Damn! I thought, slamming my fists against the door. This had been a trap all along. What had I been expecting anyway? I continued slamming on the golden doors, panic filling my system. It was dark, and I was trapped—with no knowledge of when I would get out. My throat constricted as I felt fear flood my system.

I shivered, sinking to the floor. The strength I had given up to enter this room plus the strength I had used up against Odion left me weak—both physically and mentally. As the darkness closed in around me, I trembled uncontrollably.

The image of my stepfather loomed in my mind once more, and I felt the security and pride that I had reconstructed these past few years melt away. I could hear his voice in my head, yelling at me for my imperfections and tearing away at my confidence.

I felt the burn of anger and indigment on my skin but could say nothing to my dead stepfather. He would continue to haunt me, and I had no way to strike back at him—to defeat him…

A single drop of water landed on my neck, triggering memories I had wished never to remember. Submerged in a tub of water, a hand pressed down on my head, preventing me from breathing. My lungs burned from the lack of new air, as my pulse quickened in fear. Would I die here? The pressure on my head was unrelenting, and against my will, my mouth opened. Swallowing water, I felt my head spin in fatigue. I couldn't hold on for much longer…

I inhaled with sharp breaths as my windpipe began to close in memory of my stepfather's punishment. The water—the loss of the ability to breathe—followed by the dark room, where I laid for hours without food or water. As I was now…

The bile rose in my throat, and I heaved, emptying my stomach of the last meal I had eaten. Trembling from the effort, I leaned against the wall. As the cool stonewall pressed against my back, I felt the old scars there throb in response to the cold.

I wrapped my hands around me. My mind flashed to the time I had taken longer than usual to answer the homework questions I had been given. It was a small difference—no more than a few minutes at best—but my stepfather thought otherwise. He had said that a few minutes would spell doom for a business venture—and I received punishment to remind me of this fact.

Placed in the dark room, he poured ice-cold water over me again and again, until I could no longer feel anything from the chill. Shivering, I received the first round of whips. He was ruthless in his punishment; he began slow and then decreased the interval of time between whips, while increasing the power. I squirmed, remembering the way my back would bleed and burn while the rest of my body shivered with cold sweat. The sound of my stepfather's laughter ringing in my ears…

Laughter. The maniacal laugh of my stepfather's melded with Marik's, causing the hairs on my neck to rise in fear. Fear of an enemy I could not strike. Fear of his power that could defeat me. Fear of my own capabilities if I held nothing back—

'Why did you kill my brother?' I heard Ishizu's voice in my head, over and over, her tear-choked voice, increasing in anger until it sounded like an accusation rather than a question in my ears. As guilt seared through me, I felt another sensation rise to the surface—indignation.

How dare she place me in such a situation? How dare she demand the impossible from me? How could she allow a future where I would suffer in my past memories to transpire? The witch who wrapped me around her finger—I wanted to crush her with my own bare hands. I wanted to have her bound to me…

I smashed through the images of my stepfather and Marik as anger coursed through me. The millennium key answered to my fury, unparalleled to anything I had ever felt before. I had been stripped bare—and reborn. Which was precisely what I would do to both the Tomb Keeper Clan and the Rare Hunters.

Without reserve, I released my power, filling the room with light emitting from the millennium key. I transferred some of my life energy into the key, and was pleased to see it respond in kind. The doors burst open, and I walked free—determined to be the plague to destroy everything in my way.