The King of Orange

King Merthaw drank another round of wine while he sat toasty and warm in his three-floored wheelhouse. The weather outside was awful, a fierce gale had been peppering the landscape for hours and hours.

They were storm clouds that had gathered over the mountaintop where a great and ancient monster loomed over the countryside and wrought havoc upon a dreaded enemy.

Merthaw saw the creature right before it disappeared into the clouds and faded from existence. It was a monster he thought he would never see in all his life. A Divine Beast. Powerful monsters dubbed the Children of Horakhty, Mother of Monsters, and the Swords of the High King.

The one that Merthaw saw earlier was a serpentine beast colored ruby red with two mouths.

Slifer the Sky Dragon.

He saw the creature stick its massive head out of the storm clouds. Those eyes. Those fierce, glowing eyes. He would never forget them. They were going to haunt him till the end of his days.

"It's your move," said his old and dear friend, Walter The Salt Water King of the Coastal Kingdoms.

They were having a friendly Duel to pass the time and calm their nerves, for they had witnessed many unnatural things tonight.

"Does the beast still haunt your memory?" Walker asked.

Merthaw pinched the bridge of his nose, almost covered by a thick, busy, unibrow.

He sighed and drew a card. "They told me Divine Beasts were a glorious sight to behold. Ever since I was a boy, I've walked the halls of the Spire of the Kings. I saw all those murals of painted glass on the windows depicting them saving people from orcs and other monstrosities. In the murals, the people were singing, on their knees, happy. But you look at one of those things in real life and it's a whole different matter indeed. Pfft, Slifer the Sky Dragon. More like Slifer the Demon. I swear by the Goddesses that I've never shaken in my boots like that before. It's a monster I hope I never see. Thank goodness they're on our side. I activate the ritual spell, Primal Call. I sacrifice Cú Chulainn the Awakened and Neo the Magic Swordsman to summon Vennu, Bright Bird of Divinity."

He gently placed the card down on the playmat.

"Now that's a good monster," King Walter said. "You going to attack?"

"Yes, but first I activate this card from my hand. Heavy Storm."

King Walter stroked his beard. "Ah, just my luck. You've destroyed my Drowning Mirror Force card."

"I've played you for many years, you old fart. You always rely on trap cards to get you out of trouble. I will attack your Super War-Lion."

"I take five 'undred," said Walter, putting his gold-rare card into the Graveyard. "My turn. My friend, you still shake."

"I'm sorry," Merhaw said, rubbing the bottom of his gold crown. "I can't get that monster out of my head."

"More wine!" Walter called.

The wine steward came out from behind a curtain to their game room. He filled King Merthaw's cup to the brim and, at Walter's request, added some nightshade to it to calm the king's nerves.

Walter drummed his fingers on the table. He said: "Perhaps you'll be a little more relaxed if you wore your regular clothes. I imagine that armor of yours is becoming much a burden."

Merthaw nodded once. He stood up, then his armor then magically materialized, and revealed his royal garments underneath. He sat back down and said: "I'm sorry about that. It's your turn. Leave," he said to the wine steward.

"Yes, sire." The young man bowed and walked away.

"I heard some news about the baby boy," Merthaw said.

Walter first played his next cards before answering him. "I activate the spell card, Ritual of Destruction. Now I summon Garlandorf the King of Destruction."

He leaned forward to see the shiny card on the mat. "Ah, impressive monster, Walter."

"Thank you. Now, with his effect, I can destroy monsters with defense points equal to or less than my monsters. Your Vannu and Legendary Flame Lord are vanquished, my friend. Ah, also, Garlandorf gains one 'undred attack points for each monster destroyed by this effect. He has twenty-five 'undred so now his attack points are twenty-seven 'undred. That will do it for me. What sort of news have you heard m' lord?"

"Well, for starters, I heard you had something to do in the affairs of his mother, the last Celtra. What kind of affairs were they? If you don't mind me asking."

"They were professional if you must know," Walter replied rather sternly. "And it is the business of Lord Yugi. Your move."

"All right, all right, calm down, friend, I meant no offense." Merthaw drew. "I activate the spell, Card of Sanctity. Now we draw until we have six cards in our hands."

"Is that all?"

"No, I have some good plays to take advantage of with these cards. But I need some answers, Walter. Why were ten kings from different kingdoms in Thara asked to come here tonight? Who was hiding in that fortress? Talk to me, Walter. What happened here?"

"Well, these events go back to the War of the Reflections."

"Does it now? I've had a hand in that war myself. I gave House Delgado the funding to launch the campaign that got it started. The expedition into those ancient ruins he was so excited about. In exchange, of course, for marriage between one of my nephews and a beautiful niece of King Salazar, who governs the city of Santa Monia."

"Why did you do that?"

"It's a port town," Merthaw responded with a smile. "One rich with the trade of silks, spices, and precious gems. I'd be a fool to not want to have a piece of that pie, my friend. Oh, yes, it's my turn. I activate the ritual, Commencement Dance. I offer these monsters in my hand and summon the beautiful Performance of Sword. Next, I equip her with Ritual Weapon, which increases her attack by fifteen hundred points. Now her power rises to thirty-four-fifty. Your Garlandorf will now be slain. I attack."

"From my hand, I activate the effect of Sphere Kuriboh, putting your monster into defense mode. My Garlandorf is saved."

"Aw, to hell with whoever came up with that Kuriboh. Ah, but the War of the Reflections. Truly a nasty piece of work. I knew King Salazar should have destroyed that mirror when he had the chance. I end my turn."

Walter drew. "The Mirror of Agnimazud, yes. A truly dangerous artifact to be uncovered. The power to show the future and reveal Termnnia's most sacred secrets. I had no doubt In my mind that they would all choose to use the mirror to find the Sacred Treasure of the Evolzars."

"The mirror worked its magic," Merthaw chuckled. "It not only revealed the location of the treasure, but it revealed the true selves of King Salazar and his companions. Soon, they all wanted the mirror and the treasure to themselves. You know, my wife and I were there on the eve that they declared war. It was a banquet to celebrate the birth of another of Salazaar's daughters. Heh, poor sod never got the son he wanted. Anyway, the moment I heard them yelling at each other to see who gets the bigger share of it, I fled back to Orange Hill. I knew in my heart that a terrible war would erupt amongst the once former friends. But what does it matter? What does the war have to do with the child?"

Walter chewed on his thumbnail as he tried to come up with a new strategy to play and to gather his thoughts to tell him the story of the baby boy, whom everyone was praising this night.

"King Salazar needed help. During that time, the Black Rose Plague was running rampant across Feldia. He was losing troops as well as citizens to replace them with. Poor Salazar. He sent thousands of conscriptions but none of them were answered, obviously. People were dying left and right; it was a terrible sickness. So he went north to Skyhold to meet with King Ungarax for aid. King Ungarax would only agree to this if Prince Gabriel married his daughter, Princess Hannah of the Ice Barrier. I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"Ha! I draw. So, Ungranax desired an Eyar in the family, eh? Interesting. I will summon Battle Ox in attack mode and equip him with the Ax of Despair, raising his attack to twenty-seven hundred. I'll attack."

"And I'll use Negate Attack, which will stop your monster from attacking and ends your battle phase."

"Bloody hell with whoever made trap cards, too," Merthaw grumbled.

He wanted to attack with Performance of Sword, but that Negate Attack was the sixth trap used against him in this Duel. It made him nervous, so he decided to end the battle phase without attacking with her.

"Tell me, what happened next?"

Walter chuckled at the king's amateur moves and drew his next card from the deck. "Well, the war continued on, but before anyone could claim the mirror it was destroyed by Luthia."

"Luthia? The Celtra?"

"Yes. The mother of tonight's hero."

"Yes, I know she birthed him. But what did she do to destroy the Mirror of Agnimazud?"

"Well, she infiltrated King Salazar's castle late in the night and smashed it with her powerful magic. Needless to say, that did not go well; for the Uraby Guard patrolling the halls of the castle are very good at their job. She was caught trying to flee over the wall and was arrested. The next morning, she was taken to court the next day to stand trial. When I heard what had happened to her, I told Yugi, who was the brains behind the operation. Upon hearing that she was sentenced to the chop, he rushed to the nearest Wayshrine and teleported to Feldia. By his word, she was spared the death sentence."

"Good. But that makes me wonder...Yugi didn't by chance have anything to do regarding Luthia's actions with the mirror, did he? And what about you?"

Walter pursed his lips. "Yes, I also had a hand in the plan to help him get rid of the mirror."

"Why?"

"Yugi and I wanted to do it on our own and stop the war — that is the truth. I swear it. But Luthia was a very stubborn woman. She even told Yugi that we didn't have the skills to pull off such a mission. She said we would get ourselves killed. 'Never send in a man to do a woman's job' is what she told us. Hmph. A confident woman if I ever saw one. Before we could come up with another plan, she had already teleported to Fedia. Yugi and his friends are convinced destiny caused that to happen."

"Destiny? Oh, Walter, don't be so dramatic."

"You should learn a thing or two about destiny, my friend," said Walter. "I activate Pot of Greed and draw two cards. Now, I use Ancient Rules to summon Gogiga Gagagigo. And I boost his power with Megamorph. Since your Life Points are lower than mine, this card will double the attack of the monster I give it to."

"And your monster has Twenty-nine-fifty!" Merthaw sputtered.

"Yes, now its attack increases to fifty-nine 'undred. I attack your Battle Ox and that wins me the Duel."

King Merthaw threw his cards on the table. "Hmph, good game." He leaned back in his armchair. "Please go on with the story."

"You don't want to go again?"

"I'm in no mood for another Duel, my friend. Besides, there's work to be done out there. Do finish, I'd like to hear more about what happened."

"The chain of events that followed Luthia's actions are what brought the child here. While she was in court, Gabriel walked in, for he heard rumors of a very beautiful agent who had infiltrated his father's castle. Upon seeing her —"

" — He fell in love," Merthaw interrupted.

"Yes, but he was already engaged to Princess Hannah, and his father forever locked Luthia in the dungeons deep inside La Boca del Dragon, the volcano not far from the capital. He had one advantage to remedy this dilemma. A trump card."

"Which was?"

"He was friends with High King Antar, remember? They formed a tight brotherhood when they rebelled against House Dragonheart after they killed the Plantegrasts and took the Diamond Throne."

"Oh, yes, yes," said Merthaw. "Yes, yes! What a duo, those two, and Lord Yugi. I bet my wife they could have won the war themselves! So what did Gabriel have Antar do?"

"Gabriel despaired and came to him for help. Antar was more than willing to aid his friend. However, his help did not come without a price. Antar had no male heirs and his wife was killed in the rebellion at the hands of the Dragonhearts. So he declared that the first child that was conceived from the union between Luthia and Gabriel would be given to him. It was agreed."

"Ah, I see."

"So, Antar commanded King Salazar to release her from prison. And that night, Gabriel disavowed his oath to Princess Hannah and anathematized himself from his House. He denounced his throne and then he and Luthia fled south to Emboldor. And they were never seen or heard from again in the eyes of the public. Only Antar and my friends and I knew of their location. It is because of these events that we now have our great hero. If Yugi or I had stopped Luthia from going to the palace and smashing the mirror, Anubis might still be living right now."

"You believe this is some sort of miracle then?"

"I do. Divine intervention if I ever saw one. Destiny is said to be the plan of the goddesses. I believe it was their plan for this to happen. I mean look at the union. An Eyar of Mana the Magic Goddess and the last of the Celtra. The Gardeners of the World. Something was bound to happen as a result of their union, don't you think?"

"Why wasn't I told of this? After all these years, why do I learn this now?"

"It's nothing personal, my friend, but you have been getting rather close with House Dragonheart. Yugi didn't want them to know anything about Lady Luthia because old Antilles wanted her as a wife for many years. Who knows what he would have done to Gabriel just to get her. And what of the boy? You know perfectly well what Antilles does to those who are born in his house without pure blood."

"Hmm, good point," Merthaw said. "Very well." He raised his glass. "To the new Crown Prince of Termnnia."

"May he have a long life," said Walter. "Goddesses be praised!"

"Goddesses be praised!"