CHAPTER 1: The Millennium Key

5,000 years ago when the pyramids were young, kings played a game of great and terrible power. But these shadow games erupted into a war that threatened to destroy the entire world, until a brave and powerful pharaoh locked the magic away, imprisoning it within the 7 millennium items.

Egypt- 8 years before the millennium puzzles completion

Egypt, were the sun is unforgiving and the sand is seemingly endless. An 8 year old Tea Gardner is here with her family on business, the kind of boring business that would put a child to sleep. All of them had been walking through the bazaar looking for the stand Tea's fathers business partner owned. As the family walked they saw the stares the merchants and civilians were giving them, they were outsiders in this land after all. Suits and t-shirts tend to stand out in a place were people wear robes and ceremonial garbs.

Tea was getting extremely bored holding her mothers hand and extremely tired of busy consumers bumping into her. She missed her friend Yugi, he was the very first friend she had made since moving to Domino City. Tea's family was always moving because of her father's job, and she hated it. Always moving meant she couldn't really get to know anyone before being told to box up her things, the next town awaits her father always told her. Tea's mom on the other hand was a different story, she liked being constantly on the move, this was probably because she hated staying in one place for too long.

Finally Tea's father found the stand his business partner owned, on the inside Tea was angry, why couldn't this guy's stand be in the front of the bazaar and not all the way in the back. Tea's mother turned her head to look down at Tea, she had an annoyed look on her face which was understandable, walking through the unforgiving sun and sand would sour anyone's mood. Tea's father waved to his partner and showed hem the briefcase he was also carrying with him.

"Mr. Seth, it good see you." ,said Tea's father.

"Ah, it good to see you too, Mr. Gardner." ,replied Mr. Seth.

Both men gave each other the typical businessmen handshake before discussing projects Tea couldn't even begin to understand. The whole scenes in front of Tea was strange, her father the outsider in a business suit was rubbing elbows with the robed man of the land. Tea could however tell that this conversation was going to go on for hours, could this be anymore boring.

Tea looked up at her mother who had been very quiet throughout their family trip, this was weird to Tea since normally her mother is a chatterbox. "Hey mom." ,said Tea.

"Yes dear, what is it?"

"I'm super board, can I go look at the other stands or something?"

Tea's mom put her hand to her chin in thought, "I guess so, but stay in the bazaar, your still just a kid."

"I am not a kid!" ,Tea said in an annoyed tone.

Tea's mom just started to chuckle, "Last time I checked 8 means your still a kid."

Tea now had a huge tick mark on her head, she hated being called a kid. Tea began to walk off and explore the rest of the bazaar while hearing her mother reminding her to stay in the bazaar. As Tea walked around she finally took notice of everything the bazaar had to offer, there was clothing, food, tools, toys, and jewelry. All of this stuff looked great but none of it wowed her in any way, until something caught her eye, or rather someone. Tea noticed a man with Egyptian robes, a white cape and headpiece, with golden circle earrings, and a golden key around his neck. For some reason seeing that key made Tea compelled to follow this man.

Tea began so follow the garbed man while trying to stay as unnoticeable as possible. The garbed man continued walking until he was about to leave the bazaar, Tea knew she should listen to her mother and not leave the bazaar, but something about that key made her continue following the mysterious man. The garbed man stopped walking when he came near a flight of stairs that lead underground, he surveyed the area to make sure he wasn't being fallowed before he walked down the stairs. Luckily for Tea she remained hidden behind some barrels that were left out in the open. Tea walked up to the stairs but couldn't see the bottom of them, there was nothing but darkness.

'Maybe it was a bad idea to follow a mysterious stranger to wherever these stairs lead.' ,Tea thought to herself.

Even though Tea was scared she came this far, and was going to go the rest of the way. Tea took a deep breath before making her way down the stairs and into the darkness. The bottom of the stairs was dark and eerie, the only light tea had was the suns rays poking through the cracks in this catacomb like structure. As Tea continued to walk she started to wonder where the garbed man had gone, he couldn't have gotten that far this quickly could he? Tea was broken from her thoughts when she saw a bright light coming from the room ahead of her, despite her better judgment she raced towards the brightly lit room, and what she saw shocked her.

This room was lit up by four torches, one in each wall. The walls themselves however were littered with hieroglyphics that Tea could surprisingly somewhat understand, and in the center of the room was a stone with more hieroglyphics on it and more of the golden items the garbed man had, although two of the slots were empty. Tea was a bit creeped out now, what if she had just walked into some mummy's tomb, would she be cursed or something. Tea quickly brushed that thought from her mind, curses weren't real right, she had just watched one to many mummy movies on the flight over to Egypt that's all.

Tea took this time to really explore the room, it was ancient and it smelled like someone died in there. The whole room was something you would see in a boring documentary, with the exception being that the treasure was still here. Tea started to walk towards the stone and stare at it, one eye was missing as well as the key, tea could tell by the shape of the slot.

"I wonder if anyone else knows about this place?" ,Tea asked herself.

"Yes, and you shouldn't be one of them." ,said a voice from behind Tea.

Tea nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard that other voice come from behind her, she quickly turned around to see the garbed man from earlier standing there with a blank look on his face. Tea stumbled backwards and fell on her rump when she looked into his eyes, there where blue and soulless, it was like he was dead.

"Who are you?" ,Tea asked unable to hide her fear, all of her instincts were telling her to run but she couldn't, he was blocking the only exit.

"My name is Shadi young one, and you don't belong here."

Tea was so scared she could scream, and maybe she would, maybe someone would hear her screams and bring help. Tea was cursing herself internally, why didn't she listen to her mother and stay in bazaar like she was told, her curiosity always did get the better of her. Shadi took a step towards Tea and she immediately shot straight up and backed into the millennium stone.

"What is this place?" ,Tea asked nervously.

Shadi stared at her before answering, "This is the millennium chamber which houses the 7 millennium items."

"You mean like that key around your neck?"

Shadi stared at the key around his neck for a moment before looking back at Tea, "Yes, now answer me this, why did you follow me here?"

Tea was almost too scared to answer, she saw how Shadi's eyes narrowed at her and expected an answer. "I saw they key around your neck and I just got so curious about it, its not something you see every day." ,Tea said hoping her answer was satisfactory.

"I see, did you hope to obtain one of these items?" ,asked Shadi as he continued to move closer.

"I don't know." ,Tea said quickly and frantically.

Shadi was now standing right in front of Tea, Shadi definitely looked intimidating because of the height difference and shadows across his face. Tea's heart was racing, she was going to get it now, there was no escape. Shadi crouched down to her eye level and said, "You can calm down, I won't hurt you."

Tea was relieved to hear that he wasn't going to hurt her, but that didn't mean she wasn't still wary of him.

"What is your name young one?" ,asked Shadi.

"Tea, Tea Gardner."

Shadi stared at her again and began to think, 'Maybe I was wrong, maybe she is supposed to be here, I will have to test her.'

Shadi stood back up and removed the millennium key from around his neck. Shadi held the key in his hands and held it out for Tea to grab. Tea was so confused by what was happening now, was Shadi trying to give her this millennium item.

"Forgive me Shadi, but I'm confused."

"I want you to take this key and wear it around your neck." ,said Shadi.

"Why?"

"This is a test to see if you are worthy, there is a storm coming and soon he will return, and when that happens everyone must play their part. If you pass the test, the millennium key will be yours, if you fail, you will loose all memories of this place."

Tea was shocked by what she just heard, could Shadi really erase a persons memories like he just said? Tea grabbed the millennium key from Shadi's hands and stared at it for a while, something about holding the key felt natural, like she always had it to begin with. Tea looked up at Shadi who was still waiting for her to wear the key, and she complied and wore the key around her neck as instructed. For a second nothing happened, then Tea started to scream out in pain, she dropped to her knees clutching her head with both hands. Shadi kept the same blank look on his face and backed away slowly.

Shadow magic was erupting from the millennium key, from a distance it almost looked like a laser show. The screams got louder and the shadow magic began to engulf the room, the hieroglyphics started to glow and then there was a blinding white light. Suddenly the screams stopped and the light faded, on the ground was an unconscious Tea Gardner with the millennium key still around her neck. Shadi walked up to the now out cold Tea to see if she was okay, and sure enough she was.

'So, you are worthy after all, but if you are the one destined to hold the millennium key, that means you are one of the darknesses he will face when he returns.'

Shadi picked up the unconscious Tea and brought her back to the bazaar, he laid her down against a wall before disappearing into the crowed of civilians.

A few minutes later Tea woke up back in the bazaar and noticed she had a golden key around her neck, the strangest thing was she couldn't even remember where she got it from. Tea decided not to dwell on it since it felt natural to have this key around her neck. Tea needed go get back to her parents who were probably worried about her, as she was walking though, she still couldn't believe she took a nap in the middle if the bazaar.

'I wonder, what happened to me while I was out.'

Sure enough Tea's father was just now finishing his business deal and leaving the briefcase with Mr. Seth. Tea's parents both noticed the strange golden key that was around her neck, they didn't buy it, so how'd she get it.

"Are you finally done with business deal?" ,Tea asked.

"Yep." ,Tea's dad replied.

"Um... Tea, where did you get that golden key?" ,Tea's mom asked.

Tea mind of course was drawing a blank, she didn't even remember where she got it, it was time to lie.

"I actually found it buried in the sand near the entrance to the bazaar."

That answer seemed to satisfy her parents for the most part, now that her fathers business deal is over, they could all go back to domino city.

TIME SKIP

DOMINO CITY- Muto Game Shop

"Just one more piece and I complete the puzzle."

"Don't stay up late too long Yugi, you still have school tomorrow." ,said Mr. Muto.

"Don't worry grandpa, I wont." ,said Yugi.

Now was the moment of truth, all Yugi has to do is connect the very last piece and the puzzle will be finished. Yugi connected the last piece, it took him 8 years but het finally finished the puzzle. Yugi held the puzzle close to his chest and made his wish.

TO BE CONTINUED...

...Author's note: This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction, I hope you all like it. :)

"Yami" speaking/'Yami' thinking/"Narmal" speaking/'normal' thoughts