Clang! Breaker’s forearm muted the sound; his bracer had stopped the katana cold. A shard of his shirtsleeve fluttered away, shorn off by the razor sharp blade.

“Hist! Your village sleeps. Do you seek panic?” Breaker growled beneath his breath.

“My apologies,” the nekojin withdrew his blade and sheathed it. “I had to be certain. I know of few men fast enough to stop my blade. But a demigod…” his words trailed off in awe as he stepped aside. “Pass in peace, Joshua Cronen, and may we meet again.”

“We will meet at your dojo one day soon.”

Breaker bowed carefully, eyes never leaving the warder, and then whisked past him into the cavern. The broad, dark corridor he ducked into had a musty smell, like a cellar swept out every so often but never quite properly cleaned. Breaker looked left, and then right, spotting the shape of a woman floating in the air.

To find him you must break a crystal globe. Am’aleh’s voice was fleeting, so far from a water source. Her image faded, but Josh followed the path she had led toward. He progressed deeper into the cave, the vaulted ceilings becoming uncomfortably low and the walls pressing in. He searched through many rooms; most contained documents that had been extracted from the dig site, sealed behind magnifying glass. Breaker did not pause to read any, although he knew they contained great wisdom. His search through the temple had a single minded intensity.

He came to a particular room, his powerful eyes seeing despite the gloom. Piled within a great minecart were dozens of crystal balls. The cart sat on rusted rails which led off down a winding tunnel. The walls were earthen, and the musty smell increased, crawling into his nose.

Breaker’s boots rang out as he walked over the beginning of the tracks toward the cart. He picked up a crystal globe, seeing his inverted reflection in it. It was not entirely transparent, and yet he felt he could see through it, and he sensed an innate magical energy radiating from within. For a long moment he held the ball at arm’s length, and then he dropped it on the rock floor.

Clack! The globe did not break, or so much as chip. Breaker frowned, and placed a boot on top of it, allowing the enchantment within the metal to make it weigh a hundred pounds. Nothing happened. He shrugged, and then spun. His leg lashed up high and down in a scything axe kick. His heel struck the ball like a warhammer swung by a giant, like an anvil dropped from an airship, like a comet cast by the gods.

Cra-aack! The globe shattered, and out sprang thousands of glittering shards. Breaker covered his face, barely quick enough to save his eyes from the shrapnel. When he sensed the storm had stopped, he looked again, and Gingitsu had appeared before him.

The silver kitsune’s nine tails framed his face like an elaborate hair arrangement. He wore similar garb to the samurai outside, but all in flowing silvers and reds, as ornate as a paper rose. He looked at the demigod down his long nose and licked the air. Breaker sniffed him back. He smelled of whisky and lavender water, an odd combination. While Josh marveled at the oddities of his appearance, the Lore Guardian opened his silver snout and spoke.

“Who summons me while I am still sober?
The gall thou hath! Art thou a disrober?
If not what cause have I to be here, now?
I left a hoor who had teets like a cow!”