Loopshard

Adam and Mei continued west through the tunnels, trying to reach the Hispanic guy with the Defender weapon. Although it didn’t seem like she trusted Adam, it was clear that she appreciated them working together to take down the statues. They’d managed to defeat eleven of them before they ran into the guy in one of the large chambers.

He was in the middle of fighting four statues, doing his best to protect himself with his shield, but clearly not able to effectively kill the elementals bearing down on him, since he couldn’t find an opening. Every strike he blocked pushed him back, and Adam knew it was just a matter of seconds before his Stamina ran out and he was chopped to bits.

Adam and Mei came to his rescue, and despite scaring the shit out of the guy, he was quick to thank them.

“You saved my ass there,” he said. “I’m Nicolas by the way.”

“I’m Adam.”

“Mei,” said the Asian woman. It was still the only word Adam had managed to get out of her. She hadn’t even particularly seemed to question the logic that they could all get out of the Altar alive.

“I thought we were meant to fight and kill each other,” Nicolas said. “I’m glad you guys didn’t attack me…”

“We can all get out of this together,” Adam said. It wasn’t exactly a lie, since he knew for sure there had to be a way. It was just more the lack of knowing how that made it feel like a lie when he said it.

But, I would rather instil hope than despair.