Yugi paused at the foot of the millennium stone and glanced at Ishizu, who gestured for him to continue.
He slowly slotted the items into their places. The eye, the necklace, the scales, the rod, the ring, the key and finally, taking the familiar height from around his neck, he carefully slotted the millennium puzzle into its position.
Licking his drying lips and swallowing to try and sooth his raspy throat he cast a cursory look over the stone, now holding seven solid gold, priceless artefacts before noticing something that left him with a distinct frown on his face.
There was an empty slot.
Yugi's eyes widened worriedly. There shouldn't be an empty slot! His eyes raced over the items, carefully placed in their specific spots, all seven were there. Why was there an eighth slot!
It sat there, mocking him. The empty slot lay along the very edge of the stone, it would have looked like a simple wear in the five millennia old stone if it weren't so distinct. It was long, a small pole-like shape.
'Ishizu!' he gasped, pointing at the section that worried him.
The two tomb keepers, worried by his tone rushed over, their eyes widening in horror at the empty slot before Marik murmured what they all knew in their hearts.
'There was an eighth item...' he muttered in horror.
Atem burst from his puzzle, his eyes locked on the spot. 'I knew of no such item,' he whispered in a deadly tone, with an undercurrent that was probably as close to scared the Pharaoh could reach.
'So it was made without the knowledge of the ruler?' gasped Ishizu.
'There's no way for us to know where it is...' whispered Yugi in a broken voice, on the verge of crying. All that hard work, all the time mentally preparing for having to face the Pharaoh in one last battle. All that work was going to mean nothing.
Atem fell to his knees, bashing his fist onto the stone, 'I was so close...so close to seeing them all again,' he whispered brokenly as he knelt, looking in pain at the last empty slot in the stone.
The others in attendance stared in silence. Many with tears in their eyes.
'Who calls for the power of the forbidden millennium item?' came a male's voice for the doorway to the room.
'I do!' bellowed the Pharaoh.
'And what claim do you stake to it?' came the voice in a deadly whisper.
'I need it to finally seal the shadows away, for the safety of this world and the afterlife, also to move on to where I belong...' he whispered the last part brokenly, Yugi looking at him with wet eyes.
The young man quickly jumped down the last of the stairs, grinning widely at the mismatched group of duellists.
'That awesome! But I'm not the one whose questions you need to answer!' he smiled widely leaning against the blank wall beside the depiction of an Egyptian woman with eyes closed in what seemed to be terror.
'And who are you to tell the Pharaoh what he can and cannot do?' asked Ishizu, becoming scarily close to what Isis acted like in Ancient Egypt.
The teen smirked dangerously, 'The holder of the forbidden item,' he stated calmly, watching the group's eyes open wider.
Marik on the other hand stepped forward. 'There were supposedly only seven items made. Why is it the existence of an eighth is only being discovered now?'
'Because the fool of a man thought he could control it, when he found he couldn't he sealed it away. But the items tend to appear where their needed,' muttered the teen.
'The forbidden item was created by some freaky old guy that went on to hold the millennium eye...anyway. He thought that if he created an extra item, he would be able to use the two to take the power of the items. Gaining powers rivalling the gods. To do so, he attacked and killed a small band of musicians, on their way to their next destination. He channelled the last woman's soul into the creation of what he called 'The forbidden item', but he miscalculated. It wasn't directly connected to the other seven, and therefore only answered to the woman's soul he had trapped inside it. So he attempted to seal it away using the items he still carried. But Alkia has this thing with being locked away. It never really works.'
As he spoke, the tablet next to him flashed, and Alkia stepped out, once again in her Egyptian garb, raising her defiant gaze to the group of Egyptian's before her eyes narrowed coldly on the Pharaoh. She glanced away as his gaze become questioning, turning instead to the door upon the walls adjacent to her.
'I, the innocently slain spirit of the forbidden item, the controller of the shadows and the one chosen by the gods to call the final judgement, call upon the powers of the gods on this day. May your powers overlap this chamber and oversee the duel fairly, so that the judgement can be dealt by Anubis as to whether this soul is pure enough to continue on to the next life. So let it be done.'
As she was speaking, the group of duellists noticed a small instrument rising in front of her, glowing with a golden hue. As she spoke the final words to initiate the duel, the glow intensified and grew until before their eyes was an item the same shape as the final slot in the stone.
'It's a flute,' breathed Téa, as she looked at the instrument with awe at its beauty.
Alkia raised the flute to her lips and played a haunting Egyptian tune that echoed around the table. As she played, the magic in the chamber grew to stifling proportions before seeming to focus on the raised platform where the millennium stone sat.
The items all began to glow and rattle before bursting into a brilliant light that zoomed towards the eye on the door to the afterlife. The eye glow before seemingly opening and capturing Yugi in its gaze, his shadow splitting in two before the Pharaoh was brought to physical form next to him.