Chat and History

A great sense of accomplishment overcame the Vessel after they said their first few words, rather proud that they had picked up the skill so easily.

“Wanderer, that is a unique name, what manner of Spirit do you harbour, who is your maker.”

The Golem hesitated a little at the mention of two sore points in a single sentence, none the less they were unwilling to hide anything and jeopardise the first interaction they had ever had with another of their kind.

They didn't know when they would get this chance again.

After a moment of fiddling with their magic, they answered as best as they could.

“Spirit is exploration, I have no parent.”

Their answer was crude, polluted by other thoughts and incomplete intentions, none the less it got the message across.

“You are truly unique, in all memories there is no mention of a Golem being possessed by a Spirit as weak as one of exploration. And how is it you claim that you have no creator, and yet you stand here before me, your form similarly unlike that of any other.”

“I don't know, woke in a cave far from here, alone.” Wanderer replied.

Before the librarian could ask another question, the Vessel cut in and asked one of their own.

“Who are you, what is this place.”

The immobile Golem shifted backwards slightly, apparently a little taken back by the question, though for what reason the Vessel could not work out.

“You must forgive me, it has been a long time since I have met another person, and in my excitement I have forgotten to introduce myself.”

“I was named Ka-cketika, but doubtless that language is unfamiliar to you now, it has been a long, long time since it was spoken.”

“This place is Tesh-kartik-la, it was planned to be the largest repository of information and knowledge anywhere in the world, built under its greatest city but it was never finished.”

Curiosity overtook Wanderer in an instant, and their mind leapt to a thousand questions that they could ask, troubles far away in the face of discovery.

Yet, their Spirit, who had been in a dormant state since the argument, sensed that something was happening, making their presence known once again.

In that moment, their Spirit embodied all that Wanderer didn't want to see or think about, they wanted to ignore the tensions between them and focus on the present, forget the betrayal and move past as they always did.

Yet their mind simply couldn't let the issue with someone so important to them go, no matter how hard they tried, even in the face of discovery as great as that provided by Ka-cketika.

It irritated them to the very core, like a wound to their very soul they could not mend over.

In that moment, just as they opened their soul to ask a question to the librarian once again, Wanderer snapped with a burning rage only one as confused as they could produce, and screamed into the space next to their soul, just as the Spirit began to speak some fake apology.

“I don't want to listen to you, I don't want to see you, all you have ever wanted was to use me for your own power! Get out!”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The Vessel physically felt the speed at which their Spirit snapped back their message, in shock from the unexpected aggression.

A stab of guilt flowed through Wanderer and threatened to break through their anger and force them to apologise, but rage was a powerful emotion, and the counter-effort failed.

It took them a little while to calm down and get a hold on their emotions, trying their best to take their mind away from the issue.

Quite unexpectedly however, they were forced to confront it once again, as the librarian addressed them.

“It is not healthy for a Golem to harbour anger for their Spirit, they are as much a part of you as you are yourself.” they stated.

Wanderer grew angry once again, what right had this person, who they had known for only a tiny fraction of their life, to intervene in their relationship with their longest friend.

They did not speak, instead opting to remain silent and stew on their emotions.

Another silent moment passed before Ka-cketika rose their ethereal voice again, as steady as it always was, reaching out with an offering.

“Would you like to hear the story of how the first Golem was created?” They asked.

Wanderer, in truth, didn't want to stay around any longer, but try as they might they could not convince themselves to leave such a great opportunity behind.

The Vessel sent a simple word of affirmation, and the librarian began their story.

“Long ago, before I was created, the desert above us was a place of life and flora. everywhere you looked grass and cacti grew out of fertile sand, fed by the nutrients of a long dormant volcano.”

“The centre of all life in this place was an oasis so massive it would take a day to travel across, filled with water that was always cool, even in the desert sun.”

“From this pool, all manner of life sprung, from tiny lizards that numbered in the hundreds of thousands, to massive crab-like creatures that would pluck palm trees from the earth and eat them whole.”

“Living beings of all shapes and sizes, from the skies above to caves below, were so common and strong in their life that a God came to the desert, a God of life, Rarkeh-shh.”

A little bolt of trepidation ran through Wanderer at the name of the God, to think that once there was another being of equal power to Orsha that inhabited the same world, let alone the same desert, was unimaginable.

“Under the domain of Rarkeh-shh, life flourished and abounded even more, such that you could not look within a single direction without seeing at least ten things that lived and breathed.”

“But most of all, more than any other creature, humans grew in number and carved out cities under the sand, creating a great empire to which no other nation could match, with an army more trained and numerous than any other place in the world.”

“But Rarkeh-shh was not content with the power they had been gained, for they had no loyal servants of their own, humans far too fickle and short lived to ever serve them.”

“And so, they gathered all the greatest magicians and craftsmen, and all the wisest and most loyal spirits, and together they formed a new being, the very first Golem.”

“The Golem was intended to be nothing more than a vessel for a Spirit, a way for them to interact with the physical world. Yet it was quickly found that Spirits were incapable of piloting them, completely unused to moving in a world of strict rules and weak ideas, and so a simple mind was imputed into the shell of a Golem, a soul, with the intention that it would be able to think just enough to follow the will of a Spirit and nothing more.”

At the confirmation of Wanderer’s suspicions, a final lump of acceptance settled in their soul, their Spirit had always intended to use them, it was the very purpose of a Golem, after all.

“At first, everything seemed to be working perfectly, the Vessels were controllable by a single Spirit, and Rarkeh-shh had accomplished what they had wanted, an easy way for the Spirits loyal to them to reach into the physical world and serve their master’s domain.”

“Yet one by one, reports of unusual happenings appeared, seeming malfunctions in the Golems produced, that only became more and more common as the truth revealed itself.”

“The simple mind placed within a Golem did not stay unintelligent and static as it was intended to do, instead, as it grew fat upon the magic it absorbed from its Spirit and the world around it, and as it gained experience in the ways of the physical realm, they became intelligent, full minds capable of deciding their own bidding.”

“At first, the Spirits tried to oppress their Golems, force their rebellion down and make them do their master’s bidding. But it would not work, the mind of a Golem was magical and untiring, and the Spirits they housed had no true control over them, any attempt at coercion was met with relentless resistance, and ultimately failure.”

“Enraged with the failure of their creations, Rarkeh-shh insisted that all Golems were to be abandoned and left to fade to dust, erasing all evidence of the gods mistake.”

“But despite the direct orders of their master, not every Spirit obeyed.”