Cover by the forever fabulous Goshi, on pixiv and drawr :)

He knew the story well enough.

The seven Millennium Items. The puzzle, the key, the scales, the ring, the eye, the necklace and the rod. They had been crafted thousands of years ago in order to stop the chaos caused by Shadow Games in Egypt. Their bearers alone could use the Shadow Magic, hence, they could only be worn by the Pharaoh and his priests. They only lasted for two generations before there was a huge battle over them, between the Pharaoh, Atem, and approximately four Bakuras. Looking at the items now, the duelist, (he could be identified by the deck of cards on his belt,) felt he knew the majority of these characters a little too well.

In any case, the items had been buried accidentally in the ruins of the village Kul Elna, to be discovered centuries later by ignorant archeologists. Ra knew, he didn't need the information displayed neatly beside the glass case they were held in to know that.

The duelist was of slightly below average height, and had incredibly tanned skin, dark enough that it wasn't hard to conclude he was from the east. He had long, blonde hair, neatly arranged in thick strands with soft points. He wore a lilac, sleeveless jacket-shirt type garment with a hood which exposed his mid-riff, black pants, and rather plain shoes. Perhaps his most distinctive feature was his eyeliner.

His hand clenched into a fist as he examined the objects. They shouldn't be here. They should be under the ground, buried, as they had been for six months before the government went to get them out again. After the Pharoh's soul returned to where it should have been. They'd ignored him, and the rest of his family, of course. They deemed them too valuable to remain underground. But the teenager looking at them know knew them to be too dangerous to be anywhere. In the wrong hands, things could be disastrous.

Tonight he'd ensure that would never happen.

"Excuse me, sir."

The teen looked around, his blonde hair falling annoyingly in front of his violet eyes. "Yes?"

A security guard was standing at the other end of the room, scowling. "We closed an hour ago."

The man blinked. "Oh."

They eyed each other for a moment. The security guard's dark gaze hardened. "You're going to have to leave now, or I'll call the guys who can make you."

The duelist merely cocked his head to one side, looking back at the shiny gold artefacts again. "Do you know what these are?"

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not a tour guide."

"Do you know what I could do to you by simply, oh, I don't know, breaking that case?"

"Step away from the-"

The man was already shaking his head. "Let me demonstrate."

And with that he threw all of his weight against the glass, which shattered easily. The guard reached for a radio and started barking orders into it, loudly and rapidly. Alarms started going off everywhere.

The thief then reached up and plucked the Millennium Items from their spots on the wall. The ring slipped easily around his neck on it's rope, and he strapped the puzzle onto his belt. The eye, the key and the necklace went deep into his pocket, and he took the scales in one hand and the rod in the other, that typical villainous smirk that all antagonists seem to wear on his face.

Guards swarmed the room, but he simply held the rod up in front of all of them. Stay still, he willed. Let me escape. And forget everything that has happened.

And with that, he slipped between them with ease, making his way towards the back entrance.

The next day, the museum received a letter:

To whomever it may concern,

I would like to bring it to your attention that the security regarding the Millennium Items is simply appalling. Just last night I broke in and stole them. I hope you will forgive me, but they are extremely important, and evidently your security was not at the standard it should have been.

I will keep them - if you know who I am, then I'm sure you understand that it would be unwise to challenge me on this point.

Yours relatively sincerely,
Marik Ishtar

PS: My deepest apologies regarding brain-washing your employees.

Besides this prologue, my chapters average at about 2300-2500 words. Sorry about the shortness XD