Chapter 85: Unpleasant Visitor
/"Hmm, yes, I enjoy dirt as well, fellow dwarves."
That is how I got my ass thrown out of a city once. Hah! Totally worth it. See, if I cannot even openly admit my fascination for dirt with dwarves, then who would understand. Us golems, we have it hard. There are none other than us who can relate to the fascination we have with the underground.
See, other people just see it as "dirty", just because it's dirt, or "gross", simply because you might be surrounded by worms, and maggots, and maybe giant killer ants... NOT THE POINT! In any case, the underground is fascinating to us, especially given our intrinsic connection to it. After all, golems are much closer to the element they represent than many other kinds of spirits.
The ifrits or sylphs have it easy, you know. They spent their lives being fickle, dancing around with whoever they please and roaming the world as they wish. For us golems, that is much harder. Our society is very strictly hierarchical. The lower down in the earth you were born, the more say you have.
Of course, that is but a simple breakdown. A golem's status is decided by many other factors as well, such as their diet, their knowledge, their ability to delve downward on their own and so on, yet our roles are rarely shaken, and often remain the same for our entire lives. It is as such, because we are the sturdy, the old, and the unchanging. Like the face of mountains, our society changes slowly. If there is ever a big shift in our politics, we call it an earthquake, but those are as rare as a diamond washing up on a beach.
No, most golems would prefer to keep things as they are right now. With the soft ones at the bottom rung of society. I am a soft one, well was. A soft born, if you will, but that is why the dirt fascinates me. It is a material more malleable than most golems themselves, and it is what defines a soft born.
We can change. Our faces are not carved in eternity, our views not everlasting, and it has begun that we have gotten more say, allowed to truly represent golem society in the outside world. Now, some soft ones even reside on the higher rungs of the ladder, among the foundation, or, if you would care to hear of perhaps the greatest soft born to ever live, it is Mudokk of the bedrock.
As a soft born, I can only ever hope to live up to the name he has made for himself. As of right now, however, I am happily independent, leeching my freedom off his achievement that allows for golems to split from their birthplace and move to see the world. Ever since, I have been exploring, sifting through dirt on the forest floor, the mud of riverbanks, or the sand at the edge of the ocean.
I have seen rocks weathered down by time, and I have seen mountaintops lose their shape. Yet, when I look at the dirt, the mud, how it shifts and retakes new shapes, I cannot help but admire it. Compacted to provide a foundation so sturdy, it allows trees to reach for the highest tops of the sky. So full of nutrients, that it allows plants to sprout and feed those who must eat.
It supports our every step, not with the harsh unforgiveness of stone or metal, but like a soft spring, cushioning the heavy impact one would have. Dirt is malleable, and sometimes it gets blown away by the wind. Sometimes it mixes with sand, and other times with rock, yet always does it provide a way for new life to grow, and always will there be things around dirt.
Perhaps one day, if more soft born may become bedrocks, one day I would love to see the mountains of golem society round over, see its strict rules face the everchanging time, watch it shift its place and flow to fit what shape is needed. That is a sight I would give anything to see, and it is a sight I wish for more than simply seeing golems slowly wither and decay, as I think we may be doing right now.
Alas, perhaps one day./
"Soft Earth" by Olomeck of the lower crust.
- - - - - -
Some of Mercury's nights were still dreamless, certainly more than usually, yet, even when he entered the plane within his mind, it felt emptier than usual. He hadn't seen old Dreamweaver again since the day they had gifted him with more time to win the bet, and honestly, it was starting to get a little lonely at night.
Then again, it allowed him to at least spend all of his time practicing. He had been having a lot of fun at the mansion recently, and he had little time for meditation during the days. Most of the time, he would chat with the people there, or help out around the place, and occasionally he would be lazy.
He had gone to the gym with Maclroy, and had been trained half to death by her. He had helped Leon out around the house, and gone shopping for ingredients with him, though most of his help came in the kitchen, since he took pride in being a decent cook in the modern day, and his nose certainly only helped.
The rest of the time, he took walks around the place with Iris, or occasionally played a board game or two with Lucia. Otto liked watching them silently, simply sitting as he pondered their every move. Their favourite game was called "Rise", a card game all about heroes and monsters, where Lucia's ace was, funnily enough, herself. The board was split in three parts, one for the wild monsters, and the other two for the players. The wild monsters did random attacks to anyone who came near their territory, while the players could choose to fight those for resources, or attack each other and risk letting the population of monsters grow too much.
It was honestly pretty complicated given the randomness, but Mercury enjoyed it more than he maybe should. Honestly, he was more or less just waiting for the obligatory fantasy chess game to pop up, but perhaps, this wasn't quite the time yet. It would certainly come, that he was sure of.
When lunch and dinner came around, all of them gathered and ate in the main hall together. It was nice, sitting at a table with friends, and he did consider them friends by now.
Things went nicely like that for about a week or two. It was probably right around the time when Lucia would have begun to pack her bags, but it seemed as though someone else had other plans. there was a simple knock on the door, and Mercury decided to go get it. Leon had been very busy that day, and Mercury had been done with eating first. He also didn't want to send any of the people working there out when they were on breaktime.
Instead, he quickly hopped up, walked all the way over to the door, and pressed the handle down with his
"Hello, who is this?" he asked, looking up to see whoever swung by, only to get kicked in the side.
"Dirty filth, move out of my way," the intruder said, an older looking woman wearing sparkly robes and even more sparkly jewelry. Her hair was still brown and full, though streaks of silver had mixed in it, and her lightly tanned skin was not entirely spared by age either.
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"Lord Friaminth I will not-" she started to pompously yell into the room, when Mercury got back and began to put pressure on her.
"Lady," he hissed, clamping her mouth shut with all the force his mind could muster. "I recommend you watch your tongue and your feet from now on."
The woman's head turned towards him slowly, resisting the force in an attempt to talk, but Mercury simply kept her lips tightly closed.
"Now, my name is Mercury Rainfall Starlight. You may call me just Starlight. If you say filth one more time, I'll take out your tongue and eat it myself. Do we understand each other?" he said, walking closer to her. He would have floated up to be on her eye-level if he could, but sadly, that much wasn't within his power yet.
"Now, I would politely request you apologize for kicking me," he said, releasing the woman's mouth even while she still stared daggers at him.
"Beast," she muttered hatefully as soon as her lips were out of his grasp, and Mercury simply reacted.
He jumped the fucking bitch, knocking her to the floor with
"Oooooh, is violence the only thing your pathetic master has taught you?" she taunted with a sinister grin. "Go ahead, try me."
"I think you misunderstand, lady Pelaren" Zyl said, leaning against the doorframe that led to the dining room. "Mercury is neither my servant, nor hired by me. He is not even a citizen of this country, but a godseeker instead. So, unfortunately, if he were to do something, I would be entirely removed from it, and there would be no consequence to me. However, as he is my friend, he might still have the backing of both me and his guild. Do we see eye to eye?"
The man wore a bright smile as he spoke, his eyes half closed, yet Mercury could feel the heat in the room rising. Still, he simply kept his eyes on the woman in front of him, watching as her eyes widened with every word she spoke.
"Lord Friaminth-"
"No lord. Guardian," Zyl corrected her.
"Guardian Friaminth then," she ground out between her teeth. "You know very well of my history with the kin, and yet you would shelter one within your mansion as you expect one of my ambassadors to come visit?" Her voice was almost as much of a hiss as Mercury's.
"Ah, there it is!" the mopaaw quickly interjected. "The casual fucking racism!" He had already hated the lady for just being arrogant and plain mean, but now he had a whole other level of hatred for her. "Look, I couldn't give less of a shit about your stupid history, alright? Don't associate me with people I never knew, don't blame me for things I never did. Now, you, on the other hand, kicked me just before. I believe it might be payback time."
Since she hadn't called him filth again at least, he decided to leave her tongue in, though to some degree it was also because eating human flesh still just didn't quite sit right with him. Instead, he took out the bag of rocks from his inventory, and began lifting them out one by one, until he found the perfect specimen.
A nice, rounded back, where there was no way he could stab anything. He looked to Zyl for a moment, and after seeing a nod of confirmation, Mercury used
"ARGH!" she yelped, flinching hard enough to launch Mercury off and holding her side. There was nothing broken, and no permanent damage, but there would certainly be a big fucking bruise there.
"Oh no, whatever will I do! The lady has been injured in my house. Come, I shall take you to the doctor," Zyl said, wearing an amicable smile and extending a hand to her, which was promptly slapped aside by the witch's gloved hand.
"I can very well get up myself, guardian," she hissed, though soon regulated her tone. She had taken a loss based on an assumption, and decided to at least tread more carefully from now on. Lady Pelaren shook her head as she rose back up, stifling another groan as she held her side.
"I do not believe a visit to the doctor will be necessary," she said, her teeth slowly clenching up less.
"Are you certain?"
"I had gotten careless. This should serve as a reminder," she said slowly, using a moment to catch her breath, right her tiara, and straighten her posture.
"Now then, lady Pelaren, what has brought you here?" Zyl asked with a smile.
"It is a private matter," the woman answered, patting the dust off her dress. "Perhaps four eyes would be a more fitting amount for the conversation."
"Well then, if you would pardon my disappearance," Mercury said with his best smile and a half-assed version of a bow, he simply went upstairs and into his room.
He then softly closed the door, wrapped himself in every single blanket he could find to muffle the sound, and fucking screamed his lungs out. Then, after emptying all the air he could muster, he took a deep breath and screamed all over again. He was beyond fucking pissed at that bitch, and still needed to vent some of his frustration, when he heard a knock on his window.
"You screamed," Otto said, after being let in.
"That's correct," Mercury nodded.
"Why?" the big buy asked again.
"Was that a question, or are you thinking out loud?" Mercury asked right back.
Otto paused for a moment and scratched a patch of scales on his neck. "... thinking," he said after a couple moments, and the room went silent once again.
Mercury's anger disappeared after he let Otto in through the window. His sudden visitor had insanely good ears, and heard how annoyed Mercury was. If he weren't so focused on trying to understand what might have made Mercury mad right now, maybe he would also be hearing the conversation between the hag and Zyl.
Their conversations were always very slow. Not because Otto was stupid, funnily enough, because he wasn't. Mercury had figured that much out by himself. Instead, Otto had a very tough time enunciating himself. His tongue wasn't shaped for human conversation anymore, so sometimes it took him time to figure out the correct pattern of noises. He hated mispronouncing words, so he usually limited his vocabulary and thought things over for a long time.
"The woman," he said.
"Go on."
"She was rhu-rude?" Otto asked, focusing his animalistic eyes on Mercury again.
"Exactly," the mopaaw nodded. "Came in and immediately kicked me, calling me filthy."
Within a split second, Mercury could see Otto's pupils narrowing. "Bad," he growled.
Mercury nodded slowly, and watched Otto for a moment. He expressed a lot with body language. Sometimes, his reflexes were faster than his thoughts, which could lead to muscle spasms if he wasn't careful, but those reflexes also made it so that his body strongly reflected his emotions. Mercury could see his balled fists, his nails digging into his palms, and he could see how his arms trembled slightly in anger, the muscle coiling under the thick skin and tufts of fur.
"Yes, whoever is visiting Zyl right now was extremely rude to me," Mercury agreed. "But I was more angry because she hated me for the actions of another. I cannot stand that."
Otto nodded in agreement, before thinking things over again.
"Ah, don't think about hurting her please, Otto," the cat quickly added. His big friend could get very protective, especially when it came to people being jerks. Perhaps that was somehow linked to his past, but when his friends were discriminated against, Otto would often seek revenge.
"How did you ge-guess?" he asked, tilting his head a little at Mercury.
"Friends know about each other. You also knew I was upset," Mercury replied calmly, and Otto gave a satisfied nod. That made sense to him, apparently.
"Don't worry about me so much," the mopaaw reassured his buddy. "I'm feeling fine again. Just got annoyed for a moment and wanted to at least get it out of my system."
Otto nodded again. "Understood," he said, before falling silent and simply watching Mercury. Sometimes, the cat had noticed, Otto would do that, where his eyes seemed to gloss over slightly. Perhaps he was deep in thought or something similar, but even then he was still aware of his surroundings. Though his muscles relaxed more than usual in that state, so maybe it was a form of meditation?
In that spirit, Mercury decided to mimic him. The cat stayed quiet, simply enjoying the company of having someone else there. He gelled with Otto, quite well even. Out of Lucia, Zyl, and him, Otto was the one Mercury had the easiest time understanding. Sure, he was mysterious and powerful, but if anything, Otto was kind. Slow to trust, that much was sure, unless the person was introduced by someone he considered a close friend.
But Otto was open, patient, polite, and very aware of others' emotions. More than one would assume when looking at him, to be sure.
After a while of both of them sitting in silence, Mercury felt much more relaxed. Listening to the sound of, well, very little, had helped Mercury calm down. After some time, he thought he could even hear the mana rushing inside of him, and a glance at Otto told him, that the other guy was feeling something similar. At least Mercury thought so, looking at the yellow veins of energy pulsating under the man's skin.
For a moment longer, Mercury enjoyed the tranquility before speaking up again. "Thanks Otto," he said.
"Welcome."
And then, for a couple more hours, the two of them sat together, until dinnertime called.