As Lidia got closer to the opening, a beautiful sight was revealed to them. It was a massive statue of an armored person with a large broadsword. It seemed to be wearing a visored helmet and had a long cape to fit its appearance. It held its pose in a kneeling position, using the sword to rest its arms on. It seemed to be a statue of a woman, judging by the way the armor was shaped around its proportions. There were also long strands of hair falling out of the back of the helmet on to its shoulders. Surrounding the statue was an incredible field of golden flowers, freshly taken bloom. The opening seemed to be strangely circular. In the small field, there were three marble structures erected close to where the statue was located. All of them were in pristine condition as if rain itself never eroded its surface away. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"What is this place?"

"It’s absolutely breathtaking. It seems to be in perfect condition, as if there is a weird barrier protecting it from the growth of the forest."

"Is it just me, or is it strangely quiet around here? This place just seems so... peaceful."

A small breeze carried itself around them, allowing the sweet floral aroma to fill all their nostrils. Maria smiled and looked across the field with excitement.

"Look at how beautiful all these flowers are! I want to roll around in them!"

Doc admired the statue.

"Look at how well that statue is made. There isn’t so much as a crack on its surface. Whoever made it must’ve been an expert in craftsmanship."

Lidia looked closer at the statue and the small structures next to it.

"It looks like there’s something written on the structures. I’m going to see what it says."

The moment Lidia set half of her foot inside the circle, Slimo’s eyes widened and quickly yanked her back by the collar of her shirt.

"Lidia, get back!"

In the blink of an eye, the pointy end of a massive stone broadsword stopped centimeters in front of Lidia’s right eye. Wind was sent flowing around them from the momentum of the attack. Standing in front of Lidia was the massive statue. A green light was shimmering underneath its visor, looking down with contempt. After studying where it had stopped its attack, it seemed like the massive stone statue was confined within the small circle of flowers. Realizing that there was no threat in its space, it put its sword down, gently marched back over the flowers, and took its place back on its stone pedestal. Everyone around Lidia looked at the statue in shock. Jacob started sweating profusely. He felt the statues killing intent as clear as day seeing it lunge at Lidia and stare her down.

"What the hell is that thing?! It almost just killed Miss Lidia in an instant!"

Slimo fell to his knees, unable to speak.

"What is one doing here? In the middle of the forest?"

Lidia bent down and met Slimo’s fearful gaze. Her heart was still beating out of her chest from the altercation.

"You saved me. Thank you. Do you know what that thing is?"

Slimo cleared his throat before responding.

"It’s a guardian. As for how experienced it is, there’s no way for me to know. What the hell has my life become? First a leviathan, and now a guardian?!"

Doc walked over to Slimo and tried to help Lidia comfort him.

"Why did it stop its attack? It could have easily killed all of us just now."

"Guardians are normally confined to spaces under certain conditions. However, that line seems to blur the more powerful they get. To be honest, it’s possible this one only didn’t kill us out of choice."

"Out of choice? These things have minds?"

"There’s no way for us to tell how intelligent they really are. That’s what makes them so terrifying."

"Who the hell could have put this thing here? Or did it make this place its home?"

"I’m not sure, but if one is being placed here, it must be guarding something extremely important. As for who put it here, that’s something that bothers me more than one of these things existing. Who the hell is powerful enough to create guardians?! Even the Emperor of Paria himself doesn’t have such a power in his hands!"

Lidia kept rubbing Slimo’s back, calming him down.

"It’s okay. There’s no guarantee that someone made it. Maybe it just really liked this spot while it was travelling and decided to make it its home."

"It’s possible, but unlikely. I remember how you said you saw some text written on the structures. I believe that’s the treasure its guarding."

Squabee seemed to finally find her voice to speak after witnessing the horrifying entity.

"What kind of treasure would be worth using a guardian to guard?! Besides, it’s just a bunch of stones with writing on them! The knowledge can’t be that important!"

"Sometimes knowledge is much more dangerous or powerful than any treasure."

Maria looked at Jacob horrified. Jacob seemed to have the same thought as she was having. The helmet that the statue was wearing looked eerily similar to the very same helmet Jacob left back in the Iron Kingdom. If this guardian was created or sculpted to model a person with the same helmet, what kind of history did Iron Kingdom have for Jacob to end up with such a relic? The thought was terrifying to him.

’Forget about being ignorant to the knowledge of the world, just how much do we not know about our own kingdom?! Is this something my own dad didn’t know about?’

Slimo slowly stood up and rubbed his head.

"Let’s all move on and forget we ever saw this place. Let another unlucky bastard get killed from their curiosity."

The group slowly started making their way around, trying their best not to accidently step inside of the sacred circle. As Jacob studied the statue, he couldn’t help but connect with it somehow. This creature, this thing was created to guard something for eternity. He wondered if it was intelligent enough to know what it was doing, and if it was, he wondered why it still chose to guard such a peaceful place. It took him a moment before he realized that he saw himself in the statue because he would want to protect his world of peace someday too, no matter how large or small it may be.

The group continued their journey through the woods, until Squabee finally stopped them to study a strange symbol glowing on the trunk of a tree.