Yami Marik watched in silence as Jonouchi and his many friends flocked around the unconscious Rishid, so concerned with the servant's wellbeing that they had failed to notice they had left Marik (or Namu) behind or even that he had undergone a transformation into a wholly new person. Yami Marik's twisted smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, and the pupils of his hooded eyes sparkled with pleasure at this situation. It made him happy to see these fools as they were now, chaos having consumed their beings, but what made him even happier was Rishid unconscious on the platform floor.

If anyone knew the effect Rishid had on Yami Marik, and if anyone had ever wanted to ask, Yami Marik would not have been able to explain in full exactly what happened whenever he was near Rishid. He himself didn't know truly, but it must have had something to do with Marik's soul being somehow bound to Rishid's, making Marik stronger when he was near.

Souls are a curious thing: souls are constantly repeating a cycle. They enter a person when they are born into the physical realm, and possess that body. But as the body grows older, that soul is slowly being drawn back to its place of origin in the Underworld. In time, that body fails one way or another so that the soul is released and returns to the Underworld to be recycled. But souls are even more curious than death, although they are cleansed in the Underworld of their past life's thoughts and memories, the cleansing can not entirely erase who that person was: the soul will always remember each individual owner subconsciously, even if consciously they have forgotten. There are times when the soul is not ready to be removed, or was too attached to the person it once was, so much so that when it is cleansed and recycled it recreates that person: more commonly called a reincarnation. His younger brother, Malik, was a reincarnation. He died too young and too suddenly, and his soul was confused and not ready to leave its life behind.

Even rarer than a reincarnation is a spirit. Sometimes people mistake souls and spirits for being the same thing, but they are not. Spirits are the souls of people who died and returned to the Underworld, but instead of feeling an attachment to their previous life, feel attached to a soul other than their own. The soul was so attached to this certain person, that instead of being cleansed of it's past life and recycled, they enter the body of their beloved and becomes a spirit: or an alternate personality. Therapists and doctors, who cannot believe in the obvious, explain these spirits away as schizophrenia or multiple personality disorders and attempt to remove this extra soul. It can be done, but if a spirit is forced from its body, it will not return to the Underworld, but die.

Malik was a reincarnation, and Yami Marik was a spirit of Malik. Ryou and Akefia (or Yami Bakura) had a similar connection. Ryou was a reincarnation, but who was he a reincarnation of? Who was he that his Akefia had loved dearly enough to follow in death? Yami Marik filed through his brother's memory, and discovered that Akefia despised Ryou, or at least it seemed so. Spirits, over time, can forget their past lives. The two of them were nearly 3,000 years old. Akefia's soul remembered Ryou, but he himself didn't. Somehow, this made Yami Marik angry, even if he had mostly forgotten Ryou- Akefia was his and no one else's.

Yami Marik had been so concentrated on these thoughts of death, souls, reincarnations, and spirits that he had almost forgotten the current time and place. He was curious about Akefia's Sennen Item, the ring of souls, and why his soul possessed that object rather than sharing Ryou's body. There was some mystery behind that, but he was not given the chance to think on it though because just then: "Where are you?" Jonouchi shouted, looking wildly in all directions "Where's the real Marik that made this guy fight in his place?" Yami Marik was tempted to ignore Jonouchi, and withdraw to his bedroom to think, but now that he was here in front of this group of fools he decided to alter Malik's plan some. Although Yami Marik loved his brother dearly, he preferred a slow and cautious plan of action, while Yami Marik was just the opposite. He was determined not to let Malik take control of their body until after the tournament was over, he would make Malik's revenge a reality in his vacancy, and until then Malik would not possess their body again. "He isMarik. Or at least, Marik's shadow." Yami Marik finally spoke, and everyone turned to face him, without a word. "But the one, who casts that shadow, is me." Yami Marik felt a small smile appear at his dramatic words, which stretched wider at the horrified look on everyone's face.

In this moment many different things happened at once: Jonouchi leapt forward and began to curse him, Kaiba smiled knowingly, and the remainder of the people on the platform either gasped or said nothing and stared. Yami Marik felt a wanting to continue, it was somehow fun, in a twisted way, to watch everyone's melodramatic reactions to his words. "I no longer need a shadow. When heis around, I am hidden. Compared to me, the other Marik is a child. That's why he can never finish a duel- properly."

Yami Yugi was perhaps more bewildered than the others, and he looked down disbelievingly on Yami Marik from his platform height. He had not suspected in the least that 'Namu' had been Marik, and he would never have guessed that Marik had multiple personalities. Yami Yugi must have looked very strange to someone who had never seen him before, or at least to someone who had not been given a detailed description of him. He was, to say the least, very unique. Like Yami Marik and Marik, Yami Bakura and Ryou, Yami Yugi was Yugi's spirit, as Yugi was his reincarnation. What the three Yami's had in common was that they were all Egyptian spirits in the body of loved ones, and all of them knew each other. His title, 'The Pharaoh', was more than just a title: 3,000 years past he had been the Pharaoh of Egypt, and Akefia and Marik had been "common" filth, tomb raiders after his blood and throne.

The Pharaoh though, was less lucky than these two, for the only thing he could remember about his life as Pharaoh was that he had been the Pharaoh. Nothing else came to mind other than that these two spirits were his enemies. But, his appearance: Yugi was short for his age, he was 16 years old and his height was reasonably 5'5. His head was often level with other's chests, but his hair, which stood straight on end, was often level with people's necks. It had once been straight and black, or so it was rumoured, but somehow he had managed to stick it straight up in many different spikes. He had died the edges of his hair a maroon, and blonde jagged bangs fell over his face, parted as not to cover his large purple eyes. They were unlike Marik's shade, which were light and pale, but were instead a wine-colour. He had long eyelashes and pale skin, a round and effeminate face, and a skinny body. He normally wore black, studded leather and chains, and sometimes he wore his school uniform for no other reason than that he wanted too. The one thing that never changed, though, was the chain around Yugi's neck on which was strung his Sennen Item, the most important of them all, the Sennen Puzzle.

Yami Marik continued, not looking at anyone in particular, but everyone. He was immune to the awkwardness of the situation it seemed. He wasn't, although unlike the others he enjoyed the uncomfortable silence. Now though, he wanted to break it, and continue with his introduction. "If I had to mention one obvious difference, he's afraid of the dark. But I love it." He just couldn't stop smiling. He felt a sudden pain across his face, although he didn't wince. Yami Marik couldn't see it, but at random his face had- stretched. They had seen Yami Marik's soul ripple, and pull away from Marik's body. This happened often when Yami Marik was in control of their body, (ever since he took control on the blimp's patio he had felt many ripples. The others, rather than feeling them, had seen them). Yami Marik continued still, he wasn't going to let anything interrupt him. "A shadow is just a shadow. He may have lost, but now there's one thing I'm sure of. Only those who are connected to a Sennen Item can control a God Card." The reason, in Yami Marik's mind, for Rishid's loss had been because Rishid did not own a Sennen Item: there were only 7 Sennen Items, and only 3 God Cards: Yami Yugi owned the Sennen Puzzle, he owned the Sennen Rod, and Kaiba in a sense owned the Sennen Rod too and was connected to its power. Yami Yugi and Slifer the Sky Dragon, Kaiba and Obelisk the Tormentor, and Yami Marik and the Winged Dragon of Re.

For a time there was an awkward silence, until Kaiba, who would never settle for that spoke up. "Rubbish. I have no interest in your Sennen nonsense, but the God Obelisk obeys me." Yami Marik did not turn his head, but his pupils swivelled in his direction. Kaiba didn't know anything about his past self, the reason why? He just didn't care. Kaiba was a person who was bent on the future, and had no interest in the past at all. "So you say, Kaiba, but perhaps your memories also stretch back 3,000 years."

"What?" Kaiba glared at him, narrowing his pointed eyes to slits. Seto Kaiba was his full name, but no one was on first-name terms with him other than his younger brother, Mokuba Kaiba. Kaiba had a glare that could make grown men cry, and nearly everyone in Japan feared and respected this young, rich, and talented ass.

Yami Marik didn't answer his question, but instead whispered to himself, "we'll find out soon enough.." still smiling, Yami Marik turned and left the duel platform, back down to the blimp. As he was walking away, he began to laugh at the whole of everything that had just happened. What a night, what secrets had been revealed! The whole of the story was going to change now, the script will be rewritten, and he would take this card-game tournament to Hell and beyond! It would become a struggle for survival and a perfect opportunity to inflict his enemies with his warped ideas. With his Sennen Powers, this would become much more than a card game. He couldn't wait until his number came- who would his unlucky opponent be? He could feel himself trembling with excitement.

…

Ishizu watched her brother exit the Duel Platform: so Marik had lost control of himself. Ishizu loved her brothers, Rishid and Marik, but Marik had a split personality: when he changed, Marik had no morals, no self-control, and bad things happened when he was around. She dared to dream there was a way to destroy that personality, so Marik would no longer force his strange and unusual punishments onto others. He was mentally unstable, and there was no doubt in her mind that they were all in danger with his split personality in control. Rishid had fallen, and who knows when he would wake up? With him out of the way, Yami Marik never grew weak, but could control Marik for an unlimited amount of time. Would he ever leave? Ishizu already knew the answer. No, Yami Marik would not leave, and would torture and kill every last one of them excluding herself, and Ryou Bakura, because he was Yami Bakura's vessel. 'Finally…' she thought, 'He has awakened: No one can change the course of their destiny. We are headed into a future of despair; the last flickering hope has been lost. Yugi, the Sennen Battle has begun. We are headed for the true darkness, and none of us can turn back.' Lifting a tanned hand, she lightly touched the Sennen Tauk strung as a choker around her neck.

…

Instead of returning to his bedroom, Yami Marik decided to pay Yami Bakura a visit. He might have gone to sleep, it was late and this body would eventually wear out, but right now he was too excited to possibly get any rest. He opened the door of the medical room that Ryou was staying in, and looked around the room for his obsession. He saw him, lying in bed, leafing through the pages of book paying no attention whatsoever to what he was reading. "Ignoring me now, are we?" he asked sarcastically, leaning against the doorframe. He laughed out loud when Yami Bakura dropped the book at the sudden sound of his voice, and turned with a death-glare ready for the person who had caught him so off-guard. His gaze softened when he saw who it was, it was Marik… Yami Marik. He lifted the book he had dropped, feeling like a fool. The last thing he would ever have wanted was for Yami Marik to think of him as a fool. "No, I'm not ignoring you. I just didn't see you. I was busy reading."

"Since when do you read?" he asked mockingly, letting the words roll off his tongue. "Since I wanted to!" he snapped, and his features hardened to a glare that he shot like a bullet at Yami Marik. He waved curtly, trying hard not to laugh. Yami Marik loved to laugh, he laughed at everything. It was hard to come across something that he didn't find humorous. Akefia looked so dumb and so – adorable, when he did those sorts of things. "No need to get offended, it's just that you've never done that before, have you now?"

"I do it all the time! And even if I didn't, what does it matter to you? It's my life, and I can do what I want!"

Yami Marik broke out into full-fledge laughter at this, not even attempting to hold back anymore. That was the stupidest thing he had ever heard! When they had been children, Akefia was always like this, so quick to blame and even quicker to defend. It was hard to take him seriously, or it had been. He had changed though, and failed to be Akefia. His laughter died on his lips and his smile faded at the memory.

…

It had taken the two small children most of the day to find Akefia's mother in the mass of ruined buildings and corpses that the Pharaoh's men had left behind. When they had unearthed her broken, mangled body from underneath the remains of his home, Akefia hadn't said a word. He had merely turned his head away from his mother's blank, dark eyes, taken her feet and helped Marik carry her away to the place where they had buried their other loved ones: Vera and Marik. In this grave they had also laid to rest the corpses of some of the children they had known. They would have liked to have buried everyone, but they were only two young boys and it would have been too exhausting.

They had marked their humble grave with three small stones they had found. Since there wasn't the room to fit their whole name, they had simply marked their initials on them instead. "Well, now what?" Akefia asked. His voice sounded distant and strangely hollow. He asked the question because they had done everything that had needed to be done, and they couldn't stay here anymore- there was nothing left. "I don't know." Marik replied: his voice sounded different too, but not in the same way that Akefia's had. Akefia looked away from the remains of Kul Elna, and faced his friend. "Perhaps we could go to the city?" he suggested, "Anywhere is better than here, this place reeks of death."

"I know-" Yami Marik replied in a whisper, staring down at his feet.

Kul Elna had been destroyed late at night and now it was nearly dawn. The thunderstorm was over, but the dark clouds remained, hiding the heavens with their grey presence. Still though, sunlight broke through, heating the wet desert. The puddles left behind were slowly evaporating, the blood in the remaining water and on the desert sand had spoiled and so had the flesh of the dead. The scent of old blood and rancid meat hung heavily over the area, trapped by the humidity- the vile scent coating their throats, making them nauseous. "Well, if we're leaving, we'd best start now." Akefia didn't look back at the ruins which had once been his home, and started off towards the setting sun, a small glisten of gold in the distance- that must have been the Pharaoh's Palace. Before the Palace was the city. "Wait up!" Marik cried, running after Akefia. Once they were nearly out of sight's range from Kul Elna and the grave, Marik turned his head back to look at them- one last glance at the people he would never see again. Akefia didn't look back.