6

  The child ran frantically through the hospital hallway, quickly trying to reach room 203 as tears rolled down his face. He had seen his relatives crying and heard his aunts cry out about how it wasn’t fair a child as young as her to be taken. They had taken him from the room when things took a turn for the worst but he had finally broken free from his aally broken free from his uncleunt and was determined to get back to that room. There it was; room 203! The child rushed into the room to see his grandma and uncle comforting his father along with a doctor as a couple nurses stood by a bed. On the bed was something small covered with a white sheet.

The father saw the small boy enter the room and stood up. The man looked down at the boy and with a trembling voice and just barely managed to get some words out. “I’m so sorry…” The boy’s face twisted with anger and he jumped at his father. The man seemed to simply allow the child to push him down to the ground. The boy hit the man’s face over and over while yelling and screaming at him.

“I told you she was sick! I told you! If we had taken her sooner! I told you! I told you! It’s your fault she’s gone!” The boy stopped for a moment and looked down at his father who just looked at his son with a sorrowful expression.

The father spoke to him in a voice full of sadness and guilt. “Are you done Ashley?”

The boy’s anger flared back up and he balled his small hands into fists but before he could continue his uncle slapped him as hard as he could and the boy rolled to the other side of the room. The child raised his head, his face stinging and nose bleeding. His uncle glared down at him as his grandmother just looked at him with a disappointed face. The boy’s father was being helped up by the doctor. The child looked at the bed that had the tiny body under the sheets and looked back at the people in the room that looked to him with a mixture or shame, sadness, and hate. The boy ran from the room even though he didn’t have anywhere to go. As he fled he was almost sure he heard his uncle say, “should have been him.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The memory flooded Ash’s mind and fueled his rage. He glared at the two men still standing and Kory who was starting to get up. Rain continued to pour as it cascaded off the giant golem. The golem looked at the limp man in its hand and simply let him fall to the ground with a loud thud; there the man lay, motionless. The golem then noticed the other two men and let out a deep foreboding growl that resonated within its massive chest. Shivers ran down almost everyone’s spine after hearing that disturbing sound.

Braxton let out a concerned snort, “this is utter madness, those boys better mooove out of its way.”

Aza glared at the minotaur, “really Braxton?”

Braxton looked down at Aza, and then looked at the golem, then back at Aza. “Yes.”

Kory’s two henchmen, because honestly that’s what they are, looked at the mighty golem and then at each other and nodded. They were veterans and knew what they should do. They had fought golems before, albeit none this big. Powder bombs are what they needed. Powder bombs are made up of highly volatile powder stuffed into a round leather bag. When hit with enough force it would explode and do a considerable amount of damage. One of the men pulled out a sling and readied a small bag. The other had a bag of the powder fixed to the end of an arrow and readied his bow.

To take out a golem you should aim at its weak point which is the spot where its head connects to its body. They had to be careful; one hit from a golem was almost certain death. Fortunately golems are slow in more than one way. The men readied their assault as the golem let out a mighty roar and charged at the two of them. They dodged its assault with expert skill and sent the powder bombs hurling at the monster.

There was a bright flash followed by two loud bangs as the powder bombs exploded, filling the air with smoke. The two men looked on hopefully but as the smoke cleared it revealed an unharmed and very angry golem. The golem reached into its own body and pulled out a rather large rock and chucked it at the two men who just barely avoided it.

Saline and her party watched as the men fought the golem. Karse was starting to get a little concerned. “It’s a good thing the tavern’s on the outskirts of town. Hey, shouldn’t we get as far from here as possible?” He said cowardly.

“I will not leave. There may yet be a way to stop this.” Olanna said with determination.

Garret nodded, “if Olanna isn’t leaving, neither am I.”

“Kiss up.” Karse said bitterly.

Saline looked on like a child fixated on a fire, “I want to see some carnage.” There was a short pause as the rest of the group looked at her. “What? I’m chaotic neutral.”

Karse shook his head, “You guys are nuts.”

Aza turned to Braxton, “The coward elf is right, Braxton you should probably bring the other customers through the side exit so they can escape.”

Braxton looks down at her, “and what about you? It would behoove you to come with us.”

She shakes her head. “No, I’m staying.”

Braxton nods, “All right but if any of those guys die let me know, I have an idea for a new stew.” Aza shakes her head no as Braxton nods yes. The minotaur turns to his customers. “Anyone who is a coward follow me to safety!”

The people in the tavern begin shouting. One man raises his hand, “I’m a coward!”

A woman pushes the man’s hand down. “I’ve always been a coward!”

Another man smashes his glass mug into a table and it shatters as he screams and punches a hole into the wall, “I was born a coward! It took my mom six tries to give birth to me!”

Braxton hollers at the man, “Damn it Gary! It’s not a competition! When did you get back in here?! Never mind, everyone follow me!” Braxton leads the group through the side exit but turns real quick and looks at Aza and nods yes as she shakes her head no. Braxton sighs and walks out the exit.

As all this was going on Ash had his attention on Kory. Kory instinctively knew that he was no match for Ash and began making a mad dash for the town. Ash made a simple motion with his hand and the ground shifted underneath Kory making him fall to the ground. Kory tried to scramble back to his feet but his body was sinking into the ground. “Quicksand?!” Kory yelled as he began to sink deeper into it.

“It’s just mud,” said Ash as he walked closer to Kory. “But it works about the same. Now how do you wish to die?”

Wait Ash, you’re not going to really kill him are you?

Kory looks up at the angry Ash and begins to plead with him. “Please, I’m rich; I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“I thought you wanted a fight?”

“I never actually said that. It was only implied.”

Take the offer Ash. Isn’t money what you’re after anyway?

“What would be the best wait to kill this guy Sam?” Ash asks as Kory looks around to see who Ash is talking to.

Ash is actually going to kill that guy. I need to stall him until he calms down.

“I can hear you Sam.”

Oh no!

Across the way the two henchmen frantically fought the golem but seemed to be inflicting little to no damage to it. The two men stopped and looked to each other and nodded. They were veterans and knew what they had to do. There were three ways to get rid of a golem. One was to have the caster dispel it and another was to simply destroy it. Neither of those options seemed likely so option three was the best; kill the caster.

They turned their attention to Ash and charged at him. One shot an arrow that simply bounced off of Ash’s chest. Ash looked at the two men and gave them an angry glare as he thrust his hand out. What look like a ten foot wave of earth and rocks rushed towards the men as they just barely moved out of its way. Ash stomped the ground with his feet causing the earth to shake and even the people in the inn had trouble standing.

Ash stomped the ground again and this time several jagged rocks sprung out from the earth pointing at the two men. The men braced themselves because they knew what was coming. The rocks shot out at the men as they desperately guarded their vitals. When the rocks stopped the men had several nasty gashes and quite a few rock shards sticking out of their bodies.

They had managed to protect their vitals but the damage they took was severe. They looked at each other and nodded. They were veterans and knew what they should do. With a quick turn they began to haul ass to the town. Kory saw this and made a futile cry for help. “Help!” He cried futilely. Ash didn’t really care about the two henchmen so he turned his attention back to Kory. The golem on the other hand did not like being ignored.

The golem let out a mighty roar and charged after the two men, catching up to them easily and stomping one into the afterlife while grabbing the other one and crushing him in its palm. Ok, so that didn’t actually happen, it’s just what the golem really wanted to do but it stopped in its big golem tracks when it was struck in the back by something. It turned around to see the barbarian Olanna standing by herself in the open field. A glowing white light filled her hand and with a thrust of her arm a white bolt shot from her hand and struck the golem yet again. Unfortunately her futile attempts to damage the golem only served to piss it off.

Karse frantically called out to Olanna, “Olanna! What are you doing?! Golems have resistance to magic!”

Olanna hollered back at Karse while dodging the golems swinging fist. “We can’t let it get to town! Innocent people will be hurt!”

“So?” Karse replied bluntly.

Olanna quickly dodged a rock hurled by the beast and turned to her party. “I need help!”

Karse and Saline exchanged worried glances and Karse looked back at Olanna. “I shoot arrows. That’s not going to stop a golem”

Saline nods, “Yeah and I can’t use Psy Magic to lift something that big, not that it would matter I’ve pretty much spent my magic power for the day. Also I prefer watching from the sidelines. It’s your fault for being lawful good. I don’t think anyone’s dumb enough to help.”

Olanna yells, “Garret! Help me!”

“On it!” Garret screams as he runs at full speed at the golem and jumps on its back as it yells angrily while trying to unsuccessfully reach for him.

Karse shakes his head, “Ok, so no one but Garret will help.”

Saline sighs, “Karse… go help them…”

“On it!” Karse screams as he runs up to the golem and pelts the beast with arrows.

Saline watches as her friends fight with the golem but then she hears something move beside her and turns to see Aza with her eyes glued to Ash. A happy smile spreads across her face. “Aza! I was so distracted I forgot you were here! Oh, and look, now it’s just the two of us, all alone in this quiet tavern.”

Aza ignores her for the most part and says, “Something isn’t right. I don’t know him that well but that mage seemed to be the calm, lazy type; not the angry, killing type. That imbecile Kory must have done something.” She looked over at Kory and Ash who were several feet away. Ash seemed like he was in an argument with his hand and Kory was still stuck in the mud sinking deeper into it. She decided to call out to Kory. “Hey, imbecile!”

“Yes?!” Said Kory without a moment of hesitation.

“What did you do to that mage?!”

“I covered him with fear powder! How was I supposed to know he was this terrifying when he’s terrified?!”

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“Any chance you were sold something that wasn’t fear powder?!”

Kory thought for a moment as he continued to sink. “Nah! The people at the Thieves Market are trustworthy!”

Aza slapped her hand to her forehead. “Saline?”

“Yes, my goddess?” Said Saline happily.

“That mage-“

“Ash?”

“Is that his name, well anyway, that mage was probably covered with rage powder. It’s cheap and easy to make and was probably sold to Kory as fear powder which is by far more expensive. We need to get it off of that mage to calm him down so he can dispel the golem. Don’t you have some kind of washing magic?”

“Clean spell, I’ve offered it to you a couple of times.”

“You’ve offered it to me every time. I prefer actual baths. Anyway I need you to use that on the mage.”

“You want me to give him a bath? I don’t know him that well.”

Aza sighs, “The clean spell Saline.”

“That sounds dangerous; I have to get really close to use it. If he is raging he might attack me and I don’t think I can hold him with Psy Magic for more than a couple seconds. I’m just about out of juice…Psy juice…”

“Hmm… Well since this is kind of my fault I guess I should help. Let’s fly above him” Aza unstraps her wings and stretches them out, her black wings shine from the light of the inn. “I haven’t flown in a while but I should be able to carry you above him quickly so he doesn’t notice. Just don’t make it weird Sal-“

Aza stops midsentence as she looks at Saline who has her arms outstretched towards her with a massive smile on her face as her eyes sparkle with joy and she whispers, “Like a princess.”

Aza grimaces, “Yep, you’ve made it weird.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The golem continues to lash out at Garret, Karse, and Olanna as they dodge the slow moving golem knowing that one hit could mean instant death. While this was going on Ash was still arguing with his ring as Kory sunk deeper into the mud. Kory looked around for someone, anyone to help him but to no avail. The mud was already up to his neck, and Kory sobbed as he tried to figure out why bad things always seem to happen to him.

Ash! You have to snap out of it. Killing this jerk won’t do anything but make you a murderer!

Ash responds angrily, “I’m fine with that, and if you won’t help me…” Ash reaches for the ring on his finger.

What are you doing?! Why did you stop midsentence?!

Ash removes the ring from his finger and looks at it for a moment and tosses it behind him. “I don’t need it. I think I know the perfect spell for you. I saw it earlier in my mind library.”

Kory whimpers, “Mind library?”

“It’s a library in your mind! Damn it Kory, pay attention!” Ash finds a nice spot on the ground and holds out his hand. A large hole opens in the ground where he points at. It was deep and wide and with another motion of Ash’s hand rock spikes emerge from inside of the hole. They begin to spin around the hole at rapid speed. Ash sees a stick by his foot and picks it up. He tosses it into the hole and watches with amusement as it’s shredded to nothing. “Earth Blender… I get it. Wait… does that mean they have blenders here? Too pissed to think! Kory! I’m going to throw you in this hole!”

“Or, and hear me out, you don’t do that.”

“Yeah, all right.”

“Really?”

“No.”

Kory frowns then looks at Ash and sees something odd. Above Ash he could see something with massive wings, and for some reason he felt a strong attraction to it as rain dripped from its wings and lightning struck behind it. “A giant bat, an extremely attractive giant bat right above you!”

“Like I’d fall for that!” Ash says as he immediately falls for it and looks up and sees Aza flying straight above him holding Saline by her ankles. Saline had her hands barely a foot away from Ash’s face as she claps her hands together. Ash is enveloped in a white light and feels the stew and all the other dirt from his body disappear. Aza lets go of Saline and she hits the muddy ground face first as Aza lands gracefully behind her,

Aza helps Saline up while apologizing, “Sorry, my arms gave out.”

Saline smiles at Aza as she casts clean on herself to get the mud off. “It’s fine, today was the greatest day ever! I’m never washing my ankles again.”

“You just did.” Aza says and Saline screams out as she realizes Aza is right. Aza looks over at Ash who is looking around the area with a look of confusion on his face. “Is he back to normal?”

Saline nods, “Should be. Hey, Ash! You had rage powder on you and I used a cleaning spell to get it off. Are you back to normal?!”

Ash looks at Saline, “Yeah, I think so. I was in a really dark place.” He looks down and sees Kory still chin deep in the mud. “Hey… guy… sorry about trying to kill you.”

Kory shakes his head, “No worries, I kind of asked for it, but how about getting me out of here?”

“Oh, right, Sam how do I use dispel magic?” Ash then grows pale as he remembers that he threw the ring to the ground. He looks around the area but doesn’t see it. Things could get a lot harder without Sam. There’s no telling where the ring could be as the rain turned most of the area to mud. It could take forever to find it; he may never talk to Sam again. “Oh, wait here it is.” Ash says as he finds the ring and puts it on his finger.

How dare you throw me to the ground!

“I had rage powder on me or something.”

Rage powder? Huh, that does make sense. I knew that.

“I guess I should clean up this mess. How do I undo spells?”

You just point your hand at it and think about dispelling it. It should be easy.

Aza and Saline watch as Ash finishes talking to his ring and walks up to the hole with the spinning rocks of death inside. Ash holds out his hands and thinks about the spell disappearing and to his surprise the hole closes shut. Ash nods and looks over at Kory who had a look of worry because the mud was past his mouth and almost up to his nose. Ash held out his hand and with a few loud cracks the mud turned back to solid ground encasing the unfortunate Kory. Kory looked at Ash trying to say something but his mouth was still under the ground leaving only his head from his nose up above ground.

Ash shrugged, “Well at least you’re not sinking anymore.”

“Hey…” Aza says to Ash quietly and Ash turns to look at her. “Sorry about all this. It’s kind of my fault for involving you. I can… give you a hug to apologize.” She says as Saline’s jaw drops in surprise. Aza considered a hug from her to be a very high reward.

Ash shakes his head. “Nah, I’m good.”

Saline looks at Ash with the utmost surprise, disgust, and jealousy. “You stupid son of a bitch… Pearls before swine. You stupid, stupid, swine.”

It took a moment for Aza to register the rejection because that was a very new feeling, but she decided there were more pressing things to attend to, like the golem who had somehow managed to grab hold of Garret and use him like a club to swing at Olanna. “Maybe you should dispel the Golem?”

Ash nods, “Right.” Ash looks to the Golem and holds out his hand but nothing happens. “Huh?”

To dispel a Golem you have to touch it directly.

“Oh. I have to do some golem touching? All right.” Ash begins walking up to the golem.

Aza calls out to him, “you should probably be careful.”

She’s right Ash. If you summoned it while you were enraged it could also be enraged and not see you as its master.

“Nah, I doubt it will lay a hand on me.” Ash says as he walks up to the golem and it looks down at him while dropping garret. Karse and Olanna stop fighting it and watch as Ash extends his hand to the golem. They also watch as the golem stomps Ash into the ground while twisting its foot like it’s putting out a cigarette. Karse and Olanna exchange a quick glance and decide to continue their onslaught on the golem. Garret gets up like nothing happened and joins them.

Saline looks at Aza, “Is he dead?”

Aza shakes her head, “Not likely. If the caster dies the Golem would have disappeared.”

Aza and Saline both get startled as Ash rises from the ground beside them. “Well, that didn’t work.”

Aza asks with surprise, “How did you get over here?”

Ash thinks about it for a moment while wiping the dirt off himself. “I don’t know. What I do know is that I need something to hold that Golem still while I dispel it.”

“Neither of us can really help you with that.”

You could try to touch it while it’s distracted fighting Saline’s party or you could have Aza fly you over it and drop you on its back.

Ash thinks for a moment then comes up with an idea, but not a very good one. “Let’s try this.” Aza and Saline feel the ground shake and see some very familiar rock hands come out of the ground.

“You didn’t…” Says Aza in disbelief as yet another golem rises from the ground. Kory, still stuck in the ground, looks at it with terror in his eyes. “Your solution to stop a golem is another golem?!”

“To defeat a Golem you need a Golem.” Ash says proudly.

Ash, there are a few problems with your plan.

“Hey,” Saline says while looking at the golem, “isn’t this one a lot smaller?”

Ash looked at his new Golem and realized she was right. It was barely eight feet tall and nowhere near as wide. The Golem also looked a great deal less intimidating as it hung its arms lazily to its sides and rolled its head looking around.

Golems are based on your power and emotions at the time you created them. The first golem was made when you were enraged and because enrage increases your strength it increased your golems strength. But this was one was made while your emotions are normal and while you’re still tired. So it’s a reflection of you right now.

Ash looks at the weak looking golem, “I don’t know how I feel about that, but he only needs to hold the other one for a moment. All right! Golem number two attack golem number one!” Ash says while pointing to the other golem. The golem lets out a loud sigh and slowly and lazily begins to walk towards the other golem. “Could you go a little faster?” Ash says while following it.

“Gah!” The golem says as it throws its hands in the air and stops moving.

“Hey, I didn’t say stop.” Ash says as he follows the golem. “Get moving.”

“Ugh…” The golem exclaims as it sighs and rolls its head.

“Hey!” Yells Ash. “I brought you into this world and I can take you out. Now march!” The golem lets out a large and dramatic sigh and continues to walk towards the other golem, kicking up the ground while sighing frequently. Ash follows it as they approach the bigger and more terrifying golem still fighting the other three, now very tired, members of Saline’s party. “Golems these days, I tell you.”

Well, it is a reflection of-

“Shut up, Sam.” Ash and the smaller golem reach the giant golem as it turns to face them ignoring the ineffective attacks from Olanna and her teammates. The giant golem looks at the smaller one sizing it up. The smaller one looks at the bigger one with disinterest. “All right attack it.” Ash says pointing at the giant golem.

Ash readies himself for the moment the golems begin fighting, he’ll use that opportunity to touch the golem and dispel it. The small golem shrugs and picks up a small rock and chucks it at the bigger one. The giant golem watches as the small rock bounces off its massive body. It balls up its hand into a fist and slams it on top of the small golem smashing it into pieces. Ash looks with surprise at the pile of rocks that was the smaller golem. “Why did he throw a rock at a rock monster?! I wanted him to grapple it or something.”

Well, a golem is a reflection of-

“Sam, shut-“Ash doesn’t get to finish as the golem stomps him into the ground and yet again twists its foot like it’s putting out a cigarette. The golem looks back at Olanna, Karse, and Garret as they consider retreat. It was about to begin its assault again but small cracks began to appear on it. It looked at its body with confusion as the cracks got bigger. It raised up the foot that it used to stomp out Ash and noticed that Ash’s hand was sticking out of the ground. He had cast dispel on the golem as it stomped him into the dirt. It let out a loud dramatic sigh as it crumbled to pieces.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, except Ash and Kory who were both in the ground still. Karse and garret dropped to the ground exhausted as Olanna walked over to Ash’s hand and grabbed it. With a mighty pull she rips Ash out of the Earth and glares at him. Ash looks at her nervously and says, “Golems, am I right?”

Olanna replies sternly, “Don’t do that again.”

Ash nods, “Yeah, alright.”

She lets him go and walks back to Garret and helps him up. Saline runs over to Ash. “Wow, Ash, I knew you were strong but to be able to summon two golems in one day that’s sage level strong. Impressive.”

Aza walks over to them as the rain finally dies down a little. “Okay, is everything settled? Can I go home now?”

Saline responds with sparkling eyes, “If you are really tired-“

“No, whatever it is, no.”

“Aw.”

Ash looks around the area and sees the one henchman lying on the ground unmoving and soaked with rain. “Eh….He’s…Probably fine…” Ash claps his hands together. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to bed to get some much deserved rest.”

Saline nods, “Cool, cool. Just make sure you join us in the morning so we can talk about the quest and enlist you as a member of our team at the guild.”

“Uh… I just attacked everyone. You sure you still want me on your team?”

“It’s fine, the golem did most of the attacking and you weren’t exactly yourself. Also no one got seriously hurt.” Saline says ignoring the possibly deceased henchman.

“No. It’s not a good idea.”

Olanna, who had approached Ash from behind, lays a firm hand on Ash’s shoulder. She says with an extremely stern voice. “Regardless of whether you were in control or not you caused us a lot of trouble. You will meet us in the morning.”

“Yeah, alright.” Ash says quickly. He walks away from all them towards the inn. “Well, good night.” As he tries to enter the inn he is blocked by the massive minotaur Braxton.

Braxton lets out an angry snort, “Wait a second there fella, I’ve got a beef with you.” Ash looks up sleepily at the angry minotaur. “I use to have a door here and look at all the damages to my store. Also who’s going to clean up all these rocks? That’s a lot of rocks.” Ash points at Kory whose eyes widen in surprise. “Oh, good suggestion. Well you’d better mooove it then.” Ash chuckles at the pun. “No seriously, move, you’re in my way.”

“Oh.” Ash says as he steps aside.

Ash watches as Braxton walks over to the hapless Kory and easily pulls him from the ground. Kory immediately begins to protest. “Why should I pay? Ass did all the damage.”

Braxton snorts happily, “Let’s you and I talk in the kitchen. Either you’re going to pay for my damages or I’ve got the meat for tomorrows stew.”

“Is that a threat?” Kory says whimpering.

“Yes.” Braxton says with a chuckle and with that Ash walks inside followed by Braxton carrying a screaming Kory over his shoulders. “Oh, and Aza you can call it a night.”

Aza nods and watches through the open doorway as Ash ascends the stairs. Once he is out of sight she stretches her wings one more time and lets out a tired sigh. “I feel like I actually worked today because of Kory and that weird mage. I don’t like it. I’m going home.” Saline and her team wave goodbye and wish her a goodnight along with some exclamations of how they love her. Since her wings are already unstrapped she decides to fly home. She spreads her wings and takes to the sky.

Saline watches her until she is out of sight. “I miss her so much.”

Olanna pats her on the shoulder. “You’ll see her again. Now about this mage.”

Saline smiles happily at Olanna. “Strong right? I’m almost certain he is an Envoy of the Gods.”

“He is dangerous.” Olanna says seriously while Karse and Garret nod. “I’m not sure how comfortable I am with him on our team.”

“It wasn’t his fault. Trust me; he seems more like the type to avoid trouble than to cause it.”

“I am not convinced, but I suppose we could give him a shot.”

“What?” Karse says a little annoyed. “We had to fight a golem because of him. I’m against him joining our party. I guess I’ll just have to be that one party member who doesn’t like the new guy and gives him a hard time until he saves my life and earns my respect by some chance of fate.”

Saline sighs, “This next quest could be a little tough, and we could use some extra help.”

Garret looks at Saline curiously. “What is the next quest? You haven’t told us anything about it. I don’t like mystery quests.”

Saline looks at the curious faces of her party members and smiles. “It’s tough but the payout will be huge. We have to kill a lich.”

“A lich?” Olanna says being a little concerned. “That could be dangerous all right.”

“Well, it might not be a lich. Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you the details.” Saline says as she walks inside.

“So, we’re just going to ignore Kory’s screams aren’t we?” Karse says as they all go inside.

Several minutes pass and the henchman on the ground opens his eyes. He was a veteran and he knew what to do when a golem attacks. A golem only attacks living enemies and will not go out of its way to attack something it believes is dead. The man stands up and makes a rude gesture at the inn. He then walks slowly towards the town also ignoring Kory’s screams.