Of course, Wayne didn’t walk back into the cave without a plan.

He peered through a gap in the settled rubble, as the golem continued on its resumed patrol. The pattern of how it lumbered through the labyrinth of pillars seemed largely unchanged, although its left arm was covered in smaller dents.

The pillar closest to where the exit formerly was, on the other hand, was changed completely. Now, the stack that had reached the ceiling was little more than a small pile of bricks barely reaching knee height.

Wayne pushed himself off of the other bricks spilling into the hallway, and backed up a few strides to think. If his hands trembled slightly as he did so, and his pace to get away from the golem was heightened, Wayne didn’t notice.

Instead, Wayne tried to visualize the exact scenario where he managed to get an entire pillar to collapse onto the golem. That was the only way Wayne could even consider destroying such a being. Still, it wasn't an easy situation to manufacture, even in his head.

Firstly, the pathing the golem took was mostly lengthwise through the rows of pillars, meaning it was relatively unimpeded by them for the majority of its route. That didn’t mean it was impossible to get the hulking hunk of rock close to the pillars though, Wayne believing it was possible either through baiting it closer or by timing it as it made a horizontal shift over a row.

Instead, the issue Wayne was facing was that it wouldn’t be enough for just the golem’s arm to get hit by the debris. The dents and chips in the stone of its heavy arm were proof of that.

No, somehow Wayne would have to get the golem to bring its body completely under a pillar so that it could get covered and crushed by the falling bricks. The problem was that the golem could reach past an entire set of pillars with its long reach.

Regardless of how Wayne tried to picture it playing out, the golem would just get lightly peppered by rubble. He thought that maybe if the construct struck the very bottom it may cause the stacked bricks to fall backwards onto it, but Wayne knew that was an optimistic longshot to bet his life on.

Wayne would need a foolproof plan if he was going to defeat the golem, in order to clear the path for Homer. In order to do that Wayne would need more information. He concentrated and did something he should have done as soon as he began exploring the ruins.

With a grunt and more effort than it usually required, Wayne pried open his Shaping Space.

He flinched and almost lost his concentration immediately but managed to hold on to the Space. However when Wayne got a glimpse of what was waiting for him there the mental image immediately shattered. He gasped for air.

For several moments Wayne stood there, willing what he saw to be a mistake, as surely no God could be so cruel as to allow that. After some time Wayne’s breathing calmed down and he gently eased himself back into the necessary mental state.

It was terrible.

Wayne’s Shaping Space was much expanded from when he had last used it, stretching wide enough to envelope his whole body. Still, it was obvious there was something wrong right away.

A clean cut across the Space, still present despite Wayne desperately trying to will it whole. Another dull ache panged through his body, and Wayne realized this was the source. This chasm.

It stretched like a gaping wound across the side of Wayne’s Space, like a stain on his existence. He mentally prodded at the edges and immediately winced, feeling the pain like a strained muscle.

Wayne felt the tension from the gap, a strong suction that threatened to let his Shaping Space fade away completely. He didn’t know what would happen then, but Wayne couldn’t imagine it being good, or pain free.

Thankfully, a Form Space was sealing up the tear, although Wayne didn’t recognize it in the slightest.

The smaller blue sphere was about the size his Shaping Space had been previously, and it was filled up with a strange metallic grey smoke that sometimes glinted and gleamed different colors before shifting back. Wayne had no idea what the Form could possibly do, other than appear ominous.

Wayne wanted to poke more at it, but another ache coursed through Wayne’s body making him acutely aware how bad an idea that was. Instead, the young Legionnaire put the things he couldn’t control right now to the back of his mind, and began doing what he needed to do.

Wayne made a separate Form Space, a much smaller Shaping than the other dominating his Space. Inside, Wayne coaxed a more familiar eye into place, the Draconian mirror of his own slate grey. The Shaped mana fit perfectly over its counterpart, and then Wayne opened his eyes.

“What the El?” Wayne said, recoiling.

The manalight was overwhelmingly strong, making the jungle outside look like a dark winter’s day. It rained down on him like judgment from a God. Wayne was forced to squint and even then he stumbled around like a buffoon as he searched for the gap in the rubble.

On his hands and knees, Wayne crawled around until he found a crack to see the golem through and braced himself. Then, he opened his eyes and let the full power of the sight burn itself into his eyes.

He absently noticed the light wasn’t truly as piercing as its intensity would have normally suggested, but Wayne was more focused on the sight of the golem. The Form Klaw had given Wayne was an amazing gift, letting him see and learn more about the magic surrounding him, and more importantly the beauty and danger it possessed.

Still, nothing Wayne had ever seen before was like the sight before him now.

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Intricate Runes wound up and down the golem, visible as glowing words that radiated residual multicolored mana flowing off into the aether. The flowing language was connected in complex arrangements making the individual Runes almost impossible to discern, but the overall intended effect was clear.

The careful construction of Shapings created an external image that made the golem appear more animated, like it was alive. Delicately placed Runes were laced even atop the bulbous torso to leave an afterimage that looked like a cheerfully smiling face.

The golem was a beautiful work of art. Wayne hated that he had to destroy it, but Homer took priority over the collection of precise stone and steel. And now that he could see exactly how the joints functioned, and their limits, he could find a way to overcome them.

And Wayne thought he knew a way to do just that.

It didn’t even take Wayne five minutes to come up with the plan, observing the stiff movements allowed by the Runic joints. It wasn’t an ideal plan, by any stretch, with multiple points of failure that even Wayne could see.

No, he only thought that it was the best plan he was ever going to come up with. Wayne estimated that about three in four times he was walking to his own grave. It didn’t matter to him.

There were some things more important than the odds.

* * * * *

The golem lumbered down the row of pillars until its shadow loomed over the rubble. Then it turned, and continued on its predestined path. Wayne scrambled up the bricks and back to the gap he had found earlier. His hands were scraped raw but he ignored the protests of pain in the back of his mind.

Instead of reacting, Wayne did his best to silently pry a few errant bricks free from the pile. A small collection sat next to him, of bricks he had already gotten loose and removed. Now there was an opening just about large enough for Wayne to squeeze through.

Still, he wanted to make sure he could do more than squeeze through the gap. If things went wrong, Wayne would need to scramble back through in order to reach safety. So even when Wayne thought the opening was wide enough, he took enough glance at the golem and noted there were still a few more pillars until it would turn back around. Thus, Wayne continued to stack bricks for a bit longer.

Then, he stopped. The crashing booms of the golem continued unabated, but several more occurred before Wayne could hear that they were coming closer now.

‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’

Dust shook free from the ceiling, as Wayne gazed cautiously upwards in case something larger came along for the ride. The pounding came ever closer, and Wayne held his breath, afraid even the slightest noise may attract the constructs attention.

‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’

The golem pounded down the worn stone floor in the room beyond, moving closer and closer until it was right overhead once again, this time on the left of the entrance. If it knew Wayne was just below it, hiding in the rubble, it could easily end him in one more blow.

But instead the moment passed, and the golem’s plodding steps sounded into the distance once again. Wayne let out his breath. Now, It was time.

Wayne slipped out the gap, and back into the large cavern. Lightly Wayne pulled his aching body forwards in the golem’s wake, timing his footsteps with the repetitive crashes. Of course, this meant the golem was gaining massive distance with every step.

‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’

Still, Wayne was able to slink across the chamber well enough for his purposes, despite the pain in his body and soul. So by the time the golem reached the other end of the chamber and began to turn, Wayne had to dive behind a pillar for cover.

‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’

Wayne actually made it further in the room than he had expected, all the way to the third pillar before he was forced to duck behind the brick structure for cover. It was definitely far enough into the room for his plan to work, even though Wayne might have preferred to actually be further from the center of the room, for a quicker escape.

Now that he was already out in the room though, it would have to do. With the golem quickly approaching, Wayne was only going to get one shot at this, and if it failed… Well Wayne had to hope he could make it to the exit again, only this time without a head start.

‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’

When Wayne saw the long legs of the golem stride past the pillar he was hiding behind, he took off after it, smaller strides burning the distance as best he could. Ahead, the golem was making an awful shrieking noise as it pivoted on its torso, but Wayne had counted on that.

Pumping his legs for all they were worth, Wayne dashed the final distance and slid to a stop between the golems enormous legs just as it finished turning about. From up close Wayne could hear the shrieking of steel and stone as the golem’s joints tried to go past their limited range of motion.

The construct spun its arms ineffectually at its sides, only able to touch Wayne with the air moving from the flailing of its limbs.

A giddy smile took hiWayne almost laughed. He had found a pocket of safety, in the center of the danger.

Then the golem slammed its arm into the cavern floor and sent a spray of earthen shrapnel at Wayne. He ducked and shielded his eyes from the stones, but cuts still lacerated the rest of his exposed skin.

Maybe he wasn’t so safe. Ignoring the pain, Wayne moved forwards with his plan and didn’t waste any more time. So Wayne carefully inched forwards from under the golem.

When Wayne had examined the limits of the golem’s motions, he had realized something crucial. Directly in front of and below the golem, there was a space that it physically could not reach. Just a small space, but it would be the construct’s downfall.

Wayne took a small step forwards into the sweet spot, and then the golem mirrored him.

‘Boom!’

It was working. Now, there was just the most dangerous part left.

The golem continued to try and hit Wayne with shrapnel from its strikes against the floor, but now that he was expecting them it was relatively easy to dodge the sprayback. Slowly, Wayne piloted the construct towards the closest pillar, careful never to enter range of its pendulous arms or legs.

His heart was beating uncontrollably in his chest, and Wayne thought he might vomit. Still, he had never felt so alive.

The distance between them and the pillar ahead had shrunken until the next step forwards would bring the golem into the bricks. Wayne paused for a moment, and took a deep breath, getting ready for the chaos.

Then, he took one more step.

Above him, the golem clunkily followed suit, so single minded in its pursuit that it didn’t see the pillar directly in front of it and Wayne. So the construct didn’t even try to slow itself down as it rammed its hefty stone and steel body against the supporting structure.

A different sound than the golem’s footfalls rang out, instead of a singular crash that echoed across the chamber, there was the continuous pinging of stone on stone. Wayne turned and ran.

Bricks started to drop around him, but Wayne couldn’t spare the time to do more than send a quick prayer up to Luminos for protection.

It felt like a dream, like one moment that stretched into infinity the pillar came down. During that second, the only thing that mattered was moving forwards, escaping the impending doom behind him.

Wayne took two steps, then saw the beginnings of a shadow fall over him. Not hesitating, Wayne changed angles and ran at a diagonal, hoping to avoid getting crushed by the collapsing goliath behind him.

His feet pounding onwards, Wayne felt a wave of air hit the back of his neck and dove for safety. Before he even hit the floor, Wayne got flung further by the concussion behind him, and rolled across the rough cavern floor. The cuts he got early from the golem were joined by a new host of scrapes and bruises, but Wayne was alive.

He gingerly rolled onto his back, and achingly held his fist up.

Luminos welcomes your subservience, and graces you with his power.

Statistics:-

+1 Speed

“I’m coming for you Homer.” Wayne said.

Then, he heard the rubble shift by the golem. Wayne, with eyes wide and breath held, stared in horror as the golems fist also rose, its posing eerily similar to his own.

Just as he was about to run to the exit, the fist’s movement stopped, and Wayne saw the manalight from the golem’s Runes die out.

“Oh thank El…” Wayne said with a sigh of relief.

Then, he promptly passed out from overexertion.