“How did you come to have this?”  Ryu asked, still not taking his eyes off the familiar face.

Brock gently placed the figure back in front of him.

“Our people have always worshipped the stars.  My tribe in particular worship one more than others.”

“Andromeda.”  Ryu finally said her name and Brock nodded with a sad smile.

“This is a considerable achievement and will aid in conquering these towers.”  Callista broke the silence as the other director stepped forward.

“We’d like this group to tackle these two towers. We have confirmation they have yet to appear but we’re not going to take any chances and are already evacuating civilians in the area until you can get there.”

Callista looked to Kai.  “What’s your ETA?”

Kai glanced at the group.  “We’ll be there in thirty minutes.  Zion, Gia and Zariah will take the tower in Shinjuku.  Ryu and I will take Roppongi.”

Zion patted Ryu on the shoulder.  “Good luck, my friend.”

“What about me?  I would like to come with Ryu if possible.”  Brock spoke up as everyone was leaving.

Callista shook her head.  “It’s too dangerous.  We’ll leave it to the hunters to check for your people.”

Brock nodded, knowing he wasn’t a fighter.  He took the figure and wrapped it carefully in the cloth and put it back in his pouch.  “Then I can show the others how to use their new weapons before they leave. Allow me to assist in that way at least.”

Callisa nodded approval as she left with the director.

While the others were leaving the room, Ryu approached Brock.

“I didn’t pick up a weapon like the others but I did notice something on the armor.”  

Brock’s eyes sparkled.  “Is it about the spell?”  He had Ryu lean down to whisper in his ear.

Ryu glanced at him, slowly nodding.  “If you’re talking about the disappearing hieroglyphics then maybe.”

Brock held out his hands with a grin on his face.  “May I see it?”

Ryu recalled the armor from his inventory as the last person left the room.  The armor appeared in his arms before offering it to the dwarf.

Brock only peered at it closely, holding a magnifying glass he suddenly pulled out of one of his many pouches.  

“Hmmm, interesting.  Very interesting.”  He murmured, still not touching the armor as he walked slowly to observe all angles.  He put his magnifying glass away and smiled at Ryu.

“It is as I have heard.  The spell is both for protection and for attacks.”  He announced.

Ryu looked curiously at the armor.  “My stat screen did say that.  What does that mean for attack?”

Brock suddenly took out a hammer and before Ryu could stop him, raised it and hit the armor in the chest plate.

“Wait!”  Ryu shouted but it was too late.  

He closed his eyes as sparks flew at the contact.  He dug in his heels as he felt the force of the hammer hit the armor.

“Ah!”

Ryu quickly opened his eyes and saw that while the armor was rippling as if it was alive, he saw Brock standing a few feet away and his hammer looked like it was struck my lightening.  Parts of the head was singed blue as if dipped in the fiery heat of a blue flame.

Brock rubbed his forehead with the back off his hand, leaving a trail of ash as he looked at the armor.

“Now that is a worthy weapon for the Chosen one!”

——

Exactly half hour later, Kai and Ryu arrived in Roppongi, specifically at the Zojoji temple.  Several military vehicles were parked and various soldiers were scanning the area while onlookers were peering from the other side of the barriers that were setup.

“Hopefully it appears soon so we’re not just sitting ducks.”  Kai glanced at the temple and at the clear blue sky.

Ryu glanced around, hearing the trees shuffle in the breeze and recalled a similar memory.

“Mom!  Mom, look!”  A five year old Ryu with missing front teeth smiled brightly as he held up small branch with a few cherry blossoms still attached.  

His mother smiled, as she wrapped a shawl around herself, holding a sleeping Rika in her arms.  “Don’t go too far Ryu.” 

He nodded as he started waving the branch around.

“No one gets past me.  I am a warrior.”  He poked at a faded statue.  He walked up ahead, carrying the stick as he glanced up at the sun moving in between the Torii gates.

“Ryu, where are you?”

He could hear his mom but he wanted to climb the winding stairs, counting the gates.

“If I can make it to the end, my wish to make mom better will come true.”  He told himself, grunting as climbed the steep rocky steps.

“Ryu, wait for me!”

He silently promised his mother he would come back as soon as he finished climbing the stairs. Just when he had a few left to go, he heard his sister crying.

“Mom!”

Ryu snapped out of it when Kai signed off on his comms.  “Looks like Zion and the others already entered the tower.”

Ryu nodded, glancing around to snap himself out of the memories.  He walked towards the temple when the ground started to shake.  Kai put a hand out in front of him and sure enough, what looked like a single meteor struck the grounds before the temple.  After the smoke cleared, they could see a large tower the color of amber.  Its doors were already open, as if expecting them.

Ryu and Kai glanced at each other before Kai signalled to the soldiers to stay back. 

Once they were inside the tower, the doors closed and several torches attached against the walls gave enough light for Ryu to see the large stone in the middle of the hallway.  Kai scanned the surroundings using the panel on his arm while Ryu used his status window.  

After making sure there weren’t any traps, they approached the stone and read the script:

I am Yesterday,

I am Today,

I am Tomorrow which has not yet come

Without missing a beat, they looked to each other.

“Set.”  

“The Trickster God.”  Ryu added, already looking at the door a few feet away and noticing there’s only one door.

Kai glanced at the panel on his arm again and adjusted the broadsword strapped to his back.  “You’d think he’d live up to his name and have more than three doors to keep us trapped here.”  

Ryu felt like his armor was almost waiting in anticipation.  They walked up to the door and were about to observe it but it swung open on its own. Cautiously walking inside the darkly lit room, Kai murmured something under his breath and similar balls of mana Zariah used in the previous tower shot out to scan the area.

Once they were fully inside, the main door closed and there was a light that appeared from the ceiling.  Ryu squinted, adjusting to the brightness but Kai regained his sight first and immediately swore.

“Spoke too soon.”

Ryu didn’t need to ask as he regained his vision and saw that the room was a smaller version of the last one they were in.  

And it contained endless doors circling the whole place.

“Stat, bring up the map.”

Ryu scanned the screen to see the room on the map leading towards the exits.  But the screen would become fuzzy and the doors leading to the true exit would change each time.

“My screen’s picking up one exit but it’s not not staying put.”  Ryu offered, still trying to get his screen to locate the real exit.

Kai shut the screen on his panel, not getting anything different.

“In Egyptian mythology, they had lucky numbers.”  

Ryu glanced around the room, keeping his screen open.  “2, 3, 5 and 7.”  

Kai nodded.  “Yes, and multiples of those also count as lucky numbers.”  He scanned the room, counting the doors. “There’s 17 doors. What do you think about trying the base numbers first and go from there?”

They glanced at the second door to their left and noticed that there were symbols on each door.

“That’s a bird on door two.  Set typically preferred hyenas, jackals and foxes for his animal symbols.”  Kai commented, glancing at the other doors.

Ryu noticed the symbol on third door.  “This one has a fox. I say we go for this one.”

He opened the door, bracing himself while Kai steadied the longsword.  The hallway looked dark and ominous.

“Close the door!  Something is coming!”  Kai yelled.

Ryu could see a large shadowy figure and tried to close the door but wasn’t quick enough.  The shadow launched itself at him and he fell down as the door shut.

“Arf!”

Ryu was face to face with a small chubby fox with gold, red and ivory fur.

And wings.

It was grinning at him with sharp teeth as it stayed on his chest. He could feel its small claws digging even through his armor and he tried to scramble away only to have the fox lick his face and made small chattering sounds, its dark eyes sparkling.

“Seems like we’ve got ourselves a pet.”  Kai mused, kneeling beside Ryu and gently rubbing its chin.

“Hey, little guy.  We’re looking for the exit.  Care to lead us out of here?”  

Ryu looked at Kai, who grinned at his wide eyed expression.  “You’d be surprised how many cute animals Zion has tried to take from these towers.  They’re generally harmless and quite useful.”

Since Kai didn’t seem bothered, Ryu relaxed and hesitantly reached out to the fox.  Seeing his outstretched hand, the fox rubbed against his hand and barked again before leaping off of him and heading straight towards the last door.

“Clever.  All the lucky numbers add up to seventeen.” Kai patted the fox, whose little chest puffed up in pride.

Kai moved to open the door this time and as they braced themselves, there was a sudden gust of wind that opened all the doors in the room.