Ishizu placed her hand on the golden necklace around her neck. Akia recognized the eye of Anubis carved into the middle of the necklace.
"Is that...?" Akia started asking.
Ishizu nodded at Akia. "Indeed. It is also a millennium item. This is the millennium necklace. It grants me the power to see into the past and the future."
Akia couldn't help but quietly exclaim. It was an impressive power to have. She then realized that Ishizu could help her. "So there are a lot of things that you can tell me, right? I have so many questions."
"Indeed you do. However, I will only be able to answer a small portion. Everything will be unveiled at its destined time." Ishizu then motioned at one of the stone tablets.
Akia went for a closer look. Other than a bunch of hieroglyphs that she recognized from her history books, there was something that struck her immediately. "That looks like Yugi!"
There was, indeed, one of the carvings that resembled Yugi quite a bit. He looked as though he was battling with the Black Magician against another man wielding what seemed to be the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
"So you noticed," Ishizu replied, "this is the nameless pharaoh; the soul within the millennium puzzle. Your brother is the modern day reincarnation of the pharaoh, which is the reason why he was chosen to complete the puzzle."
"What? That's way too far-fetched, don't you think?" Akia simply couldn't believe such a story. It was way too mind boggling for her to comprehend.
"It stands to reason that you wouldn't immediately believe me. If you can't believe my words, then I will make you see and witness the truth." Ishizu's Millennium Necklace shone with a blinding light, enveloping both Akia and herself.
When the light dissipated, Akia found herself floating above an unfamiliar scenery. She then looked at her hands, noticing that they were translucent. "What?! What's happening?! What is this?!"
"We are in a vision of the past. What you are seeing right now happened thousands of years ago," Ishizu answered.
"Huh?!" Akia then looked around her. She was in a palace, a beautiful Egyptian palace, that wasn't in ruins, unlike what she'd seen in pictures. Below her there was the throne room. "Is that Yugi on the throne?" She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Yugi was sitting on the throne. He looked different, though. He resembled more the spirit of the millennium puzzle than her twin brother.
"Yes. That is the nameless pharaoh," Ishizu confirmed.
Akia then noticed another familiar face, "Kaiba Seto?! What is he doing there?"
"In the past, Priest Seto was a faithful advisor of the pharaoh. But this is not where your story is," Ishizu informed Akia.
"My story?"
"I just merely showed you a vision to prove to you that your brother is indeed the reincarnation of the nameless pharaoh. Now, let us go back." As Ishizu said that, the light of her Millennium Necklace engulfed them once more, bringing them back to the present time.
Akia's eyes were wide open. She was still under the shock of what she had just experienced. She then looked down at her hands, realizing that they were back to normal. "I really was not prepared for this..."
Ishizu nodded.
"You mentioned the fact that the pharaoh was nameless. Why do you say that?" Akia questioned.
Ishizu looked at Akia. "The pharaoh's name has been lost. No one has any records of his name. Not even with millennium necklace do I know what it is."
Akia scratched the back of her head, trying to process all of this information that barely made any sense to her.
"Now, it is time to tell you about who you were," the wielder of the Millennium necklace stated.
"Who I was?" The red-eyed girl cocked her head in wonder.
"Just like Yugi, you are a reincarnation of your previous self."
"What now? Me?"
Ishizu transported them yet to another past vision. This time, they found themselves in a house. The house was made out of stone and was well decorated. It also looked like a historical house, devoid of modern tools. In the room they were in, there was a man holding a strange looking book. Akia noticed that something was off about him, however. He almost looked possessed. His eyes were fully black, and his mouth was wide open. He wasn't even looking at the book that he had open in front of him.
"What's wrong with him? Who is he anyway?" Akia asked, a bit disturbed by the scene.
"He is the father of your past self. Hungry for power, he became a disciple of the Dark Lord. He was given the Millennium Spellbook, which contained a spell to summon the Dark Lord into the world and have him reign over it," Ishizu explained.
"The Millennium Spellbook? What do you mean?" Akia inquired.
"The Millennium Spellbook is said to have existed for many years before even this ancient time. Passed on for generations among the great pharaohs, it contains spells that could not be deciphered. You, the vessel of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, were chosen to decipher the Millennium Spellbook. And so, your father was consumed by the Dark Lord and followed his will, offering you up to the evil entity," the Egyptian woman exposed the truth.
"Why...?" Akia asked, horrified by what she was hearing.
"There needed to be someone capable of understanding how to summon him for him to get summoned. Your past self was what the Dark Lord was waiting for. He knew that the one carrying the legendary Red-Eyes Black Dragon was the only one who could withstand the darkness."
Just then, the scenery changed to a young girl, who looked awfully similar to Akia. The girl was hiding in her room, a dark aura emanating around her. The vision then faded and Akia was back to the museum. She was speechless. She had so much more to ask about after all of this, but she didn't know where to start.
"I can't answer any more of your questions about the past, unfortunately. A lot of visions were blocked out from me, making me unable to find out more," Ishizu confessed.
Akia slowly nodded, the reality of the situation slowly sinking in. "If you can't answer any more questions about the past, can you answer my questions about the present?"
Ishizu's face got covered in sadness. "You want to know about Marik..."
"Yes. Please tell me. I want to know... no, I need to know. I haven't been able to forget about him at all for all those years. What happened to him?"
"It's like I told you earlier... He's slowly getting lost to darkness. That day when you met us, we were not supposed to go out. You see, we are tomb keepers. Our father was a strict man. He upheld all of the traditions of the tomb keepers with a firm hand. We were not allowed to go outside for our whole life, until the return of the pharaoh. However, Marik was very curious about the outside world. After going through our cruel initiation ritual, he awakened a second personality from the pain he went through..."
Akia felt her heart squeeze. She didn't even know Marik, but imagining him in pain was enough for her to feel like she wanted to cry. "Why do I feel this weird attachment to him? I only saw him for a few seconds..."
"I couldn't tell you why, but I can tell you that he also couldn't forget about you. He would wonder when he would be able to see you again and he would talk about how ridiculous it was that he was so obsessed with you. He would only smile when thinking of you. At least, until he ran away and started plotting his revenge against the pharaoh."
Akia felt butterflies in her stomach at the mention of how Marik was basically going through similar feelings as her concerning their encounter. She then asked about that last thing that Ishizu mentioned. "Revenge?"
"After going into the outside world against our laws, we found our father torturing Rishid, our adoptive brother for not keeping an eye on us. Seeing that, Marik's other personality fully took over. He then took the millennium rod and murdered our father. When Rishid came to, he was able to suppress the violent alter ego that had taken over Marik. However, Marik did not know that it was he who killed our father, and he held the pharaoh responsible, believing it was Shadi, a servant of the pharaoh, who did it. After he grew up, Marik left with Rishid to track down the three god cards," Ishizu explained.
"The three god cards?" Akia questioned.
"Those are the cards needed to awaken the memories of the pharaoh, along with the seven millennium items. They are also the most powerful cards in the game. Due to their immense powers, only the chosen wielders can use them."
"So... you're saying that Marik is now out to get my brother."
Ishizu nodded. "I am sorry for all of this... If I didn't take Marik outside, this could all be avoided."
Akia shook her head. "Everything happens for a reason. If you didn't take him outside, I might've never met him. And I feel like it was necessary for us to meet. It's as though it was destined to happen. And now, we're this close to meeting again."
"Akia-san... Please... Help me save him. Despite everything, I know that he deeply cares for you."
Akia took Ishizu's hands in hers. "I'll do anything for him, Ishizu-san."
Ishizu couldn't help but smile at Akia's determination. "I'll be counting on you then. There's going to be a new tournament that Kaiba will be announcing tonight. Make sure to participate in it and reach the finals."
"A new tournament? Alright! I'll participate for sure!" Akia then said her goodbyes to Ishizu and headed out to join back up with Bakura.