When Edward woke up, the sun was already up, after the fight of yesterday Edward was exhausted and he slept longer than usual. Some people were still sleeping, and the injured needed rest to heal and get better. Maybe that’s why Marc hadn’t ordered everybody to wake up and explore the ruins as soon as the sun was rising.

The guards had already built and lit a fire to get rid of the wolves’ corpses. They didn’t have any problem finding wood and branches as they were in the middle of the forest.

The smoke was rising into the sky, clearly visible to anyone outside of the forest. It didn’t matter much; the group wasn’t chased by humans but by monsters. Those beasts would be attracted by the smell of roasting flesh, but monsters weren’t active during the day.

Edward looked around him, this time, with the light provided by the sun, he was able to see the interior of the room more clearly. On the right, there were two dull grey statues representing some kind of bipedal species, they didn’t look like humans. The proportions were wrong, they were having longer arms reaching just bellows the knees, and they also only had four fingers on their hand. Their right hand was facing upward, some kind of ball resting on it. Edward could see their face properly but most of the details were gone, the passage of time had erased all their features. The statues were wearing a cloak that was covering them entirely.

Those are not humans. Were those ruins made by a non-human civilization? Archaeologists would go mad back on earth if they found something like this. So humans are not alone in the world…That’s big. But it’s strange the others never talked about another sentient race besides humans. Did this race go extinct? Are there still other races in this world? That would change a lot for humans in this world if that’s the case. On earth we don’t have any concurrence, it’s just us against the wilds. Well, now it’s more like us against us, there is not much wild left…

If there are other races here, does this mean there is a competition between them and us? Or is this the same as a fight between two different nations? I have so many questions, after this expedition, I will have to find Caspian, I will see if I can get some answers from him. Well, that is if I manage to leave this place alive. Focus on the present Edward.

Facing the statues, on the left side were two other bipedal entities. Edward wasn’t sure what it was supposed to represent. Those statues weren’t having any details, they were humanoid but that’s all there was to it. They weren’t wearing any kind of clothes, the details of their face couldn’t be seen, and even their fingers weren’t precise. Their hand was constituted of a single block. Edward wasn’t sure if it was due to the passage of time or if it was intentionally made by the sculptor. Maybe he didn’t have the time to finish his work.

The last two statues in front of the corridor look similar to the ones on the right side. It was the same specie, but those ones were wearing armor instead of a cloak. There was something sterner about them too, maybe because of their posture. They were standing tall as if nothing could make them fall.

They seem to be higher in the hierarchy than the ones on the right.

Edward then approached closer to the low carving on the walls behind the statues. The carvings were representing something like a timeline. Individuals from this specie were coming out of the forest at the start of the carvings. The green luminous lines on the wall were coloring those carving in a vivid green color giving the observer the sensation that the forest was alive. In the middle, a magnificent city was depicted, this civilization favoring pyramidal structures, different symbols were engraved on those buildings but Edward had no idea what they could signify. At the end of the carving, this race was preparing for war, black clouds were depicted above the city, and the people were armed, and were following a leading figure.

On the other wall, once again, the carvings were more abstract. It was difficult to make out the details. The carving was having volume with peaks and cavities but there wasn’t anything Edward was able to recognize. Some shapes could vaguely be considered as parts of an animal or a biped but there wasn’t much more detail than that. The contrast between the precise carvings on the right and the abstract ones on the left was a bit unsettling.

This doesn’t seem logical, on one side everything is perfectly depicted, and on the other one, it’s hard to recognize anything. What did they have in mind when they did those carvings?

Edward looked up at the ceiling, it wasn’t flat but more like a dome. The green lines providing the light were concentrated on the ceiling. The lines were depicting green dense foliage as seen from the bottom of the trees. Instead of the oppressive feeling given by the forest outside, this depiction was appeasing. It looked like the picture of an ideal forest that one would think about went wanting to go for a walk.

Ok, this race had definitely its fair share of artists.

Marc chose this moment to make an announcement.

“Everybody listen, we already did the hardest part, we are inside the ruins, those beasts won’t follow us in here. Now we only have to press on, explore those ruins, and take the loot. Look, we managed to push back those monsters and we didn’t even lose any guards. After the extra rest you got this morning I want everybody ready to pursue the exploration in five minutes."

Yes, just conveniently ignore that half the guards are injured and that one carrier got killed and another missing on the first day we left the path. And we will have to cross the forest on the way back too. Now I’m curious, what are you exactly searching for in those ruins?

Once the group was ready, the explorations of the ruins finally started. Marc was in the front group with three of his guards, the other two were at the back. The guards from the village were at the front of the group too, and the carriers who were still alive were in the middle. They were feeling ill at ease, in one day they went from five to three. Like Edward, the carriers accepted the job because they thought they were safe with the number of guards involved in the expedition, having one of them killed before their eyes and another one missing was a hard blow to take.

The group advanced at a slow pace inside the corridor. After reaching the turn on the right, they were able to see the rest of the corridor, and … the corpse of the carrier who ran away. The group stopped in silence. The corpse was desiccated as if all the water had left the body, it laid collapsed on the right side of the corridor. It was hard to believe this person was alive just the day before.

“At least he didn’t die in vain, his corpse is showing us the location of the first trap,” Marc whispered.

Edward and the front guards from the village who caught that opened their eyes wide in shock. One of the guards confronted Marc.

-“I had enough, can’t you treat us with respect! He didn’t die in vain what kind of talk is that!! He died because of you! You are the one who organized this expedition!! And you seem fully ill-prepared, you owe us explanations!!”

Marc looked at him with disinterested eyes. He fully released his aura, oppressing the whole group, as if a powerful monster was looking at them. “I owe you an explanation? I didn’t force you all to come. And didn’t I tell you before? With the price I’m paying you I won’t accept any cowardice. Know your place peasant!”

The guard was sweating, having taken the full brunt of Marc’s aura. He realized that if he wanted it, Marc could have killed him right now. Still, that didn’t prevent him from growing resentment inside. The one who died was his friend. Maybe he couldn’t do anything to Marc right now but he wouldn’t forget or forgive what happened just now.

What the fuck! Is this guy considering us like some animals? This guy deserves to go to jail. He is the one responsible for this expedition and he is not the one bit concerned that the people under his responsibility are dying. I really need to become more powerful, I can’t let guys like him trample on me just because they are a little bit stronger. Edward thought.

Marc looked at the wall, the green lines providing the light were going on from the room they left all the way to the end of the corridor. The corridor was ending in front of a door a few dozen meters further away. Several heavily complicated symbols were formed by those lines all the length of the corridor.

There was no sign of any mechanical trap near the corpse, and apart from being desiccated the corpse didn’t look injured.

“It looks like a life-draining spell,” Marc said. “It’s probably activated by one of the symbols on the wall.”

“What kind of sorcery is this?” a carrier whispered.

Adrien looked at him. “You know, how old Greta always managed to make better leather boots than everybody else in the village?”

“Yes, what about her?” The carrier asked clearly confused by the question.

“Well, all of her boots are better because she knows a few runes. She knows one that prevents them from getting wet and another one that improves their durability.”

“What?? She never told me. I thought wizards were old men living as hermits in some lost towers!” The carrier exclaimed.

Adrien shook his head. “She was afraid of others chasing her from the village or copying her runes. I never heard of something like a life drain thought.”

Ok, so magic is real too. There is something else other than bloody monsters, that’s good to know. How are we supposed to get past that though? Will Marc be forced to stop the expedition and let us go back to the village?