Standing in front of Gus was a group of about thirty humans, all of varying sizes, ethnicities, ages, and genders. And most importantly, ones who aren’t blurry nor made of shadows, but actual, real humans! Gus wanted to stand up immediately and hug one of them just out of pure excitement!

Am I still dreaming?

Yet before Gus could readjust to the new reality in front of him, he felt something hit his face.

Clunk.

What was that?

Looking down, Gus saw that a book had been thrown at his face.

Why was a book—

“Watch out, that statue is moving!” One of the humans yelled.

It was only then that Gus realized that the group of humans were visibly frightened of him, with those in the front wearing a wary and hostile face while those in the back were cowering in fear. Only the leader of the humans, the one who had just yelled the warning, was still maintaining his calm demeanor.

Um, Syuna? What is going on?

No response came.

Ah right, still daytime.

“What is that thing?” One of the other humans closer to the front asked.

I’m a friendly golem! I mean no harm!

“It's a monster! An actual living monster!” A frightened young woman in the back yelled.

The standoff between humans and golem continued without a move.

Oh right, I need to speak so they can actually hear me.

When Gus had begun studying on the first floor of the library back in the past, he had realized that his lack of vocal cords would inhibit his attempts at communication with humans. But by using the flames within his core, he was able to learn how to manipulate a part of fire to create a variety of sounds. Applying Syuna’s teaching of using desire to move, he was soon able to replicate noises similar to what is created by the human vocal cord. All it needed then was a bunch of practice, and bam, Gus was now a talking Golem. That was…if not for the fact that Gus had severely neglected his practice in human speech, preferring to just communicate with Syuna through thoughts.

“Hugh…” a raspy voice creeped out from his core.

The humans stepped back, fearful of the growl that came out of the stone monster in front of them. Gus decided to take this moment to stand, doing so only in slow movements to not scare the humans more. Of course, his attempts had failed to soothe the humans, only becoming more frightened as they realized how giant the golem was to them.

“Maybe…maybe we shouldn’t have thrown that book,” a nervous young man in the front whimpered.

“Helllllllllll…” Gus continued in frustration, getting closer to the human speech he had once tirelessly practiced.

“Oh god, we’ve angered a demon!” a younger girl in the group shrieked.

“Nooo…mo…ron,” Gus let out finally, his first words showing his displeasure in this misunderstanding.

To show that he was friendly, Gus put his hands up in the air, a behavior he learned that humans did to show they are not hostile. As if aware of his intentions, the lead human put his hands up to stop the group. With the tensions somewhat easing, Gus noticed the leader was a strikingly handsome tan young man with dark brown hair. The man’s status was apparent compared to the rest of the humans, as unlike the others who were dressed in rough attire built for exploring, the leader wore an elegantly tailored suit with a golden cross necklace around his neck.

“Golem, are you able to talk?” The leader asked cautiously, still keeping his hand raised as if he were shielding his group.

“...yes, I c-c-can,” Gus answered.

Maybe it was the tone of Gus’s voice, which came out quiet and gentle despite the rough manner, or maybe it was the uncertainty that he showed that seemed almost human, but whatever it was, the group became calm at Gus’s response. Marco sighed, and lowered his arm that had once shielded the group. Approaching the golem, Marco copied the Golem’s actions, raising his arms up to show he meant no harm.

“Friend, would it be safe to assume you are not hostile towards us?”

“Y-yes…is it safe…to assume you are not hostile?” Gus said.

“Yes, we are merely just lost within this area. Well, more like trapped. That is actually why I wanted to ask you some questions,” the leader continued in a courteous yet hesitant fashion, still cautious of angering the golem, “ if it’s okay with you, would you mind starting with names? It is human custom for such introductions, but not something you need to follow if it upsets you.”

“S-sure…I’ll share.” Gus said, almost intimidated by the sheer confidence of the human. If it wasn’t for the scared group of humans still shivering behind the smoothtalker, Gus would have thought he was being deceived by a demon.

“Wonderful, I’ll start first. My name is Marco Reyes, a human who has come from the surface and the people behind me are the exploration team that I command. Do you have a name that we can call you by?”

“Gus,” the giant golem said in return.

“Gus, a familiar name, has a nice ring to it. Alright than Gus, do you mind answering if you know what this god-awful place is about?” Marco asked in a tone that expressed much unpleasantry.

Wow, he’s more blunt than he appears .

Unaware of the explorers' situation, Gus couldn’t help but take Marco’s comment as an insult to his abode. As the giant stone golem slumped in disappointment, an older member of the group faked a cough as if to draw Marco to the realization that his comment might have offended the stone human-like monster.

“Oh, no I don’t mean this lovely library, god no. You must do a good job maintaining all these…bookshelves, yeah because it's absolutely spotless,” Marco stammered, “I just meant this overall place, you know?”

“Overall?” Gus asked, quickly forgetting about the prior insult .

What does this human mean overall? For all Gus knew, the rotunda multi-floor building that is the library was all he knew about his home underground. It was where Gus ate, slept, read, practiced, and lived in all of his five years of life as a golem. But now this human named Marco is telling him that there was more outside than above the ground? While Gus knew that there were doors leading to the library (ones standing at about 15 feet tall), he was always told by Syuna that they did not work and that there was nothing past them. That the library would be later expanded upon at a future unknown date.

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And yet, Gus now noticed that those same large stone doors were now opened, leading to a darkened hallway he never knew existed.

Syuna, did you build all this without telling me as a surprise?

Still, no response from Syuna came, for it was still daylight outside.

“Yes, overall,” Marco interrupted, “We were exploring these recently discovered ruins yet at a certain point we became trapped. This labyrinth was booby-trapped to high hell, yet luckily we brought some experts who knew how to spot them and managed to track forward with the help of some tools we had.”

Booby traps? Labyrinth? What is this guy talking about?

“W-was anyone… hurt?” Gus asked, realizing that to these fleshy humans, an injury could spell the end for them.

“No one died, but some members were injured. Nothing life-threatening but we still need to get them out of here soon.”

Looking around, Gus noticed that some humans who were cowering in the back had cuts and blood covering their bodies, with some having bloody bandages wrapped around their wounds.

“So I want to get to the point if that’s alright with you, Gus,” Marco lingered.

“Sure,” the golem answered, unsure of what would be said next.

“What I wanted to ask is, well, are you the owner of this place?”

Owner? Gus was many things, but an owner he was not. A resident sure, but would a child living under his parent’s roof be considered an owner?

“No…I am…a resident.”

“Oh, then would you know the owner of this abode by any chance?”

“Yes, she is…” Gus was about to say but then paused.

What would convince these humans that Syuna actually existed? If he said she was just a star, they most likely wouldn’t understand. No, a human concept was needed.

“Mother. She is…my mother,” Gus blurted.

“What? You have a mother?” Marco asked in disbelief.

Maybe I should have just said the actual description first.

“Well…yes, but not normal. She is, well, a star.”

Silence from everyone. Marco stared at Gus as if he was pulling his leg, but without any tell on Gus’s stone motionless face, all he could assume was that the golem was telling the truth.

“Alright. Sure. Your mom’s a star, makes sense,” Marco accepted.

If Gus could blush, his face would be bright red in shame after hearing Marco’s response to his confession.

“Do you…mind me asking what you saw outside…those doors,” Gus asked, deciding to change the subject.

Marco hesitated to explain, wondering what words should be said to make the stone golem in front of him understand. But that was when another voice jumped in.

“You don’t know?” a younger woman stepped forward, someone who used to be a part of a group in the back that couldn’t even look Gus in the eye. “We are inside of the recently discovered ancient ruins that were found in America, it's a big sensation back with humans from where we came. But when our team went in to explore, we were trapped inside and forced to make our way through dangerous traps and rooms until we ended up in a giant hallway. It contained many doors, with your library being the room behind just one of those four doors. Though that's about it.”

The younger woman, presumably in her early twenties, had brown hair with freckles, wearing glasses that screamed the definition of a word Gus found rather fitting. Nerd.

“What…?” Gus finally responded after gazing at this specific nerd.

“Eek, I mean, um…Hello? Sorry? Don’t hurt me, please! I’m just a student with m-my professor, yes, my name is uh, Primis.,” Primis said in fear after realizing who she was talking to, “all I wanted to do was just help out!”

Seeing Primis’s fear, an older woman with gray hair and sleek glasses stepped out from the crowd towards Primis in a protective manner. Gus could tell she was the professor Primis previously mentioned by how Primis treated the lady.

“Please have mercy on her, Gus. She doesn’t mean to be rude, she is simply just… awkward,” the professor begged.

“No that's…I just wanted to know what she meant that this place…was just one of four rooms,” Gus explained, his speech quickly growing better as he is forced to clear misunderstandings upon misunderstandings.

The group stood in silence, unsure emotions appearing on their faces. It was only after a few seconds, however, that one of them stepped up again to explain, the leader showing why he was in command.

“I think that’s when I should probably step in to explain,” Marco volunteered, “back in the giant hallway, we came across four large doors, each a different color and a unique plaque on top that told of one different trait. Not having much of a choice, we decided to advance into one of the doors hoping to find an exit. The first door we decided to enter was a dark blue door that led us here in the library. The door opened with ease with just a slight push despite its size and weight. The only other thing we know about these doors is that each one had a word written on each plaque above. This one had the word knowledge written on it while the three other ones were a yellow door titled collaboration, a green door titled resilience, and lastly, a crimson door titled sacrifice.”

The group fell silent among the last mention, as if the mere mention of the door was enough to scare them silent. Gus himself was also quiet, unsure of what to make of this revelation that there were more rooms out in that hallway that were just like his.

“So with that, we would like to request something of you,” Marco asked, his true intentions now showing.

“Let me guess…you want my help to escape this place?” Gus summarized.

“Yes.”

I had a feeling it was going to come to this when I heard they were trapped. The question is how am I going to help them? I can’t really show them a way out, it's just books and that oculus in the ceiling here. The only way back out is back where they came from. Yet even then…even then I should still help them. This was what I dreamed of doing anyways, being friendly with the humans that I once was.

“I’ll…help.”

The group erupted in smiles and small cheers, happy that the mighty golem they were once so afraid of is now on their side. In each of their eyes, hope could be seen, radiating brighter as their chances of escape grew. Gus was ecstatic, he felt like a hero he had always read about. Wanting to feel this emotion more, he immediately jumped at his chance to help the humans further by giving them more to cheer for.

“I can ask go my mother for a way out… once it's night time however…but right now, I can keep you safe, I am quiet strong you see, not much can even challenge—”

Clack.

Hm?

Click Clack Click Clack, Clumpf.

Interrupting the happy scene, loud footsteps began to heavily descend down from the fifth level of the library, rapidly approaching down the stairs. In a grand yet human like manner, the footsteps got closer to the group with each footstep making a deafening noise. Yet throughout it all, the source of the noise remained unseen to all eyes, only darkness looming above in the upper floors.

“What’s going on?!” a younger man in the group screamed, turning to the golem.

“Was there anyone else with you in this room?” Marco asked, also turning to Gus.

“No one… other than Syuna, but she had never done this before.”

Click Clack Click Clack, Clumpf.

Click Clack Click Clack, Clumpf.

Click Clack Click Clack, Clumpf.

And then it stopped. The noise had approached the last of the stairs, stopping right before it appeared in view to the humans and golem.

“…hello?” Marco nervously called out to the lurking shadow.

At first, nothing responded. There was just silence, a nerve racking and intense silence that stretched too long for the humans weak of heart. And then finally, a noise came.

“…and just like that, yes, the last has come.”

That voice! It’s like Syuna’s but…twisted. Like it was twisted into something worse. Much worse!

Before the group could even respond to the mysterious words from the shadows, a deep sniff could be heard coming from the unknown entity, and then, a loud exhale.

“AHHHH…YET SUCH DAYS MAKE MY VERY EXISTENCE BOIL! YES, HOW TERRIFIC!”

A boot, or what at least looked like one, took the first step out of the shadows, inviting the guests to gaze.

“But such days are only so exciting, yes, when shared with others. Wouldn’t you agree my dear little challengers.”

And with that, the revealment of the true host of the library had commenced.