Canyon and River

The Golem sat on the canyon’s edge as the blue sun revealed its face from behind the volcano, gradually becoming more visible as the great cloud thinned and the dancing lights grew dimmer.

The lightning strikes had all but vanished in the face of the sun, its heralding aurora little more than a mild fog, causing the desert scene that was so wondrous at night to shift and change.

Where before the desert carried an otherworldly beauty, in the day its harsh climate became obvious, the air already starting to ripple from the burning sun.

The black dunes glittered blue under the light of the day, allowing the Golem to see far and wide across the sands.

Where the vibrant colours of the cacti revealed themselves plainly in the night, a more subtle detail of the desert landscape became visible in the light of day, its presence announced by harsh reflections of the sky above.

Once hidden by the lights, all across the desert where lightning had once landed were patches of reflective glass, branching out from a central point.

Some were fresh, likely a result of the night that Wanderer had experienced, while others were slowly breaking down into the sand they were formed of, losing their reflectiveness in the process.

Yet far more interesting than the panes were the small, grey lizards that chose them to be their resting spot.

Across each of the lightning strikes, hundreds of spiny lizards, each no larger than a leaf clamoured over each other to try and absorb the sun, with more of the reptiles digging their way out of the sand with every passing second.

The lizards were not alone, however, nimble, red birds flew out of holes in the mesas that circled the desert, flying down to pick out seeds from the cacti or taking the occasional swoop at a lizard in an attempt to catch a snack.

Wanderer nearly fell into the canyon from shock when a resounding caw echoed from behind them, the vultures they had seen attacking the whales spiralling their way out of the trench behind them.

They ignored Wanderer, finding little interest in a creature with no flesh or blood, before flying off in every direction that the Golem knew.

It was a rather peculiar sight, the wasteland that was just moments ago lifeless and cold now bustled with life.

The Vessel intended to stay and look on for longer, but their aspirations were interrupted by an impatient Emio pulling on their leg, who was eager to enter the canyon and had little care for the local fauna.

Unhappy with being rushed, Wanderer resisted the verdestry’s hassling, deliberately taking a few steps away from the canyon in spite.

Emio bristled in irritation, raising themself up on their tendrils to face the Golem, then forcefully pulling them toward the canyon edge.

It was around this time that the Vessel could vaguely recall hearing their Spirit’s voice in their head, urging them to calm themselves, yet their frustration ran too hot and the guide was ignored.

Anger rising, the Vessel retaliated by grabbing the herbal creature with all four arms and throwing them away from the rocky ledge.

It was as Emio regained their bearings that Wanderer realised their mistake, while the verdestry was lighter and smaller than the Golem, they were also much, much stronger.

In a instant, five tendrils shot out from the leathery body of the monster, wrapping around Wanderer and hoisting them high into the air.

Immediately repentant of starting a fight with their friend, the Vessel attempted to sign their wish for peace to the small creature, yet the signature signs of rage flowed through Emio’s body and they would not listen.

In one swift movement, the verdestry threw Wanderer into the canyon depths, ending the argument.

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The fiery anger in the Golem instantly froze to cold dread as they began their freefall, unable to even look toward their doom due to their momentum.

Flashbacks of their fall from the treetop came to them, yet what they did there to save themself would not work, after all there was no water beneath them.

It was just as their Spirit began to panic that Emio realised their mistake, the emotions visibly cycling through their woven body as they threw themself down the cavern in an attempt to catch their friend.

Flailing as they fell, the Golem hurriedly tried to think of some way out of the situation they had been thrown into.

Emio threw out their tendrils, just short enough as to miss the Vessel.

Far sooner than Wanderer expected, they hit the ground with a dull thud, a cloud of sand flying into the air in response.

Emio landed a moment later, slowing themselves on the canyon walls and immediately rushing over to the prone Golem.

For a long moment, Wanderer lay unmoving, before slowly sitting up.

Seeing their friend alive and well, the verdestry flung their small body into the Golem's lap.

Apparently, the canyon was much shallower than Wanderer had thought.

That combined with the soft sand at its bottom and the Golem’s clay body made the fall a minor threat, leaving little more than a few dented body parts, a problem easily fixed for the Vessel.

Now Emio sat in their lap, making obvious signs of apology, while Wanderer tried to sort out the situation in their mind.

“They threw me over” they processed.

The Vessel felt confused and betrayed by how quickly they had turned against each other when faced with the slightest disagreement.

“I might have died if the cavern had not been so shallow” they knew.

They just didn’t know what to think, nor what to do about the apologising verdestry in their lap.

It was then, like so many times before, that the Golem’s Spirit spoke, sending messages to reconcile with the small creature and to take the event as a lesson.

The conflict still raged inside Wanderer, but their Spirit had seldom led them estray and they trusted in them.

Wanderer proceeded to use two of their hands to pet Emio, showing their forgiveness to eager reception while the other two fixed the injuries caused by the fall.

It was a minor incident, all in all.

After a moment to make sure that the herbal monster had calmed down, Wanderer began to look around the canyon.

The cavern was structured in such a way that it surrounded the raised plateau like a moat, making an extra long climb for those that wished to reach its peak.

The walls of the cavern, which extended fifteen or so steps under the sand, took on a reddish brown tone much closer to something one would expect in a desert, a bed of yellow sand resting at its bottom, only the occasional grain of black marring its uniformity.

The sand formed a bank for the river that flowed through the heart of the canyon, though to call it a river would be misleading, as it was hardly more than a small brook that sat almost stagnant at the fissures bottom, its waters attracted to the lowest place it could find.

Small caves and underhangs peppered the canyon walls, which, judging by the grassy nests and feathers, the vultures had made their home.

After making their forgiveness apparent to Emio, Wanderer placed the verdestry upon their head and began a lap of the cavern, intent on discovering a little more about their surroundings and possibly finding an easy way up to the top of the mesa above.

The Golem slowly made their way across the sandy floor, encountering more of the vulture-inhabited crevices, a few of the grassy nests even containing unhatched eggs that seemed to have been recently laid.

Occasionally, they would encounter a vulture that was either too old or too injured to fly off with the others and had been presumably left behind to protect the eggs.

Surprisingly, in contrast to what Wanderer had seen of the bird’s treatment to other animals, the guardians were quite docile.

Every time the Vessel had encountered one of the flightless vultures, they had done little more than give the Golem a dirty stare.

The only time Wanderer had seen any reaction from the guards was when Emio inspected a bundle of eggs a little too closely, causing a nearby bird to give a loud squawk and try to bite the monster.

Its resistance was short-lived, however, as the verdestry responded by raising itself on its tendrils and intimidating the vulture until it backed down.

After a half of an hour exploring the depths, Wanderer picked up something peculiar at the edge of their hearing, something that sounded like human voices.

Rushing forward while also paying special attention to maintaining stealth, the Golem poked their head around a corner and came across a peculiar sight.

Two, dirty children collecting water in jars.