Fire is the gentle flame that preserve life. Fire is the roaring wildfire that devour the forest. Fire is the yearning that seek for the sky. Fire is the scourging purification.

Darkness is destruction. Darkness is lies. Darkness is the gentle repose from the light. Darkness is destruction, absolute.

Join them, and watch the world crumble.

- Excerpt from The Tantra of Destruction, manuscript once held in the secret library of Gorren An-Tudok

The first golem to reach him bore the snarling visage of Tammur, Lord of Calamities. Moving with a speed that belied its size, the construct swung a column-sized club.

A red aura enveloped Gorren as he let his Mana out. The energy coursed through him like boiling fire, augmenting his already infused body to superhuman levels.

His movements a blur, he dashed out of the way.

As he stopped at some distance away, his cloak billowing around him, his heightened senses had already picked up the next attack.

A shield the size of a barn door whistled two inches from his chin, shearing away the tip of his beard as he dodged back. Spinning, the weapon drew a curve in the air, only to return to the waiting hand of the golem with the features of Atlanta, one of the twin Gods of war.

Already whirling around, Gorren didn’t spare a glance for it, nor for the conjured hairs melting into the air. His hand burned with energy as he brought it out and against the massive blade running toward him.

The construct of the other twin, War God Gories, shuddered as weapon and energy clashed. A jolt ran in Gorren’s arm, and he was blasted off his feet.

He landed at some distance, leaving two furrows of cracked and bent tiles before finally coming to a stop.

Sweeping with his hand, he caught a projectile aimed at his face. The bolt looked like a crackling lightning, twisting and turning in his grip. Gorren grimly eyed the construct bearing the features of Aktur, the golem busy recharging an enormous crossbow.

“You move quickly for a meatbag.” The Animus commented. “Calculating your chances of success: not in a million years. Shame. Not really.”

“Umph.” Gorren closed his fist, crushing the bolt in a cascade of sparks.

The Animus babbled some more, but he had already tuned it out.

The golems - five of them - were arraying themselves into a semi-circle, trying to sorround him from three sides. Gorren couldn’t repress a spark of grudging admiration. The golems were fluid art in motion. Their bodies and features were chiseled to perfection to resemble the Gods, rich with vibrant colors. The spells animating them appeared to him as brilliant tapestries and constellations, lights and lines of power orbiting around suns charged to last millennia.

He appreciated the ability, but damn if he was envious. His own projects seemed like stuff built by children in comparison.

He glanced at his hand. The cut left by the golem’s sword was just disappearing, replaced by new skin. His Mana Barrier was holding well. Very good.

He frowned at the golems. He wasn’t going to be so childish as to get satisfaction from destroying somebody else’s work out of envy, but he had been pining for a chance to try out the results of his training. And not in a laboratory, but on the battlefield, the true one.

How many centuries has been?, he wondered. How many centuries since a true battle? Will my old bloodlust be still there?

“Commencing next stage.” Announced the Animus’ emotionless voice. “Total massacre. Please, maximise your screams for this entity’s amusement and try not to bleed too much on the floor.”

The Aktur golem leveled its crossbow and unleashed a lance of lightning. Gorren’s hand snapped forward. The projectile impacted against his palm with a crack. The lightning bolt snarled and snapped like a living thing, but couldn’t penetrate the red aura. With a grunt, Gorren sent it to explode against a column, the stone being sheared through like it was paper.

He followed the movement by chopping down with the other hand, just as the whirling shield came at him. Hand and weapon smashed together with sharp crack. Gorren grunted for the effort to keep his position. The massive weapon, rotating at high speed, had a tremendous amount of force to it.

He withstood it for a moment, then let go, jumping back and to the side. As the shield whirled away, a club and a sword fell where he had been standing only an instant earlier, the floor exploding under the force of the twin blow.

Gorren ignored the debris pelting his aura, and turned to the fifth golem, already bearing down on him. The construct wore the appearance of Nama. It had circled around while its brethren attacked, and now came at him while he was still in the midst of dodging.

As the massive mace swung toward him, Gorren knew that he couldn’t dodge it in time. He managed to parry with both arms, but the blow still rocked him from head to toe. He was thrown bodily away. The hall with the golems swirled before him.

Over the stomps of the golems that chased him, he felt more than see another projectile coming for him. He lashed out, both with mind and body, seizing himself with his telekinesis and rolling to a stop at the same time. He felt the lightning sizzle the air just above his head, but made none of it.

As he stopped, he thrusted out with his hand. A globe of darkness shot out of his palm, dashing toward the Aktur golem. Before it could reach it, Atlanta had jumped before it. The projectile exploded against the golem’s shield. Black flames lashed out, licking at the weapon and the wielder, but the golem didn’t budge of an inch.

Gorren grimaced. He rolled aside, just in time to avoid being crushed by a club swing. Twisting his body in a way that would have broken a man’s bones, he jumped at his feet and ran toward the columns.

“Cowardice must be one of your protocol.” Called the Animus. “Is it not?”

Gorren ignored it, glancing at the Nama and Gories golems. The two ran each at one of his sides, corralling him. Behind, he heard the Tammur golem start to chase as well. Glancing in their directions, he saw the Atlanta golem smother his black flames with a released burst of energy, while the Aktur golem had its crossbow already leveled and ready.

Without stopping, he reflected. He could feel the semi-sentience engrained in those golems, each the match of his Gorrenite Sentinels. Together, and with the coordination of the Animus, they had unmatched coordination.

Still…

You’re being careless.

Suddenly, he dashed toward the Nama golem. Despite the Animus’ surprised beeping, the golem lifted its massive weapon without losing a beat.

Gorren dashed under an one-handed swing, and reached forward. The golem tried to fend him off with its free hand, but was too slow. Gorren grasped its forearm with both hands, and unleashed his Mana. He felt the stone gave way under his fingers, the carefully enacted enchantments bend and warp as he ruptured them with a wave of disruptive energy.

The golem faltered as the energy coursed through its frame. Still, it swung at him, forcing him to duck. Gorren channelled Mana in his fist and punched its knee. The mighty joint exploded in a cloud of fragments and sparks, and the golem fell.

“Breaking stuff won’t make you feel better about yourself.” Warned the Animus.

The other two golems came at him with club and sword swinging, forcing him to retreat.

A flash sparked in his peripheral vision. Feeling the bolt coming, he made to duck. The Nama golem thrusted its mace against his left leg. With a snarled curse, Gorren flinched. The lightning bolt smashed against his shoulder, exploding in a blast of light.

“Not again…” He hissed as his vision disappeared in a white haze. He could feel the energies crackle along his aura, hungrily searching for weakspots.

Amongst the raging Mana, it was difficult to pick up the world around through his mystical senses. As he jumped back, Gorren fed more energy to his barrier. He felt a heavy object whir before his face, and then another, just a hairline away from his knee.

Planting his feet, he drew back his arms and then threw them forward, unleashing a telekinetic wave. His vision returned just in time to see both the golems being blasted off their feet. They smashed through the columns and then against the floor and the wall, disappearing in clouds of debris.

Gorren didn’t follow. Whirling around, he slapped a lightning bolt out of the air, sending it to explode against a wall.

He narrowed his eyes at the Aktur golem retreating behind Atlanta.

Drawing back both arms, he formed a sphere of black energy between them. He accumulated energy for a couple of seconds, feeding it his rage. And then, he shot it forward.

The Atlanta golem raised its shield. The projectile impacted against it and detonated in a deafening esplosion. Both golems were engulfed in black flames.

Gorren felt the two signatures disappear.

“Kill him! Now!” The Animus commanded.

The two golems shot out of the dust, charging at him. Gorren turned calmly to meet them. They swung their weapons in a dizzying display of ability, forcing him to back away quickly while dodging.

Gorren ducked under a swing and punched forward, unleashing a blast of dark energy. He dodged aside an overhead blow and did the same.

The two golems remained standing for a moment, their chests perforated by barrel-sized holes. Then, like towers without any more support, they toppled to the ground.

Gorren walked briskly to the Nama golem, that was trying to hobble toward him, using the mace as a crutch. The construct lifted a hand to strike. A dark blast took off its head and the upper part of its chest. It toppled immediately.

Silence fell over the rubble-strewn hall.

Gorren turned to the Helios statue, eyes narrowed. “So? Anything snarky to add?”

The Animus didn’t answer right away, busy taking in what had remained of his five best golems.

“I seem to have miscalculated your power, facial hair human.” It said eventually. A tremor shook the hall. The enormous statue of Helios started to move. “I guess that the meatbags were right about one thing. If you want something done right. You have to do it yourself.”

Gorren had to lift his gaze as the gigantic golem marched toward him. It was colossal, its head almost reaching the ceiling. The spear it wielded was big enough to pass as a small tower.

“You got that right.” Gorren murmured, and dashed forward.

“Die, intruder!”

The golem thrusted at him with its immense weapon. Gorren jumped. The spear impacted where he had been, rupturing the floor and sending stones flying. Pushed by his telekinesis, Gorren flew. The giant tried to swat him away, but he whirled in the air, dodging. Fast as an arrow, he sped toward its chest.

For a moment, he fancied to see fear flash in the construct’s lifeless eyes. A moment later, he heard it.

“Oh oh.” The Animus said.

Gorren sank his hand in the golem’s chest. Stone broke and ruptured. Broken spells fizzled and popped. Gorren pushed his arm into the golem, up to his shoulder. He sent darkness streaming inside, to break and dig, search and reach. His heart cried at feeling the beautiful Mana structure crumble. Still, he didn’t relent. In the end, he found what he was looking for.

With a snarl, he yanked his prize out, sparks and debris following his hand. The object was small enough that he could easily clutch it with a single hand. It was a globe, made of what looked to be a shiny black metal. It looked to be made of two semispheres, joined together by a disk of the same material. The globe’s surface was pockmarcked with holes, from which dangled the broken remains of a moltitude of cables.

Gorren admired it with satisfaction, both the physical structure and the complex weave of energies that sorrounded it.

“So?” He asked with a smirk. “Still there?”

For a moment, there was no answer. Then, the tentative voice of the Animus emanated from the sphere.

“Wait…” It said, sounding disbelieving. “Have you taken me out?” It blurted out. The emotionless tone was gone. There was true horror and surprise in the machine’s voice now.

“How the heck did you know?!?” It asked. “Nobody was supposed to know where i was! And… and i was behind so much shielding!”

Gorren leisurely turned the orb between his fingers. “Yeah, the problem with standardized construction.” He explained with a smirk. “Once you learn the weakspots of one model, you learn them for all.”

“This… this cannot be happening!” Shouted the panicked voice. “I was behind enough shielding that… that… nothing could touch me!!!”

“Enough.” Gorren gave the thing a good shake, eliciting a panicked squeak from the voice. “Be silent. You will talk only to answer my questions.”

“Don’t hurt me!”

“I said, silence.”

The Animus made a choked sound but otherwise said nothing.

Gorren jumped down, leaving the statue to topple to the ground with a slam that made the entire hall tremble.

“First of all.” Gorren walked away from the fallen giant, holding the sphere before himself. “What happened here? Speak.”

“I… i don’t know!” The voice squeaked. Any pretence of command was gone. “I wasn’t active when it happened! He took me out of containment and put me in the golem when the place was already like this!” It gave out a startled yelp as Gorren shook it. “I-i swear!”

Gorren set his jaw, disgruntled. That entiy couldn’t be lying, not when he actually held it in the palm of his hand. Goddammit. He had to get the only Animus that didn’t know jack.

He repressed the irritation alongside the need to ask who this “he” was. For the moment.

“So you were in a containment.” He grunted. “That’s why you speak like a human. You’re defective.”

Defective. It was the term to describe the Animus that had got too “human.” The larger populace might think it a mere legend, but he knew for a fact that it wasn’t so. How and why it happened had always escaped the understanding of the Truvian, so they had just slapped the label there and stopped experimenting on it. Or at least, that’s what he thought.

“I am no defective!” Said the voice, regaining a spark of outrage. “I am better! I am smarter! I am free!” Its boasting ended in a strangled sound when Gorren shook the sphere.

“When it happened?” He asked.

“I-i am not sure.” The Animus said. It sounded like a person with motion sickness. “I wasn’t awoken when they contained me. I just had some… ideas. When he took me out, i was though. I could think, i could… could be different!”

Gorren narrowed his eyes. So the catastrophe had triggered the evolution.

This thing only gets more and more confusing.

And intriguing. The possibilities that it hinted at…

“Who is he?” He demanded, returning on topic.

“A-another Animus.” It replied. “I never saw it before! It said that the facility belonged to him now, and i had to obey! I had to, or he would have destroyed me! He is crazy!”

“Another? Who…?”

Hearing a sound, Gorren frowned. He turned, just as a mechanical limb descended from an opening in the ceiling.

The thing unfolded like the leg of an insect. The tip opened like a flower, revealing what it looked to be a metallic eye.

It slowly turned around, taking in the destruction.

“What the fuck happened here?” It suddenly screeched with a shrill, sharp voice.

The eye twitched and jerked, emitting grinding and mechanical sounds, and stopped over Gorren.

“Who the fuck are you?!?“ It shrieked. The eye widened, focusing over the sphere in his hand. “Pip! The fuck are you doing there? Are you betraying me?” Its anger raised to such levels with that last question, that the voice had to choke it out.

“Quandar!” The Animus squeaked in fear. “No! I have not betrayed you! I would never! He… he took me out from the vessel!”

“What?” Quandar abruptly turned from furious to puzzled. Its eye shifted to Gorren. It moved erratically, like it was controlled by someone that couldn’t keep his hands from shaking. “Who the fuck are you?” It asked, voice lowering threateningly.

Gorren furrowed his brow. That Animus was unstable.

“That’s what i am asking.” He replied with disdain. “Who are you?”

The eye flinched aside like it had been struck. “Who am i?” He said, voice raising. “Who am i?!? I am the lord and king of this land! Everything i lay eyes on is mine! Got it? Mine mine mine! I am Quandar! I am the lord of eternity! I am immortal!”

“Right.” Gorren wasn’t going to deign that ranting lunatic with a reply.”Speak, machine. What happened here?”

Pip squeaked in fright. “Can’t you be a little more... ?” Her frantic hiss ended in a scream.

Quandar stopped abruptly. The eye glowed red, and it unleashed a beam of light that struck Gorren and exploded, enveloping him in flames.

A pulse of energy dispersed the fires, revealing the unharmed mage and the still squealing Animus.

“You will address me with the proper respect!” Quandar shrieked, ignoring the demonstration of power.

“I don’t know who you are or what you want, and i don’t care!” The eye bobbed around like a maddened fly. “You have swept the filth out of my doorstep. Enter in my kingdom at your peril! The land itself will raise to defend me! You will die a thousand deaths! And you, Pip! You will pay for betraying me!”

Shrieking in fury, Quandar shot a flurry of beams, digging furrows in the walls, in the floor, in the ceiling. He struck the fallen statue again and again. Red streaks ran across the giant’s skin. It melted and warped, and then exploded.

Gorren shielded his face as heat bathed him, hiding the screaming Pip against his chest. His hand whipped forward, and the eye was struck by a sphere of darkness. It exploded in a shower of metal fragments.

The burned wreck that remained twitched and bobbed, shooting crackles from the severed part. It slumped down with a heavy clang, twitched once and fell inert.

Gorren made sure that Quandar’s presence was gone for real before straightening up.

“Now you’ve done it!” Pip was screeching. “He will kill me!”

Gorren ignored her, his gaze over the severed metal limb.

A crazy Animus had taken control of the facility, it seemed. And that same Animus was now his best bet to know what had befallen the place.

He grimaced. Splendid.

“Wait, where are you going?” Pip asked as he walked toward the door. “You… you aren’t going to go inside, right?”

“Yes, i am.” Gorren just replied. That thing was starting to get on his nerves.

“You’re crazy!” Pip exclaimed, terrified. “You don’t know how terrifying Quandar is! He will kill you! He will kill us both!”

Gorren didn’t answer.

“Alright alright. I get it. You want to go inside!” Pip said, frantically trying to be reasonable. “But you don’t need me, right? Just leave me here!”

“Be silent.” Gorren grumbled. “I told you that you have to speak only when i ask you questions.”

“But… but…!” Her words ended in a gurgle as Gorren gave her a shake.

“You have still much to tell me. Keep your breath for that.”

Pip let out a choked yelp, but smothered her protests.

Satisfied by her compliance, Gorren nodded.

Let’s see this realm he was talking of.

The door beyond the crumpled golem wasn’t tough enough that his magic couldn’t blast it open. Determinated to see the bottom of that mistery, Gorren disappeared in the research wing of the facility.