Dust to Dust: Monster 07

Tidal

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Rain, rain was new for this body. The world was an ocean, threatening to dissolve the golem's mud composition. If he was still a simple dust bunny he would surely be swept away by the sky's tears.

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Luckily, he had found a safe haven underneath a sprawling oak, where the depression in the ground let him rest under its roots.

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That same depression also let the runoff collect under the tree.

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It wasn't just water, it was freezing water. It not only seeped into his body, it clawed away at his inner heat. Working overdrive, his core steamed away to repel the arctic temperature of the precipitation. One problem temporarily solved until fuel ran out, the dog still needed to learn how to adapt to the rain.

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Trial and error would take far too long, his energy would be entirely sapped by the rain long before a suitable solution was found. Problem solving thought was required once again.

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And like in the past, the bright surge of thought opened up new pathways in the golem's mind. Doors once closed were opened, phantasmal neurons firing in patterns that would shame the old thought processes. From this explosive gain in mental power, a very small reward was gained.

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Access to on-demand rational thought. Not spurned on by a crisis, a one time event, but whenever it was desired. A simple step, but one ultimately required of all beings worthy of admiration.

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Flexing his newly stretched mental muscles, the golem sought out a solution to his current dilemma. Water would dissolve him and sap his energy. Either of these hurdles could and would cripple or kill him.

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Such a scenario wasn't a problem for his new brain. Two obvious conclusions were formulated. Either don't get wet, or overcome the moisture by sheer mass and heat.

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Since he was being hunted by a pack of furious wolves, the stealthier option was preferable. Scanning the forest floor for materials worthy of draping over his frame, the fresh waxy leaves from the canopy caught his eye. The water rolled off the wax, and the leaves were large enough that only a small number were required to coat him, taking very little time.

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Not long after his resolution, the golem stood in his newly minted coat of broad, waxy leaves. Rain gushed down the natural protection, pooling on the ground underneath him. There was no way to protect his legs and feet without losing traction, so mobility was important. Can't stay still, can't get wet. Must get higher, out of the puddles and pools.

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While his legs slowly becoming wetter, colder, and weaker was a problem, he was now able to feed enough energy to them to keep them solid thanks to his now-protected core and warm torso.

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Noise, a crashing in the underbrush, growing louder.

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A smaller brown wolf leaped over a fallen branch to the golem's right and lunged at him, slipping off the slick waxy leaves. Snarling, it gathered its haunches and launched itself back at the leaf-clad mud dog. The wolf's claws bit into the leaves this time, tearing them off by the tens. Rain now seeped in through the cracks left, but such a small amount was easily repelled with a bit of reinforcement energy. Steam rising off the crack in his green cloak, the golem returned the favor, gashing the foe wolf's hind leg with claws of broken stone. This wolf's flesh wasn't tough as wood. It was barely as tough as the leaves the golem coated itself in. Such paltry resistance would not stop his counterattack.

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Knowing it was outmatched, the brown wolf yipped at the sky as if begging the dark clouds for mercy. With a crash of thunder and a claw of stone, the cry was silenced. The quiet patter of rain on treetops was once again the only sound in the forest.

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Rolling in a patch of leaves in order to fix the hole in his cloak, the golem kept a wary eye on the body of the wolf he killed. When it shattered into shards of light, fur and meat dropped. Fur from past creatures had seemed so worthless, but stuck in a torrent of freezing rain, the golem had to accept its usefulness. The wolf hide was draped over the mud golem in place of the leaves, which were tossed to the ground. The mud in the torso was now far warmer, allowing more heat to be sent to the legs. This in turn allowed the waxy leaves to be affixed to his legs, making him waterproof in all but the bottoms of his paws. The meat was simply ground into paste and stored, easily doubling his pink paste compartment, leaving it full.

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Built to weather through the storm, the golem once again surveyed his situation. While waterproof and warm, there was still the main danger, the wolves. Individual smaller wolves would cause him no trouble, but the Alpha could easily take him down. Not to mention the organization of the pack would be his downfall, their numbers easily overtaking his strength and regenerative abilities.

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Realizing the danger of the pack, the golem recalled the brown wolf's dying call, and noticed his folly in staying at the scene of the death.

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As if to answer his worry, the pack stormed into the clearing, taking in the situation. Their comrade was missing and the monster was wearing his skin. Howling in anguish and rage, the wolves eyes turned blood-red, empowering them in their fury. Some leapt, some ran, some took their time and rushed in after the initial charge, but all the wolves assaulted the golem.

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Countless fangs and claws tore into his body, easily penetrating his hide coat. Tendrils of heat cataloged the damage. Deep gouges let the rain penetrate deep into his body, overwhelming his stored warmth. Frenzied wolves circled him, some stopped to bark at him or howl at the sky. Meanwhile the Alpha, watching in calm indifference, stood in the branches in a tree at the edge of the glade.

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Not getting wet was no longer an option. The second option to combat the rain was still viable, and it would also remedy his current predicament.

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Overcome the rain and wolves by sheer mass and heat.

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Drawing in the earth from all directions and the moisture it had absorbed, the golem began to prepare. Heat from his core reached out to the fuel store of green and pink paste, burning the green paste in a flash to power the transformation. The pink paste was distributed to the gathering mud, strengthening the simple mud with fragments of bone and muscle. Rising from the ground, the mud dog had long since lost its form as anything resembling a forest creature.

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A tower of mud, littered with stones and bone, rose to the lower branches of the trees. Damned arms of wood and rock reached out at odd angles, trying to catch the spooked wolves. Steam billowed off the monstrous tower as it basked in the freezing rain, marveling at its own unholy glory. Mouths splayed across its surface gnashed at air, desperate to encounter anything that could feed the inner furnace.

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And what a furnace it was.

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As brilliant as the sun, the golem's copper core was burning everything it could, including itself. Blinding rays reached out to each mouth biting at air, each poorly formed arm of sticks and stones that reached at the wolves, empowering them with the clearest energy the golem had experienced yet. So clear and bright it scorched the mind.

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It was with this body that the golem barreled towards the wolves, crashing onto their fleeing figures like a tidal wave.

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