BabaVader
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Chapter 155 Not Alone
🕑 Added 2022-01-31 22:33:46 +0000 UTCAuthor's note:
Hey all!
Pretty late today. The reason is simple: Pokemon. I play too much. The game is so much fun.
This chapter is something I'm not entirely sure about. Tell me what you think. Does it work? I feel it makes sense with some of the stuff I have planned but maybe it's a bit out of the blue...
That's it for now, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Cheers!
Edit: Rewrote the last 400 words or so. Everything after the question "Why me?"
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My focus returned to the mountains below. I observed the goblins’ escape while staying as high as possible to avoid getting spotted by the orks moving back into their camp. There was some clamouring going on there but I could not tell what exactly.
The originally 24 goblins had been reduced to 17 in the fight. Two of them were injured quite badly with large cuts spewing blood. They had some time still but I was not sure if they would make it. There was a cave a little down on the other side of the mountain. At their current speed, it would take maybe ten minutes to get there.
I looked for the golem. She was half the size of a goblin but was slowly catching up to the injured. The purple of her thaumium was easily visible on the rocks. I noticed she was slowing down, though. She was probably lacking energy with the connection to her creator cut. The advanced mind held a soul which could provide a little vis but it was usually limited enough to prevent full autonomy and thus, rebellion. She maybe had three hours moving or half a day standing still before going dormant. Thought I wondered if the senses could still be supplied without forcing the whole body to move. It was a good thing I had done some reading on the constructs. I could find a way to help her before any problems arose.
Soon, the group reached the cave. I had found it while scouting the area and told the goblins to congregate there after the fight. They should tend to their wounds and move on as soon as possible across the next mountains. There was only a small problem cropping up. The golem had caught up to the goblins and they were now posing in front of each other. It looked like a fight was inevitable.
I decided to intervene and landed just behind the goblins.
“Yeah, show that thing! Get it! Get it!”, they called at me. There were all sorts of hissing and growling involved.
The golem turned around. We took a moment to get a closer look at each other. She had a body made in a standard design. Fully thaumium limbs and body with brass joints. Her feet had been improved with brass and steel spikes to give a better grip when walking. On her right arm was a crossbow mechanism. I saw no arrows but knew the design could conjure bolts of metal using the controller's mana. If she tried that now, she would reduce her remaining runtime by an hour for each one. The head was the most interesting thing. The standard design called for a deceased brain, not necessarily from a sapient. That was good since brains that small were only a thing in a fetus, which was not developed far enough to work properly. It was sealed in an enchanted glass bulb and further reinforced with brass lining crisscrossing it. Then, the creator had made a helmet from thaumium and put it on top for further protection. The only thing left to the mundane observer was the purple metal and two glowing red orbs that sensed the world with malicious intelligence.
I knew there was a soul in there but I knew terribly little about where she came from. For now, I decided to show some decorum and bowed. I was answered in kind. The goblinous cacophony a few feet over was silenced in an instant.
I carefully reached out with the supersensory matrix once more, trying not to scare the golem. She quickly noticed my attempt and pushed back into it, creating a connection in the middle of our souls rather than inside hers.
“Greetings again”, I sent.
“Thank you for saving me”, she replied in the same Ordugh, “but what comes now?”
“That is something we have to figure out together. Let me calm down the goblins first, though.”
I found moving the connection to bring some of the ones familiar with it into the fold was far easier the way we had built it. Rather than one separate bind, everyone was connected to the same point. It also felt much better in terms of flux creation.
“Everyone, calm down. The plan hasn’t changed. Tend to the injured and move on. We could have orks on our trail already. Though they seemed occupied with something else for the time being.”
The goblins looked at each other while the golem tilted her head. Apparently, she did not understand their language.
“You’re gonna deal with this thing?”, one of them asked.
I nodded.
“I freed her just like you. I will take responsibility, as far as reasonable.”
With some grumbling, they turned away and scuffled about.
“What were you talking about?”, golem asked.
“I told them to keep going and that you’re not an enemy.”
“Thanks… I guess… I can’t really get a good read on you. How come an owl is this smart?”
“Didn’t you know? Owls are fonts of Wisdom.”
She snickered in my mind.
“They’re usually paired with wisdom, not wise themselves.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like Athena and the owl, or the witch and the owl. They accompany the wise. They aren’t the ones responsible for their prudence.”
For a moment, my heart stopped beating. My perception turned off, all senses ceasing. Only my core’s vis bubbled and boiled. Then, I forced my soul back into my flesh and blood.
“Greek myths, huh? Are you big into history?”
I thought that was a pretty cool response. At the time at least. It managed to short circuit her brain, or her soul, more likely. For at least five minutes we simply stared at each other.
“Where were you from?”, she asked eventually.
“I’m not sure. My memories from before are hazy at best. But I think I was British with Native American roots on my mother’s side.”
“Huh. Yeah. An owl makes sense.”
“What about you?”
“I was a software engineer working with the military. History and myths were more of a hobby.”
“That clear?”
“Yes. Exceedingly and alarmingly so.”
“Wait… Military software engineer? And now you’re a combat golem?”
We both froze once more. The scuffle around us died down as the goblins moved out again. The brothers gave a curt goodbye which broke me out of the stupor. I nodded after them. The connection was still there but we had retreated for our conversation.
“So, we got reincarnated, sort of, into something related to our life?”, the golem asked, eventually.
“Looks like it.”
I felt a deep sigh resonating through our connection.
“I’ll fly up and see if the orks are chasing us. The connection can hold about a kilometre.”
“Good idea.”
I took off and found my thoughts getting back on track as the wind caressed my feathers. I left the golem to her thoughts. She felt like it would take her a little longer to calm down.
The orks were still going wild in their camp. Tents were raised and some were going at each other’s throats. On the other side of the village, I spotted two familiar figures making off into the wild with a large backpack each. They were looping around a little before moving towards our approximate position.
“How’s it looking up there?”, the golem asked.
“Good? The orks are at each other’s throats. No idea what they’re trying to accomplish. I can see two allies making their way around the mess to our direction.”
“Allies?”
“Your creator’s apprentice and his aunt.”
“Don’t let them find me!”
“I’m more of a thaumaturge than him, you know? He just got his Class yesterday, probably. Didn’t have a Thaumonomicon before then.”
There was a pause.
“And you have that Class?”
“No. I just dabble. My Class is [Assassin].”
I felt a sigh of relief coming from her.
“And I don’t think they’re gonna enslave you if I tell them no. They owe me, after all. And the little guy is decent.”
“I still don’t want to get close to him.”
“That’s not gonna matter much, though. You need vis from somewhere or you’ll shut down in a few hours.”
“Better than being a slave.”
“True, but still not a life.”
“And what am I supposed to do about it?”
I landed in front of her and opened my storage. With a thunk, my Thaumonomicon dropped on the gravel.
“We are gonna find a way to make you live. As much as possible. I already have some ideas.”
I felt a silent exclamation of surprise over the connection and responded with my own emotion of confidence.
“This is the first plan. And the emergency one. I can bind to you. I don’t want that. It would bind me to your location, in the broadest sense. But I think you might be able to strengthen your soul to the point of being self-sufficient and I could serve as a stop-gap measure.”
She turned her head, observing me with those glowing red orbs.
“What’s your name?”, she asked.
“I’m called Fio. In this world. Don’t know about before.”
“I’m Alexandra. Alex, for short.”
“Nice to meet you, Alex.”
“Likewise.”
I took a careful look at what I could feel from her soul. It seemed thoroughly warped, almost as bad as my own. She would be able to take any knowledge that Thaumonomicon had.
“Let’s start going through this. How much do you know about golems?”
After that, we spent an hour making sure we were on the same baseline. She shared her senses with me, or rather the images she saw with them. It looked very close to what I experienced during [Eldritch Shift] so I could quite easily understand it. At some point, I had an idea.
“Wait. Do you have a Status?”, I asked.
“Yes.”
“Can I [Identify] you?”
“That… sure? Why not?”
“It’s impolite to do without asking for permission.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
I blinked.
“You have a variation? One that doesn’t get noticed?”
“It’s called [Eldritch Sight: Identify]. It can’t be sensed by anyone with a Status.”
“How does that make sense? You can’t even [Identify] things without a Status?”
“The hell am I supposed to know? That’s what the description says.”
“Unfair”, I moped.
Still, I went ahead and used my own version. Though I prevented the stealth condition from activating.
[Identify]
Species: Thaumium Golem
Age: 0
Name: -
Gender: female
Level: 8
“Wow, you haven’t been around for long, huh?”
“Two months. I’ve been trapped by this asshole for two whole months.”
“Yeah, the perspective is very different”, I mused, “So, with your current activity, I give you three to four hours before you go dormant. Your soul will be trapped until someone resupplies you with vis, enslaving you in the process.”
“Why me?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know why I’m here.”
She shook her head, wiping non-existent tears off her face.
“This will take a lot of getting used to. I can’t even really see things.”
“I can try to help you but first we need to get you self-sufficient. Someone will have to bind to your seal and supply vis.”
There was silence for a long minute. I felt the edges of her mind in turmoil.
“That someone would be able to order me around”, she eventually said.
“Yes.”
“What do you think of slavery?”
I poured all my hate for the concept into the mental connection. The idea of owning someone else and having them do one’s bidding was distasteful enough to make me instinctively take an aggressive position. The golem took a step back. I ceased hissing and carefully calmed my beating heart.
“Something like that”, I sent.
“Would you… help me?”
“Yes. Let’s make you your own person again, Alexandra.”
[Identify]
Species: Thaumium Golem
Age: 0
Name: Alexandra
Gender: female
Level: 8
“Why did you [Identify] me again?”, she asked.
“I wanted to see if the name would stick. Until now, you were the only one calling yourself by it, correct?”
She zoned out for a moment, checking her status.
“This… thank you.”
“So, are you okay with me binding you?”
“I… No. I’m not. But I don’t have a choice right now.”
“Then let’s make you have a choice”, I declared and sent a tendril of darkness to her waist. It touched the seal and with a slight push, our souls were connected. There was a very clear subordination in the bond but it also related only to the tasks the seal specified. Which was combat and guarding. Anything not related to either of those tasks, I could not force Alex to do. Sadly, I had to order her to do something. Golem seals were not made to simply let vis flow through. If I did not give her a task, I could not give her vis.
“Protect yourself!”, I said, both to the seal and through our mental connection. Then, the vis flowed. I pushed mainly metal and earth mana to flow through but everything I had came along in small bits. I felt her body revitalize with all the spent energy refreshing.
“I will”, she sent.
With that, our bond was sealed. Until we found an alternative.
