Okay, I started writing this chapter on December 29, 2006, got very sidetracked, and finished today, January 8, 2007. I was encouraged to at least finish this chapter and start on the last one by a couple of very nice reviews. Thank you everyone, who has reviewed so far! Happy New Year to all, and I hope we all strive for our potentials this year and in the years to come!

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

by Pearl of the Dark Age

The Fourth Person

The bright light did not come again. Seto was enveloped by total darkness, and he began to wonder if something went wrong this time. Slowly, little bits of light twinkled their way down to him. He looked up and saw the night sky. It looked as if he were still on Earth. The same smell of the forsaken desert stung his nostrils, and as he looked around he saw that he had not left at all! But… the oasis is gone… he realized. Seto looked at the crumbling cliff of sandstone to his right and farther to his left another low range of cliffs. He was in a valley.

Seto spun around, expecting his fourth person, but there was no one there. On the ground was a trail of fresh footprints. The chilly wind was quickly eroding them away. He followed their traces for a hundred meters before the wind erased all signs of their existence. Something inside him deflated. The prints had led him around the corner of a bend, and there was no one there. He stood there, his feet sinking slightly in the sand, and suddenly feeling very old again. He shivered, his bones ached, and his joints burned.

Glancing down at his hands, he saw that the skin was thin, stretched, and crinkly again. He felt his face; it was no longer smooth. Something inside him could not hold onto his youthful image. The power to manipulate his self-image seemed to have weakened. Seto stared at the little eddies of sand swirling upon the surface of the ground without really seeing them. All comprehension seemed to have dimmed in his brain, just as a bright orange light illuminated on his left.

Slowly, with the hindered reaction of a confused senior citizen, he turned his head to gaze upon a campfire. There were two logs on either side, serving as benches. There was some food on a stick, cooked by the licking tongues of flame. An unopened bag of marshmallows sat alongside one end of a log. Seto bit his lips and curiously walked forward. Warmth drew him near, and he could care less about the food.

"What do you think you're doing, whippersnapper?" came a sharp voice behind him. Seto didn't turn around to face his fourth person. He sat down upon the log and waited for the owner of that voice to sit across from him.

Sugoroku Mutou, an archeologist in his prime, sat across from him, gleefully opening the bag of marshmallows and impaling one, fluffy, white treat upon a bamboo skewer. "This is the life," he said, bemused. "There is nothing better than being in the Valley of the Kings with some marshmallows!" He grinned across at the old CEO.

Seto studied the old man's face. The old man was in fact young again. His spiky hair was neatly tucked under a fedora, and his grey beard was as black as pupils. Seto said nothing. He knew that Sugoroku was the sort of man who would start talking without invitation. For a while, they both sat in silence, enjoying the fire – and Sugoroku his marshmallows.

"If you are confused, you don't look it," came the expected icebreaker. "I could tell you so many stories, young man, but you probably don't want to hear them all. However, there was this one occasion that must have been…"

Seto let the words wash over him. He was not listening out of boredom or disinterest, but out of tiredness. It was soothing to have company in the cold night, and he even accepted a slightly burnt marshmallow from Sugoroku, who had started on his tenth anecdote. Stars that had been rising when Seto first arrived now twinkled from the zenith. The howling winds at the mouth of the valley died away. Yugi's grandfather stopped suddenly and fixated the pensive old CEO with eyes like amethyst embers. "If you are this tired, boy, you won't be ready for the next adventure!"

"What adventure?" Seto finally found his voice as his interest peaked. "I thought you were going to tell me what sort of influence you had in my life."

The purple eyes bulged out slightly as the archeologist laughed. He laughed like it was the most hilarious thing he had ever heard. "You mean," he inquired, gasping between laughs, "that I actually… I actually have to explain it to you?"

Seto suddenly found a reserve of energy, enough to be irritated. He settled for a cold glare as a reply.

"Hmm…" Sugoroku bemused. "Well, I suppose I could humor you, young man. You see… it was my Blue Eyes White Dragon that was the first domino to be knocked over, to sort-of speak. The first domino in a line of dominos, you see?"

"You're being redundant, old man," Seto snapped.

"Who's the old man here?" he replied, highly affronted. "You see, I'm young at heart, and you are not." He gave Seto a short nod in affirmation. "That's right! You are as old as you feel. You are feeling burdens and regrets now, aren't you? Regretting some of the choices you've made in the past now, huh? Well, whippersnapper, snap out of it!"

Seto sat back as if he had received a jolt. More energy seemed to be upwelling from the depths of his being. "You think it so easy? Just get over it? Do you even know what I regret? And what's this about a line of dominos?"

"What really set the ball in motion for you in building your identity in association with the Blue Eyes White Dragon was destroying mine. No one could possess anything that you identified yourself with. You could not share the Blue Eyes, because to you it represented power. To me, it represented friendship… Something that even now you have a hard time understanding."

"I have a much better understanding now," Seto replied. All the bitterness left his voice, and he felt rejuvenated. He straightened his spine, feeling more and more energetic life within himself. "I may not have used my life on Earth to its full potential, but isn't there life after death? Earlier, you spoke of an adventure to come. I may not have a clue as to what is going to happen, but I know that if given the same choices I had before, I won't make the same mistakes again!" He clenched his fist in front of him enthusiastically. "Old man, I will meet my potential!"

Sugoroku smiled contentedly, like a teacher admiring a student. He gazed across at the young man who had destroyed his Blue Eyes, the young man who had seized control of a military company and turned it around to make toys for children. People all across the world had started settling their differences with Duel Monsters rather than with guns and violence. Crime rates went down, children became more active outdoors instead of watching TV, and people found new goals to strive for in life. Who knew that such good things could be bestowed upon the world by the hands of one sour upstart? Sugoroku thought to himself.

"Well, young man," Sugoroku finally replied after a moment of heavy silence, "attitude is everything. And now you've found the key to unlock the door to your adventure. If you carry this attitude with you in the afterlife, you are going to find happiness that can only be described as heavenly."

"Quit playing around with words, Grandpa," Seto smirked. "I can do that just as easily." A rare, genuine smile spread across the brunette's young features. He stopped himself, and stared at the sand under his feet. He was quiet again, lost in thought. Then, he said as if to himself, "I only hope I can see him again."