POV: Kunle
Cairo was sand, gold, and Pandora's drones.
Lots of drones.
"They know we're coming," Zainab said. She was watching the satellite feed. "They moved Pod 06 to the Giza Plateau. Under the Sphinx."
"Of course they did," Dele groaned. "Because villains love tourist spots."
"More like they're using the Sphinx as a power source," Juma said. His white eyes were glowing. "The ruin there is massive. It's tied to Ra. To Horus. To everything."
Tsehay cracked her knuckles. "Good. I like big targets."
We had 9 now.
Me. Metal and fire.
Dele. Storm.
Iyanu. Wind.
Zainab. Gold and illusions.
Amina. Water and healing.
Chike. Plague and cure.
Fatima. Ocean.
Kwesi. Trickster.
Juma. Fate.
Tsehay. War.
Plus Ogbene in chains, plus Old Taju who spent the whole flight making paper planes.
"Plan?" I asked.
"Walk in like we own the place," Kwesi said. "I have a costume."
He was wearing a tour guide hat and holding a flag that said `TOME TOURS - SEE THE PYRAMIDS, FREE THE GODS`.
"Absolutely not," I said
The Giza Plateau was locked down.
Pandora's tanks. Crimson Sky cultivators on the pyramids.
And in front of the Sphinx: a platform. And on it Pod 06.
I still get surprised by the Pandora's dynamics thinking process, should i call this arrogance or they just don't have a proper planning system putting something so important in plain view like this
But this pod was gold. Covered in hieroglyphs.
Inside: a man. 30s, Bald,gold jewelry, Asleep with a smile.
"Pharaoh energy," Amina whispered. "That's Pod 06. Inheritor of Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì, Hunter Path."
Dr. Selam's voice came over speakers. One arm still in a cast.
"Kunle. You're late. We were expecting you."
From the Sphinx, the mouth opened.
Not stone. Metal.
And from it, Pandora's mechs. 10 of them,Plus cultivators.
"They turned the Sphinx into a dropship," Iyanu said. "That's illegal."
"On so many levels," Kwesi agreed.
Like the crazy Pandora's dynamic will care if something is illegal or not,they were crazy enough to build world ending mechs and warmachine and they are so despicable to even kidnapp inheritor for their experiments,,
They shot first.
I met them head on Gauntlet out.
Every mech I touched became scrap. Every bullet remembered it was metal.
Dele took the sky. Lightning split clouds.
Iyanu tore the wind apart and threw it at cultivators.
Zainab was in their heads: "Your boss is lying to you. Go home."
Amina and Chike kept civilians alive.
Fatima made the Nile rise 2 meters. "Just in case."
Juma pointed. "That one. His thread snaps in 3 seconds."
And he did.
Tsehay ran straight at the platform.
Dr. Selam sent 4 Titans.
Tsehay broke them with 8 spears.
Kwesi?
Kwesi walked up to Pod 06 like he was on a field trip.
"Hello! I'm here for the pickup. Name's Anansi."
The pod opened.
The man inside opened his eyes. Gold, with green flecks.
He stretched. "Finally. I was dreaming of hunting."
He stepped down. Looked at the chaos. At me. At Tsehay breaking mechs.
Then he smiled.
*Well here comes another crazy one joining the team*,i thought to myself
"Who are we fighting?"
"Pandora's," I said.
"Cool," he said. "I'm Ọmọ. And I hunt gods."
Ọmọ didn't use weapons.
He used the desert.
Sand became arrows. Sunlight became spears.
He shot a mech's eye out from 2km away.
"Missed the heart," he said. "I'll do better."
Dr. Selam panicked. "Activate protocol Anubis!"
The Sphinx's eyes glowed red.
From inside it something moved.
The Guardian.
Not a lion. Not a woman.
A jackal. 5 meters tall. Black fur. Eyes of fire. Staff in one hand.
"WHO DISTURBS THE TOMB OF KINGS."
"Pandora," Ọmọ said. "And us."
The jackal looked at Ọmọ. "CHILD OF THE HUNTER. DO YOU CLAIM THE TRIAL?"
Ọmọ bowed. "I do."
"THEN HUNT ME."
They moved.
Fast. Too fast to see.
Sand exploded. Stone cracked.
30 seconds later, Ọmọ stood over the jackal. A spear to its throat.
The jackal laughed. "YOU PASS. TAKE THE TOKEN."
A golden scarab. It crawled onto Ọmọ's chest and became a brooch.
The jackal turned to us. "THE GATE IS 75%. HURRY."
Then it sank back into the Sphinx.
Dr. Selam was screaming. "You don't understand! The Gate has to open! The Other will save us!"
"Save us from what?" Zainab asked.
"From THEM!" She pointed at the sky.
A third portal opened. Above the pyramids.
But this wasn't Pandora
This wasn't Crimson Sky.
This was black. With red writing.
And from it: figures. In armor. With masks.
Carrying banners I didn't recognize.
"Containment team," one of them said. Voice mechanical. "Anomaly level: 9. Terminate."
They shot.
Not bullets. Beams.
They cut through a pandora mech like paper.
"Pandora called backup," Juma said. "From the other side of the Gate."
"Great," Dele said. "Now we're fighting space invaders."
Ọmọ looked at them. Then at me.
"So. New plan?"
"New plan," I said. "We take Pod 06 and run. We can't fight them Pandora's dynamic and Crimson Sky."
"Speak for yourself," Tsehay said. And charged.
We didn't win that fight.
We survived it.
Ọmọ covered our retreat with sand storms.
Kwesi stole one of the black-armor guy's weapons. It immediately tried to shoot him.
Iyanu made a wind tunnel out.
Fatima made a wave to wash away the tanks.
Juma told me which threads to cut to make their portals flicker.
We got everyone out.
9 demigods.
Pod 06 free.
And 3 dead Pandora's mechs as a souvenir.
The black-armor guys didn't follow.
They just stood on the Sphinx. Watching.
Back at the Tome, Ọmọ was quiet for a long time.
Then he spoke.
"I've been dreaming of this for 2 years," he said. "Of the hunt. Of the Gate. Of you."
He looked at each of us. "You're not ready."
"Thanks," Dele said.
"No," Ọmọ said. "Not an insult. A fact. The things coming through that portal? They've been fighting for 1000 years. We've been fighting for 2 months."
"So what do we do?" Amina asked.
Ọmọ held up his scarab. "We train. We get stronger. We find the other 2 pods."
"Cairo, Dakar, Atlantic," Zainab said. "2 left."
Juma looked at the map. "Gate is 75%. It jumped 1% after Cairo."
"Because we freed him," I said. "Every pod we free makes Pandora dynamic desperate."
Old Taju was making tea. Again.
"They're scared now," he said. "Scared people do stupid things."
He looked at me. "Next stop is Dakar. Pod 11. Then the Atlantic. Pod 01."
"Pod 01 isn't on Earth," I said.
Old Taju smiled. "Who said we need Earth?"
That night, Ọmọ showed us his power.
He took us to the desert outside the Tome.
"Watch," he said.
He nocked an arrow made of sunlight.
Shot it into the sky.
The arrow didn't come down.
It hit something. High up.
And cracked it.
A shimmer. Like glass.
For 1 second we saw it:
A network of lines. Covering the sky. Covering the world.
The Gate. From the outside.
"It's a cage," Ọmọ said. "And something's trying to get in Or out."
Kwesi whistled. "Well. That's ominous."
Zainab added Cairo's token to the table.
10 tokens now. The map glowed brighter.
2 dark spots left.
Dakar.
Atlantic.
Ogbene laughed from his cell. "You'll never get Pod 01. It's already awake. And it hates to be disturbed
No one answered him.
Outside, the sky had 4 scars now.
And we could all feel the black-armor ships were still there.
Watching.
Kwesi broke the silence. "So! New guy. Welcome to the Tome. Rules: Don't die, steal snacks, and if you see a mask, run."
Ọmọ smiled. "I can do that."