Yu-Gi-Oh: A Never-Waking Nightmare

It’s 1934. Volska, USSR. Heavy snow falls as a group of people trudges through the snowdrift towards the village. Two armed men walk with a small older woman between them. In her hands, a deck of cards, each inscribed with art of monsters and spells, an ancient magic passed down through the Siberian heritage. This is why the government keeps these people around, despite their qualms with their abilities and habits, because their magic keeps worse things at bay.

One such thing has found the group. Monstrous noises escape a cavern along the path to the village, the cardbearer readies herself before either of the gunmen do. Of course she does, mere weaponry would be nothing to such a creature, only one such as her could do damage. The guns are more a distraction, a life willingly sacrificed by the government for the greater good.

White scales, whiter even more so than the snow, emerges from the cavern. A dragon with eyes of blue, poised to strike. It lets out a shrill cry as the men open fire.

All that remains in the aftermath is the cardbearer. While her comrades were lost in the struggle, so too did the dragon fall, it’s life traded for the two gunmen. The old woman hobbles in the snow, stopping only to pick something up, a card. A new card, one with a dragon with blue eyes and scales as white as snow.