“From the earth and the stones, they were given a body. From our science and magic, they were given a life. Yet it was our weakness, our vice, that gave them their purpose : destruction.

-fragment of an ancient stone tablet”

* * *

Azcheron

“Hunting, you say ?” Pat said disapprovingly. “Isn't this one enough ? We haven't even studied it yet.”

Azcheron nodded, only half-listening to Pat's opinion. “Mmh, mmh, you are right, let us study the thing. Yorl ! Baestar ! Time for you to do your job ! We'll have an anatomy lesson of the most exotic nature, aren't you glad ?” he said as he stared at the two scholar who clearly weren't as enthusiast as him. They had just avoided death and it seemed they weren't sure yet if the greatest danger here was the presence of golems, or Azcheron.

Not caring one bit about the scholars' personal feelings, he ushered them toward the rocks that were the golem's cadaver. Erin and Pat followed, and basically everyone else did so. No one could say they weren't curious.

They didn't really know what to look for. It didn't seem like the rocks were infused with mana, not now that the golem was destroyed anyway. Baestar tried to cast some detection magic on the rocks but as they expected these were plain, normal stones, albeit of different and seemingly random types. Yorl couldn't find anything that looked like a rune or an artefact. Nothing seemed unusual, aside from the fact that these rocks were trying to kill everyone a few minutes earlier.

The scholar concluded that whatever turned regular rocks into moving golems was a spell casted long ago. It would confirm the theory that the golems were feeding on the desert's mana – that was why the spell maintained itself without anyone pouring mana in it. A self-sustaining golem was a terrifying thing. How it worked though, they couldn't know.

So if these golems were to, say, cross the mountain toward the east, they'd turn our lands into a similar desert if we were to let them wander too long there. I wonder how many of them and how long it would take to reach this level of desertification. It should be very long, with all the forests and areas naturally dense in mana. Not that I really want an answer, because there's only one way to know. If I was an evil lord, though...

Azcheron was smiling to himself while thinking, but apparently it showed on his face because everyone looked at him as if he had noticed something they didn't.

“Did you find something, Azcheron ?” Yorl inquired.

Ugh... Should I tell him that I was imagining the end of the Empire ? Oh, that would make for a good distraction for the countess Ravilna !

“Nothing of the sort. I was just wondering how old they must be.” He paused, then stared at Baestar. “Say, could you... tell the age of magic ?”

The scholar made a confused face. “Huh ? What for ?”

“I mean, is there a spell that could date the activation of another spell ?”

“Ah ! Err... I don't know if it's even possible. I see what you want to do, but if our theory is correct, the original mana, with which the spell was casted, is long gone and now only the desert's mana remain in the golems... In any case I can't even do anything with this one.”

“Mmh. Too bad. Guess we'll have to find others golems to try it while they're alive.” Of course, Azcheron didn't really think it was 'too bad'. More like 'very convenient'.

“Yes, I- … Hah ! What ! No ! NO. I'm not doing that !” Baestar accompanied his refusal with an energetic gesture. It looked like he was fighting off an army of bees.

Rudolph stepped in. “Could it be that you have another way of dealing with them, apart from explosives ?”

“No, we'll use bombs again,” Azcheron replied with his best smile. The worst thing was that he was lying, he had other means. He just didn't want to resort to those yet.

The general reluctancy could be witnessed effortlessly. Even Erin seemed unsure. Nothing like experiencing explosives at first-hand to discourage people from using them.

“Don't make such sad faces. This time we'll avoid being right next to the deflagration, it'll be less dangerous !” he added, trying to obscure the fact that golems were already plenty dangerous, even without Azcheron's irresponsible usage of bombs.

Erin suggested a way. “An ambush or a trap of some sort ?” She paused for a moment. “Once we find a golem, everyone except me and Azcheron will hide somewhere. We'll bait the golem to a location were we'll have planted a small explosive, or just someplace where we can throw it without danger. It'll be just enough to destroy its legs.”

Azcheron nodded. “Yes, that sounds safe. We don't want to blow each-other up with bombs, after all. Haha !”

Why aren't you laughing. Trying to lighten the mood here. Is everyone still angry with me ?

“...Yes, we wouldn't want that,” Pat said.

“That'd be a shame,” Baestar concurred.

“How fortunate for us to have Erin with us,” Wilhelm added.

“She sure seems to know how to safely use explosives,” Yorl concluded.

The verdict was unanimous. Azcheron being in charge of battle plans involving explosives was deemed unhealthy. Erin was a much less dooming alternative. Realizing this, the Saint's mood became grumpy.

* * *

“Come on, stop sulking. You look like a child,” Erin complained.

“Hrmpf,” was the only answer Azcheron bothered to give.

They had been riding for two days now, without seeing a single golem since the one that attacked them. The group was either unlucky because their targets were busy walking somewhere else, or something might have been happening. Maybe the golems decided to avoid the group, because they learned some way or another that it had defeated one of their own. Maybe they were preparing a large scale offensive as revenge. So, either the group was unlucky, or it was about to be very unlucky and doomed.

Which wasn't even the reason Azcheron was in a bad mood. He had still not forgiven the others for the distrust they placed in his ability to wield the funny explosive powder. He'd still be there to ignite them, of course, but the main attraction, the pleasure, that was the throwing, yes, well this was taken away from him. Even though he had been nice enough to heal the injured horses because of his blunder ! Ingrates.

However he didn't care enough to resent Erin. And it wouldn't do to start a feud with the person he was riding with. Azcheron would rather manifest his discontentment like any adult would, through responsible sulking. This, and the fact that he was still clinging to Erin's back, made him look like a pouting child. Even he was aware of that. But sulking was sulking ! There was no point in sulking if you stopped doing it all of the sudden, for no reason. It was a negotiation method like any other. The Saint wasn't above cheap tricks when it came to bargaining. No matter the moral price, the Saint always won his negotiations ! His might was grand and his will was made of unbending steel.

So, Azcheron resorted to the pouting child act. It had been going on for two days now and he wouldn't budge. He could have played on the atmosphere devoid of mana making him ill and uneasy, but by now he was used to it, enough so that it wouldn't show too much. So the sulking would prove more effective.

That, and he somehow didn't want to take advantage of Erin's protectiveness. Her behaviour the first night, when he felt like he was about to puke and faint, was not lost on him. Azcheron wasn't a fool, nor was he dense. It didn't sit right with him to act like a jerk by abusing of her feelings of kindness. It was a conscience thing, perhaps. That was the rule he gave himself since he had told Erin about his goals, and since she decided to follow him. He would not trick her or betray her. Well, small plots were okay. She looked like she enjoyed surprises and twists in his 'scenarios', so he had the duty to entertain her with small things – fortunately it wasn't on the countess Ravilna's scale. But trust and feelings weren't small things, and Erin was now his comrade in arms. His associate, his partner, his accomplice, his friend. He felt even closer to her than he did with Anton. The Saint didn't trample on his close ones' trust.

The sulking child act was permitted, however. And it worked. Erin ended up allowing that he handled explosives. Under her strict supervision, she insisted.

“Are you worried that I'll kill us with it ? You don't trust me ?” he asked, only half-satisfied, stressing the word 'trust'.

“It's not that I don't trust you... In fact yes, when you say it like that I don't really trust you with this,” Erin mocked. “But more importantly, I don't want you to play around and end up having to deplete your mana on useless things. Who knows when we might need it.”

“Mmh, indeed. However do not worry, I have much more mana than your run-of-the-mill magician. I'm the Saint, remember ! But, well... now I know that trying to magically contain an explosion is a fairly self-defeating venture. It'd be less trouble to simply destroy golems with a strong spell.”

“Yes, that's the point. We'll safely use the bombs first, and if we get cornered, you do some magic to save us. You do the job we originally agreed on, basically.”

“You place an awful lot of trust in me and my magic, you know,” he said with a grin, although Erin couldn't see it.

“I do. In both,” she replied flatly.

Azcheron remained silent. The group kept searching the desert for golems.

* * *

A day later, their search bore fruit. The kind of fruit that made Azcheron happy, and everyone else grimacing. Fruits, plural.

In the horizon, there was not one but three tall shadows. Three stone golems, then. It changed a lot of things. The ambush plan became insanely more risky. Yet Azcheron insisted that he could deal with the increased danger. His mana had long been refilled, and he confessed he had a handful of spells capable of neutralizing golems or even outright crushing them. The fact that he chose to make everything explode to stop the first golem, while he had access to safer alternatives, wasn't lost on anyone. But no one was surprised, at this point so they didn't bother pointing that out.

The original plan was to get rid of the legs without obliterating the entire golem. They had to study a functioning one. They could probably manage to fight against three golems with explosives only, but they would not have the luxury to avoid destroying them.

Azcheron's magic would probably make capture possible. He was confident he could, at least. Fighting golems wasn't hard on paper. You simply had to stop them before they flattened you.

It shouldn't be too hard to cut the golem in two. Once it loses its legs, it shouldn't be too dangerous. If necessary I can take off the limbs, too. But I don't know at which point a golem 'dies'. Since we didn't find anything like a rune or an artefact that acted as a core, maybe it dies once it loses too much mana. Like blood loss ? Or, more likely, the explosion just destroyed whatever core our golem had. In any case, we'll get answers this time.

The group sneakily made its way to the golems. It didn't look like they were spotted by their targets yet, since there was no assemblage of stone rushing toward them. Even if all the expedition members were blind, they would hear the stomping. They hid behind a large dune, still far away from the golems, where they made a small camp. From what they saw, the stony giants would not be leaving anytime soon. They were probably busy staring at the sand and thinking about rocks. That's how it looked to everyone, at least. They were moving from time to time, so there was no doubt they were 'alive'.

Baestar would not take part in the battle, so he used his own mana to cast a sight-enhancing spell on Azcheron and Erin.

Now they really look like they're watching the sand. What the hell. We searched for days and they were just here doing... nothing ? Hrrrrh, the Desolate Lands will get the better of my patience. So, how should we do this ? They don't look too different from the first one, so I can assume they have the same sturdiness and speed... Mmh ?

He tucked Erin's sleeve. “Doesn't it look like they're too large , somehow ? Or that one of them is smaller ?”

Erin observed the golems for a bit before answering. “Eh, I think you're right. What does that mean ?”

The question was aimed at the group, because the scholars might have an idea.

“If we assume they are manmade, then maybe their creators experimented, or maybe they designed multiple models,” Yorl suggested. “I could be that they did what they could with the materials they had. Or perhaps different parties each made their own type of golems ?”

Stone golem warfare, huh ? Now if we take into account to unexplained downfall of this civilization, that would imply there was either a civil war here, or more than one nation. If the golems are manmade, then it's fairly certain that they are military remnants of whoever lived here before the desertification... That's already the main theory anyway, but it would be nice to have evidence. It would be nice if we were the ones finding said evidence, Azcheron thought, smiling. Fame ! Glory !

“Indeed, the first one was composed of many different rocks that seemingly had nothing to do with each other, maybe they were low on building materials,” Baestar added.

How could you get low on stone ? It's not hard to find. Maybe they were in a hurry.

They turned to Nathaniel as they expected him to contribute, but he ignored everyone and went to observe the golems with his own vision spell.

Yorl resumed the conversation. “Then it should be possible to find proof of their origin. Artefacts, or maybe rocks specially carved and designed for battle ?”

“That, or some golems created other golems with whatever they could find, however they could,” Erin interjected. “These strange assortments of random stones feel, well, too random to be deliberate. And that'd suggest they could use magic, to some extent...”

Azcheron nodded. “Hm. We can't say for sure what created them, but at least we know that they don't answer to a single standard. So we should not expect every golem to be like the first one. The unknown is dangerous, and I don't want to take any risk,” he said in a serious tone. This time, it was credible, because he spoke the truth. “We'll destroy the small golem and a big one, for precaution.”

Everyone agreed. This was the safest course of action. It was as safe as a golem hunting session in the most infamous graveyard of the world could get !

“DON'T !” Everyone was startled by the shout. They turned toward the culprit, Nathaniel. “Destroy them, I mean. Especially the small one.”

Azcheron raised a brow. “Why ?”

“Yeah, why the hell should we not ?” Yorl inquired.

“Do you really not know ? You uneducated oafs ! Rejoice, because I believe I just made this crappy expedition worth its suicidal nature.” Everyone stared at Nathaniel, who was standing in a victorious pose. He stopped when Erin glared at him because he'd give away their position.

What is he acting all high-and-mighty for ? Does it sound like that when I do it ? I want to break his skull open.

“Oh, and what did you find, dear Nathaniel ? Surely a well-read man like you have something interesting to tell us about the culture and language of the golems ? Maybe you could have a nice talk with them so that they would peacefully surrender to us,” Yorl mocked.

“If you had taken the time to look away from your magical toys and grimoires filled with creepy runes, you could have opened an architecture book for beginners, therefore allowing you to notice that there are god-damn bricks and carved stones in the small golem ! You know, the kind that we use to make HOUSES.”

Oooh ! Thank you for finally being useful, Nathaniel. I was starting to think that you three lackeys of Talir were nothing more than deadweight ! Especially you, whom I envisioned as a the most futile addition.

“Oooh ! Thank you for your insight, Nathaniel. I knew I could trust headmaster Talir with selecting able people for this expedition ! Especially you, whom I expected a lot from, yes,” Azcheron said innocently.

Erin frowned, clearly finding this sentence unbefitting of him. Their eyes met and he shrugged.

“Yes, well, I don't know how valuable this would be to you guys, but to me... Do you know how rare the slightest bits of info on this ancient civilization are ? We know almost nothing of their architecture ! It's a miracle ! So don't destroy it. It's very precious !” He was beaming a large smile and sounded like a happy, thus annoying, child.

Oh, I thought he was smart, but in the end he's just an idiot who's passionate about his own thing. You're missing the most important finding if you think we should only care about how the stupid stones look.

“Esteemed Nathaniel, I see your passion, but you're missing another important discovery if you only think about the... architectural value of the stones. Allow me to enlighten you,” Azcheron replied in the least condescending tone he could muster. It was difficult. Once again, Erin stared at him with disbelief.

“Eh ? Oh, please do, sorry. I was getting excited,” Nathaniel apologized.

“Ah, I see what you mean. Whatever the reason, buildings and houses were used as materials for these things,” Baestar said, observing fixedly the small golem with his magic vision.

“Indeed. From this, we can only deduce that the golems are at least partly responsible for the large lack of ruins or archeological evidence regarding the western civilization. I believe only a few stone tablets and some dusty ancient documents make mention of it ?”

Nathaniel nodded. “So I guess that now, we should advise historians and archeologists to go golem hunting, eh ?”

I really need to explain everything, eh ?

“Better yet.” Azcheron smirked and spread his arms theatrically. “We'll do it for them, and get all the fame. Is this not what we came here for ?”