39 (39) Barren, Ancient Stone

"I. Have. Awoken."

A voice bellowed from the centre of the dazzling light, shards of crystal glass flew outwards, reflecting the light like a disco ball. The harsh gale shredded the crystal shards into minute particles of dust, the crystal coffin which produced to light seemed to dissolve away, bringing the light with it.

A figure started to appear within the dying glow; the figure did not appear as a dark silhouette, but instead seemed to consume the gale and radiance of light. Everything at this moment seemed synchronised, from the howl of the fierce wind, to the pulsating of the vibrant refracted colours of the light. It was as though the being amidst the chaos controlled these elements as his own; a pulsating heart of pure energy, and the force of nature as his breath. It seemed in tune with the ancient wonders of life, like the primeval beings that were in their own way the beings of nature.

These beings such as the Leshens and the true Dragons faded away as life grew with the increasing needlessness of nature, its absense drove these old ones into the books of history and became one of the forgotten.

The light finally dispersed away enough for Kraton and Lysine to see the figure, at first glance, it seemed almost identical to the previous two crystal Golems. But this figure was giant. If Kraton was considered to be a giant amongst humans, being double their height, then this Golem would be considered a halfling titan - triple the average human's height.

It's skin. Hell, it's whole anatomy was made of crystal, even the two Golems beforehand weren't pure crystals, they had precious ores and metals like quartz and jade flowing through their body. But this Golem, every single millimeter of it was a transparent or translucent crystal. It's body had tints of every colour which merged smoothly with each other, the colours even appeared to move freely around the Golem's body.

It's form was built like an immovable fortress, strong, thick limbs which formed a natural armour, its shoulders carried large plates which protected it's head, not that it needed protecting. It's body wwasn't completely smooth, there were areas where jagged crystals poked out, and its back had raw spikes protruding outwards, some sharp, some blunt but all of them were breathtakingly and beautifully dangerous.

Its chest was the most vibrant in colour, the centre of it had the most concentrated amount of light which pulsed every minute, the light had no shape, you could not even call it a core or a heart as the light gradually dispersed outwards, rather than at a certain boundary. It was at its head where there where two concentrated balls of light, its so-called 'eyes'. But even then, the light seemed to defract through the crystals so much that it became confusing to look at.

The Golem turned to look at Lysine, and then to Kraton. They felt as if their soul trembled in submission when they looked into the Golem's eyes. It was like an anglerfish's light which acted as a lure, an impelling drive to look at this bright like, yet once they did, a void pulled their souls into a bottomless pit, inescapable unless the Golem looked away.

"Which one. Of you. Awoke me."

The Golem started to speak more fluently, less disjointed than before. It had probably forgotten how to speak during its deep slumber.

"WHO!" Both Kraton and Lysine were shocked out of their daze with the ear-piercing shout. They looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.

"Umm, we didn't wake you. We were attacked, and then you woke up."

"... Who is the Chosen? Who spilt their blood?"

"Blood?" Kraton seemed to recall something, but couldn't put his finger on it. Why would this Golem care about their blood? Was it a vampire?

The Golem scanned Kraton again, it probably wondered whether the monsters before it were idiots or not.

"If you read the inscription, then you would know. Fool. Only the blood of one can awake me." As the Golem got used to speaking again, it began to sound more and more irritated.

Lysine made her way to Kraton and whispered something in his ear. Realisation dawned onto Kraton as he glanced at the place where the inscription once was.

"Ohhh, in that case, it was probably my blood. You see, these two crystals next to you started attacking us and the blueish punched my arm here, then-"

"I bind my living stone to the Chosen Blood" The Golem roared as he interrupted Kraton's monologue, it was already bored listening to the first four words which came out of Kraton's mouth. "I, the Ancient Stone, pledge my services to thee."

The Golem knelt down at a remarkable pace unsuitable for someone the size of it, Kraton stared at the kneeling Golem and felt a sense of pride, an arrogant pride, swell up in his chest. 'this is what it feels like to be king and control the strong' Kraton thought silently in his head. He felt that now a strong minion devoted his life to him, he could now be as lazy as he wanted.

"What's your name? Don't expect me to keep calling you Ancient One."

"My name is -" A series of grinding stone and inaudible noises sounded out, "I am the first Golem, created by the soul of Earth itself, no rock nor metal is strong enough to bind me, all earth is under my command."

"Um, I'll just call you Barren, like how rocks are barren."

The Golem stared at Kraton, no emotions could be detected on it's crsytal face. "Very well," Barren accepted the name, "rocks hold all life though", Barren murmered under his non-existent breath.

"Can I name the other two as well?" Kraton sounded gleeful when he enquired, Lysine had distanced herself from Kraton, pretending not to know this moronic giant. She was currently inspecting the green crystal, intrigued at how it transformed.

"I shall name them Sapphire and Jade." Before Barren could have rejected Kraton, he had already given a name to the two crystals. It was lucky that these Golems had no gender, or didn't care about their names.

"Barren, sign this, and get the other two to do it as well." Kraton's data rock materialised by his feet, he had probably been planning this from the start, why else would he give them names. Names were needed to sign contracts, thus he gave himself the liberty of naming the unfortunate Golems.

...

Five figures left the cave and ascended back up the hole in the ceiling, a giant pillar of crystal rose beneath their feet. Once back in the dungeon, a tremor resounded as rocks buried the cave under their feet. The crystalline rocks had all been absorbed by the three Golems as they departed, now they held a faint, supressed aura. The Gargoyles warily stepped backwards as the Golems appeared, as beings of rock, they could feel the power, the prestige of the Golems much more than either Kraton or Lysine could. To compare the two species was to compare a diamond with dirt, no matter how much dirt one had, it was never worth more than a diamond.

Lysine shooed away the Gargoyles and commanded them to either go sleep, or continue mining, with the presence of the Golems, the Gargoyles quickly fled away with complaining.

Reaching the Boss Room, the two smaller Golems were left outside by the door, since they were Golems, they didn't care at all and turned into crystals after the three had entered the room. The basics of the Dungeon was now complete, with two new Guardsman, it gave the humans no chance to recuperate in front of their room. What was more, it seemed as though these Golems didn't need experience to grow, therefore all the experience would still go to Kraton and Lysine. A complete win for them!

"Since you are now a Dungeon Boss, tomorrow will be your debut!"

Barren didn't reply, he just treated it as a simple command and stood staring at Kraton. When Kraton and Lysine went to sleep, its gaze was still planted on Kraton, the feeling made Kraton shiver. When he turned round to look at Barren, the Golem's eyes were glowing, it looked rather chilling and eery.

"Can you stop looking at me, don't you sleep!" Kraton groaned groggily, there was no way he could rest with Barren staring at him like that.

"No."

"Then turn into a crystal like the other two or something for at least seven hours whilst we sleep then!"

Slowly, the glow in Barren's eyes dimmed as he transformed into a massive, colourful and transparent crystal that pulsated with a soothing glow.