When Ryu finally got back to his room after Zion made sure they would meet for more gaming the next night, he quickly got ready for bed and was already laying in bed for an hour staring at the ceiling.  So many thoughts and memories ran through his mind every time he tried to shut his eyes.  He glanced up at the ceiling, watching the dancing shadows from the trees outside his window, still trying to make sense of what’s happened the last forty eight hours.

With a sigh, he extended a hand in front of him.

“Status, open.”

A bright blue window opened and hovered in front of him. The screen was blank as it waited for his instructions.

He could hear Zion’s muffled snoring through the walls and couldn’t help but relax and smile to himself.  Not wanting to wake the others, especially since they were probably hunters with sensitive hearing, he nodded towards the screen.

Search for Rika.

The screen paused a moment, taking his mental instructions before it began to show him a map similar to what he had seen in the meeting room hours earlier.  It zoomed in on the country of Japan, zooming further to the city of Tokyo and finally to the exact neighbourhood where the tower appeared.  A blinking dot hovered over the location and Ryu reached out.

Enter the tower.

He already knew the answer but it didn’t hurt to try.

The screen flickered as if considering his request before it popped up an error message.

Ryu sighed and was about to close the screen when he remembered the armor he had picked up from the tower.  Sitting up in the bed and setting his feet on the floor, he glanced at the corner of the room where he left the armor on the desk.  The parts where the moonlight reached were glittering and he walked towards it.

The screen followed him, hovering to his left as he glanced down at the armor.  Without a second thought, he asked the screen to scan it.

Item type: Armored weapon

Origin: Armor of Anubis

Date: 6000 B.C.

Level: ??

Skill: Defence against poison, magic, physical attacks.  Star absorption???

Ryu glanced at the first and bottom line.

“Armored weapon?  Star Absorption?”

He looked curiously at the armor, not recalling anything special when he first tried it on back at the tower.  His hands hovered over a piece and saw his hand start to glow in reaction to it.

“That didn’t happen before.”  He murmured to himself,  moving his hand to hover over other pieces and seeing the same thing happen.

Information on Anubis.

Ryu waited for the screen to compile the information as he noticed there were faint engravings all across the chest.  He squinted and could see that it was heiroglyphics.

Translate…

He didn’t finish the command as he was bombarded by several images of Anubis on the screen followed by constant flashes of information.  He felt his eyes glow as it absorbed everything.

God of Death

Weigher of Souls

Ryu saw image after image of the head of a jackal on a human body, surrounded by souls and a scale he used to weigh them before guiding them to the afterlife.  Images of people worshipping the God and the golden scales always towering over them.

He shivered, asking the screen to clear itself as he’s had enough. He looked at the armor again, deciding that he would start decoding the hieroglyphics only to watch them disappear.  He picked it up and tried to make out any symbols in the moonlight, standing closer to the window but it was completely gone.  Even the armor itself was muted and no longer glittering.

Ryu rubbed his eyes with a yawn, finally feeling his eyes start to close and he set the armor back on the table and slipped into bed.

As his eyes closed, the screen momentarily hovered above him.

Ryuujin Takahashi

Inheritor of the power of stars

And Death….

—

When Ryu woke the next morning, he felt like he was caught in a memory or a vivid dream but it slipped by so quickly that he could only catch pieces of it as he got out of bed.

He heard a knock through the wall and Zion’s muffled voice to come out.

Slipping on a clean pair of t-shirt and joggers paired with combat boots and a hoodie in the closet, he quickly brushed his teeth and exited the room.  

“Morning my friend!”

Ryu turned to see Zion dressed in similar outerwear minus the hoodie.  He raised a hand in greeting while Kai also exited his own room.

“Did you sleep okay?  What with Zion’s snoring that could be heard throughout the whole floor and all.”  Kai asked.  He was dressed in a t-shirt and joggers, paired with the same combat boots. 

Seeing his expression, Kai smirked.  “I don’t always wear suits.  Yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag of a day.”

Zion put his arm around the both of them as they entered the elevator.  “What’s for breakfast?”

Before anyone could respond, the elevator opened to the main floor and they could hear activity in the training room down the hall.  Following the voices, Ryu was surprised to see that Brock was in the middle of it all surrounded by agents in similar outerwear and combat boots.  

Brock was standing beside Gia, who was holding the same bow she picked up in the tower the night before.  He was gesturing to the string and she pulled it back, concentrating on the target at the other end of the the open part of the room.

A single arrow made of mana appeared strung against the bow and Gia pulled back a bit more before letting it fly cleanly through the centre.

The group were excitedly chatting with Brock and Gia, while Zariah waved one curved sword while the matching one was being observed by a few agents around her.

“Brock is a genius!  He knows how to work the new weapons we’ve picked up!”  

Kai pulled Zion by the back of his shirt as he was already about to zip back to his room to grab his own axe.

“A meeting just came up.  Conference room. Five minutes.”  Kai flashed a message on his phone towards Zion, who sighed.

—

A few minutes later, after grabbing a quick protein bar in the cafeteria, Ryu and the others were seated back at the conference room they were just in the night before.  This time, Callista brought another guest in a suit.

“He’s the director in the Tokyo branch.”  Zion told Ryu while the rest were getting settled.

Ryu was surprised to see Brock enter the room and sat down to his right.  He looked right at home, considering he was in another world.  But then again, Ryu thought about how long Brock was in that tower and figured he could make do anywhere.

The group quieted down when Callista cleared her throat and gestured to the director beside her.  “We have a few items to discuss.  One of them being the recent tower you were all in.”  She eyed Ryu and Brock especially.  “It’s common rules that all weaponry acquired in the towers are kept by the hunters.”

“However, information must always be shared so that we can keep our counterparts aware.”  The other director piped up.

Zion nudged Kai.  “What happened to the report?”

Kai nodded towards the file at the head of the table.

Callista turned to Kai and tapped at the file.  “This report, although thorough, is missing key information that could help the guilds.” She glanced at Ryu and Brock again.  

“We would normally brief you further and give you time to acclimate, being as you both came out of the towers, but we’re anticipating more towers appearing.  Tonight.”  

“How is that possible?  The location and timing of the towers are never known in advance.”  Gia wondered, pulling up the digital map of the Tokyo landscape to scroll across the table.

Zariah leaned forward, squinting at the two new towers that weren’t there the other night.  They were blinking and Ryu could see that they were both marked ‘A’ rank.

“Are they already there?”  She asked, moving the map with her fingers to zoom into the area.

 Callista nodded towards Brock, who spoke up.  “There is actually a way to know when a tower is about to appear in this world.”

The group glanced at Brock in wonder as he pulled out his pouch and took out the same small wrapped object he was trying to share with the team back when they first met him.

Ryu took the offered object and was about to offer it to Kai or Callista when the object seemed to hum in his hands.  He could see silver starlight glow faintly between the wrapping.

“It’s okay. Open it lad.”  Brock encouraged.

Ryu carefully unwrapped the cloth from the object and revealed a small figure carved in what looked like a clear crystal material.  He froze, recognizing the long hair and serene expression.  Even the simple dress outlining the figure was familiar.  He set the figure on the table for all to see, hiding his trembling hands under the table as the group leaned in.

“It glows when other star powers are being used to open portals in this world.”  Brock explained, lifting the figure closer towards the map. The areas where the two new towers were marked began to blink.