A loud ringing could be heard echoing throughout the huge mansion. A golem, a creation of plasteel and other more flexible materials walked up to the huge double doors. The golem opened the door slightly, not enough to let anyone pass, but enough to talk comfortably with whoever had rang the door.

“How may I help you sir?” The golem asked the posh and rich looking lizard-man at his door. The lizardman wasn’t alone, as the mansion always put him on edge, so he always brought at least two body guards with him.

“Is Eratz home? I’ve tried to contact him for a while now but nothing seems to reach him, and I know how he can forget the outside world once he is in his lab.” The slightly nervous lizardman asked the expressionless golem.

“I am sorry sir, but you will have to come back later.” The golem simply answered. But the lizardman wasn’t done yet.

“Is he here? Could you at least answer that?” He tried again.

“I am sorry sir, but you will have to come back later.” The golem answered without moving an inch.

“Can you pass along a message?” The tone of the lizardman had changed somewhat to a more irritated and sharp tone, clearly not having the patience to talk to a stupid golem.

“I am sorry sir, but I cannot reliably pass along messages.” The golem simply answered.

“Of course you can’t. Is his daughter Maya at home at least? Maybe she can pass along a message for me?” He asked without any real conviction.

“I am sorry sir, but you will have to come back later.” The golem simply said once more.

“Uhg, I hate this one, it’s the least sophisticated one and somehow the most stubborn of his servants.” He commented to his two guards. They weren’t as relaxed. They knew what the golems of the mansion could do.

“I’m coming!” A voice could be heard from inside. The lizardman clearly perked up at that.

“Ah it seems we will at least have the pleasure of seeing Maya.” His guards didn’t respond, they weren’t paid to chat and didn’t really care. But they couldn’t help but be a bit curious about the daughter. Of course, none of this showed on their faces.

“Ah, I’m sorry about Erz, mister Zlavinder, right?” She said as she came to the door behind the golem. She seemed to be catching her breath as she stood there.

She had beautiful black raven hair, but buzz cut on both sides. It gave her a particular look, but it somehow suited her quite well. Her green emerald eyes also seemed to see everything despite her innocent expression.

“Yes, I’m honored that you remember me, miss Maya. Is your dad home?” Zlavinder asked.

“Oh, no I’m sorry, not only isn’t he home, but he isn’t even on Dust right now, I’m afraid I can’t give you an exact date when he will be back, you know how he can be.” She said sheepishly. The lizardman nodded, only too used to the man’s eccentricities.

“Ah, I feared as much. Well, I’ll take my leave then, can you tell him I’d like to see him as soon as he is back? At his convenience of course.” The polite lizardman seemed happy to have been able to talk to her at least.

“Of course mister Zlavinder, I’ll tell him as soon as I see him.” She responded politely. It wouldn’t do to upset such a rich patron.

The lizardman soon left, and Maya’s behavior changed radically. She stopped breathing and moving slightly. She held completely still, just like a statue. It would have looked completely unnatural for anyone that saw her. Everything alive tended to constantly move somewhat after all.

“That wasn’t necessary. He was about to leave.” The golem called Erz turned to look at her.

“Yeah I know, but now he won’t be upset about not seeing father.” She said as she turned to look at her brother.

“It won’t solve anything. You know he probably isn’t coming back.” Maya suspected as much, but still, she hadn’t given up just yet. She sometimes hated her older brother for being made before her. The fact that he didn’t look human at all also didn’t help. He just looked like any golem, unless you knew what to look for.

She had known him all her life. They had both been made by Eratz after all, but their father and creator had disappeared for over a month now, which wasn’t that unusual. The issue was that he always, always, sent regular messages back to the two of them.

Except they hadn’t received any messages in three weeks. And they knew it meant something bad had happened. Possibly death. It was a harsh reality, but they had been taught to look at things as they most probably were, instead of how you wanted them to be.

Despite this Maya couldn’t help but hope he had just been taken prisoner somewhere, but even she knew it was highly improbable. He was a rich man after all, and would probably be able to buy his way out of any situation except for death. Which was why it was the most probable outcome of his disappearance.

It hadn’t stopped her though, and she was determined to find out what had happened, or find him if he was actually alive. But so far the leads she had gotten were thin at best. She didn’t know what he had been working on, and they never went into his workshop.

She had been arguing with Erz about it for two weeks now actually. He was a stickler for rules. And that rule had always been an important one. ‘It would ruin the psyche of anyone to see pieces of themselves scattered in a room without rhyme nor reason’ he had told them.

It was logical, but now, Maya knew it was her only way to get a new lead to find him. They didn’t even know where he had gone. How was she supposed to find him at all? So she had told Erz she was going to the workshop, only for him to stop her and tell her it wasn’t right.

Gone or not, there was a reason they didn’t go in there. He actually seemed more afraid of what he’d see than her. The worst part was that maybe he was right. Maybe it would break them, but the more she thought about it, the less she believed it. Erz wasn’t exactly like her after all.

He was a sentient golem, illegal in itself. Her? She was a sentient leveling golem. Not only illegal, but considered a war crime. Golems weren’t very popular nowadays after everything that had happened in the early colonization of dust.

Apparently they had been everywhere once. They had been the key to being able to develop the land as fast as they had. Tireless workers that didn’t need any oxygen. But as golem creators leveled, they had started to create smarter and smarter golems.

What happened next went as anyone could guess. Golems wanted to be recognized as people, have rights, but Dust wasn’t ready for that, they needed the golems to continue to work so they could expand the settlements.

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

Some sided with the golems, others didn’t, in the end, all the sentient golems were destroyed at great costs on both sides, creating them was banned, and creating leveling golems was one of the highest crimes, even to this day. For many years, there were no new golem creators.

But now, thousands of years later? There were some, still very few in fact. There simply wasn’t as much of a need for them now, and it was considered common sense not to employ golems if you could, which you honestly didn’t need that often.

“Are you still thinking about going to the workshop?” Erz asked her.

“I am. I think it is the only way to find him.” She said.

“I do not think there is a way to find him, nor a need.” His cold statement didn’t shock her. She was used to him and knew how he thought.

“Maybe you don’t need to know, but I do.” She had decided, today she would go into the workshop.

“Curiosity is both a curse-” He started.

“and the most fundamental force to progress.” She finished the sentence their father had used time and time again.

“To stop it is both madness and safety both.” He added the last part and they both smiled at each other.

“While you might value safety, I value progress far more, even at the risk of madness.” She said, and this once, he didn’t argue back.

“I see you have finally made up your mind. So be it. I will not stop you, but I won’t join you, nor do I want to know what you will find within.” He said.

“I know. Thank you, Erz.” She said and nodded. Their differences even starker in this moment. Her, a beautiful looking human, him, just another golem with barely the hints for facial features, standing across each other. Both so very different, but so similar despite it.

As she walked away with steady steps, she couldn’t help but think about it. Were they really the only ones? Father had kept telling them of how vast the world was, so wasn’t it possible for others like them to exist? It was something she dreamed about. Day-dreamed of course as she didn’t need to sleep.

Sleep was something she had always had a hard time understanding. Every other species needed to sleep, but she didn’t, and she couldn’t understand it. It made no sense, as their bodies continued to work around the clock. Only their consciousness was actually taking a break, which was mind boggling to her.

She noticed that despite her firm steps, she really was nervous if she was thinking about random things like that. She had thought her resolve firm, but the closer to the workshop that she got, the harder it seemed to put the next foot in front of her. The most basic mouvement she had had to learn. Which she had perfected beyond a doubt. She could even walk ‘humanly’ which had been a lot harder to learn as it meant not walking optimally. There had been hundreds of small meaningless mouvement that she had had to add.

But right now, she wasn’t trying to walk like a human. She simply put one foot in front of the other as efficiently as possible, no wasted movement, because otherwise she just might stop. ‘It is harder to start a motion than to continue one, so be sure to start the right ones and keep them going’. Another one of her father’s sayings.

The issue was she wasn’t sure about this one. Which was why even though she could see the familiar door getting closer, she hesitated. No. She had to know. There was no other outcome. Waiting now would only result in her trying this again later. She might as well go through with it now.

Steeling her resolve, she finally made it to the door and stopped in front of it. It wasn’t even a special door. It was a very normal one. It looked just like any other door in the house. It was made of wood, which showed how wealthy they were, with some geometrical ornaments. Hardly a hard door to go through if you wanted, or so it seemed.

The truth was that the door was heavily enchanted against intruders. The question was that she didn’t know how it would react to her. She was too far to back out now, and the enchantements weren’t dangerous. This was a moment of truth. She stuck out her human looking hand and touched the knob on the door. Nothing happened. So she turned the knob.

A soft click could be heard and the door was already slightly opened. She hadn’t expected it to be this easy. She couldn’t see in yet and froze instead of opening it. She kept it ajar for a while, a bit shocked. Their father had trusted them enough to include them on the safe list to his workshop. What did that mean? Was it another lesson for her to learn from? It felt like it and she didn’t know if she understood this one.

Sighing in a very human way, she pushed the door and entered truly into the workshop. She tried to freeze her emotions for the sight that would greet her. But as her eyes kept taking everything in, she slowly relaxed.

There were no body parts hanging everywhere, or half-built golems or abominations. There were small wonders in every corner. Magical crystals filled with so much engraved enchantment’s it was a wonder it hadn’t exploded from instability. Magical projections showcasing blueprints and other complicated workings.

A board filled with symbols she had no idea what they did, clearly trying to puzzle something out. Then it hit her, the lesson he had wanted them to understand. He had already delivered his wisdom on them, only she had failed to understand at the time. Everyone lies, but she couldn’t imagine that he would lie to them. Only he had. He clearly had lied to them about the workshop. Was it a test to see if their curiosity would get the better of them? Something else?

She was afraid she would never know. So instead she started looking for answers. Looking for a clue to where he could have gone. There were a lot of things to go through, so she sat down and started with the easiest. There were written reports on the workbench that were easy to understand.

******************************

Erz was nervous. It felt strange. He had felt a lot of emotions during his ‘life’. But rarely nervous. It had always felt like everything was going according to his master’s will. Only this time was different. They had been left alone.

And now his sister had broken the most fundamental rule of the house. They both knew she was different. ‘Alive’ in a truer sense of the word. Acknowledged by the system as a true sentient being while he was only a good imitation, or so he believed. He had never dared ask the question to his master why his sister could level and he could not.

The truth was that he was afraid of the answer. As long as he never got an answer, the possibilities were open. But the moment he asked, he knew what the answer would be, and then there would be no doubt of his inferiority. Still, he loved his sister dearly and was happy for her. He knew she would reach far beyond what he could hope for.

Which was why he was terrified of what she would find inside the workshop. She had been in there for a while already. Maybe she had already gone insane and would be lost to him. He feared the worst. Instead he had gone around cleaning the house. But now, he found himself in front of that damned door once more.

He stood just one meter away. It would be so easy to turn that doorknob and join her. But he couldn’t do it. He just stood there. Unable to muster up the courage to take a look. Just a small peek would be enough, but even that felt insurmountable. So he simply stood there, frozen. Time ticked by as he just waited. Hoped.

An hour had probably gone by and still he stood. He had nothing more to do in the house anyway. So he simply stood. When suddenly the door opened and his beautiful sister holding several papers in her hand came out, looking both victorious and confused at the same time, he was relieved.

“Erz! Someone is clearly behind it, which doesn’t make any sense!” She said to him, like he had any idea what she was talking about.

“I think he went to investigate something he shouldn’t have, but at least now I know what to look for. Look, the number of disappearances have risen steadily these last few years.” She started and tried to show him the papers. But he looked away, he didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know.

“It’s just numbers and statistics Erz, nothing to go crazy about.” She told him and shoved them in his face again. Slowly he turned and started looking at it. So? Disappearances on the rise. That wasn’t very special now was it?

“But look, the number of magical anomalies is also on the rise, but the number of complaints isn’t. Plus a lot of those that disappeared filed a complaint.” There were names that were underlined and that he could see appear on more than one paper.

“Whole spaceships disappearing with huge crews. Hundreds, sometimes thousands. Far in deep space. How do they all up and vanish? These ships have escape shuttles and all kinds of safety measures. But they have zero survivors. Zero. Something is going on. Someone is doing something.” She said, while tapping on the papers. She looked so human as she was. Agitated and moving. She didn’t even seem to realize it.

It made him both jealous and proud of her.

“Are you even listening?” She asked him, exasperated.

“I am. Sounds like curiosity killed our master.” He said, and it made her pause.

“Will it kill you too?” He asked.

“How else will I make progress, brother?” She said with a sad smile. She knew the risks, they both did.