When Aedric regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was a dark-skinned yet strikingly beautiful face.
Alexa Woods — the heroine of Alien vs. Predator 1, the only human survivor of the entire film, and this world's "main character" whom Aedric was to replace through the system's transaction.
Though she had escaped alive in the movie, when Alexa later learned that one unhatched Alien she'd overlooked caused a whole town to be nuked, the guilt-ridden rescue specialist willingly made a deal with the system.
She offered up her protagonist's halo in exchange for one condition: "Don't let a single Alien reach the surface."
What a great woman.
Aedric had already helped three protagonists fulfill their destinies, but Alexa Woods was the first who truly acted out of selfless compassion — sacrificing her own greatest advantage for the sake of people she didn't even know.
A genuinely good person, almost saintlike.
Americans might be beasts in reality, Aedric mused, but in their movies they sure know how to create righteous, kindhearted heroes. Noble to the point of absurdity.
Well then, so be it. Good people deserve good outcomes.
Alexa's wish was absolute: no Alien could reach the surface.
That meant none — not a single drone, queen, facehugger, or unhatched embryo. If even one made it up top, the mission would fail. Every last one had to die in the pyramid.
And considering there would also be three young Predators conducting their coming-of-age trials, even Aedric felt a touch of pressure.
Just a little.
The true pressure came not from the pyramid below but from the Predator warship hovering above. Who knew what it would do if he disrupted their ritual?
Aedric remembered vividly the ship's plasma cannon that, in the film, had blasted clean through 2,000 feet of ice in an instant. Just thinking about that weapon made his scalp tingle.
He couldn't handle that level of firepower. Even a glancing hit would turn him into ash.
So yes — he'd do what needed to be done, but absolutely without provoking the Predators in orbit. Otherwise, forget the mission — he'd be the first to "ascend" right there on the spot.
"What's wrong, Sebastian?" Alexa asked from the driver's seat of the snowcat, noticing how quiet he'd gone. "You look lost in thought."
Indeed, the role Aedric had taken over was none other than Professor Sebastian, the archaeologist who'd looked like the male lead but ended up dead before the credits.
At her question, Aedric glanced toward the massive full moon outside and said, as if reminiscing, "When I was little, back in Italy, do you know what people called a moon this big?"
Before Alexa could answer, he continued softly, "The Blood Moon."
"Blood Moon?" she echoed curiously. "What does that mean?"
"It's the Hunter's Moon," he explained, his tone calm. "The first full moon after the Harvest Moon."
In the movie, that line had sparked laughter between them.
But this time, Aedric's expression was cold, distant — enough to make the sharp-minded Alexa feel a flicker of unease.
Before she could question him further, he suddenly smiled, shaking his head. "Don't worry, Alexa. We'll make it out alive. You're the best, after all."
Yes — and it was thanks to her willingly sacrificing her protagonist halo that so many lives could be spared this time.
Just… probably not everyone here.
Aedric couldn't interfere with the Predator coming-of-age ritual. If he stopped it, the warship might obliterate everything.
Alexa tried to shake off her unease, reminding herself of her duty: to keep everyone safe. There was no time to indulge in baseless fears — she had to focus.
Watching her composed face, Aedric silently admired Alexa's uncanny intuition. That kind of sensitivity was a gift, not something that could be trained.
He recalled how, in the movie's climax, when only she remained alive, she'd faced a towering Predator ready to strike — and had the courage to throw its shoulder cannon back to it, then side with it to kill an Alien in the heat of battle.
She had gambled — and won.
Impressed by her bravery and her act of returning the weapon, the Predator had marked her with the warrior's insignia and presented her with a ceremonial spear.
In the film, that was classic protagonist's luck. In reality, it was pure instinct — that extraordinary sixth sense that kept her alive.
As their team pressed onward through the icy wilderness, they soon reached the abandoned whaling station exactly as in the film.
When they arrived at the gaping tunnel the Predators' ship had bored straight through the ice, Aedric raised an eyebrow. "Predator technology really is terrifying," he thought. "They cut through the ice layers with millimeter precision without disturbing the surface at all. The power behind that cannon… who knows how strong it truly is."
The rest of the team stared at the newly appeared shaft in disbelief, but under orders from the dying billionaire Charles Weyland, they had no choice but to press on — setting up cables and preparing to descend.
During the descent, just like in the movie, Weyland slipped — but this time, it wasn't Alexa who caught him. It was Aedric, who had anticipated it.
Not out of kindness — he just didn't want any accidents disrupting the timeline. Who knew if Alexa would have made it in time otherwise? He wasn't about to risk it.
Reaching the base, Aedric couldn't help but marvel at the grandeur of the ancient alien pyramid. Even after seeing the film, the sheer scale of it in reality left him awestruck.
From that point, everything followed the movie almost exactly. Aedric kept his head down, playing his part, not daring to deviate too far.
The Predators had crossed galaxies to perform this rite of passage. If he ruined it prematurely, who knew what that orbital warship would do?
As for escaping? Please. His spatial movement spells couldn't even breach a planet's atmosphere — they'd never outrun an interstellar ship.
So when it came time to leave the assistants and mercenaries behind in the sacrificial chamber — their certain death — Aedric simply turned and walked away in silence.
He wasn't Alexa Woods, a saint willing to risk her life for others.
"So long, everyone," he murmured inwardly.
Later, when the team split into two groups, Charles Weyland led most of them to the weapon vault below.
Inside the chamber containing the Predator shoulder cannons, Aedric discreetly pulled something from his storage space and pressed a button. Then, following the film's sequence, he approached the stone cabinet — and timed it perfectly to twist open a vial of knockout gas.
When the three dials aligned and the cabinet opened, revealing the weapons, everyone instinctively stepped forward—
Only to collapse one by one, unconscious before they could even react.
~~--------------------------
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