Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Truth through Deception ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, please do not sue me.

 

Chapter 1

 

Thirteen years had passed since the destruction of Sombra. The war which started that day had not yet ended. Arain's Kingdom was the more powerful, but the King was unwilling to take certain steps needed to end the war more quickly. Arain wanted the war to be won honorably. Pegasus however, was utterly ruthless. He was not above blackmail and torture to achieve his goals. Pegasus used merciless tactics. He attacked not only Seier soldiers but attacked and burned defenseless towns and either murdered all of the citizens or took the survivors away to become slaves in Cecile. Arain's tactics were a bit different. He knew that many of Cecile's citizens only served Pegasus out of fear. Knowing this he treated the towns that found themselves in the crossfire with kindness. Due to these facts both Cecilians and Seierans soon came to call Pegasus the Oppressor while Arain and Yami became known as the Liberators.

 

At the Seier royal palace shouting could be heard coming from the corridor leading to the Prince's rooms. Servants clung to either side of the hall as two boys ran through the hall. Both were tall, one had messy blond hair and brown eyes, the other had brown hair and eyes. These were Jonouchi and Honda. Why were they running? They had inadvertently spilled ink on a document that Prince Yami had been working on for the past several days. Another boy came running after the other two. This boy had spiky dark hair with red at the tips and blond bangs. In addition to this he also had deep crimson eyes. This was none other than the Crown Prince of Seier Yami.

 

“You idiots! I spent hours working on that treaty! Stop clowning around!” the Prince yelled at the two generals.

 

“Yami, you know that the only way we are ever going to be at peace with Cecile is if Pegasus dies. Pegasus will not willingly sign a treaty or surrender to us.” Honda said reasonably.

 

“Besides, your work just would have been dissected by those advisors of your father's anyway. We just saved you some time and anxiety by destroying it now.” Jonouchi added.

 

This did not improve Yami's mood. He was already on edge since the war meeting earlier that week. Otogi, the Strategy and Tactics General had been warning about the possibility of spies for some time now. At the meeting, these suspicions became fact when Otogi revealed he had unearthed at least three spies in the palace itself, to say nothing of the surrounding area. Pegasus had been escalating his attempts to get inside information about Seier actions. Since the discovery of spies in the palace, everyone had been working overtime to increase security measures and try to uncover any remaining spies. Jonouchi, the General in charge of defensive concerns, merely moaned and complained about the increasing demands of his office. Marik and Honda, the Generals in charge of internal matters and offensive concerns certainly seemed to be taking the threat of spies among the civilians and army seriously. Yami, as Crown Prince of Seier, had to be especially guarded to ensure that no one overheard confidential information. To this end, he had had to dismiss his personal servant when it was revealed that his servant had been intimately involved with one of the discovered spies.

 

“Shouldn't you three be doing something productive, like drawing up some battle plans?”

While the three had been standing in the hall and arguing, Seto had managed to sneak up on them.

 

“What are ya trying to do? Scare me ta death?” Jonouchi asked.

 

“That wasn't exactly my intention although I wouldn't lose any sleep over it if I did” Seto replied.

 

“What have you, Malik, and Bakura cooked up” Yami asked Seto. Seto, Malik, and Bakura were the three royal mages.

 

“We have gone over several separate spells that should keep out common spies. However, if Pegasus is using mages in his attempts at infiltration they won't be much help. The only type of spells that would be able to shield us from magic enhanced spies would require a fourth mage to cast. As I am sure you remember we are currently one mage short.” Seto informed him.

 

Normally the make up of the royal court includes four generals, one each to cover strategy and tactics, offensive, defensive, and internal matters, as well as four mages to protect the royal family and those who work closely with the royal family from magical interference. Yami's court was one mage short. The fourth and final mage should have been Gioco, the grandson of Solomon, the Strategy and Tactics General from his father's court. Sadly, Sombra, the town where Gioco and his grandfather lived, had been attacked and destroyed thirteen years before. King Arain and his court had long since given up on finding Solomon or Gioco alive. Searches were still being conducted in an attempt to try and identify another mage of Gioco's skill level. Unfortunately Gioco had been the rarest level of mage. There are five different levels of mages. Yami and his father Arain were both royal mages. Royal mages contain aspects of the other four, but primarily rely on their four court mages for protection. Kelta describes the leader, the decision maker of the group and Seto was the Kelta in the royal mages. Malik was the Tura of the royal mages. Turas generally go about problem solving differently than most people. Instead of avoiding a possible problem, Turas have a tendency to plow straight through it, which may or may not cause additional problems along the way. The third level is known as Mesta. Mestas are considered rebels by any definition. They are resistant to following orders from almost anyone. The final level, which included Gioco are called Serra. Serras are usually very powerful mages but also have the ability to ground the other three in the group and are resistant to the lure of wealth and power.

 

“Seeing as there isn't any way we can counter that problem at the moment we might as well accept it.” Yami said.

 

“You shouldn't just brush aside the problem Prince, mage spies are highly dangerous as they can use stealth and cunning as well as magic to attack us. We also know that Pegasus has this resource at hand. I'm sure you have heard of the one known as Specter.” This was not a question but rather a statement from Seto. Specter was the name of a particularly dangerous mage spy employed by Pegasus. No one knew exactly what level mage Specter was, but it was definite he was quite powerful.

 

“I know Seto, I know, I'm not disregarding the threat. I'm merely acknowledging the fact that there is little I can do about it at this time.” Yami replied wearily. This was an old dilemma for Yami who seemed to be having discussions regarding the trio of mages more frequently.

 

“Aside from these problems is there anything else I need to do?” Yami inquired. Aside from being the leader of the mages, Seto was also his cousin and a kind of advisor.

 

“Eventually you will need to choose another personal servant. Shall I collect some servants for you to choose from?”

 

“I don't believe that will be necessary. You! Over there!” Yami motioned for a random boy to stop.

 

“He will be my personal servant” Yami said to Seto, Jonouchi, and Honda.

 

“Finish your duties for the day and then report to my rooms. From now on my orders and my father's orders are the only ones you must obey” Yami informed the boy.

 

“By the way, what's your name?”

 

“My name is Yugi, sir” the boy replied before being given permission to leave.

 

“Uh…did you just pick some random boy to be your servant?” Jonouchi asked.

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“Are ya sure that's the safest thing to do considering the existing situation?” Jonouchi replied.

 

“It will be fine, I have a feeling that any spies that are still in our midst would have to be the more cunning ones and just questioning the servants won't draw them out. Besides, the boy I chose doesn't look old enough or deceitful enough to be able to carry off being one of Pegasus' spies.” Yami answered.

 

“Well, you were right about one thing. He definitely didn't look old enough to be a Cecilian spy. The kid looked like he was about twelve years old.” Jonouchi agreed.

 

“I don't know Yami,” Honda remarked “I mean haven't you ever heard the phrase `Appearances can be deceiving?”