“Ryu!”

A dark haired boy with headphones continued to play games on his phone, ignoring his sister calling his name while sitting on the park bench.  Heavy metal blasted through the headphones as he tried to get around the dungeon boss on the small screen.  He tapped his foot impatiently when his character ended up in a pit of lava instead.

He cursed under his breath, waiting for the game to restart.

“Ryu!”

Ryu glanced up to find his sister standing in front of him with her hands on her waist and glaring at him.  He slipped one headphone off an ear, still keeping an eye on the game before flashing her an apologetic grin.

“Hey baby sis.  How was tutoring?”  He asked, hoping to distract her as the countdown to start the next game popped up.

Similar bright green eyes looked back at him, a frown on her face as she smoothed her uniform and skirt.

“First of all, I’m two minutes younger than you,” She argued, pointing at finger at Ryu.  “And second, I finished half an hour ago and had to go find you in this park a block away as usual when you didn’t show to pick me up.”  

Ryu narrowly avoided another attack before swinging his sword.  “Oh come on, you know I always wait for you here.”  He grinned as he swung the sword a second time, halving the dungeon bosses life gauge.  “I’ll make it up you.  Dinner’s on me.”  He added, knowing his baby sister couldn’t resist.

On cue, she sighed and plopped down beside him, leaning over his shoulder to watch him finish the last of the boss and pointing to the corner of the dungeon.  “Make sure to grab the loot.  I hear there’s bonus gear if you wait a sec before taking the exit portal.”  

Ryu grinned as he followed her advice, knowing she was secretly a bigger gamer than he was.  She liked to keep it low-key though, knowing it didn’t usually go over well with her popular friend group.

She dug into the backpack beside him and grinned at the snacks he always had ready for her.  She greedily transferred them into her own bag save for a bag of chips.  She promptly stuck a chip in both of their mouths as the hero on the screen took down the boss.

The siblings sighed in unison, watching the credits roll before Ryu shut his phone and stood up.  He stretched his hands above his head and yawned, nodding towards the direction of their favourite  bbq restaurant.

Without words, Rika pumped her fist up in excitement and walked ahead of him.  Ryu ran up to join her when he stopped in his tracks, glancing up at the sky.

“Hey, what’s that?”

Rika glanced up, watching multiple stars shoot across the night sky.  Her eyes widened as she pulled out her phone to take a picture.

“I didn’t know there was a meteor shower today!”

Ryu frowned, noticing dark spaces where the stars disappeared.  He raised his own phone, trying to zoom in on the spaces.

“Maybe we should get home for now.”  

Rika made a face, still taking pictures of the sky.  “No way, you promised to get dinner.  Promise is a promise!”  She reminded him, even as the last of the stars fell.

Ryu narrowed his gaze at the stars, not answering his sister.  “I have a bad feeling about this.  Let’s go home, Rika.”  He held out his hand, lowering his the phone in the other.

Rika rolled her eyes and was about to take his outstretched hand when one of the dark spaces suddenly appeared in the middle of the park a few feet away.  Her eyes widened and Ryu followed her gaze to find that the dark space solidified, revealing a huge dark tower.

“What the hell is that?”  

Rika ran towards it, starting a video.  “Do you see this Ryu? This is so weird. It’s almost like a dungeon.”  Her excited voice kept commenting on the dark but strangely glowing tower while Ryu had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Get away from there, Rika.  I’m serious.”  He called out, walking after her.

She waved at him, brushing off his concerns, and continued to record.  “Doesn’t it remind you of that one game we played? Or the countless comics we read as kids?  You know, the one about portals appearing with dungeons.”  She gasped to herself.  “Do you think we’ll suddenly awaken as hunter warriors or something?”  She made a pose, holding an imaginary lance towards him.

“I bet we’d level up so fast and beat this thing like it’s nothing.” She boasted, making up some quick footwork and stabbing the imaginary weapon towards him.

Ryu frowned, ignoring her playful antics.  “Come on, Rika.  I’m serious.  Get over here.”

She poked her tongue out and turned back towards the tower.  The moment she was within touching distance,  a large iron gate suddenly appeared.

“Rika!”  Ryu’s chest tightened at the sight of the gate. “Don’t touch that! Get back!” He started running, a voice in the back of his head telling him that he needed to get to her fast or it would be too late.

Too late for what?

He ignored that question and pushed himself to go faster.

Rika took one last look at him over her shoulder with a mischievous smile before reaching out to touch the tower.  “As if I’d miss out on a chance to discover something that could get us rich and famous.”

When Ryu was in arm’s reach of his sister, he lunged forward to grab her but at that moment the gate opened.

Rika jumped back, startled at the action but it was too late.  A dark mist shot out and surrounded her before dragging her through the gates.

“Rika!”  

Ryu’s hands caught nothing but air as Rika screamed his name before disappearing into the tower and the gates shutting immediately after her.  The tower began to take on a translucent form and in desperation, Ryu reached out to the spot where he last saw the gate’s handles.

Feeling the solid weight of the handle even though he could no longer see it, he pulled hard to re-open the gate.  With a groan, a small crack managed to appear even as the tower began to disappear in blocks starting from the top that scraped against the sky.

“Take me instead!”  He shouted, grasping the handles with both hands and using all of his strength.  “Don’t even try to close on me.  Just take me!”

He kept shouting, not even knowing what he was saying except he focusing on keeping the small sliver open.  But his arms began to ache as the heavy weight of the door began to fight back and close again.

With one last grunt and propping his leg against the tower, he managed to momentarily open the gate by a few more inches.  It wasn’t enough for him to slip through but he was hoping if he kept it open for a few more seconds, his sister could slip out.  He lodged his knapsack against the small space and shouted into the darkness.

“Rika!”

He could hear her shouting after him, her voice growing more faint by the second.  With the last of his strength, Ryu managed to widen the space just enough for him to slip through.

The tower completely disappeared, as did other similar towers spread across the city.  

——

Ten years later.

Kaiden Hart nodded to the guards as he entered an underground government compound several miles outside the city of Tokyo.  He pulled at his tie, unbuttoning the first few buttons as he accepted a thick manila file folder from another guard.

He scanned through the files as another figure hovered over his shoulder.

“Tower survivor eh?  That’s a first.”  

Kai nodded, still reading over the info packet.  “Seems like it.  He was discovered immediately after a tower suddenly appeared in the downtown core last night. His tests showed incredible hunter abilities.”

His fellow friend leaned against the metal table stacked against the wall where there was a two-way mirror.  On the other side sat a lone figure, their shaggy white hair covering their face.

“So he’s an awakened like us?  That makes him an ally then. Even more so since he’s survived a tower all this time.”  Zion Baracus’ cheerful and lightly accented voice boomed out loud.  “We should take him on the next hunt.  What he knows could help us take over the towers.”

Kai didn’t respond as he closed the file and glanced over at the figure.  “That’s for us to determine whether he’s fit for service.”

Zion raised an eyebrow, taking a heaving hunting knife with ornately gold design and balancing it on his finger.  “Why not?  You can tell this one is itching to go back into the tower.  He has unfinished business.”  He threw the knife and stabbed the folder with it. “As we all do.”

Kai folded his arms and glanced at the figure, ignoring his friends cheerful whistling as he took the knife back and pulled out a page from the folder.

“Is this the same guy?”  Zion asked in disbelief, holding up the picture of a seventeen year old boy with dark hair and green eyes, then pointing at the figure with shocking white hair who looked to be in his late twenties.

Kai nodded.  “According to his blood tests yes.  No one’s ever escaped the towers before us hunters started tackling them.  But the tower changes everyone who enters.  Some maybe more so.”

Zion snorted, setting the paper back down.  “I bet you my entire weapons collection that he has a hell of a story to tell.  Spending ten years in a tower will change you for good.  You may not even be human anymore.”

“Hunters are no longer considered human.”  

Both turned to the source of the voice, nodding respectfully at the leader of the Hunter Organization, Callista Hart.

“Aunt.”  Kai shifted to make room for her as she patted Zion on the shoulder and stood between the two.

“We must be something more.  Something closer to darkness itself to defeat our enemies.” She mused, glancing at the figure on the other side of the mirror.  “Ryuujin Takahashi may be the key to toppling these towers and the entities that control them.”