"Listen, I -" I began.

At that precise moment the door to the room burst open and a reddish brown blur streaked to the bed. Clarissa shrieked and lifted her leg in surprise. Her exaggerated motions were almost funny, if it wasn't for the huge brown animal now licking my face furiously.

"Wha - wha!" I raised my arm to defend myself, only succeeding in causing me to fall over once again.

Standing on my chest, licking my face was a brown Irish Setter dog.

Helplessly, I waved my arm and managed to say "urk".

The dog set back on its haunches and barked 3 times.

[System alert: detecting mana source nearby. ]

Clarissa half laughed. She put her hand to her mouth and walked up to the dog. Without thinking she began to pet it and rub it's back.

"What a pretty dog! Is it yours?" she asked.

I managed to push myself upright.

"I've never seen this dog in my life." I replied, bemused.

[System alert: canine is known as Bud. Previous owner: Kendranen Mir. Current owner: AEGIS.]

"His name is Bud." I said suddenly.

"Wait, you just said you never saw this dog before. Which is it?" Clarissa put her hands on her hips and gave me 'the eye'. I would be getting that look quite often, it seemed.

"Something … something told me." I replied. I was getting more licks. I petted Bud's head gently. That spawned three more barks and another lick bath.

"What do you mean, something?" Gier asked. He was half smiling at the dog's antics.

"Look guys. You may not believe this, but until yesterday, I was just a normal " -- NOT NORMAL - I remembered -- "boy who was undergoing a … procedure for an illness. The next thing I know I wake up as this golem in the dirt and my body parts are missing. I don't know where I am, or who you are, or … anything!" I was starting to yell.

Gier put his hands up placatingly.

"Listen son. It's ok. Kendranen was a powerful wizard. Maybe those memories you have, maybe he put them there? Could you be some kind of … experiment?"

I looked at him silently as I took in his words.

The dog sat back and stared at me with his glistening brown eyes. Something sparkled under his chin.

[System alert: presence of mana detected.]

Clarissa looked under the dog's chin. "What's this?" She cupped a blue glowing orb, attached to a collar.

"Dad! Come look at this!" she turned to her father excitedly.

Gier walked over to the other side of the bed and appraised the glowing orb.

"This was Kendranen's dog." I said. "Could that be some kind of magic charm?"

I was still processing the old man's words. Could... could my memories be fake? Was I just imagining my former life?

NO.

I doubt a wizard in a fantasy setting could come up with something as totally unlike this world as video games, soccer, and daytime television. My life was REAL.

It was THIS life I was struggling to accept.

Gier was looking at me carefully.

"Look son. We are simple folk. My daughter was just snooping around -- where she shouldn't have been -- " his last words were louder and he eyed his daughter, who looked down in shame.

"We don't want to get involved in Wizard dealings. "

"I appreciate your help, sir. I have no one here. No one who can help me." I replied.

Bud barked. More licking. Ugh.

Clarissa's eyes danced. "Well, it looks like you have at least one helper."

Gier gave her another "look" as if to say 'don't agitate the dangerous, possibly murderous golem'.

She quailed. After a moment she looked at me with a curious expression.

"Are you hungry? Do you … eat?" she asked tentatively.

I turned to look at her. My broken eye was glitching out and I felt like I was looking through a snowstorm.

"I don't think so. But I could use some more water."

Her face lit up, and she bounced out of the room. Casting a "I told you so" look at her dad.

I petted Bud and managed to get him to lie down while I looked at the orb.

It was about the size of a large marble, with an intense blue glow. It was held by a silver dragon's claw attached to a leather strap that wrapped around the dog's neck.

[System message: Alert! Mana source located. Connect to mana source? (Y/N)]

Oh. This dog had been owned by my creator. Would he be upset if I tapped into his dog's magic necklace? Or, what if this was on purpose? Come to think of it, the leather strap didn't look like a dog's collar. It was too thin and loose. It was a wonder it hadn't already fallen off.

I carefully started to lift the necklace from the dog. He looked at me with those brown eyes and whimpered. I couldn't quite get it over his head.

"Is it ok boy? Ok if I borrow this?"

Bud licked my cheek.

Ok, here goes.

I had trouble getting it up off of Bud's neck, with just one arm.

Clarissa had returned with a glass of water. She put the glass down on the table, bit her lip and reached over to lift up the necklace for me. She stepped back as it was freed up and looked like she would bolt at any moment. She had a pretty green dress on. It was plain, while seeming well cared for and tied with a white fabric around her waist.

"Thank you Clarissa." I said kindly. She blushed.

Awkwardly, I managed to get the necklace over my own head and it dropped to my shoulder.

In my mind, I said 'yes'.

At that moment, my life changed.

Literally.

Before that moment, I had lived as a boy in a human body, and now for a brief time I had lived as a boy in a mechanical body. Not too much different. I still thought of myself as "human".

At that moment I connected to something that was beyond myself. Beyond … everything!

I could see and hear things from miles away. People talking. Monsters! Prowling around in the distant forest. Horses carrying large wagons just outside this cabin. My awareness ZOOOMED outward as if I was in a huge invisible elevator looking downward. If I had a human stomach, I probably would have lost the contents of it as the world shrank below me.

I could see the town, which was quite large, I guess for a medieval fantasy town. I could see the huge Castle Mir, farther away atop a very tall hill, almost a mountain. Then, forest all around, until I could sense other towns and villages. But that was only one aspect.

I could 'feel' the life force in … everything. Clarissa and Gier , and even Bud looked in my eyes as glowing life forces. Each one a unique hue. I could "feel" the presence of hundreds of lives all around me - people, creatures, dogs, cats, birds, even bugs. It all crashed into my awareness at once.

I screamed in pain as my brain was ripped apart and reassembled in a new configuration. Time, space, life, death, I could somehow understand it all. In that briefest of moments, I sensed something else. Something dark.

A void.

Not just the absence of life, but it's opposite. An un-life. I felt a deep anger.

It hated.

It wanted death.

I shivered deep within. Somehow, it could sense me. A baleful eye opened in the cosmos. It cast about, looking for me.

I cringed and withdrew myself from the orb. My throat hurt. I must have been screaming.

Gier and Clarissa stood there, almost quivering.

"I'm sorry" I said. "I didn't know it would do that. I'll stop screaming now."

Despite her fear, Clarissa quirked a half smile.

"You really don't know anything do you?" she asked.

Gier swiped a hand at his daughter's shoulder. "Clarissa!"

"No no. It's OK. And to answer your question. I know for sure that my memories are not artificial. I was a boy named Aegis. Now, I guess I'm a golem with the same name. "

There was a knock at the cabin's door. Apparently my screams had alerted the local authorities. A firm voice was questioning outside.

"Mr. Sarman? It's the police. Can you come to the door please?" someone was saying.

Gier blanched. He put his finger to his lips and walked out of the door.

Something SHIFTED within me.

OOHHHH.

[System alert. Mana reserves at 100%.

Perceptual mode : Map enabled.

Perceptual mode: Life Force enabled.

Automatic camouflage engaged. ]

I felt a strange pulling sensation. Like when you get a blood draw. ( I had that happen so often, it was a common feeling for me. ) I looked down at my arm. My eyes grew wide.

Skin. I saw pink, fleshy skin!

Had I been changed back into a human? Frantically I looked at my left shoulder. No arm. I pulled my sheets back without thinking. Normal chest, belly button. And then … nothing below.

Clarissa 'acked' and turned her head away.

Hastily I covered myself again.

"Sorry" I said.

Wow, even my voice sounded different.

"How... how did you do that?" Clarissa peeked at me through her fingers with her hands on her face.

I made a half smile.

"I don't know? Magic?" I shrugged. As much as I could with only one arm.

It was at that moment that two blue uniformed policemen burst into the room, with a very nervous Gier behind them. Clarissa backed away to the wall.

"What is this? Who are you? Why were you screaming?" The first officer said as he pointed a baton at me.

I Looked at Gier and Clarissa helplessly.

Bud barked.