One sluggish step at a time, the thing lumbered down the hallway towards us. The circle of doom on its face glowing so bright that there was no more need for torches. At least it was slow - that was the only good news. But the bad news? That thing was massive, like a walking boulder with legs. No way we were just taking it down by throwing rocks and insults at it. It was showtime.

“Alright, listen up-” I started, but Rheka was already charging forward, her hand glowing with that familiar white light.

“No, wait-”

Too late. She shot a water ball - Splash - straight at the golem, and to absolutely no one’s surprise, it did jack squat. The water hit the golem’s chest, and all it did was make it look... mildly damp.

Great. Just what we needed - a slightly soggy stone monster.

"Okay! That didn't work!" Rheka shouted.

Yeah no shit.

It kept on walking, each step shaking the ground. This thing looked like it could crush us with a single sneeze.

Meanwhile, Zilra stepped in, her spear raised like she was going to impale the thing, and - hold up, what was she thinking? Stabbing stone? Oh, this was going to be good.

“Zilra, don’t-”

Thunk. Spear met rock, and Zilra immediately stumbled back, her hands buzzing with the force of the hit. The golem didn’t even flinch. Not even a scratch. It didn't retaliate either, probably processing what the hell just happened.

“That thing’s tougher than I thought.” she mumbled, wincing.

Oh is it now?

“Alright, genius, let’s try not stabbing the indestructible rock monster next time.”

“Then what do we do?” Tavrin called, fiddling with his sling. The guy looked ready to throw a pebble at it, which, honestly, would’ve been just as effective as anything we’d tried so far.

I racked my brain, trying to come up with something - anything - that didn’t involve all of us getting crushed under this thing’s foot. It was slow. That was our only advantage. But how the hell were we supposed to damage it?

"We need a plan." I said, thinking out loud as my eyes darted around the hallway. "And fast."

I paced around, keeping one eye on the golem, which was still ambling toward us like it had all the time in the world.

"Should I Splash it again?” Rheka asked, her hands already glowing once more. The kid was eager, but she’d hit the thing with water once, and we all saw how much good that did.

“No, wait - hold on. We need to get creative here.” I stared at the golem, watching it stomp closer. Obviously, it was made of solid rock - stone. And whatever stone that might be... well, it could crack.

An idea sparked in my head. Though, could we pull it off? The Conversion Theory came to mind - we needed a lot of water. Hmm. The air in this craphole of a ruin seemed damp enough.

“Rheka.” I said, thinking on the fly. “Keep hitting it with more Splashes. Aim for its legs." Then I turned around to the other two. "Zilra, are you still good with magic?”

“Yes...? What’s the plan?” Zilra asked, eyebrow raised.

“We're going to try something a little... experimental.”

Rheka, bless her heart, didn’t need much convincing. She stepped up, a short while later a ball of water formed in each of her hands, and with a flick of her wrist, she sent them flying toward the golem’s legs. The water splashed against the stone, soaking it.

Good. But we would need more than that.

I recalled our fight in the fog. Those water cannon spells, able to blast even through a damn tree. Oh what I would give for Rheka to know that spell right now.

The golem awkwardly swung a fist down toward us. Rheka stepped backwards as the golem's massive arm crashed into the ground where she had been standing, sending chunks of stone and dust flying everywhere.

“Watch out!” I growled, shaking dust out of my scales. “It’s slow, but if that hits us it's over.”

A good five minutes passed. Step back. More waterballs to drench the legs. Step back again. It wasn't the most exciting bout, but it didn't need to be. I much preferred not to be squashed like a bug.

Prefererred safe strategy over a flashy fight.

Rheka flung Splashes like it was her day-to-day job. She grinned through the whole thing, clearly enjoying this... possibly life-ending situation. I must admit it was good live training.

She was doing fine on the mana front. Today there'd be no silly Drought exposure.

And then, as I figured the golem had soaked up enough moisture-

“Zilra, now! Heat it up!” I shouted.

Zilra nodded with a grin. She too seemed to enjoy herself as she prepared the Ember spell. Holding her hands together before her, a faint white glow appearing slowly. Then came the flame, twirling into form, ready to be launched.

How am I the only one frightened here?

The fireball hit the golem’s wet legs, but nothing happened - just steam rising from the contact. Understandably so. It would take more heat until it would maybe show effect.

"And again!"

And again she came. After half a minute of casting another fireball had hit its target. A quiet sizzling sound followed the impact. I was genuinely surprised at how well she was doing. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd seen her cast a spell. They weren't quite the Rheka standard but they came close. She clearly had a knack for it too.

For a second, nothing happened - just more steam rising from the contact. But then... cracks began to form along the stone where the last waterball had hit.

I grinned. “That’s it! We’re causing thermal shock!”

“Ther... what?” Rheka asked, her face scrunched up.

I sighed. “Heat and cold. It messes with the rock. Just keep doing it!”

We repeated the process even more. Water, fire, crack. Bit by bit, the stone started to crumble under the strain.

The golem groaned, a deep, echoing sound, and lifted its arm again. This time, it swung wide, aiming for Zilra.

She ducked, the golem’s fist slamming into another wall-statue behind her with a deafening crash, leaving a crater in it. Dust and debris rained down, but Zilra just smirked.

“You missed, you oaf!”

“Don’t get cocky!” I warned. “We’re not done yet.”

The cracks in its legs were getting deeper now, and the golem was slowing down even more. The water and fire combo was working, but we needed one last hit to take it down. Make the structure crumble in itself.

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“Okay, Tavrin, now’s your time to shine! Hit it in the head!”

Tavrin whipped a large stone from his sling and aimed it right for the glowing circle on the golem’s face. With a loud crack, the stone hit its mark, and the circle flickered before dimming entirely.

The golem groaned one last time, then collapsed into a heap of broken stone, more steam rising from its remains.

Rheka let out a little cheer. “We did it! That was so cool!”

“Yes, well, try not to get too excited,” I said, shaking even more dust off my scales. “I’m not sure how many more of these guys are hanging around. And I doubt we can take another.”

Zilra crossed her arms. “Hopefully, that was the only one.”

“Knowing our luck?” I said, shaking my head. “Not a chance.”

But we had bigger problems now. My eyes wandered to the hole in the wall where the golem had been standing guard. Jackpot. Maybe. There was no way in hell that whatever we'd find there had been looted already.

“Come on.” I said, flicking my tail. “Let’s see what it was guarding."

We stepped through the gap, and on the other side, we found ourselves in a small, dimly lit room. It was almost claustrophobic compared to the larger hallway we’d been stumbling through. The walls were made of uneven, crumbling stone, the kind that seemed like it would give way if you so much as sneezed on it wrong. Thin cracks spread across the ceiling, and the air felt damp and heavy, like we were walking into some ancient tomb that hadn’t been touched in who-knows-how-long.

In the middle of the room stood a single pedestal, old and weathered, but somehow still intact, unlike everything else around it. Vines, dry and brittle, snaked up its base, twirling around it.

And sitting atop that pedestal, glowing with a faint, almost otherworldly light, was an oval shaped object. Almost like... an egg. It wasn’t large - maybe the size of a human head - but its surface was smooth, unnervingly so, like it had been polished over and over until it gleamed. The glow it gave off wasn’t harsh or blinding; it was soft, more like moonlight than anything else. Every now and then, the light pulsed, like it was breathing, as if there was something alive inside.

The egg itself was a pale, milky white, with faint streaks of silver that seemed to shift as you looked at it, giving it an ethereal, unreal quality. There was something... ancient about it, something that screamed "trap" in the back of my mind.

I glanced around the room, half-expecting some hidden mechanism or a trapdoor to spring the moment we touched it. Everything about the place just felt... wrong. Too still. Too quiet.

“Tell me that’s not a trap.” I said.

Rheka’s eyes were wide with curiosity. “What do you think it is?”

“A trap.” I repeated.

Naturally, Tavrin walked right up to it. “I can't believe it. That's... that's a Frumef.”

A Frumef? It didn't look like a weapon to me. I suppose they don't necessarily have to be weapons. You could also make the argument that-

“Tavrin, no-”

But, of course, he picked it up.

The ground began to shake beneath our feet, a low rumble that made my heart drop into my stomach.

“Oh, you just had to pick up the glowing egg on the pedestal.”

Before any of us could react, the grinding sound of stone echoed from behind us. Slowly, I turned around.

It wasn't in the room with us, but came from outside. A familiar groan.

And there it was, peaking through the hole in the wall. A second golem. Even bigger. With two glowing circles on its face.

The ground shook, rumbling beneath our feet like it was angry at us for even breathing. Dust and loose stones tumbled from the ceiling, making the whole room feel like it was about to collapse.

“Great. Just great.” I said. “The bigger they are... the harder we get stomped on.”

The second golem smashed into the wall, widening the gap and almost causing the entire room to collapse. Then it lumbered through, its massive frame dwarfing the first one. Two glowing circles now, staring right at us like a pair of hateful eyes. And just like its predecessor, it moved at snail's pace, but each step reverberated like an earthquake.

"Okay." I said, already feeling the exhaustion set in. "Same plan as last time. We drench it, heat it, and crack it.”

I looked around me to see everyone's tired faces. We didn't have a choice.

As the water-fire duo got to work, me and Tavrin stood back to observe. There wasn't much I could personally do here. I only knew darkness spells, which I doubted would be of much use here. Damarion had taught me a shadowball spell, but this fellow didn't look allergic to that. Same went for the smoke and barrier. Though something was... off. There was no steam. At all. How could that be?

What. You trying to tell me this guy's stone is harder or something?

“Why isn’t it working?” I shouted, stepping back as the golem lumbered closer, its fists dragging along the floor.

“I don’t know!” Rheka panted, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She was already looking tired, and we’d only just started. “Maybe... it’s too strong?”

"Too strong?! Since when do golems have power levels?!"

The golem retaliated, raising its massive fist. It slammed down toward Rheka, but she barely managed to dodge, rolling out of the way as the stone fist shattered part of the floor where she had stood.

"That was too close!" Rheka wheezed, scrambling to her feet.

The heat of the battle was getting to us. I could feel my chest burn and my limbs ache, even though I had barely moved a muscle, meaning this was probably on Rheka. Shit. There wasn’t any way we could take this thing down the same way we did the first. We needed a new plan.

And I had the plan of plans.

I took a deep breath.

“Run!”

We bolted toward the entrance, trying to retreat through the hole, but the golem was faster than we gave it credit for. Its stone arm swung out, blocking our escape with a massive chunk of rubble, trapping us in the room.

"Oh, brilliant." I groaned. “Now what? It’s blocking the way!”

Zilra fired an Ember at its face before grabbing her spear with both hands. She jumped to jab at the golem's face, but just as before it barely chipped the stone. The golem retaliated, swiping her mid-air with a single backhanded blow.

How? Did its speed just... increase?

She hit the wall hard, the impact knocking the wind out of her.

"Zilra!" Rheka yelled, rushing toward her. I could see blood seeping through her clothes. She was hurt. Badly.

We couldn’t keep this up. We were running on fumes, and now one of us was down.

What do we do, what do we do?

I looked around the room as the panic set in.

And then Rheka got hit. A stone fragment from the ceiling dislodged and slammed into her leg as the golem stomped, sending her sprawling to the ground, clutching her ankle in pain. It felt as if a horse had run me over.

“Rheka!” I called out, groaning in pain. Despite it, I rushed over, but there wasn’t time. The golem was looming over us, ready to finish the job.

Tavrin was shaking, frozen on the spot, gripping his sling but not using it.

He was useless.

"Tavrin you idiot! Do something!"

"I-" He stammered, clearly panicked. “I don’t know what to do!”

A thought rushed through my mind. It was as if time itself had stopped for just a brief moment. I recalled an earlier conversation in the garden of our house. I could see them clearly. Those two brats fighting, arguing over something.

Oh. Right.

"Which elements?" I shouted towards Tavrin.

"W-what?!" He asked, his panic seemingly stopped for a second.

"Which elements are you proficient with, idiot!"

"E-earth! I think?!"

“Use it!” I shouted, out of desperation more than anything. “You said you can use it, right?”

He hesitated, clearly torn between the situation and his stupid religious beliefs. “I can’t! I’m not supposed to!”

"Oh, for the love of- This isn’t a debate, Tavrin! Do you want us all to die?!”

“I... I can’t! The Aiventysh faith-” Tavrin’s voice cracked.

"Forget about your bloody faith!" I snapped. "We’re about to get crushed here! Just use it!"

But Tavrin shook his head, backing away, still gripped by fear and whatever nonsense was keeping him from actually doing something.

You stupid idiot.

We were out of time, and now out of options.

And then, just as everything seemed to be going to hell in a handbasket, the egg tucked below Tavrin’s arm began to glow brighter, pulsing with even more light than before.

The egg cracked open with a sharp snap, and out popped... well, a cat-sized chimera-looking thing. It had only one head, but its whole body was a strange mix of textures and colors. Its back looked smooth and shiny, almost metallic, while its belly was covered in fur as dark as midnight. Little wings were folded against its sides, and its long, whip-like tail had a stone barb at the end that didn’t look all that friendly.

The head? It looked like a lion's, but with silver streaks running through the fur, catching the light every time it moved. And the eyes - big, golden, and way too smart for comfort - blinked up at us like it had just rolled out of bed.

It stretched, letting out a wide yawn that showed off some sharp little teeth. Then, with a lazy grin, it looked around at us. “Well, that felt like a long nap.”

Everyone just stared at it, even the golem seemed to pause for a moment, as if confused by the sudden appearance of this... thing.

It stretched like a cat. “Phew! Finally out of that thing!” it said in a voice far too cheerful for the situation. “Took forever to crack that.”

The chimera turned to the golem. “Oh boy, this big guy, huh? Alright everyone, I got this. Time for me to flex a little.”

Before we could ask what the hell it was doing, the chimera hopped out of Tavrin's arms, its body starting to shift. Rocks from the floor and the walls started swirling around it, merging into its form, until it had morphed into a golem-like creature of its own, only much smaller. It crouched down, its rocky legs coiling before it launched itself at the bigger golem.

With surprising speed, the chimera-golem smashed into the larger golem, tackling it with such force that the bigger creature staggered back. The chimera’s rock-formed head hammered into the larger golem’s weak points, causing cracks to spread across its body.

The golem groaned, its glowing circles flickering as it tried to retaliate, but the chimera-golem was too fast, dodging and striking with precision. In a final blow, it smashed through the two glowing circles on the golem’s face, shattering them into pieces.

With a final groan, the golem crumbled to the ground, defeated.

The chimera dusted itself off, its form shrinking back to its original, cat-sized shape. “Whew! That was fun. Feels like I haven’t stretched like that in ages.”

I blinked, still processing what just happened. “Uh... thanks?”

“No problem, buddy.” the chimera said with a wink. “You guys really needed the help.”

Rheka, still clutching her injured ankle, gave a shaky laugh. “What... what is that thing?”

Tavrin, still holding the remains of the cracked egg, just stared. “I... I have no idea.”

The little chimera stretched its wings with a flick, giving us all a quick once-over. Then, with a smug grin, it spoke in a surprisingly casual, almost cheeky tone.

“Well, hello there..."

"The name's Kyris."