Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, I don't own Shadi, the dragons—well, I own some of the dragons, but that's not a big deal, right?—Yugi, Atem, Cecilia, Noa, Seto, Moki, and most of the other people that show up in this story. Not even Ryuzaki-kun. (For any of you dub-only people, that's "Rex Raptor." What the heck kind of name is that anyway?)

Author's Note: Anywho, I came up with this idea a while ago while trying to worked out some Alternate Universe to play in, and this is what snapped into place. The prologue is really short, but I promise it's important. Read carefully or nothing in the future will make any sense.

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Prologue:

Disturbed Waters…

The cavern was flooded ankle-deep in water as the jagged rock formations protruded from the floor and ceiling. In the very center of the cavern, moonlight shone through four holes in the ceiling and reflected in the four separate pools on the ground, kept separate from the rest of the water of the cavern by rings made from the rock. All four pools were of equal size and depth and the waters were so still they were like mirrors as they reflected the midnight sky.

However, just barely visible in the darkness of the cavern, there was a fifth pool in the very center of the other four. It was larger than the other four and appeared much darker, as there was no hole in the cavern to allow moonlight to shimmer from the surface.

A figure stood just outside one of the shafts of light, gazing at the five pools with blue eyes as deep as the waters he now observed. "It grows larger," he said, his breathy voice echoing through the cavern. "Should it grow much more the Four Kingdoms will be consumed by it. The beast reaches out to grasp the sun and blacken it. The threat has returned, my Lords."

The man tilted his head back to let his deep eyes wander across the cavern ceiling where four dragons statues hung carved from the rock, each gazing down into their own pool.

"I know what it is I must do…but they are still so young." Looking back down, the man looked at the moonlight reflected in the water, however, it did not reflect in his eyes as it did in the pools. "This task has long since been forgotten by the Four Kingdoms. The Chosen Ones even now do not know who they truly are. Will they be able to bear the burdens that await them, or will they fall beneath the weight?"

There was no answer to be found in the vastness of the cavern.

Alas, there was only silence.

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Author's Note: Short, short, short…sorry. The next chapter's longer, I promise! And more interesting! And pretty much everything else that this prologue wasn't! Sorry if I bored you with my freaky weirdness. Please come back for the next chapter!