CHAPTER 5: The Reawakening

There was nothing but darkness. A small sound could be heard. There was then a faint glow. In the center of the glow was Anastasia. She was standing calmly. The light around her disappeared. There was a bright burst of light as the chamber in which Anastasia stood was lit by dozens of torches.

The room was strange. It was as though it was an impossible maze. The area resembled that of an ancient temple. There were stairs every which way. It was like there was a deep dark secret hidden here that was not supposed to be discovered.

In front of the supposed body of the queen was the figure of the great pharaoh Yami. He seemed to be in a deep sleep. The queen gently nudged the sleeping king. He began to stir and finally awoke.

"What... what is going on?"

"Yes, you are finally awake my pharaoh. It is great to see that you are still well,"

"Yes I am fine, but who are you and who is this pharaoh that you speak of?"

The queen was shocked to discover that Yami had seemingly lost his memories of the past. She did know what must be done.

"I have much to tell you so listen well. Your name is Yami. You are the pharaoh of a now long since disappeared civilization. You are one of the only survivors. We are now inside a golden pyramid. It is your Shadow Item, the key to your power. You will be trapped inside this item until the day the one that could have been pharaoh discovers and brings together the pieces into one whole form again. Only then can you once again walk this Earth. You must then protect the world from the return of the great evil that threatens to engulf this world as it did those millennia ago. I must leave you now, as your newest journey is about to begin. I bid you farewell and wait to see your return to where you belong. Good luck my king. I know that you will be successful in your quest,"

Yami stood there trying to absorb what he has just heard. Having lost all his memories what he was being told was immensely confusing. Before he could ask a question of Anastasia, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and waved goodbye. As she waved, her figure vanished like fog. Yami was now all by himself in the confines of his Shadow Item.

It had not been long since the event of his awakening inside his item. He had been in this area exploring when he sensed a strange feeling. He had been here for what he thought was at least a week but had never even felt the slightest bit of hunger. He had approached a door in the immense chamber. He felt a sense of familiarity emanating from behind the door.

He opened it. Inside was a long corridor. On the walls were large portraits. On the portraits were strange monster-like creatures. Yami walked down the hall and came to a large chamber. On the walls were more portraits. These pictures were of Yami, Anastasia and some people that he could not remember but knew he had come across before. The rooms made Yami feel safe and happy. He would now spend all his time that he was not exploring in this chamber. Although he had explored a lot, he had never discovered anything but rooms with strange tablets with cryptic messages he could not read engraved on them.

It must have been one month when something weird began to happen. The chambers of the item began to warp around him and expand. This turbulent change ended in a relatively short time. When it did, Yami had noticed that there was now a new door in the chamber where he had awoken. He walked through this door and found himself in an open area. On the other side was an entire new area. It seemed to be the same size of the area that he was already used to seeing. On another side of this area was what seemed to be a window.

Yami gazed out the window and was amazed to see an entire city. It was amazing to him. He was apparently inside the mind of another person. The person was walking toward a building that had a sign on it that he immediately noticed. It read, "Shadow Duel". The vessel he seemed to inhabit approached a young woman. She reminded Yami somewhat of Anastasia. And her voice nearly matched hers perfectly.

"Hey Yugi!" said the young woman.

"Hi Tea, what's up?" replied the vessel of Yami.

The vessel of Yami now had a name. It was Yugi. Yami was now interested in this new world that he was in. He suddenly had a strange feeling. A memory flooded into his mind and it seemed to be activated by this boy named Yugi. He suddenly learned of a memory he had, of an ability he had. It was strange. It was an ability that he seemed to know he would need very often.

The boy had later drifted off to sleep. Yami wanted to explore this new area. He reached the entrance of the new chamber. He tried to enter but was held back by a force field. He turned and noticed a table on the other side. It had a piece of paper on it with something written on it. It had a strange encrypted writing on it like the stone tablets with only one readable sentence. It read, "Yamiyugi, King of Games". This sentence surprised Yami. Yamiyugi was his father's name.

This boy's name was Yugi Asakura. Fifteen years old, he was attending the local high school, Crystal Point High School. Fairly private, he wasn't much to leave a big impression. He was a normal kid by all accounts, though a little bit of tragedy had marked his earlier life.

Yugi lived with his grandfather in the rather nice apartment over his card shop. Yugi's grandfather owned the shop that specialized in the sale of Shadow Duel cards. Shadow Duel was a game created by a woman named Serenity Dantes. She was the owner, CEO and President of the Shadow Duel Enterprise, the company that makes anything and everything that has to do with Shadow Duel.

Yugi's grandfather was his only guardian. A very long time ago, long before he moved in with his grandpa, his grandmother mysteriously disappeared. As for his parents, they both died tragically when their car was hit by a truck. While he was miraculously safe in the back seat, both his mother and father were killed instantly. Yugi was only about three or four at the time, so he has no memory of the incident at all.

Dueling was his favorite pastime, bar none. What's more, he's good at it. He was known as a top duelist at his school, but he never participated in tournaments, at least not to anyone's knowledge. He was easy to get along with. He had a strong sense of justice and friendship.

Yugi's best friend is Tea Hawkins. The same age as Yugi, Tea lives with her parents not too far away from where Yugi lives now. She and Yugi knew each other since he first moved in with his grandfather. They spent a lot of time around each other, dueling of course, but just hanging out the way that any two kids their age would. To everyone that knew or saw them, it seemed apparent that they would always be pretty much inseparable.

Tea too attended Crystal Point High School. She walked to school with Yugi every day. She was a bright student, moderately popular. She was something of a stickler for school protocol. She studied all the time, not because she needed to, but because it was expected. The truth was that she seemed to be a receptacle of knowledge.

As a duelist, it is hard to compare her to Yugi since she takes a similar approach to him. The two do not openly participate in tournaments, and have never dueled against one another. They do hold a spotless record up until now. But her favorite thing, besides her friends and dueling, was dancing, at which she was also highly accomplished.

Rounding out the trio of friends is Joey. All in all, he is pretty much average. He is an average guy, who gets average grades, is an average duelist, and has average interests. He first met Yugi and Tea when they went to the same Junior High School. They didn't start out as friends, but that eventually changed.