It is theorized by scholars that one day holographic duel technology will be so realistic that the monsters will in fact come to life. However, evidence suggests that the Pyramids in Egypt were built by duelists and monsters alike. Think about it, duelists living in cohabitation with monsters would make the impossible, well, possible. If this happened, I wonder if duelists would ever use The Grid. But for now, we get very basic and crude holo projections. No wonder nobody ever duels in the real world. The Grid is downright awesome!
-Jack Kane Dueling Historian
Cyrus
Cyrus was starting to worry. The week following his father’s disappearance felt like a blur. He called his uncle to tell him what happened and to get advice. To Cyrus, it felt like no one cared. His Uncle Malachi, a peculiar fellow told him—under no circumstances, to call the fuzz. He told Cyrus that Seth was a business friend and not to worry about anything, but Cyrus thought all that was bullshit.
His uncle came to stay with him, and the pair ran the shop like nothing happened. The only difference being his uncle was nowhere nearly as strict as his father. The byproduct was that Tera had been spending a lot of time dueling in the shop with Cyrus, free of charge. Something Cyrus didn’t mind. He loved spending time with her, and Harlow liked bragging to someone other than his best friend about Dicey Warriors.
Cyrus knew in his heart something wasn’t right, and he didn’t know where to begin to search for his father. He didn’t have any leads after much investigation of his father’s files and even Seth’s huge corporation. At least what he had access to. Cyrus couldn’t find anything to connect his father to Seth in any capacity.
On top of that Harlow was getting ready for the orientation portion of the academy and Cyrus still didn’t hear anything from the Academy. He knew that he was at the cut-off and made peace with the fact he was never going to attend The Duelist Academy. Cyrus didn’t mind though because the time he spent with Tera distracted him from obsessing over his failure. Despite his perfect grades and entrance letter, the fact of the matter was; he wasn’t accepted into the academy.
Cyrus flew through school wondering if he would ever see his father again, while his uncle dodged each question Cyrus asked on the given subject. He honestly was more focused on Tera’s dueling abilities, he thought she was getting extremely good. Tera told him that she was starting to duel in ranked matches on The Grid, finding great success.
“Hey Uncle Mal, do you think you can register me to The Grid?” Cyrus organized cards within the shop’s shelves; waiting for his uncle’s reaction.
“Are you mad? Bowie would kill me. Absolutely not,” his uncle protested.
“But I turn eighteen in like a month though! I’m ready for the Grid,” Cyrus begged.
“Listen, kid, your father has his reasons, and they are actually reasonable. It’s not my place to tell you… it’s his responsibility. Ask him when he comes back,” Malachi lectured.
“But what if he doesn’t come back?”
“Oh, trust me, he will,” Malachi answered.
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Cyrus couldn’t understand the confidence in his uncle’s tone. He wasn’t there when his father disappeared, and Cyrus thought his uncle didn’t understand the severe nature of the problem at hand. Cyrus never witnessed the hostility that was displayed that day. Cyrus remained lost in his thoughts—Day after day he didn’t find any answers. The frustration felt palpable for Cyrus.
“Hey Cy, you alright?” Tera asked.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Cyrus squirmed as he lied through his teeth.
“Hey, you guys know there is more to life than dueling,” Harlow teased.
“You mean Dicey Dungeon Warriors? “The pair said in unison.
“It’s Dicey Warriors, jeez get it right if you’re going to say the name of the greatest game ever!” Harlow exclaimed.
The three friends went back and forth joking with each other like most days. While the three of them laughed and Malachi focused on his phone, the door to the game store opened. Three teens entered the old shop, clearly not impressed.
“If it isn’t Harlow the horse,” the blonde boy in the middle said. Some kids at the school called Harlow by that name because of his laugh. Everyone knew that he hated it, and bullies took advantage of it.
“Hey, you leave him alone,” Tera stood up from the booth she was sitting at.
“Oh, Harlow the horse now has a girl to pick his fights for him. What a joke,” the bully mocked.
The other two boys laughed, attempting their best Harlow impersonation. Harlow was beat red and didn’t say a word. This was rare for him; however, bullies in Harlow’s life came in spades.
“You bullies are going to the dueling academy, right? Why don’t we duel for each other’s guardians? Or are you too chicken to do that?” Cyrus interjected as he stood up alongside Tera.
“Sorry loser! My cards are in the Grid, I won’t subject myself to peasants,” The blonde boy laughed.
Tera got in the blonde boy’s face and looked at him with contempt. “I’m sure the headmaster wants to hear about how many bullies they have up at the academy.”
“Yeah, whatever,” The boy laughed. “Let’s get out of this dump,” the boys walked out with the confidence seen in most low-level bullies. Cyrus relaxed his body and Harlow’s face became less flustered.
“Hey, you alright Harlow?” Tera asked.
“Yeah, I’ll teach them a lesson at the academy,” Harlow balled his hands into a fist.
“So, guys, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. It’s about The Duelist Academy. I got my acceptance letter a few days before the cut-off, but I was too afraid to say anything,” Tera gave Cyrus a solum glace.
“Don’t worry, I know I’m not getting accepted into the academy. Once I turn eighteen, I am going to sign up for The Grid and climb the rankings. By this time next year, I’ll be accepted into the academy and I’ll only be a year behind you two,” Cyrus gave both a friendly smile. “Besides you two are my best friends and I’m so happy that you are going to the academy,” Cyrus added.
“I’m glad you have a plan,” Tera confessed.
The door to the shop opened, the bell ringing as it always did. An old man in a fancy suit carrying an oversized briefcase looked around the shop. He looked like he was on a mission. The sight was a little comical because of how big the briefcase was compared to the old man.
“Hey, can I help you?” Malachi remained on his phone doom scrolling to his heart's content. He didn’t make an effort to meet the man’s eye.
“Ah, yes. I am looking for Cyrus,” The man inquired.
“For what reason?” Malachi looked up sizing up the man.
“A duel. I have heard that he’s not a bad duelist, and I wanted to see if that was true. I confess, I am interested if the former world champ passed his dueling lineage to his offspring,” The man tipped his hat to Cyrus. Malachi looked at Cyrus and he nodded to the man.
“So, you want to duel? I don’t see why not. So, what’s your name?” Cyrus scrambled looking for his favorite deck.
“Xander,” he sat down in a booth and motioned his hand for Cyrus to join him. He opened the oversized briefcase and brought out a deck. The cards appeared to be very old. They were golden and looked different than any cards Cyrus had ever seen.
Cyrus finally found his favorite deck box from the counter and joined the booth sitting across from Xander. The old man sized up his opponent as he expertly shuffled his deck using some sleight-of-hand tricks. Cyrus wasn’t sure if that was an intimidation tactic, but for whatever reason, it made him nervous. Cyrus took out his deck from the box and shuffled his own cards, his hands shaking. Xander offered his cards to Cyrus, and he took the top half of Xander’s deck and moved them to the bottom of the deck, quickly cutting the deck. Cyrus offered the same however, Xander declined.
“Alright kid, you ready to duel?” Tera and Harlow watched with great interest.
The man with the oversized briefcase leaned back and Cyrus heard the greatest words in the whole entire world.
“It’s time to Duel!”
Trevor S. Wells – Writer, Editor, Creative
