Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Truth through Deception ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

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

 

Chapter 2

 

Pegasus, King of Cecile, was currently sitting in his throne room. Pegasus was an eccentric person who had shoulder length silvery hair and had a liking for the color red. In fact, he was currently wearing a flamboyant red cloak, a red silk shirt, matching pants, and red suede shoes. It was a tradition for the people to come to their ruler every other week to solve domestic problems which the citizens had been unable to solve. The people under Pegasus' reign had gotten out of practice a bit seeing as Pegasus had the annoying tendency to banish the souls of those who annoyed him too much. You see, Pegasus, like Yami and Arain from Seier, was also a royal mage. Pegasus' infamous punishment for those who defy or simply annoy him was the loss of their soul. Because of a lack of annoying citizens with problems, Pegasus found his evening rather boring and was finding time to contemplate his ongoing schemes. One of his current schemes he was rather proud of. Thirteen years ago, he had provoked the great Arain into declaring war. How? By attacking a town that happened to hold two people that were important to Arain and his obnoxious son Yami. In one attack, he had managed to temporarily cripple the current court and hopefully permanently cripple the future court.

 

His soldiers had captured the then General of Strategy and Tactics and a Serra Mage. Instead of killing them, which would have been the logical thing to do, Pegasus took a different approach. By abducting the General's grandson, Pegasus had a rather good way to ensure that Solomon would do what he ordered. In Pegasus' mind, Solomon had much to answer for by allying himself with Seier and Arain. Pegasus had also seen the possibilities with having a young Serra Mage that he could mold into his own image. One of the first things he did was place a spell on Solomon that prevented him from telling his grandson certain things, like the fact that Pegasus had attacked and destroyed their home in order to capture them and exact revenge against Seier through them. It was inevitable that little Gioco would eventually find out the truth behind why he and his grandfather were Seierans living in Cecile, but until that day Pegasus would have the full powers of a Serra Mage at his disposal. With any luck, he would be able to turn Gioco against Seier before he discovered the truth. If that happened, even learning the truth about what Pegasus did would not be enough to make Gioco distance himself from Pegasus.

 

Of course Pegasus could not leave Gioco with his birth name; it was far too dangerous if someone who had heard about the tragedy that befell Sombra. It was of course predictable that even with the spell, Solomon would still have some influence on his grandson, so after some years and one particular mission, Pegasus decided that he needed to take some preventative care. To this end, he captured Solomon's soul and decided to hold it ransom to ensure his grandson followed Pegasus. For every mission that Solomon's grandson accomplished for Pegasus, Gioco would get 20 minutes with his grandfather. If he failed in a mission or refused to follow orders, his grandfather's soul would be forfeit. Needless to say, Gioco hadn't failed yet.

 

Gioco was now none other than the feared spy Specter. It amused Pegasus to no end that the one person that could save Seier and end this war was the spy they feared so much. Gioco knew better than to go to Arain and confess what had happened thirteen years ago. In some certain missions years before where Pegasus had ordered Specter to gather information on and then kill Seieran officials and their families, Specter had refused to carry out the second half of his orders. When Pegasus learned of Specter's defiance Pegasus decided he needed to monitor Specter more closely. This was when he captured Solomon's soul as an incentive for Gioco to follow his orders in the future.

 

Why was Pegasus doing all of this? What were his goals behind it? To hurt Arain. Why did Pegasus hate Arain? Simple, Arain had bested and humiliated Pegasus. It had been twenty years ago at the annual games of Artinon. Artinon was a small town between Cecile and Seier which refused to ally themselves with either kingdom. Due to this Artinon was seen as neutral territory and neither kingdom dared to attack it. The annual games accomplished two things. First, they signified a willingness to promote peace and prosperity among both kingdoms. Second, it allowed the best athletes from each kingdom to compete against each other. It was during the closing ceremonies of the games, when the heirs of each kingdom dueled that disaster struck. The two heirs were Arain and Pegasus. At first, the two seemed well matched. Suddenly Arain identified a weakness in Pegasus' defenses and struck. Pegasus' only indication that something was wrong was a sudden blinding pain in his left eye. Arain had hit Pegasus with a colere spell, which causes inflammation and a burning sensation, directly in the eye. The colere spell had caused Pegasus to lose his left eye. He now wore a solid gold eye piece in place of his eye. Why go after Solomon? Solomon was the most easily accessible of Arain's court and had the added benefit of having a Serra Mage for a grandson.

 

Suddenly a rather brutish looking man dressed in black entered the room. This was Croquet, and he was one of Pegasus' top minions. Croquet's entrance interrupted Pegasus' musings.

 

“What is it? I believe I told you I did not want to be disturbed.” Pegasus said angrily.

 

“My apologies Oh Great One, but I thought you'd like to know that Specter has reported in. He reports that so far his mission has been successful. In addition to this he has confirmed additional wards have been placed around the palace” Croquet informed him.

 

“What do we know about these wards?” inquired Pegasus.

 

“Not much I'm afraid. They are designed to detect intruders, but are not powerful enough to stop intruders who are protected by magic. Magic enhanced spies will still be able to infiltrate the palace undetected.”

 

“Of course not fool. If the wards could detect magic enhanced intruders that would mean they had found another Serra Mage somewhere. If that had occurred we would have a lot more problems than new wards. The court mages inability to consolidate their powers is a direct result of not having a Serra Mage. Nevertheless, these wards are merely a nuisance, and a temporary one at that. While our non-magical spies are expendable it is a waste of resources to discard and train new ones. Inform Specter that he now has an additional mission: neutralize the wards. Also, inform our other spies to lay low for the time being” Pegasus ordered.

 

“Yes my Lord.” With this Croquet turned and left the room.

 

The wards were nothing but a temporary nuisance that would soon no longer exist. Pegasus had to admit one thing; Specter was the best agent he had. Yes, Arain would fall. First his kingdom, followed by his friends and court, then his abominable son, and finally Arain himself would fall before Pegasus. Pegasus would have his revenge.