The attack from the golems was too overwhelming. Even with the supernatural weapons given to each of the humans, they struggled under the might of the inhabitants of the gray desert, both in the front and back. Standing in the forefront, Bruno, who was in charge of blocking with his great shield, was sent flying backward into the dune at high speeds by the leader golem despite his P.G.R.’s uncanny ability to absorb shock. Another man who wielded a hoplite shield was toppled over by one of the leader's minions and was then quickly pinned down on the floor. The sound of his throat being torn open by the monster’s sharp fangs made the humans wince and falter in their determination.

Meanwhile, in the back, the sand aberrations lunged at the humans who had taken to surrounding the wagon in a circular defense formation. Marco’s flintlock could be heard firing loud and smoky shots, landing devastating blows at the necks of each of the sand golems, ending one of them already. Yet even then, Cricket could only watch with open and fearful eyes as the smell of death increased as the seconds went by.

“Fight on! Aim for their necks! Swing, shoot, stab, or punch! Just kill these sons of bitches!” Marco yelled as he reloaded his painfully slow pistol with another round.

But even with the countless blows from the humans’ P.G.R.s, the golems continued their relentless attack as their wounds regenerated. Only a precise shot from Marco’s flintlock had the power to pierce the necks of the sand golems, but the reload was too cumbersome for an efficient finisher.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it…please just stay safe, Cricket!’ Marco selfishly thought, too preoccupied to look behind for the defenseless woman.

Yet at that moment, an opening was created in the defense formation as a spear-wielding human had their guard passed and was then promptly sacked by two of the much more powerful golems. With a hole in their formation, the remaining defenders lost their focus and positioning, and two more humans were grappled and torn apart by the fangs of the golems. Marco fired his pistol once more, destroying another of those crabs latching on the necks of the golems, but it was too late.

A lone sand golem ran past the human defenders, charging towards the front of the wagon that contained the five injured humans as well as Cricket. With a mad leap, the golem made of sand landed with a loud thud on the front of the gray wooden wagon. Before any of the humans could react, the golem immediately used one of its feet to stomp on the head of an unconscious woman who was lying on the floor, squashing her skull and brain as if it were a pumpkin. Then, using the same woman’s head as ground to push off, lunged towards a bleeding man’s face and sunk its fangs into his soft flesh. Finally able to react, Ernie turned with his large crossbow and launched a steel bolt at the golem’s exposed neck. The golem wobbled from the blow and fell over on the ground as their neck was severely damaged.

“Is it dead?” Ernie asked hesitantly, not wanting to be distracted by just one corpse for too long.

“I’m…not sure,” Cricket responded with uncertainty.

But before they could make a decision, the corpse suddenly threw its body at Ernie in a furious wrath. Cricket watched with open eyes as the massive fangs of the monster closed towards the crippled man. The sound of bones crunching drummed in her ears as her body instinctively retreated backward. All five of Cricket’s senses were overwhelmed by the horrific scene. The sound of Ernie’s scream and the golem’s munching, the sight of torn flesh and human agony, the touch of splattered blood and bone, the familiar stench of death that smelled like a heavy mix of rot and blood, and lastly, the taste of her own blood as she bit her tongue in fear and shock while she fell from the wagon onto the soft ashen sand below.

‘No, no, no, no, no! Not like this, not when I’m so close!’ Cricket pleaded internally.

Looking up from the sand she fell face first on, the humans were slowly falling one by one to the golems. The injured on the wagon were all dead, with the last one being currently ripped to pieces by the golem that she had escaped from. It was a disaster in the back, and the humans who were in the front weren’t faring any better. By now, ten of the twenty-six humans had fallen, and if something didn’t change it would soon be all of them. The stench of coming death had reached its peak.

Suddenly, Cricket’s heart began to pound loudly, sweat rolled down her head in a frenzy, her body trembled from a foreign chill, and an intense heat rose within her skull. Coughing a wild fit, Cricket slowly crawled away from the bloody wagon and navigated with her weakened and frail body across the battlefield.

‘Must… escape…its coming…’

Resisting a mysterious invisible weight that made her movements drag, Cricket continued to crawl away from the wagon as her eyesight became blurry and her brain was overcome with dizziness. The smell of rot and death was reaching its climax, and that meant only one thing to Cricket.

It would arrive.

Suddenly, a shiver crept through her body, and her movement stopped. With the last of her strength, the frail woman looked up to see that she had left the battlefield where the humans and golems were fighting, and managed to have escaped it unscathed. But such a realization of the miracle was short-lived, as a far more distressing sight emerged in the distance. Walking over a dune in the distance with slow and methodical steps, a darkened silhouette emerged.

‘You…’

Dressed in black robes, a covered skeleton slowly walked towards the battlefield with its face hidden in pure darkness. Across its dark robe lay accessories such as a necklace and bracelet made of rotted flowers. In its hands was an old, rickety, large scythe that was big enough for the Reaper to use as a trekking pole.

‘Motherfucker…’

Cricket felt her body wrench in pain after looking at the hooded skeleton, her disease flaring with each step the Reaper took. Yet she could not remove her eyes from the coming being. She had seen the Reaper a few times before, but only in her dreams and nightmares had she gazed upon it. But now, with the stench of death so poignant around her, she could finally witness the Reaper in the real world.

‘Stay back…I’m not…done yet…’

Despite her wishes, however, she was unable to move her body away. As the Reaper approached, Cricket felt herself sink into the sand more as her muscles gave out. But even then, she still did not look away from the being. For it was destined death, or rather, a servant of it that had haunted her throughout her life. And her hatred of it ran deep.

Glaring at the approaching Reaper, time slowed down for Cricket as her senses became dim and disorientated. The battlefield once so overwhelming was drowned from the loud ringing in her head. It was as if life and death were meaningless in front of the Reaper.

‘St….away.’

With her thoughts turning cloudy, Cricket could barely hold onto consciousness as the Reaper was only a few feet away from her. A deep exhaustion spread through her body and mind, and the fear and anger she felt towards the being slowly disappeared. When the reaper got close enough to hover over her, she felt everything turn dark as her vision gave away.

‘Oh…I’m going to die.’

But then…the Reaper stopped. Instead of plucking her soul and ending her life, the ghastly skeleton for some reason remained only still, choosing to loosen the pressure it was emitting prior on her.

Feeling her vision return, Cricket forced her head to move up one last time to see what made the Reaper stop. What she saw surprised her. Despite being unable to see what is under the hood of the black cloak, Cricket could tell from its body language that the Reaper almost seemed disturbed, losing its prior methodical confidence. Releasing one of its bony hands from the scythe, the Reaper raised it slowly towards a faraway direction. Its skeleton hand curled all but one of its bony fingers, letting only its index finger remain straight as it pointed behind Cricket. A slow, hideous hiss emerged from under the black cloak as if the Reaper was voicing its displeasure upon the sight.

‘What…?’

With almost no strength left in her body, Cricket could only slightly turn her body and neck enough to allow her peripheral view to follow the Reaper’s finger. What she saw astonished her.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Being raised into the air, the leader of the attacking sand golems was turned on its side as it struggled in the clutch of a much larger predator. The three-eyed gray aberration attempts to free itself were hopeless, however. It was only merely a second later that its body was torn in half from the neck and waist. Sand sprayed into the sky creating a cloud of sand, and from it, a much larger figure appeared holding the alien neck crab in its hand.

It was Gus the Golem. The familiar, kind-hearted stone trial golem that tried so desperately to keep them alive. And now, he was furious.

The Reaper stared at Gus for some moments longer, its body shuddering before returning its bony hand to the scythe. It then retreated into the desert, disappearing before Cricket could look back to see where it had gone. Destined Death was chased away that day, and the implications of what that meant were still unclear for Cricket. Yet she did not have the energy to care to find out. Only relief resided in her now as she watched the mighty stone golem.

***

How dare they…how dare they! You dare try to take away more from me!

Gus had been traversing across the desert when he suddenly heard a loud gunshot echo across the desert from far away. Realizing that a fight must have broken out, Gus ran towards the scene, yet he had arrived too late. There were too many casualties among the humans, and the ones remaining were either picking up too many injuries or a moment away from dying.

Luckily, the group of attackers followed a similar lineup of Domineers that Gus had experienced once before, so he knew to target the three-eyed leader in the back. Yet he had to finish off the lead monster fast, or else more humans would fall by the time he was done fighting it. So Gus decided to implement a new technique he had practiced with his flames before when he had been studying mechanical waves. He would try to disguise the noise of his movement by emitting a sound wave with the same amplitude as his steps but with an inverted phase, and sneak behind the lead domineer. In his last fight, Gus noted that the domineers did not have the same extended sense of view he did because they lacked the soul flames that empowered him, meaning they could be liable to sneak attacks. Unfortunately, Gus did not have enough experience in creating such fine-tuned sound waves through his flames and with only theory to go by, ended up failing in his first proper use of it against another being. Still, it worked well enough to get Gus close enough to the lead sand aberration. With enough space to charge at it, Gus took a lunge and grappled the lesser sand golem before it could fully react. After overpowering it, Gus raised the three-eyed golem into the air and ripped the creature apart from neck to waist.

Oh, how I wish you felt pain.

From there, Gus charged towards the rest of the now disorientated golems with the Domineer still in his hands. With a strong clench, the neck crab was squashed into loose sand in Gus’s grasp right before he used that same hand to punch through the throat of another minion Domineer. Throughout this dance of furious violence, Nova consumed the sand Domineers’ existences and hummed the same words as Gus hunted the remaining golems with the help of the humans. Not a word was said during this alliance against the desert inhabitants, but Gus could feel the humans look at him with new eyes of appreciation and glee. Such a feeling made him feel strangely happy. This was the first time Gus felt he could truly be proud of his actions.

* < | Existence Consumed… | > *

Soon the battle came to a finish. As Gus finished the last of the domineers, he noticed the grizzly sight that the human cohort had become. It was especially apparent at the end of the fight when most of the humans came to thank him after recovering their breaths. The number of humans had massively dwindled. When he had last been with them, there were twenty-eight of them, yet now there stood only eleven, with some members looking heavily injured.

But as fate would have it, the humans Gus had gotten to know more were among the living. Laura, the woman with a broken arm prior to even entering the first trial, was tending to Bruno who appeared to have joined her in injury from having to defend against the Domineers with the massive greatshield of his. Richard, the bald man with a large beard, was cleaning up a wound on his arm from the fangs of a sand golem. Neve, the vengeful professor of Primis, had already put away her P.G.R. and was looking at Gus with a complicated look. There was another large man named Doyle who stoically stood watch over the wagon despite being littered with cuts over his muscles. There was also Ronald, the slim young man with tired-looking eyes who was currently in the process of using his P.G.R. to try and save three particularly very injured members of the group. Among the injured was Jack, who was unconscious with a pale face as his chest was bleeding profusely from a fang wound. Larry was watching closely with worried eyes as Ronald tried healing Jack with his P.G.R. that involved using the first-aid kits contents in a step-by-step process.

But to Gus, these were just familiar faces. Who he truly wanted to see were the two friendly and kind faces of Marco and Cricket. Yet neither seemed to be among the living humans around the wagon. A feeling of dread began to grow within him.

No…it can’t be.

Despite Gus seeing Marco fighting with him when he had first joined the fight against the golems, the taciturn tan man had seemingly disappeared when the fight neared its end. Fearing the worst, Gus made his way to the corpses of the humans to look at their faces. The sight, however, was gnarly. Flesh and bone were dispersed as the corpses were either mangled or ripped to pieces. It was as if a wild pack of bears had charged through the caravan, trampling or tearing apart all those too weak to resist. While Gus did not know these humans as well to be devastated by their loss, the sight was still depressing to the golem who had overheard their conversations and life during the months they spent together.

It’s just unfair…

Feeling grief and guilt gnaw his mind, Gus continued his search for the pair until he was stopped by Larry, who had come over to help identify the bodies after Jack had recovered enough to live.

“Hey um…Gus? If you're searching for the boss and that Cricket girl, you’ll find them pas that dune over there. I saw the girl crawl over there during the battle, but I’m not sure how well she is doing so—”

But before he could finish, Gus had already left in a hurry towards the dune.

“Thanks, Larry!” Gus loudly exclaimed from afar, already climbing the dune.

“Sure…yeah, no problem. Thank you too,” Larry said with a soft smile to himself before turning back to identifying the bodies on the ground.

With each step up the sandy hill, Gus’s thoughts were in a flurry of both distress and relief.

Is she okay? Why did Cricket crawl over here during the battle? Could she be dying? And what about Marco? He should be alright…but who knows? Something could have happened.

Yet his thoughts were unfounded. Arriving on the top of the dune, Gus witnessed Marco holding a sleeping Cricket in his arms. While the unconscious frail woman looked unhealthy and pale, she was otherwise fine with no wounds or life-threatening conditions. She was simply sleeping peacefully in the arms of Marco who was still adorning his suit even in the desert. Walking towards the pair, Marco looked up and gave Gus an uncharacteristic smile.

“Thank you, Gus. We’re…fine here, she just needs some rest,” the once confident leader let out in a vulnerable voice.

Despite his words, however, Marco held onto Cricket tight as if he was afraid of her disappearing.

How nice…I wish one day I could experience something like that.

Yet as a golem with a human mind, he was doomed to forever be alone. There was simply no one patient or sane enough out there that would be in a romantic relationship with him.

Wait…why am I even thinking about this right now? I’m in a goddamn magical desert filled with monsters that want to kill me, why am I thinking of finding love? It seems these humans are rubbing off on me more than I thought…

Taking a seat next to the pair, Gus looked in silence at the gray storms above. It was quiet now, but soon the humans would have to adventure again forward. Gus already resolved himself to protect them for the rest of the journey, but he was unsure if he had the strength to do so. The gray tall fortress was still some days away, and the closer they got to it, the more of the desert inhabitants they would have to fight.

Can I really do this?

Gus was unsure. But the sight of the pair of humans next to him gave him a strange determination he never once thought he had. It was as if he would give anything to ensure their safety, to protect them.

Is this…what humans call friends?

But Gus knew such a thing wasn’t possible. Not when he is still a trial golem that could potentially be ordered to kill them. Yet strangely, in this gray world, Gus felt as if it was possible. It was a glimpse of freedom that he had never once experienced. And maybe…there would come a day when he could be his own person too. Such hope felt exciting to picture.

I wish to be…more.

Gus was already resolute on his goal of surviving and escaping the Merchant’s hold over him. But now…he felt like he should have a new goal to achieve

I want to see these humans survive…

The goal of being not only free but proud of himself. To be that hero he once dreamed of being. Maybe it was an unrealistic dream, but that feeling of saving the humans and seeing their appreciation lit a flame in Gus’s already burning heart.

Maybe…I can be greedy here.

Suddenly, the Gray world of ash no longer looked as threatening. Here in this desert, Gus could feed without guilt on the monsters that lurk in the sands. Gus could act as he pleases without being commanded by the Merchant and he wouldn’t have to worry about killing any humans until they return. It was like paradise for the down-bad golem.

Perhaps…I might like it here.

The flames within Gus rustled with a new intensity and resolve. The once hollow and unmoving mouth of Gus twitched ever so slightly, the first emote his face had ever shown.

Better make the most of it.