Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh!5D's

Chapter 1 – A Life's Renewal

-Reincarnation makes life what it is intended to be – a glorious adventure in which victory is absolutely sure to be ours if we persist. It proves that man is master of his fate on his road to the stars- Shaw Desmond

My name is Skylar Kameyo and just so you know, I am anything but ordinary. It may sound cliché but quite frankly I couldn't care less if you've heard it before from multiple persons. It's true that every person is different and therefore to some extent not ordinary but my situation is somewhat…unique.

I mean how many girls can say that they were reborn into an anime?

…I'm getting a bit ahead of myself so I'll start from the beginning and tell you a little about my life- a little about my first life.

In my former life, I wasn't highly motivated. I lacked the drive to do anything really extraordinary – anything that would make persons stop and say 'wow'.

I was average– ordinary in the looks department as well as the academic one, which came as a real shocker to most persons, considering who my family was.

"Isn't your younger sister that girl who skipped a grade or two? She got into high school early?"

"You'd think she'd be more involved in school activities – her mom's head of the school board."

"You know your father is a hero – all the people who fought and died for our country are."

Ironically, the speeches about my dad were the ones that made me feel particularly bitter. I didn't think what he did was noteworthy. All he had done was abandon his family. All he was now, was just a name engraved on a piece of rock where thousands and thousands of other names were.

I didn't see the need to stand out from the crowd. I didn't need any more attention than I already had. It made no sense for me to get anyone's hopes up, fool them into expecting something great, only to fall short of this unspoken standard they all had.

I just wanted to graduate high school, get a normal job and maybe have a couple of kids later on in life.

That's what I wanted…but that's not what I got.

I died before I even graduated and then I was given a task.

How did I die? Ironically enough – considering the world that I was reborn in – it was an accident involving a bike. Funny thing about bikes, you see they have a smaller mass compared to cars, which they often made up in velocity, plus they can fit in smaller spaces. What am I trying to get at you may ask.

The answer my friends is 'Momentum and Collision'.

I had been sauntering across the street when some biker dude, who was speeding by the way, crashed into me and so, thus ended my life.

I was…disappointed if I were to tell the truth. At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, I thought it was a waste of a life, considering the fact that I hadn't been striving to contribute much in the way of the betterment of my family, peers or society on a whole, but…I thought it was a waste nonetheless.

It turned out, I wasn't the only one that thought so. That or I was just incredibly lucky.

I had been stuck in some sort of limbo, which gave me pause because really I was expecting either red hot flames or white fluffy clouds, when I was visited by a celestial (I guess it could be called that) creature.

The thing is I'd seen it before…in an anime.

The celestial being turned out to be the Crimson Dragon. It had appeared out of nowhere with a loud roar while I had been floating around in a dark void. Its redden glow was ethereally bright, it seemingly lit up the entire space and I had difficulties looking directly at it.

I had partially shielded my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt, but I stared at it, mouth agape nonetheless. I didn't know what to do or say, not knowing that such an encounter was possible. It stared back at me, gaze unwavering as its snake-like body danced as we floated there.

Truthfully, its movement reminded me of that of an eel swimming in the ocean, but I kept that thought myself. No doubt the enormous dragon would take offence to being likened to a ray-finned fish and since it could swallow me whole as easily as it breathed, I wasn't up for taking any chances.

And that was another thing.

Was it going to eat me?

Before I could express any other emotion aside from shock and fear, the Crimson Dragon roared at me yet oddly enough instead of being scared out of my mind, I felt…calm – unusually so.

That was because the dragon had not used its ear-drum shattering cry to intimidate me. Instead it, no 'he', had communicated with me.

As if the creature's thunderous rumbling had opened a kind of channel between us, faint, broken whispers began resonating inside of my head, saying the same thing over and over.

'A life shall be…renewed. Born again…you will be…born again.'

Perhaps, I was going crazy. Not because of the sudden appearance of a new voice in my head – Being alone in stasis for so long...I'd long since conjured voices to keep me company – but due to the fact that they'd never spoken of anything akin to rebirth.

A renewed life? Born again? Was such a thing...possible?

Maybe I was crazy.

In what I assumed was a bid to get me to refocus, and in spite of a mind-link being established, the Crimson Dragon roared again – the cry so powerful and intense that it reverberated throughout the void.

'Listen well…Signers' Keeper.'

Hah?

But I was listening. The diety's presence inundated my mind, my core...almost as he was trying to drown me. I couldn't not listen.

Unless there was something else that I needed to pay attention to? But what?

And 'Signers'? That word felt familiar enough...but 'Signers' Keeper'?

No, that didn't ring any bells at all.

The Dragon growled – low, crooning.

'No choice.'

Those words had me bristling, largely because it had sounded like an order – an order that was issued without care or concern for my opinions. My first instinct was to rebel, lash out even. But gradually, as I continued to peer at the visage of the Crimson Dragon, the tension in my body began to ease.

The diety had merely stated a fact.

After all, what else was I to do? Continue as I was for whoever knows how long? Drifting, listless, surrounded by darkness with nothing but coldness and loneliness? Indeed that wasn't a choice.

My shoulders sagged and my fingers eased from the fist they'd been formed into. My mouth opened as I took in air(?) that I didn't need.

I wouldn't fight this, didn't want to fight this. Regardless of whatever 'this' entailed...it was a chance to live again.

Body trembling, I answered breathlessly.

"Okay."

I could live again.

"Okay."

I wanted to live again.

The turmoil that I felt, the resolve that arose within me– the Crimson Dragon was privy to it all. Maybe that would explain why he responded the way he did:

'Live with a clear purpose...'

My bid at acknowledging the creature's comment was stalled when the Crimson Dragon abruptly shot towards me, mouth wide open.

My fight or flight instincts kicked in and I instantly spun my body to try and escape the dragon's crimson jowls.

I couldn't help the scream that sounded as I realized that I wasn't going to make it. I thought I was going to die again, but this time I was food for a giant lizard. How pathetic.

When the Dragon's mouth closed over my body, it became dark again, until I saw a bright, white light in the distance. It reminded me of the sun, warming and vivid. Or was it more like a beacon – luminous and guiding?

I felt myself travel towards it, and I couldn't have stopped even if I had tried. My entire frame had gone boneless from the heat it had emitted. It was such a soothing change compared to the dark numbness of the void.

My eyelids sagged and I vaguely wondered if I would finally be able to go sleep. Apparently, in stasis sleep was impossible, you couldn't do much of anything honestly. All I had ever done in the void was glide and stare into the nothingness. It was a wonder that I was still as cognizant as I was.

As the light increased in intensity, I tried my best to watch it, to keep my eyes open. I didn't want it to be dark again. I was too scared that when I opened my eyes again – if I ever opened my eyes again – the light would be gone.

So even if the light was starting to hurt my eyes more and more, I didn't want to look away.

'Rest. Sleep.'

Ah, there was the Crimson Dragon again.

And with those whispered words, I could do nothing else save heed the voice.

Word Count: ~1494

Edit (31.7.18): Grammar checks; Rewrote the chapter a bit.

A/N: I started this story some years ago. Some parts are revised some parts are not. As the story continues I may come back and edit earlier chapters. I'll inform when/where necessary. Either way, constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated. Oh, and the cover image is of Daffodils which symbolize 'Rebirth' and 'New Beginnings'. I hope to get a more fitting cover image in the near future.

Thanks for reading.

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