specifically. It appeared to be some sort of plant or a feather. Hesitantly, he brought his hand towards it and noticed how the stone behind it was slightly giving way. Applying more pressure on it, the stone moved and a loud rumbling sound filled the air as a part of the wall was pulled aside to reveal a hidden room next to him.
As he looked inside, he could barely believe it. The room was filled with a small treasure. Golden objects made with masterful precision and craftsmanship such as small statues of birds and jackals. Coins made of silver and gold with very detailed symbols, small gemstones and pieces of jewlery. Fine tapestries and cloth seemed to also be there in small quantities. He was completely slackjawed by this sight as the ring stopped glowing and fell back onto his chest.
'This much treasure... I could easily get myself... anything... Although...' He thought as he looked down at the artefact that had shown him the way. "Looks like I won't be selling you. Oh no. I'm gonna keep you while you find me more treasures." He said more to himself than the actual ring as he filled his bag with treasures.
A short time later, his bag was filled with all sorts of valuable items and he had abandoned his torch in lieu of a smaller golden glowing crystal similar to the ones that illuminated the chamber he had found among the piles of treasure. With his bag now heavy on his back, he was walking to the exit.
"I might have to come back later. There could be more down here. Soon everyone might hear the name Bakura... Everyone in certain establishments that is." The young man laughed, before he abruptly stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a hissing sound coming from the exit. His smile fell immediately and he put down his bag when two large forms crawled out of the chamber's only entrance and exit.
While not as dangerous as Sand Worms, Desert Lizards were one of the monsters that were known to attack travelers in this place. Unlike the sand worms, they were far more often seen on the surface, weathering the desert heat and cold with little to no issues. Two meters in length, covered from head to toe in yellow scales and armed with sharp claws and teeth, they could easily overwhelm unarmed people. They were also capable of skittering up dunes and diving beneath the sand to move underground.
Bakura grabbed the dagger from his belt and gripped it firmly in his hand as he looked at the two reptilian monsters hissing and glaring at him with red glowing eyes. 'Two of them, possibly more up the tunnel. This place is big. If they come in and scatter they could surround me. Can't let that happen.' Bakura thought as a sadistic grin spread across his face. "What's the matter? Come on, I'm right here." As if understanding the provocation, the monsters charged towards him.
The first to reach where he stood tried to bite him, which he dodged by leaping backwards. The second monster pushed the other aside as it continued its charge at him. Bakura dodged the lizard's charge with a pirouette and then plunged his dagger into the creature's neck. The reptile cried out in pain as the steel cut deep into its flesh and its lifeblood stained the ground, though Bakura used the creature's momentum to slice through its flank, before pulling the weapon out. The creature's body burst into smoke and left nothing, but a small amethyst like gemstone behind.
'Why are people paying so much for these?' He thought to himself as he barely managed to dodge the other monster jumping at him with its mouth wide open and its claws bared to grapple him to the ground. He jumped to the side, but the claws still grazed the arm that wasn't holding the weapon, causing hot and sharp pain to shoot through his body and warm blood to trickle down his arm and onto the floor. The lizard turned towards him and hissed loudly before charging him again. This time Bakura ran towards the lizard before jumping onto its back as it was trying to bite him. The added weight made it lose its balance and crash onto the floor, scrambling to regain its footing. Not fast enough though as Bakura, having used the reptile like a springboard, descended on the Desert Lizard like a hawk and plunged his dagger straight through its skull, killing it in an instance and leaving nothing but smoke and a small magic stone behind.
"Nngh! This is going to be a pain for a while." He said as he looked at his wounded arm for a moment, before grabbing his bag again and looked at the entrance of the chamber. It was possible that more monsters had entered this place through the same entrance he had accidentally created and the scent of fresh blood could give him away. However, he could not stay there either. He grabbed the glowing crystal once more and began to ascend the tunnel. While he moved as quietly as he could, he didn't notice the blood of his wound staining the golden neckless, which seemed to emit a faint glow after coming in contact with his lifeblood.
As soon as he almost reached the chamber with the murals, he could hear it. The scratching of claws on the stone, chittering and hissing. Quickly bringing the crystal under his robes and peeking out of the corner of the entrance, he could also see the faint red glow of their eyes. He could not tell how many of them it were. All he knew that the chamber was relatively short and straight. As long as he moved in a straight line, he would reach the exit and the place he had crashed through the ceiling by accident.
"Okay... now or never..." Bakura told himself in a whisper, his heart hammering in his chest. He could make out how the creatures of the desert were moving in this place like curious animals. His hand gripped his dagger so hard it almost hurt his palm. There was only one way out and he certainly could not fight his way through Desert Lizards and Sand Scorpions infinitely. It reminded him of his injury, causing a sting of pain to shoot through him. Stiffling in a slight hiss of pain, he looked around the corner once more. It looked as if the eyes were not in his general direction. That was all he could go off of.
And with that, he ran.
The moment he burst out of the corner of the entryway, time seemed to slow down to a crawl. He flew the first meter or so through the air with a leap, before his feet made contact with the floor. The sound immediately made the monsters turn around and hiss in his general direction, but he kept running. Jaws, claws, pincers and stingers moved towards where he had been a moment ago and whiped around to catch him.
He paid them no mind. He was busy running through the darkness, listening to the monsters making sounds of anger and irritation at their prey escaping and chasing after him. As he was too busy fleeing, he failed to notice how the bloodstained necklace at his chest hummed with power as it seemed to leak something akin to a faint dark smoke or mist. As it drifted through the air, it seemed to move unnaturally as if it had a mind of its own. It seeped into one of the stone tablets and as it did something emerged from it.
At first it was merely a formless spot of darkness, but then it began to move across the floor, walls and ceiling with an animalistic roar of anger and jubilation of being freed and being able to slaughter once more after so long.
Bakura had no idea what was going on as he heard that noise drown out the other sounds. All of the sudden, the shadows in the tunnel seemingly began to move and separating themselves from the walls, ceiling and floor of the tunnels. They were alive with something he could not even grasp, but he could only run. This was not unnoticed by the monsters that had previously chased after him as they stopped in their tracks looking around in the darkness to spot the sources of these noises, when all of the sudden, something descendef upon them with otherworldly bestial sounds. Bakura could merely hear the sounds of his would-be killers being ripped apart by something roaring and screeching with anger.
He kept running and brought up his only source of light just in time to see another Desert Lizard blocking his path.
"Dammit!" He shouted as he brought up his dagger and the monster leapt at him. He could tell that he was not going to be fast enough and that it would likely tackle him to the ground before mauling his arm if he was unlucky and his head if he was lucky. But before such a thing could happen, the shadows around his coalescened and something akin to a large arm swatted the beast aside. Bakura couldn't see what it was as it merely appeared like a solid mass of darkness to him that disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Looking at the monster, it shook its body and roared at him in anger.
But before it could attack once more, a shadow came rushing over the surface of the walls, Bakura saw how... something suddenly emerged from the wall. Something he had seen on those stone tablets, but now in flesh and blood. It was a green-skinned... thing with a thing body and two long arms with sharp claws and countles red orbs on its head and body, which he presumed to be its eyes. It let out a rumbling growl, causing the lizard to turn around, before the creature lashed out with its claws. The lizard was almost split in two as the other monster descended upon its fallen prey like a ravenous dog.
In that moment, Bakura felt the designation "monster" fitted this being far more than the creatures he had known all his life.
Then he kept running towards the exit. As he ran, the dying sounds of the monsters being torn apart by their unseen assailants began to fade away. And while he was grateful for that, he did not wish to meet his unseen saviours again.
Further ahead, he could see the daylight as the sand storm had apparently passed by, though the mound of sand that had previously broken his fall had grown bigger, almost blocking his path out. He didn't care though as he leapt onto it, with one hand securing the bag on his back and the other crawling up the sand hill as fast as he could. Once out, he collapsed onto the ground and panted heavily. His eyes were directed at the blue sky that was starting to turn orange and dusk started to approach.
'What was that?' He thought to himself as he sat up and looked at the necklace around his neck, which no longer glowed and no longer emitted the strange smoke. His hand brushed against the side of his bag, some of its contents having accidentally fallen out. 'Better not worry about it now. Need to get moving before nightfall.'
Bakura then picked himself off the ground, recollected stolen goods and continued his journey through the desert as the sun began to set.
Dawn was slowly approaching the lands of the Far East, the island nation led by the Amaterasu Familia. Despite it being led by a deity's familia, the Far East was far from united. The further away one went from the capital, the more disloyal to the Imperial Court people tended to be. As a result, the countryside of the Far East had been ravaged by war against both people and monsters. Diseases further decimated the number of people there, leading to many children to become orphans.
At the outer fringes of a village stood a modest sized house, though it clearly had seen better days. The walls had cracks in the outer layers and some of the tiles had fallen off, though overall it was still looking fine and not abandoned.
Inside, the place felt rather empty with only very little furniture and personal belongings. Sleeping soundly in a bed was a young boy with white hair, drawing deep and calm breaths while the night sky outside was already starting to became brighter to the east and the air was still filled with the sound of crickets.
All of the sudden, though, the sounds seemed to completely die down. The atmosphere in the house turned from silent to oppressingly quiet like the calm before a storm. The boy began to turn slightly in his sleep as he groaned in discomfort, his face distorting.
Whatever was plaguing the body, it was as if something was drawn to the boy's negative emotions when the shadows around the room suddenly seem to begin to... lengthen unnaturally. Slowly, they stretched themselves closer and closer towards where he was laying. Some of them shifted and took strange forms like misshapen hands and mouths that gaped wide open with jagged claws and teeth. The boy's discomfort grew as he tossed and turned more frantically, the noises of distress he made becoming louder.
All of the sudden, the shadow recoiled just as they were about to reach him when the shadow of the boy became darker and exploded outwards onto the wall behind him. It grew and shifted like a living, writhing mass, whereas the others retreated as if trying their hardest not to come into contact with it. Despite the faint morning light already shining onto it from the windows, it did not disappear. It was as if the shadows had been given mass and depth. Something that light could not simply burn away.
For a moment, it was all quiet in the house once more. The young boy's groans had stopped and he was sleeping peacefully again. The dark mass coalesed into something more distinct, stabelizing its shape into a less shifting mass. Two pairs of red eyes opened and looked down at the sleeping body. It did nothing else though, simply looming over him and watching as he kept sleeping. By the time the sun crept higher into the sky and the light grew brighter in the room, the being slowly disappeared.
Before long, the being disappeared and the boy opened his brown eyes.
"Ugh... another nightmare..." He said when he stretched his arms over his head, before rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and getting out of bed. "I've never even been to the sea, so why do I dream of the desert?" He asked himself as he knew that no one would answer him in this forgotten house.
Ryou Bakura was like many children turned into an orphan by the disasters of the Far East's countryside. On top of that, his ancestors had come from outside the island nation and had not been met with hospitality by its people. His parents had always taught him to ignore the other people that wanted nothing to do with him or made fun of him or his white hair as it was something the soft-spoken boy had often cried in silence about.
His parents had once been gone for business and never returned. It later turned out that they had been killed by bandits. Despite that fact, Ryou refused to leave his home, working hard to maintain the only home that he had left, but there was only so much that a boy could do.
Ryou moved to the side of his bed and pulled something out that his parents had told him to hide beneath the floor boards under his bed. Pulling out a wooden box, Ryou opened its contents and saw a golden eye looking back at him. It was a relic, that according to this parents had been passed down in his family for generations. Long before his ancestors had even come to the Far East. The ring-like necklace was about as big as the young boy's head. And yet... there was the urge to wear it. He didn't know what it was, but something compelled him to do it.
It would be so easy to just pull the strap over his head and let it hand from his neck, though it would probably be scraping against the floor then. His parents had told him that he would have it when he was old enough, but that was before they had vanished from his life, left and never came back. He was about to do so, but then he stopped himself.
'Not yet.' He told himself as he put the ancient piece of jewelry away and put the box back where it had been for so long.
Just then there was a knocking coming from the door.
Ryou quietly walked over to the door, before opening it to reveal a man with black hair and black eyes standing in front of his sliding door... though it would be more accurate to call him a god.
"Good morning, Ryou." Takemikazuchi said as he slightly lowered himself as the white haired boy looked up at him.
"Good morning, Lord Takemikazuchi." Ryou replied, before bowing to the god. "What brings you here?" The god chuckled slightly, before patting him on the head.
"You don't need to bow to me like that. Come on, look at me." He encouraged the boy to raise his head. "I heard today is your birthday." Ryou sheepishly nodded, before talking a step back as if he wanted to hide behind the door. Something that make Takemikazuchi scratch his head.
"It is. Thank you for noticing." Ryou said quietly. Takemikazuchi then sat down on the porch of the house and patted the wooden planks next to him.
"Come, sit with me." He said. Ryou quietly moved next to the god and sat down, before said deity continued. "You know, I'm sure Mikoto told you before, but the other children wouldn't mind if you came to our orphanage." He watched as the white-haired boy shifted uncomfortably.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I cannot leave this place." Ryou said. The god smiled sadly, but smiled nonetheless.
"I understand. But should you ever change your mind, you are welcome to come to the others. I'm sure your friends would like you to be around them more often."
"I guess so..." Ryou averted his gaze as he mumbled softly more to himself than Takemikazuchi.
The familia of Takemikazuchi was the lowest in the Imperial Court that governed the Far East. On top of that, he was known to take in the children that had been orphaned by the chaos that ran rampant in the countryside. He had offered him more than once to come to the orphanage he ran for those children ever since his parents died. He had never been pushing him towards making a decision nor had he ever been forceful, something that Ryou appreciated a lot.
"RYOU!" A loud voice could be heard as both Ryou and Takemikazuchi saw a young girl with black hair tied in a ponytail run towards them. Behind her, they also saw a young boy and a younger girl. Those were three of the children Takemikazuchi had taken in and good friends of Ryou even before he had lost his parents. While most of the children his age in the Far East avoided him, the orphans knew what it meant to be outsiders and could sympathise with him. A reason why they sometimes came down from the mountain shrine of their orphanage to visit him.
'Oh dear...' The white haired boy thought as he saw the ones that were coming.
The loud girl in the front was Yamato Mikoto, an outspoken girl that could at times be quite direct.
The younger girl was Hitachi Chigusa, a girl that was quiet and timid which was somewhat like Ryou.
Finally there was the boy, Kashima Ouka, who was despite being as old as Ryou already taller and more stoic.
"Good morning everyone." Ryou said with a small smile as Mikoto was the first to reach the doorstep.
"Duel me, Ryou." She said immediately, catching everyone off-guard, even Takemikazuchi.
"Huh?" Was the collective response from everyone else.
"You heard me. Duel me!" She said once more as she pulled out a stick from behind her.
"Mikoto, I don't want to fight." Ryou raised his arms in surrender at this.
"Mikoto stop. Don't try to fight him on his birthday." Ouka said as he caught up with Yamato.
"You said you wanted to to congratulate him first." Chigusa said as she panted and tried catching her breath. "Happy Birthday, Ryou."
"Oh right. Happy Birthday." Ouka said. Ryou laughed nervously at this... He certainly did not expect this.
"I was going to go easy on him." Mikoto pouted as she crossed her arms.
"I somewhat doubt that. You are rather competitive when it comes to things like that." Ryou said with a nervous smile.
"Of course! I'm going to be a samurai after all!" She said with a confident smile.
"Mikoto, aren't you forgetting something?" Takemikazuchi asked, causing her to stiff up a bit.
"Ah, yes. Congratulations to your birthday Bakura-san." Mikoto said.
"Thank you, everyone... I'll just..." Ryou was about to retreat back into his family home, when Chigusa spoke up.
"If... If you want, we could eat something together later at the orphanage." She said.
"Yes! Spending your birthday alone does not sound like a lot of fun." Mikoto chimed in.
"Uhm... well..." Ryou managed to say as both girls looked at him. One more timidly pleading, the other a bit more enthusiastic. In the end, he simply could not bring himself to say no. "Okay, I'm coming."
"Yay! Okay, see you around. And you better come or you got to swallow a thousand needles." And with that Mikoto ran back off.
"Sometimes she is a bit too enthusiastic..." Ryou said with a strained smile, which Ouka and Takemikazuchi mirrored.
"Yeah... We'll just wait until you are ready." Takemikazuchi said, before Ryou retreated back into the house to get ready for the day in a rush. By the time he was done, he couldn't help but smile a bit as he truly appreciated them for remembering his birthday.
"Okay, we can go." He said before closing the door behind him. With that Ryou walked alongside his friends, chatting with them along the way, while Takemikazuchi walking behind them as they made their way to the orphanage.
Meanwhile, the ring remained within the box beneath his bed. A low humming sound seemed to emit from it alongside a faint glow.
So yeah...
An AU version of Bakura in the world of DanMachi and the Millennium Ring is also there... and shadow magic and monsters. Let's FUCKING GO!
Not to mention how utterly messed up the Far East is. It sounds more like a place that Oda Nobunaga would need to conquer to finally put an end to all that warring states routine. Like geez, Amaterasu must really suck at leading an island nation like that...
But like I said, I don't know when I will get to writing the full story as I got my plate full as it is IRL. Not to mention Orktober is also just around the corner and my projects for that are definitely not going to help with my workload.
For those who might be wondering, all the monsters shown in the tablets are from Duel Monsters. I think everyone who watched the first series at least recognized the Shadow Ghoul/Wall Shadow. Naturally though, the story would be more aligned with the ones that Bakura and Yami Bakura actually used, but that is all in the future from now one.
Anyway, have a good one, tell me what you might want to see in a story like this and I'll see you next time.