One Journey's End

What you don't know…

Yami Marik steps outside of his Hollywood mansion to a beautiful sunset. He doesn't own the mansion; even in his elderly age, he's killed the previous owner of the building and has assumed his identity. And though this person was well known, no one questions Marik as anyone suspicious strangely loses their memory. And the millennium rod is fine as well.

Some days, Marik is alright. Others, he wants to kill himself just to see the pharaoh once more. He wants to cause him more pain. He wishes he could think of anything else, but if he did he would revert to his former, weaker self. And if that happened, he might not be able to regain this dark consciousness.

His life is pretty boring. He can kill many random people without humanly consequence but he is afraid of the cosmic punishment that grows near as he reaches the end of his life. At one point Marik set off to find the other owners of the millennium items, but gave that task up long ago. Now, his life is without purpose.

On a whim, he decides to visit Egypt. Perhaps his people will take him in and give him some new meaning. But he finds nothing there. With the spirit of the pharaoh banished for another millennium, the Tomb Keeper clan is temporarily disbanded while trying to regain their ranks. Anyone along the bloodline wants nothing to do with Marik's traitorous soul.

While searching Egypt's underworld or crime and desolation, he comes across the existence of an old clan. They are the "Elysian Envoys," a group dedicated to fulfill the burial procedures, including full mummification, of the old Book of the Dead. Ignoring the advances in science, they hold fast to their strong beliefs in the old gods of yore and continue what would now be considered strange practices. Their ambition drives Marik to join.

Being pureblood Egyptians themselves, they already knew of the existence of millennium items, though have never seen one before. With the millennium rod in hand, Marik brought the Elysian Envoys a sort of rebirth they had been searching for. A new strength in their faith developed from this newfound evidence. In his honor, Marik is quickly promoted through the ranks to their leader. He endured several initiation rites of passage from the old days. Thankfully, Marik had long forgotten what pain was.

In the near future, the Elysian Envoys took on a different form. One that rose in power so greatly that even normal citizens enlisted or at least knew of their name. And under the pretense of "Sending new souls to the heaven of the Elysian Fields and evil to the courts of Osiris and Ra" they massacred many non-believers. Disregarding the victims religion, they executed them and buried them according to the old Egyptian rituals, surely sending them to a world never imagined in their holy book.

"The court of Osiris hasn't seen this many souls since that day I sent the pharaoh and his friends to the afterlife."

The police tried to stand in their way, but was quickly decimated by the power of the millennium rod. No one could stand in the way of the Elysian Envoys, who had become an inquisition of sorts. They held a militaristic power in Egypt rivaling that of a dynasty.

One day, however, Marik had a heart attack. Up until now, the clan had not noticed his frailty. His death was approaching. And though he tried to find calm in the place he was going, he knew he could not expect a "warm welcome" from the gods. His friends tried to console him; "You know they will surely be merciful to such a faithful servant" or "There is another part to The Book of the Dead; there is also Coming Forth by Day, remember? You'll be coming back soon my dear friend… someday."

These friendly thoughts could no longer reach him. He was damned for his cruelty. And for all the darkness and loneliness he thought he had known his whole life, he was worried about punishment from the Gods. So worried in fact, that he ordered his men to kill him and perform the rites early. Waiting for death was not as pleasant as it would seem.

The ritual, the "Theban Recension," was performed immediately. He ordered his men to exclude any mention of a certain pharaoh; a last request. And once again, fear. Marik had not felt this in years. He was confident of a negative reception on the other side. But he hoped that Anubis would still warmly welcome him, as both he and Anubis were as cold and lifeless as the many slaughtered by Marik's crushing hatred.