Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, and that's final. Unlike my other story I refuse to say it over and over again. This is the only time I'll say it in this story. Check my first Yugioh story if you want confirmation, I said it thirty-nine times, forty counting this one, and that's my limit. I'm done, caput! Ceased to be!

Author's Note: Well, here it is, the prologue to the sequel to the wonderful(hopefully you thought so cause I did) story What Was, What Is, and What Shall Be. This is a very brief chapter, just letting you all know. Also, for those of you who are stumbling across this fic, I must warn you that much of it won't make sense if you don't read my previously mentioned story first. So go on and read it, I'm sure you shall enjoy. Believe me, it gets better as it goes. It's under the penname: thegymrat.

Shadowed Light Of My Heart

Prologue: What Things May Pass

Two figures stood next to a table, staring at it intently. One was farther off to the side, hoping without hope that the other would fail. The one closest to the table examined every angle very carefully, and then chose his shot. He lined the pool queue up, and with practiced ease he sent the balls rolling on their needed course. "Eight ball, center pocket."

His words rang true, and the ball fell neatly into the pocket. Cheers erupted from the crowd, and his opponent dropped his head in shame. It had been a long series, a long road to get here. He had worked hard for this, and now victory was his. He, who had no full knowledge of his past, was now the reigning champion of Pool throughout the world. "And the winner is Dalin Sumatin!"

He accepted the cheers with just a nod of his head, knowing full well that he had earned every bit of that praise. He was the highest rank player in the game of Duel Monsters, he was now the highest ranked player in the game of Pool. There were a few other games he had his sights set on, but for the moment he could continue his past searching using the quarter million that he had won as the prize money of this tournament.

The past was the past, and though he tried not to think of it, it was always there, waiting to consume him. That was why he had to know the truth, he had to know who he was. He had to recover every last piece of who he had been and connect it with who he was now. It had been Malik Ishtar who had placed a barrier between him and his memories, but something had made him lose them in the first place. "I will learn the truth." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The cloaked figure pressed the power button and watched as the TV winked out. He sat there, staring blankly at the television set for a few more minutes before he finally moved. When he did, he simply rose up and grabbed a pile of cards off the bedside stand provided at the hotel.

There had been something familiar about the man he had seen on television, something that struck a nerve in his memories. He had to know, he had to seek the truth. Was this the lead he had been hoping for? Was this what had been alluding him for these past several years?

He shoved open the door, already turning on his cell phone and making a call. He had a flight to arrange, he had to make certain that a few things happened. He had to track this man, he had to make sure that wherever the other was, that was where he would be. "I will learn the truth." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The various visitors to Kaiba Land were all cheering for their personal favorite. It was a very special event that they were seeing, something that they had only seen happen once. It was being broadcast all over Kaiba Land as a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch two of the worlds top duelists duke it out.

"I sacrifice my Battle Ox and La Jinn in order to summon this mighty beast, the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Everyone watching cheered as Seto Kaiba, owner of Kaiba Land and one of the top duelists in the world summoned his second Blue Eyes which let out a roar and took its place next to its brother.

On Kaiba's field were the two Blue Eyes and a single placed card. His opponent had a set monster, and two face down cards. Kaiba's life points stood at a powerful three thousand, whereas his opponent had only nineteen hundred life points. "Face it. With all of your strongest monsters destroyed by my Crush Card and ten of your magic cards eliminated by my Anti-Magic Viral Cannon, you don't stand a chance."

His opponent smirked and gestured for Kaiba to continue. It was true that he had no monsters left with over fifteen attack points, and he had lost a good number of magic cards, but he was far from defenseless. "I'm ready for whatever you've got Kaiba. Daisuke Ihachi backs down to nobody." Kaiba just smirked right back.

This was the first time they had dueled since Battle City. This time it was just to make the spectators cheer, but both of them were determined to claim victory. Kaiba's Crush Card had pulled him ahead early on, but Drake was holding on quite well. "My first Blue Eyes will attack your set monster!"

"Reveal face down card, Shrink!" Drake's card flipped up, reducing the attack power of the Blue Eyes to fifteen hundred. The blazing white attack of the dragon collided with Drake's set monster, which was revealed to be the Mystic Elf with two thousand defense points. The attack bounced off, saving Drake and dropping Kaiba's life points to twenty-five hundred.

"The second Blue Eyes will attack!" Kaiba's attack was chained by Drake's second set card, the Mechanical Magic Mirror trap card. The image that appeared in the machine's mirror was that of Enemy Controller. Drake chose its destruction effect and as his life points fell to nine hundred the Blue Eyes was destroyed.

Now it was Drake's turn, and he was going to turn this around for him. "I play Ultimate Revolution!" By sacrificing his elfin monster all the face down cards on the field were shuffled into the deck, and he then got to draw five new cards. He surveyed his cards and smirked, selecting the cards that would make this more even.

"I play Monster Reborn to revive the Black Magician of Chaos, and I'll retrieve Shrink and play it." Next he attacked with his magician, destroying the first Blue Eyes and removing it from the game, dropping Kaiba's life points to a meager twelve hundred, only three hundred higher then Drake's. Drake continued by setting two cards face down, and then he finished his turn.

Kaiba grinned as he started his turn and activated the Life Slashing Treasure. He drew five new cards into his hand, giving him a whole new set of options. The crowd continued to cheer, and they continued to duel. This was how it was for them, a competition between two of the greatest duelists in the world.

One person in the crowd was watching with very special interests in mind. He watched their moves, and watched one of them in particular. He smiled, thinking back to the things he had learned long ago. "I am certain it is him. Once our plans our completed, then the Immortal One will rise again." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Kya!" All it took was that one final kick, and his opponent went down. The referee declared him the winner of the match, he made his bow, and then he left. It had been like this in all the tournaments he had entered since the end of Battle City. He would win them all, but he couldn't get his losses at Battle City out of his head. He couldn't get one image out of his head.

A burning green symbol, a six-pointed star that offered such great and wonderful power. All the power he had, as strong a person as he was, that symbol offered him even more then he had. He could become better then he ever thought he could be. He could achieve heights of skill normally unattainable. All he had to do was find a way to make that power his. "The power of Orichalcos…….I swear I'll find it again." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The creature, once a person, had been in his prison for a very long time. He had waited for millennia for his release, and now perhaps that time was drawing near. All he needed to do was to escape this prison through the means he had set aside before he became imprisoned.

He could never truly be dead, those fools should have known that. That was why he was called the Immortal One, for he could not die. He would always remain, and he would rise again to bring about the order from chaos that he failed to achieve so long ago. His mortal enemy had bested him, and he had fallen into darkness.

When he rose once more he would bring vengeance upon his enemy, and he would rip the chaos apart and replace it with a new order, his order. An order that, like him, would last for all time. He would be free, oh yes, that was being seen to. But there was one force he had to contend with…….he just had to decide how to deal with it when the time came.
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A man with two different colored eyes sat cross legged in an ancient looking temple. He stared straight ahead at a statue, contemplating the nature of all things. Thinking of his past and what it had brought him too. Slowly he rose from his sitting position and turned.

Standing at the foot of the steps were three figures who would serve him until their deaths. They were his right and left hands. They carried out his utmost desires because he had specifically chosen them to be loyal to not the cause, but to their own emotions, their own pasts. "It is nearly time. Find for me any new soldiers that you can, and then upon my word you will strike. Tread carefully with the Nameless Pharaoh though test him first. And bring me this one, I wish to speak to him."

He passed the picture to the leader of his soldiers, and then turned away. He heard acknowledgments and promises of success, but he ignored them. These three were no longer his concern for the time being. They could take care of themselves. He smiled as they departed, and he began to laugh on the inside. Mankind would perish, so long as he did everything right. "Soon the offerings will be brought forth, soon all that must come to pass, will come to pass."
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A group of five men stood in a circle, each one wearing a robe of pitch black, with white lines around the sleeves and legs. The hoods that were pulled up, covering their faces in shadow, had a symbol of what looked like a Noh mask on it, and on the left breast of each was the infinity symbol. They were busy chanting, and a three dimensional image of Drake and Kaiba's duel was suspended before them. The chants were unusual, not just because of who was chanting them, but because the language was unlike anything that had been heard by human ears for the longest time. It was an ancient language, long forgotten, that had faded in the sands of time.

They watched as the duel continued, with both players giving it their all, pulling off risky combos, struggling back and forth between each other. When at last the end came, the five men ceased their chanting, and the image faded away. The circle broken as in unison the robed men turned to face a group of nine people, all of whom were covered by the shadows of the night. The robed man at the far left spoke first. "Each of you has your purpose."

The second one, the one right next to him, spoke up next. "You will carry out these tasks without fail, or you will become useless. If you have no purpose, then you are nothing." Next his companion to the right of him spoke up, his voice similarl in tone. It was as if they were preaching.

"All your lives are made only for the use by the Immortal One's guidance. You do only as he asks. His purpose is your purpose." In a similar manner the one to his right, the fourth of them took up the speach. It was spoken as if by rote, yet with the full force of true conviction. The power that only those who truly believed could have.

"You are all basked in the Immortal One's vast wisdom and power. Without it you would be nothing, for he is your purpose. He is your life. Abandon the Immortal One and you abandon all of life." A steady breeze of wind picked up, yet despite the chilly gust not a single layer of fabric on any of those five men's robes moved. Their robes were not touched by the wind. It was as if they weren't even there.

"To abandon life is to choose death. All those who choose death find themselves cast into the world of the dead, where all is chaos. Order is life, and life is Order. Chaos is death, and death is Chaos. Embrace the divinity of the Immortal One into yourself, embrace his all consuming purpose, and you will forever be embraced by his light. By his Order." At last the five of them spoke together, their voices all the more terrifying when combined.

"When you are embraced by his Order you will be free from Chaos, when you know only his purpose you will truly be freed from the horrors of death, of chaos, of purposelessness. The Immortal One is Order, the Immortal One is Life, the Immortal One is Purpose, the Immortal One is Light, and the Immortal One is the true God of man. Embrace your true God and be free of all worries, all doubts, all fears. Embrace your true God and become one with him. Become one with the Immortal One and ascend to the heavens with him! Only by embracing the Immortal One can any of mankind recieve their eternal reward! Seek not chaos, but the power of the Immortal One. The Power of Order."

As soon as the five men finished speaking the nine people in the shadows started talking, their voices dry and emotionless. Filled with no traces of doubt, fear, or worries. They simply spoke. But within thos words was that power, the power of the truly convicted. These were believers. "Each person has a purpose. Failure causes lose of purpose. Without purpose we are nothing. We follow the guidance of the Immortal One without fail. We do only as he wishes. His purpose is our purpose. We are basked in the Immortal One's vast wisdom and power. Without it we are nothing, for he is our purpose. He is our life. To abandon the Immortal One is to abandon all of life. To abandon life is to choose death. All those who choose death are cast into the world of the dead, where all is chaos. Order is life, and life is Order. Chaos is death, and death is Chaos. We embrace the divinity of the Immortal One into ourselves, embracing his all consuming purpose, and we are embraced by his light, by his Order. Embraced in his Order we are free from Chaos. We know only his purpose and we are freed from the horrors of death, of chaos, of purposelessness. The Immortal One is Order, the Immortal One is Life, the Immortal One is Purpose, the Immortal One is Light, and the Immortal One is the true God of man. By embracing our true God we are freed of all worries, all doubts, all fears. By embracing our true God we become one with him, become one with the Immortal One and ascend t othe heavens with him. By embracing the Immortal One we mankind can recieve our eternal reward. We seek not chaos, but the power of the Immortal One. The Power of Order."

For a moment there was silence, for a moment there was nothing but the darkness. Then the ground between the two groups of people broken open, and light burst forth. It swirled around like dancing fireflies, and formed itself into an image that looked down upon them all. It was a pale white mask, with a red pattern covering the left eye. A curving thick black line ran from the bottom of the right eye to the corner of the mask. At the top was glowing symbol, two ovals intertwined. The symbol of infinity. This mask stared down at them out of its blank eyes, and then a voice crashed down upon their minds, beating them to their knees, filling them with both terrible agony and exquisite pleasure.

"LISTEN TO MY VOICE MORTALS OF ORDER! I WILL GRANT YOU PURPOSE!" And they cried, for their God gave them the right to live.
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And so it would be. Throughout the lands voices spoke in whispered tones of hidden rumors and thoughtless falsehoods. They told tall tales and chuckled in corners as they filled their hours with idle banter. Yet there was the truth hidden in their words.

Each amongst them would turn away from their petty talk and stare into the distance, their gazes becoming blank. Each one would mutter under their breath, too low to be heard, in fierce and frightened tones. Each one would say, "It's coming. The End is coming." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: See, I told you it was short. Really short. But then I don't see why a prologue or epilogue should be long. Oh, and that duel. I actually do know what happens, as I have the duel scripted. I also know exactly how it gets to that point. Note on that, when we see it, that isn't the beginning of Kaiba's turn, he has already done some stuff. I just jumped to that point. Anyways, I hope you all liked it. Remember, read and review!

Original Cards

Drake: Ultimate Revolution

Anime Original Cards

Kaiba: Life Slashing Treasure

Drake: Mechanical Magic Mirror