Dust to Dust: Monster 03

Composite

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Fluid, silky, streamlined, the dust golem, now baptized in the pond, raced through the woods. The foliage was a green blur, the ground a faint memory, and the sky opened up before rabbit; he had never before moved with such speed and grace.

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But as the unfortunate construct had begun to expect, nothing will come easy for him. Not in this body.

So when the first traces of mud began sloughing off his body, the rabbit was unfazed, focused once again on survival. The once sharp teeth used for tearing at plants were now barely different from the gums they stood in, worthless for their job.

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Drawing on a dim memory of birds and lizards swallowing rocks in order to chew their food, the rabbit filtered through the forest floor. Past leaves, sticks, and the undergrowth of moss and insects, lay pebbles rounded by time. However the golem was intrigued at the slight reaction he felt when he touched the pebbles. The warmth inside him, the warmth that kept him together, seemed to ever so faintly trail to the pebbles. Trusting this developing instinct, he swished the pebbles around in his swiftly deteriorating mouth. The warmth grew outwards, becoming a heat attaching his jaw and where his heart should be. In response to this, the pebbles firmly lodged themselves in the otherwise mushy mud, where his teeth used to be.

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A few practice chomps to test the stability of the hastily installed dental work, and the hare began his search for sustenance. With great hesitance the creature scanned the locale to find suitable plants, and after waddling over to an edible fern, he dug in.

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Unexpectedly, the previously ignored taste was returned to the rabbit. Such a simple creature didn't even realize that foods had lost taste to its golem form, but the delicious fern was a quick reminder. His new teeth, warmed and locked in place by his core, seemed to absorb the flavors of the vegetation straight through the stone. A cornucopia of tasty greens and an hour later, and the composite golem was satisfied that his deterioration had stopped.

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In the rabbit's animalistic, primitive mind, something extraordinary happened when he joined his core with the stone. It grew. Not the brain matter, for there was nothing so corporeal guiding the golem. No, it was the ethereal mind of the rabbit, and it grew a barely observable amount.

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Now able to think beyond food, running, and mating, the golem realized its need for more warmth. When the inner heat stopped, so did his body. When he ate, the inner heat grew. Therefore a solution was simple. Food was needed.

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A very large quantity of food.

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Days passed as the ravenous rabbit tore through the jungle, eating everything in sight, gorging itself. The heat become a burning that seemed dangerous, and quickly faded, faster than before.

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Days passed again as the careful rabbit picked out only the most delicious of foods, according to its worn stone teeth. This time the heat was strong, productive, but manageable, however it too faded quickly.

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The problem wasn't the food, it was the heat, the body. It ate too much too fast, and would rise up to eat any extra food. A solution was needed.

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With every progressive, inquisitive thought that spawned from the golem's mind, his mind grew again with the current line of reasoning. A dumb construct was working through a problem, breaking down mental barriers as he went.

If he couldn't eat all the food, and needed it constantly, then he simply needed to store it on his person.

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Focusing on his inner heat, the rabbit focused on storage, a pocket, a space to store greens. And slowly, with a burning sensation, an open space was created behind his mouth. It, like his teeth, seemed to absorb his core's warmth, depleting it faster.

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But that mattered less now, for with his new pouch, he could eat and chew his food, then store it for later. The difference was instantly apparent. After an hour binge, he only ate a quarter of the food, and saved the rest in a muddy mush in his pouch. For the next three hours he ate out of the pouch and was able to stay stable and energetic.

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Satisfied with solving the problems keeping it from running, eating, and mating properly, the rabbit went about his regular business, forgetting all sense of urgency. No matter how much it had grown in body and mind, it was still barely more than a rabbit.

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And a rabbit is exactly what the approaching fox saw.

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Beel here! Boring stuff is over, the avalanche starts tomorrow! Long chapter tomorrow, spent most of today's time writing it instead. Too excited.

Tomorrow: Combat!