Pepper didn’t like the fact that a small light was on over the back access door to Nordon’s grocery. But he didn’t have any other choice. It was going to be his only way in and out, and it had to be now or never.
He walked up to the door and entered the code. He had used his dad’s code multiple times before when bringing him something from home or a coffee shop. The part that Pepper was racking his brain over was the alarm deactivation code.
There were at least two eights in the code. Was it… 8875? He took a long breath and swung the door open. The alarm chirped to life with a warning chime. It was counting down his minute before it alerted others.
His immediately noticed that the pound, eight, four, and seven keys were more worn than any of the other numbers. His hands began to itch, and he quickly rubbed them together. “Okay… come on… we got this.”
#8874. A loud beep rang out from the alarm and text flashed across the small LED screen. “Incorrect Entry.”
“Crap,” he muttered. He could feel the sweat start to form on his face. Okay, okay… come on, think. No, wait… the eights actually weren’t next to each other.
#8784. The beep repeated itself and the message appeared again. The continued warning chime only made his heart race faster. All alarm systems are the same. Three chances and then your hands get cut off and you are cast into the wilderness… you have one final chance, P-Dub, otherwise we’re going to be a handless, helpless loser!
#8487. An acceptance chirp arrived, and his heart skipped a beat. “Deactivate Alarm System? Yes or No.”
Pepper practically smashed the button to turn the alarm off. The warning alarm turned off and he let out a long breath. He grabbed the sides of his head as he leaned back and took a second to compose himself.
Right… let’s do this. Pepper looked around in search of the golems that should be in the back storage area. He knew his dad normally had a few in the back to help load and unload the delivery trucks. It only took him a few seconds to find where they were currently tucked away.
He immediately got to work with opening the access panels. His fingers worked through the inner techo-guts of the golem and he found the Campell power core without even turning the lights on. He reached into his backpack and retrieved the junkyard version.
One hand passed it to the other and the swap was complete. He carefully maneuvered the healthy core into his backpack, reconnected the false card, and buttoned up the access panels. He turned to leave and even shocked himself when he realized that the entire process had taken less than a few minutes. He stopped by the alarm panel, activated the security system and left.
Pepper could not remember the last time he had pedaled so hard on his bike. He pushed the machine to its limits and was dripping with sweat by the time he arrived home. He propped his bike against the side of the house and power walked straight to his workshop.
He burst through the door and slammed it behind him as if he was hiding from the world. His head leaned back and he worked to slow his heart. You did it, Pep… We got away with it. The sweat ran down his face, and he reached up and wiped it away with his sweatshirt sleeve.
He began to stagger forward but paused after his first step when he realized there was a new addition to his workshop. His eyes locked onto the small package on the workbench. It was similar in size to the container his gravity rune had arrived in.
The shipping label had his name printed on it but no return address. That’s odd, he thought. He gently placed his backpack on the workbench and unzipped the bag to check over the items he had acquired. Everything appeared to still be in good shape without having sustained any damage during the ride home.
Pepper slid his backpack to one side and retrieved a small knife to open the mysterious package. He opened the flaps to see a deep purple package with a black emblem printed in the center. The emblem was of a cloaked figure and had a shield surrounding it. “Phantom Industries” was printed along the top of the shield.
The excitement of the evening clouded his memory and he couldn’t recall right away where exactly he had heard this name before. He slowly removed the package and found a card inside. It had a pre-printed script message, just like his gravity rune, but the handwritten note at the bottom immediately caught his attention.
“Pepper… turns out my friend in your home town happens to know you and said some really great things about you. I can’t think of a better person to be gifted with this advanced rune technology. I know it will be in safe hands and look forward to hearing your review of it. Keep doing great things and say hi to Ryan for me. — Bill Baxter.”
Pepper’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw who it was from. His memory flashed back to GolemCon—to the one booth had he stopped at before everything else turned into a massive blur. I met the Bill Baxter? Pepper said to himself and realized that his neighbor had done more for him than he had realized.
He turned and walked to the door, taking a quick glance over at Ryan’s house, but all he saw was its pitch-black, lifeless silhouette. His excitement and curiosity left him now intrigued and he began to open the box to discover exactly what this rune was. Inside the inner layer of the packaging was a technical specification sheet.
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Familiar Rune. This unique item is self-powered through its own unique Phantom Industries core. When the owner of the familiar is ready to activate their golem, place a finger over the blood sample introductory depression. With your other hand, press the activation button located on the opposite side of the device.
Pepper looked over the card and could see the tiny print near the introductory depression. He flipped the card over to see an activation button on the other side. “They serious about this? They want a blood sample. No way.” Pepper blew a raspberry of disbelief as he glanced back at the sheet.
The rune card will power on once the activation button is depressed. The blood sample will be analyzed and will create a living bond between the person and the rune card. This bond can never be transferred to another person, nor can it be erased. Should the bonded individual die, the rune card will erase and enter a self-destruct sequence.
Pepper walked over and plopped into his hammock. He turned his holoscreen on and instructed it to start playing a movie. The background noise gave his spirit a sense of calming reassurance. He took a few more deep breaths and settled into his hammock, shifting his weight.
Once the sample has been supplied, place the rune card in the item you choose to be your familiar. It is highly recommended you choose an object that is easy to travel with, as your familiar will be able to go with you throughout life. Our original alpha tests indicate that the lighter the weight of the familiar, the higher degrees of comradery were found by our bonded individuals.
Current results show that the longer the familiar is with their bonded individual, the higher degree of loyalty, happiness, trust, and even unwavering protection occurs. The more time they spend with their familiars, the more users experience separation depression and / or anxiety. This is due to their desires to be with their familiar 24/7.
Be advised. Some users have discovered the ability to transfer the familiar rune from one golem to another. However, this is not a guarantee, as some beta testers were unsuccessful in their attempts and lost their familiar entirely. Choose wisely who you want to spend the rest of your life with. We look forward to hearing how much you love your familiar.
Pepper folded the paper in half and ignored all the other information that was printed on it. He looked at the rune card box and shook his head. There’s no way this is a thing… this has to be, like, a kid’s toy prank or something. He slowly raised himself up and out of the hammock.
He picked the rune card back up and continued to look it over. As he lowered it, he caught sight of his Amprage statue near the back of his shed. “No way…” he huffed.
Pepper ensured the rune card was safely resting on his workbench. He walked over to the statue and picked it up. It was heavy but weighed in at roughly 65 lbs. It didn’t seem like a big deal to him. That weight was literally the same as the dog character it was modeled after.
He carried it around and hoisted it up onto the workbench. The statue was covered in dust and dirt from sitting in the corner for years. Pepper spent the next few minutes spraying it off with his air compressor and then gave it a good wipe down with a metal-polishing agent and a rag.
The statue had a fresh glossy shine to it. He smiled as he spent a moment simply admiring the hundreds of hours of work he had devoted to creating it. The metal had finally been transformed and shaped into one of the famous video game creatures he had played with in his youth.
His eyes dashed over to the rune, which was only a foot away. Might as well give this thing a shot, he thought. It was just a second or two later that he realized that was easier said than done.
He had never imagined his Amprage replica would be turned into a golem, nor even had an idea what a familiar even was. He retrieved his tools and began to modify the rib cage panel. After a few adjustments and modifications, there was an internal space with brackets that the rune card could be mounted to.
Pepper grabbed hold of the rune and pressed his index finger on the sample intake valve. He then depressed the button on the back as the instructions stated and jumped when a sharp prick pierced his finger. A faint green LED light illuminated in the corner of the card.
The card began to vibrate in his hands, and soon he felt warmth fill his fingertips. The small internal power core of the card initiated itself and began to provide power to the rune. He could just make out the small drop of blood entering the center of the rune chamber. The red life force faded as it mixed with a bright sky-blue that began to glow with life.
Pepper gazed at the rune card and appreciated the precision craftsmanship. His eyes shifted to the statue, and he slowly secured the card inside the metal replica. A quick double checked the instructions and then found a package of small connection wires. He attached the cables from the rune card, soldered them to the makeshift internal skeleton, and patched up the rib cage.
Pepper slowly stepped back and watched the statue glow with energy. More life filled every molecule of his sculpture with each second that ticked by. A slight static shock rippled across the exterior. He reached out, and once his fingertips touched the metal skin, he felt the sharp pinch from the energy.
Amprage’s head tilted towards him. The golem’s eyes glowed with yellow life. Pepper was fixated on the creature, which now gazed at him with the same look he had seen in Meg’s eyes. The two stared each other down until finally, as if an instinctual feeling within his soul had awoken, he knew he had a familiar.
“Please tell me my name.” A monotonous voice softly spoke from the golem.
“Your name is Amprage.”
“Name registration complete. What is your name?”
“I’m Pepper Walker. I am also known as Pep or P-Dub.”
“Bonded name registration complete. Do you have a voice and style preference?”
Pepper raised his head slightly as he thought about the question. His mind was a blank and he didn’t have a single clue what to choose. It wasn’t something he had ever considered, and in that moment, he turned to the first thing that popped into his head.
The holoscreen was playing, and at that very moment he heard a vibrant but raspy voice come over the screen. It was confident, strong, and domineering yet genuine and full of soul—all the qualities he wanted to have by his side.
“Can you adopt that voice?” he asked.
“Analyzing.” There was a four-second pause before Amprage continued. “Adopting the voice of American actor Keith David. System resetting.”
Another few seconds and the blue and yellow light faded out and then flashed back on. Amprage began to twist and move with life. Pepper was in shock as his old creation turned its head towards him and, with its newly adopted voice, said “Hello, Pepper. It’s nice to meet you.”