Here we are again! I'm really enjoying writing this story. This is the chapter where I reveal the prophecy I've been working on for what seems like forever! I'm pretty proud of how it turned out, and from now on the story line will make a little more sense since the characters know what they're supposed to be doing. I won't reveal how either way will help either side how just yet, but it also sets up a point to the story line that brings up magic and shadow games. Yes, because they have to play shadow games that are based off of the card game. Why? Because well...the fact that one of the people at least focuses on this for his powers. I wonder who. Anyway, that brings up a point where a lot of them end up in an interesting version of the Duelist Kingdom tournament which will be explained later. So much fun and story changing yay! XD

Also parts of the prophecy seem unfinished to me, and I'm not entirely happy with it, but it was the best that I could come up with. And I kind of sped things up maybe a little too much in this chapter. I hope it didn't move too fast. :/


Shout outs!

To everyone who is supporting this story! (Kind of lame I know but I love you guys all the same).

Thanks for all of your amazing support! This story is inspired to and kept going by you guys!


Anyway, onto the chapter.


Phase 08: Issued Challenge


Mariku had nothing to fear of them looking at his body lustily. They were all too busy trying to keep themselves from throwing up. They had all heard across their mental link just how he had gotten that dark black scar. Marik gave them a minute to gather themselves, and even Mariku had felt a little badly for them. He had been with Marik while the scar had still caused him pain. The pain was long gone by now, but it was still terrible to watch him face such pain. They were only imagining it, but he had felt it across their mental link. That was part of the reason he never wanted to see Marik in pain again. That had been a hard time for both of them.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," he assured them. "It was seven years ago."

"That's a tradition for your family?" Yugi gasped in horror. "That's terrible."

"When you said it was carved into your back I didn't think you meant your WHOLE back," Ryou said, still looking sick.

"Why would you have to have that carved into your back?" Seto asked. "It's just sick." The others all murmured in agreement.

"Because this is the only copy left of the true prophecy," Marik replied. "The others were all burned and destroyed. So the first time it was done, it was carved into the arm. This made it hard to read. So the next son had it carved into his back, which was easier to view and much harder to destroy. Even if the person bearing the scar died it could be copied. The language that it was used in was long forgotten, but not by the line of Tomb Keepers, who always taught the words to the son that would become the Tomb Keeper."

"We can't read it," Yugi said.

Marik watched them all for a moment. He hadn't expected them to be able to. Their dreams in their minds even as reincarnation dreams had been in a sense translated so they could hear it, but that didn't meant that they understood the language. But he had been taught the prophecy and knew what it meant. For a while Marik was quiet, mentally translating the prophecy into English as closely as he could get and then letting out a quiet sigh. He chose English for Joey, who still seemed to have some trouble with Japanese. They needed to know, but it didn't make it any easier. Mariku silently encouraged him in his mind, and Marik looked up at them again.

"Didn't I tell you that it was taught to the Tomb Keeper?" he asked. "I am the Tomb Keeper now, and I will tell you as exactly as I can what it says."

Marik quietly closed his eyes, summoning the courage and the memory. He couldn't fail to make a mistake now. There was no room for error. The others were watching him expectantly, waiting for him to speak. Marik suddenly felt nervous and self conscious. He wasn't ready for this. But then Mariku sent him a simple memory.

They had been sitting together, and in it they were much younger. Marik's back had been paining him again, and Mariku wasn't sure what to do. But he had started rubbing Marik's back gently, ignoring the boy's squeaks of protest. He really didn't like his back being touched. But it began to soothe the fire away in his sore muscles, because the scar had already closed up. The movement was soothing, and even when Mariku talked softly about his past in the tomb and their unknown future together Marik had found himself lulled to sleep. Marik let that image calm him as it had that day, and then he opened his eyes and looked out the window in front of him as if for inspiration.

At a time when men bow to none
and the power of gods should fail
shadows shall rise from Egypt
and the dead shall pierce the veil.
The game of shadows be woken
as the number shall rise to eight
and a forgotten name unspoken
lives to chase them with hate.

The land of the rising sun
is the place our heroes come from
but also the land of plenty
and also the land of none.
By curse into two they are broken
one is shadow the other is light
but in them lies a promise
that the Balance will not fail this night.

Nameless one arise:
your power may help you survive.
King of Thieves appear:
your cunning must pierce your fear.
Priest of Egypt come now:
you must learn to see past the how.
Keeper of Tombs quit silence:
you will pay or gain for defiance.

Each of the pairs has a gift
an item of power and price
but if it is used unwisely
then the world will fall to night.
Two then remain unchecked
for one is guarded by death
but the two with the power to see
may fall to evil deeds.

If even one turns against the six
then the power of all will fail
the Balance will then be broken
and the dark will then prevail.
But if the seven unite
and magic flows freely again
then the light will be stronger than ever
and the darkness never shall win.

After reciting the lines, Marik fell silent and looked at all of them. They too were silent, pondering the words for a long moment. Then after a while they looked up at them. It was obvious that they weren't sure exactly what was meant by any of this, but they understood a little bit more about what they were supposed to be doing now. It was Joey that finally spoke their confusion. Marik quickly put his shirt back on and threw his jacket over his shoulder then turned to face them.

"What are 'the seven'?" he asked.

"They are the seven Millennium Items," Marik said. "The Millennium Rod, the Millennium Scales, the Millennium Puzzle, the Millennium Ring, the Millennium Key, the Millennium Necklace, and the Millennium Eye. Each has a specific power, and each can be dangerous enough on their own. The Millennium Rod lets the user control people's minds and seal monsters into stone tablets for use much like a more powerful version of the traiding cards, the scales can judge sins and send people to the Shadow Realm, the Puzzle can control monsters from the Shadow Realm as well as send people to the Shadow Realm, the Ring can let the user find whatever they're looking for and create Shadow Games, the Key lets the user enter into someone's mind, the Necklace sees the past and future, and the Eye lets the user see into someone's mind. These are all powerful objects, and their power together would be even greater. The two that are missing are the Necklace and the Eye, those with the power to see, because the Key is guarded by the dead." Marik didn't mention though that his sister was the one in control of the Millennium Necklace, and he didn't want to think about having to fight her.

"And so we're supposed to find them?" Atemu asked. "How? We'd have to search the entire world for them!"

"Not true," Mariku replied. "With so many Millennium Items in one place it will attract the users of the others. Then we can find them. Besides, Marik and I know where to find the user of the Millennium Necklace. So we should focus on the eye first."

Marik felt a spark of affection suddenly for Mariku. He was glad that he had managed to put off the fact that he would soon have to be facing his sister. He hoped that he could convince her to help them. But he doubted it. The last time he had seen her she had been terrified of him beyond belief. He doubted that she even wanted to remember that they were related. Still, he was glad that they could delay it, at least for a little while. Meeting his brother and sister again was not something he was looking forward to.

"Maybe that's the case," Bakura said. "But where on earth are we supposed to find the Millennium Eye? And even if we did, what would we do. Someone with that power isn't going to want to part with it easily, and we have no idea how we're supposed to convince them to help us."

It was obvious to Marik that Mariku had some ideas, but he quickly shot them down and reminded him that no sane person would ever suggest something like that. Mariku promised to act more in the way a normal person was and nuzzled Marik's mind with his own, seeking for forgiveness. Marik quickly forgave him and assured him that he did. Mariku grabbed Marik again and dragged him into his lap again, assured that everything was alright for the time being. The others didn't think anything of this little display of affection and were too worried about the fact that they needed to find the other Millennium Items before the Hunters did.

"Still," Joey sighed. "Where are we supposed to begin looking for something like that?"

"I'm not sure," Marik admitted, "But we'll have to keep an eye out for it. We need to look as normal as possible. There's no doubt in my mind that when we have to fight Zorc people will panic."

"Well yeah," Yugi sighed. "I mean it's kind of hard to expect to hide four enormous monsters."

"So we'll pretend to lead normal lives," Atemu said. "That way the students won't panic as much about the three gods and Zorc appearing. There's no doubt that this battle will come right here to Domino City."

They all nodded in agreement. That was true. Their group had the most ties here, and Zorc would want to destroy that. They just hoped that they would find a way to get enough power to fight against him by then. Even the power of the gods hadn't been enough last time! They would need a lot more power. Marik suspected that the uniting of the Millennium Items against Zorc would be what gave them their edge in battle, but the problem was discovering if their users would use them wisely and help them, or if they would be swayed by the darkness and help destroy the world.

Too Seto's slight annoyance there was a knock at the door. He had obviously ordered that no one come in and disturb them. But he called for them to enter. A man came in with a box labeled "Duelest Kingdom Tournament" and bowed to him before heading out. Seto looked at the box, but they had bigger things to worry about. But then before he threw it away Marik suddenly stood and looked at him. He had sensed something odd about it.

"Wait," he said. "Keep it. There's something odd about that."

Mariku stood as well and looked at it. He knew Marik didn't react to something for no reason. There had to be a reason he had suddenly become so interested in it. The others seemed confused. They weren't sure what was going on at first. But they could see that Marik was deadly serious. Seto sighed and turned to the large television in the room. He motioned for them all to gather around it, and then he popped the tape in.

Nearly instantly a man's face appeared. He was tall and handsome, obviously not from Japan either. He had pale skin and long silver hair. His left eye was covered with his hair, but the other was an icy blue color. Those eyes held a cruel amusement. He stared straight ahead as if at a camera, but Marik knew that he was faking. There was something oddly amused in his eyes.

"Hello there Kaiba boy," the man said. "I hope you're doing well. It has been a while hasn't it."

"Pegasus," Joey growled in obvious dislike for the tone the man was taking with Seto. "I have always hated that creep."

"Oh be a dear and shut up won't you Joey?" Pegasus asked from the screen.

The others were all greatly unnerved and gasped, staring at the television with confusion and slight horror. Mariku might have been surprised as well, if he hadn't felt Marik's mind and known that, for him, something had been confirmed. He glared at the man, who's eyes were sweeping the room. Pegasus paused, obviously surprised as seeing the two teenagers so calm.

"Calm down," Marik told them.

His calm tone had managed to make them calm a little, though they still had no clue what was actually going on. Marik continued to glare at the screen, which both irritated and highly interested Pegasus. He looked at the boy head on.

"Ah," Pegasus said. "I see you're not from Japan. Well my boy, it seems you know a lot more than I would have thought at first glance."

"That's right," Marik said calmly. "You're using the power of the Millennium Eye so you're able to see and talk to us right now, and project into our minds the image of you speaking with us on the television screen. That's why your left eye is covered."

Pegasus watched the boy a moment, and then he began to laugh. He clapped a little and looked at the boy with a new interest. Mariku snarled and stepped forward a little in front of Marik. He didn't like this man at all. Even a person like Mariku could tell that there wasn't something right in his head, and that was coming from a person who also didn't have something right in their head. Mariku could see that there was something off in the whole way he moved and spoke. And he didn't want him anywhere near Marik.

"Such an interesting young lad," Pegasus said. Then he moved his hair so they could see the shining gold orb stuck in his eye socket. "Yes, I do have the Millennium Eye. And for you to even know what it is and what I'm doing with it is quite impressive. Well then, I assume by the looks on the rest of your faces, that you know what this Millennium Eye is. Yes, I can also see in your minds that a Millennium Item is shared between a pair of you each, making four. I see. Fine then. This will work out splendidly then."

They all tensed a little, and the darker forms stepped in front of the lighter forms as if to shield them. Pegasus turned his eyes to each of them, trying to read his mind. But when he turned his to look at Marik, Mariku was ready. He could sense that Marik felt the other eye on him. So when Pegasus entered Marik's mind he met with a flash of teeth and a snarl. Pegasus visibly winced and turned his eyes to Marik and Mariku again, though he did not try to touch the boy's mind again.

"Interesting," he said. "Very interesting indeed."

"Just tell us what you want Pegasus," Seto growled.

"Patience Kaiba boy," Pegasus said. "I was getting to that. You see, I am very interested in your Millennium Items, and I can tell that you are just as interested in mine. So I'm prepared to offer you a little wager. All of you against me. The winner gets all of the Millennium Items to do with them as he pleases. I'll even let you play my little tournament in teams of two."

"Why?" Atemu asked, not trusting him at all.

"Because I need your Items for my own goal my boy," Pegasus replied with that somewhat cruel smile of his. "So what do you say? We'll make it a fair wager. You're even allowed to use your Items if you so wish. Then we will truly see which of the Millennium Items are the most powerful."

"What exactly do you want us to do?" Bakura asked with a growl.

"The rules, date, and location of my tournament are located within that box below," Pegasus said, unhelpfully. "I'll have a three more of the like sent over to you Kaiba boy. I do hope you'll all chose to attend, or I may have to resort to much baser methods. See you in Duelest Kingdom in a month."

With that the television seemed to turn off on its own accord and then everything went silent. For a while they just stood there, staring with apprehension at the box that sat on the floor. It's innocent white cover suddenly looked very, very dangerous and sinister. Could they afford to fight this battle? If they lost then they would lose everything, quite literally. But if they didn't then they might not have another chance to try and get their hands on the Millennium Eye. It was Atemu who finally broke that long and eerie silence.

"We might have to take his challenge," he said. "We might not have another chance."

"What do you think he means when he said that he would find 'other methods' to make us fight in his tournament?" Ryou asked.

"I wouldn't doubt that he could," Seto sighed. "But I don't think he'd do anything unless he was sure we weren't going to participate. We should be fine."

"But we should still give it some thought," Yugi said. "We can't just leap blindly into this. We'll have to get prepared. He is the creator of the game after all, even if it did come from Ancient Egypt."

They all nodded quietly, but no one else had any other ideas. It was the best one that they had, and they knew that most likely they would have to work with what they had. But Marik noticed that Mariku had an odd foreboding in his mind about this whole situation. Marik wasn't exactly sure why, or what had given him such an uneasy feeling. But he couldn't deny that he didn't like this one bit either.


Hm, foreshadowing perhaps? ;3

I will have about one chapter describing what they're doing during this time and how they're planning on facing Pegasus, but then I'm going to throw in something a little bit interesting. Don't worry about it, because these characters involved will still have a rather large part to play during this whole thing, but it will be a little odd. Should be fun right? I hope you're looking forward to it, and please feel free to leave a comment below.