Back inside the pyramid, the gate serpent watched as the group burst out of the gate, with red smoke bellowing after them.
"You all live yet," the serpent remarked. "Impressive."
"Your gate nearly killed us!" Zaria snapped.
"I never said it would be the correct gate. Nor did I say it would be easy."
Kōichi brushed off some sand. "What a pain. Can you at least give us a hint?"
The serpent shook its head. "Not so. Venture into another of the Twelve Gates and see if you are fortunate."
"Guess we pick again and hope for the best?" Kaoru proposed.
Atsushi held up a hand. "Hold on. Nonoka, I need to speak with you for a moment."
"…Okay?"
He took her aside, and as she stared at him, expectantly, he pulled her into a tight hug.
"I'm glad you're safe, child."
Nonoka's face turned red. "Dad…?"
Atsushi stepped back, wiping a tear from his eye, as Nonoka stood there, flustered.
"Umm…I'm glad you're safe…too…"
Kōichi cleared his throat. "Ahem? You two coming, or are you gonna stand there like mushy lovebirds?"
They both snapped to focus.
"We're coming, Kamishiro," Atsushi insisted. "Come on, child."
They regrouped in the center of the room, as the Gate of Chaos disappeared. Zaria pointed to one of the gates. "Should we do that one?"
They walked up to a gate with a mummy inscribed on it, and a serpent guardian appeared.
"Greetings, mortals," the guardian announced. "This is the Gate of Embalming. Anubis's personal gate. Unfortunately, he can't be here to see it. So, you'll have to do without him."
"That doesn't sound so bad!" Kaoru remarked. "Let's do it, guys!"
"Hmph," Atsushi grumbled. "Act with caution."
They stepped inside the gate.
A little while later, they were thrown out, covered in linen cloths and flopping like fish on the floor.
"It seems you did not choose the correct gate," the serpent mocked.
"You think?" Nonoka replied.
After freeing themselves, Kōichi pointed to a door with a crocodile in its center. "Crocodiles aren't really some issue. Do that one."
They approached the gate, where the guardian emerged. "You come across the Gate of the Crocodile. Sobek's dominion."
"Uh-huh, cool," Kōichi replied. "Can we just go in?"
"Be my guest."
They entered the gate, and the serpent waited. Not long after, the group reappeared, soaked from head to toe and with crocodiles stuck to their ankles.
"Kōichi!" Kaoru complained. "You picked a terrible door!"
"Not like you did any better!"
"Both of you, stop," Atsushi ordered. "Time is wasting. We must pick a different door."
Nonoka gestured toward one with a starry sky. "That seems pretty tame. I don't think I'm wrong."
"I hope not, child."
The guardian awaited them. "This is Nut's realm. The Gate of the Night Sky."
They entered, and when they later exited, they found themselves on the roof. Kaoru immediately began to panic. "What the—? How'd we get up here?"
"The room has affected your gravity," the serpent informed them. "Jump down, it should readjust."
Zaria shrugged and jumped down, with the others following. They all smacked face-first into the ground, rubbing their foreheads.
"Yet again, no key," Atsushi grumbled. "We need a different approach."
〈Time Remaining: 27:55〉
"Just under 28 minutes," he thought to himself. "And these gates are just wasting time. What could hold the answer? What have we been avoiding?"
He looked at the other gates: one of a crown, one of a battlefield, one of a small child, before he laid his eyes on one with strange markings that formed a kind of puzzle.
"Hmm. Maybe brute force and survival instinct alone isn't the answer here…"
Atsushi walked toward the mysterious gate. "Come, all of you. We will pick this one."
Kaoru squinted her eyes. "That? But it looks so strange!"
"Exactly."
When Atsushi got to the gate, a man with the head of an ibis appeared as its guardian. "Ah. Humans. Been a while since I've seen humans."
"It's not a snake this time?" Zaria questioned.
The guardian bowed to the group. "I am Thoth. The God of Wisdom. This here is my Gate—-the Gate of Secrets."
He chuckled in an inhuman form of laughter. "Enter if you dare."
"We do," Atsushi confirmed.
"Well then, follow me."
With a wave of his hand, the gate opened, revealing a large library, with a stone altar in the center and giant walls covered in faded hieroglyphs.
〈Rule: The Wise May Write Their Path.〉
"This is kinda creepy," Zaria admitted.
"All knowledge starts as foreign," Thoth explained. "Only when you acquire it does it become wisdom."
He pointed to Zaria. "You have a unique presence, girl."
"Me?"
"Yes. Sit."
"Sit where?"
A stone chair formed in front of the altar, and Thoth sat Zaria down inside it. "You shall be the scribe."
The others watched carefully as Thoth took his place before her, holding his palms up like a scale. "Let us begin."
Two hieroglyphs appeared in Thoth's hand, and his voice suddenly became sharp and controlled.
"Two paths appear before you. To find the treasure you seek, will you pick the right hand or the left hand?"
A hieroglyph of an eye, a heart, and a forward-walking figure floated in his left hand, while a hieroglyph of an eye, a wall, and a stone floor being touched by a hand floated in the right hand.
"You have thirty seconds to choose."
Zaria analyzed them both, deep in thought.
"Uhh, shit. Okay. Be smart about this, Zaria. The right looks like it's searching a place. The left looks like it's winging it. Push forward or scope the scene?"
She looked around the room. "Scoping could take all day tho…"
"Do not rush this, girl," Atsushi told her. "Like your master, think it through. I advise you pick the—-"
Thoth looked at him. "Only the scribe may choose. You cannot affect her judgment."
"So we're putting our lives in the hands of the most reckless one in the group?" Nonoka questioned.
"Told you we never catch breaks," Kōichi sighed.
"Guys! You totally got this, Zaria!" Kaoru cheered.
Zaria tapped her chin before pointing to the right one. "I think being careful might be better."
Thoth narrowed his eyes. "Is this your final choice?"
"Mhm."
The room shifted, changed, and whirled around, revealing an occult-like chamber with floating sigils all around.
"You scope the scene, finding a path down below. Was this the right path? Only time will tell. Now, you must decide which Sigil to take moving forward."
This time a hieroglyph of a cracked stone with a flame above it appeared on the left hand, while a hieroglyph of an eye, an Ankh, and bright light appeared in the right.
"He's making it more complex," Atsushi realized. "As expected, he won't let her out without a fight."
Zaria stared at the two. "One of them looks like…it's causing damage…the other one looks safe, almost like it's healing."
She gestured to the right hand. "That one."
"Is this truly what you want?"
She nodded. "Yes."
A sigil appeared before the group, and once it broke, they all grabbed their eyes, collapsing to the ground.
"Ahh!"
"What the hell?"
"Stay calm, don't falter!"
Zaria looked back, confused. "Huh? I picked the good one!"
"Unfortunately for you, *good* cannot be defined by external appearance alone. The sigil you chose was the Blinding Light, as opposed to the Nurturing Flame."
He motioned to her group. "They will remain blind for the rest of this test. You must guide them accordingly."
"Are you kidding?"
He resumed his position, as the room shifted to one filled with large scarabs, and a cage anchored in the middle, which the rest of the group was now trapped inside.
"Your group finds itself stuck in a scarab pit. Lacking both sight and a key, how do you presume they should escape this situation?"
He held up his palms. On the left, a hieroglyph of a hand, a mound of earth, and a downward arrow appeared. On the right, another hand appeared, with a ladder and an upward arrow.
"Dig or climb?" Zaria wondered.
As she debated, the scarabs began gnawing on the bars, causing the group to shudder.
"I don't know what's going on," Nonoka stated. "But Zaria, you should probably hurry!"
"I'm thinking, damn it!"
Her eyes drifted between the two options. "Okay, okay, what would Rika or Han do? They'd probably say digging with these kinda bugs would be useless…"
She looked at the top of the cage. "But where is there to go? Could be some answer at the top, like in the Mind Test?"
She shook her head. "Nah, I think I got this. For sure."
She pointed to the left.
"This is your choice?"
"Yep."
A hole appeared in the cage, and Zaria called out to them. "Guys, jump into the hole!"
"Where is it?" Atsushi asked.
"Like, the center! Each of you walk a few steps forward and you'll drop!"
"Our forward or yours?" Kōichi questioned.
"Uh, yours!"
Following her lead, they moved up, falling into the hole as the scarabs burst into the cage.
The room then shifted again, revealing an underground dungeon room surrounded by pillars and half-filled with murky water.
"After digging you find yourselves in a chamber that rises with water every second," Thoth explained. "If you don't hurry, you will drown in your own failure."
In his left hand, a hieroglyph of water lines, a swimming figure, and an upward mark appeared.
On the right, an eye, a pillar, and a hand appeared, while the water slowly began to rise.
"Is this water?" Kaoru called out.
"Yeah, just…give me a second here!"
Zaria looked at the pillars. One had a crack, with a small dot, and a sprinting option.
Another had a sand pit, with a scarab motif on the front.
The final one had a scale, pointing both up and down.
"Are they tryna send me a message?" Zaria thought. "But what?"
As the water rose to everyone's chins, they began to float up.
"Zaria…!" Nonoka demanded.
"Just hang on!"
"Time is ticking, girl," Thoth warned.
"Take the risk…?" Zaria frantically worried. "But…dungeons are unpredictable…maybe…just maybe?"
As the water reached their foreheads, Zaria hastily pointed to the left one. "Left! I choose left!"
"Is this your final answer?"
"Yes!"
Water shot out, fully drenching the entire room.
And then, it shifted, revealing a secret room with a treasure chest. The group blinked a few times, as Kaoru touched her face.
"Ahaha!" she laughed, relieved. "I can see again!"
"The path has been written," Thoth announced. "Walk over and claim your treasure."
"Wait," Zaria interrupted. "I did it?"
Thoth nodded. "You sent them back into the danger zone after analyzing your surroundings. No doubt your experience with dungeons led you to that choice."
"Thank goodness she didn't kill us," Nonoka muttered.
"Hey! I heard that, you ungrateful—-!"
Atsushi put a hand on her shoulder. "I will say, good job."
"THANK you."
Kōichi walked over to the chest, pausing. "This isn't any trap, is it?"
Thoth shook his head. "No. The key. And you'd better take it quickly, because your time is running short."
〈Time Remaining: 1:57〉
Kōichi touched the box, and it opened, revealing a strange mummy-shaped key.
〈Key Acquired. Exiting Gate.〉
Once they were thrown from the gate, the key flew from Kōichi's hands and embedded in the center of the floor, opening a pathway that led deeper in.
"Word of Advice," Thoth warned. "Your bravery and inner strength will be tested greatly in the next trials. Take caution."
"Do we just enter now?" Zaria asked.
"Not yet. First, the others must resume theirs."
"The others?"
"Indeed. All trials connect, and all trials affect one another. The path ahead is both split…and linear."
Floor 10,000—-
Han slowly woke up, finding himself chained inside a zoo-like enclosure. As soon as he woke up, he noticed a familiar face hanging over him.
"Han! You're up!"
"Shino…?"
He looked around. "Where are we?"
"I guess this is the Huntress's base," Shino mused. "Or whatever she calls her stronghold down here."
"Why are we here?"
"I don't know…"
Suddenly, Kohaku appeared behind the glass, watching with a predatory look.
"Ahh, my pet has awoken…"
Han stood up. "I'm not your pet!"
"But you are. Look at your body. Your arm."
Han stared at his right arm, which was covered in a strange shadowy black substance. "What the—what did you do to me?"
"I brought out the darkness inside," she chuckled. "And now…"
With one slash of her claws, the glass shattered.
"I'll bring out the demon."
——-