Sorry it's been so long since I updated, but you wouldn't believe the amount of schoolwork I've had recently. Also, it took me a little while to come up with some of the background for this story, which is recounted in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Tournament of the Millennium!

Chapter 13: Understanding and Comprehension - Packages

Yami peered into the darkness. The woman, whoever it had been, had completely faded out of sight. He turned to Yami Bakura, who seemed slightly perturbed at the unexpected interruption. As Yami opened his mouth to talk, Bakura cut him off.

"Before you say anything Pharaoh, let's get one thing straight. I won that duel."

Yami's face darkened slightly and he replied icily, "Actually, I was about to activate Mirror Force, so your Dokuroyaiba would have been slain. Then I could have summoned the Dark Blade in my hand and won."

Bakura smirked slightly as he shook his head.

"A good thing I had Trap Jammer on the field then, since that would have negated the Mirror Force. Face it, you would have lost." Bakura chuckled snidely. Yami simply closed his eyes and laughed gravely.

"I expected some sort of card to stop it, so that's why I had my facedown Riryoku, which would have stolen half of Dokuroyaiba's ATK, so I would have been left with 300 Life Points. Then I would have done 800 Damage to you next turn by destroying Dokuroyaiba. And then I would finish you by attacking with Chimera the Mythical Beast. So I would have won." Yami folded his arms and nodded to himself.

"Not so. I had Magic Jammer on the field as well, so Riryoku would have been prevented. I won," Bakura declared with a hint of finality in his voice. At this, Yami roared with frustration.

"Damn it, Tomb Robber, don't you think I was prepared for that play? I had Mirror Reflex Panel to reuse my Blood-Sealing Magic, so you couldn't have stopped Riryoku. Then I would win the next turn." Bakura was also getting mad and yelled back at Yami in reply to this.

"Is that so? Well guess what Pharaoh? The card I would have sent to the Graveyard with Magic Jammer was a rare card known as Shield of Dead Souls. If it's in the Graveyard, I can end 1 Battle Phase by removing it from the game. Then it would have been my turn and who knows what I would have drawn. And since I was winning when the duel was cut short, I OBVIOUSLY WON!" yelled Bakura stubbornly. Just behind him someone coughed nervously.

Yami and Bakura snapped their eyes away from each other and looked around. They were back in the ballroom and from the looks of it, had been for a while. Both of them flushed red slightly and reverted to their spiritual state, so Yugi and Ryou regained control. They looked quickly at each other and then hurried out of the room.

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Yugi was relaxing in his room when Yami materialized beside him. Yugi didn't make any signal to show that he had realized that Yami was present, but Yami could tell that Yugi knew.

"Yugi. I have something to tell you. The reason the duel was cut short was that somebody pulled us to the Shadow Realm. There was a woman there who mentioned that something by the name of Legion is approaching. I have a bad feeling about this."

Yugi looked at Yami with wide eyes. When he spoke his voice was filled with disbelief.

"No way! Again? Why is it that every tournament I attend somehow has an ulterior and usually evil motive?" grumbled Yugi. Suddenly the phone rang. It's clear ringing cut through the tension of the room like a knife and Yugi stared at it with worry. Slowly, he reached out and picked up the phone…

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"Package for you, Mr Moto. No, no idea who it is from. Yes, certainly, I'll be holding it for you when you come down." The clerk hung up the phone and stared at the non-descript brown package, then dropped it into a draw in her desk and turned back to her computer. Her eyebrows creased in confusion. The word processor was open. All of a sudden, the keyboard began to type by itself, words rapidly appearing on the screen.

Tell Moto that Legion says felicitations and welcome.

The clerk blinked and rubbed her eyes. Her computer was back to normal.

"Um, is anything wrong miss?" asked a quiet voice behind her. The clerk started slightly, then turned around. A ball of red, black and yellow spiky hair was in front of her.

"Oh, not at all Mr Moto. I just drifted off I think. You'll be wanting your package then?"

The girl seemed to say this very quickly, and her hands were shaking as she reached for the package. That hallucination had filled her with dread for some reason. She felt compelled to obey it. Just as Yugi turned to walk away, she placed her hand on his arm. He turned back to her, his eyes questioning.

"Someone told me to say hi to you. No, that's not it. The message was felicitations and welcome from…" she trailed off. Her body felt cold, like there was a cool wind, although it was a very warm day. Yugi tried to prompt her.

"From…?"

The girl took a deep breath and replied as calmly as she could, "Nobody in particular. Just a fan." Yugi looked relieved. He'd felt sure it would be more ominous than that.

"Oh, okay. Well, see you later Claire!" He bounced away, the package firmly in his grip. He headed towards the lounge room.

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"So what's with the package Yuge?" inquired Joey curiously. Yugi looked down at the brown paper-covered object and shrugged his shoulders.

"No idea. Let's open it and find out what it is." Yugi tore the paper away to reveal a thick, musty book with a gold cover. Tea, Tristen and Ryou drew in a quick breath as they saw the ornate Eye of Horus that was embossed into the cover. Yugi ran his fingers over it slowly, lost in thought. Then he clicked his translator and folded the eyepiece over so that he could read the English text.

"The Myths and Magicks of the Ancient Realm, by Ashid Khasut," murmured Yugi quietly. He flipped the book open to the contents page and looked at the yellowed page.

"Wow. It sure looks old." Mai bent in closer to see it better. "And it smells old too."

Joey tried to crane his neck so he could see the book better and also get a better view of Mai's cleavage. He was distracted from his observations by one of the sub-headings in the contents, however. He jabbed his finger at it, almost knocking Yugi over in the process.

"Hey, check it out. The Millennium Items. Page 37. You should check it out Yuge. I think that whoever sent this to you wanted you to see this part."

Yugi sat down and turned to page 37, then began to read aloud.

"The Millennium Items were a set of seven items crafted by the Pharaoh Anakudin, father of the legendary Unknown Pharaoh. Each was said to possess dark and powerful magic. The Millennium Items were used to bring about peace within Anakudin's region, but it came at a high cost, for the metal from which the Millennium Items were crafted was formed from the sacrifice of 100 dark souls who were thrown alive into a molten pot of gold and various other base metals." Yugi stopped, aghast at how the Millennium Items had come into being. After he calmed down, Yugi continued to read.

"The seven Items were described as being an Unsolvable Puzzle, the Key to the Soul, the Eye that Sees All, the Scales of Justice, the Staff of the Mind, the Thieves' Ring and the Foreseeing Necklace. Given their descriptions from various sources, it is currently believed that the seven items have the following powers:

The Unsolvable Puzzle – Records of this items usage are hazy at best, but it is said to be the key to calling the Gods. It has also been proposed that this item holds the spirit of the Unknown Pharaoh, the last man to have been recorded as it's possessor. This theory is, of course, quite ludicrous and has nothing to support it.

The Key to the Soul – Supposedly able to see the very form of ones soul and discern whether it is pure or not.

The Eye that Sees All – This Item is purported to be able to read one's thoughts.

The Scales of Justice – Another hazy description provides little to theorize about, though it has been put forward that this Item had some way of punishing the guilty.

The Staff of the Mind – This item has been portrayed in various ways throughout history. Some carvings from the time of Anakudin, about 3214 BC, show it to be a staff about 4 furlongs in length, or about 5 feet. Other carvings from the same date show it to be more like a small rod of about 18 inches. Many revered Egyptologists state that this is a stylized image and that the long staff was more likely to be the real length. Just to add a twist to this mystery, both the Staff and the Rod are generally accepted to be topped with a sphere on which the Eye of Set is adorned, with wings stretching from this sphere. In some carvings in the most sacred ritual temples of the time, there are images of a knife that is also crowned by a winged sphere. No matter what form the actual Staff of the Mind is, it is well documented that the Most High Priest Set, the advisor to the Unknown Pharaoh, used it and that it had the ability to brainwash people.

The Thieves' Ring – This ring is not recorded to have any type of power whatsoever and general consensus holds that it was merely an item created to hold the bitter souls of the 100 criminals sacrificed to create the metal for these items. Though no powers have been recorded some historians suppose that, being the Ring of Thieves, it had the ability to track down other Millennium Items and disrupt their usage. This idea is, however, completely unfounded and is pure fantasy.

The Foreseeing Necklace – This item is alleged to have the ability to allow the user to see the future. Whether the viewer can change the future is still a source of debate even now.

All of the items are believed to be able to draw the user and others around him into a Shadow Game, which was played using black magic. Little is known of this practice"

Yugi stopped for a breath and looked over the rest of the section. He flicked over the pages, talking as he went.

"It looks pretty detailed, but also vague at the same time. There's about twenty pages or so. I think I'll have a closer look later, but for now…"

Yugi trailed off as he stared at the next section after the Millennium Items. He began to read it in a hushed voice.

"The Millennia Items were rumored to have been created by Anakudin VI, the great-great-great-great grandson of the Unknown Pharaoh. There is far more information about the Millennia Items available than that of the Millennium Items. It is known that there were only three Millennia Items in existence, but that each had the power of three Millennium Items. They were the Millennia Shield, Sword and Amulet.

There is very little information about how the Millennia Items were created, but it is rumored that 10,000 had to be killed in order to create them. But what would have brought about such dire need for these three items of legendary power?

The Scrolls of 1000 Years, also known as the Millennia Scrolls, from which most information about the Millennia Items was procured, point to a war between the Egyptians and the Greeks. Most information is believed to have been lost in the Great Fire of the Alexandria Library, but through collation of information from various sources, historians have come to believe that the Greeks had set upon Anakudin VI's region with an army that surpassed one million, an unstoppable titan of an army in ancient times. In his desperation Anakudin VI called upon his priests to craft more powerful variants of the Millennium Items and thus, the Millennia Items were created.

Anakudin VI donned a suit of armour crafted from the magical metal, which was named Kaaritalc, or roughly translated, Charichalcum. This metal was said to be so dark it absorbed light and was so dense that not even the sharpest blade could penetrate it, yet was so light that it was like wearing thatch-straw cladding. The armour was unusual for that day and age, but it is believed it was crafted not so much for protection but to instill fear in the heart of his foes. Then, taking up the Shield, Sword and Amulet, Anakudin VI created a shield of shadows around his region that trapped the Ka of all who dared touch it, protecting his kingdom.

Anakudin VI marched out to face the Grecian army at the borders of Saudi Arabia and so it was that he fought the million-man army. The Greeks bombarded him with projectiles from their catapults and ballistae but to no avail. It seems that the Shield could protect him from any attack with a shield of darkness similar to that which shrouded his monarchy. His sword was said to glow in the light of one thousand shadows and with it he cut through legions of the Greeks. They fought for three weeks until the Greeks retreated, half their force annihilated. From the safety of the Mediterranean Sea they sent out a boat with a single boy to confront the great pharaoh.

The boy, of whom no name has been found, no more than 16 years of age, and armed only with a dagger and the leather straps which bound his hands, opposed Anakudin VI and then the Battle of the Millennia began. Anakudin charged at the boy, and with a great swipe that created thunder and lightning, he brought the sword down upon the boy. But somehow he missed. The boy taunted him and with speed that many times over has been recorded as being bestowed upon him by the gods began to fight Anakudin VI. They fought all day and all night, neither tiring, neither gaining the advantage. Blows that could shatter mountains and empty seas were thrown but never connected. The two continued to battle. They fought for 40 days and 40 nights and on the stroke of the dead hour, Anakudin finally hit the boy. The boy's stomach was torn open and he was left mortally wounded. But as Anakudin began to gloat, the boy called to the gods for assistance and they, being aware of how the world balance would shift if Anakudin were to reign, bestowed him with all the power of Atlas for a final battle. His wound healed and he threw a final punch at Anakudin VI. Caught unaware, Anakudin VI was hit on the chest, and inexorably, the Millennia Amulet cracked. Then the boy collapsed from exhaustion and passed away.

With the Millennia Amulet ruined, Anakudin VI was defeated and his wall of shadows faded. Anakudin VI also passed away and a treaty was formulated between the Greeks and the Egyptians, due to mutual fear of the power of the Millennia Items. They were sealed away and have not been seen since.

The Millennia Sword was said to represent the physical dimension of the body and was able to cut through anything. It is said to become stronger with the blood of each slain foe.

The Millennia Shield was said to represent the intellectual dimension of the body and was impenetrable. It is said to be able to drain the power of other magic-users for it's own usage.

The Millennia Amulet was said to represent the spiritual dimension of the body and was able to manipulate any magic for its owner's use. The Millennia Amulet is said to have become flawed from the crack it suffered and that now it is a prison for those spirits unlucky enough to encounter it. Other sources state that each spirit it takes becomes part of a collective super-consciousness, of many cultures and ages. The Millennia Amulet is believed to have been moved from location to location around the world in order to keep it away from the clutches of evil."

Yugi snapped the book shut, shivering slightly. Everyone else looked around at each other, slightly unsure and more that a little spooked for no apparent reason. He gathered it into his arms and glanced at the others.

"What do you guys say to some dueling? I'm falling behind…" he tried to say lightly. However, it did little to pierce the somber atmosphere. Slowly, as if coming out of trances, the others shook their heads and stood up, then they all wandered out together to try to get their minds onto lighter subjects.

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The young European woman pushed her auburn hair out of her eyes and the crystalloid mist that shrouded the wire globe dissipated, taking with it the image of Yugi reading her package. She smiled slightly. He'd found the right section and seemed to have some realization of what it meant. She stood up and looked over the edge of the building she was on top of and glanced at the laptop she held in her other hand. If Yugi didn't hurry up and qualify for round 2, she'd have to forcibly qualify him. It was vital that he reached the finals. Only then could she safely meet him without fear of retribution from the vengeful Legion. Sighing, she snapped her laptop shut and leapt into the air, disappearing in a shimmer of wind. Meanwhile, down below her, Yugi searched for his next duel.