Chapter 8: One Ring to Rule Them All
Jaden entered his room at the head mistress’s guesthouse and flopped down onto the bed. He had an exhausting afternoon. Earlier he had faced Mika Yamato, one of the Four Witches of Miator. He had also found out that two of Mika’s cards, Orichalcos Ritual and Dark Orc of the West were not normal cards. Jaden had also found out that Mika and perhaps the rest of Miator’s student council was somehow involved with the resurrection of an evil creature called The Great Leviathan. There was also a Duel Monster spirit named Timaeus who wanted to help Jaden stop this creature.
One of the things that Jaden couldn’t understand was how Tamao could be involved with resurrecting The Great Leviathan. Jaden knew Tamao from the first time he was on the island. She was a nice gentle girl, though Jaden did find some of her behavior a little strange. He thought that Tamao had become obsessed with Nagisa Aoi, the other girl that he befriended the last time he was on the island. Still, Jaden found it hard to believe that Tamao could be behind something so sinister. Although he couldn’t deny the strange vibes he had been getting from Tamao, and she was the leader of Miator’s student council. It was still a little hard for Jaden to believe though. Jaden’s cat Pharaoh jumped up on the bed and yawned, allowing the spirit of Lyman Banner to emerge.
“You look like you’ve had a rough day.” The spectral teacher observed. “Is the tournament not going well?”
“Let’s just say that the tournament’s not as fun as I was hoping it would be.” Jaden sighed.
At that point there was a knock on the door. Jaden got up and opened the door to find that it was Jessie.
“Hi J., mind if I come in?” Jessie asked.
“I was kind of expecting you.” Jaden replied. “Come on in.”
Jessie entered the room and quickly noticed Banner. Banner was a spirit after all, and Jessie was one of those who could see spirits.
“Ah, Jessie Anderson. Nice to see you again.” Banner greeted enthusiastically.
“Oh, hi Mr. Banner.” Jessie greeted back.
“I’m guessing you’re here to talk to me about the duel.” Jaden assumed.
“Not just the duel.” Jessie replied. “Who was that guy with the one eye who showed up afterward. I mean I know he was a spirit, but just who is he?”
“Oh, that was Timaeus.” Jaden replied.
“Timaeus? Isn’t that the name of that dragon you summoned in the duel?” Jessie asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, that knight you saw is apparently what Timaeus really looks like.” Jaden replied.
“Why does he look like Yugi Muto?” Jessie asked.
“I’m still trying to figure that out.” Jaden replied.
“Your questions will be answered now Jaden Yuki.” A voice suddenly said. In moments, Timaeus appeared in the room in his knight form. He looked around the room and noticed Jessie and Banner. “Who are your companions?”
“Oh these are my friends Jessie Anderson and Lyman Banner.” Jaden introduced.
“Very well.” Timaeus replied. “It is now time that I tell you about what danger you now face.”
“You mean that Great Leviathan thing you mentioned?” Jaden asked.
“Great what?” Jessie asked with a raised eyebrow.
“It will take some time to explain.” Timaeus began. “It all started 10,000 years ago in what you would call the lost city of Atalantis. Atlantis was a paradise, isolated from the rest of the world. The people of the lost city knew nothing of war. It was a place where humans and the spirits that you now call Duel Monsters lived in harmony. In the end however, that harmony was shattered, and paradise fell.
“It all began when a volcano erupted and caused strange stones to shower down on the city. These stones became known as the Orichalcos, and they brought the people of the lost city great knowledge and power. Very quickly, the technology of Atlantis had advanced centuries beyond that of the rest of the world. It was also a short time before the people of Atlantis became corrupt. The Orichalcos stones were bringing out the darkness within the hearts of the people until they transformed and became as hideous on the outside as they had become on the inside. They became monsters and started rampaging through the city. It was at that point that King Dartz began to lose his mind.”
“Wait, did you say Dartz?” Jaden interrupted.
“Does the name sound familiar to you?” Timaeus asked.
“A few nights ago I had this weird dream where a guy named Dartz was fighting this big battle with a guy named Ironheart.” Jaden replied. “I guess you were in it to Timaeus, only you were that green dragon we saw you as in the duel with Mika.”
“You had a vision about the ancient battle of Atlantis.” Timaeus replied. “The battle in your dream actually took place, and it all started with Dartz. Among those who had been transformed by the Orichalcos was Dartz’s wife, Queen Iona. Dartz had no choice but to kill her. With his wife dead and his kingdom in ruins, Dartz fell into despair and asked himself how such a mighty civilization could fall. Ignorant of the true cause of the kingdom’s downfall, Dartz turned to the Orichalcos for answers.
“The Orichalcos told Dartz that the human race was inherently evil and needed to be erased. The Orichalcos also told Dartz of the way to accomplish that task, by awakening The Great Leviathan, a terrible sea serpent with the power to obliterate all life on the planet. So Dartz began his quest to wipe out the human race. The one man who stood against Dartz was his father the former king, Ironheart. Ironheart had realized that it was the Orichalcos that was responsible for the destruction of the kingdom, and that it had corrupted Dartz’s mind. So he called upon an army of Duel Monsters to fight against Dartz’s army of evil.
“My two brothers and I, fellow knights, were among those called upon to fight Dartz. We three alone had the power to stand against the evil of the Orichalcos. Unfortunately, Dartz was able to use that power to weaken us and curse us into the forms of dragons. As dragons we had lost some of our powers, but we were still able to fight. We were still the strongest warriors that Ironheart had.”
“So… I’m guessing that you guys won the battle, since we’re all here 10,000 years later.” Jessie interrupted.
“Unfortunately no Jessie Anderson.” Timaeus replied gravely. “The ancient battle of Atlantis was a draw, neither side won. The Great Leviathan was gravely wounded, and my two brothers and I were frozen in time, sealed in crystal. With the battle over, Dartz began a new quest to collect human souls to revive The Great Leviathan. The Orichalcos had given Dartz unnaturally long life, allowing him to live for 10,000 years and collect many souls. There was one soul that was key to reviving the Leviathan however, the soul of the once nameless pharaoh.”
“You mean the spirit of Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle!” Jaden exclaimed. Timaeus nodded.
“Sometime after Yugi Muto had completed the Millennium Puzzle and revived the soul of the Pharaoh, Dartz decided that the time was right to finally revive The Great Leviathan.” Timaeus continued. “It was then that both Yugi Muto and the Pharaoh were called upon to release me from the crystal. Soon after, Yugi’s companions Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler were called upon to release my brothers, and together we fought against Dartz. It was a long and difficult battle. At one point the Pharaoh came face to face with the darkness of his own heart. In the end however, the Pharaoh triumphed and defeated Dartz and purged the evil of the Orichalcos from him. At the same time, The Great Leviathan was destroyed, and we three knights were returned to our true forms. The war of Atlantis had finally come to an end.”
“Hold on, if Dartz is gone and the war of Atlantis is over, then who is tying to bring back The Great Leviathan?” Jaden asked.
“That I do not know.” Timaeus answered. “But the Leviathan has been revived, there is no mistake about that. A few months ago a shadow fell over my world, and now only recently has the Leviathan retuned. Again it has come back as the lidless eye that now consumes all spirits it can find.”
“But who could be bringing it back?” Jessie asked. “Dartz is gone, so who does that leave?”
“It can only be someone who has an Orichalcos stone.” Timaeus answered. “That is the only way that someone could be resurrecting the Leviathan. It was thought that the stones were all destroyed when the Pharaoh triumphed against Dartz, but it seems that at least one has survived.”
“If it is an Orichalcos stone, than it must have come from the ruins from Atlantis.” Banner theorized.
“But what would the stone be doing here?” Jessie asked.
“That question I cannot answer Jessie Anderson.” Timaeus replied. “All I do know is that the stone and whoever is using it is here on this island. Only the power of the Orichalcos could’ve created the cards that Jaden Yuki’s opponent used in his last duel.”
“Isn’t that girl Mika part of Miator’s student council J.?” Jessie asked.
“Yeah, and she also said that the other member of the council would be coming after me.” Jaden answered. “Still, I find it hard to believe that the student council president of Miator could be behind this. I know the girl, and I can’t believe that she could do anything so evil.”
“The Orichalcos corrupts those who use it Jaden Yuki.” Timaeus said gravely. “Even the Pharaoh became corrupted by it for a time.”
“Well whoever’s behind this, it looks like we have to stop them.” Jessie declared.
“Yeah.” Jaden agreed. “And we might not have much time to do it.”
* * *
Meanwhile in the Strawberry Dorms, Tamao was in her room trying to figure out what to do about Jaden. He had become a serious threat to her plans now that he had The Eye of Timaeus. Lying on her bed, Tamao brought up her left hand and looked at the Orichalcos stone ring that she wore. It still amazed her that such a simple gift from her father had changed her life so completely. She could remember the day she had recived the ring so clearly.
The moment that Tamao slipped on the ring and took possession of The Seal of Orichalcos, she felt different. She began to see the world in a different light. Tamao did not think that the human race was inherently evil, but she did see that the world was unfair in a way. The unfairness lied in how some people went through life alone, while others had the company of friends and loved ones. Why should some go through life alone while other didn’t have to? It also occurred to Tamao that things like love and even simple friendship usually only end up hurting people. True love in reality was only a fairytale. The reality of the world was that love usually causes pain and heartbreak.
It was these realizations that allowed Tamao to move on after Nagisa had left. Though she did want to correct the world in some way, but at that time she had no idea how. Tamao never took off the ring after that moment when she slipped it on. It was precious to her, for it had shown her the truth about the world. But that was not the only thing that the ring would show her.
Soon after putting on the ring, Tamao found that she had somehow become smarter. Answers to the most difficult questions on homework assignments and exams seemed to come to her instantly. Tamao also started having very vivid dreams when she slept, dreams about the war of Atlantis and of Dartz’s quest to revive The Great Leviathan. Somehow Tamao knew that the dreams were from the ring, and that they had actually happened. Soon Tamao figured out how she could make the world fair and rid it of the pain of love.
It was very simple, the world needed to be destroyed and remade again. And of course there was only one way to do that, resurrect The Great Leviathan. Tamao already had one of the things she needed to do that, the mural piece that her father had sent with the ring. That fragment was the only piece left of the Leviathan that had survived the final battle with the nameless pharaoh. All she needed to do was figure out a way to resurrect it from that small chunk of rock.
One day as Tamao was working on her plans to revive the Leviathan, she found herself doodling a picture of a small hooded magician. When she had finished, the stone on the ring suddenly flashed, and from the drawing it created a new card, Tamao’s Orichalcos Mage. Once Tamao realized that she could use the ring to create new cards, she used it to make several new cards for her deck. Around that same time Tamao decided that she would need help in her quest, so she also created a special set of cards.
The first card of this set was the Orichalcos Ritual card, a spell that used the energy of the Orichalcos to call forth a powerful Ritual monster. But the Spell was not created for just one Ritual monster, but four. Each of these four monsters had but one purpose, to bring out the darkness within their wielders. Once brought out, Tamao could use that darkness for the Leviathan’s resurrection. All that was needed was to select those who were best suited to wield the cards.
As part of the first phase of her plan, Tamao ran for the position of Miator’s student council president. Once she won, she was able to select wielders for the four Ritual monsters as members of her student council. Right away Tamao had found the four wielders who would be perfect. Each one of them was a transfer student from another academy. It turned out to be quite easy for Tamao to recruit them.
The first of the four was Jane Hawthorn, the transfer student from an academy in England. Like Tamao, Jane had been in love with someone and greatly hurt by that person. The reason why Jane had transferred to Miator was in order to escape from that pain. At first Jane was very reluctant to trust Tamao, but very soon she agreed to become a member of the student council. The world that Tamao wished to create was very appealing to Jane.
Tamao’s second recruit was Tomoyo Mikage. From what Tamao could find out, Tomoyo was known at her last academy as a cold emotionless duelist who mercilessly crushed any opponent that she faced. Tamao did not know the reason why Tomoyo had agreed to join her cause, but it didn’t really matter. All that concerned Tamao was that she had another wielder that could help resurrect The Great Leviathan. Several times Tomoyo had proven to be quite a powerful member of Tamao’s team.
The third wielder Tamao had selected was Hiyori Sonoda. Hiyori was a genius scientific mind that never allowed emotions to interfere with her work. At first Hiyori was very skeptical about how Tamao would go about remaking the world. But after a demonstration of her power, Tamao had convinced Hiyori to join her. Hiyori was very helpful in creating the psychic collector that would be used to revive the Leviathan, though she was even more useful in wielding one of the four Ritual monsters.
Mika was the last person Tamao had recruited into her circle. It was rather easy for Tamao to get Mika to join her cause, as Mika was one of those who believed that relationships of any kind made a person weak. So the world that Tamao wished to create seemed like Mika’s ideal world, a world without weakness. At last Tamao had formed her student council. The first phase of her plan had been completed.
With her new student council established, Tamao quickly began changing the way Miator was run. All of her changes were intended to push Miator’s students to their limits and bring out their darkest emotions. As time went on, Tamao came closer and closer to reviving the Leviathan. Now that the Astraea Star Cup tournament had finally begun, the Leviathan’s revival was not long to come. Things were going just as Tamao planed, or at least they had been.
When Tamao first heard that Jaden Yuki was going to be in the tournament, she was surprised but did not consider him to be a threat. Though Tamao didn’t blame Jaden for Nagisa leaving her for Shizuma, she didn’t much like having him back of the island. For he served as a reminder of how Nagisa had left her. The story of Jaden using a card awakened by Shizuma and Nagisa’s love to destroy an evil god had already become a legend on the island. That legend too served as a cruel reminder of the way things turned out.
Still, Jaden was not a threat to Tamao’s plans, but it seemed that all that had changed. Somehow, Jaden had gotten a hold of The Eye of Timaeus, one of the few cards that could possibly destroy The Great Leviathan. At last Tamao got up from her bed and decided on a plan of action. Jaden needed to be eliminated from the tournament and removed from the island. One way or another, Tamao would make sure that her plan would succeed.
