“Well, hopefully I can ease up a bit now that you’re here,” Ben said with cheer as Thera released him and he got up. “You know, you’re a hard man to find.”

“And you don’t give me a break,” Falk shot back. “You look terrible, how long have you been working for?”

“I just had a nap so I’m pretty good for now, don’t worry. Now come on and give him a look with me already.”

He pulled his teacher over to the unconscious automaton and couldn’t help but cringe at what he saw. In the hours he’d slept, all of his hard work had been destroyed by the enchantment decay and had gotten worse from there too. He looked at Falk, wanting to ask if he could do anything to help, but his teacher was already absorbed, leaning in to examine each and every enchantment, poking and prodding Inux with his large hands, trying to figure out how everything worked together as he went.

Even as he went, Ben saw him occasionally apply enchantments of the earth and death affinities he had access to, stopping only to watch them decay before moving on to a different part of his body and trying again, all the while repairing the fraying enchantments that had come apart when Ben had fallen asleep.

He worked in silence the entire time, patiently devoted to his work as he went before ultimately heaving a heavy sigh.

“There’s nothing I can do boy, I’m sorry.”

“What? Falk, there must be something, even if you beat around the bush about it you obviously have awakened skills, if we work together then maybe-”

“He’s an mid-mythic item boy,” His teacher said as he cut him off. “Maybe if you were on the verge of getting to the third tier with a few of your skills, you’d be able to do something for him, but that’s the only way he could be fixed. Otherwise, there’d need to be someone who managed to have awakened magics of every affinity along with enchanting. People like that simply don’t exist. No matter how good I am, I wouldn’t be able to do anything, even if I were to make it into the third tier myself.”

As his teacher spoke he couldn’t help but deflate. If Falk said so then he was sure it was accurate, but that meant there was no option to repair the enchantments. He could only stare down at the talos before him, Falk placing a comforting hand on his shoulder while Thera squeezed his arm before both walked off to give him some time alone.

As the hours passed while he stood there he watched more and more of the enchantments that made up Inux’s body decay and break. He didn’t try to stop it, only waiting for the talos he’d found to open his eyes for what might be their final conversation.

When he finally did his voice was as gentle as ever. “I take it things aren’t looking good?”

“My teacher came, but he said it wouldn’t be possible unless I was on the verge of getting to the third tier.”

“Sounds about right, awakened enchanters have never been able to do much in the past for my brothers sadly. How long do you think I have?”

“A week, two weeks maybe if you’re lucky. Do you want me to contact anyone for you? I could send word to the meliae if you’d like. Heck, I have nothing going on, I could bring your body back for them if you have any burial customs.”

“Thank you, but I’d rather not. I said all of my goodbyes before I left, we all knew that chances were best I wasn’t coming back. Thank you though, for trying all of these weeks, for talking with me too. As far as last days go, these were some good ones.”

Ben hesitated for just a moment, not wanting to give voice to what needed to be said. He hated the option as soon as he’d thought of it, not wanting to even consider it as anything but a last resort. Unfortunately, that was the point they were at.

“During all of the time I’d worked on you, I’d been doing my best to study the enchantments that made up your body as I went,” He began. “My god and I are fairly confident that you have a core that houses your soul, a sort of container that keeps it safe while letting it interact with the rest of your body to make it move.”

“Ah, interesting. My maker never divulged much information on my design to me, but I’d always just assumed that my soul filled this vessel. I must say though, I wonder why I was put together like this? It seems like a rather obvious weakness.”

“I’d assume it’s because there’s limited ways for inorganic materials to house a soul, but that’s not the point. The god I represent, Myriad, he’s actually very similar, just on a larger scale. He was originally a container for the souls of his entire race that eventually ascended to godhood. In a similar vein, I’ve been studying how to make something that could contain a soul. The idea was that I could tie the effects of the beast form skill to it so that anyone wielding the item could take advantage of it.”

“An interesting idea, I hope your time studying me has proven useful to that goal then.”

“I would say it has. I’m still pretty far off of where I’d need to be to do it, I think I’d need an awakened skill or two. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing I could do now though, especially when there's a vessel right in front of me that wouldn’t need to be created, just modified to keep the soul within contained.”

He looked into the Inux’s eyes as he stared back. “So you want to try trapping my soul then?”

“I wanted to give you the option,” He clarified. “To be completely honest, there's a lot of reasons I think you shouldn’t. My levels are still far lower than I’d like to have them for doing something like this, I’m almost certain to fail. Aside from that, there's the fact that I’d have to do it soon if I’m going to at all, but that would basically mean ending your life far earlier than expected for something that might not even work. Finally, there's the issue of your mind. I don’t know if it’s contained in the same location as your soul or if they’re joined at all. At worst if you’re ever brought back it might not even be you. Or maybe the worst option is that your mind may be trapped too, doomed to slowly go insane.”

“I think you're forgetting the issue with the obvious goal, the idea that someone would one day gain the skill to not only make me a new body but even remember to do it.”

“If I did do this I’m confident that the core enchantments you already have keeping your soul in place would decay in at most a century after I alter them,” He said with a shake of his head. “It would give me that much time to try and figure something out for you, but that’s it. After your soul could go off to wherever they end up. This is just to create some time to figure something else out. I’m not going to ask you to do this, I wouldn’t want to do this in your place, I just wanted to tell you it’s an option.”

The talos was silent for long enough that Ben worried he’d fallen unconscious again, but after much thought he spoke. “You know, I promised the meliae, specifically the young girl in charge of taking care of me, that I wouldn’t give up. Such an easy request to make and a hard one to fulfill, especially when at the end of my life, but I never did want to let them down if I could help it. Alright Ben, do what you need to. If I have even a small chance of being able to fulfill my purpose and keep them safe then I’ll do it.”

As serious as he was when he agreed, it gave Ben no joy. He’d grown to like Inux beyond just being an interesting creation, and this was by far the worst option they could have had. Still, he was the one who put out the offer, he would see it through.

“I understand, in that case I’ll go get everything ready, just wait here,” He said as he was about to run off, only to be stopped.

“Wait.”

“What’s up, changed your mind on sending a letter?”

“No,” He said with a small chuckle. “I’ll hold onto the hope that I’ll see them again in person, I was just hoping you’d stay until I lose consciousness again. This may be my last time awake with anyone to talk to after all, I’d rather not spend these moments alone.”

“Of course,” He told him while taking a seat on the edge of the bed, trying to put on a happier face. “In that case, what do you want to talk about for the time being?”

“Let me tell you about the golden plains by the ocean of my world, the place I first opened my eyes.”