Five Times The Incarnation of Darkness Scared Someone (5/5)

[heleentje]

 

When her predecessor had died, after what she remembered to be a long and, despite some hiccups, enjoyable life, he had left behind a universe that was mostly at peace. Nitya could appreciate that. It gave her plenty of time to grow up and develop the powers she was born with.

 

It also gave her Yubel.

 

Perhaps the greatest achievement during Yuki Judai's tenure as the incarnation of Gentle Darkness was fusing his soul—the very soul of Darkness—to that of Yubel. No more looking for each other. No more scouring the earth, hoping with each passing year that they would meet each other soon. Yuki Judai had been lucky. Nitya distinctly remembered at least one life where she'd never met Yubel at all. That incarnation had met a violent end, one that could have been avoided if Yubel had been by hir side. But after years without Yubel, xe hadn't had much will to live left anyway. Better to move on and start over.

 

And Nitya must have been the luckiest of all, because Yubel had been with her since she'd been born in some remote area of India. No more searching, no long years knowing someone was missing, but never remembering who.

 

But even though Yubel was at her side, the cards in Yuki Judai's deck had disappeared without a trace. So when Nitya turned twenty, she left home and started looking. It wasn't easy. Yuki Judai had long outlived his friends and the importance of the cards in his deck had been lost to most people. Disturbing, but at least most of the cards hadn't been dangerous.

 

Most of them.

 

"Super Fusion," Nitya said. They were holed up in a youth hostel in downtown Chengdu, tiny but mercifully clean. Her roommates were out and she and Yubel had claimed the top bunk.  "We have to find it first. Who knows who has it now."

 

Yubel nodded. "It should not have gotten lost. We set up security measures."

 

But they'd already checked those, and the card had slipped between the cracks. Those measures were at least thirty years old. The Gentle Darkness had waited a few years before taking on another mortal form.

 

"Best case scenario, it's in some rich idiot's safe and no one knows what it can do." Nitya closed her eyes. Yubel ran a hand through her hair and started braiding it.

 

"Worst?"

 

"Worst case scenario, someone does know what it can do and the world's in very big trouble."

 

It turned out to be neither. They finally tracked down a woman who claimed to know about the whereabouts of Super Fusion. Nitya made the lights go out for a bit and Yubel put in a strategic appearance, and after that, their informant was amazingly helpful. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to provide them with the exact location of the Fallguys, as she called them. And Nitya had seen enough terrified people to last her several lifetimes, so she and Yubel decided to set out on their own. They had names and they had an approximate location.

 

Heartland City was far too bright and cheerful for Nitya. Something was brewing under the surface, and it was going to explode very soon. Nitya resolved to keep an eye on the city, but there was little she could do without her complete deck. No, her first priority was Super Fusion. Fortunately, the World Dueling Carnival meant that no one was surprised to see another foreigner walking around. Nitya wasn't quite as interested in dueling as her predecessor had been, but she still took some time off to follow the tournament. So many strong duelists, so many interesting people... Some a bit more interesting than others.

 

"What do you think of the kids?" she asked Yubel, idly turning up the volume on the TV that was airing a recap the preliminary rounds.

 

"Not all of them are human," came Yubel's reply. Nitya laughed.

 

"We're in no position to throw stones."

 

But it was true. Nitya had become very good at sensing who was born human and who wasn't. And the Shark kid, for one, definitely wasn't.

 

"It's not our problem, is it? We can always help them if they're in trouble." She switched channels. "Hey, have you seen that Anna girl?"

 

----

 

Like all cities, Heartland City had its shadier districts. Nitya was honestly relieved. The bright colors had been getting to her. Here, in the small streets and alleyways covered by shadows, she felt far more at home. Anyone else would have been wary. Nitya had never had a reason to be.

 

"Through here," Yubel said, several steps ahead of her. Nitya ducked under a steel girder and followed her through the door of a dilapidated house. At least, that was what it looked like from the outside. Once inside, Nitya whistled.

 

"These guys must have some good sponsors."

 

Their access was blocked by a heavy steel door, equipped with one of the ultra-modern holographic keypads usually installed by some of the most high-tech places she'd visited. Fingerprinting, retinal scan and most assuredly an eight-character password containing at least three numbers and a capital letter. The keyboard still had masking tape on it. This gang had only recently gotten their money.

 

"So how do we get in?"

 

"You could ask," Yubel offered. Nitya shrugged.

 

"Sure, why not?" She knocked. The ambient noise disappeared right away. They'd heard her and were pretending very hard that they hadn't.

 

"Hello?" she called. "My partner and I were wondering if you knew anything about rare cards."

 

Silence on the other end of the door. Then, at long last, "How'd you find us?"

 

"Oh, we had a source." A very, very terrified source. "See, I was thinking about building a Fusion deck? But all Fusion cards are just so weak, you know? So I really need something more... super."

 

"Subtle," said Yubel.

 

"I'd like to see you try."

 

Again, it took several long seconds before they got a reply. "We don't deal in cards," a gruff man told her. Nitya bit her lip. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and turned to Yubel.

 

"I'm going in. They can't say we didn't try to be polite."

 

Teleportation had been easy once she'd gotten the hang of it. She just needed a convenient shadow, and this building had plenty of them. With Yubel right next to her, she stepped to the side, away from the door and into the corner of what passed for the hallway, and turned.

 

Instantly, she found herself on the receiving end of several guns. She wished she could say it was the first time that had happened.

 

"Hello again! Sorry for dropping in like this, but I'd really like to discuss that card."

 

"How'd you get in here?" a dark-skinned man asked. Jackal, if her source had been correct. He desperately needed to learn how to button a shirt.

 

Yubel nudged her towards the man standing to the side. He didn't have the sheer size that Jackal did, but the other two seemed to defer to him. Wolf.

 

That's him.

 

Nitya nodded. There were three men, two of them bigger and probably stronger than her, but Yubel clearly didn't deem them enough of a threat to become visible. That meant Nitya could have fun with them. She opened her hands, palms upwards, and took the opportunity to study the room. Not quite as sophisticated as the steel door she'd just bypassed; all their money must've gone there. Off-white walls with no windows, a few heavy chairs, a table, a large safe, and several doors leading to other areas of the house. She could feel Super Fusion's presence emanate from the deck holder on the table. Briefly she debated sealing off the room, but she was only here for Super Fusion. If they wanted to run, she had no problem with that.

 

"Who are you?" One of the other two shouted. Nitya repressed the urge to sigh. If he kept waving his gun around like that, she wouldn't even need to do anything.

 

"Ah, right, name's Nitya. I teleported."

 

"Listen here, missy—"

 

Nitya closed her hands. The room went pitch-black.

 

"No, I think you need to listen." A bullet ricocheted, but Nitya had already moved to the other side of the room. Yubel, still unseen, did away with the guns. "Wolf, is it? I know your type. You don't ask questions as long as you get paid, don't you? And if you get a shipment of rare cards, you'll take them. Do you have any idea of the power you are holding?"

 

Nitya allowed some of the light in the room to return. Just enough so they could see the shine of gold in her eyes. Just enough so the shadow of Yubel's wings was magnified tenfold.

 

One of the men made a break for the steel door. Yubel cut him off.

 

"You shall not be leaving. I will ask again: Do you have any idea of the power you hold?"

 

"Who are you?" the smallest one whispered. Nitya drew herself up to her full height.

 

"I am Nitya. I am the Forever Born and the Incarnation of Darkness." She let the light dim again. "Super Fusion is the most dangerous card ever created. Its mere existence can destroy worlds. It is dripping with the blood of a million people, all slaughtered for the very purpose of creating this one, single card. Do you wish to know who created it?"

 

They were all cowering now. It really had been a while since she'd had so much fun with people. Wolf, the one who had Super Fusion, was edging away from the table with his deck on it. None of them even answered her question.

 

"I did," she told them. "Millions of souls, and Super Fusion still wants more power. Would you like to be a part of it?"

 

Yubel glanced at her, surprised. Nitya almost winced. Maybe she'd overdone it a bit. As a compromise, she let one of the doors open. The men didn't need to be told twice.

 

Nitya watched them run, shook her head and let the light in the room return in full.

 

"You went too far, Nitya," Yubel said. Nitya ran her teeth over her lower lip and picked up the abandoned deck.

 

"I'm sorry," she said. For all that she and Yuki Judai had the same soul, Nitya had no real memory of creating Super Fusion. She only knew Judai had done it, which meant she had, too. But Yubel knew how bad it had been and how Judai had agonized over it. "You know I would never kill them."

 

"I know. Tone it down a bit in the future, okay?"

 

"I will." She finally located Super Fusion and put it in the inner pocket of her jacket. She'd need to buy a deck holder if she wanted to rebuild her deck. Carrying Super Fusion so close to her body wasn't comfortable anyway. It might be one of her cards, but it was blood-soaked and dangerous.

 

She teleported straight out of the room, and then out of Heartland City altogether. Maybe she could go to Neo Domino. She had a good feeling about it.

 

"You know, you could've just teleported in, taken the card and left again."

 

Nitya buried herself in Yubel's arms. "Oh, I know. But where's the fun in that?"