Uh…what the hell?

Gus felt an odd feeling of deja vu after hearing the robotic voice that was Nova. While not as expressive nor as majestic as Syuna was, Nova had a familiar charm in its machinelike feminine speech. Yet something was off…

* < | Relaying Instructions… | > *

Hey, hey, wait a minute! You haven’t explained anything yet! Like…who are you?

* < | Priority Objective: Grab the Key. | > *

Hey, stop ignoring me! Just give me a second, will you?

* < | Five Seconds Remaining… | > *

Remaining of what—

Ting.

All of a sudden, what sounded like a loud timer echoed in Gus’s head as if to signify that one second had already passed. Not wanting to find out what would happen after five seconds, Gus gave up on asking questions to Nova and immediately grabbed the key from the book.

Okay, okay! I did it.

Holding the strange purple gem key in his hands, Gus was surprised to find that it weighed a lot heavier than he thought it would.

Now what do I do with it?

As if to answer his question, the mystical key exploded into a small fire of blue flames. Fading away, the key disappeared in the fire and was soon followed by the flame itself as if both had never existed.

* < | Syuna’s Duplicate Key was added to Gus’s Core. | > *

…what?

Too many strange things had been happening to Gus lately, but never did he think he would have to worry about too many strange things entering him too.

What did you just do to me!?

Yet the strange voice did not respond. Whether it didn’t want to or it couldn’t, Gus did not know.

Damn it! Do I have to worry about a key floating around inside me now? It’s not going to damage my insides…will it?

Gus nervously patted his chest, checking if anything felt different. When nothing happened, he then quickly prepared himself for the worst and connected to his flames.

Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, don’t kill—oh?

Feeling the inner flames inside him, Gus noticed that there was a strange spark of light farther away from what he thought was his core. It was a mesmerizing scene, with the flames dwarfing the tiny spark of light while the spark in turn circled the fire like a planet does to a sun. The darkness inside Gus that had always surrounded his core seemed to delicately move around the spark, its ripples eerily similar to the Abyss that had once haunted Gus.

Syuna did say that the Abyss was my unconscious world…could the darkness around the core actually be the Abyss itself?

Preoccupied with the new feeling of discovery, Gus did not notice that behind him was a familiar yet haunting set of glimmering eyes that were lit up by its golden irises.

“You know it's funny…when I say I see everywhere, yes, no one seems to understand that I mean everywhere everywhere.”

Turning around in horror, Gus quickly hid the book behind his back in a desperate hope that it wouldn’t see it. Staring at the imposing lanky albino monster that was the Merchant, Gus could not manage to muster any words in front of it.

“Gosh… you’re really bad at following orders, aren’t you? Honestly, I’m so disappointed, yes, I just want to end your pathetic little life now.”

The Merchant stared at the nervous Golem in front of it for a few seconds and then looked away to the balcony where the humans could be heard from below. It then turned back, and let out a tired sigh.

“Well, I did warn you.”

Before Gus could react, a pair of stone chains sprouted from the floor and latched onto each of the golem’s limbs, holding Gus spread out in a star-like shape. The Golem struggled to free itself, yet the stone chains held on tight as if it were made of unbreakable metal. Unable to break out of the hold, Gus realized that he could very well die at this moment if he didn’t say anything.

“W-wait! I thought you said you were going to keep me alive till you find out my creator!” Gus pleaded.

“Oh, that? That’s the funny thing. I now know, yes, who’s behind this little stunt.”

N-No…it couldn’t have!

The Merchant, however, got closer to the chained Golem and let its face contort into the nastiest snarl Gus had ever seen on the monster.

“That creator of yours, pebble, I know her. And it's all your fault that I do. That Bitch in the Stars, yes, who’s always been so apathetic to everything. To think she would now be so brazen as to mess with my own domain. And for what purpose? To create…this?”

The Merchant violently grasped onto what had been the neck of the chained Golem with its long ugly hands and stared deeply into the golem’s eyes.

“Pathetic.”

Letting go of its grip, the Merchant turned away from the golem to face the oculus in the ceiling. After a moment of silence, it then let out a soft chuckle and finally spoke in a voice that Gus could hardly recognize.

“Why play these games, Syuna? Why interfere now, yes, when you have always remained silent?”

The Merchant remained quiet after that, leaving the Golem to its own thoughts of death.

I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I might actually really die!

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

No matter how much he struggled, the chains never budged. It was like he was trapped in a web, staring down the spider who was now in control of his life.

“You wanna know something, Golem?”

The Merchant finally turned back to Gus, its hideous face no longer smiling. Instead, it only looked resigned.

“These are the last trials I will be doing. This planet, yes, it’s the last one.”

A white tentacle covered in barnacle-like holes slowly crawled out of the brown trenchcoat of the Merchant, slithering towards the Golem.

“After that…well things will go to shit, yes, I’ll tell you that Golem.”

The tentacle reached towards Gus’s struggling leg, slithering around it like a large snake.

“These humans…I’m unsure if any will survive for what is to come, yes, but I do know one thing.”

The tentacle started to tighten with great strength the more it wrapped around the Golem upwards. Gus could hear cracks in the rocky layer that was his body.

“Killing you would be mercy.”

The Merchant stared into Gus’s hollow eyes one more time and opened its jaw to a 90-degree angle. As more barnacle-covered tentacles slithered out of the brown trenchcoat, the Merchant let loose its disgustingly long tongue to the frey of snake-like appendages that were assaulting Gus. The golem could only squirm in retaliation, but it never was enough. The only saving grace for Gus was that his limited sense of touch made the experience less comfortable than it could have been for a human.

Finally, the Merchant spoke despite its contorted mouth, its words now like hisses from a demon.

“Tell me one thing, Gus. Do you wish to live and suffer, yes, unimaginable horrors…or die a painless death?”

“L-Live!” The Golem yelled.

“Oh? A quick answer. Maybe I wasn’t convincing enough? Then, allow me to show you, yes, why death will be better than the hopeless future in store for you.”

The Merchant raised one of its hideous fingers and pressed it on the golem’s chest. At first, nothing happened when it touched. That was the case, however, until Gus suddenly saw a small spark of a familiar blue flame appear on the Merchant’s fingers.

That’s not good…

“I may not be as talented at reading the future as that obnoxious Syuna is, yes, but I can at least pull off a trick like this.”

The Merchant let out one last grin, its hideous elongated teeth almost crackling in joy for the pain Gus will suffer.

“Sweet dreams…”

Gus suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion blacken his vision, the core inside him turning as small as an ember.

* < | Preparing necessary protection procedures. | > *

You…b-better…b—-

And then Gus fell asleep.

***

A terrible unintelligent scream echoed across the library in what sounded like it came from hell itself. The scream was full of suffering and pain as if the owner of it was dying a horrific death. The source of this noise was the unlucky Gus, who had suddenly awakened back in the chains on the fifth floor of the library in revolting pain. The chains finally shingled from the Golem that was violently thrashing its body against them, not caring at all about the damage it was doing to its body.

K-Kill me! Please, kill me!

An unimaginable pain continued to persist in his consciousness as the visions of the future were still scraping at what was left of his mentality. It was too horrible for the Golem to bear. He needed to die! He needed to forget!

“K-kiiii…..” a voice that sounded like Gus’s emerged from the inferno of screams, pleading for an end to its existence.

“Say that one more time, yes, Golem?”

The Merchant who had already returned their body to normal watched over the golem with a devious grin on its face.

“Llll me…..” the golem in pain mustered once again with all its might.

“I couldn’t hear you, yes, may you repeat that?”

The Merchant’s grin widened with mad glee as if it was enjoying the golem’s suffering.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Please just kill me!

Gus had enough of living. The future he witnessed was one so hopeless and terrible that the golem could only plead for death.

* < | Activating Trauma Response Protection. | > *

Shut up! I need to die!

* < | Burying Memories… | > *

To cope with a terrible reality, the human brain has come up with many different ways to handle trauma. One of which is to bury the painful memory in the subconscious. Yet a Golem with perfect memory would have had no way to handle forgetting such information. Well, that was the case until Nova was installed.

* < | Completed. | > *

Suddenly the horrible pain that was gnawing at Gus’s consciousness slowly faded away into his subconscious world, the Abyss. The vile dark world consumed the horrible memory, its ripples surrounding the trauma like a hungry fiend as it digested the visions.

While the pain of the experience did not go away for Gus, the terrible future that was endlessly repeating in his head in picture-perfect quality had finally been subdued.

By the stars….what was that?

Gaining control of his thoughts, Gus put a stop to the seizure assaulting his body and moved his head to face the Merchant. A flurry of thoughts raced in his mind, all trying to comprehend and react to what he had witnessed.

Maybe death is the better option. That vision…while I don’t remember it clearly, I know the future will be a terrible one.

The scars in Gus’s mind had not healed from the vision, the pain still lingering in different shapes and forms as it pressed down on his desire to live.

Yet I have a stronger desire than that.

“So Golem…life or death? Which do you choose?”

The Merchant watched the golem who had suddenly stopped thrashing with indiscernible eyes. Gus could not tell what it was thinking by doing this, but it didn’t matter much to him. All Gus wanted to do was wipe that bastard’s grin off its face.

“I’m…I’m going to live, asshole! I must know the Truth! And nothing is going to stop me from doing that, not you or those sickening visions. I don’t care if it's hell that I must descend, but I will find that answer!” Gus triumphantly yelled.

The Merchant’s grin quickly faded from the Golem’s words as a frown resumed its place.

“My…so you choose to live ever after all that.”

The chains that were holding Gus suddenly crumpled and faded into dust, letting go of the golem. Gus fell face forward onto the ground with a loud slam in front of the Merchant, yet quickly turned his head upwards in defiance to face the being.

“Fine, then live, Gus. Live as a pitiable slave, yes, as my Golem. A merchant will always honor their deal, but that doesn’t mean I will be generous.”

The Merchant let out a sigh as it stared at Gus one last before turning away. As it slowly walked away with its loud boots, the Merchant began to fade into sparks of light as it said one last reminder.

“Only death will you ever be free, Gus. I gave you a chance, yes, for that freedom. Don’t complain now if you don’t like the consequences of your choice.”

And then it was gone.

Continue thinking that way, you arrogant demon.

Gus felt the spark of light that was his key floating around his core of flames. The abyss that once surrounded the key no longer let out delicate ripples, but more erratic ones. Moving his attention away from his insides, Gus got up and moved slowly towards the staircase down. As he descended, Gus ignored the familiar warnings and pain that had resumed to flood his mind as he left the fifth floor. Only one desire burned brightly in his head.

I swear that no matter what, I will escape from this prison!

But to do that, Gus would need to resume his duty as a Trial Golem of the Trial of Knowledge. Making his way down to the first floor, Gus stared at the worried and confused humans who were staring right back at the golem. He noticed the two familiar faces in the crowd that were Marco and Cricket, both showing signs of relief and worry.

What disasters will come for them, Gus did not know.

That future of misery, I’ll have to prepare. I must be ready this time. Just try me, fate! I have thicker skin than you might think.