Interconnected: Spliced Souls

“Oh, and take this to Cassidy, will you? It’s a little thank-you gift.”  

Ten minutes later, we were standing outside Edgar’s shop. Elaine kneeled and rubbed Cue’s stomach.  Her father held a bag of medicinal and culinary ingredients. “That woman’s been good to me. And her potions are the best, aren’t they? It seems they’ve fixed you right up.”  

“Okay,” I said, absorbing it. “We’ll deliver it.”   

“Thank you again for the sword.” Albert touched his new weapon’s hilt as it rested against his back. He preferred to have it at his hip, but it was too long for his short body.  Edgar was impressed by the showcase of skill he had seen a few minutes ago.   

If nothing else, he knew Albert had the prowess to wield a blade like that.  

He probably had good reason to keep it even though he didn't think it was worth selling.  

But I didn’t care. I wasn’t pressing the issue or demanding the answer.   

We said our goodbyes and left. The tour of the city could wait.   

“Forgive me for making you do that, Servi.”  

“Nah. There’s no need for that. It was honestly kinda fun.”  

“So…” Gerld started to say.   

“So what?”  

“Hear me out…”  

I listened to something I feared was outrageous, but it...wasn’t.   

“You want me to fight in the circuit so you can bet money on me to win?”  

“That’s right. You get paid. We get paid. You get money to buy more food supplies. We get money to buy more food supplies. It’s a win-win situation, don’t you think?”   

“I guess? Momo, would you bet on me?”  

“Yep. We talked about that a little. I dunno if it’s too late to sign up, but maybe Cassidy can vouch for you or something? If you wanna do it, that is. I don’t know how much money we can make, but—”  

Momo’s stomach growled. She covered her belly with her bag and blushed like a cherry tomato.   

“So we can finally satisfy your appetite? Sure. I’m down.” Practice matches were different from official ones. I doubt a broken leg would stop someone from potentially winning a hefty sack of dupla.   

“It—It’s not just for my appetite, okay? I’m still a growing girl!”  

“We heard a rumor last night.” To my surprise…It was Suusa. It’d been so long I’d forgotten how the youthful ogre sounded.   

Gerld continued. “Apparently, fighters haven’t been showing up to their fights. It isn’t rare to get cold feet, but about twenty or thirty have been no-shows.”  

“You think there’s some mystery behind it?”  

“Maybe? This place isn’t the City of Unpleasantness for nothing. Unsavory whispers are everywhere if you keep an ear open. It’s a mix of humans and non-humans, though. Rumors say there’s no rhyme or reason to who’s being targeted, but it could legitimately be fear making them back out at the last minute. Like someone wants to spread dangerous gossip to make their opponents chicken out."  

That was concerning. I wanted to help if I could, but where would I start? Getting signed on with the amateur circuit was probably the first step, but would I be ‘worthy’ of being stolen?  

“Missing fighters, huh?” Momo added. “Do you still want to do it?”  

“Yep. The circuit might be trying to keep it mum to prevent panic.”  

“Then they’ve failed,” Suusa as we turned the corner. “We couldn’t go anywhere without hearing something.”  

We discussed that and my previous fights until we arrived at Cassidy’s shop. It was packed. There wasn’t a line out the door, but the waiting room had so many people that a few had to stand.   

Cassidy could only do so much since there was just one of her.   

“It must be another of those days,” said Saline.   

“Good. You’re back. Get over here. I need some help.” Cassidy pointed at Saline.    

“I guess the tour must wait. Sorry about that. Let's go, Cue. It's time for us to work.” The dog barked twice and walked over to console a crying child.    

“Hey, mind if I help?” Momo suddenly asked. “You taught me a little bit last night, so I bet I can make basic medicine. Or I can do something else so you can focus on that.”  

Albert also offered his assistance.  She told the rest of us to bugger off since ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ was more detrimental than positive.   

“Think they’re gonna be okay?” asked Gerld when we left.    

“Albert’s probably only second to Cassidy in medicinal knowledge,” I said. “He’s much older than he looks.”  

“Really? Seems like a kid to me.”  

“That’s what they all say. So… What’s the plan? What kind of quest are we doing?”  

“That depends on what the guild’s offering,” said Sissy.    

Suusa had returned to being quiet, although he kept stealing looks when he thought I wasn’t looking.   

I stealthily texted Albert and told him to keep me informed.  Momo probably panicked when my phone vanished from her pocket, but she knew I needed it. 

---

We had made it to the guild an hour ago, and the most alluring quest was to investigate a golem infestation about forty minutes away to the northeast. The geography abruptly transitioned from green and vibrant to rocky and dull. And if you continued for another few hours, you'd arrive at the Arcton Mountain Range. The only color was the running rivers that snaked and forked around the mountains as they continued to the Keywater border to the far north. I was so used to seeing greenery that the hue shift was almost enough to give me whiplash.  

And since I couldn't damage golems without someone else to soften them up…  

It was time to fix that.   

I had spent SP to purchase [Acid Arrow] after swapping Skill Paths, then etched it into a wand I appropriately named Acidwand during our journey. Sissy found it astonishing I could imbue learned skills, and I gave her Duskwand to play around with. She fired it toward the ground, knocking up a chunk of brown, dry, dusty soil that desperately needed a rain shower.    

“How strange. I mean, it’s very unique. I don’t think I’ve used a wand that doesn’t drain the wielder’s skill energy,” said the witch, adding that her wands worked a little differently. “And what is that?”  

“This?” I held up a crude pistol-like shape. “I have a little theory I wanna test.” I told her how Flamewand—I gave that and the flute I had carved in Waveret to Srassa as a little gift—was once molded into a crystal that looked like a bomb. “It exploded. While effective, it isn’t the best thing to use.” I finished the final touches and enchanted [Acid Arrow] onto it. And just our luck, a stereotypical golem soon jumped from a cliff, missing us by a country mile. Gerld laughed at its stupidity and asked what my item could do.   

I aimed and pulled the trigger, and…  

A bullet wrapped in green acid blasted out of the barrel, popping like a water balloon when it slammed into the golem. The round didn’t pierce its body. The sound of gunfire was nonexistent, and it had a slight amount of recoil, making my arm slightly jump.   

“What the hell?! Did that…just come out of this?!” Gerld was astonished. He flinched when I pulled the trigger twice more.   

“It’s totally different. The feeling isn’t the same.” The acid devoured the monster. It had dripped to its legs, and it couldn’t walk anymore. I didn’t expect much when I pulled the trigger a fourth time, but it fired.   

And it kept firing until seven rounds were expended. The crimson luster faded, and it went on cooldown.   

“I take it you weren't expecting that?” asked Sissy.   

“Not at all. I wonder…” We approached the corpse while Gerld used his spear to hunt for what goodies the thing had. I disassembled Duskwand and reforged it into Duskgun.   

And yes.   

It fired seven times, but these were more like an actual bullet. This was a welcome discovery!  

If only we knew why…  

Did the shape really have that much of an impact? Why? I had thought the skill would’ve been the concerning factor, but no…  

What if I made a shotgun?  

Or a rifle?  

Or a bazooka?  

Would that alter the number of uses?   

Itarr, predictably, was as lost as me. I texted her a few basic designs for us to try out, and she started sculpting them.    

I felt like a jackass because life could’ve been easier for us in Waveret if I had just experimented a little more. The flame grenade should’ve been a giant lightbulb, but no. I was busy with the monotonia shipment, but that wasn’t a worthy excuse.  

But I couldn’t feel down. I didn’t have an instruction manual to read. But this meant I had to keep a more open mind and think about my crystals and their true strength. A goddess didn’t play by mortal rules, right? So, I must think outside the box and approach things from angles no one would’ve tried.   

“Oh, don’t forget—”  

“Yep. I'm on it,” Gerld replied, interrupting Sissy. He picked up the flint hidden inside the golem and tossed it inside a sack resting on his hip. The guild wanted to send the golem drops to a researcher to see why they were suddenly everywhere like a swarm of locusts. “Although I don’t know why I’m the packrat. Servi’s ring can carry this stuff.”  

“Because you’re the strongest one here, silly! You’re the muscle man.”   

We continued the quest and walked up and down the mountainous region. A few dozen stereotypical golems—standard ones-- that were dumber than a sack of stupid got in our way. But with my Acidgun and Sissy’s wands, they were dispatched without effort. And the cooldown was just a few seconds long—almost the same as if I was reloading an actual gun…  

It was just crazy. Bullets of darkness and projectiles of green goop obliterated the golems, but I couldn’t be hasty. Friendly fire was a thing. I didn’t want the splash to cover my new friends, so I became more conservative with my shots.   

It just came to me like instinct. Even the sights I had etched in were aligned and working perfectly.  

Almost like I’ve…done this before…   

“It’s an infestation, alright,” Gerld said, tying a third sack to his belt loop. Golem corpses surrounded us. Suusa looked a little uncomfortable. He avoided looking at them directly and remained distant. His crowd control earth magic easily restrained the stocky monsters for Sissy, Gerld, and me to dispatch. 

 “How much longer?” I asked. “We’ve been at it for quite some time. Think we have enough drops?”  

“Maybe?” Sissy adjusted her hat and looked around. “When you have this many in one spot, it might mean there’s a leader around to organize them.”  

“Suusa? What do you think? You’re the earth mage guy.”  

“Do not summarize me like that,” barked the ogre. He kneeled and pressed his hands to the dry ground. “[Earthen Radar]…” Tiny, almost insignificant shockwaves radiated from his fingertips.   

Sissy said this spell enabled Suusa to detect movement within half a mile. “It’s less useful when there’s more people around. It gets hard to tell what’s what, you know?”  

“Ah, I get you.”  

Suusa stood and pointed. “That way,” he said. “There’s unusual movement.” He led, and we followed, walking through tunnels that were clearly made by the golems. They went underground, so Sissy used a wand that had a light spell to illuminate our path.   

“We’re probably dealing with a golem mage…” Suusa didn’t sound anxious or worried. Sissy said the exact criteria for golems to change upon melding wasn’t noted. They either grew big, large, and imposing— like the one we helped them fight or they obtained a sense of self and a desire for intelligence, which made them cunning and unpredictable.    

The latter was far more dangerous.   

Suddenly, Suusa stopped and intently stared at the wall. He tapped a few areas with his knuckles, created a spear with his magic, and stabbed it.   

It was like paper. Gerld ripped it off, revealing a hidden stairwell disguised by weak plaster.   

I asked if we should leave, but Gerld wanted to continue. His curiosity had been piqued, and I couldn’t lie about my interest in seeing this potential golem made. Slowly, we ascended. I took the lead with Acidgun. Itarr, meanwhile, said she was sending reports to Albert to keep them informed.  

Another false wall hid the exit, and sunlight filtered like heavenly sparkles, illuminating our passage. We stepped out, and…  

“Wait, isn’t that where we came from? Did we just go in a circle only to get up on the cliff that damn golem jumped down at us from?”  

“Maybe you should look around, idiot.”  

“Eh? Don’t…” Gerld was shocked into silence…  

Because we saw the one responsible for this infestation standing about 200 feet away.    

It looked like a humanoid—I’d have mistaken it for a person from far away. Its robes looked like flowing oceans of sand, and the staff it held shimmered like a brown jewel with a polished tip. It didn’t have hair, but its head had ears. And when it turned after it sensed us, I saw a nose and two indents for eyes.   

“And this is the leader?” Gerld asked. He sized the golem up and said he didn't see anything special about it. “We have an earth mage of our own, you know. I’d say he’s a helluva lot better than you.”  

“You’re wasting your breath. These things aren’t capable of mimicking our speech. They communicate through grunts and skill energy,” replied Suusa. The golem mage probably didn’t have any feelings. It ignored Gerld’s grade school taunts and waved its staff. Liquid soil dripped from the delicate tip, which caused golems to claw out of the ground.   

“And this thing can spawn them?” I took aim with Acidgun and fired seven shots at the mage, but he dashed to the left, deflecting them with the air pressure generated by waving his weapon and created a rocky shield.   

“Wow. You don’t waste any time, do you?” Sissy used her water wands and blasted a hole through two golems. I swapped to Duskgun and fired thrice, unable to penetrate its defensive cover. Gerld approached the incoming golems and handled them with his spearmanship. He flowed like butter-- from one powerful slam to the next, and his weapon’s craftsmanship was incredible in how it endured the abuse after I softened the golems with acid. 

“Hey! What about some backup?” he asked, jumping back. Suusa reinforced his arms with rock, leapt in front of him, and deflected two brown spikes the mage had cast when it peeked out. I aimed, but he ducked away. It raised its staff above, and I missed when I tried to destroy it. The golems were swamped and enveloped in a pulsating glow.  

“Watch out! They’re about to explode! Get away!” Suusa created a barrier, protecting us from the explosive onslaught.   

One had tried to jump closer, but it failed, dying within range for me to absorb its soul.   

Huh? Why is it so small? Whatever. It doesn't matter.    

I rushed around and charged in to close the distance. Gerld trailed beside me and kept pace.  

Acidgun was too weak in its current state to take the target out, but it was still a detriment to him. The golem couldn’t risk getting hit and focused more on defense. Gerld shouted that he trusted me and engaged the golem in combat to distract him. I took careful aim, but the chaos was too much to safely fire.  

Gerld ducked and used his spear to support a kick to the chest. The golem fell to the ground, but it vanished, reappearing behind the Rhinokin in a whisp of sand-- his staff now transformed into a sword. He dashed away, I fired, and the green, sickly goop seeped into its legs. The monster hastily detached the limb to save his body, but it didn’t do it quick enough. Sissy was readying her water wands and took aim, but she missed when a rocky tentacle sprouted from the ground and wormed its way up her thigh.   

She screamed, but I shot around the gross thing as the acid dissolved the immediate surroundings, which was enough to knock it out of commission. Sissy—a little shaken—was no worse for wear as she fired two parallel streams of pressurized water. They flew past me and slammed into the golem, knocking it away. A part of its torso landed near a boulder.    

“Hell yeah! Great work, you two!” Gerld complemented our accuracy, but the monster was tenacious as it stood on unstable legs. Rocky beams grew from the ground and lodged into its calves to support it. A final wave of its staff created a dozen more golems, but they were weaker than before—proof it didn’t have much left in the tank.   

I took them out with Acidgun and Duskgun—requiring two shots each to end them. The extremely short cooldown benefited me greatly since it almost didn’t exist. Turning around, I saw the nearly dead monster limp towards a nearby boulder, moving as slow as a snail.    

“Leave it to me! [Earth Crumble]!” Suusa kneeled and slapped the arid soil, unleashing a wave that cracked the ground. It slammed into the boulder and exploded into a thousand teeny fragments, exposing the monster. “[Earth Launch]!” A small pillar erupted under the staff the golem used to support itself, knocking it away.   

Suusa snatched it out of the air. “[Earthforge: Great Club]!” Brown magic remolded it into a thick club too large for an average human to comfortably wield and bashed his enemy, brutally knocking them away. Its face shattered as it tumbled along the rocky cliff, showcasing more rock hidden beneath the surface as blood-like liquid soil drained from its numerous wounds. Its innards pulsed like flesh. The dull eyes had been so emotionless, but they cried tears of sand.  

Suusa didn’t offer any mercy.   

For being as youthful as he looked, his thin, delicate, feminine arms carried hidden muscle. Suusa effortlessly wielded the armament and brought it down, ending the monster once and for all.   

“I didn’t expect it to do that,” I said, approaching. The corpse dissolved, becoming one with the earth once more.    

“I’ve heard the rumors. This is a trick they use to make you let their guard down,” Gerld warned, his distaste entirely visible. “Golems aren’t people. They’re monsters of rock. A humanoid shape doesn’t change anything. Don’t feel anything for something without a soul.”  

Gerld was wrong. These monsters had them. I couldn’t see the mage’s soul since it died outside my range by hands that weren’t my own, but it had one.    

Suusa canceled the spell, and glistening fragments of earthly chunks descended as he kneeled. “What is he doing?”  

“It’s—” Gerld was interrupted by Suusa.   

“I come from the desert,” he said. “I am blessed by a divine of earth. The covenant I follow…no longer exists, but I am nothing without the power of the earth.” Suusa stood after praying. He had this different look in his eye.    

He vanished after my terrible first impression, so...  

“It is in our creed to pay respect. Golems made from the earth… It should excite me to see them alive…to see them grow and become more than the sum of their parts… Yet I cannot neglect my duties to end them should they turn violent. Recall what we heard in the guild-- about the destroyed wagons and ambushes. There has been no loss of life, but that’s inevitable.”  

I wonder if he wants to apologize. Do you think he knows how?  

I don’t know. I texted back—my hand and phone in my pocket.  Some people are like that.   

He looks a little nervous. Oh, and Momo’s doing good. Cassidy's impressed with how quickly she’s making the medicine after reading her notes.   

That’s good. Tell em' we’re just about done. Should be back in about two or three hours.   

“Your tone’s different. I take it you’re not still mad at me? I don’t have to worry about a rocky sword being jabbed in my back?”  

“That-- Don’t act as if you know me!” he exclaimed, warm heat flushing his skin. Sissy haughtily giggled and teased their stone-hearted friend. Suusa huffed and turned away, refusing to look back.   

“Haha! See? I knew everything was going to work out. Didn’t you say something about stuffed shells or whatever?” asked Sissy.

“Oh, yeah. Why don’t we hit up the market and get the stuff for it?” inquired Gerld, who slapped his spear on his before picking up the ruby-red stone hiding inside the golem mage. It sparkled like a piece of crystalized flame.   

Cassidy strikes me as someone who’s not pleasant to be around until you get to know her. Is that accurate, Servi?  

Yeah. Cass has a stone face, and she can drive away a monster with her words, but… She does care. I guess she has a hard time trying to show it? Some people use it as a defensive technique to prevent others from getting close.   

Itarr thought that was counterproductive, but I said people like that yearned for that interpersonal connection. They were probably scorned or burnt so harshly in the past that a protective wall was erected around their hearts. Maybe the same happened to Suusa?   

I mean, I wanted to be his friend. We didn’t have a reason to truly despise each other. A misunderstanding could easily be handled. His friends must've talked to him last night.  

Gerld double-checked his collection sacks were securely holstered to his belt loops “And that about does it. Should we leave? I don’t think there’s anything else we need to do since we killed the one in charge. Or the one that should’ve been in charge.”  

“Yep. Why don’t we head on back?” Sissy asked. She turned on her heels and walked away, and we followed her to the cliff. Suusa used his magic to create a pathway down. Before following, I looked at where the golem mage had returned to the earth.  

The thing…  

I guess I felt for it.   

It showed real emotion in its final moments, but I mean…  

It was a monster. Monsters deserved to live as much as anyone, but these were attacking travelers, so they had lost their right to life.   

It was as simple as that, right?