Chapter 2:

Atem lay sleeping in his bed. He had been trying to contact Yugi for hours, to no avail. He finally decided that he should go and look for him. Now he stood in the twisting halls and winding staircases of his mind space. The cold stone walls were illuminated only by torches place at intervals along the stone. The air was dank and musty, as if inside a pharaoh's tomb. In a way, it was. The Millennium Puzzle was the final resting place of the spirit of a five thousand year old pharaoh. Atem stood in the chamber where he had appeared, taking note that he was able to walk in the mind space. Here his muscle strength didn't matter so his weakened body had no effect on him. He called out to Yugi, his voice echoing down the corridor, but the only answer he received was his own voice calling out in the empty space; and even it faded away. He set out through the maze of chambers and stairways in search of his lost friend. The place seemed different somehow, darker. The flames on the walls were dim, and gave off little warmth. Atem realized that these torches that were suppose to burn for all eternity were going out. He hurriedly left the hallway, coming to the top of a set of stairs. Looking over the edge you could see more stairs coming off of different rooms and halls, but you could not see where the stairs ended, as the farther down you looked the darker it got and the bottom of the stairs was shrouded in a sea of shadows. Even so, it was definitely a long way down, and this was certainly not a place you wanted to fall from. Everywhere strange particles were floating upward, toward the darkness above him. Upon closer inspection Atem could see that the particles were bits of his surroundings: the stone, the stairs, the walls and floors, all of them were slowly dissolving and drifting toward whatever was above him. Most likely, where ever these particles are headed they don't plan on returning from, he figured, it would be best I avoid following them if I plan on returning. Deeper thoughts were drawn to his mind such as 'Why is this world disappearing?'

He allowed these questions into his thoughts as he continued on down the staircase. After about seventy stairs the stairway ended and an entrance loomed to his right. With no other way to take he carefully stepped into the dark corridor. There were but a few lit torches still clinging to their rusted braces half hanging on the wall. It was ice cold in this hall. Cobwebs clung to the corners and hung down from the ceiling. Atem did not let this phase him as he tredded down the long hallway. He had almost reached the corridor's exit when he heard the moaning behind him. Atem turned to look behind him. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock, but realization had yet to hit him. Semi-Transparent black masses were forming, coming out of the floor, ceiling, and walls. They moaned their woes as the materialized, slinking along the cold stone toward Atem. These creatures made their misery known, as they were lost souls banished and forever trapped in the Shadow Realm.

"uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhmmmmmeeeeh hhhhhhhhhhh..." The souls moaned continuously, never stopping. The more they moaned though, the clearer their words became. They were calling him. The souls words were now as clear as crystal. They moaned his name, "Yami..."

This startled him. They knew his name, but how? And how did they get here? Inside the Puzzle?

"Who are you? How did you get inside the Millennium Puzzle?" Atem asked them.

The souls continued to slink towards him, paying no heed to his questions, only moaning his name.

"I can help you! You need only to tell me how!"

Once more the souls did not respond; they only moaned his name.

Then a question arose from them, it was dragged out in a moan and pierced Atem, hard.

"Why did you do this to us, Yami...?"

Atem was thrown by this question. He faltered, "I-I have done nothing."

The souls were almost to him and he could sense their hostility. Atem turned and ran into the room at the end of the corridor, a heavy stone door slamming shut behind him, the soul's last words echoing in his mind, "Why..?"

He didn't have much time to think on the matter though, as the souls came through the walls and the door. Looking around him there were no doors in the room, no way out. Just as the souls were advancing on him a trap door opened underneath him and then he was falling. He felt himself slipping away as he went down. Soon the place he'd came from faded into shadows. He watched as the walls around him became strange as he fell. The started off the same the others, but the further he fell the more holes they had in them, missing whole sections of bricks. Soon enough they were just a few clusters of bricks here and there. The space between was black, with a purplish hue; it resembled storm clouds. Then he hit the ground. After several minutes of laying prone Atem pushed himself to a sitting position and looked around. His eye widened in shock at his surroundings. The ground was only a good sized patch of stone floating amongst the strange purple clouds. Grave stones stood in random places on the island. They had the had the names of duel monsters on them. The Card Graveyard?

A creaking sound came from behind him, shaking him from his thoughts. He turned to see a door. It opened to a plain hallways with only another door directly across. It was a simple door, but Atem knew who it belonged to. He rushed toward the door, into the hall, his own door closing behind him, "Yugi!"

Atem turned the knob on the door and threw it open, hoping to see who he thought would be behind it, but the sight was far from what he expected. The room was not the same and nobody was inside. Broken toys were scattered about, many missing pieces. The wallpaper was torn and the walls themselves had holes down to the wiring. The ceiling had an enormous hole in it as well and flakes of snow drifted down though it and in to the room. The room was filled with dust. It coated everything and the horrible stench of smoke hung heavy in the air. The window was broken and the wind was blowing the torn shredded curtains. Atem fell to him knees at the sight of the once happy place, tears forcing their way from his eyes and a single snowflake fell into his hand.