Dragon’s Awakening: The Shadowed Lair of the Light Company
The rain fell in black, oily sheets over the shattered spires of Domino, smelling faintly of sulfur and ancient dust.
High above the ruins, perched on the slick limb of a dead ironwood tree, Hei pulled the collar of his trench coat higher against the chill. He flicked a spent cigarette into the abyss below, watching the spark die before it hit the ground.
"I want to tell you a story that I have kept secret for a long time," he murmured to the shadow standing in the hollow of the trunk behind him. "The time just wasn't right before. But looking at this... maybe there isn't any time left."
Hei gestured lazily toward the ash-choked horizon, where the phantom echoes of a forgotten era seemed to linger in the fog.
"What you see here is where the Company of Light fought their greatest battle—the one against Valtor. He was no ordinary sorcerer. When the Great Dragon created the magical Dimension, a small piece of its flame fell into the vast, absolute darkness. That dark spark mixed with the primordial power of the flame, and that's when the Ancestral Witches found it. They took that twisted embers and molded it into a man. They named him Valtor."
Hei turned his head slightly, his white mask gleaming faintly in the gloom.
"Cynders Lair is where hope goes to die, Bloom," he said, his voice dropping to a flat, grim rasp. "A dark, foreboding place. And as soon as Valtor was old enough, he set out from that pit to conquer the realms, burning everything he touched."
A few yards away, sheltered beneath a glowing, translucent barrier of dark magenta energy, Yugi Muto stared down at a heavy, obsidian talisman resting in his palm. Beside him, Seto Kaiba adjusted his white trench coat, his eyes narrowed as he scanned a set of towering, translucent monoliths embedded in the frozen earth.
"You were the one who stole the amulet—the Seal of Phobos—from Darkar," Kaiba said coldly, glancing back at Hei. He pointed a gloved finger toward the monoliths. "And those statues made of crystal... they appear to be dragons."
"They aren't just statues, Kaiba," Yugi said quietly, his voice carrying the deep, ancient timbre of the Pharaoh. "They are seals. And they're cracking."
Yugi looked up at the blood-red sky pulsing above the decimated kingdom. "Both of our worlds are in danger. As long as mankind has walked the Earth, it has lived in harmony with the world of beasts. But now Darkar is threatening that harmony from the shadows, using Valtor as his vanguard."
A low, resonant hum vibrated through the air, vibrating in their teeth. The atmosphere grew heavy, suffocating, as if the local gravity had suddenly doubled.
"The air in this kingdom is thick with energy," Yugi observed, watching purple sparks drift upward from the scorched soil. "Demon insects flock to it like sharks to an open wound. Is it a sign of things to come... or is the danger already here?"
Hei let out a soft, humorless huff. He leaned back against the trunk, staring down at the lifeless, cratered expanse of what was once a crown jewel of the magical universe.
"Then again," Hei said softly, flipping his dagger between his fingers, "what do I care?"
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