The expedition had to once more put a night watch 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 the ruins were safe 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, blades of invisible energy crashing against the barrier, but the result was the same. The energy dissipated while the barrier simply laid there unmoved.

The tree on the wall and on the amulet are the same. They probably have some kind of relation. Marc is hellbent on destroying that barrier, it seems he won’t leave before destroying it. I’m starting to regret taking that amulet. I should just give it back and said I found it somewhere. The sooner we leave, the better.

Marc interrupted his thoughts. “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 roared while facing the barrier.

Marc took his anger against the symbols and decorations on the walls, he slashed his sword directly against the wall thinking it would be enough to destroy the symbols on it, however only a faint mark was left on the symbol he had wanted to break. 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 invisible 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 only on their side of the barrier that all the green lights turned off. On the other side where the pedestal stood, the symbols were still glowing brightly. Marc tried to take a step forward but he was stopped by the energy field, the barrier was still there and working normally.

“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 stress audible in his voice.

“Let me through!” Marc answered rudely.

For one more time today, he slashed with his sword sending a wave of invisible 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 strong attacks.

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 crawl through. Once on the other side, they saw that all the green lines had switched off in the library as well. The only light remaining was provided by the stars which had turned from white to red. 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 above it, the one Marc had explored yesterday. Everybody looked at Marc.

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“Don’t look at me, there was nothing there, it was a dead end. Unless that noise from earlier…There must have been a hidden door!” Despite the situation 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 their attention on the door, a second thud came from it, then a third, the shaking intensifying.

“Guards take a defensive position, whatever this is, we will take care of it. It’s even saving us the trouble of opening the door.” Marc ordered still in a joyful mood.

The doors…None of the doors are working anymore. The door to leave the library will be close 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 had behaved 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 Agripin wouldn’t take the risk to fight an Awaken.

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 Vipin 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. Starting from this moment the lives of each member of the expedition were in Marc's hands.

Edward slowly 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 an 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 dark thoughts with the door finally breaking, a monstrosity emerging from it. That thing was having a gaping maw full of serrated teeth with overflowing saliva dripping on the floor. Small black beady eyes around that disturbing maw were looking at them. Those eyes resembled ocelli just like the eyes of on most insects, but in a bigger size. The monster was massive, easily the size of a bull, 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 didn’t lose any time and charged at them. Marc who was in the way jumped aside to avoid it. The guards behind him lowered their spear, holding their weapon 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 broke on impact and the guards were sent 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.

Marc’s personal guards carrying swords 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 down to 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, Edward could feel a sense of danger from Marc’s sword, just like when he was throwing invisible blades of energy around. This time, instead of when he was throwing an invisible blade, the sense of danger stayed glued to Marc’s sword. Sweat was forming on Marc’s forehead, due to the energy expenditure and concentration needed to manage this attack.

Marc reached the monster while it was distracted, his sword managing to pierce its flank with ease contrary to the previous attacks from his 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 coming from the beast. 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 in an angry and defiant gaze.