Alright, this is my first fanfic this year. Please review and tell me what you think. I would very much appreciate it if one of the people on my Favorite Authors list reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, not even a page.

Prologue- Forgotten

The man's sandals stepped without a sound through the corridors of the ancient catacombs. In his hand he held a strange rod, seemingly made of solid gold. On the end was an orb, also of gold, imprinted with the eye of Horus1, with two pieces like the wings of a bat on either side. While the gold reflected the light coming from the torches, the eye made a light of its own. It was by this light that the man was led to the room he was searching for.

The room was rather small in comparison to the others. In it was a tablet, with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was obviously well kept, and mostly perfect for its ancient age. In front of it stood an altar, showing reverence to the tablet. The man stopped, and kneeled in front of it. After a few moments, he stood and withdrew a book from within his clothes. The book, much like the tablet, showed the same signs of living through many times; worn, the pages torn and tattered, but still perfect…

For the first time that night, he spoke. "You are a curse upon this family," he said, eyes on the book, filled with disgust. The book did not reply. "I will make sure the prophecy that you propose will never came to pass…" With that, the man thrust the rod forward and shouted an ancient word that had been nearly lost in time.

The eye glowed more then ever and the man watched as the book shuddered, and erupted into flames. The fire engulfed it, climbing up and surrounding the book like a fiery halo. And then it was gone, only white ash showing it had once existed. The man rubbed the ash into the sand. With an odd, satisfied smile, the man exited the room.

A wind whistled as it blew a single page across the room.

All things are trapped in a cycle, a never-ending circle. Somehow, sometime, the circle began somewhere…and it can never be escaped.

And the page vanished, forgotten once again.

1. The Millennium eye, the symbol of the Millennium Items, is actually the eye of Horus, the symbol for the son of Isis and Osiris. He was also the last god to be king of Egypt, and invested his spirit into every human Pharaoh after him. (a.k.a. Yami/Atemu)

I love being so vague and short. But I promise (most) of the chapters won't be like this one. But it's a good start, no? If someone wants to take a shot at who the man is, the setting, and/or the tablet go ahead. If not, this part will be made clear at the end of the very last chapter.

Chapter 1- The Beginning of the End

Sunlight streamed from the window, illuminating the figure of a girl. She began to roll over to cast her face away from the harsh morning sunlight, but took a harsh breath and stopped. Had anyone been there to see her, one could see her tanned Egyptian skin, with long, rather messy black hair. She was pretty, for a young ten-year-old, but her most astounding feature was her eyes. At that moment she awoke revealing eyes the color of amethysts, bright with a young girl's glee and curiosity.

Fully awake, she tried to lift her head, but sudden waves of nausea and pain kept her down. The girl turned her head to the door, and now her affliction could clearly be seen. Her entire face, with the exception of her eyes and mouth, was wrapped in linen bandages.

A young boy appeared in the doorway that the girl was looking at. "Selket!" He called eagerly. The boy that had appeared was about two or three years older then the girl, with electric blue eyes and shoulder length white hair. Selket sat up slowly and spoke a quiet greeting to her fellow youth, smiling.

A thirteen-year-old Bakura ran across the room and landed with a heap next to Selket lying on the sheets. He was wearing a white kilt1 , with a sash with a large pouch around his waist. His chest was bare at the moment, and even though he was young showed signs of hard labor. Bakura also had three noticeable scars on the left side of his face, carved with the Knife of True Kings, an experience Selket had witnessed weeks before. It was the initiation every child at the age of ten received in Kul Elna, Egypt. The village of Kul Elna was renounced for being home to the best thieves and tomb robbers around the world. However, proof of this could never be found.

At that moment, a woman entered the room. She looked like an adult-sized version of Selket. "Bakura," Selket's mother, Tauret, said, worriedly, "be careful, dear. You remember how much it hurt when you received the initiation." Bakura stopped and looked thoughtful. Tauret walked up to Selket and kneeled so that she was eye level with Selket. Slowly and carefully, she unwrapped the bandages around Selket's face.

Selket leaned against her mother's hands, warm and gentle, eyes closing when she finally felt the hands touch her skin that had been wrapped for so long. Then she remembered Bakura was there. "Mo-om!" Selket shouted, pushing away. Tauret only chuckled. She stood and said, "You can go outside today, both of you," Bakura and Selket looked up eagerly. "Outside the-" "But you must stay inside the village," Tauret finished. With that, Tauret exited her home to do her chores.

There was silence between the two friends, Selket looking downtrodden. "It's no fair!" said Selket angrily. Bakura just looked at her, surprised. "You haven't been able to speak for weeks, and that's the first thing you say? I remember when I got my bandages off, I said the same first sentence I said as a baby."

"And what was that?"

"Mommy, I got a shit."2 Selket was on her on her stomach laughing. Bakura only grinned at his own joke. Selket stopped after a while (her new scars were starting to hurt), and trying to regain herself, said, "Seriously, Bakura. I've never been out of the village in my life! I thought at least my Mother would take me out of Kul Elna, like your fa-" Bakura leaned forward and put his hand on her mouth. Selket stopped talking, and he slowly removed his hand. Bakura's voice lowered to a whisper. "Shhh, that's a secret, remember? You're not supposed to leave unless you've finished training. Especially if you're a girl." Selket shuddered at the word "training". Under the noses of the guards sent from the palace, special children were trained in the "ways of the thief". Both her and Bakura were being trained, and it was long, hard, and most of the time even more painful then receiving the scars. In Selket's case, her father was in charge of training her. Khonsu, his name was. Khonsu taught her how to pick pockets, hide in shadows. the like. She loved him when he was teaching her new things. But sometimes he hurt her…3 But Bakura didn't need to know that.

"Selket! Selket, are you listening?" Bakura's voice floated over her and came down, breaking her thoughts. "What?" Bakura sighed. "If your not going to listen to me anyway, I might as well take you," he said. Selket jumped onto Bakura, hugging him, knocking him over in the process. He laughed and then smiled, "I'll take that as a thank you. We'll go, but you have to promise never to reveal this to anyone. Pinky promise?" Selket got off Bakura and smiled even wider. "Pinky promise," she said, as their fingers linked.

They shook fingers, and they broke the link. Bakura hesitated, then withdrew a book from his large pouch. He handed it to Selket.

"What's this thing?" Selket asked, thumbing through the papyrus book. The blank contents baffled her.

"It's called a diary. The older girls in the village have them, and I figured…that is, I thought you'd like one too. You write things you've done in them and-and things you hope for. Things like that," Bakura said quickly. He wasn't used to "girl things" like that.

Selket stopped looking at the book and shifted her gaze to Bakura, emotion in her eyes. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

Bakura returned the gaze, saying, "Remember your promise. We go tomorrow morning, when your Mother leaves." With that, Bakura left the house, Selket staring after him.

Hello Diary,

Mi name is Selket. it feels funny saying my name to a book but my friend Bakura gave you to me so its Ok. He pinkypromised me to go out kul elna tomorrow. Thats our village.

i was getting ready most of today. i was geting mi money when i triped over a book like you. It looked hard but it was soft like moms hands. It has weird stuf in it like How to Obtain the Power of Darkness and stuf. It says that word darkness and shadows a lot too.

i'm ready for tommorow and I think I'll bring you along. In my prayers to the gods and goddesses I thanked Ra the Almighty for Bakura and you too. im going to bed soon.

Selket put the diary and her etching stick underneath her sleeping cloths. She had written by the light of a burning torch, dipping the etching stick in the black ash to form the words on the papyrus. She had been careful not to wake her parents, especially her father, and did not want to risk being caught a moment longer. Even as a ten-year-old she knew staying awake at this time of night would not please them, and if they found out she could read, she knew father would hurt her again. She was about to douse the torch when she hesitated. Slowly, she fumbled under her sleeping cloths for a strange, almost unfamiliar feel. Grasping what she sought, she brought out another book.

The book was like she had described it in her diary; it was yellowish-pink with black around the edges, with the eye of Horus imprinted in the middle. She touched it with her hand, palm-down on the cover, and felt a rush of…something.

Without quite knowing it, Selket opened the book and found herself looking at a page labeled "The Way….". With her mediocre reading ability, Selket could not read the rest of the title. Looking down the page, she saw a few simple lines. She began to read aloud.

"Lord of Darkness, Master of Cha-os, grant me that which I…I de…de-sire…"

Selket leaned closer to the torchlight, as the room seemed to grow darker.

"Give me the power of tha..the Dark fire.."
Darker still. "Destruction when the need is dire…"

"I give a piece of my soul to the sire"

The book flew out of the young girls hands and lay open, floating a good three feet off the floor. Selket began to scream when a black fire engulfed her, cutting off her voice. She couldn't move or even cry as the fire lifted her off the floor. It swirled about her, not painful but not pleasant. And then the words she had read from the book glowed, red like blood, and disappeared. Selket's opened eyes looked confused for a moment, then they shut tight from sharp jolts of pain.

A twisting, binding pattern was engraving itself into her arm, leaving a trail of blood on her arm. If she could talk she would be screaming and crying and…but the Darkness held her back.

Darkness?

Selket looked around, confused. The book was in her hands. No fire surrounded her. Nothing was wrong that she could see.

Selket lay down on the sleeping cloths, confused from her child's nightmare but ready to sleep. It wasn't until she closed her eyes that she remembered. There was no light from the torch anymore.

Alright, alright. That was weird. Sorry there wasn't much romance or angst in that, but I was just laying the outline down in that chapter. Its only the beginning. Please R & R.

1. I think thats what the clothing they wore was. If somebody knows the actual name, please tell me.

2. Hey, back when you were 10, the worst and funniest thing you could do was curse.

3. Details later, if you'd like.