[VIEWERS: 130]
"Turn off the broadcast," Ty said, lowering his arm.
The golem's eyes flickered.
Then it looked up at Fuka circling above them, ready to capture whatever came next.
"Ka-aay," her little voice said.
Her wings went to a dead stop and she let gravity pull her down.
[STATUS: OFFLINE]
The golem continued staring at Ty. Fuka was still quite high in the air.
"Catch me, mister~!" she called, her body stretching with every meter she dropped. The cloak billowed out behind her as her limbs lengthened and the wings expanded on her back.
The golem stepped far enough back to move out of the way, the ground shaking with every step. It grabbed Fuka by the leg before she hit the dirt.
"Mister, you didn't catch me!"
"Quiet, we're negotiating right now."
"But mister, you can't cast anymore—" Fuka put a palm over her mouth. "I wasn't supposed to say that out loud."
The golem stared between the both of them. Its sapphire gem dimmed to a steady pulse.
"You have the smell of Lady Eris, human."
Ty stretched his right arm. "Smell? What does that smell like, death?"
"No." The golem set Fuka down with more care than needed. "The smell of chaos."
Its mouth pressed shut as it looked at the severed arm in the dirt. "Lady Eris has tested my patience before. It seems she has not changed."
"M-master?! You know my master?" Fuka stood up and brushed herself off, steadier than she had any right to be. "How do you know my master?" She paused and half-smiled at Ty. "Oopsies."
Fuka had forgotten she was supposed to act helpless.
She can walk the entire time? I fucking knew it.
The golem waved its children away. One of them had an arm raised right over Ty's skull.
"Father," the largest of the children said. "It hurt Little Rock. I demand an equal exchange." It pointed to Ty's left arm, the half-functioning one. "His arm."
"No, you shall not. Bring your siblings to safety inside the caves at the base of this river. The Hollows surely have located my mana signature. It is but a matter of time."
The other golems turned and walked along the water. The oldest son stood for a moment longer, the blue in its eyes wavering.
"Yes, father."
The ground gradually stopped shaking as they disappeared downstream. The one-armed one trailed behind the rest, its severed limb tucked under its remaining arm.
The valley went quiet. The river kept flowing. Slime sludge dripped off the golem's shin and pooled in the dirt.
The golem looked down at Ty and Fuka.
"I will honor Lady Eris' covenant and bring you both to safety."
"That's oddly nice of him, mister," Fuka said, covering her mouth from the golem's gaze. "It's a trap probably."
"Rest easy, fairy. I owe Lady Eris, and those she marks are the ones I bow to."
"But Hollows," Ty said. The word pulled data into his eyes like a title page with nothing behind it. "They hunt at night."
"They used to," the golem said.
Fuka's eyes went wide, her lips as pale as the night before.
The golem looked down at her for a long time. "You carry bad omen, little fairy. I wonder if you know how much." Its crater eyes scanned the tree line. "The Hollows feed on mana. Mine brought them here."
It looked at Ty again, the blue glow in its eyes brighter now.
"And so, because of your action."
Ty recognized that look.
Prosecutors had spent eight months building his case into a monument. Each victim was named until the weight was supposed to crush him in his chair.
The judge wanted remorse, while the media wanted a monster.
All the parents saw was a man with blood on his hands and no one else to blame but him.
"You want an apology?" Ty said.
The golem crouched low. Even then, it towered over the two like a leaning tower.
"An apology is below a stone golem's ideology. You would have a better chance breathing on a pebble."
Ty dropped to one knee; all the casting had drained him near empty.
"The Hollows wait for nothing," the golem continued. "We cannot be here any longer."
"You know anything about that?" Ty said to Fuka who had the cloak tight around her shoulders.
She shook her head.
The golem opened its palm, the surface big enough for just one person. "Come. It is faster this way."
Ty had fourteen mana and one working arm against whatever a Hollow was. Now that the slime residue was starting to dry, his only clear advantage was out of the question.
Unlike the tangible things Ty had analyzed in the flesh, hollow was just a name with a silhouette behind it. Truthfully, he was better off guessing what the hell made a giant golem afraid.
Not many things came to mind.
He climbed up the ridges and sat down. Fuka climbed into his lap, her hair brushing his chin.
"I'm scared of heights, mister."
"Don't throw up on me."
The golem rose to full height and turned downstream, following its children's path along the river. Its cracked leg dragged with every step. "I will tell you what I know," it said.
It kept its eyes among the valley's trees.
Behind them, the mountainside where the beam had hit was blown clean through to the other valley.
Three slimes had survived the standoff. They wobbled after the golem's footsteps, bouncing off rocks and each other.
"Mister, look! We have babies now."
"No the fuck we don't."
"That one's Boop." She pointed at the smallest. "That one's Boppy." The middle one bumped into a tree. "And that one's mine. Boopsie."
"They all seem like 'Fuka' to me."
The golem kept on, uncaring of their conversation.
Ty shifted in its flat palm. "How do you know her?"
Fuka looked up, mouth open. "Yeah, how do you know master?"
"That is a tale for the caves. For now, know that I am indebted to her, and that debt extends to you."
"You don't seem like the type to owe anyone," Ty said.
"An allegiance to a Goddess is no joke, human. Without that, most living things here would have perished long ago. That is why the three kingdoms stand even to this day."
Ty straightened his spine. "There are humans here? Actual fucking humans?"
"Right, you are a traveler. A human from the other side."
The valley curved and the trees thinned out. Ahead, the river disappeared into a dark gap at the base of the ridge. The caves, most likely.
"You know about us?"
"Know? That is a strong word. I am old, older than some rocks you see here. Many travelers have come, and many have died."
"Do you remember any of them? A girl, maybe? With blue eyes?"
"I'm afraid not. What a stone golem sees is a second to what a human considers a millennium."
"What about recently? I came with others. At least six others—"
"This path you chose was the quickest out of the Deathmarch, human. I'm afraid your friends have long perished."
"You don't know that."
"Don't I?"
Ty didn't answer. The golem kicked a felled tree from its path. He could still see James stepping through first, Mina pulling Celeste by the hand, Ryu walking in barefoot, Kimiko on Yuto's back. Six people crossed with him that night, and he was the only one who took the quickest path.
"Where are these kingdoms?"
"West," the golem said.
The dust trail still lingered in the air, pointing the same way it had the first time.
West.
Fuka was trembling in Ty's lap. The river ran beside them and the golem's footsteps shook through Ty's spine.
"Oldie, tell us how you know master." Her voice came out smaller than he'd heard it, and she hadn't spoken for a while.
The golem didn't answer right away. The caves were close now, the river narrowing into the dark gap at the base of the ridge.
"In time," the golem said.
The broadcast summary pinged in the corner of his eye. Ty opened it with a single thought and tilted his head so Fuka could see.
─────── [BROADCAST SUMMARY] ───────
STREAM DURATION: 11 MIN 02 SEC
PEAK VIEWERS: 130
EFFECTIVE VIEWERS: 103
LIKES RECEIVED: 580
ENGAGEMENT REWARD: 580 G
The trembling stopped as Fuka's purple eyes tracked the numbers from his lap.
"Mister, you can buy me twenty cloaks with that much."
"You're getting zero cloaks."
"Fifteen?"
"Zero."
The golem glanced down at them. "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing you can see, oldie," Fuka said.
The golem stared a moment longer, then turned its eyes back to the trees.
"The caves will give us shelter. They will hide my lingering mana, and yours the same," it said to both.
Its blue eyes narrowed.
"However, you destroyed my youngest son's arm. Even a goddess's pact cannot quell a father's anger. And so I will honor my eldest son's grievance."