Edward was looking at Marc and the beast. Even since the start of the fight, he hadn’t been able to do anything. He had been frozen in shock by the appearance of this monster and he hadn’t had the time to react when it charged at them, everything happened too quickly.

Fuck, what is this thing? It’s demolishing us with ease, it’s not a fight it’s a bloody massacre. You need to do something Edward don’t stay frozen like that. Think, think dammit. Marc looked completely spent, he should have saved that sword energy for this monster instead of using it left and right to destroy those symbols. This fight doesn’t look good for him. What can I do? I only have a knife on me, and those guys weren’t able to hurt that monster even with swords. Only Marc can wound it with sword energy, but it’s unknown how many times he can still use it. I won’t make a difference in that fight, I would just be a meat shield at best. Okay, so I can’t fight. Then I have to run or hide. I could run past that beast and escape, we can’t go back anyway because we are blocked by the door.

While Edward was having this thought, another of the beast arrived with the clattering of talons on the floor. Their group was plunged in horror and despair, they were already barely hanging on against one of the beasts, and with another one in the fight, they were done for, even Marc realized that despite his ego.

All the doors are closed except the one those monsters are coming from, and the one that Marc cut down. Damn, we can’t go the way those beasts came from if others are still coming. Shit, we don’t have a choice we can only hide and hope we won’t be found. It’s our only chance, we have to hide in that room with the barrier.

Edward saw Adrien near him, he was lucky enough to be in the back when the beast had charged. Edward took him by the arm.

“Follow me! We have to hide, we can’t win this fight.”

Adrien answered him with a head nod, his terror clearly visible on his face. While the beasts were still distracted with each other, and deciding which one would have Marc as a snack, Edward and Adrien escaped discreetly to the room with the barrier, passing through the small opening at the bottom of the door. The beasts wouldn’t be able to get through that opening, but seeing how they just trampled the first door, that wouldn’t be enough to stop them. If they wanted to survive they had to stay hidden so as not to be spotted by those monsters.

Edward took a look behind him, of their initial group of sixteen people, beside Marc, only five people were still standing, the other lay collapsed on the floor. One of the beasts jumped toward Marc, the latter barely avoiding it, he tried to run away from the beasts by running into the corridor they came from. The beast that attacked him followed him in pursuit, the other one turned its head to concentrate on the last few people standing. Edward quickly entered the room before getting discovered, he joined Adrien and close his eyes, lying against the wall with his head between his knees.

Outside they could hear running, cries of fear, and yells of pain accompanied by the sound of crunching bones and the wet noise of tearing flesh. And then, complete silence, only broken by the potential drop of blood falling on the floor. Edward was shaking, some tears sliding along his face. Adrien wasn’t faring much better, his eyes were opened but haggard and without focus.

After an unknown period of time, they finally calmed down, Edward was feeling empty and listless. Back on earth, he wasn’t used to death and even less to violent deaths. In this expedition, it had only been a few days but everybody apart from Adrien and him was probably dead.

Dead, they are all dead. I couldn’t do anything, I was completely useless. They died before my eyes. I should have at least tried to bring more people into hiding with us. But no, I just thought about fleeing and hiding. As someone being brought to another world am I not supposed to have superpowers or something? What’s the point of being in this world if I will die as soon as I try to do something? What’s the point of me being there?

Adrien recovered a bit more quickly. He had already been accustomed to death before, he had been a guard for some time and he had seen some friends being killed by beasts. However, he had never experienced something of this magnitude, this time it was the whole expedition that had died and not just an unlucky guy in the lot.

“If Marc wasn’t killed by those beasts I will kill him myself.” He whispered with rage embedded in his voice.” This whole expedition was his idea, he should have been more prepared, we were completely unprepared to explore this kind of ruins. With monsters like those, you should go at least with a whole team of awaken, going with normal and quiescent level people is pure madness.”

“I couldn’t do anything...” Edward answered.

“It’s normal, you arrived in this world not long ago, you are still a rookie. You shouldn’t have to face such monsters. I shouldn’t have to either…they are not on our level.” Adrien comforted him. “Now we have to think about how the hell we will go out of here.” He added.

“We can’t do much, those monsters must be roaming in those ruins somewhere and the way back is blocked by the door. If we try to roam deeper inside those ruins without a plan, we will simply end dead just like the others. We are in the only safe place in this room stuck with an impenetrable barrier.” Edward answered looking at the barrier and the strange apparatus behind it, his gaze drifting on the decorated wall.

“Wait a minute, this symbol on the wall, isn’t it the same as the amulet we found?” he asked Adrien before taking the amulet out of his backpack.

They both looked at it, it was indeed the same symbol of a majestic tree, its branches extending in all directions as if to grab the sky. The apparatus protected by the barrier also looked like a tree, it seemed the symbols and the device were having something to do with each other.

“Let’s get closer and see if there are any reactions.” Adrien offered.

They got up, Edward holding the amulet in front of him in his hands, and both walk closer while glancing alternatively at the symbol on the wall and at the amulet. There wasn’t any change, each symbol was staying inert, so they continued to advance. Edward reached the pedestal but Adrien was stopped by the barrier in front of it.

“You crossed the barrier,” Adrien announced his voice trembling a bit.

Edward turned back to him, “Come over, I’ll give you the pendant so that you can get through the barrier.” He then threw the amulet to Adrien who caught it on the fly before also crossing the barrier.

“Thanks, at least we already went further than Marc,” Adrien said giving him back the amulet.

Edward froze when he heard that, “Say, if I had given this amulet to Marc, he wouldn’t have had to try to destroy the barrier. None of that would have happened. Did they all die because of me…”

“What is done is done, you can’t change the past! Anyway, we had no way to know beforehand that this amulet will let us through this barrier.” Adrien rebuked him.

Edward accepted this comment, although he felt as if Adrien was trying to comfort him by shielding him from taking responsibility for this disaster.

They died because of me. I behaved like a child. I shouldn’t have kept the amulet for myself even though Marc was a jerk. He was also the strongest in this expedition and his survival meant the whole group had a greater chance to come out alive. I should have thought about the group first instead of my petty resentment against Marc. Even if he didn’t seem to care about the survival of the group at all…If I ever go out of there alive, I will travel alone, I don’t want to repeat something like this. Being completely dependent on another person because he/she is stronger, and having to take into account the bigger picture even if this person doesn’t care about it at all is the worst feeling ever. I seriously need to become stronger if I want to become independent.

Adrien feeling that Edward was still having remorse, patted his back, “Hey stopped thinking about it, and let’s see what this thing can do instead.” He said showing the pedestal with a gesture of his hand.

It was unclear if the pedestal, was some kind of plant or tree that had been grown into that shape, or if it was a particularly realistic work of art. The hemispherical opening on the top of the pedestal was suggesting you could put something in it. Edward touched the pedestal lightly with one finger, whatever the pedestal was made of, it was smooth to the touch. “How do we activate this thing?” he asked while approaching his head to the pedestal to have a better looked at it.

“I don’t know, you are the one who first went through the barrier. Now, you are the expert in magical artifacts found in ancient ruins of an extinguished civilization.” Adrien answered him half-joking.

“Jeez, alright I get it, then I guess it’s time for my secret move. Tree amulet make your move!!” he said brandishing the amulet in front of the pedestal. He stayed in positions for a few seconds, but seeing as nothing happened, he dropped the pose. “Ok, it’s not working. Don’t laugh, I can see you smirking at me. At least it was worth the try.” Edward said.

“Try to put it in the opening, maybe it’s a receptacle,” Adrien answered him smiling lightly.

Edward did just that, holding the amulet in his hand and placing it in the opening formed by the branches at the top of the pedestal. He had barely touched the pedestal with the talisman when the branches closed on his hand, maintaining it in place. The vines on the pedestal started to glow, the light coming from the bottom and going up all the way to the top where Edward’s hand was trapped.

“What’s happening?” Adrien asked starting to get afraid.

“I don’t know I’m stuck,” Edward answered him while trying to remove his hand with little effect. The pedestal was holding his hand like a close clamp, he was completely unable to remove it.