Watch this place for me, okay?
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There’s too many, we need to run!
What about-
FUNCTIONALITY RESTORED.
ERROR.
OWNER [>#\*¥~\] NOT FOUND.
LAST GIVEN COMMAND: LEARN
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Crystalline eyes glowing, the golem began to stir from its long rest, slowly lifting its head as mana flowed through it once more.
ENVIRONMENT UNRECOGNIZED. ANALYZING..
The golem turned its head slowly, taking in the surrounding area and attempting to match it to any data it had from when it last functioned.
MATCH FOUND: VANGUARD REGION.
It began to rise to its feet, moving as if it were an ape attempting to stand on two feet. It began to move deeper into the forest, red and orange leaves falling like raindrops onto its back, and it attempted to access its memory.
CORE DAMAGED. MEMORIES INACCESSIBLE. ERASE?
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It stopped purposefully moving for such a small moment that, to a normal viewer, it had never halted.
PERMISSION DENIED. SECONDARY MISSION: RECOVER MEMORIES.
It was a rather imposing figure, and even the more aggressive beasts wouldn’t attack it. It continued moving forward, only stopping to scan things of interest, when it heard a sound. It wasn’t its own body that made the sound, as the noises it made were like a rusted gate. This was a group of people.
It moved towards the sound until it reached a clearing, and standing at the edge of the tree line, it saw.
The sound was from a group of adventurers, at a campfire. They were very loud, but the sound was not one of fear or anger. It was one of joy. The visibly oldest one, a human, led the group in song as they celebrated their previous victory. The golem was enthralled.
The thing about golems is that they need a soul, some spark of life, to actually make it work. The more complex a golem was, the more likely it was that there would be a soul rather than just a basic animating force. The way this one was designed, it had a soul, but it had been so long since the golem was active that it had all but vanished, only a wisp remaining.
As it heard the song, something happened. Mana, previously only wrapping the mana core that was inside the bronze orb, began to leak in. The soul of a creature lives off of mana. To lack mana completely would be to lose oneself, and that was what happened to it until the mana leaked into the core.
It became more aware, eyes glowing a bit brighter, mana flowing faster. It was only then that it took notice of the hum coming from inside. It tried manipulating the sound to match the song they were singing, and it copied them almost immediately.
The song rapidly fell to silence as they noticed a long bass note being held out by none in their group. It was then that the adventurers, previously enraptured with the song, now took notice of the looming figure within the trees.
The golem stopped the hum and began to approach them, rising to its full height as the people cowered in fear. It gestured to an instrument to the side of an archer, and as they played it mimicked the notes with the low, persistent hum that it made.
They calmed down slightly, although not enough to stop defending themselves. Three out of the twenty that were there began to sing, hitting their shields to make a percussive sound.
Everyone soon joined in, tentatively at first. It soon became apparent that the construct would not hurt them, and they played louder, more energetically, immersing themselves fully. They would go throughout the night playing with as much energy as possible. When they returned to their towns, they would give various counts of the actual adventure, but they would always say one specific thing. They found the voice of a machine.