It seemed to be complete sensory overload to the young man.

Metallic huffing, horrid phrases of music, and the sound of metal against metal ringing in his ears. But this time he witnessed it all from a different perspective. Atem was in the horrid realization that it was not through his own eyes that he saw this battle. And there was something different about it all. While the sky hung with an angered glow, it appeared to be grassy knolls instead of desert sands.

Shocked, he tried to take it all in and understand it more, but in doing so, Atem awoke. Still, he was separate his own body. This was unusual, before all his dreams had caused him to awaken in his own body. There would be a stir of emotion from the Millenium Puzzle around his vessels neck that would evoke the ancient king into being. But this time, an indiscernible force of observation, he could see that the pyramid charm displayed no signs of any such energy. It was something inside the bag that the younger boy had always carried with him that was instilling these images into his mind.

He must have slept late, Atem surmised as he peered out the window. The sky was showing the full properties of day, quiet sunlight poured into the room. Trying to unravel the mystery of how much of the day was actually lost, Atem's gaze wandered around the room until he found the charming antique clock that was part of the guest room's ensemble. The clock detected early morning, but it was impossible. This kind of light only came from the noon sun.

Voices heard, he could see Yugi wake to greet them, and filed himself into a quiet role of observation to uncover what was going on.

---

"Come on, what's it say? What's it say?" Jounouchi, among others, were crowded around a portable television in Anzu's hands, who eyes were darting back and forth between the information displayed. Yugi wasn't quite sure what was going on, he had seemed to just faded to sleep when the commotion had woken him up. Even then, it seemed like he had lost time from the appearance of day outside.

"It says that it's just affecting areas around this time zone, and a little to the East and West as well. Some kind of phenomenon." Anzu's translation seemed loose, but everyone seemed to take it as enough news to understand the situation around them. Honda and Jounouchi raced to a nearby window, where they were joined by strangers Yugi had only seen before at the festivities. Anzu was still staring at the screen, but there was a split second where her gaze locked with Yugi's enough to realize he was there.

"I'm not sure." She spoke without looking up, answering a question that Yugi had only thought to ask after she replied. He turned to the window trying to see between the small crowd that had gathered to see the outside world. He had just now noticed that there wasn't one simple sun, but a small clot of light in the sky from which it all seemed to emanate.

"Lights in the sky. . . At night? Sounds like an alien picture ta' me!" Jounouchi's accent ran thick through the bustling noise, but Yugi started to give it serious thought. It did seem vaguely reminiscent of his dreams, but so sudden? Pulling the best he could in his fatigued state at the straps of his backpack, he started down the series of corridors that led to the great artist's domicile.

"I'm here, Yugi-boy. . ."

He stopped to turn to his left, where Pegasus stood staring at the wall in his study. The paintings of Duel Monster characters were strewn on the floor, as if there was a struggle to find something. Pegasus's line of sight could be traced to a landscape that Yugi hadn't seen the night before during Atem and the artist's discussion. There were lights in the sky, and white birds in a swooping formation traveling down towards desert sands.

"That's. . . That's my dream. Those are supposed to be Angels, aren't they?" Yugi was starting to understand the workings of Pegasus more and more. As an artist, he was able to accurately depict the images that he had percieved with the Millenium Eye. And the image that was now hanging on the wall must have been the painting that he was looking for, or maybe even the mess on the floor was a product of madness.

"They are coming, just like they said they would if you interfered. Do you understand?" Pegasus showed no hope or whimsy in his words, he just turned from the painting to lock his cold eyes onto Yugi's gaze. The boy felt on trial, the real eye seemed more cold than the simple decorative orb of gold. He had been looked at like that before by Shadi, who placed a great deal of hope onto the avatar of the Pharaoh locked in his puzzle. The horrid war that had happened before was about to reoccur here.

He couldn't deal with it; at least not at this time. With that feeling of desperation he not only surrendered his form to the king within him, but obligated someone to take control of the situation.

---

"We need to get them to safety, the people. Gather them in a place where they can all be kept track of." Atem was already barking orders out to Pegasus, who just nodded in seemingly frightened respect. Pegasus might have seen what had gone on through the memories of the Pharaoh, of the great war of the Ka spirits that Atem had acted out thousands of years ago. He hadn't done anything of that sort since then, and no monster had achieved a true form from a card except the Egyptian God cards themselves. But Atem understood what dangers were about to assail from the sanctuary in the sky, whose gates would pour forth angels to destroy the king who had done too much for his people.

Pegasus took in all of the commands and dashed out of the room. Atem followed suit slowly, but stopped to gaze at some of the images before he left. Pegasus had been up all evening painting scenes from his mind's eye. There were many depictions of the blood shed of sorcerors and angels. It was then he realized that it wasn't there power of the Millenium Puzzle that had given him those nightmares. It was the combined presence of the Millenium Necklace and Pegasus's Eye that predicted the events at hand. War was coming again.

Atem strode down the hall, but it was cleared out. He must have been fixated on the images for too long, as it seemed that everyone was gone to where ever Pegasus had tucked them. The next course of action would be to go outside, and thus he marched from the depths of the mansion to the main entrance hall and began his home stretch along a stair case that descended towards the front door and the fountain structures that led to the actual gates of the premises.

"Wait! You aren't going anywhere without us!" It was Anzu's voice, and Atem turned to see familiar faces pounding down the lavishly carpeted steps behind him. Jounouchi and Honda were with her, but Seto was completely missing. It made sense, he hadn't been one to assist Yugi or Atem in times of need; not immediately did he mount his horse to come to the rescue.

"Yeah, when's the last time ya' did that anyway?" Jounouchi ruffled rouge locks, teasing the Pharaoh as if he were just the simple boy they knew as a friend. Honda gave Atem similar youthful reception and headed with Jounouchi out the front door. Anzu followed Atem as he too made his way out to the twilight hour day.

It was only as Yugi exited did he hear the familiar current of air that reminded him of the faceless angel king.

"You were warned not to tempt fate again and disturb our balance."

The others were sent into shock as they searched the sky and surrounding area for the source of the voice, but Atem stared directly into the light as best as he could against its harsh glare. Shadow engulfed his view briefly, and then he was pulled completely to the ground by the wind. His friends cried out, but he pulled himself to his feet with the heavy load on his coat the best he could. The Millenium Items all seemed to hum in unison, and Atem could barely focus on the words of the angelic figure before him.

"It is time for you to understand that he was not joking when you were warned." Atem's mind couldn't understand the sentence tenses, as it seemed the same angel king was before him . . . But then it finally added up in his head. This angelic figure had cold, white eyes and a face masked behind silken white cloth. It sounded the same, but it wasn't. Perhaps an heir to the throne just as Atem had not always been the king of Egypt? Other than the face's presence, it was still a great soldier before him clad in glistening armor with a great wing span that shielded the lights in the sky from being completely blinding.

"Don't you understand? Letting others die to maintain a balance is not as just as you claim!" Atem took a valiant step towards the angel, shaking his fist violently. He had full belief in his words, in memory of all the things that Zorc had gotten away with just because his presence was needed to validate a strategic game the universe was playing. The angel's eyes did not waiver, but he turned away and took back to the sky in a hefty vault that shook the earth. Atem watched him sail off back towards the light, which is why he did not notice the heaving mass hurtling towards him.

He hit the ground, but it was a fall forward and not one back. He had been shoved out of the way of the mystical shining ball that was aimed directly for him. A familiar voice coughed in the cloud of dust left by the sphere's' path, and the accent of southern Japan even held thick there. Jounouchi had come to Atem's aide, and now the Pharaoh didn't feel as worried about the competence of his friends in this war. Perhaps, their support was in fact needed.

Tracing the path of the sphere that was to be the death blow, he found himself deadlocked with another cold set of eyes. He wasn't sure how many wings this angelic woman had, as he tried to percieve her form well. Devices that might have been wings seemed to be a lengthy flow of hair. Somewhere in the wind did float a set of wings, but the most important note that Atem made were the three glowing spheres around her. She was an angel, and agent of the king of the heavens sent to kill him.

"The sacred Ka! Release them Yu-" The crying words of an artist were silenced mid-sentence. Atem lurched around to see Pegasus fall from the roof of the mansion into a fountain. He wanted to feel sorry for the fortune teller, but his focus was on the red sphere that flew from Pegasus's general direction back to the woman he had seen. They rotated around her, and obviously she was out to kill with these devices as they seemed under her control. Atem was completely lost to grasp the situation, as he felt completely virgin to these experiences after such a gap in time.

The Ka. . . The spirits sealed in stone of great phantom kings and demon lords, sealed by his father only to have been released time and time again throughout history. . . The inspiration for the Duel Monsters card game. . . And for a time, the guardian of the Pharaoh himself.

Atem reached into the bag behind him and fixed the leather deck box he had at the hilt he had formed back in the time of Seto Kaiba's "Battle City" tournament. He understood the message Pegasus had given before being knocked witless into the fountain. He heard footsteps shuffle behind him as his friends sought to tend to the fallen soothsaye, so Atem had no worries other than this angel woman before him. He knew his deck through and through, and these representations of the Ka spirit of long ago could technically handle an opponent of this kind by the game's rules. Whether his Millenium Items and the powers evoked by his returned memory could handle a battle such as this had yet to be tested.

"I am the Agent of Creation, Venus. I am the life giver, and the life taker. Good bye, king of man and Earth."