Once the surroundings grew silent, Edward once more checked with his aura to verify that no Bloodmaws had stayed behind. After being sure that the situation was as safe as it could be, he opened the door and descended the stairs to reach the library. I’m so close now. I didn’t expect to be able to sneak into the ruins on the first try. Once at the bottom of the stairs and right at the entrance to the library, still bathed in red light, Edward hid behind the edging of the door. Or at least what was left of it after a Bloodmaw had charged through it.

Shit, there are still monsters left inside! Would it have been too easy, if I could simply go in and take the book I need? Those Bloodmaws don’t seem kind on leaving right now. One of them is even sleeping. With three of them inside there is no way I can fight them all, especially in a close space like that. And more of them can come at any time. I will have to be quick about it, I have one chance to pick a book, and then I will have to run. At least there shouldn’t be any Bloodmaws blocking the way out, they must have all left to fight the wolves.

I can’t take too much time as the situation could change at any moment, but I have to choose the right book. Let’s see what we have here, I need something that will seal those ruins or at least close the entrance. What do we have here? An introduction to magic. An Analysis of the Discovery of Newfoundworld by Aeghad, the renowned Explorer. A Research Paper on the most efficient way to explore the universe. The belief and cultures of the fairies. Wait, what? Fairies are real?!

Focus Edward, I can drop all the tomes about sociology and geography. The introduction to magic seems interesting, but I don’t think it will contain advanced magic powerful enough to seal something like the Bloodmaws, I should keep it for another time. Edward continued to scan the books to see if he could find something more useful for his current objective.

Suddenly, he noticed that one of the Bloodmaw was walking lazily in his direction. I have no time. This one, The usage of runes in spell formation, is the most relevant one I found until now. This will have to do. But this volume is stowed quite high, almost at the same height as the ceiling. I can't reach it from here with a single teleportation, I will have to teleport a second time to get it. The Bloodmaw was now close enough to see him, Edward teleported behind it, right in the middle of the library, and in front of the other two Bloodmaws, one of them still sleeping. For a fraction of a second, they both locked eyes with each other. At least Edward locked eyes with the several ocelli of the Bloodmaw, he was pretty sure he was losing the staring contest. The monster erupted in a furious roar, waking up the one next to him, and attracting others from deeper inside the ruins.

However, this gave Edward enough time to teleport once more, high up to the wall, near the book he wanted. He picked up the book he spotted about runes and stored it inside his backpack. The monsters under him all gathered right below him, waiting for him to fall. One of them even tried to jump to eat him alive. The fuck, this thing is jumping high, it was only two meters away from catching me and I’m like six meters high. He looked toward the entrance of the library, more Bloodmaws were coming. I can’t stay here, it will only give time for more of them to come. I have an idea but I hope it works, it’s not the one I would have chosen if I had other options.

After one of the Bloodmaw fell back from its jump, Edward let go of his holds, and let himself fall from the wall, right toward the maws of the monsters under him. Just as he was about to get turned into pulp, he teleported sideways to avoid falling into their gullet. As he preserved his momentum between teleportation, he still crashed to the floor. As his body was tougher since he became an awaken, he was able to get back up with a grunt and only a few bruises instead of broken legs.

Damn, that hurt. I can’t believe this actually worked. That was completely bullocks, I could almost feel their hot breath on me, they were ready to tear me into pieces. Can’t stop right now, though, I have to keep going.

Edward somehow broke into a run, the Bloodmaws on his heels. Luckily the other monsters outside were too far away to have heard the roar and they didn’t come back on their tracks to hunt him down. This time he hadn’t any lead on the Bloodmaws after him, and he hadn’t had the best start to begin his run, so he had to teleport as often as he could to avoid being caught up by the monsters after him. Why am I always in a situation where I have to run away from monsters? Why can’t I have a simple solo fight against one of them, instead of having the whole pack after me? Edward complained internally.

He quickly rushed outside the ruins, not having the time nor the opportunity to hide away from the Bloodmaws. Once in the forest, he slalomed crazily between trees, using his teleportation to make the monsters after him lose visual contact. This seemed to work as the distance between them was increasing, the Bloodmaws needed time to adjust their trajectory to run after him as Edward wasn’t teleporting in a straight line. Comparatively, the Bloodmaws were slightly faster than Edward, but in this environment full of obstacles, and with the added random teleportation from Edward, he was able to slowly lose them.

Once his lead was big enough, Edward teleported high up behind a tree trunk, holding it with his arms and legs to avoid falling. The Bloodmaws rushed past him before turning around in hope of finding him back. However, Edward had already teleported once more, this time in the tree canopy, hiding him from sight. He was safe at last.

He took some time to rest, he had been really closed to death this time. He had to run away, while the Bloodmaws were right next to him. I swear this life will get me to kill at some point. When was the last time I was in real danger on Earth? But even though there is danger, this life has meaning to it. I feel alive here. Okay, I did take some risks but it is to save people. If that’s not a good reason, I don’t know what is. Once the tension and the stresses of the run faded, Edward pondered about how to proceed.

It is really too dangerous to go back into the ruins. If I die right now, the book won’t make it to the village, and there will be no one able to read it either way, as it is written in Damkinan. I should go back to the village first, and see what we can take out of this tome. If it doesn’t contain what we need, I hope it will at least help me to get stronger, I don’t have the confidence to be able to sneak into the ruins consistently. Edward noticed that they were still Bloodmaws around searching for him. I will have to leave the same way as when I arrived, teleporting between trees to avoid being spotted.

***

Edward reached the village exhausted, he hadn’t had more troubles on the way back, managing to avoid the Bloodmaws. However, he had been outside for the whole day and night, without much rest and sleep. He couldn’t waste time, as the Bloodmaws were getting closer and closer to the village. It wasn’t the first time that he did the trip to the ruins, and each time, he had to stay hidden longer, as the presence of the monsters grew.

Balin spotted him as he left the forest, he actually left his post, jumping directly from the wall, using a forward roll to dampen the impact. He ran to join him and escort him to the village.

“Are you alright? No injuries?”

“I’m fine, it got too close to my liking, but I managed to get out without injuries, I just have a few bruises.”

“That’s great. So, does this mean you succeeded, you actually managed to find a way to seal the ruins?”

“Well…not exactly. I managed to find a tome about the usage of runes in magic. I don’t know yet if it will enable us to seal the ruins, I didn’t have the time to read it yet. How is it going from your side? You managed to reinforce the defenses?”

Balin winced. “It’s going slower than I would like. Some of the villagers, mostly Carlson and his clique are complaining a lot. They are arguing that improving the defenses is costing them a lot, that they are not at fault and shouldn’t carry the financial burden.”

Edward stopped surprised by the news. “Do they not understand that it is the only way to keep themselves safe? If the Bloodmaws managed to go inside the village we won’t be able to protect everyone.”

“I know that very well,” Balin answered in a dry tone. “But it seems they don’t. Some of them haven’t seen a living monster in their whole life, and they think the stories are exaggerated, with adventures and guards adorning the stories to get attention. I must say, that I myself haven’t seen those Bloodmaws yet, and knowing they are an awaken match, and seeing it by oneself are too different things.”

“Oh, they are not the brightest, but I guarantee you that their strength makes up for it.”

“You got me curious, and at the same time, I’m not in a hurry to meet one.”

“They will reach the village soon, they are getting closer each time I’m getting the trip.”

“Did they follow you?” Balin asked worriedly.

“No, I managed to shake them off after leaving the ruins. Caspian was afraid of us fighting bringing more of them, but the other monsters from the forest are already doing that. I only managed to sneak inside, because of the distraction caused by a fight with them. More of them are coming out of the ruins each day. We have to stop it soon, otherwise, there will be too numerous, and I’m not sure I will even be able to reach the ruins anymore. I can teleport only so often, it’s a trump card, not something that I can use continuously, I can’t avoid all of them at the same time if they go after me.” Edward explained.

“I see, yes, the sooner we settle this situation the better, go get some rest. After that, we will see what the book you found can offer us.”