The moment they entered the tower, the group spread out and investigated the first floor.

“Tablet has appeared. Twelve o’clock.” 

Ryu looked to the centre where Zariah hovered over a large stone tablet in the centre of the circular hall.  Behind it were three large tunnels.

At the sign of the tunnels, he recalled when he was pulled into the tower alongside of Rika.

Rika glanced at the tunnels while Ryu repacked their bags, trying to gauge how much of their food would last until they could get out of the tower.

“Ryu, let’s check out the left tunnel!”

Ryu glanced up from the tablet, where he was setting their packs against.  “Get away from there, Rika.  We need to focus on getting out of here.” He tried his cellphone to see if there was a slight chance of reception but saw the little antenna icon. Sighing, he shoved it back into the backpack and checked the contents again.

Rika strode back and pointed to the tablet.  “It says we should go left though!  Let’s go find some food and weapons so we’ll have a better chance of prying that door open.”

Ryu glanced at the doors, knowing they spent a good hour kicking at it but couldn’t pry it open.

He hesitated, before reading the tablet again.  It was in English but thankfully he and Rika were familiar since their mom always insisted on them expanding their horizons and taking as many classes as possible.

With wings of black, through the night I fly. I take souls to where they must lie. My name makes men shake and cry

Ryu frowned.  “That doesn’t mean we can just randomly choose a tunnel. We’d probably bump into this dude.”  He pointed to the tablet.

Rika rolled her eyes.  “My instincts tell me that the God of Death will be in the last tunnel.  It’s left to right, like life to death.”  She insisted.

“I don’t like the sound of that but we have no choice since that door won’t budget.”

He handed her backpack to her and adjusted his own on his back.  “Okay stay close to me.  Let’s go.”

--

Ryu snapped out it at the sound of Zion’s voice.  “Read it aloud for us, Zari?”  Zion stood beside Ryu, his hands on his hips waiting patiently.

Ryu watched Kai and Gia carefully observing the inscriptions along the wall on either end.  He used the blue screen that only popped up when he was in a dungeon and scanned it against the group.  He was surprised to see quite a few information was blanked out but he was able to see that they were all S-rank hunters with various skills.  He was also relieved to see that their identities were exactly as they introduced themselves.  Being in the tower dungeon too long, Ryu was used to being cautious.

“What do you see, my friend?”

Ryu was surprised to see Zion walk past the window in front of him, scratching his head with the butt of the sword handle while he looked curiously at him.  

“Is it any different from the tower dungeons you were in?”

Ryu shook his head.  “It’s similar.  There was a tablet in the middle and two alternate paths.  Depending on how you interpret the tablet, you will select the path.”

He tucked away the information about the status window and made a note to let them know later.  

“The tower is a different color too.” He added, still using the screen to scan the surroundings in case there was something else.

Kai walked back towards them while Gia joined Zariah at the stone tablet.  “Interesting.  We’ll have to compare notes with you later when we get out of here.”

Zion’s eyes twinkled.  “See?  A great team member already.”  

“You’d better come over here.”

The group rejoined at the tablet and Zion whistled while Kai used a built in monitor panel on his arm to scan the contents.

Ryu took a look for himself and saw that the font was in hieroglyphics as far as he could tell.  He enabled the screen again towards it and could see it auto-translate.

“It is an Egyptian theme this time, it seems.”  Gia commented, scanning the inscriptions, her hands hovering over the tablet. 

 Hands raised high to touch the sky, I watched generations live and die. Broken and aged I remain, my two giant guards never slain

Ryu was surprised to hear Gia translating and Zariah smiled at him.

“The hunters are not randomly assigned into their respective groups.  We are all assessed to ensure we can handle all scenarios we may come across in the dungeons.”

Ryu’s eyes widened in amazement.

“I’m not sure what type of tower you encountered but in general these towers will have one defining theme.  It typically selects a story from the Gods.  All Gods that humanity has ever come across throughout the globe.”  Kai explained.

Zion yawned and nodded.  “This is the boring part, trying to figure out which route to go.  My body is not meant for such studious matters.”  He already began to stroll alongside the entryways, whistling and casually twirling the knife between his fingers.

“Anyone has preferences?”  

“One pathway always leads to the dungeon boss and the others usually has some minor creatures and potential weapons that can help with the dungeon boss.”  Ryu offered his knowledge, even though he suspected this group already knew.  “At least that’s how it was with the dungeon I’ve been in.”

Kai nodded with a thoughtful look on his face.  “Given it’s an S-rank dungeon we will stick together and explore each way.”  

Zion was about to protest but Gia completed her analysis and pointed to the middle entrance.  “The riddle is about a sphinx and its two guards.  The middle will definitely be the dungeon boss so we should tackle the other minor ones first.”

Zariah spoke some words, her eyes glowing silver before mana shot from her hands and flew through the tunnels Gia had mentioned.  It wasn’t even a minute before the mana tendrils came back to her and she grinned.

“Let’s go to the left one.”

Zion cheered.  He took one step into the left tunnel with the others following after when the tunnel closed up entirely behind them.

“Well there goes our exit plan.”  Zariah joked, tapping on the solid rock where the entrance used to be.

Ryu allowed his eyes to adjust while the others spread out and observed the situation.  Kai looked at him and tapped at the screen that emitted enough light to outline the immediate area.  Ryu pulled up the screen to see if the dungeon map would update and was surprised to see the winding tracks populate with a few key areas marked with various coloured dots.

“This is a good time as any to let you all know about my powers.” 

The group turned around while Ryu gestured towards the screen beside him.  “Ever since I entered the first tower dungeon, I have this ability to scan my surroundings, including people using a status window.”

“Eyyyyy like a video game?!”  Zion’s voice was excited.

Ryu nodded.   “You can’t see but I have this bright blue screen window pop up beside me and it actually just uploaded a map of the dungeon schematics.”

Kai nodded in approval.  “That’s great, we can use that to make our way through.”

“It also marks where there may be some creatures to avoid.”  Ryu added but Zion shot his fist in the air.

“Oh nah, we’re taking down every one of them.” 

Ryu wanted to argue that he’d rather avoid unnecessary conflict but Gia cut in.

“It will help close the tower indefinitely.”  

Ryu was surprised.  “So there’s a way to close these dungeons for good?  Defeat the boss and that’s it?”

“It’s not so easy but more or less, yes it’s like a game. Clear the tower, defeat the boss and find the constellation.”

Ryu looked strangely at Kai.  “What do you mean about the last part?”

“The meteor shower from ten years ago was two-fold.  There were tower dungeons created out of the falling stars but the stars themselves were held captive.”  Kai explained as they started to walk forward.

Ryu was puzzled even as he continued to explain.  

“Zion mentioned before that smaller stars affected people and that’s how they developed powers?”

Zariah rolled her eyes.  “Come to anyone of us but Z for information. What he failed to tell you was that small stars are just remnants of powers of the major constellations.  It struck a few people during the meteor shower and it’s what gives the hunter their powers.”

“However, after a few attempts to tackle these towers, we found that the constellations themselves are being used as portals to open tower dungeons here on our planet.”  Gia added.

Ryu worked hard to absorb the information.  He had a feeling there were other worlds connected to these tower dungeons, recalling what he and Rika collected from their own time in one.

“So…what was the reason?”

Zion looked back over his shoulder with a shrug.  “That is what we’ve been trying to find out.  We have yet to come across a tower that contains a constellation.  Not all of them contain one.”

“Mostly S-rank ones.”  Ryu guessed, thinking back to his own experience.  “I think I might have come across one.” He slowly admitted, sifting through his memories.

Everyone stopped in their tracks.  “And?”

“I ended up with what’s left of their power before they became dust and that’s what turned me into…this.”  He gestured to his hair and eyes.