My companions have already set to taking pictures of the building by the time I get up. I grumble to myself as my stomach grumbles in unison. I'm already out of food; the only thing left is some jerky I already consumed as soon as I awoke.

"You will get used to it," Hearon comments after seeing my sorry state. I say nothing, and I take a swig of water. "What's the plan for today?"

Azu snaps a pic of the beds at various angles with her glass, "We will try to get to the next platform. Unless we find some munitions there, that will be the end of this excursion."

A sigh of relief escapes my lips. I've been on edge the entire trip, and these ruins have frayed my nerves to the edge. A bang causes me to flinch, and I look over the banister to the first floor. Zack was banging weapons together, a good number of them already shattered on the floor around him. He clicks his tongue in annoyance as another set shatters.

"These things suck," He exclaims, waving them in my direction. I roll my eyes and glance over at Hearon, who is posted at the door. I still can't place what he does for the group. The other two have clearly defied jobs, but he seems content to be dragged along.

Azu hops over the banister, landing on the 1st floor silently, "We need to move. Staying here much longer could spell trouble." We gather our things and leave, Zack still grumbling about the fragility of the weapons.

The rest of the day was spent poking around. This place was completely different from the civilian sector. Each building was filled with tools and weapons. Every now and then, we'd find a stone giant lying incomplete, but the lines weren't glowing. The tree this platform was on was completely untouched, and there was a distinct lack of stylized engravings. This was a production sector or something along those lines. Maybe also a military outpost?

By the time it starts to get dark, we move to the next platform. The bridge to this one was different from the others. At the end were two complete giants, their bodies sculpted with muscles and their faces unnaturally handsome. They wore white robes and sandals with a stone spear in one hand. The lines carved into their bodies glowed with a light green color. The bridge itself was made completely out of white stone. Not the ivory-like material everything else is made out of. No, it's actually stone, just like the golems. The ivory posts still decorate the sides for light, however.

Zack tiptoes towards one of the golems, tapping it with his spear. It doesn't move. "Huh." He comments.

Hearon rubs his beard as we stare at the stone creatures, "These do not seem hostile. There must be a switch that activates them." I edge around one, but it doesn't react. I guess we're in the clear for now. I look at the new platform, this one, unlike anything we've come across before.

There were gardens. Hundreds of them. Stone pathways cut through the different colored flowers, acting as borders to the plants. Golems were posted near each one, and grand water fountains and statues were centered in the circular gardens. These statues varied from deer-like creatures to dragons, the details so complex they looked real. In the distance, a wall made of stone is visible, circling the tree this platform is held by.

As we walk along the pathways, the sun sets, and the garden comes alive, the flowers glowing slightly, but the statues provide the most light. The pillar of light ignites, bathing everything in its strangely warm glow.

Azu stops and stares at a water foundation, "Do any of you find it strange that even though there are dozens of statues, there has not been a single humanoid one?"

I nod. It's been bugging me for a while. "Aside from these golems, I haven't seen a single human-like engraving or statue."

"What should we call this stuff?" Zack steps onto the garden, pointing his thumb at the statue, and a grating sound cuts through the silence. The golem beside the water fountain had awoken and pointed its spear at Zack. He tosses his hands up and steps back onto the pathway. A few tense seconds go by before the giant resumes its resting position.

"Great job, Zack." Azu rolls her eyes and continues our trek through the garden to the wall, though now that we're close, it's clear it is some kind of building surrounding the tree. Every thirty feet or so, there's a smaller square building sticking out from the taller structure.

"Lumin ivory," I say to Zack. He scratches his head at my response.

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"Lumin?"

"Yeah. The material is bone, but it looks to be more similar to the ivory teeth of the Bustal Levithians. And it glows, so bioluminesence. The lumin comes from it. Lumin ivory."

Hearon nods as I finish my explanation, "I like that. Short and simple, with the main parts of the words being included. Just how divers like it." Zack shrugs but doesn't reply. Our trek through the glowing gardens continued without any hiccups, and we arrive at the building. It's completely smooth, with not a single crevice or crack to be found. The only things to break the smooth wall are a door made of metal and a smaller box-shaped building.

Two golems flank the double doors. The door itself is smooth and a few feet taller than the stone giants. Inscribed into the door is a single word of a language I'm not familiar with. On the other side of the farthest golem is a smaller square building. Zack and Hearon move to the smaller while I stick with Azu. "you familiar with that?" I nod to the word on the door.

She nods, "It is Runic. But Runic does not have a direct translation to English, so I am not sure what it says. I will need some time to decipher it." Azu drops her pack and sits. I guess this will take some time. Let's see what Zack is up to. I peek into the building to find the other two pigging out on food.

"What is this?" I exclaim. The inside of the building has a dozen or so boxes the size of a small bed, and dried meat hangs from the ceiling.

Zack tries to speak, but his mouth is full, so Hearon speaks for him, "This is a food storage room. These meats are already cured, and we found fruits in these ice boxes." I peek into one of them, and glistening yellow fruit shaped like a lightbulb fills the container. My stomach growls, and I realize just how hungry I am. Without another word, I grab a few of the fruits and some meat. It does occur to me that maybe eating this food of an unknown origin might not be the greatest idea, but I'm so hungry caution is tossed to the wind.

Zack lets out a mighty burp as all three of us lay on the floor, so full it hurts to move. Azu pops her head in, and her jaw drops, "What the fuck?" My eyebrows raise. That might be the first time I've seen her cuss.

Zack waves at her, "Hey, babe. We found some food."

She rubs her forehead, "I can not believe this. Did it not seem even a little suspicious that there is food in a ten-thousand-year-old ruin."

Zack nods, "I did think it was a little weird." He burps again. Azus's eye twitches slightly as she glares at me and Hearon. Hearon shrugs.

"At least we know it's safe to eat," I say. She sighs and grabs some of the food, inspecting it as she sits cross-legged on the floor. She takes a tentative nibble, but upon tasting it, swiftly wolfs down the dried meat and a lightbulb fruit.

"I do wonder how this is possible," Hearon comments between sips of water.

"I think I've figured it out," Zack replies. I look at him, surprised. I didn't think Zack was capable of a higher thought process. He notices my surprise and scoffs, "Don't look at me like that. I might not act it, but I'm just as smart as Az."

The other two nods, "He might act aloof, but he is just as capable as Azu in terms of exploration," Hearon says. We turn our attention to him, and he stands, stretching his back.

"When I first saw the beam, I felt something was off. Farires can distort space, sure, but the ability to completely alter a select area? That's something usually out of their power range. But what if it's not the fairies doing?"

He opens one of the ice boxes, pulls out a fruit, and cuts it open, "This fruit is fresh. Only a few days old at best. That shouldn't be possible. I think this place is frozen in time."

Frozen in time? Is something like that even possible? I interject before he continues, "But didn't you say that fairies can conjure illusions? If it was strong enough, surely we would be able to interact with the place."

He nods, "You're right, but eating this fruit has made it clear that's not the case. If it was an illusion, we wouldn't be full. Besides, the amount of detail in this place would be impossible to recreate with an illusion. If I had to guess, the artifact has caused this time pocket, freezing everything in time."

Hearon taps the ground to get our attention, "That does not explain the lack of furniture in the civilian platforms. It is evident there should have been something there."

"That could be because of the Apex. It is possible that it removed the furniture and anything that could have resembled something human-made. It has been documented in the past that Apex Shells resent anything human-made. It would also explain why these two platforms are untouched." Azu replies.

She motions at a golem not too far away, "Fairies are a psychedelic force. These walking rocks do not have the capacity to think and are physically powerful. They also seem to be guarding this place from damage, so the Apex would not have the strength to destroy the two platforms."

That would make sense. All of this makes sense, but something feels off. I can't explain it, but something is wrong, different. I speak up. "You guys said that this place used to exist outside that barrier that traps us here, right?"

They look at me, their gazes unreadable, "What if we're the ones stuck in a time bubble? Maybe the world outside the bubble moves at a much slower pace?"

Azu shakes her head, "I like where your head is at, but that was disproven thousands of years ago. We have come across ruins that have been uncovered with the same erosion rate as the ruins in the barrier."

"So it's the artifact then?"

"Most likely," Zack says. Man, if the artifact can completely stop time...I shudder thinking about what would happen if that knowledge became known to the public. People would go to war for it.

Silence fills the air as the other three go deep into thought. I don't even know how to process something like this. I'm relatively new to this; how am I supposed to react?