Shadows of Mind and Body

Chapter 1

-By Proclamation of the Magician's Court-

No magician shall willingly use their magic to torture, injure, or steal an innocent's soul.

No magician shall willingly use their magic to shatter any soul, innocent or otherwise, without permission from the Court.

A magician may only tamper with another soul if there is no other choice.

No magician shall tamper with a soul less than eight years of age.

Those who fail to comply with these commandments will be apprehended, judged, and fed to the Shadows.

Contrary to popular belief, shadows were not mere spots of darkness.

Oh, if one were to look at a shadow, that would no doubt be all they would see – a patch of dim shade, not quite pure black and nowhere near as bright as full light, laid across the surface of the world. Even shinobi, those who lived, worked, and observed from the shadows every day of their lives, would see only that – a shadow.

But that was because they were looking in all the wrong places.

These shadows moved. There were no animals, objects, or people casting them – they simply pulsed in the air, twining in great smoky tendrils around one another until their movement wove them into a wall of black and violet that dispelled all senses but sight and sound.

The dense fog was parted by a waving hand, a hand formed with veins of a very pale, almost white, twilight grey.

"Is everyone here?"

The voice echoed in this strange space, but it was recognizably human, despite the alien surroundings.

The owner of the waving hand waited as, one by one, other figures, some veined with the same bright twilight as himself, others with black or grey or violet, materialized out of the mist.

"Sure thing, Yuugi!" One figure – medium height, outlined by strings of almost-white, with a head of shaggy hair barely visible in their abstract surroundings – called. He shifted his weight from foot to foot experimentally. "Man, I'm never gonna get used to talking like this..."

"Get used to it quick, Jou. You're a part of the Court now, we can't be kept waiting for you, even if time's a little wacked here."

"Hey, I resent that! I'm on time!"

"This time."

"What was that, Kaiba?!"

The first figure – the one addressed as Yuugi – sighed as the by-now traditional and mostly one-sided argument began. Ignoring the rising voices, he instead turned to the other four arrivals, checking each of them for the distinctive shades of the auras. One, in the vague shape of a man in a turban and cloak, nodded to him respectfully as his gaze passed over them.

"Well," he raised his voice so it could be heard over the other voices, "everyone's here. Jou, Seto, would you mind leaving your spats for later?"

Grumbles of assent from both men.

"Good. In that case, I officially call order to the Magician's Court!" He clapped his hands together, the harsh sound ringing in the otherwise dead silence.

When he was sure everyone was paying attention, Yuugi continued professionally, "Now, how have things been going on your end? Has anyone ran into any trouble since last time?"

"The shinobi of the Land of Lightning have been particularly active lately," one figure – shorter, veins dark as coal – said, in a tone of voice that suggested he was scowling. "Someone got the bright idea to hire a couple of the weaker ones to assassinate me. I sent them to the Shadows a week ago."