Prisoners of Fate
is a Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL fanfic by rangerhitomi.
Taking place in a alternate universe with a medieval theme, Prisoners of Fate kicks off when the Barian Empire invades Astral Kingdom, killing the king and queen and sending the prince into hiding with only a small number of guards and knights. From there the story is told from multiple perspectives on all sides of the wars and conflicts coming up, involving politics, destiny, the Powers That Be, and love.
Prisoners of Fate provides examples of:
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Barians have sexes thanks to their human forms, but they can reproduce using energy alone and gender plays little role in making children.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: The "good" gods of the Astral world decide that Nash is too important to kill but to "impure" to do what they want him to do, so they send a minor god to possess his body and live his life the way they think he should live.
- Fantastic Caste System: Mizar is considered “unclean” because his parents tried and failed to abort him, causing slight physical defects.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Durbe went from a lowly peasant to one of the seven Barian emperors. Ilyia also counts, having been a side show freak in her youth.
- Gayngst: The Astral Kingdom is quite homophobic, so Yuma and Ryouga's budding romance brings both of them much shame.
- Mage Species: The Barians have innate magic, but unfortunately almost everyone around them is convinced that this makes them a species of Always Chaotic Evil demons.
- Pure Is Not Good: The astralite gods are homophobic, xenophobic, controlling, and in many ways worse than the Barians.
