Gerome was silent when they set out, but his eyes did flicker toward Xander when he stepped into the older man’s transport. He had told his team that he needed to speak with Gerome about something he had noticed during the battle.

  Given his VIP status, his team didn’t question him about it. Tami just said that he should hurry back if he could, since they had a few things she wanted to discuss with all of them regarding his possible placement into their team in full.

  Something that would need to be addressed sooner, rather than later. Especially since he was showing himself far more capable than the average soldier. Both those with 1, and those with 2, gene-mods incorporated into them

  For now, however, Xander said nothing when he sat down next to Gerome, he just gestured to the geneticist's tablet and grabbed it when Gerome nodded his head.

  The sheer amount of privilege that he still had was enough to make Xander regret his thoughts of getting away, but he shook his head, putting that thought aside for now, and began searching for information. Specifically, regarding the ruins that they were headed to. All while Gerome continued to focus on the distance. His eyes flickered back and forth for a while, ensuring that nothing got too close without his foreknowledge.

  “Quantity or quality?” Xander muttered while he maintained his gaze on the screen in his hands.

  The was a slight jostling of the inside of the truck's cabin as the vehicle moved. All while Gerome quietly snorted in amusement, but attention didn’t waver.

  “You seem so clueless about some things, then so knowledgeable about others. The discrepancies in your abilities are truly astounding.” Gerome fell silent, and Xander didn’t bother trying to push. “How did you know that something was coming? I thought I played off the angry and impatient act rather well.”

  Memories of another elderly gentleman passed through Xander’s mind. His father-in-law, the only father figure he had, though one he met much later in life, acted very similarly to Gerome.

  “The Sage Family Patriarch I served was very similar to you. He loved his discoveries, but he hated wasting time and resources. Including the lives of those that served him.” Scenes of both himself, and his superiors, being reamed out for bad calls, and pushing the newer recruits too hard were vivid in his mind. In some cases, it was necessary, but not when the threat of total loss was high. “He also tended to act like he was angry, when he was mostly concerned.”

  Gerome let out a quiet sigh, but didn’t say anything.

  “I won’t be telling anyone. Just in case you were concerned. Given your position as the leader, and the one with the most knowledge of the surroundings and overall situation, it’s not like I could make a better call than you at the moment anyways.” Xander stopped his scrolling through the information in the tablet; something that Gerome took note of.

  “What did you find?” He seemingly put what Xander said aside. “Do you know something about these ruins?”

  Xander wanted to say no, given that he distinctly did not remember anything about these things, given how long he’d been asleep. The nagging feeling in the back of his head stopped him.

  It was like the information he had gleaned in his dreams. He knew it, but not how he knew or, or from where the information came from.

  “Erk!” His hand snapped up to his forehead. The iconography on the door frame flashed through his brain like a bolt of lightning.

  Blueprints and floor plans flashed through his mind. Architectural layouts that filled his brain to the brim burned through his thoughts.

  See! I told you that a series of alternating pathways, when incorporating these specific defensive mechanisms, was exactly what we needed in order to incorporate the fail-safe exits!

  A young man’s voice filled his ears. The slight crack that could be heard when he spoke indicated the onset of puberty, yet the concepts that he was talking about meant that the boy was certainly a genius.

  “Xander! Did you find something?” Gerome’s much deeper tone pulled Xander back into the present. The warmth in his head began to cool as his healing instinctively kicked in. “You’re bleeding.”

  Gerome handed him a handkerchief, with which Xander wiped off the blood running down his nose. “Thank you… Gerome… I think I can get us to the ruins much faster than before, but that won’t get us out of harm's way. It’ll just change the dangers we’ll face to man-made ones, rather than natural forces.”

  “Will we be able to get there within twelve hours while fighting against a multiple thousand strong swarm of carnivorous insects?” Gerome’s bland tone nearly made Xander think he was being sarcastic, but he immediately paled when Gerome’s expression didn’t change.

  “Yes. But we’ll have to split up to do so.” The exact methods used to activate the various fail safes incorporated into what Xander knew this ruin was based on meant that there were a couple of steps that needed to be taken to get in.

  If they wanted to enter any of the non-primary entrances.

  Waving his hand, a much larger screen folded out of the console of the truck. With a flicker of light, the heavy-duty monitor showed a map of the surrounding areas. Though it wasn’t a satellite feed, it was still utterly clear, and more accurate than Xander had been expecting.

  “Show me your plan. Quickly!” Gerome had stopped looking into the distance and was now utterly focused on whatever it was that Xander had to say.

  With a nervous gulp, Xander began pointing out locations he knew were important, and explained how the specific method for this Sage Empire facility had fail-safes that would grant access if at least two specific actions were done at once.

  Stolen story; please report.

  From there, he and Gerome worked out a plan of action to split their forces to reach the two closest locations that were accessible for them.

  It would still take multiple hours for them to get there, and that was if there were no delays.

  So Xander could only pray that they weren’t delayed too badly. Especially if Gerome’s concerns regarding their time frame were correct.

  —————

  The past few days had been quite the slog for Gerome. He felt his joints creak from wears and tears, as well as a bone deep exhaustion that hadn’t faded since the first night when they had been attacked.

  I thought I left this shit behind when I left the army. Why am I here again? His thoughts wandered back to the man who had given them advice that might just save their lives. Ah, yes. My curiosity and desire to seek the origins of all life. That boy better get us into that ruin. If not, I will not be happy.

  A spray of acid from between a set of snapping mandibles forced him to lean to the side. His attention was brought back to the battle at hand, even as he internally cursed his moment of fatigue, which induced distraction.

  Gunfire blared as the soldiers of the Malicent Kingdom fought off a swarm of mutant beasts in a running battle. It had barely been twelve hours before they had been attacked once more by another pack. Though, the word ‘horde’ was a more accurate description of the sheer numbers.

  Whereas before they had been forced to fight a few dozens, maybe a hundred, lesser beasts and creatures, now there were thousands. So many that the ground was carpeted by them, and they stretched across the horizon.

  As it was, nearly a dozen Rank 0 soldiers had lost their lives. None that were marked as potential Rank 1s, but it was a demoralizing number, nonetheless.

  “Professor! There’s a cliff to our front. Open chasm, most likely!” The call from one of the navigators that was leading the convoy reached his ears, even as he continued to swipe his hands through the air. Insectoid mutant beasts fell with every swing.

  “Deploy mines and barricades! Get us to that chasm. We need to hold them off there.” Gerome spared a moment to examine their destination.

  He couldn’t be certain until he was right at the edge, but the signs that Xander had told him to watch out for were right there. Now he just needed to find the entrance.

  “Mines out!” The warning call made the stragglers pull forward as the heavy transport dropped the last of their explosives. Jury-rigged mines and grenades blew up seconds later, right in the middle of the closest portions of the swarm.

  Poisonous looking green flames began to spread as the chemical payload was spread far and wide. The endless expanse of insects was halted, momentarily, as a wall of fire locked the convoy in place at the edge of the chasm.

  There were still numerous flying beasts that attacked, but the number was such that it wasn’t an issue. Though the few guns and other incendiary weapons were relegated to the more numerous ground-based enemies.

  Gerome ignored all this, instead he focused all his senses downward while he looked deep into the chasm. An intricate pattern of stone and metal, that would’ve been impossible for any, but the most sensitive observants, was something he could just barely make out.

  The key points were there, however, and a wicked grin spread across his face. Without a moment’s hesitation, he whipped his arm forward. Daggers sparking with electricity flashed forward, digging into several nodes that lit up with a dull gray light.

  “That’s that.” He uttered with certainty and satisfaction as the tightness in his chest loosened, just a little bit.

  “Professor, what do we do now?” One of the squad captains asked. He was in the middle of a fight with a large bug that looked like a more spiked ladybug.

  Gerome pushed down a sigh before turning around and idly cutting down a much weaker bug from the air.

  “Now, we wait and pray that our newly discovered golden goose can lay an egg before we die.”

  Grim expressions were on everyone’s faces but given the fact that they were still multiple hours out from their original destination, they all knew that being alive right now, with a chance of getting to safety, was better than the 0% chance they had of getting past this swarm.

  “I’ll need to make note of this. Lady Elyria will need to be made aware that there is a brood-mother in her territory. Likely due to those pointy eared bastards.” Though his words were barely a whisper, most of the soldiers seemed to hear him, if their tensing up was any indication.

  Nothing more was said from that point on, however, since there were more pressing matters to be concerned with.

  —————

  The forest was eerily quiet, and Xander couldn’t help looking over his shoulder at the two squads that had been sent with him to unlock the second mechanism that would allow the subsidiary access gates to open.

  “This way. It should be just a kilometer or so ahead of here.” The map he was using was far less accurate than the heavy duty monitor that was used in the transport vehicle. But it was still good enough that the basic positioning skills his navigator had were enough to tall him where they were.

  Tami, being the head of the squad he was unofficially a part of, nodded her head and moved forward with Eval. They momentarily disappeared, only to reappear a few moments later.

  Both nodded, confirming that the area ahead was clear.

  Heida was less confident than the rest, however, and spoke about some concerns that Xander also had, but didn’t bring up due to his lack of seniority with this group.

  “It’s too quiet,” the medic whispered, “and I think that means that something strong is here. Something that might be able to challenge the swarm that Gerome and the others are distracting.”

  Tami nodded, “Yeah, that’s why we need to move fast. Odds are that there’s a Rank 2 mutant beast in the area. One that doesn’t have a pack but still managed to stake out a territory for itself.”

  Xander didn’t know what that meant, but he saw the other soldiers and one scholar attached to the other squad shudder at the thought.

  “That means that it would be readying for its third evolution, wouldn’t it?”

  Xander didn’t know the name of the one who asked that, but the slow nod from Tami and the other squad leader was enough for him to know that this was serious.

  “Yes, but right now, there’s nowhere else that we can go. By now, the others are already at their location, and will be overrun sooner, rather than later.” The short woman’s pessimistic words were, unfortunately, true. “Nor will any of us be able to get back to the main camp with how few and weak we are. Getting access to that Ruin is our only chance right now.”

  The group continued to march in silence, before finally coming to the entrance of a cave. One that looked totally normal, with no indicators of artificial constructs.

  An image of several familiar faces that Xander couldn’t remember the names of flashed through his mind.

  This was it. Now they just had to get to the entrance and activate the control nodes.

  “Hold up!” Tami, Eval, the twins, and several of the other team’s soldiers stopped. They all flicked their heads back and forth, sniffing the air with a panicked intensity.

  “It’s here. The entrance is in its fucking den!” The other team leader exclaimed with a growl of rage and frustration. Xander got the distinct feeling that the man wasn’t happy with the situation.

  “Calm down. That just means we’ll need to be careful, and make sure—“

  Tami was cut off before she finished. The low rumbling of a large animal growling at them made them all fall silent.

  However, the terrifying thing wasn’t that it was coming from inside the cave.

  It was coming from a tree not too far behind them.

  ”Run!”

  Xander didn’t know who said it, just that the first thing he did was dive to the ground, and roll into the cave, even as the others ran at a far faster speed than he did.

  All the while, one unfortunate soldier from the other team seemed to have grabbed the unknown mutant beast’s attention, and his pained screams as he was ripped apart made Xander leap back to his feet and move all the faster.

  Now, trapped inside a pitch-black cave, on his own, with his team well beyond him, he could only pray that he managed to find the hidden entrance and meet back up with the others before he got hunted down in turn.