Chapter 1: A Chance Meeting
A few years ago in the golden lands of Egypt, two siblings, Marik and Ishizu, explored the tombs of their imprisonment. Hieroglyphics, telling the many stories of the unnamed Pharaoh, decorated the walls. Every corridor was decorated in the same manner and every corridor seemed void and empty, but the Ishtars knew better; they knew that every corridor led to a different room, which held various artifacts including scrolls from the time of the unknown Pharaoh to the very furniture he used. Most people would not understand the significance of these artifacts mostly because they did not know what great deeds the unnamed Pharaoh has done; even if the Ishtars told people the truth, people would not believe it since they thought things such as magic was inexistent.
The Ishtar children walked through the corridors as they usually did everyday. Usually noticing a small detail, Ishizu scrutinized a part of the wall she was accustomed to seeing. Noticing a small knob-like switch, Ishizu, following the small instructions hidden, turned it partly clockwise, counterclockwise all the way, then finally back to the position it was before she disturbed it. The two siblings felt a sudden quake. Moments later, a hidden door opened in front of them, revealing descending stairs that lead to complete darkness. Both frightened by the sudden event, Ishizu grabbed a torch hanging on the wall and lead both her brother and herself down unknown territory. When they finally reached the last step, they saw a golden colored door decorated with many flowers and vines that survived the years. Opening the door, both siblings gasped in awe.
A few years has passed since the Ishtar children discovered the room behind the hidden door. During those years between when they found the room (which they kept secret from their parents) and the present time, many events unfolded; Marik developed a dark side he will soon cannot control and both Marik and Ishizu gained the millennium rod and necklace respectively before their due time. Ishizu was in the room that held the Pharaoh's scrolls; ever since they discovered the hidden room, she has read the scrolls repeatedly hoping to find some answers to her questions. All she knows is that the girl lying peacefully in the middle of the room had some connection with the unknown Pharaoh. Ishizu caressed the golden necklace draped around her neck. She also tried to find some answers by looking into the past, but whenever she came across a vision with the sleeping maiden in it, the vision would suddenly blur preventing Ishizu from discovering anything. It was if someone or something was preventing Ishizu from discovering the truth, but what could be more powerful than the millennium items?
Putting the question aside, she continued to read the scrolls. Suddenly, her millennium necklace glowed brightly, burning the skin that it touched. Ishizu hastily removed the necklace and placed it on the desk. Stunned, she looked at her necklace and wondered why it burned her. From the distant, she heard a metal clang and her brother's cursing; his millennium rod must've done the same thing her millennium necklace did to her. Sudden realization hit her; she quickly wrapped her necklace in a cloth and brought it with her as she opened the hidden door that lead to the secret room. When she reached the room, she slowed her pace and stood next to the sleeping maiden.
The pink oval shaped pendant hanging from her necklace was glowing brightly like Ishizu's necklace was moments ago, except there was a slight difference; the sleeping maiden's pendant's glow radiated warmth similar to the warmth a mother's hug emitted. To Ishizu's amazement, the sleeping maiden's eyes slowly fluttered opened revealing a set of ocean blue eyes that was seeing the world for the first time in a long time.
Not knowing the maiden's real name, Ishizu thought of a proper name to suit her for the time being, "Welcome to the present, Nuru."
The alarm clock rang signaling the sleeping figure the start of a brand new day. The alarm kept ringing, but the figure stayed still, however it awoke the spirit residing in the millennium puzzle. Coming out of a seemingly dreamless sleep, the spirit awoke and waited for his host to stir out of his sleep. When the alarm failed to wake him up, the spirit decided to do the waking instead.
Hoping that his host will decide to wake up, he communicated with him through their telepathic connection. "Yugi, if you don't wake up soon, you'll miss school and Tea will be here soon to walk with you."
At the mention of one of his friends, spiky red and black hair with golden highlights slowly appeared out of the comfortable and warm covers. Opening one eye lazily, his arm reached out to stop the incessant sound of the alarm. When he accomplished the task, he slowly got up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. His round innocent amethyst eyes scanned his room; the first thing he spotted was his millennium puzzle, which his grandfather gave to solve. After many hard working hours and days, Yugi managed to solve it and as a result, he made a new friend. Putting the item around his neck, Yugi dressed in his school uniform and headed downstairs to greet his grandpa and to eat breakfast.
When he stepped down from the last stair, he scanned the room, which was the main place of their shop; the room was decorated in the merchandise they sold, duel monster cards. The game was the most popular card game internationally. Kaiba Corp, as well as other corporations, often held various tournaments to determine the King of Games. Yugi, after defeating the maker of the game, Pegasus, in the duelist kingdom tournament, was always invited by the hosts to join in the tournaments and always came on top. Though he enjoyed the thrill of a challenging duel, Yugi sometimes resented being the number one duelist since there was not one person who did not know his name.
Plopping the last bite in his mouth, Yugi grabbed his bag and headed out the door while yelling goodbye to his grandpa who was all the way in the back of the store.
Reaching the front, Yugi saw his friend, Tea staring at the sky while waiting for him. Noticing his presence, Tea turned her attention from the sky to her friend.
Beaming a bright smile, Tea warmly greeted Yugi, "Hey Yugi, What's up?"
Adjusting his backpack, Yugi answered with just as much warmth, "Nothing new." Looking up at the sky, Yugi continued, "At least no new life threatening, saving the world type of adventure."
Looking at the same blue sky, Tea commented, "Yea. Seems like things have gotten back to normal, huh Yugi?"
Yugi sighed while looking at the ground, "Yea."
Sensing something was disturbing Yugi. Tea was about to ask Yugi, but decided against it, hoping that Yugi will confided in her on his own. The sound of silence enveloped the two friends as they continued walking down the street. People passed by them, not knowing or caring whatever troubled the spiky haired teenager, whose eyes seem to concentrate on the ground in front of him.
Tea was distraught over the fact she could do nothing to help ease her dearest friend's endeavor. All she could do was wait; wait until Yugi told her what was bothering him for the past week or wait until the problem's been solved. Tea hoped with all her heart that one of those would happen and fast; she hated to see her friend this way, because the problem was affecting her too. From behind her, Tea heard a small soft voice calling out to either her or Yugi.
"Āa-perti?"
At the sound of the voice, both Tea and Yugi turned simultaneously toward the source of the voice to find a young woman wearing garments similar to an Egyptian Priestess; she was wearing a milky white shoulderless dress with a blue-beaded necklace that covered her shoulders, along with golden bracelets on both wrists. People who were passing by gave her such odd looks, but she didn't notice or didn't care; her attention was solely on the two people she addressed or rather one person.
She repeated, but a little louder, "Āa-perti?"
Yugi and Tea looked at one another with confusion written on their faces. If the girl didn't speak English, then how are they suppose to know what she's taking about and is the word that she keeps repeating the name of a person or something else? They wouldn't be able to help her either way. Bowing a sorry, Yugi started to continue to walk toward school with Tea trailing right behind. As Yugi passed the girl, his shoulder brushed hers and all of a sudden his millennium puzzle emitted a soft glow which caught Yugi's attention. Looking back at the girl, he had this weird feeling in his guts that maybe she had some kind of connection with the millennium items.
Turning to face Tea, he explained, "Tea, tell the teacher that I'm going to be late." Right afterward, he grabbed the girl's hand and ran back toward his grandfather's game shop.
Tea yelled out to Yugi as loud as she could, but he was already far away. Though she was surprised in his sudden actions, she was glad that he was back to his old self even for just a moment, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel a slight pang in her heart. Shaking the feeling off and wearing a smile on her face, she continued walking toward school. She was walking only for a few seconds when another voice called out to her, but it was the complete opposite of the young girl's; the voice had an eerie and dark aura about it. Not being able to contain her curiosity, Tea turned to her right to find a man with his face completely covered by the shadows of his black robe. The man sat behind a table draped in purple tablecloth, which touched the ground. On the table sat a deck of cards, which mostly caught Tea's attention.
Her feet began to move on their own toward the mysterious man. When she reached him, the man looked up at her revealing his ruby red eyes and his black highlighted red hair. As he smiled at her, he asked one question.
"There's a wish you want to be fulfilled in your heart."
Momentarily caught off guard, Tea regained her senses and replied, "What do you mean?"
The man smiled sweetly at her. "There is someone who has captured your heart and completely ravished your senses. One who has dominated your soul." He paused for a moment then spoke again, but more to himself, "Such feelings can bring such joy, but what happens when there's too much of it?"
Tea couldn't believe what the man had said except the part he said quietly; she couldn't hear a thing. Maybe this man was psychic – the type that can see into one's soul. With all the crazy adventures they had, maybe this one was the real thing. With her excitement rising and a bit of anxiety, she quickly asked him, "Can you tell the future?"
The man smiled again and answered, "Not exactly my dear." Seeing the confusion on her face, he continued, "I can do something better; I can make people's dreams come true…" Many of Tea's dreams began flashing in her head, but were halted when the man continued. "Of course, the only type of dreams I can make are the ones that are strongest in that person's heart." Taking the deck of cards on the table, he began shuffling it and placing the cards on the table face-up one by one –one north, one south, one east, one west, and one in the center of them all.
Tea waited patiently for whatever is suppose to happen next. The man smiled at her and said, "Your strongest desire is to be with the one you love dearly. If you want my dear, I can lend you my power to ensure he returns the same feeling."
This was once in a lifetime event and Tea couldn't pass up such an opportunity. Before she could give an answer, the man was in front of her, standing a full feet higher than her. Pressing his nose against hers caused Tea to blush furiously.
"You're a very interesting person Ms. Gardner. I can't wait to see your dream come true." Kissing the top of her forehead, a bright red glow flashed for a second then disappeared. Tea stood still, stunned by the man's actions. When she came to, any evidence of the man's existence was nowhere to be found. Thinking that it was all merely a dream, Tea continued toward her destination.
From the shadows of the alley, glowing amethyst eyes trailed after the retreating figure walking down the street. The glow disappeared just as mysteriously as it had appeared as well as the blackness that hid its presence.
Grandpa, enjoying the peace, was idly minding the GameShop when all of a sudden his grandson came bustling through the door then dashed to the living room while muttering a quick apology. Setting the girl down on the couch opposite him, Yugi began to observe her. So far, she didn't utter a word or move from her position; she continued to make eye contact with Yugi, but for a strange reason, he felt as if she was evaluating his soul. Feeling that now's better then never, Yugi began the conversation, hoping it will eventually turn to the question he needs answered.
"Uh…hi." No response. "My name's Yugi. What's your name?" Again, no response of any kind. A few moments passed with no progress. When Yugi was about to give up, what was about to happen next gave him some hope.
"I'm sorry." Yugi's attention snapped back to the girl. "When I saw you, something in me just…umm…well…awoke I guess and I mistook you for someone else."
"You can speak my language and understand?"
The young girl nodded. "Oh. Before I forget…my name's Nuru…well at least that's what she calls me." Nuru began fidgeting with her hands, nervous to talk to others besides the people who found her. Because of her mistake, she found herself in a stranger's house and in a stranger's presence; something about that concept was unnerving to her. She was alone in a place that was new to her- she was facing these problems on her own. Facing new problems with someone she knew would be comforting and will help ease her nerves, but something about the boy in front of her—either his appearance or his aura—made the uneasiness slowly dissipate. Suddenly finding an interest in the ground, she concentrated her gaze on it.
When neither Yugi nor Nuru spoke or attempted to, Yugi decided to ask his question or at least lead the conversation to it. "Back on the street, you called me something. What does it mean?"
"Pharaoh."
"Why did you think I was the Pharaoh?"
"I'm not sure."
Another dead end. Yugi mentally sighed to himself. For a moment when she said Pharaoh, he believed that maybe she had some sort of connection to Yami's past life, but that theory went down the drain. Maybe Yugi emitted some sort of aura that makes people think he's some sort of powerful leader, but then again he does share bodies with a five thousand year old Pharaoh. There is however, that glow. What could it mean? Does it have any significance? Should Yugi just brush it aside as if it never happened? Looking at the girl, Yugi doubted she knew the whys and hows to that glow. Deciding that this conversation will get him nowhere, Yugi lead Nuru out the door and bade good day to her.
As soon as Yugi closed the door, Yami appeared beside him.
There's something odd about that girl.
What do you mean Pharaoh?
I'm not sure about the details, but she emits this certain aura; an aura that can't be simply described in words…and most of all, I believe I've seen her somewhere before.