Hello everyone!

How are you? I hope you're doing well. ^_^ It seems that it has been a week or two since I posted my last deviation, related to my fanfiction: "Transcending Memories: A Bond Unsealed...." Upon completing that, I then decided to finish a few more pieces that I had been working on such as this work, completed in sketch form over a year ago! @_@

The painting that I posting now is more of a character design than an actual illustration of sorts. It is my conception of my original character from my story that I named Djal. Though I don't want to reveal too much about him just yet, I can say that he is Teana's father in my fanfiction! And not only that, he is also originally from the village of Kuru Eruna or Kul Elna; the village where Theif Bakura was born...... In terms of my reasonings behind the decision to include him within a story that revolves around Yami and Teana, I can only say that there are many..... some of which I have yet to disclose in my fanfiction even! Though one of the main reasons was described in an author's note that I included before the start of Chapter 11, which I will post below:

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As for the story itself, however, I thought that I would take a moment to address a few points that I have written in my last chapter. As many of you witnessed, I finally revealed the “secret” of Djal’s descent. I know that some of you speculated that he, like Bakura, was also a survivor of the village of Kuru Eruna, hence the reason why I imagined him having white hair, yet while also having blue eyes like Teana’s. There will be more involving his past and character later, but I wanted to explain at least part of the reasoning behind this decision, though only to the point where I can avoid disclosing future plot elements…... Firstly, let me assure you that I still have every intention of writing more about Yami and Teana and their history and story together, and yet…..at the same time, I have always felt that the real character of Tea or Anzu was cheated in the sense that aside from moral support (or even the slightest bit of romantic tension in her relationship with Yami and Yugi) as a whole, the character was given very little to do; she had very little involvement in the grand scheme of things or the “big picture” of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga or anime.

There have been small exceptions of course; she has been the “damsel in distress” on numerous occasions, which, in turn, helped move the plot along in one way or another….. She was also controlled and used to host Marik’s “good” personality in various episodes of Battle City, the Battle Ship and the Duel Tower sagas. And of course it was she who gave Yami Yugi his cartouche pendant that resulted in the discovery of his real name Atemu or Atem. And yet…..I have always wanted more, just as I had desperately wanted that romantic tension to be pushed to the next level! I can recall that I thought (momentarily anyhow) that Anzu/Tea’s dream in episode 52 (titled “Past is Present” in the dub) meant that perhaps she did indeed have a connection to the Ancient Egyptian past, as I had always hoped, but despite any interpretations that could be made, ultimately that too was never explored or explained! But then…..I remembered something else too…. I recalled very early on, at the start of the Duelist Kingdom arc, how Tea/Anzu would see or seemingly sense Bakura’s presence when no one, not Yugi or even Yami could….. Though everyone claimed that she was imagining things, she continued to do so, until he finally did appear before them. Though a very brief and arguably a dismissible occurrence, I always found that to be rather mysterious….. I then found myself asking if there was a reason behind this…. And so, with that very simple idea coupled with her dream of Ancient Egypt (and saying good bye to Yami within that vision), the initial concept of Teana, and later Djal, came to be.

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So as explained above, part of the reasoning why I created Djal, was because I wanted to solidify Teana's role in the Yugioh saga, or at least in my version of it. I wanted her to be so much more than what she was as Tea or Anzu in ther eal Yugioh anime and manga, which again is another reason why I am writing this story in the first place! As for how this relates to Bakura, since I am attempting to use the real plot of Yu-Gi-Oh (intwined with my own story of course) everything about Bakura will still ring true. When the time comes that Yami/Atemu is pharaoh, Bakura WILL be the sole survivor of that slaughtered village.....unless you count Teana who in a way is a descendant from that place, thus linking her to the Millennium items and such too..... As for what happens to my Djal, well..... that's yet to be seen; which also includes various mysteries of how Bakura will relate and interact with Teana in my story too......

In terms of my design of Djal, I can say in all honesty that it was quite difficult coming up with a design that I was happy with that also appeared Yugioh-esque in art style! I wanted Djal to resemble Bakura, though I wanted him to have his own distinct features as well. Since the character appears when Teana was very young (roughly 7 or 8) I wanted him to appear youthful, perhaps in his mid to late 20s even, which also suggests that he was involved with Teana's mother Ruia (who I will also complete a painting for) at a relatively young age (much like Teana and Yami.....)

I included a red drapery in the background of this painting because I wanted to further emphasis his link Djal to Bakura, though I found that it eventually seemed to take on a double or even triple meaning as the red drapery also looked a bit like running blood.... which could suggest things about the slaughtered village or even future events pertaining to Djal.....

Though I wanted him to appear to have an "edge" to him, I also wanted to illustrate Djal's close bond with his daughter Teana, hence the reason that I have him giving her a piggy back ride on the lower righthand corner. Despite having lived through a great deal himself, (the loss of his home, prejudice, fear, etc) I wanted his love for his daughter to be a constant in his life as well as hers. I then began to think that perhaps the only thing that differeniates him from Bakura is his love for his family..... That if it hadn't been for that, he too may have turned to a evil...... But that's a whole other story to be told.....

For inspiration on Djal's design, I looked at many of the more mature looking men of Yugioh like Seto Kaiba, Mahaado, Bakura (both Theif Bakura and Yami Bakura) with a TOUCH of Yami mixed in! Though I originally planned for this character to play only a very minor role (one which I affectionately dubbed a "plot device" ) I later found that he sort of stole the spotlight from Teana and Yami, as even I was surprised with the direction in which this character had begun to travel. I look forward to writing more about him and his secrets, as well his affects on SEVERAL of the other characters! Be on the look out for it! ^_^

As always this painting was completed with Opaque water color.