That Which Feeds on Life
Konami released a few early sets of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards in 1998 and 1999 that were exclusive to the Japanese OCG. When translated to English, these sets had no fancy titles. They were simply called Booster 1, Booster 2, and so forth. One of the cards from Booster 3 was in short print. This card was called 'That Which Feeds on Life'. It was a normal monster like most early cards. The card text when translated to English reads, "A monster that feeds on the energy of other creatures." Of the 40 cards in Booster 3, 21 of them were reprinted in the English TCG. 'That Which Feeds on Life' was not one of these.
I decided to buy all of the early Japanese booster packs online for the nostalgic factor of them. Each pack was much smaller than today's. There were three cards and a FAQ card. I couldn't read Japanese, so I didn't find much use to the FAQ card. Upon further examination the early OCG cards lacked a printed set number and did not have the "Eye of Anubis" symbol in the bottom right corner we find in all cards today. In my pack of Booster 3 I did find a That Which Feeds on Life. I don't understand why this was in short print. There were much better monsters in the set; although there was something unusual about the card. It was heavy; much heavier than any other card in the set. It felt as if it was almost two or three cards glued together. This could explain why the card was in short print. But why would the card be made heavier in the first place? I dismissed it and put That Which Feeds on Life with the rest of the cards from the booster packs I had opened, and went to bed.
The next morning when I awoke I went to the pile of cards, ready to sleeve them. They would be valuable one day. When I looked to the cards, all of the monsters blank pictures and no names. They were simply identical, white cards. The one monster that looked the same as I had left it was That Which Feeds on Life. There was no logical explanation for this unless someone had took the cards during the night and replaced them with said blanks. The door to my apartment was locked, as I had left it. There was no sign of forced entry, and nothing in my house was taken. Of all things, why would anyone take these cards? The valuable cards of mine were located securely in a binder. Why would they leave me this silly blanks that resembles the monsters of the set? Why was That Which Feeds on Life? There were so many things unusal about this.
I went to my local card shop with the card, along with all of the blanks. The people there had no idea what I was talking about. They must of thought I was crazy. Maybe I was! They did however, point out something to me I had not noticed before. The pictures of the monsters were not completely blanked. The card art was just barely visible within the white, as if a thick film had been put over the cards. The card art had changed, though. The monsters were no longer in their regular poses, and instead were usually found lying on the ground. It was very difficult to see, but a few of the monsters whose eyes were visible (of the monsters who had eyes) no longer had eyeballs. It appeared the socket were just black. The thick film had made it difficult to confirm this or any other speculation about the cards.
I decided to try an experiment. The next night I placed That Which Feeds on Life with a pile of monsters I collected when I was younger that I had no longer found particularly valuable. These monsters were printed in English. Cards were not printed in English until about four years after the release of Booster 3. I awoke the next morning as usual, and also found these cards to be 'blanks'. I took a minute to examine That Which Feeds on Life again. Picking it up revealed that it was even heavier than before. It felt although the card was almost as heavy as a sheet of metal the same size. A friend of mine did not believe in what I now believed That Which Feeds on Life was doing to my cards. I let him take the card home to try the experiment for himself.
The next morning I went to my friend's house to see the results of his experiment. He stated that he would do the same as I did; placing That Which Feeds on Life in a pile of his monster cards. I walked up to his door and found it open. He lived alone, but he was also very lazy. I could completely understand him leaving his door wide open in the middle of winter. Once inside of his house I called his name. No answer. I went into his room and again, found the door wide open. He appeared to still be asleep on his bed. I went to check on his experiment. The results I found this time were rather.. peculiar.
The monsters in the pile with That Which Feeds on life did not just have their picture blanked out. The entire card was just a white rectangle. Even stranger, I found I could no longer vaguely see the monsters in the card. That Which Feeds on Life was so heavy, I could no longer pick it up. I shook my friend's shoulder, trying to wake him up. He would not, but I also noticed he was not moving. I turned his body over. He was completely, utterly pale. His eyes were gaping holes of nothingness. He was ridiculously emaciated and his skin shriveled and stuck to his frail bones.
I would call for help, but I had forgotten what number to call for help. I felt so weak, so tired. I just wanted to lie down for a bit. I noticed how pale I had become. My vision became boggy and blurry and then seemed to fade out altogether. I tried to crawl myself out of the room, but my muscles were now almost nonexistant. My bones were so frail and my joints grinded together with such immense pain as I tried to stand myself up. My arm snapped, but no blood came from it. It was as brittle as chalk. I attempted to scream at the top of my lungs for help, but nothing came out but a squeak quieter than a mouse. That Which Feeds on Life has fed upon me.
Credited to Avenging Angel
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