“Crap, I wish I had some armor,” Eli muttered as he walked closer to the statues. He’d been in a bit of a rush when he’d followed Wolf into battle against Boruta a couple of hours ago. He’d had a perfect chance to snatch up Wolf’s discarded armor, but Eli had been a tad distracted after Dara’s father had turned into a saber-toothed werewolf. “Ah well, hindsight’s a bitch,” he finished with a shrug.

Eli stopped his approach when the environment suddenly changed around him. Like a ripple in a pond with him in the center, a pulse of changing reality moved like a small wave along the ground as the light tile ground morphed into hard-packed dirt. The changes continued when a wall grew vertically out of the earth, only stopping once it reached about five meters tall. Beyond the wall, empty stands materialized and extended well up into the air until they disappeared within the darkness overhead.

When the wave passed over the statues, they changed as well. Instead of solid white, the four shifted like melting wax, turning into greyish-brown humanoid forms. The transformation continued for a few heartbeats as their exterior shank inwards, their chests squashed down and widened into a barrel shape while their arms lengthened, almost reaching their knees. Their once featureless faces grew three small black circles arranged with two on the bottom and one on top in a triangular arrangement. When the ripples stopped, they resembled some sort of giant tan orangutans with no clothing or weapons outside their oversized fists.

Eli wasn’t sure how dangerous they were, but a spike of nervousness and a crawling sensation tickled his spine. There was something creepy about their appearance, the animalistic design but without ears, hair, mouth, or other typical features. A feeling of being watched tickled the back of his head like someone was about to jump him. He slowly turned around, taking in his new environment, but didn’t see any threats – he stood alone within a circular area fifty meters across in the center of a massive arena.

Toggling on his Manasight again, he couldn’t help the “Woah” that escaped at the sight before him. On Lurra, he’d almost become accustomed to the strange little bits of light that floated everywhere, like little groups of colored fireflies on a late May night. He hadn’t seen any before the statues appeared, but now there weren’t just little wisps of color, but the air was filled with a rainbow of shifting tiny lights like he was walking through a star cluster. The colors were mostly in hues of reds, greens, and blues, but a few bits of other varieties were mixed in as well. It was almost overwhelming, and he had to focus on the orangutans to help center his thoughts. The darkness at the edge of his vision appeared to close in slightly, just like before. He toggled the ability off and on again – the riot of colors around him disappearing and reappearing while the top quarter of the seating went through a similar cycle. On a hunch, he toggled on his rarely used Aurasight, and more than half the stadium seats vanished behind a wall of deep blackness. He then tried Lifesight, and the darkness almost returned to the point of his normal vision. Shaking his head, it was clear that the shroud reacted to his different powers, but the “why” was another mystery.

The time ticked to three minutes, reminding Eli of his impending challenge. The golems, robots, or whatever they were hadn’t moved, their creepy heads frozen and staring at nothing. Under Aurasight, the constructs were unchanged, and Lifesight revealed only muted grey colors inside their bodies. Under Manasight, though, the statues lit up like little matchstick men with a light brown skeleton of glowing light. Much like the mana systems in people, their energy paths extended out to the ends of their limbs. Their heads concealed a bulb of orange color, somewhat amusingly the size of an actual orange. Taken altogether, he suspected that the energy would let these constructs move and fight like golems out of fantasy.

Do these colors hint at their abilities? Do golems even have powers outside the “Hulk Smash!” variety?

Within his new magical reality, he hadn’t found any strong correlation between the colors in people’s cores and any specific power. Then again, he didn’t exactly have a significant sample size after only a couple of weeks. In fact, he hadn’t had more than a few days of experimentation before the recent attack. The color mystery was already on his list of topics to research, but the list was pretty long already.

He considered his options for the upcoming battle, immediately tossing any form of retreat right out the window with the curtain of darkness surrounding him and the arena. There was still his Flamethrower ability, but he wasn’t sure the golems would care about fire. Bash, his metal-capped staff, hit like a dump truck if he could get his temporal power to function properly. He’d had a hell of a time getting it working against Boruta, but Eli still thought the difficulty was due to that monster’s massive aura somehow suppressing the ability. Since these golems didn’t seem to have any, he was somewhat hopeful.

He concentrated on his aura and its feeling near the edge of his skin. Even after spending a few hours practicing with Dara, the whole thing was still new to him. He almost snorted at the random thought since everything magical was new after only two weeks.

As ready as he could make himself with the minutes he’d had, he mentally counted down with the timer but kept his eyes on the four threats. He left about ten meters between them, just in case they moved fast or had some insane ability to throw at him immediately. He’d seen how fast and hard Boruta had been, and Eli wanted time to move or dodge.

It was almost anticlimactic when the timer reached zero, and the four golems only turned their heads to focus on him. The two lower circles on their faces lit up with an orange light that matched the color in their heads, while the one on top remained dark. Their bodies slowly turned, though their heads remained disconcertingly locked on Eli the entire time as they shifted around to face him. Without any other warning, they moved. The two on the ends suddenly ran out wide, their long arms pumping while their heads remained locked on him. The other two in the middle simply crouched for a split second before launching themselves into the air towards him, their arms rising as if to smash him upon landing.

Even expecting the attack, Eli almost reacted too late but reached for his temporal power while the two were still airborne. Like a hug from all sides, the reassuring thick air pressure coincided with the golems suddenly slowing down. The weird illumination around him dimmed, but not enough to hinder him as, with his Manasight active, their forms lit up with glowing orange colors. Unfortunately, he was just as trapped and could only move so fast against the heavy air around him, yet his mind sped up to give him time to plan and react.

The two airborne golems approached through the air, falling with their arms up over their heads, their large hands balled into clubs. Eli’s bare feet kicked up a bit of loose dirt as he took two slow steps to his right, just before the leftmost golem slammed to the hard earth. Debris and dirt were kicked up in the air as he rolled away, missing the swinging arm that shot over his head by millimeters.

Shocked by their speed, even within the world slowed down around them, he jumped away as their momentum carried them past him. With the first two now behind him, he turned to the one that had swung wide on his right side. Its two glowing circles remained locked on Eli, turning to come in for an attack. He didn’t try anything fancy but swung Bash around while leaning back to counterbalance his wide two-handed strike, and there was a resounding thunk followed by a high-pitched crack at contact. Bash’s metal cap threw the golem’s torso backward while its arms snapped off to barely miss Eli’s sudden ducking head. Small bits and pieces flew out into the air as he turned back to track the remaining three.

That’s one.

The two former airborne units had recovered from their missed attack. Even within Eli’s temporal control, they approached far faster than he could manage, reinforcing their inhuman qualities. In response, he raised one hand to shoot a bit of his Flamethrower ability into the left one’s two lit circles while he tried to move around the other on the right. His flames gushed out in a billowing line of angry heat, the sudden whoosh of exploding destruction sending a spike of adrenaline through his body. The target’s head darkened on contact, and the golem slowed down to swipe both hands through the stream of fire. It took a step to the side, away from him and his jet of flames.

With one momentarily distracted, he swung around to attack the other. It had almost closed the distance, and one of its arms was already swinging up towards Eli’s head. With it so close and almost within the arc of his staff’s swing, he settled for a jump away to gain some distance. Quietly thanking Aarav for the martial arts training, Eli rolled over with his momentum and got both of his feet down. Turning one foot to point toward his next attack, he pulled the rest of his body around at the hips to face the closing attacker. Following his turn, swinging for the fences, Bash thrummed through the air to explode through the charging golem. The construct detonated like a little bomb, and pieces flew in all directions. There was only a split second to react, yet he still tried to dodge the shrapnel and flying limbs but could not roll away in time. Something hit him in the midsection, flinging him hard onto the ground even as Bash went whirling out of sight.

The hug of air vanished, sending a spike of fear flooding through his tumbling body. Recognizing his predicament, he immediately concentrated on the world slowing down again while rolling away as fast as possible. A solid impact struck the ground where his head had just been, and he barely caught a glimpse of another blurring movement before a spike of agony erupted in his gut. He’d managed to roll enough to deflect some of the hit’s energy, but it still sent him skidding along the ground to smack up against the arena’s wall.

Feeling panic at the edges of his mind, Eli barely got up to his knees when he caught another blurred movement just as the air thickened again. He jumped to the side, and the missed blow crashed into the wall spraying debris into the air, barely missing him. Finding comfort in the syrupy reality hugging his body, he rolled back to his feet. His opponent looked a bit worse for the wear, its darkened and damaged head hiding a much dimmed orange glow within. The golem pivoted around its waist and pulled its right arm back for another punch. The arm was cracked, nearly to the thing’s wrist. Yet even damaged, it still looked more than solid enough to pulverize Eli’s skull.

Deciding on a different tactic after the first two had exploded, he figured these machines weren’t exactly built to last. He stepped down and to the left around the thrown punch, sweeping his right leg around to catch the golem hard in the back of its legs. The impact sent a warning stab of pain into his foot on impact, and he heard a tiny crack, yet was rewarded as the golem fell backward while its feet shot forward. Not waiting, he leaped up and grabbed the thing's head, pulling and twisting with all his strength. There was a loud crack, a sizzle, and the head came away in his hands.

Three!

Suddenly recognizing his mistake, Eli whipped his head around to find the last golem. It had initially swung far left to flank him, and he had lost sight of the thing some time ago. He didn’t see it anywhere, but what felt like a sledgehammer cracked into his left side, throwing him again against the wall. Stabbing pain along his side told him he was severely hurt, and perhaps only his adrenaline kept him on his feet. Desperately trying to turn around, he pushed whatever energy he could scrounge into healing his half-broken body as the taste of iron flooded his mouth.

In the form of a tan stone orangutan, his death closed as the silent construct swung its arm forward. His side erupted in pain when he pushed off the wall, but the golem’s fist missed him, smashing into the barrier with a crash. Turning, gasping while bringing his hands up to fend it away from another swing, he realized that its hand was buried in the wall. With its head still locked unerringly on Eli, its body continued jerking like the stuck machine it was as it tried to extricate the limb. Recognizing the opportunity, his soulbound staff appeared in his hands. With no further hesitation, he swung at the hips, aiming right for the back of the golem. The thing turned its body around, its broad back angling away from him, but not fast enough. He barely heard the loud explosion before a concussive force threw him away.

Landing in a heap on the hard ground, he couldn’t help the groan of agony that escaped even as he tried to get back on his feet. Stabbing pain in both arms and his side fought against the effort, yelling at him to give in to the darkness coloring the edges of his vision. Ignoring the gruesome cracking sounds within his body, he turned his head enough to see the last golem in pieces – its fist still lay embedded within the wall above a grey and brown stone pile. He tried to smile at his victory, but the ground seemed to leap at him while the world went dark.