The expedition had to once more put a night guard in place. They were attacked by the wolves just the night before, so even though they were now in the ruins and should be safe from the beasts they didn’t dare relax yet. Furthermore, they didn’t know if something was roaming into the ruins either. Until now they only had encountered traps and no guardians or monsters but they weren’t ready to bet their life on an “It should be fine.”

As if to prove their worries unfounded, the night passed quietly, and the members of the expedition were able to get a full night of rest this time. On this occasion they weren’t bothered by the noise of wolves roaming nearby, and, as they were already quite deep, the temperature stayed warm compared to the surface. Everybody woke up feeling in a better shape and in a slightly better mood, the beauty of the library helping with that last part.

Marc went to the apparatus room first thing in the morning, the others accompanying him. He slashed at the barrier again with his sword, the ray of energy crashing with the barrier, but the result was the same. The energy dissipated while the barrier simply laid there unmoved.

“If I can’t destroy you frontally, I will just break the symbols that make your spell. Let’s see who gets the last laugh.” He said to the barrier.

Edward looked at Adrien and made small circles near his head with his index. Marc had an ego big enough to talk with a barrier. As an awaken he may be able to hear them but he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, so he didn’t see them making fun of him.

Marc took his anger against the symbols of the walls, he clashed his sword against the wall without projecting energy thinking it would be enough to cut them, however only a faint mark was left on the symbol. The symbol was still working properly and its light didn’t even dim. This infuriated Marc even further, who then proceed to send two waves of sword energy on each side of the wall. This time the green lines were cut, and the symbols turned off. However, against everyone's expectations, it was their side of the barriers where all the green lights went off. The other side of the barrier where the pedestal stood, was still having its symbols glowing. Marc tried to take a step forward but he was stopped by the energy field, the barrier was still there and working.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Nobody answered him as they didn’t have more information than him. One of the guards pushed the button of the door, which had closed behind them, to open it again, but the door didn’t react at all.

“Are we trapped?” he asked.

“Let me through!” answered Marc rudely.

For one more time today, he slashed with his sword sending a wave of energy. It was only the morning, but it was already the fourth time that he was using this move, and he was starting to get exhausted. His wound was bleeding once again. With the aura left over by the regal wolf, it never managed to close properly, and since entering the ruins he had to exhaust himself every day by using sword energy.

His slash managed to cut the door in two, the top part was stuck in the closed position, not moving even after being separated from the bottom part of the door which slid into the floor. A red light came into the room with the opening.

“Weren’t the lights in the library green and white before?” asked a carrier already knowing the answer to his question.

“Shut up and get through the opening!!” was the only answer from Marc.

As the door wasn’t fully opened they had to go on all four to pass through. Once on the other side, they saw that all the symbols and green lines were switched off in the library too. The only light remaining was provided by the stars which had turned red, that was the source of the red light. With the room colored in a dimmed red light, the ambiance was completely different from when they entered the library for the first time. Instead of being amazed by the beauty of the room, they were now feeling afraid. The symbols on the walls were still faintly visible, being illuminated by the red light instead of glowing from within. However, in place of representing growing trees and luxuriant vegetation, now it looked like everything was bathed in blood as if it was a haunted forest.

“That’s not ominous at all…” Edward mumbled.

That’s when they heard a low rumbling noise as if something heavy was moving. The noise lasted for a few seconds before stopping with a click. Then, they heard the clattering of claws hitting the floors, the clatter stopped for a moment before coming toward them at a fast pace. The noise was coming from behind the door with the drop of blood on top, the one Marc had explored yesterday. Everybody looked at Marc.

“Don’t look at me, there was nothing there, it was a dead end. Unless that noise from earlier…There must be a hidden door.” Marc exploded into a laugh, “I thought I was wrong and that artifact was lost, but it must have been hidden inside a secret room. This will finally belong to me.” Greed flashed in his eyes. Marc was still rejoicing when a loud thud came from the door, shaking it.

Everybody focused his attention on the door, a second thud coming from the door, then a third, the shaking intensifying.

“Guards take a defensive position, whatever this is, we will take care of it. It’s even preventing us the trouble of opening the door.”

The doors…all the doors are not working anymore. The door from the library will be down too, we are stuck here. Only Marc can cut through the doors, if he dies or if he doesn’t want us to leave we won’t be able to leave on our own. Edward froze at this thought.

Marc was behaving like an asshole since the start of the expedition and he didn’t care one bit about the lives of the one he hired. If he killed them all for one reason or the other, there would be no proof. Marc could just affirm that they had all died in the ruins and that he was the only one able to come out since he was an awaken, no one would be able to do anything about it. Without proof, even if they were having suspicions, the people back in the village wouldn’t take the risk to fight an awaken. From this point onward the lives of each member of the expeditions were in Marc's hands.

It was already somewhat true at the start of the expedition since Marc was the only awaken, no one could oppose him. But if he tried to kill everybody back in the forest, he could have been injured, and some people could have managed to escape. In those ruins, with all of the doors closed, no one would be able to escape if Marc didn’t want to.

Edward realized that by accepting an expedition managed by someone stronger than him he had basically put his life in Marc’s hands.

Sweat started to form on his forehead. What did I do? I should have at least checked the integrity of the guy before accepting his offer. If I manage to go out of here alive I will never go on an expedition with someone stronger than me without at least having the power to escape.

Luckily for him and the others, Marc didn’t seem inclined to kill them all. For him they were all disposable, he didn’t care if they died but he wouldn’t kill them without at least a valid reason.

Edward was pulled out of his thoughts with the door finally breaking, a monstrosity emerging from it. That thing was having a gaping mow dropping with saliva and was full of serrated teeth. Around that disturbing maw was a circle of small black beady eyes, they looked almost like ocelli that you could see on most insects, but in a bigger size. The monster was massive, easily the size of a beef, its two front limbs bulging with muscles. Its skin was a deep red turning toward purple, and each one of its four limbs was ending with talons the size of three to four centimeters. The thing turned its head toward them while the dust caused by the crumbling of the door was starting to settle down.

The group was frozen in shock, they didn’t know what they expected but it certainly wasn’t something like this. The beast charged at them, Marc who was in the way jumped aside to avoid it. The guards behind him lowered their spear, holding it as tightly as possible, their fingers turning white as if it was the last thing anchoring them to reality. The thing crashed into them, the spears breaking on impact and the guards send flying from the sheer mass and velocity of that monster. Loud crashes and moans of pain ensued, some of the guards not getting back up. However, to the horror and the dismay of the others, the beast was still in pristine condition, not a scratch visible on it.

The guards carrying a sword run to the beast while yelling in fear and rage, wanting to slay it before it could do more damage. The beast simply swatted at them with one of its paws. One unlucky guy was sent flying like a cannonball and smashed against a wall before falling door on the floor coughing blood. The other guards manage to strike at the beast but with little effect, instead of being severely injured, only some faint white lines appeared on its skin where the swords tried to cut into it.

Marc finally got up from his position, turning back to see half of the guards already wounded and out of the fight, if not dead.

“What the heck!?” Did this thing decimate half of them in a few seconds? What a bunch of useless trash. I have to do everything by myself. He thought to himself.

Marc charged toward the beast, a halo of energy forming around his sword. This time, instead of being thrown out as a wave of energy, the halo was sticking to the sword. Sweat was forming on Marc’s forehead, unknown if it was due to the energy expenditure or due to the concentration to maintain and control it around the sword.

Marc reached the monster while it was distracted, his sword managing to pierce its flank contrary to the ones from the guards. The monster roared in pain and fury, it turned on itself in a split second and hit Marc with his right front limb sending him tumbling on himself.

The blood of the beast was falling on the floor, drop by drop, it was the same red-purple color as its skin. Marc was also once more injured, his red blood on the floor mixing with the one of the beasts. However he wasn’t out of the fight yet, he slowly stood back up, his eyes focus on the beast, the two confronting each other with their gaze.