Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10: Errands

Arkyn thanked her for the information and greater understanding of his abilities before eventually leaving her to continue drawing.

Kresha sat down to continue her calculations, but the pen didn't move across the paper. The ink just leaked a pool in the corner of the page

She was too lost in thought about Arkyn's behavioral changes from the last few years.

'I thought at first that he was only going to be a hollowed version of his original self, but he might very well learn to function with a complete personality with enough time and knowledge.' Kresha thought, losing focus on all the mental math she had been trying to retain since the start of the conversation.

Instead, her mind was racing at what further trigger his evolution.

After a few hours of brainstorming some ideas, she went looking for him. Eventually finding Arkyn in the library reading. It was a medium sized area, not nearly as big as most rooms of Ash Keep. The walls were carved into shelves, lining the space with books and the occasional trinket. Only a few pieces of furniture were laid out to read on.

While holding open a book in one hand, Arkyn was following behind the little box golem that was made to vacuum clean the massive rugs in the center space of the floor space.

"Why are you keeping pace with the cleaning golem?" She asked about the rather odd action.

Arkyn froze and immediately shut the book in his hand. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he felt caught like a child trying to steal sweets before dinner.

"After having several maintenance issues before, I decided to follow Kit to the library one day, and found he dents his gears when running around the reading chairs."

He gestured to the oak stained chairs while placing the book on the corner table. "Once I thought the issue was solved, I wanted to be sure he was still able to clean the whole rug while also reading to pass the time. I was merely multitasking and it surprisingly felt satisfying."

"Now it has become somewhat of a routine for us to read and walk this repeated path."

"Heh, that's kinda amusing," She said, while actually thinking, 'He named the vacuum Kit. I was right, he is slowly regaining his human behaviour. I should definitely keep pressing into this.'

"I have an additional chore for you, starting today. Occasionally do a check of the social patterns among the cows and bulls. Look for anything unusual that may start happening, after only being fed and nurtured by the metal machines for the last few generations, there could be some adverse effects."

She was about to turn around and leave, but then stopped to ponder another idea.

"Actually, you said you began reading in here quite some time ago. Out of everything so far, what has interested you the most?"

Arkyn stopped to think about the books he had read, and after some heavy thought, he knew just the book.

"I enjoyed this one quite nicely." He said while holding up one from the pile that had not yet been put back on the shelves.

"Hmm, let me see." She took out a pair of circular spectacles from the breast pocket of her robe and read the title. A flash of disappointment ran across her face, but quickly disappeared to continue assessing his choice.

"'Zel Demotriez's Bound by Poison,' A fun little work of fiction, but far too unrealistic to our own world. There is no such thing as these eternal curses he had written about. Magic can be implemented in a near infinite amount of ways, but his idea about this dark energy and binding deals of power with demons is a fairytale."

She gave a wave of her hand, causing a melon sized object to fly off the shelf and into her hand. It was a pitch-black skull that would've looked human in shape, except the eye sockets were much smaller and its jaw was filled with shark-like teeth.

"Maybe demons were some variation of societal bipeds in a past life, mutated by abusing magic one step too far, but they are limited intelligence wise. You could try to communicate with one to some extent but their hunger drives them above all else, making their behaviour seem almost rabid."

"Yes, based on the more recent monster codex I've read; most of his work comes from a place of fiction. Though I still enjoyed his character dynamics, you never have to question the motives of their actions since they are always made indirectly apparent."

"Are they now?" Kresha asked while flipping through some of the pages. "Well one day I might have to reread it, and we can discuss the greater details."

She gave him a brief smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes, putting the book back down and leaving him to watch Kit the cleaner finish his task.

A few more days passed before Arkyn saw Kresha again. He found her walking through the center room that resembled the night sky. She was wearing a few additional layers of shirts, and a pair of pants made of a thick wool.

"Ahh good, I needed to see you before I left." She pulled a wool cap out of one of the fur jacket's pockets and placed it on her head. The tress braid still falling out and dangling beside her.

"I need to leave Ash Keep for a few days to get some stuff that we can't keep recycling or regrowing anymore.

It'll be some time before I can make a decent restock on other processed ingredients. Luckily the little village at the bottom of the mountain doesn't care to ask where I come from." She grunted as she struggled while putting on old boots that seemed to grow stiff from age.

"They just accept a little magic show and a fake name. Suddenly everyone feels blessed by my presence while I buy out some of their inventory. Watch after the experiments that are still running in corridor four and nine, the cauldrons especially might boil over."

She adjusted her jacket one more time before pulling out two items out of another coat pocket. One was a key to the doors to the upper floors of the Keep and the other was a small black cylinder with a cap attached to one end.

"Since I won't be here to listen to your riveting results on the experiments, use this to document the results and I'll read them later."

He removed the cap and saw the silver needle end was encased to keep its edge from breaking, and was made to inject ink from the cartridge when applying pressure.

"Don't blow the place up." She said before finally leaving Arkyn in charge with only a slight fear that disaster might occur in her absence.