Disclaimer/Note: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or any of the characters in this story (unless otherwise stated). They are the property of Kazuki Takahashi, and who ever he sold his soul to. I am not making any money off this story; it is being written for my own sick twisted amusement. All original concepts in this story are original (duh) and belong to me. If you steal anything, then I will sacrifice you to ancient Shadow Gods. I wrote this after reading Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock, and I plan on making several references to his book and research. This story is a continuation of the series, taking place about one month after the events of the Alkatraz arc, and will contain violence, mind games, psychological trauma/mental instabilities, romance, flashbacks, language, religious references/criticism, crude humor, and possibly sex or sexual references. If you're not mature enough to handle all that, then just leave now. But for those of you who are, please enjoy.


Pillars of Salt:
Prologue -- Openers of the Way

". . .Every shadow that touches our world is the hand of evil. No matter how frail, no matter how gentle or delicate its caress, this that I have mentioned is true. A shadow is a piece of the dark, cut out and cast aside for reasons unfathomable to our human minds. This does not mean or imply that all shadows are wholly evil. On the contrary, some of the deepest evils have truly good intentions harbored near their heart. But within every good soul is a demon, and the cleaner the soul, the more pure and beautiful, the uglier is that lurking monster. Sometimes it is just below the surface; sometimes it has been buried by time and memory."

A pause in the thinking, sudden stop as the speaker turned his gaze to the door, head tilted to one side as he listened. There, from the stairs down the short hall, came the sound that had caused the break in his revelations. It was the soft thumping of feet on the carpeted steps, the brash laughter of one of his friends coming to him. He glanced down at his golden prison on the desk, sitting beside a deck of cards that wasn't needed now, and wondered why they were there. What purpose did this serve -- his immortal soul's imprisonment in a beautifully gilded cage? What game could have been important enough to continue like this: saving it and replaying it a hundred times over, destroying thousands of lives and dreams each time the field was reset? What kind of a man would do such a thing? And what kind of a king would that man have been. . .?

"Sometimes even I have to wonder what kind of a monster I am, to hide within my own shadow. . ."

The door jerked open, new arrival cursing sharply before falling to the floor. He needed to see only the matted tangle of blond hair -- so very unusual in Japan -- to know who it was. Katsuya Jounouchi, now a reformed thug and duelist, looked around the room, through the shadow by the desk, and pushed himself to his feet.

"O-oi! Yuugi? Hey, where are you?" he asked loudly, almost as if expecting to see his companion jump out of a closet and yell 'here I am'. A shrug, and Jounouchi closed the door, oblivious to the shadow's presence. The shadow looked down to his hands, palm up like he was searching for. . .something. Blood or grime, some clue that he'd missed. But there was nothing; he could see the carpeted floor below, color slightly muted as though it were smoke he looked through instead of skin.

"Every shadow. . .is nothing more than a piece of the dark."

"So. . .how's the other you holding out?" Anzu asked haltingly, trying to make the question sound more like an idle inquiry, and failing. She had to hold back a grimace, and began to focus her attention on the milkshake in front of her. It was a very good thing that she wanted to be a dancer and not an actress. Yuugi's smile seemed a little forced when she looked back to him, and he bit his lower lip for a moment before answering.

"The other me is doing fine," he lied easily enough, looking down to where the Millennial Puzzle should have rested against his chest. "He's a little down, and he's not talking much, but I think that he's okay. He. . ."

Yuugi trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging. He didn't want to say it, didn't want to say anything that would make her worry. Truth be told, he didn't want to talk about his other self anymore. He hadn't even brought the other him with him, in hopes that he wouldn't be mentioned. After the events in the Virtual World with Noa, he was sure about her feelings towards him. The other him. The him that was strong and reliable; the smarter and more charismatic him. It was times like these that he sometimes wished the other him had his own name.

"What is it? Is something wrong, Yuugi?"

"Hmn? Oh, no," he said quickly, jerking his head up to meet her eyes with a small, sad smile as he started to lie again. "No, it's just that. . .well, I know that he's really worried about getting his memories back. And once he gets them. . ."

"It's okay; I understand."

But she didn't, not really anyway. And while, yes, he was worried about losing his other self, sometimes. . .sometimes it didn't seem like it would be so bad. Sometimes, when he took the Puzzle off and he was alone with his friends, there was something awkward about the way they all talked to each other, looked at each other. Like they didn't know what to do with him when he was just. . .himself: when he was just Yuugi, instead of the Duelist King, the other him. Would they still be his friends when the other him left. . .?

". . .it's almost time to go back to school now, isn't it?" Anzu asked in an attempt to change the subject. "Wow, summer break really flew by, huh?"

"Yeah. It's hard to believe that we still have more school. I guess that even after all that's happened we're still just sophomores. Or are we juniors now?"

"Yuugi," she sounded concerned when she said his name, when she reached across the table and took his hand. "Are you going to be okay?"

He wanted to say something witty, or to tell her that as long as she was there with him he'd be fine. But the words stuck in his throat, and he couldn't meet her eyes. He stared down at her hand over his, felt his heart beating faster, and tried to breathe normally. A nod was all that he could manage as he licked his lips nervously. He wanted so badly to tell her that there was nothing he couldn't overcome if she was with him, beside him, supporting him. What he wanted to tell her, everything he'd ever wanted to say to her, could be summed up into those three little words---

"I'll be fine, Anzu."

Those three little words that Yuugi just didn't have the courage to say.