Mirror of the Soul

by Anath Tsurugi

It's Duelist Kingdom. A dark foe from a past that Yami doesn't even remember has come to seek vengence on him. What will Yami do when he discovers the true identity of this deadly assailant? Does he have the strength to kill her a second time?

7. Pleasure and Pain

LE: Mmmm, hello my fuzzies. It's been so long. Where has the time gone? First I was in Disney World and then camp and then France. And then of course there was school and marching band season. I'm just sorry I haven't had any time to write in between.

Kaiba: Why should you be sorry? This story is so cruddy I don't even want to think about it.

LE: That was mean! I was going to let you guys go after the story was over. But just for that I think I'll keep you enslaved here forever!

Yami&Bakura: YOU IDIOT!

LE: Maybe I'll even feed you to my mutated tuna.

Yugi: Sea bass.

Ryou: Mutated sea bass.

Mokuba: Whatever.

LE: As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted…IT WORKS! I FINALLY MADE IT WORK! Sorry, I seriously had this thing ready at the beginning of the school year but my computer's internet connection died and we couldn't make it work! But for some reason it just randomly started working last week. So I decided to subject Mirror of the Soul to an exhaustive editing process. The first conversation between Asinath and Bakura has been reworked and the duel between Logan and Lotaru has been completely rewritten, but do let me know if you spot any mistakes I missed. By the way, I know this chapter is long as hell but bear with me. It needed doing and I think it's pretty good.

Mirror of the Soul

Chapter 7: Pleasure…and Pain

(Lotaru! Wake up! Lotaru! Are you even listening to me?)

Lotaru didn't seem to hear her yami's pleas. She was frozen where she knelt, staring at the man before her. It wasn't possible…and yet there he was.

(Look, Asinath,) Lotaru said to her yami in a daze. (It's my father.)

(Lotaru, listen to me! That is not your father. It can't be. Your father is dead. You saw him die! I don't know how, but this is some illusion of Pegasus's. Snap out of it!)

But Lotaru wouldn't listen…couldn't listen. After all of the suffering, here was something familiar. Something from home. Even though she knew, deep in the core of her being, that it couldn't be, maybe, just maybe, she was waking up. Maybe the whole thing had been a terrible nightmare.

"Daddy?" she whispered hopefully.

"Yes, Lotaru. It's me," he answered as he came to her and lifted her to her feet. Lotaru just stood in the cradle of his embrace, tears streaming down her face.

"But…how?"

"That is a story for another time," he said as he hugged her tighter. But then, she heard another voice in her head.

If you live long enough!

That was when Lotaru finally started to come out of her haze. Something wasn't right here. Her father was dead. And even if he weren't, her father would never hug her so tightly.

Come to think of it, Lotaru thought casually. I can't seem to breathe.

That's what finally made Lotaru snap out of the illusion.

"N-no!" she screamed as she pulled herself free of the creature's death grip on her throat. She instantly crashed to the ground, rubbing her neck and choking as the air came rushing back into her lungs.

As she lay on the ground, concentrating on breathing, she heard wicked laughter somewhere above her. When she finally looked up at the creature she'd thought to be her father, she realized that it was twisting and changing shape before her very eyes. Finally, a young woman stood before her. She wore blue jean shorts and a black denim jacket and blue halter-top. Her skin was pale and her long white hair was pulled back into a ponytail very much like Lotaru's. For all purpose she seemed to be Lotaru's exact opposite.

"What are you?" Lotaru asked as she scrambled back to her feet, unwilling to be at the mercy of this creature.

"Clever thing to ask what I am instead of who I am. But my name is Mnemosyne. And I challenge you to a duel!"

"You're on, Mnemosyne! Just lead the way."

"And in regards to what I am," Mnemosyne continued as she led Lotaru over to a dueling arena. "I'm an eliminator employed by Pegasus to get rid of the weak duelists. Namely you."

"In your dreams. I think you'll find that it's you who's the weak duelist," Lotaru scoffed. "But first off, I want to know how you can change shape like that."

"You will know soon enough," she said once they had reached an arena and mounted the stands. "But I suppose you could say that it's the reason for my existence."

"What do you mean?" Lotaru asked furiously, still shaken from the encounter.

"Enough questions! It's time to bet your star chips. I'm placing the three I have on this match," Mnemosyne said as she laid out the star chips and put her shuffled deck into place.

"I'll do the same, but if three is all you've got than you're even worse off than I thought."

"I think you will find, Lotaru, that it is you who are worse off," Mnemosyne sneered as she drew her first five cards.

Lotaru stopped mid-draw and looked up at Mnemosyne across the playing field in pure shock.

"How do you know my name?"

"Oh, I know much more than your name." As she said this her form began to change again. When the transformation was complete a tall Egyptian man in white robes and a turban stood before her. Around his neck was the Millennium Key and he held the Millennium Scales in his hand.

Lotaru took a step back, and would have continued if she hadn't run into the railing. She didn't know the man's name but she did know that he was where all of this had started.

"I know you possess the eighth item…the Millennium Mirror."

As Mnemosyne took her original shape again Lotaru straightened up, trying to maintain her composure as she drew her first five cards.

"This is just magic to distract me," she said, trying to blow it off. She glanced down at the cards in her hand. The Agent of Creation-Venus(1600/0), Spirit of the Breeze(0/1800), Spirit of the Harp(800/2000), Gift of the Mystical Elf, and Windstorm of Etaqua. Neither magic cards would be of help right off the bat but Venus might help.

Lotaru(2000):Mnemosyne(2000)

"For my first move I play Spirit of the Breeze in attack mode. Then I'll place this facedown and end my turn," Lotaru announced, laying Gift of the Mystical Elf facedown on the field as the green sprite appeared on the field, her blue hair flowing down and mingling with her green dress.

But the instant the two cards hit the field, Lotaru's vision grew hazy. The last thing she saw before the scene disappeared entirely was Mnemosyne's sneering face.

"What are you doing to me?" Lotaru hissed as a new sight appeared before her eyes. She recognized this place.

The walls of the room were painted deep blues and greens. Toys and picture books were scattered around the floor and a white dresser drawer and toy box stood at one end. On the other end, next to a large window, was a bed covered with a blue blanket. This was her old bedroom. In the house she'd lived in in America before her parents' last dig in Egypt. She could see herself, twelve years younger, sitting under the blankets and listening raptly to the woman sitting on the bed beside her. Her mother. She was telling young Lotaru a story.

"What's going on?" Lotaru asked in quiet rage. How could Mnemosyne project this memory?

"I can see your mind, Lotaru," Mnemosyne answered as she appeared beside her. "I have access to every memory inside your head. Whenever you play a card I'll play a memory in your head."

"You mean you can read my mind? So does that mean you can read the cards in my hand before I play them?"

Mnemosyne laughed derisively at this.

"No. Master Pegasus did not give me that kind of power. Only to see what your life has been before you came here. I can force you to remember anything I choose."

"But how?" Lotaru tried to ask. But Mnemosyne had already vanished. When she was gone Lotaru turned her attention back to the bed. She had heard the opening words of the tale her mother was telling and she remembered the story like it was yesterday. It was when she'd first heard of her parents' research. Her mother used to make up fairy tales about ancient Egypt and tell them to her. In truth it was how her parents had met. Her mother, a Native American still in university, had met a Japanese student studying Egyptology abroad. The rest was history. The story her mother was telling now was, in Lotaru's mind, the beginning of her parents' study of the Millennium Items. It had always been Lotaru's favorite. Where her mother had heard the roots of the tale, Lotaru didn't know. But now, reflecting on it years later, the fairy tale hadn't been that far from the truth.

"And what do you suppose Princess Asinath did when she realized that Akhenaden and Isis had betrayed her?" her mother asked mysteriously. And young Lotaru answered, her eyes wide with wonder.

"She wan away! She escaped from da palace."

"That's right," her mother said with a smile. "Leaving her mother and brother behind, Asinath escaped into the desert, only wanting to be free of the people who were trying to use her."

With that, her mother got up from the bed and went to turn out the lights.

"Aw, Mommy, how come you never finish da story?" Lotaru whined.

"Because I don't know how the story ends. That's what Daddy and I are trying to figure out."

"Well, wha do you tink happened to Asinath?"

"You know, Lotaru…I really don't know."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth then the memory began to fade from Lotaru's eyes and she could hear Mnemosyne's voice in her head.

"Now for the second memory."

The new vision that came to Lotaru was about three years later, at her parents' last dig before the incident. A tomb had been discovered in the temple city of Karnak. And a queen's tomb none the less. This was unusual in that the ancient Egyptians did not bury their dead in temples to their gods. Anyone less than a Pharaoh was unworthy of the honor of lying beside the gods. Besides, according to the time frame this queen should have either been laid to rest with her king in the Valley of the Kings or given the honor of her own tomb in the nearby Valley of the Queens. Royal burials just weren't conducted this way. If a deity's cult center was located in a certain city then priests or priestesses might be buried in that deity's temple in order to continue service in the afterlife but that wasn't even the case here.

The queen's tomb had been found in a temple dedicated to Sekhmet, the lioness goddess, and destructive form of the Goddess Hathor. Sekhmet was not usually worshipped in her own right outside of the double goddess's cult center, located a ways down the river in Dendera. But what was really strange about this tomb was that the wall paintings acknowledged this queen as the Sekhmet incarnate.

"And you can see here," her parents' Egyptian colleague, Professor Ali Murib, began to explain. "Carved just above the entrance to the inner burial chamber, the name of our mystery god-queen."

" 'Behold, ye mighty Pharaohs in the sight of the Gods. Look upon me and remember the Great Darkness. For I am Tryphaena, Queen of flesh and blood, mother of the Light and the Dark,'" Lotaru's mother began to translate the hieroglyphics out loud.

"The Light and the Dark? Flesh and blood? What exactly does that mean?" her father asked.

"Well, Makoto, that's what we're trying to figure out. But I believe I have a theory concerning these epithets. If you'll have a look at the four supporting columns before we venture into the tomb itself, they tell the story of this queen."

"But Ali, what does this Queen Tryphaena have to do with our research?" her mother asked. "When you contacted us you said it would be worth our while to come. I haven't seen any evidence here linking Tryphaena to the Items."

"My dear Kayla," Ali began, using her mother's English name. "You haven't looked at the column paintings yet. But before you do, there's something you'll be interested to know. Do either of you know whom Tryphaena was married to?"

Both of her parents shook their heads.

"Queen Tryphaena was married to the Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen."

At this news, Makoto and Kayla turned to each other, both wearing an identical look of shock. Obviously the name meant something to them.

"Now do I have your attention?" Ali asked before walking over to the first column. Her parents followed close behind.

"When you first contacted me about this Millennium legend of yours, the story intrigued me. You mentioned that these Items were created by the Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen. The name immediately caught my interest because of its connection to my work here. These columns tell a very similar story to the one you told me about. But there are key differences. I think you'll see them if you have a look at these paintings."

Makoto craned his neck to have a look at the uppermost paintings on the column, slowly circling it as he translated the story into English.

"It's written here that a false pharaoh, Mentuemzaf, had come to control Egypt, and that Re sent his true son, Akhenamkhanen, to win back the crown. Once he was securely on the throne, it's said that his youngest brother, Prince Arheman, married the daughter of the royal Vizier, Tryphaena. But the marriage was cursed. It was foretold that the fruits of Tryphaena's womb would bring ruin upon Egypt. And then she gave birth to a…"

"To a what, Makoto?" Kayla asked.

"To a monster," Ali finished. "A spawn of Sekhmet. A lioness with great and terrible power. The tale continues on over all of the columns to say that Arheman turned against Akhenamkhanen and took his wife and child into the desert to hide amongst a clan of thieves. Fearing that Arheman would try to lead a rebellion against him, Akhenamkhanen sent his twin brother, High Priest Akhenaden, out into the desert with a small task force to bring back Arheman and Tryphaena. When they were found, a fierce battle ensued and Arheman and the entire clan were slain. Akhenaden took Tryphaena and her "demon child" back and Tryphaena was married to Akhenamkhanen as a war prize. And as a tribute to the Pharaoh's triumph over the rebellion, eight totems were forged out of pure gold. It was proclaimed that their magic would protect the realm from danger. The third column names these totems as the Sennen Items. Sound familiar?"

"Ali, do the columns say what became of these items?" Makoto asked excitedly.

"Sadly, no. But the last column does tell what became of Tryphaena after the marriage. It's written that she gave the Pharaoh an heir. A Prince of light who would defend the innocent against Tryphaena's first child, this so-called Demon spawn."

"And what did become of her first child?" Kayla asked.

"It says here that she strayed further and further from Re and became a creature of pure darkness. That she summoned a great evil to devour the kingdom and destroy her half-brother. But it also says that her brother won over her and banished the evil from his kingdom. And do you see these two cartouches at the bottom of this column. These are the names of the two siblings."

"Atem," Kayla read aloud from the second cartouche.

"Yes, but the name on this first one has been scratched out. Apparently the tomb sealers thought it was ill luck to leave such a name carved into the stone for all eternity. We can only assume that it once bore the name of Tryphaena's first child."

Of course, all of this archeological chatter meant nothing to an eight-year-old Lotaru. She was just wandering around the room, looking at all the pretty colors and drawings on the walls. She was trying to figure out how she could use her own colored pencils to make this sky blue color she was seeing when the room suddenly seemed to get a whole lot colder. Lotaru was just about to turn and ask her mom if she could go and get her sweater when her attention was turned to the doorway leading to the burial chamber. The chamber had been unsealed weeks ago and it had always seemed like a giant black mouth to Lotaru. And now, standing right in that opening was a woman.

Lotaru was about to ask the woman what she'd been doing in the chamber, but then she started to notice what exactly the woman was dressed in. Lotaru's first thought was that it was a little early for Halloween. The woman wore a long white gown and a cloak of midnight blue. Her arms and neck were decked with a few pieces of opulent jewelry made of gold and lapis lazuli. This look was topped by a gold circlet that was situated atop her head of graying black hair. There was something almost regal about this woman. And, in Lotaru's heart, something familiar.

The woman smiled gently and opened her arms wide, as if she were expecting Lotaru to come to her, or that she was just happy to see her.

"Where have you been, my child? I've missed you so," the woman said.

Some part of Lotaru's mind told her to question this mysterious encounter. But another part of her practically begged her to go to the woman. It was like this part of her knew that she would be safe if she went. And then Lotaru spoke in a voice that was not her own.

"Mama. You've been here all along?"

The woman's smile just grew wider.

"Mama," the other voice whispered as Lotaru took a step towards her.

But no sooner had she taken the step then she froze. And as she watched, the older Lotaru knew what her younger self was seeing. A vision that she would take to the grave. She'd seen a giant round chamber filled with people. At the center was a huge pit filled with some molten liquid. And to the horror of the villagers in the chamber, and her own, a man was in the pit. The liquid was burning through his skin, melting the flesh from his bones as he screamed in agony. And now that she was older, Lotaru knew what it was that she had witnessed in that chamber. But young Lotaru had no idea what was going on, and she had done the only thing she could think of.

She screamed, screamed her lungs out at the carnage of the sight. Her screams rose above those of the others in the room, even as many of them were shoved into the pit.

Lotaru's terrified shrieks finally alerted her parents to what was happening and her mother rushed over to her. Her mother's arms around her woke Lotaru from the nightmare and she stood for a moment in shock. And when she looked up to the doorway the woman was gone, as if she had never been. Then Lotaru turned to her mother and cried helplessly.

"What's wrong, Lotaru? You're a big girl. You shouldn't be crying like this. What happened?" her mother tried to soothe her.

"Mom…I- I think th-that I just saw… a g-ghost," she sniffled.

This caught Ali's attention and he quickly came over to the sobbing girl.

"What did this spirit look like, Lotaru?"

"Ali! Can't you see she's upset?" Kayla scolded. But Ali wasn't listening to her. He was looking in the direction that Lotaru's arm indicated.

"L- like that," she whispered, pointing to one of the figures painted on the tomb wall.

When Ali saw what she was pointing at, he took an involuntary step backwards. Lotaru was pointing to a picture of Queen Tryphaena.

"Lotaru, it's not nice to joke about something so serious," Makoto reprimanded her.

"But I'm not lying! I saw her!" Lotaru protested.

"Where exactly did you see her?" Ali asked.

"She was standing right there…in the doorway," Lotaru pointed towards the inner chamber.

Ali walked towards the entryway and stuck his head inside. A system of lights was set up on the walls that lit up the chamber. Attempts to open up the sarcophagus that rested within had only just begun and only the ornate lid had been removed to reveal a less elaborate coffin. It was likely that still another coffin resided in the second one. Tryphaena herself would be in that last coffin. But right now it didn't seem like anyone was in the chamber.

"There's no one else here. Perhaps Lotaru really did see something."

"Ali, you're not seriously about to tell me that you believe in that sort of thing are you?" Makoto asked. "You'll only encourage her."

"Well we are, after all, in a tomb. It doesn't sound like Tryphaena had a very pleasant life. I could easily see her ghost remaining on Earth," he started to explain when the floodlights in the two chambers flickered and went out. The darkness was instantly split by young Lotaru's screams.

A dim light soon filled the crypt. Ali expected that this might happen at some point because the system was new so he carried a flashlight with him. He immediately turned the beam on Lotaru.

"It's all right, Lotaru. The light's back. Why are you still crying?"

The little girl wasn't paying him any attention. She was standing against the back wall of the room, as far away from the inner chamber as she could get. Silent tears were still sliding down her cheeks and she was trembling in terror. He eyes were fixed on the doorway to the burial chamber.

Ali turned the flashlight in the direction of Lotaru's gaze and was shocked to see a man standing in the doorway. From his garb, the young man appeared to be a local. He wore long, tattered robes made of the same cloth that the people of the nearby village wore. A turban of the same material was wrapped around his head and a glittering ankh-shaped key hung from his neck.

"You? How did you get down here?" Ali asked, his voice bordering on anger. "This site is off limits."

"This tomb," the mysterious man began. "Is off limits to you, sir. You and your scientists who would dare intrude on the territory of the gods."

"Who are you?" Makoto asked him.

"I? I am a servant of the gods. It is given to me to protect what is theirs. I come with a warning for the two of you," he answered, nodding at Makoto and Kayla.

"Makoto," Kayla whispered to her husband. "Look…look at that ankh around his neck. You don't think…it could be-"

"Ah, so you are already familiar with the Millennium Items," the man said, fingering the key as he stared coldly at the three archeologists. "Then it will go all the worse for you, I fear."

"What are you talking about? That's not…one of the eight is it?" Kayla asked.

"This sacred item is the Millennium Key. I can say no more than that, for you are not worthy of that knowledge. But I can say, that you two will find only death here if you stay. Your search has been in vain. The sacred items are not meant for your eyes."

All three were outraged at the man's boldness but none of them could think of a single thing to say. The man wasn't speaking either and he seemed like he was about to leave. But then his eyes fell on the child crouched against the far wall. As he studied her, the hard look in his eyes softened almost imperceptibly.

Suddenly his attention was drawn back to the three adults. Kayla was moving towards her daughter and Makoto and Ali were still staring at him questioningly.

"If you value your lives then leave this place!" he shouted one final time before turning and vanishing into the darkness of the burial chamber. Then the lights flickered back to life.

As the elder Lotaru watched the scene unfold she remembered how terrified she had been when the strange Egyptian had turned his gaze to her. Even the shadow of that past fear made her feel cold as she watched her father and Ali venture into the inner chamber. She knew that they would find a small passageway that had been previously undiscovered by any of the archeologists on the team. She knew what would happen next and up to this point everything else that had happened was very tame compared with what was coming.

"Please," she begged whomever it was that was listening. "No more."

"As you wish," Mnemosyne's voice whispered in her ear. "The torture for this turn has played itself out anyway."

Then, in a violent swirl of color, Lotaru was standing back upon the dueling platform, facing Mnemosyne.

"A memory for every card," Mnemosyne reminded her.

"Won't the same happen for you?"

"No," she began to explain as a smug smile crept onto her face. "You see, I have no memories."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I'm not exactly…real, per say. I was created by Master Pegasus."

"From what?"

"From you. Or rather, from the bits and pieces of your essence that Master Pegasus could gather from the Shadow Realm. To extrapolate, whenever you visit or call upon the powers of the Shadow Realm you sacrifice a small piece of your own soul to it. But you have sacrificed enough to the shadows for me to be created. I am, shall we say, your negative. I was created for the sole purpose of fighting this duel."

"So this is some sort of test?"

"Exactly. If you pass, then you will have all of the star chips that you need and you will be allowed to pass into the castle. I will disperse back into the shadows. But if you fail…well, you know what happens if you fail."

"All right then," Lotaru said, somehow not surprised by this turn of events. "Lets get this thing started. I end my turn."

"Good. Then I play Harpie's Brother(1800/600) in attack mode. I'll lay this card face down and end my turn," Mnemosyne said as she placed some sort of magic card face down on the field and her winged ninja, Harpie's Brother appeared on the field.

Lotaru surveyed the field once before drawing. She ended up drawing the Dark Sage. No good. While the sage was a powerful monster it was no good to her unless she was playing along side of Atrus' deck. The true strength of her deck was in its fairies. And with Venus in her hand a plan was already forming in her mind on how to bring her nemesis down.

"I'll place two cards face down on the field," Lotaru announced, setting Windstorm of Etaqua facedown and laying Spirit of the Harp in facedown defense mode. "And now that my standby phase has passed, Spirit of the Breeze's special ability activates."

"What special ability?"

"As long as Spirit of the Breeze remains in face up attack position on my side of the field then I get an additional 1000 life points for each one of my standby phases that passes."

Lotaru(3000):Mnemosyne(2000)

"I'll just have to do something about your little spirit, now won't I. But first, another memory."

Before Lotaru could protest the forest vanished again. She was back in Tryphaena's tomb. This time she stood in the inner chamber.

"This wasn't here before," Ali whispered. He and Makoto were standing beside the grand pedestal that Tryphaena's sarcophagus was mounted on. Somehow when the lights were out the sarcophagus had been shifted almost two feet to reveal a narrow tunnel leading out from beneath the pedestal.

"What's going on?" Kayla asked as she led a trembling Lotaru into the burial chamber.

"I think we've found how our friend escaped," Makoto explained, shining Ali's flashlight down the tunnel. It seemed to be only a nine-foot drop to the floor of the shaft and then the tunnel continued on in two different directions.

"Do you think he might know-" Kayla began.

"Where the other items are? Yes I do, Kayla. And I think he might know their history as well. I believe we should follow him," Makoto said, swinging his leg into the narrow opening.

"Here? Now? Without any preparation? What if we get lost down there? What if there's a cave-in? We can't just rush into this Makoto!"

"Kayla, we may not get another chance! This could be the only trail we ever find to the Millennium Items. If we lose him-"

Makoto let the sentence hang unfinished the dank air. Kayla bowed her head in thought. They both knew that just going down the tunnel unprepared was foolhardy but-

"You're right," Kayla sighed. "Ali, would you watch Lotaru while we're gone."

"Of course," he answered solemnly. "I would caution you not to do this, but I agree with Makoto. You must go now if you wish to solve this puzzle."

"I'll go down first," Makoto said. He swung his other leg over into the opening and slithered down into it. Then he allowed himself to drop the remaining distance to the ground. To his surprise, it wasn't dark at all. The passageway was lit up and down with torches.

"Are you okay, Makoto?" Kayla shouted down after him.

"I'm fine. Come on down. It looks safe enough."

Kayla lowered herself through the opening and then dropped down to meet her husband. Young Lotaru couldn't hear them after that.

"Ali, where are they going?" she asked him.

"They're looking for something," he answered vaguely.

"What something?" she pressed.

"I'm not really sure, Lotaru."

"Well I'm gonna go with them," she declared boldly. She ran over to the sarcophagus and began climbing into the opening.

"No, Lotaru!" he shouted, running over and pulling her out. "You mustn't. Where they're going might be dangerous."

"I don't care," she pouted, struggling against his hold on her. Finally, she managed to wriggle free and her small form tumbled through the narrow opening and she fell the distance to the floor of the passage.

"LOTARU! COME BACK HERE!" Ali shouted after her. He quickly made to follow her but before he could swing down into the opening the sarcophagus suddenly slid back into place, blocking the entrance and leaving him pounding on the pedestal, unable to make it budge. Lotaru didn't stop to think about the fact that she was now sealed underground. Without any regard to her direction Lotaru bolted away down the tunnel.

She ran and ran without coming across any side tunnels. The passageway seemed to just go on and on. She ran until she could run no farther. When the passage finally came to a sort of cross roads she collapsed right in the middle of them, uncertain of where to go next and nearly too exhausted to draw breath. That was when she heard voices coming towards her from the passage to her right.

"But why doesn't Ishizu want to talk about it, Odeon?" the voice of a little boy asked. When Lotaru heard it she immediately ducked down against the wall of the tunnel she had just come down.

"It's best not to press her, Master Malik. Ishizu worries about you sometimes. That's all," the voice of a much older boy answered. As he was speaking Lotaru saw them come around the corner. Both of them had the dark skin characteristic of the Egyptians and both were dressed in shifts of rough, brown cloth. One was a boy who seemed to be no older than Lotaru. He had blonde hair and strange lavender eyes. The second was a teenage boy with a long black ponytail and deep green eyes.

"But why does she-" the little boy's question died in his throat when he saw young Lotaru crouched in the passageway.

"Who's that?" he asked the older boy.

The elder Lotaru watched the mystified boy approach her younger self with a fond remembrance. This encounter was one of the few good things that had happened to her in the past nine years.

The little boy knelt down in front of her, staring into her frightened green eyes with curiosity. He reached out his small hand and placed it on her face. For a moment the two children just stared at each other, curiosity and surprise overwhelming any questions. The older boy was the first to break the silence.

"Malik, stay away," he said, pulling the little boy back. Then he knelt in front of Lotaru and looked suspiciously into her eyes.

"Who are you and how did you find this place?"

"M-my name is Lotaru Kapori. My parents were doing some work in some queen's tomb and then this guy appeared and told us to go away. Then he disappeared and we found a secret door underneath the queen's coffin. My parents went down and then I followed them and got lost." Of course, Lotaru's parents had told her never to talk to strangers. But maybe he could help her find the way out.

The suspicion in the young man's eyes quickly turned to anger.

"Treasure hunters?" he hissed.

"No!" Lotaru shouted defensively. She remembered her father talking about treasure hunters once. He always told her that they were bad people. "My parents aren't bad! They just wanna know about the Mi-Millenn-ium items," she argued, struggling with the large word.

"Hmm, archeologists then," he said with a sigh. "You should leave this place. Those who are not destined for the Items will find only death."

"I'm not leaving without my parents!"

"Then you're goin' the wrong way," the little boy said with a giggle. "If you wanna get to the room where all the gold items are you gotta go back the other way. Back from where you came."

"How would you know?" Lotaru asked. "You can't be more than five."

"Nuh-uh!" the little boy said petulantly. "I'm Malik and I'm almost seven years old."

"Hey, wait a minute? What are you two doing down here?"

"We live here, silly."

"Live here? How can you live underground?"

Malik was about to say more but the young man beside him shushed him.

"It's possible. And again, I advise you to leave. You are not safe here. Master Ishtar will be very angry if he finds you here," he said, standing up and making to walk away.

"But I can't leave. The door I came though is shut."

"Aw, Odeon, can't we help her? We could help her find her parents and we could show them the way out!"

The young man, Odeon, debated with himself for a moment before speaking again.

"It would be better if they did not leave here, Malik. Her parents seem to know too much for their own good. It is our sacred charge to protect these chambers from plunderers. If they were to discover-"

"But you heard her. Lotaru's parents aren't bad. You wouldn't just leave her here, would you?"

"Malik, I-"

"Don't do this, Odeon. Don't be mean like my father. You wouldn't leave them trapped down here forever like we have to be, would you? Help her. And if you won't, then I will," Malik said boldly, reaching over and grasping Lotaru's hand in his. "I'll help her find her parents and show her the way out."

Odeon bowed his head briefly. Lotaru could see that he wasn't going to argue anymore.

"As you wish, Master Malik."

"Yay!" Malik cheered. Then he turned and started leading Lotaru back down the passageway. Odeon followed close behind.

"Lotaru?" he asked after they had been walking for a while. "Do you think you could show us how you got down here?"

"Yeah, sure. It was right up here," she said as they passed beneath it. Now that it was shut, the door looked to be no more than a few well-placed cracks in the ceiling of the tunnel.

"Impossible," he whispered to himself. "The entrance from Tryphaena's tomb hasn't been opened for years."

"Hurry up, Odeon!" Malik shouted back to him. He and Lotaru had gained several feet on him when he stopped to examine the sealed entrance. For a long while he just followed behind the two children, listening in on their conversation but never speaking unless spoken to.

"How far is it to the place we're going?"

"It's pretty far. I've only been there once. Your parents probably followed that weird guy down there."

"What weird guy?" Lotaru asked nervously.

"Um…he's got these creepy blue eyes and he wears a turban all the time. And he wears one of those gold things my father's always talking about. I don't know his name."

"That's him!" Lotaru shouted. "He was in the tomb before!"

"Not so loud, young one. Many in these halls are not your friends," Odeon cautioned.

"Ok, sorry," Lotaru whispered.

"There's a short cut up ahead somewhere. It's only a few more meters before we come to the next crossroad," Odeon explained. No sooner had he finished speaking then the three came to the split passageway that he talked about. The path continued forward but it also split off into two different tunnels. But they also heard two new voices coming down the path to the left.

"Oh no," Odeon whispered in fear. "Malik, it's your father and Miss Ishizu. We must hide."

Without wasting another word, Odeon pulled the two children down the right-hand passageway and through a doorway that lay just inside it. He quickly pulled the stone door shut, leaving it open just a crack so as to see when it was safe. As he listened to the two going by, Malik and Lotaru crouched just behind him. Malik was on the verge of bursting into laughter. Lotaru didn't want to be found and she was afraid that he really would laugh, so she clamped her hand down over his mouth. Malik's smile just got bigger and he placed his own hand over her mouth. Now Lotaru felt like laughing. She and Malik just crouched there, one hand covering the other's mouth and trying hard not to giggle.

"All right," Odeon whispered after a while. "It's safe to continue now."

"Cool," Lotaru said. But just as she was moving to follow him out she saw just what kind of room they were in.

"Wow," she whispered in awe as she walked back into the storage room. It was filled wall to wall with gold and jewels. Splendid white gowns and kilts of fine linen. Rich cloaks made of royal blue and purple colors. Jewelry and crowns made of gold and silver and studded with precious gems. Statues made of gold and other kinds of stone. Lotaru wondered around the room, gazing at the beautiful objects but never touching anything. Her parents had told her time and again when she was on expeditions with them that she shouldn't touch things like this. She could tell that they were old.

"This is so cool," she said softly.

"Yeah, it's ok," Malik said casually. "I've been back here a couple of times. But jewelry can only be so much fun."

It was the sadness in his voice that made Lotaru turn around and look at him. The boy was idly staring around the room. She could tell that she had hit some kind of sore spot with him.

"Why do you live down here?" she asked calmly.

"Well, it's kind of a long story. I've never lived anywhere else," he started before Odeon could break in. "My family's lived down here for a long time. We're supposed to guard the tombs of some pharaoh and his family until he returns or something like that. I don't really understand it."

"You mean…you've never been outside?" Lotaru asked.

"Um…no," Malik answered, staring down at the ground as he shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

"Oh…that's awful," Lotaru said sadly, running over to him and hugging him. She had only just met him but she was young and boundaries like that didn't concern her. All she knew was that she felt sorry for Malik and she felt that he needed to be comforted. And Malik didn't immediately jump away when she hugged him. It was actually something very new for him. As far back as he could remember no one had ever hugged him. This girl was ok.

"Hey," he started to ask, suddenly realizing what would make her happy. "Do you want a piece of the jewelry?"

Lotaru nodded excitedly. It would be wonderful to own any of the things in this room.

"Then pick something."

"Malik, you can't do this. It is our duty to protect the treasures of the Pharaoh, not give them away!" Odeon argued.

"It's my choice, isn't it? If I have to be a tomb keeper I can decide what happens to all this stuff. So that sort of makes me a pharaoh too. Yeah! As pharaoh of the Ishtar family, I say that Lotaru can take something with her. Besides, I don't think some dead guy is going to notice if one piece of jewelry is missing."

Lotaru was only half listening to Malik's fantasy as she searched through all of the artifacts. She rooted through many fine things but nothing really caught her interest until she came to a small obsidian box in the back of the room. She gently lifted the lid from the box and peered inside. Mostly the contents of the box were pieces of gold jewelry. But there were other odds and ends as well. A tiny pocket mirror made of silver. But instead of a polished silver surface that the Egyptians had used for mirrors in place of glass, a circle of meticulously polished obsidian was set. An ivory wand about a foot in length with a small emerald set in the handle. A circlet crafted of gold and studded with lapis lazuli, meant to be worn on the head. A silver disk about two inches in diameter strung on a slender black thong. A large ruby was set in the center of the pendant and symbols that Lotaru didn't recognize were carved around it. A silver dagger with a handle carved to look like the head of a falcon. The cross guard was carved to look like the falcon's wings and two tiny rubies were set into the handle to resemble its eyes. With those eyes the creature seemed ready to spring to life.

But the last treasure that Lotaru found was the one that she liked best. A pendant made of gold and obsidian. She assumed that it had once been part of a necklace but that the chain had been lost. The center of the pendant was a golden disk about an inch in diameter…an image of the sun. The image of a feather was carved on the disk. And wings made of obsidian protruded from the disk. Lotaru recognized the pendant as a symbol of Ma'at, Egyptian goddess of truth and justice.

"Hey, Malik? Do you think I could have this?" she asked as she walked back to the two brothers.

"Yeah, sure."

Odeon just nodded, not wanting to argue on the subject any further.

"Miss Lotaru, if we want to find your parents then we must leave now. Our time grows short," he said, hustling the two children out of the storeroom. "If we take the forward path it will take longer to reach the chamber. But if we continue down the right hand tunnel we might be able to get there when they do."

So the three continued on with Odeon now leading. Lotaru and Malik kept talking quietly as they walked.

"Why did you pick that thing?" Malik asked her.

"Um…I dunno. I just had this…feeling about it, I guess. Why?"

"Well…it's just that, my sister told me that the things in that black box are bad," he explained uncertainly.

"Why are they bad?"

"Ishizu told me that the box belonged to the Pharaoh's sister. The scrolls in our library all say that she was bad. That she was an evil witch."

Lotaru stared down at her prize as Malik talked. The pendant didn't look evil to her. Maybe Malik's family just didn't know any better since they lived down here all the time.

"Malik?" Lotaru started to ask. "Do you want to see the sky?"

Malik stopped walking for a moment and turned to look at her.

"More than anything," he said seriously.

"Well, if we find my parents and I get out of here…maybe, someday, I could come back here. I know the way now. I could come and get you out just like you did for me."

"Would you really come back?"

"Yes."

"Then it's a promise? Cross your heart, right?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"Yeah," Lotaru answered, extending her own hand and taking his. They clasped the pendant between them. It was a promise of friendship. There was nothing evil about it.

Odeon listened nervously to their conversation. He knew that he had to get Lotaru out. She was putting ideas into Malik's head.

"Lotaru, we're there. The chamber is just around that corner up ahead," Odeon said, pointing up in front of them. "You can make it on your own. This is as far as I dare go. The way out from there is simple. There is a stairway leading out from the chamber. It goes back up to the surface world. Master Malik, come. We have lingered here too long already."

With that, Odeon took Malik's hand and began to lead him back down the tunnel. Before Odeon dragged him out of sight Malik turned to look back at Lotaru one last time.

"Don't forget me," he called out. "Don't forget me!"

Lotaru stared after them long after they had disappeared, but she eventually turned around and slowly began to walk towards the bend ahead of her. For some reason she was suddenly deathly afraid of what she would find beyond the turn.

"You know what happens now, don't you, Lotaru?"

The elder Lotaru shuddered when she heard Mnemosyne's voice. She had almost forgotten that it was just a memory. And now she didn't want the memory to continue.

"Don't show me anymore, I beg you!"

"Much as I love hearing you beg, you are still due one more memory."

Then her voice faded and Lotaru was forced to watch the continuing memory.

The younger Lotaru rounded the corner of the passage and found that it opened into a large underground chamber. She spotted the stairway that Odeon had spoken of before at the far end. But at the other end of the chamber was a large stone door. It was sealed shut and hieroglyphics and pictures that Lotaru couldn't understand were inscribed upon it. Columns held up the ceiling of the chamber and she could just make out other passageways beyond the columns. A stone tablet was lying in the center of it all. The tablet was carved in the shape of a sarcophagus and more hieroglyphics were carved into it. But the strangest thing about the tablet was the fact that it had golden items placed in it. There was a hole in the forehead of the sarcophagus. And above that, a hole in the shape of some sort of pendant, a necklace perhaps. In the left hand of the sarcophagus there was an ankh-shaped hole. And in its right hand was a hole that seemed like it would fit some sort of staff or rod. At the bottom of the tablet, she could make out a set of golden scales. Just above them a sort of golden ring was set into the tablet. It had five spikes attached to it. At the heart of the tablet there was a pyramid-shaped hole. And there, lying just between the ring and the pyramid hole, was a golden hand mirror. The strange man from the tomb was kneeling before the tablet and other men dressed just like him were standing around him. And when Lotaru looked across the chamber she saw, just coming out of one of the tunnels, both of her parents.

The moment the two set foot in the chamber, the Egyptian's head snapped up and he turned to look directly at them.

"So, you two chose not to heed my warning. You should not have followed me to this place. Now you will both die."

"Die?" Kayla asked fearfully.

"Sir, you don't understand," Makoto tried to explain, stepping protectively in front of his wife. "We are archeologists. We have no intention of plundering this place. We only ask your permission to study the Items and their history."

"The Millennium Items are not meant to be studied. And they are only for the eyes and hands of those who have been chosen. Unless you are among that number, which I sincerely doubt, then you will not leave this chamber alive."

"No! Wait!" Lotaru shouted, running out of her hiding place and into the chamber. She stopped so that she stood between the man and the tablet, taking his attention away from her parents.

"Lotaru! How did you get down here?" Kayla asked furiously.

The Egyptian just sighed. "To kill a child…is a terrible thing. But it is my duty to guard the last of the Items."

"No! You wouldn't!" Makoto shouted.

"If it proves necessary then yes, we must."

Lotaru didn't hear the rest of the conversation. She was frozen with fear. She didn't want to die. And as these thoughts were racing through her mind, another voice entered her head. A whisper that she could almost swear that she had heard before.

Come to me.

Lotaru slowly turned around, as if in a trance. Her eyes fell on the tablet, directly upon the mirror. The whispers in her head were growing more persistent. She couldn't understand why no one else could hear it. But of course, the attention of every man in the room was focused on her parents and they paid her no mind when she knelt down before the tablet.

Come to me. Hear my voice and know me. We are to be one.

The Egyptian's attention was finally turned back to Lotaru when her hand closed around the handle of the mirror.

"No!"

That was the last thing that Lotaru heard before her mind was taken by the Item. She could feel her body falling away as she gazed into the reflective gold surface of the mirror. She was surrounded by darkness. She felt weak and cold. The shadows were stealing her life. And before her stood a foggy reflection. Or at least it seemed like her reflection. This girl was dressed in a gown of midnight blue. And her skin was much darker than Lotaru's. But the shoulder-length black hair and piercing green eyes were the same. This girl was also holding the mirror that Lotaru had just picked up and as she watched, the reflection seemed to be growing older.

"Help me," the ghost whispered.

"What?"

"Help me, little one. You are the one that I have waited for all these long millennia alone. You are the one who will carry this mirror." As the spirit spoke, Lotaru could feel herself growing warm again.

"What are you talking about?"

"My spirit has been imprisoned in this mirror for many centuries. I have been waiting for an avatar to come and revive me. That avatar is you. You will help me carry out my vengeance."

"Vengeance?" Lotaru was only eight after all and couldn't rightly grasp the concept of revenge. And the spirit seemed to understand this.

"My brother…he did something very bad. He was a king in a country called Khemet many years ago. He did something evil, and my friends and I were blamed for it."

That Lotaru could understand. She also recognized Khemet as the ancient name for Egypt.

"I only ask permission to live inside your mind. When the time is right I'll need your help in punishing my brother. In the meantime I can help you protect those you love from the evil that's been unleashed."

"Can you help me and my parents get out of this room?"

"Yes," the spirit answered. She had aged into a young woman.

"Then I guess it's ok," Lotaru said, not truly understanding, at the time, what she was agreeing to. "What's your name?"

"Asinath. And you will not remember any of this encounter until I will it."

Before Lotaru could say anything, the foggy image of the woman suddenly became solid and then vanished into the shadows. The shadows receded and Lotaru found herself lying on the floor of the chamber, clutching the mirror to her chest. She could see the Egyptian and her parents leaning over her.

"What did you see, child?" the Egyptian asked the moment she opened her eyes.

"I- don't know," Lotaru answered honestly. Just as Asinath had said it would, the encounter faded from her memory and did not reappear for another five years. She had no remembrance of the spirit dwelling in her mind.

"Lotaru Kapori," the man began as he helped her stand. "The Millennium Mirror has chosen you. You are free to go."

"Well, in that case we'll just be going," Kayla said nervously as she grabbed Lotaru's hand and started to lead her away.

"Wait a moment. I never said anything about you and your husband leaving here. You have not been chosen. That is the only way to leave the chamber.

"You can't be serious," Makoto protested.

"I assure you," the man said as his fellows began to circle them. "I am dead serious."

"NO!" Lotaru cried out, suddenly thrusting the Mirror up into the air. As she did this, a barrier of blinding white light was called into existence before them, separating them from their assailants.

Lotaru turned tail and ran, her parents following her. They ran up the staircase. The passage seemed to go on forever but still, they ran on until they reached the surface. They came up in some sort of abandoned warehouse. It was night.

"What happened back there anyway?" Makoto asked aloud.

"I don't know!" Kayla sobbed. "I just don't know."

"Mommy, when can we go home?" Lotaru asked, trying her best not to cry.

"Oh sweetie," Kayla said sadly. "I don't think we can go home."

Lotaru struggled to hold back her tears as the memory faded. They hadn't been able to go home. Her parents had been afraid that the Egyptian would hunt them down. They had fled to her father's country, Japan.

"Hmm, nine years since it all began for you. Four years searching for the life that you lost. It must have been painful," Mnemosyne snickered.

"Stop it!" Lotaru shouted. "I END MY TURN!"

Instantly the battlefield snapped back into focus. Mnemosyne didn't wait for Lotaru to recover. She drew a card and…

"Harpie's Brother…attack the Spirit of the Breeze!"

The Harpie's Brother quickly took to the skies, winging across the field and slicing the sprite to ribbons.

Lotaru(2200):Mnemosyne(2000)

(You fool! Why didn't you activate Windstorm of Etaqua?) Asinath asked her.

Lotaru stared blankly at the facedown spell card. Why hadn't she acted sooner? She could have saved her Spirit. Why?

"Now I'll play my second Harpie's Brother(1800/600) and activate the magic of my facedown card, Raigeki!"

As the second Harpy appeared on the field a whirlpool of dark energy appeared beneath Lotaru's facedown monster, revealing the Spirit of the Harp only seconds before she vanished into the vortex.

"Now, my harpy, attack her life points directly!"

The second brother sprang up and slashed its virtual claws straight through Lotaru's heart.

Lotaru(400): Mnemosyne(2000)

"I end my turn," she said casually.

Lotaru lifted a shaky hand to draw her next card. Agent of Judgment-Saturn(2400/0).

(Lotaru, get your head in this game! You mustn't let these memories distract you so.)

(But…they-)

(No, Lotaru! I don't want to hear it! I know this is hard for you, but these memories are very tame compared to what I could show you of my memory. You know that, don't you? You've seen them in your nightmares. They are not nightmares for me. Those memories are what I had to live with every waking moment! Now stand up and fight!)

"I- I play Agent of Judgment-Saturn," she said as she laid the card down in attack mode. The fairy sprung up onto the field in a blaze of light. He had blue skin and brilliant blue angel wings. He looked regal in his white robes and crown. A formidable monster.

"Gah! Then I'll just pay you back for such a powerful monster. This one will break you!"

Once again the field disappeared. This time Lotaru found herself in a darkened room. Like the first room she'd visited tonight this room was all too familiar.

"Oh no," she whispered in horror. "Not this."

Lotaru saw herself, four years younger, sitting on a small windowsill. She was gazing out the window, not at the mucky streets below, but up at the sky. The stars were barely visible through the smog of the city but she knew that they were there. They were always there.

"Lotaru? Are you in here?" her father's voice could be heard asking as the door creaked open.

"Yeah, I'm here," she answered vaguely.

"I was just checking to see if you were ready for bed."

"Sure."

Makoto looked at her through squinted eyes in the darkness. It had been five years since the incident in the tombs and his hair had turned completely gray. He and Kayla had aged considerably from worry and stress. There had been no sign of pursuit but they were afraid to leave their small house. Tokyo had been safe enough. They had not had an easy life but they had been safe. That was what mattered.

"Are you all right, Lotaru?"

"Yeah, I was just…thinking about home. And I was wondering when you and mom are going to be done with your latest tests on the Mirror."

"Actually, we're finished with it for the moment. I was also coming to give it back to you," he said as he walked over to the sill and set the golden mirror down beside her.

"You know, I almost don't feel right without it," she said, never once taking her eyes off of the sky above. "Sometimes I wonder why that man said that it chose me."

"We all do. That's why your mother and I study the Mirror so much. Perhaps we can find an answer."

The younger Lotaru was only half listening to what her father was saying. She didn't tell him but she was also thinking of the nightmare she'd had last night. She'd started having these strange nightmares five years ago when she'd first gotten the Millennium Mirror. They were becoming more and more frequent nowadays and they were growing steadily worse. The one last night, she couldn't remember all of the details but she remembered a battle. Blood…death…suffering.

Suddenly her attention was drawn away from the faint stars by a light appearing before her house. She looked down and saw a black limousine drive down the narrow street and pull up in front of their house. Then she saw a group of men get out of the limo and start walking up to the house.

"Hey, Dad, who's that?" Lotaru asked. Makoto looked out the window, down at what she was looking at.

"Makoto!" her mother called urgently from downstairs.

"I don't know. Lotaru, stay in here," he ordered her before turning and leaving.

Of course, Lotaru didn't listen to him. Once he was gone Lotaru picked up the Mirror and crept out of her bedroom. The elder Lotaru followed silently behind herself as she slunk down the stairs. Voices could be heard coming from the front room. Lotaru flattened herself against the wall, peaking just around the corner to see what was happening.

"Well, Mr. Maximillion Pegasus, I'll only ask you one more time to leave my house," Makoto said quietly to the man standing before him. He was dressed in a fancy red business suit and he had silver hair. In the dim light, Lotaru thought she saw a golden eye glimmering in his face.

"You don't seem to understand what I'm asking here, my good Kapori. I want the Millennium Mirror and I am not leaving this house until I get it. I know that your daughter, Lotaru has it."

"Leave my daughter out of this!"

"She's only a child. She doesn't know the power that that item is capable of. I'd be more than happy to take the Mirror off your hands."

"What do you want with it?" Kayla asked suspiciously.

"What I want is really none of your concern," he answered casually.

"If it has anything to do with our daughter then it concerns us," Makoto said angrily.

"Now, dear friends, we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. Which is it going to be?"

"We will not give you the Mirror," Makoto said staunchly, staring down Pegasus and his three henchmen.

"Fine then," Pegasus began, nodding to one of his henchmen. "Have it your own way."

The man immediately whipped out a handgun and fired two shots directly into Makoto's chest. He was dead before he even hit the ground.

"NOOOO!" the elder Lotaru screamed right along with the memory. Her cry was just as anguished and horrified as it had been four years ago. And young Lotaru's cries were lost inside those of her mother. Kayla dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Makoto's body.

"Now, Ms. Kapori, where is your lovely daughter?"

"No! Please!" Kayla sobbed. "Don't hurt Lotaru. You can have the Mirror."

Kayla pulled herself up from her husband's body. She had known Lotaru was listening. She walked around the corner, trying to keep calm. She knew that she would have only moments before Pegasus and his men followed her. She grabbed Lotaru's hand and ran down the hallway with her hysterical daughter in tow. She ran into the kitchen and slammed the door behind them, locking it.

"Lotaru, you've got to get away from here," she whispered urgently.

"What about you? What about Daddy?" Lotaru cried.

"It doesn't matter. You must run," Kayla answered as she forced the kitchen window open and half pushed Lotaru up onto the edge.

"I can't leave you here! I'm scared, Mom!"

"I know, but you have to escape. That man Pegasus wants your Mirror. You can't let him have it," she said. She could hear footsteps pounding down the hallway. They would come soon.

"Quickly! Go!"

Lotaru hesitated for a moment there in the window. She was still sitting there when the door suddenly burst open. The lock had been broken. The sound of gunfire shattered the air and Kayla jerked forward as several bullets tore into her back.

"MOM!"

Kayla slumped forward, blood leaking from her mouth.

"Escape…run," she choked out. She shoved Lotaru out the window just before she died.

Lotaru hit the ground just outside the window and immediately leapt up from the concrete. Hot tears were streaming down her face as she pounded away down the street. She knew they would come looking for her. She took as many allies as she could find. She ran until she could run no farther. She collapsed in an ally way, covered with dirt and sobbing in anguish. She cried as if her heart were broken, cried long into the night. She barely noticed how cold the night was. She cried until she had no more tears left in her. Then she realized that she was still clutching the Millennium Mirror. When her eyes fell on the golden item, a great rage rose up inside her. It was because of this thing that her parents were dead.

Lotaru climbed shakily to her feet. She gripped the Mirror firmly in her hands, fully intending to destroy it. With all her might, she smashed the Mirror into the brick ally wall. But, try as she might, the Mirror would not shatter. She smashed it against the wall until she had exhausted all of her strength. She continued to beat the ground with it after she had collapsed for the second time. She screamed in rage and pain. Nothing was working.

"It is time," a voice spoke somewhere above her. Lotaru looked up from the ground and found herself staring at a beautiful young woman.

"Who- who are you?"

"I have always been with you, Lotaru. I have always been here, hiding in the back of your mind. Do you remember?"

And suddenly, she did remember. She remembered her first encounter with the spirit. She remembered the promise she'd made.

"Yes."

"Now you understand what I meant. Pegasus killed your parents. Do you want to see him suffer?"

"Yes!"

"Then will you help me, Lotaru? Help me punish the murderers?"

"YES!"

As the memory faded and the real world returned to her eyes, Lotaru collapsed on the dueling platform, her eyes staring unseeingly up at the night sky. Tears slid silently down her face.

Mnemosyne sneered at her downed opponent. If she didn't get up soon then the duel would automatically go to her.

"It was your fault, wasn't it, Lotaru? You picked up the Mirror. You drove your family into hiding. When the guns were against their heads, you as good as pulled the trigger!"

Lotaru didn't respond, but she did hear Mnemosyne's words. She lay still on the platform in shock. There was no blocking out the truth of those words.

(LOTARU, GET UP! FIGHT!)

"I- I killed them," she whispered. "They're dead. Mom, Dad…Atrus! They're all gone because they tried to save me."

With Lotaru in the state that she was in, it wasn't hard for Asinath to take control.

"Get up, Lotaru. Or do you forfeit the duel? Is that it?"

Asinath didn't answer. She just leapt up and jumped right into the duel.

"SATURN! ATTACK THE FIRST HARPIE'S BROTHER NOW!"

The blue angel immediately flew across the field, sweeping down on the harpy ninja and taking it out in a flash of light.

Lotaru(400):Mnemosyne(1400)

"I'll end this quickly Mnemosyne!" Asinath declared boldly. "But for now I end my turn."

"Gr. No matter. I'll destroy your Agent. You haven't a prayer!" Mnemosyne said as she drew her next card.

"For now, I'll lay this card in facedown defense position, set a magic card facedown and end my turn."

Asinath studied the facedown card out of the corner of her eye as she drew her next card. Then she turned her attention to the card she'd drawn. Yes! The card was Sanctuary in the Sky. In Lotaru's deck this card was practically unstoppable.

"First I'll play my Agent of Creation-Venus(1600/0) in attack mode and I'll send her to attack your facedown card."

In contrast to Saturn's regal bearing, Venus had a kind of subtle beauty. She was tall and slim and her blonde hair fanned out around her as golden wings sprouted from her back. She was clothed in a seductive green dress and certainly didn't look like she'd bring swift death. But she did. She sent a blast of mystical energy towards the facedown card and a Skull Red Bird(1550/1200) appeared for a moment before shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Next I'll send Saturn to attack the last Harpy."

As Saturn powered up for another blast Mnemosyne just smirked. She'd played right into her hands.

"No you won't. I activate the magic card Reliable Guardian. It will raise my Harpy's attack power to 2500 until the end of this turn."

"Good," Asinath said, completely unshaken. "I was hoping that facedown card was a power up. I activate my facedown trap, Windstorm of Etaqua. It changes the battle positions of all of your face up monsters. The Harpy's Brother switches to defense mode!"

With the switch in position, the power up was no good. Harpie's Brother's measly 600 defense made it easy prey for Saturn. The Harpy was gone in a flash.

"You underestimated me. That's the last mistake you're ever going to make. Now I activate my field spell card, The Sanctuary in the Sky!"

"Field Spell!"

"Yes. As long as Sanctuary in the Sky is in play any battle damage done to my fairies becomes 0. I control a fairy deck. You can't hurt me!"

"No!"

"Yes. On that happy note I end my turn."

"Well, I can still hit you with memories!"

Asinath did not resist the pull of Mnemosyne's weak magic as the world faded from her sight. There was nothing Mnemosyne could show her that would upset her. In her long centuries of imprisonment she had become as one dead. The pain did not haunt her as it did Lotaru. For her there was only vengeance for the injustice.

The memory that she surfaced in was an early one if she recalled correctly. She had been almost five years old. And indeed, that appeared to be her younger self's age as she watched the scene unfold. Young Asinath stood between her parents. Her father, Arheman, former vizier to the Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen, stood in front of her and her mother, the Lady Tryphaena. They were in some sort of house and surrounded by a group of rough looking men.

"Khemal," one of the men in the group spoke to the man at the head. "These are the ones. We found them wandering in the desert."

"Who are you?" Khemal asked. The hood of his cloak was thrown back to reveal a set of strange lavender eyes that had witnessed much suffering. He was tall and muscular and he carried himself with pride.

Arheman stood just as tall, his brown eyes just as imposing. He was not as physically impressive as Khemal, but still, he stood unafraid.

"We are enemies of Akhenamkhanen."

"You are foolish to believe that that alone makes us your friends. To become lost in the desert…you must be royalty. Tell me, how are you connected with them?"

Arheman hesitated a moment before answering. This next statement would alter all of their futures forever.

"Akhenamkhanen is- is my brother," Arheman revealed. "He betrayed me. We do not come to harm or spy. We come to you for help."

"Do you know where you are? This is the thieves' guild of Khemet. No one of royal blood will find refuge in Kul Elna. We do not bow to your pharaoh here," Khemal said as he turned away from them. "Kill them."

"No! Wait!" Tryphaena shouted, rushing out in front of her husband. "Are you really going to kill an innocent child? We came for protection. We renounce our ties to the royal house."

"Will they come looking for you?" Khemal asked.

"They will not find us here."

"Don't listen to her, Khemal!" a female voice rang out from the group. She was the only woman present. She was very short with brown hair that had been chopped off at the neck. Her green eyes flashed with anger.

"Be still, Heka."

"If you let them live…if you let them remain here, soldiers will come. It will violate everything that we stand for! You cannot-"

"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do, woman! I will do what I believe is best for this village. Killing them won't make anything better, Heka. These are not the ones who killed your father. We are not murders."

"So," Heka began bitterly. "You've decided to let them live?"

Khemal debated with himself a few moments before answering her.

"Yes."

"So that's it then," Heka said as she stalked out of the tent. A murmur swept through the group and Tryphaena and Arheman both breathed a sigh of relief.

"The rest of you may leave. I shall see you all tonight," Khemal said, suddenly sounding tired.

As the last of the men walked out of the house a new face appeared at the door. A girl looking to be about twelve years or so. She had long brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Father, is the council finished?"

"It is, Almah," Khemal said to her. "Go and fetch your mother."

"I am already here, Khemal," a woman said as she stepped into the house leading a very young girl. Both of them had the same brown hair as Almah and the little girl had Khemal's lavender eyes.

"Meet our new house guests, Akima."

"Hello," Akima said warmly to her new guests. "I am Akima. You've already met my husband, Khemal. Seeing as that it was the hunters who brought you here it's up to me to welcome you to Kul Elna."

"Thank you, Akima," Tryphaena returned. "I am Tryphaena and this is my husband Arheman. And our daughter, Asinath, is five floods."

Akima smiled at Asinath as she picked up her own daughter, who was starting to cry.

"This is my youngest, Relli. She's almost two floods. Almah!" Akima called to the girl still standing in the doorway. "Come inside, and bring Akefia with you."

Almah quickly obeyed and came into the house. She was leading a little boy. While Tryphaena and Arheman made a point of not staring at him, Asinath couldn't keep her eyes off of him. He had the same brown skin and lavender eyes as Khemal, but his long hair was a strange silver color.

"Almah is our firstborn," Akima continued. "She's almost of marriageable age and our Akefia's about the same age as Asinath."

As the adults drifted to the back of the house to talk, they left Asinath and Akefia standing there, staring at each other. They stood that way for a long while, each inspecting the new kid.

"Hi," Asinath finally spoke up.

"Hi," the silver-haired boy responded. "Where'd you come from?"

"Um…da palace," Asinath answered uncertainly.

"What's dat?" Akefia asked, his voice filled with wonder at the new word.

"It's dis really big place. It's da house I used to live in," she explained, getting bolder when she saw how curious he was. "But Mommy and Daddy say we're not going back."

"Are ya gonna stay here?" Akefia asked, suddenly getting excited.

"I tink so."

"Yay! A new friend!" he cheered, running forward and hugging Asinath.

Asinath hugged him back, a little surprised but still happy to have a new friend to play with.

The elder Asinath watched with a bitter smile on her face. This was a memory that she held dear.

"Akefia," she whispered to herself as the memory faded and another one took its place.

The new memory was in a cavern deep beneath the desert. Asinath's heart skipped a beat when she realized where she was. This place was the beginning, or perhaps, the ending of everything. Lotaru had also visited this chamber in memory tonight. The only thing that was missing was the tablet of memory. In its place was a large pit filled with molten gold. Young Asinath stood at the edge of the pit. Her throat was raw from screaming and her face was wet with tears. She wanted to run, wanted to scream louder, wanted to cry harder, but there was nothing that she could do to pull herself away from the horror before her. All of her neighbors, all of the friends she'd made over the past two years, were burning and dying in this inferno. There was nothing that she could do to save them, nothing that could block out the horrific screaming. All was burning.

Asinath watched her hysteric younger self for a while before pulling her eyes away from the pit and turning them to her mother. Tryphaena was struggling to get free and if she had managed to she probably would have thrown herself into the pit after her husband. Arheman had been the first to go. But Akhenaden, Asinath's uncle, was holding her in a death grip. He was watching the holocaust before him with a completely blank face. He had been the one to push Arheman in. His own brother.

Young Asinath could not pull herself away from the edge. She couldn't pull her eyes away from the half-melted bodies…some of them still screaming. Suddenly she felt a sharp, burning sensation in her right ankle. She looked down to see an arm reaching up out of the pit…a mutilated hand wrapped around her ankle. She fell back, screaming in terror as the arm used her to try and pull its owner out of the pit. But it was only succeeding in dragging her closer.

"MAMA!" she shrieked for help. Just then a head came up out of the blaze. She could clearly see a skull through the melting tissues and she could still recognize Khemal's lavender eyes somewhere in that mess of mutilated muscle. His misshapen mouth was opened wide and a strange gurgling sound that would have been a scream was coming out of it.

When those wide eyes fell on Asinath the noises stopped. The fingers that were more bone than flesh released their hold on her and the lump of melting bone and muscle sank back into the pit. Young Asinath collapsed back on the dirt floor of the cavern in shock and the elder Asinath could only look away as the memory faded.

He overcame his will to live…just to spare me.

Everyday she had had to live with the knowledge that she had let all of them die. She had stood there…and done nothing!

"There's no time for that now," Asinath hissed to herself as she opened her eyes. Her mind had returned to the playing field and Mnemosyne was staring at her suspiciously.

"Another mind? Another memory? How can that be? Are you still Lotaru?"

"Mm, yes and no. In a way I am Lotaru, but also not Lotaru. However, it doesn't matter who I am. You are still not going to defeat me."

"Guess again, whoever you are. Take a look at the score. You're losing," Mnemosyne taunted, drawing her next card.

"I play Sonic Duck(1700/700) in attack mode!"

For all its attack power, Sonic Duck looked ridiculous. It was just a giant green duck wearing a red cape and large bucket on its head.

"Sonic Duck…attack Venus now!"

The duck blazed across the field in a burst of speed and quickly chomped off Venus' head.

"If that's all you're going to do, then at the moment of death I activate Venus' special ability!"

"What special ability?"

"First I'll activate my facedown card, Gift of the Mystical Elf. That'll give me 300 extra life points for every monster on the field. Venus wasn't quite gone when I activated it so that's three monsters for 900 life points."

Lotaru(1300):Mnemosyne(1400)

"Now for every 500 life points I give up I can summon a Mystical Shine Ball(500/500) to the field from my hand or deck. I'll sacrifice 1000 life points to summon two Mystical Shine Balls to the field from my deck. Then I'll shuffle," Asinath said as she went through her deck and removed the two chosen cards. Then she placed them on the field in attack mode and re-shuffled her deck.

The Mystical Shine Balls were very…nondescript, to say the least. All a Mystical Shine Ball is, is an orb of pure white light. But in a fairy deck it can be quite useful.

"What can those puny creatures possibly do for you?"

"Don't you understand yet?" Asinath asked as she drew her final card. "I've beaten you already. Your Duck is much weaker than Saturn. Once he's gone there will be enough power between the two Shine Balls to take out the rest of your life points and you've got no traps waiting. It's my move. This duel is over. But I'll lay this trap card facedown just in case."

Mnemosyne quickly surveyed the field and saw that Asinath was right. She had one last option. Her opponent was due three memories now. There had to be one that would cause her to give up as Lotaru had.

"I still have one chance. Say hello to your worst nightmares!"

Asinath shuddered as another memory took form around her. There was worse than that in her mind…much worse.

Asinath found herself standing in the sacred alter hall of a temple. She easily recognized the Temple of Re in Karnak. Not because of the building itself, but more because of the two figures that now occupied the hall. There was a bed set up before the sacred alter. A young woman was lying on it, naked except for the golden falcon mask that covered her face. Asinath knew that the young woman was her.

An even younger man was standing before the bed. He was also naked except for a golden lion mask and a veil concealing the rest of his head. The two young people stared at each other for the longest time, breathing heavily and never speaking. After what seemed like forever, the young man knelt down on the bed and slowly crawled on top of Asinath's body. Asinath gazed up at him, excitement and terror both racing through her mind. The young man eventually fell to kissing her.

Asinath watched the events replay themselves with a blank face. She remembered enjoying the mixed emotions of the moment when it was happening, but now that she knew who was behind the mask, she could only watch the scene with horror.

She could only watch as the two made love…could only watch as her long black hair spilled out of its veil and onto the bed as they both reached ecstasy. She could only look on in disgust as the two fell asleep in each other's arms. She could not change what happened.

"Oh, I just don't believe it," Mnemosyne broke in mockingly. "You sick, twisted person."

"Your insults will not reach me as they did Lotaru," Asinath said passively. "Show me what you will."

"All right, fine!"

At Mnemosyne's words the temple disappeared to be replaced by a prison cell. Asinath could see herself in the dim light, chained to a wall. A little girl was crouched next to her and she had one arm protectively around her. Asinath took in the girl's long silver hair and green eyes with a pang of sadness. Her sweet Shaiala.

Shaiala was shaking Asinath's shoulder but Asinath only responded by hugging the little girl closer. She held her with both arms and buried her face in her daughter's hair, her body shaking with silent sobs.

The elder Asinath looked away from the sorry sight when she heard the door to the cell open. Seth walked into the cell. He was dressed in all of his Priestly garb and he held the Millennium Rod at his side. He looked down on Asinath, half in pity and half in disgust.

"There was a time when I worshipped you, Asinath," he began. "You were everything that I wanted to be. But now I wonder…if that adoration was at all deserved."

"Well," Asinath began in a heavy voice. She did not bother to look up. "That depends on just how much of Akhenaden's lies you choose to believe."

"Don't you dare defame his integrity, Asinath! You are the one cast down, not him!"

"That's funny. I didn't know you had a sense of humor, Seth."

"STILL THY TONGUE!" Seth commanded angrily, holding up the Rod threateningly. "I did not come here to fight with you. There is some way that you could redeem yourself. Do you know of Bakura's plans?"

"I do."

"Tell me."

"Will you release my daughter and I?"

"No, I cannot," Seth answered sadly.

"Society demands swift justice," Asinath said bitterly. "I'll take my secrets to the grave."

Seth looked stricken by her words. The punishment for treason was death. Far as she had fallen, Asinath was his friend. They had grown up together. He knelt down in front of her, gazing directly into her piercing green eyes.

"Asinath…you will die for your crimes. There is nothing I can do about that now. But how you choose to leave this world is up to you."

Asinath met his gaze unwaveringly. All signs of her tears were gone.

"And what has this world ever done for me?"

Asinath could only sigh as the memory faded. What she had said so long ago was still true.

The final memory brought everything full circle. Asinath was standing in the chamber beneath Kul Elna once again. Many years had passed since the first memory and in place of the pit the Tablet of Memory was now set up. The Puzzle, Eye, Ring, Rod, and Scale were all set into it. Asinath saw herself standing at the foot of the stairs that led up to the surface with Shaiala standing just behind her. She was staring down Akefia, who was standing beside the tablet. Of course, he now went by the name of Bakura but that didn't really matter to her. He would always be Akefia to her.

Atem was standing somewhere between the two of them, his gaze constantly shifting from Akefia to Asinath. On one side of the chamber Siamun was watching the clash of the two wills while preventing Mana from rushing to Atem's side. Three of the priests were on the other side of the chamber. Isis was kneeling on the floor, holding Karim's head in her lap. He was already dead. Shada was standing protectively in front of them. He was holding up the Key, not sure whom to direct its powers at. He wasn't certain if Asinath or Akefia was the greater threat.

"You heard it straight from your sister's mouth, Pharaoh!" Akefia taunted. "I wasn't lying! Your house is nothing but a band of lying murderers!"

"You're wrong, Bakura!" Atem tried to deny him. "You were both so young when it happened. There must have been a reason-"

"A reason for slaughtering ninety-nine innocent souls in cold blood? Now you're just prolonging the inevitable. You know I'm right!"

"Asinath," Atem pleaded with her to make it not true, to prove Akefia wrong. "There…he's…it can't be-"

"I'm sorry, brother," Asinath hissed coldly. "It is true. And you are no better than the rest of them!"

"I didn't know…I-I didn't know-"

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE! KILLERS…LIARS…ALL OF YOU!" she screamed furiously.

"Asinath!" Akefia called to her. "Do you understand now? Do you understand what I'm trying to accomplish? Amaroq was wrong. None of them deserve to live! I cannot do this alone. I need your power! Will you aid me…or thwart me?"

Asinath stared at her lover for the longest time, breathing heavily and trying to keep her anger under control. Seeing the madness in his eyes she could see that Akefia was no longer the man that she knew. She didn't want to believe it but the evil of the Necros God had taken him far beyond recall. She wanted justice just as much as he did, but he didn't seem to realize what would happen if all the Items were brought together on the tablet.

"Justice or no justice, you know not what you do," she tried to reason with him.

"I only know that I use this power to destroy murderers that do not deserve to live. And if I have to give power to Zork to do it then so be it! No one in this room can escape what they are or what they've done. Will you give me the Mirror or not?"

Asinath didn't speak. She gazed fearfully into those maddened lavender eyes that she had once loved. But no, this was not her Akefia any longer. It was Zork speaking to her. Akefia had given himself completely to the darkness. But what did it matter? They were all evil. Nothing could change that. Akefia was right. Asinath reached down into her cloak, her fingers closing around the handle of the Mirror. She never took her eyes away from Akefia's. What other choice was there?

The last thing Asinath heard before the memory shattered was Isis screaming.

"ASINATH, DON'T DO IT!"

Of course she'd given him the Mirror. What else could she have done? There was no other way. But maybe…just maybe, things would have been different if she hadn't. Maybe Akefia would have lived if she hadn't surrendered herself to Zork. Maybe…

"Give up?" Mnemosyne's voice broke into her thoughts.

Asinath looked up and found herself staring across a playing field at Mnemosyne's triumphant face. What was left to do except-

"SATURN, ATTACK HER SONIC DUCK!"

"What? NO!"

Asinath smirked briefly as her angel swept down upon the duck and destroyed it.

Lotaru(300):Mnemosyne(700)

"Now, my Mystical Shine Balls, attack her life points directly!"

Then, in one big flash of light, it was all over.

Lotaru(300):Mnemosyne(0)

Mnemosyne let out an unearthly shriek as her body vanished into shadow. Asinath raised a hand and called the three star chips from where they lay on Mnemosyne's consol into her hand. Then, without a word to Lotaru, Asinath climbed down from the stand and walked silently into the forest without looking back.

XxX

LE: Woot! Who's bad? I say, who's bad?

Bakura: Shut up!

LE: You first. So how's that for a dramatic ending to a chapter? I congratulate all of you who survived that chapter and love you very much for sticking with me. Let's see who can piece together of what happened in the past from some of those memories. Pretty cool, huh?

Kaiba: Are you done bragging yet?

LE: Fine I'll be quiet. But one last thing. My sister, Marble Angel, co-author of my other Yu-Gi-Oh story Past the Point of No Return, thinks that there is something I should mention. For anyone who didn't know, Asinath's name is pronounced O-sin-AH. The a is an o and the th is silent. If any other pronunciations are unclear, just let me know and I shall correct. But now, on to chapter 8.

Yami: Oi.