'Who are you exactly? And why did you choose me?'

Ryu silently watched as Goaman's screams died down, but he didn't seem to be 'seeing' the scene before him at all.

He couldn't help but wonder. Was he chosen by the Phoenix Sky God because of his talent? Because of his character? Or was it because he was desperate enough to do whatever it would take.

The Phoenix Sky God's trial required him to dig deep and find the will the fight against Fate. It sounded like the purest of ideals with the greatest of intentions behind it. But, was this true?

Ryu had found that his obsession with fighting against Fate, even his outright arrogance in thinking he was doing so, weighed him down far more than it helped him.

Was this because he had misread the intentions of the Phoenix Sky God? Or was that because this was the intention of the Phoenix Sky God all along?

But, this was only the tip of the ice berg. The question that Ryu had been ignoring until now, the question that he hadn't wanted to think about

Why now?

...