Crimson Star Priestess

The Beginning - Arc 1

Did you ever have a wish that you wanted to make come true, but couldn't because it was illogical to begin with.

I had one silly wish.

My wish was to somehow end up in my favorite anime or cartoon franchise and go on a adventure with the main cast.

Why would I wish for something like that? Because I was lonely. I didn't have any friends that I had been able to keep during my childhood and I didn't have friends as a young adult.

I was scared to be rejected by others if they found out I had autism. My brain worked in a different way than the norm. I wasn't a serious case as many often saw in videos on social media, but I had my difficulties.

That made me insecure of myself, especially with my painful past. I would stay in my bedroom in my family home and watch anime and cartoons on my laptop, imaging I was among the crew and helped them out any way I could.

My favorite anime was Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. I had watched Duel Monsters and GX, but 5D's was my favorite because it had more action and a plot that was darker than the first two series, but still not scary enough to frighten me. It was entertaining and exciting.

And to be honest, I acquired a small crush on the protagonist, Yusei Fudo. He was a calm young man, intelligent, the quiet type, serious, but cared a lot about his friends. He was my ideal man.

As you can probably guess, I never had a boyfriend even though I'm 22. It didn't hurt me as much as a normal young woman, if she had been without a partner for a while, since I knew I wasn't ready to be in a relationship right away. That was why I wrote fanfics about certain male cartoon characters I had a crush on and paired them up with original characters I came up with. That was like mental preparation for me to later face the real world when the time would come for me to have a boyfriend.

But everything changed one particular day when I was going to a small game shop in my hometown to play Yu-Gi-Oh.

My name is Estelle Malmstrom and this is my story of an unforgettable adventure that changed my life forever.

I was going through my Yu-Gi-Oh deck by my desk one last time after I had finished modifying it. I was already dressed to head out to a small tournament in my hometown in a game shop where I went once a week to play card games. I didn't have any close friends there, but I had acquaintances that I got to know when I began to play last year. The main card game they often played was Magic the Gathering, but sometimes they arranged Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments and I wanted to take that opportunity to try out my deck. I wasn't a professional player, since I mostly collected cards, but I could still last longer than ten turns.

I felt satisfied with my dragon/warrior/spellcaster deck and put it away in a metal box where I kept a collapsible paper game mat that usually came in a starter deck. My favorite Duel Monsters were dragons, warriors and spellcasters. I always loved dragons be it in fantasy books, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Digimon and many other franchises. I found them to be mysterious, powerful and beautiful.

My ace Duel Monster was a Synchro Monster that I fell in love with at first sight, literally, when I got to know about it's existence. That Synchro Monster was a dragon known as Star Eater. So far, it was one of only two level 11 Synchro Monsters in existence, so it was unique. I spent over two years looking for the card, buying booster packs of the set Star Eater first appeared in, until I pulled it one day. I cheered out loud in joy and kinda embarrassed myself in front of many people, but I didn't care. I got my destined Synchro dragon. Star Eater was added to my deck as often as I could, depending on how I structured it. I mainly used Synchro monsters in my decks. I would sometimes add Xyz monsters, but no Pendulum or Link monsters. Those were too complicated for me to use.