Arto Kelmt's Story

The ground shook with every colossal step of the Caithness, the strikes of its clawed arms and the whipping motions of its thrashing tail bringing forth a calamity of screams from the hunting party surrounding it. Even outnumbered this giant with precious Caith crystals jutting out of its armored shell still seemed invincible as opposed to the hunters that were being thrown around like rag-dolls. Their swords broke, their shields bent and shattered, their hammers fell without hindering the beast in the slightest, their arrows and bullets plinked pathetically against the monster’s hide – a complete waste of ammo. One of the few hunters still able to get up from the ground stood still, though his legs clad in armored greaves were shaking.

“D… Damn it… Isn't there anyone of us who could stop that beast…?” He asked, addressing no one in particular as he watched the Caithness rage. And yet, unexpectedly, his question was answered…

“Step back.” A simple phrase was uttered as a youth stepped forth, dressed in an adventurer’s garb, goggles shimmering on his eyes with a strange gun in hand. As though sensing an overly confident opponent approach, the beast turned, snarling as the reckless boy’s image reflected in the orbs of its eyes. At this moment its muzzle contorted to a strange semblance of a grimace. What could this one boy with his gun do? The beast had defeated hunters that were taller, stronger and armed with far bigger weapons than he! With a lumbering step it began its advance towards the boy.

“Arto!” Someone called out the boy’s name as the beast’s clawed arm came crashing down, raising a cloud of dust and rocky debris. Surely the boy perished… Yet as the smoke cleared the youth was standing… He was right on top of the clawed arm of the beast and before anyone in the area including the Caithness could get over their surprise, he rushed up its limb to its shoulder. Perhaps realizing the mistake of giving the boy leverage the beast tried to draw back its arm and shake him off. Yet the boy outran the monster and with a single jump propelled himself into the air before its maw. Surely there he would meet the end in its teeth…?

The hand with the strange firearm holding a visible Lumen core clicked, several round lenses sliding up from the side of the gun-frame and aligning themselves in front of the small crystal. And then, with the push of the trigger a golden light grew in a blinding flash, engulfing the beast in a burst so bright it rivaled the sun. The men and women who saw it took time to rub their eyes and manage to view their surroundings normally. The boy looked like a living saint, standing there holstering his gun while still surrounded in shimmering light. And upon him rained Caith that had been cast out of the beast he’d slain single-handed with his gun. Arto grinned, catching a few small crystals in his free hand as they fell, the hunters around him beginning to cheer for the great victor-…

***

“Here’s your order! Sorry, we have so many visitors today. The pie’s still warm though!” An enthusiastic waitress chirped to him happily. She’d set the plate with his order in front of him rather loudly, the plate and the bottom of the cup both landing pretty audibly on the table in front of him. But then, with his head against the table as it was most any object landing on it would wake him up.

“Are you alright, our dear customer?” The waitress asked as the boy slowly turned his head. Still, she was called off before she could be incinerated by his murderous glare. If the trade-off of finally getting his order was being robbed of his glory then he’d rather she ate the damn pie herself! Although he’d probably still not share the cup of Ha’Penny’s famous punch with her. Still, Arto the currently unemployed Caithness hunter woke up, groaning and sitting up. The smell of food in front of him was inviting - a sort of proof that perhaps returning to the waking world wasn't ENTIRELY bad. Still, this place was pretty noisy and there were so many people around. Whatever this job he was told about was it would take forever to get scouted.

“Sheesh. Damn troublesome…” He uttered as he crammed a large piece of spiced meat pie into his mouth and chewed somewhat nonchalantly. He didn't have anyone at the table to watch his manners for. The procedure was taking too damn long. If he’d gone to the board and just taken a regular assignment off there he’d have probably had time to go handle that then return here and get his reward. And he’d STILL get to get scouted for this phantom job that was supposedly there for him to have. It would've certainly been better than hearing all this noise. The bustling of the crowd, the guffaw of Caithness Hunters sharing the stories of their daring escapades, those guards and an alchemist saying they needed a job posted for someone to bring back a loose Golem…

Wait a minute…

He listened a bit closer this time. A Golem was loose, apparently kidnapping a citizen to boot and the guards demanded to post a job for the Hunters to handle. The barkeeper, who could have told the owner responsible for authorizing a job, did his best to explain that one couldn't just walk in and say they need something done for the whole roster of Guild-affiliated and Guildless hunters to rush on ahead and carry it out for them. Yeah, right. Try explaining that to someone who feels that their business is urgent. Still, the guards and even the somewhat distraught-looking alchemist weren't having much luck speeding up their request’s posting. The barkeep and the guards were in a stalemate and the time they spent arguing fruitlessly was just enough for Arto to hastily finish off his meal, patting his stomach with an arm and getting up wiping his mouth on the way.

“Hey. If I bring the Golem, I get paid?” He confirmed from one of the guards, who agreed.

“Yes… Yes-yes! You bring him, you’ll get money. You’re a hunter, yes? Uhm… Young… Well! No time for us to be picky! Just uh… yeah, well, that Golem is… probably… Well just think of something!” The alchemist was obviously trying to create an impression he was still the professional and had most of the situation under his supervision. His muddled speech though didn't help make his status apparent.

“Fine. I don’t need an official warrant for that. Just be ready to pay in First Grade Lumen and Emperors.”

And so, having taken directions from the two guards and the alchemist, who all tried to talk to him at once, he rushed out of Ha’Penny Pie, not without paying the barkeep for the meal on the run. Sure it would've been reassuring to have a contract, but a Golem would probably be no less convincing than a piece of paper with a seal on it once he brought it back. And how hard could that be? Easy Caith and Emperors were going to be his in no time!

This wasn’t starting out as a very difficult job. Arto was feeling pretty good about it so far. The Golem left quite a trail in the city. What one could call a “warm” trail, heated quite a bit by the disgruntled victims of the destruction it had caused piling up complaints for the guards who, unlike Arto, were obligated to stop by and address the needs of the citizens. Cracked pavement, broken walls, although mostly no completely collapsed structures. He wouldn’t be the one to try and be optimistic with the owners of damaged property and to remind them of things such as the value of not being crushed to death. Mostly because it was none of his concern and he had a bigger runaway construct to fry.

Would this unofficial job he took upon himself proceed as successfully as it had begun? Well no, and in fact negative factors began piling up just about ten to twenty minutes following the swift and promising start. For one thing – he wasn’t quite catching up even at a fairly brisk pace – the thing’s steps were still wider than his and he’d given the Golem quite a head-start. Clearly those who gave him the job wasted quite a bit of time figuring out what to do, where to go, when to start, bickering with the barkeeper at Ha’Penny Pie and more. In fact, didn’t that alchemist look more than a little incompetent? Well, that wasn’t much of Arto’s business either. What did a competent alchemist even look like? Then there was this whole “what to do when you find the Golem” thing that thankfully didn’t need to be addressed immediately. Not while all he was doing was follow the less than subtle evidence of where it was heading. But it was there, looming at the horizon, for now a shapeless silhouette of a pain in the rear that the oddjob-boy could only imagine, but soon to shape up into the outlines of a possibly haywire piece of Caith-powered artifice with enough strength to crush through stone and no qualms against using it to plough through the City of Guilds.

That was the problem with taking on jobs so hastily. No guarantees, only about as much professionalism as he himself brought into the picture and no one but himself to scold later when things end up less rewarding than expected. At least logically he’d be the only one deserving of scolding. Not that it would prevent him from later mumbling things about all the others involved. So right now he was generously dispatching mental remarks towards the alchemist, the guards, the Golem, the girl that woke him up from the dream back at Ha’Penny Pie. If he knew more about those involved in the incident they too would likely get some custom-tailored snark as well. And so he walked on driven by the poorly worded request of a stuttering oaf, accompanied by a couple of stone-faced brutes in clanking excuse for body armor, following a big pile of animated scrap. Yup, Arto definitely had a penchant for painting the best possible picture of the circumstances in his mind. Good thing that didn’t prevent him from following the line to the originator of this hassle and the key to justifying it at least a bit by fetching him some cash and supplies. It just made him carry out that job with a less than enthusiastic look on his face.

As if remaining an element of him that would constantly work to prevent his growing dissatisfaction from jeopardizing him and his assignment, his mind managed to trace a pattern and switched his attention to it, feeling like an instant switch of thought-process to a more productive route. If the Golem were really haywire and rampaging, what was to prevent it from just going forth in a straight line through buildings, walls and whatever else? What damage he noticed clearly indicated it had no problems with it, so why would it alter its own route? In fact, it almost seemed as though the damage was done during failed maneuvers, perhaps while trying to make a turn too sharp for its weight to handle. The further he moved along the more evidence supported it. The trail now went in a “homestretch” to the open gates and through them, rather than through a wall. Perhaps this thing wasn’t so haywire after all? There had to be some kind of logic… Perhaps it was following something?

“Hey, wait! It’s dangerous! A Golem just went this way!” The still somewhat wide-eyed guards warned him as he walked through the gates.

“Yeah-yeah. I’ll bring it back soon.” Arto uttered dismissively which frankly made the guards grow a bit pale. They probably weren’t sure if that boy bringing it back was such a good thing. And if it was going to follow him in the same fashion that it had gone through the city in then it would most certainly NOT be a good thing.

Whatever the guards he left behind his back thought, Arto thought it was about time he got closer to the damn thing. His stroll through the city switched to a stroll outside of it and his surroundings changed from a cityscape to an idyllic landscape. Lush plant-life (albeit trampled here and there), fresh air (albeit with a growing echo of someone’s monotonous calling of "Xerxes. Xerxes. You come back here--Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Xerxes.") – what’s not to like? And finally he was close enough to see the source of the trouble. A Golem lumbering about in circles with its hands outstretched towards whatever it was chasing – he couldn’t quite see it from there. It… seemed relatively harmless. At least it was probably not on a seek-and-destroy kind of program and wasn’t inclined to attack him… probably. Still, the loop it was caught in, both a literal and figurative one, had to be brought to an end. Arto couldn’t think of anything better to do than calling out to it.

“You there, Golem! What are you doing?” He addressed it loud enough to be heard over its own strange monotonous chanting. He held his hand close to the holster of his weapon. All that would ensue depended on his “quarry’s” reaction…

---

---

The golem noticed a flash of brown among the reeds and immediately began to follow it. Its arms stretched forward as it lumbered around the field after this sensation, knowing that the creature called Xerxes was also this same color. With each step, it flattened more and more of the plant-life around it as the creature continued to veer off slightly to the right. After a brief jog, it realized that it was back to where it started and continued to follow the path, moving in closer and closer to the center of the circle it was creating in the hopes of capturing the runaway creature.

"Xerxes. Xerxes. You come back here--repair my house. Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes." The golem recited this phrase over and over as it continued stumbling along its path. It realized that this creature was attempting to get away from it, but for what purpose? Xerxes had left the care of the other creature it had once carried in its hand, but that failed to give any sort of explanation as to why it continued to move away. Perhaps it was--

“You there, Golem! What are you doing?” a voice cried, interrupting its actions. Something finally clicked into place for it--that word... It had heard it once before--Golem. Was that what it was? How did this newcomer know so much about it when it barely knew anything about itself? It scanned the area and found the newest entity. It looked similar to the other place where they had all gathered around it, but this one was a different color than the others it had seen, something that matched the wide expanse above its field of vision. The newcomer's arm was reaching for something at its side, just in case--the golem could not tell what it was or what its purpose was, but perhaps this newcomer would use it and it would be able to see what it was capable of.

Before anything else could happen, though, a flash of brown darted out from the plants once again, this time heading back towards the buildings it had run alongside before. The creature known as Xerxes continued moving quickly toward the cityscapes, past this new creature that looked so familiar and plentiful earlier but now seemed strangely out of place out here away from the city.

"You there, golem. Xerxes. Xerxes. You come back here--golem. Golem. What are you doing. Aaaaaaaaah. Xerxes." The golem lurched forward and began lumbering after Xerxes, striding past the creature in the strange color without so much as a passing analysis. Its arms were outstretched toward the fleeing ball of fur, although somehow now it seemed to be accelerating faster than before. The golem was in absolutely no shape to keep up and eventually lost it inside one of the alleyways. By the time it managed to get to where it had last seen Xerxes, the brown creature was long gone. The alley it believed to have seen Xerxes run through was much too narrow for its bulky frame to fit through, so it merely stood there at the opening, looking inside and scanning for any signs of the animal.

"Xerxes. Xerxes. You come back here--what are you doing. Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes."

---

---

The girl with the cat-eared hat turned toward the elf with the realization that her potion was being returned to her. She stared at the elf, scanning her figure and immediately making her feel slightly uneasy. She instinctively retracted her right arm behind her back despite the sleeve covering her... growths. It was more of a force of habit now than anything else, but especially so now because this was the person with the fox; even though it was missing for now, she had no idea where or when it would strike next...

"Mew, I'm sorry--I didn't mean to be so rude earlier." She said slowly, raising her eyes to match the gaze of the elf. Despite her harried expression from before in the marketplace, she seemed rather... lucid now. Perhaps it was just the fact that the square they were in was rather devoid of people, but it was eerily comforting that she did not have to look over her back every few seconds--

The vere--was he following her? He had been so interested in finding out about her history, and she had been rather standoffish in her approach, which was a faux pas on her part, she admitted, but still! Had she not been clear in the archive? What did she need to do to make it clear to him that she did not want to be bothered, especially when he was prying for details as he was?

Instead of the wolf, however, the sound of clanking metal rang through the air as the elf spied a few guards heading in their direction. Her face paled--this day was getting more and more exciting, which was the exact opposite of what she wanted. Had someone alerted the guard about her condition? Did they think she was dangerous? If the vere did notice something... She let out a hurried breath, looking back toward the girl with the cat-eared hat atop her head... although... she shook the thought from her mind; there were more important things that were happening around her, whether or not she wanted them to directly involve her.

"Purrhaps we have a common point of interest?" the cat-eared girl offered, seeing the rather concerned wide-eyed expression collecting on her face. "I do not normally mewr... travel in the streets directly." She gestured toward the back alleys before taking a few steps out toward the sidestreets.

The elf was hesitant at first, as well she should have been. She was an outsider to the city, someone that stuck out like a sore thumb as it was. This girl, who she had never met before earlier in the day, was now offering to take her into the dark alleys where she would undoubtedly be lost in the labyrinthine backstreets of the city. Still, it was better than potentially being stopped by the guards for fates-know-what--if they wanted to bring her in for analysis... she shuddered at the thought. With nowhere else to go, she reluctantly followed after the girl into a more... desperate part of town.

She ran after the young woman, ducking around the corner of a building and out of the sight of the pursuing guards. Around another corner, and another, another still--where was this girl taking her? Did she actually know where she was going? What if they got lost in the streets and the guards still ended up capturing them? Suddenly, the elf had a very uneasy feeling about following after a complete stranger down a dark alley despite the alternative solution...

After another few minutes of ducking around corners and navigating the maze of streets and alleys, the girl with the cap finally stopped. The elf was most definitely out of breath--she could feel her heart pounding in her throat, both out of fatigue and out of fear that someone would still be able to navigate the path they had taken. She could feel her right arm throbbing slightly; a quick glance at the sleeve betrayed no outward signs of protruding crystal growths nor any textural abnormalities, so there was that, at least... If this other girl had not seen anything before (although she was doubtful of this), she certainly could not see anything now.

...but if she had seen something, why wasn't she trying to verify what she thought she saw in the marketplace?

"You don't... happen to mind fur, do you?" the girl asked somewhat hesitantly. What sort of question was that to an elf? Her people hunted for food and used the skins of their prey as clothing; however, they did try to create as harmonious of a relationship as they could with their forest. She respected the life that sprang from the loins of the earth and only thought the best of them--well, her familiar was an exception to the rule, now that she stopped to think about it...

And then she remembered--on top of everything else, she owed this girl money for her new robes! The elf cursed her luck as she realized that she had little need for currency anyway, living mostly outside of the city. When she did force herself to go into the city, she normally was able to get by without it, but now... Now she had to repay her somehow, but with what? She was unable to get a job anywhere without risk of exposing her deformity, and even if she could find such a line of work, she was not willing to forego all of her research in order to live with a bit of coin to her name...

Suddenly, a brown blur skimmed across the ground and leapt onto the girl's shoulders, pawing at her hair. "Xerxes!" she cried out, evidently surprised at the creature's sudden appearance. "Xerxes, don't you ignore me!" The elf immediately noticed that this was the creature that had bit down on her sleeve and had torn her old robes. Even more unsettling was the fact that it seemed more intelligent than she had given it credit for from earlier--

And then it hit her: this 'Xerxes' fox had bitten down on a crystal. Would it think to tell the girl about what was different about her compared to every other being it had ever encountered? Would the cat-eared girl just abandon her in the backalley if she found out?

"Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes." A metallic voice cut through her thoughts, followed by the sound of something solid rubbing against... brick or stone? The color drained immediately from the elf's face--what was this... this thing that was coming after her familiar? What did it want from it? Had she in fact been used by the girl and her familiar? Of course everything that she had tried to do today had been flipped on its head and been thrown back in her face almost as if to spite her--why not this too?

"I'm sorry fur this..." the girl meekly stated as she attempted to get the fox off from around her shoulders. The elf's eyes grew wide as she tried to take in all of these stimuli--the fox, the girl, the back alley, the... thing trying to come after them--yet even through all of these things that were potential dangers... the girl's tone was genuine. Despite the misgivings she had about the fox she "controlled", the girl herself... maybe she was not out to put her away at all; maybe she had not seen anything after all...

The fox had finally leapt from the girl's shoulders, bounding down the street they currently occupied toward the unknown. Turning around for a brief second, the elf was bekoned to by the girl as she followed the familiar almost blindly. Of course, the woman in red was not ready to trust her well-being to this person she had barely even met and was only relying on for these direst of circumstances, but... The threat of being cornered by what sounded like a huge creature that was coming after the girl's familiar was right in front of her. She could stay put in the hopes that it would go away in case it saw 'Xerxes' running away, but that was a lot to hope for--what if it didn't see either figure and assumed they still stayed back with her? And then what of her situation after they left? She would still be lost in the city with guards trying to find her...

No other options to go with, she bit her tongue and ran after the fleeing girl and the fox. This went against everything that she had been just worrying about mentally, but... there was no other reason for her to stay...

Another scraping sound against the stones that held these buildings together, another outcry of "Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." The voice sent a chill down the elf's spine, and she suddenly felt the urge to run after the fleeing figures. Around one corner, then another and another--seconds turned into minutes as their footfalls echoed through the empty walkways, the beating of her heart pulsing in her ears.

Make sure that you keep the sleeve covered! Don't get careless now!

It is! Besides, there's no one else around now, what with that thing chasing after the fox--

And you're trusting this person, the one whose familiar got you into this panic in the first place?

Should I trust the guards instead? Would that be better for me?

...If she ends up betraying you, you only have yourself to blame...

After a few minutes more of running, the buildings thinned out--there it was! The plains were within her reach, and she continued sprinting ahead, closing in on the positions of the girl and her familiar. Never before had she been so relieved to see a sea of grasses before! She threatened to keep up with even the fox as she felt the plants brushing against her legs. For the first time all day, she felt relatively calmer. Anything to get away form the city would best for her--

What had caused the grasses to flatten? Someone--or something--had been stomping around in the fields, perhaps as a prank. The massive footprints, though, disturbed the elf slightly, as nothing human or human-like would be able to do anything nearly as destructive as this on their own--

What was the girl doing now?

The nekomimi girl masked her hesitance rather well--she had not fully expected the elf to follow after her. Or at least at such a close distance. She paused as they approached the flattened grass, noticing an indent some meters away. It looked almost like... She walked a little closer, slowly leaning forwards. She caught sight of a boy, black hair messily strewn across his face. He was clearly knocked out for the count and... were those claw marks on his cheeks? Xerxes had caused so much trouble today! She reached into her pouch, digging around in it until she was able to produce a green vial. She garnered they wouldn't have much time to stop and she wasn't all that eager to want to bring him along with them to begin with, but she felt she would at least have to make it up to him somehow. His wounds were partially her fault.

The two female figures ran for about another minute or two before the elf realized that she was running very low on breath. She took a bit of time to pause, feeling the sweat drip across her forehead. She never thought that she would have had to run so fast just to get out of a city before, let alone with a complete stranger that had an animal that had spontaneously decided to attack her and ruin her clothing. The things she did when there were so many people that might be coming after her! What did they want from her, anyway?

After watching the girl set the flask down by the fallen man she had failed to notice before, the elf realized that she should be a bit more thankful. She did, after all, owe her something for the gold she had been given, even though she was not entirely to blame for her earlier predicament, but what did she have to offer in return? Certainly not her bow--the ashen-gray weapon slung across her back was most definitely off of the table.

Mustering up her courage, she took a few tentative steps toward the cat-eared girl. "...thank you..." she spoke quietly but sincerely, partly because of her breathlessness. "I feel... I feel I must repay you somehow, but I lack the funds to do so..."

The evolution of this particular assignment’s level of difficulty continued rapidly, not without the influence of the creature known as Xerxes whom Arto had yet to identify. With his attention mostly focused on the large Golem, it’s no wonder he missed the approach of something far smaller towards him. A sort of change of vector had occurred in the creature’s movement before it dashed through the grass and leapt into the air. Having an unknown furry creature jump right into his face would definitely startle Arto at least at first, a jump-scare of sorts. A much bigger problem was the resulting loss of balance. And then an even bigger problem was the flat surface of a rock, that just so happened to be squarely at the point where the back of Arto’s head ended up. What was the result of the impact? A convenient unconsciousness…

The time spent in a state of blackout had Arto miss a few events and passersby, the true events replaced by darkness that was not even generous enough to give him another dream of astonishing success. Following what must’ve been hours passing, the young man groaned and sat up. The Golem clearly wasn’t there by now, to which Arto was almost ready to say “good riddance” at the moment. The headache was still splitting, scratches stung on his cheeks and the benefit of returning to the waking world seemed questionable at best. There probably wasn’t any lasting damage though. With one hand on the back of his head and the other on the ground, he seemingly found something. Some kind soul had left him what seemed to be a vial with some sort of medicine. Why, that is almost as helpful as not forcing him to spend nobody knows how much time in the grass outside the city borders. Anyway, this was not the time to be capricious. For Arto the times of being capricious weren’t even that abundant in the first place.

Soon he was up, having applied the contents of the vial to the annoying scratches on his face. What now? He had little to no idea where the Golem was, had no plan, was running a little low on cash. One way or other, staying here was anything but productive, so he turned towards the city, causing another pulse of pain to pass through his head. Was it because he turned too fast, or was the thought of the city alone enough to give him a headache by now? No point finding out, so the rather sour-faced young man headed back towards the gates. No one asked questions, no one paused by him. He purposely chose to walk a different road from the one along which he’d followed the Golem. Maybe he could just go back to the bar. Maybe he still had a chance of enlisting for a REAL job. Maybe he could just forget about this whole “Sure, let’s go find a Golem, what could go wrong?” kind of job. Maybe he wouldn’t even have to hear anothe-…

"Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah."

Arto paused, standing still in the middle of the street as the already familiar chanting of the metallic voice reached his ears. He let out another groan similar to one he had uttered when rising from the tall grass he’d been left in earlier. Wouldn’t it be alright to just head on along? Couldn’t he just be on his way and not trying find the Golem? He was hesitant to say the least, far from eager to go looking for more sources of annoyance, more fuel for his headache. But perhaps this would go better this time? Perhaps he could work it out now? There were at least no thundering footsteps accompanying the Golem’s ridiculous banter. This much he could understand as he began moving to the source of the voice. Was the Golem still…?

As he soon found out – indeed it was. Still and trying to reach into an alleyway it was clearly not small enough to fit into. Thankfully it at least wasn’t trying to charge through the buildings. It had caused enough damage as it was. Onlookers were certainly here as well, including a couple of guards largely unprepared for such an event. The citizens were asking each other if the Golem was broken, what a Xerxes was, where the alchemists were looking and other such things. To be fair, the question concerning the alchemist was on Arto’s mind as well, albeit in slightly different terms and with emphasis on slightly more qualities of the alchemist. Most of them far from admirable.

“You, didn’t they hire you to…” Began one of the guards, but Arto stopped him.

“Yeah-yeah. Can’t you see I’ve got this under control? Just let me…” Arto paused since he didn’t quite know what exactly he needed the guards to let him do. Suspicious glances from said guards urged him to finish his phrase faster. “…talk to it or something. You go fetch that… alchemist.”

The guards glanced from the Golem and back to the boy, then back to the Golem. Well they certainly did need that alchemist, which was reason enough to move away from the scene, conveniently persuading most of the onlookers to disperse on their way. Yes, most convenient indeed for another awkward cross-species communication attempt by Arto.

“Shut up!” Such were the opening words of his negotiation. “Do you hear me? Be quiet for a few minutes and listen to me, Golem!” A pause followed. Arto needed to make sure the Golem was paying attention to him and not trying to run off elsewhere.

“Repair my house? Xerxes? What in the world are you even saying? What’s Xerxes? If it’s that thing that had jumped me it’s not even here anymore! Must’ve run off into the forest again while you were stuck here by this alleyway!” Another pause commenced, but this time not because he needed to confirm the Golem’s attention or lack of it. Perhaps he got a little carried away and said too much? Did it even understand the meaning of half of what he had said?

“Don’t. Even… Think. About. Moving from here.” He accentuated nearly every word, stepping away to avoid more possible injury. Still, him and his big mouth probably had an effect quite different from the desired one.

---

---

The golem had seen the creature run into the back alley some time ago, although since that time it had not seen any sign of Xerxes. Still, it thought that it could try and grab it out of the alley if it reached in far enough. To its surprise, it found that it was still rather stuck between the buildings. Without much else to do and nowhere else to go, it merely started feeling around on the ground, hoping that it could find something amidst the darkness--or perhaps it could not see the furry creature because it was obstructed by something else in the alleyway? Curious, indeed...

"Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." It repeated the phrase several times, knowing full well that if the creature was back there, it would understand that all it wanted to do was return it to the creature it had run away from. Hopefully its minimal attempts at communicating with the creature would pay off in the end, but for now, it was reduced to merely trying to feel its way through the alleyway that it could not possibly squeeze through without causing more unnecessary damage to the buildings that surrounded it.

Even through the commanding voice echoing through the alley and ringing across the immmediate area, the golem could hear the sounds of nervous murmuring coming from behind it. It paused momentarily, trying to listen to what they could be so concerned with. Although it was wondering why so many voices could sound so worried at once and why they would concentrate themselves behind it, it paid little heed to the murmuring, continuing obliviously on in its search for Xerxes.

Clanking close behind it now was a familiar sound--the sound of metal clanking against metal. Again, without much to go off of, it merely continued its search through the alley, audiating "Xerxes. Aaaaaaaah. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." the entire time, much to the worry of the people that stood behind it. There was another voice, though, something that seemed to take control of the situation, and after a few brief seconds of quiet conversation, the voice piped up.

“Shut up! Do you hear me? Be quiet for a few minutes and listen to me, Golem!” The voice sounded quite agitated, but it was the word 'golem' that snapped the construct's attention away from the alley. It turned to find the creature bedecked in blue, the same one that had been there as it chased Xerxes through the tall green area. There was something slightly different about this newcomer, though--there were a few cuts across the topmost part of its figure, although they were rather slight and not too glaringly obvious. Still, the tone of voice it used against the golem was rather harsh and completely unnecessary...

“Repair my house? Xerxes? What in the world are you even saying? What’s a 'Xerxes'? If it’s that thing that had jumped me, it’s not even here anymore! Must’ve run off into the forest again while you were stuck here by this alleyway!” This creature sounded rather agitated, much like that other one that commanded the golem to "repair my house". Although... was Xerxes in this... forest? What was it, exactly? Could it follow a trail that it had left behind and find it there? Perhaps then the creature with the pointed ears would feel better... although it did not know where that other creature had escaped to, either...

"...shut up. Listen to me, golem. Off into the Xerxes. Forest. Repair my house. Alleyway. Xerxes. Fffffffffnyah." The golem sputtered out the words, possibly in an attempt to mimic the actions of the creatures it had observed in the marketplace. It seemed as though it only managed to raise the intensity of the blue creature's voice--which was already rather hostile, it figured--and it seemed to growl at the golem much as the Xerxes creature had earlier.... although this was much more hostile...

“Don’t. Even… Think. About. Moving from here.” The blue creature took a few steps back from the golem, almost as if it was trying to stay away and avoid it... much like Xerxes. Did it run away from the other creature with pointed ears too? It could not calculate that the blue thing would do that, though--it had not seen the blue creature attempt to accompany Xerxes or the pointed-ear creature from before, so the likelihood was slim.

Still... was Xerxes no longer in the dark place? Had it run away from where it had thought the furry creature had hidden?

"Ah, there it is!" a familiar voice sounded. A short, stout man with a rather extravagant handlebar mustache and somewhat flustered look across his face. "This golem is a menace and must be taken care of! It goes around and destroys propery--my property, to be more specific--and it has no quarry!"

A collective murmur rose from the crowd as a dozen guards made their way through the people. What sort of golem did not have a quarry!? This was unheard of!

The golem, however, did not seem to mind either way, as it turned away from the oncoming crowd and began to lumber off back toward the edge of Barberry from where it had come. The guards, at the urging of the mustachioed man, followed along, although they kept their distance after hearing about how the last few guards that had attempted to intervene were easily brushed aside by the mechanical monstrosity. The golem did nothing to intervene with the oncoming guardsmen, but it continued on its path, swinging its arms to and fro along the way and accidentally knocking over a bit more of the house it had partially destroyed earlier.

"...My... My house...!" The man with the mustache fell to his knees with outstretched arms. "...It... It destroyed my...!"

"Shut up. Xerxes. Forest. Ffffffffnyah." The golem continued its trek through the city, reaching the outskirts once again and lumbering toward the massive circle pounded into the ground. It walked around the shape, analyzing for anything that might give any sort of trace--

Of course! Xerxes had been moving along the ground as well--perhaps it had left some sort of track to follow... Of course, the footprints were much smaller and harder to follow than the giant ones of the golem, but they were there nonetheless... along with slightly larger ones heading in the same direction. Could this lead to the "forest" that the blue creature spoke of before?

It continued to lumber off in the direction of the faint footprints that it assumeed Xerxes left behind in its escape. However, the second set was a mystery to the golem--what other creature followed it away? Perhaps it would find out in time... For now, though, it was attempting to process the tall objects off in the distance, things that were not nearly made of stone like the buildings in the city but were just as tall if not taller than them. They were also rather slender... The footprints continued toward these... things, for lack of a better term, and the golem, with nowhere else to go, continued to follow them toward the unknown...