"Sir!" The young guard snapped to attention before the pool in which the Emperor rested.
"Yes?""The scouting party found something, sir! A...er...creature, of sorts."
The Emperor stretched out then replied,
"Send a team with my lieutenant. I'll be along."-----------------
As the afternoon sun blazed uncomfortably for the cold blooded group, they struggled up and down the landscape. Difficulty lay not only in awkwardly shifting their own weight across earth but also in negotiating the steep inclines and valleys which were generally understood to be the rim of the watery domain. Anyone from the ocean had to either do some upstream swimming or go through the pain of trying to cross this odd substance called land...so most never bothered. The team stumbled around quite a bit before finding the small entryway into the mountains of which the scouts spoke. The worn wooden door leading directly into a hillside hung open, while the adjacent marble columns too showed signs of wear: a handful of jagged scratches, both tops cracked off, rubble littering the bases-
But the lieutenant suddenly called, "Halt!" Amidst the rubble, a brown shape moving erratically around the valley had caught his attention. The group shuffled down into the valley with a fair bit more caution, coiling their tentacles around wispy trees for cover. Not that this mattered, since a less sure-footed member went tumbling down the last third of the slope. The brown being, however, didn't seem to pay any heed. As the remainder of the team moved into the cooler shade afforded by the home-bearing hill, they picked up snatches of speech and sound.
"Just a little bit more on the left ear..." Clink. "Maybe the nose?" Tink. "...his eyes are fine, right...?"
These came from the brown creature, who made one more motion towards the nearby shape then wailed as a shadow passed overhead and the object before it crumbled to dust. It turned from what it had been doing and saw the odd bunch of water-dwellers; in return this allowed them a good look at its face. This was seemingly a small, roughly humanoid creature hewn of stone and given life, the only real variance from the brown rock being two clear glassy orbs for eyes.
He considered the party for a moment, then returned to arranging into piles the strewn-about pieces of rock. When he had run out, he stamped his foot on the ground, causing a rough pillar of similar substance to himself to rise from the center of the clearing. Collecting tools from their resting places adjacent to the newly-formed piles, he began chiseling at the pillar.
The lieutenant stepped forward. "Excuse me..."
The golem only said in reply, "No time for you, only for me, I must do my work. Must be done. There must be more of me."
"More of you?"
"It is my sworn task given to me by my master, and maybe if I can make just one that lasts he will return..."
He went quiet after that, and the away team gathered behind one of the rubble piles to discuss what to do next...
-----------------
After some deliberation, the lieutenant approached the golem. "Hey, you."
He gave no indication of notice, at least not until he finished chiseling a right foot from his pillar. "Basalt."
"What?"
"I am Basalt. As an artist, I will be addressed as such."
"All right, Basalt. What are these copies of you supposed to be?"
"Servants for Master, of whom I am the first...and so far, the only one who has seen more than one moon."
"Who...who is your master?"
"He is Master, and he has been away for a long time." Insofar as a stone golem can change shape much, his shoulders slumped. "A...very long time." Finally Basalt turned to look at his questioner. "I will stop my work for now. You may come in."
Without waiting for a response, he picked up his tools, turned, and walked through the doorway into the hill, quickly disappearing in the open black aperture.
The lieutenant viewed the door with apprehension. Being out of the water in open air was bad enough, but to willingly enter a dwelling firmly encased by earth? It seemed unthinkable. Of course, the small band he commanded waited uneasily behind for his orders; after a few moments he directed two of them to report back to camp while the rest would go inside with him.
The stone steps winding down under the hill were smooth and cool, the way dimly lit by glowing fungal growths. A small grotto at the bottom was glimmering with the light of thousands of them, like precious jewels. The grotto apparently served as Basalt's home; much to the relief of the party members the humidity seemed much more reasonable thanks to a gentle stream running through the northeast area of the room.
Out of place were several mismatched items of furniture that would have looked at home in a study: a sturdy birch chair, a fine mahogany desk, a tripod easel...Basalt did not seem to wait for them, examining a paper on the desk. The lieutenant walked up behind him. "That's...you?"
"The very first diagram. I was to be the Shaper who made all the rest."
"...but you didn't."
Basalt turned and glared with as much expression that eyes of glass can muster. "I know not why. Not even Master knew why, though he gave me his power to create. None I made have survived. Either turned back to stone or crumbled. Usually both. He went on a journey, that time without me, and asked me to finally make a perfect copy of myself. If I can finally succeed...perhaps he will return."
"How long has it been?"
"Long. I do not record time, I record art."
"Are you sure your master would come back? Is he even still alive or-" The unfortunate lieutenant received no chance to continue.
"Of course Master is still alive! How dare you suggest otherwise!" At his rumbling, granite voice, the entire grotto seemed to shake.
"It would already be done it if were not for that vile bird making trouble!""...you're having trouble with
what?"
"The Shadowbird, the Shadowbird!" Basalt kicked viciously at his wall. "Its very presence crumbles my statues if I am near, and it steals the living ones if I am not!"
"Then we'll deal with it." Another voice cut in, and everyone except Basalt stiffened - that was the Emperor's voice! Indeed it was he who strode in moments later.
"Of course, we'd like your help if we do so."The golem looked at the new figure and probably would have blinked if he had eyelids. Despite his rage, he seemed to possess the sense to calm himself when faced with majesty. "Hmm...the way here..." Turning to the desk, he opened several drawers then pulled out some loose sheets containing hastily scrawled diagrams. "A map for the fastest path from here to the other side of the mountains!"
At this, the leaders of the aquatic band smirked softly. Such a causeway could not only speed the progress towards Aurdinas - it could make it easier to keep it under control, at least until such time as the gold mines could be properly flooded.
Relieved, Basalt nodded. "I'll be here whilst I wait. Give me its vines as proof..."
He let out a relieved sigh.
"...Thank you."
-----------------
Steeled and ready, the lieutenant's forces set a trail to cut through the mountain. They expected these sharp faces of rock to be filled with cold dirt and ice, but they were surprised to find lush, verdant overgrowth at every corner. They could even refresh their tentacles with the amount of moisture dripping from these branches; it was like a rainforest up in these cliffs!
They travelled onward and onward, confident but apprehensive. They knew this is not how mountains should look like.
Eventually, the group came to a clearing after an arduous trek, and were relieved. They stopped to rest, to recover, and to prepare; the nest should be a good two miles away from here. A massive tree dominated the space, sparkling from the humidity and the reflection of the crystal-clear water belo-
"Hang on a moment! That tree looks off; like it's hollowed out. Someone should check it out." The soldiers questioned why, but approached the tree anyway.
The water at the edge of the clearing shone with an innocent glee, but the water at the base of the tree glistened in gluttony. Indeed, it seemed that not only were there some of Basalt's replicas behind the tree, but the entire tree was filled with gems and broken glass! Surprisingly, the glass wasn't the most broken part of the horde; Basalt's replica's were eroding away at an astonishing rate, revealing the base shards of earth pillars used to fashion them.
Ecstatic, the Lieutenant ordered the squadron to mine, mine mine! Aurdinas was so far away, and this was a small fortune! He shifted along the water's edge, tentacles ready to bore -
And was dragged off by a mossy interloper the very next instant.
-----------------
Emitting a chilling
"Screeeee," the shark-sized bird circled above the party. A grotesque mix of green and black lights, intertwined with a complex lattice of grass and vines, this elemental bird was most certainly angry at the intruders. The Lieutenant flailed around hopelessly in its grasp as it was placed on top of the tree, like a gaudy Christmas decoration.
"Archers!" The three bow-wielders reached for their weapons at the Emperor's command.
"Slay this beast! This is your training for a flying foe that breathes fire!"It made a dive for the Emperor's lustrous Trident, stretching out a rope of fauna and shadow. The archers fired. The archers missed; this bird was certainly faster than a dragon! But ever the crafty brawler, the Emperor flicked his staff down, causing the bird to tumble to the ground with a dazed wail when it grasped held of the Emperor's firm polearm.
The archers, recovered from their earlier miss, took three shots into the shadowbird's belly. The Emperor would have had their heads if they had missed this easy a shot, but the guttural howl of this beast was a brutal retaliation.
With everyone's hands over their ears from a mandrake-worthy screech, the shadowbird took flight again, wanting to dart and weave around the trees, picking off the trespasses one by one. But the lieutenant had other plans, jumping from the tree and thrusting his mighty blade into the plummeting elemental. A fatal blow, for sure.
With the group sitting up and removing the ink from their pants, they looked at the inactive corpse of their prey; nothing but moss and vines.
But the group noticed something interesting; A lowly soldier looked back at Basalt's property, cast into the water. They had reformed back fully to earth pillars. Perhaps Basalt's ability to make statues was temporary.
-----------------
"Was I really that stupid!?" Basalt stomped on the floor like a petulant child. He could not believe he thought this bird was causing his statues to disintegrate, when it was really just his powers. He was thankful that the "Shadowbird" was dead, of course, but realising he was this flawed all along was a blow to his self-esteem at the very least.
"...thank you." After a long pause of quiet introspection (and awkward silence from the tentacles), that was all Basalt had to say.
"Thank you."
The tentacles partied with a job well done, and sat down in Basalt's home to rest. He'd given them a special bowl filled with rose petals; apparently the water infusion helped tired people energize.
When it was time for the group to leave for Aurdinas with the new maps, Basalt understood, and had seemed to at least come to terms with his new understanding of himself. The entire group left through the creaky door, but the lieutenant turned back and asked:
"Do you want to come with us? We could do with those golems, even if they're temporary."
Basalt perked up. These could be pretty good masters, if a little slimey, but... a golem needs time to feel right in its stoneskin. If he wanted to adventure, the time to do so was not yet.
He respectfully declined the offer, and the lieutenant left to join his group.
Basalt sighed, and then turned to his desk. There was a picture of his master, frilled and with hair made out of hexagons.
He sighed again.
"Not yet."
