Ch 2.25: Parley

Elaina knew what she had to do to the golem, but she still wasn’t quite sure how. Temmie had done her best to explain, but standing there on top of the overturned creature, fully knowing she would be crushed if she failed, it wasn’t exactly a comforting feeling. She let those feelings fall to the side though, focusing only on the task at hand, activating [Personal Restraint] and locking herself into her fate, no matter what the outcome was.

She closed her eyes, letting her aspect reach out into the golem, into the crystal core she was was kneeling on. She thought she felt something now that she touched it directly, something that wasn’t quite there before, and she honed in on that sensation, the slight familiarity that Temmie described to her.

A software lock. Elaina still didn’t really know what it was, but she’d felt it before, released this version of Temmie from one back in the first dungeon. It had been easier to feel back then once she knew what it was, but she could still feel it now, deep in the depths of the golem’s core. It was faint, merely the suggestion of a possible restraint, but it was there.

Pushing towards the center of the core was an alien feeling to her. It was like swimming through honey, a nearly futile effort, but maybe technically possible? It felt like she was getting nowhere as she waded through with her mind, but [Restraint] was calling to her, seemingly louder and louder with each movement she made, even if she felt stuck in place.

But she wasn’t alone. She could feel it, the golem itself. Not the clusters of sparkling rock that comprised its body, not even the crystal core at its heart, but the very being of the golem. It was alive, the same as Elaina, and it didn’t like someone wading around its soul.

Leave.

It wasn’t a voice, wasn’t even a sound. It was just the command, information implanted directly into her mind the same as when she received a new skill. “I can’t leave. I have to stop you.”

Not leave me. Leave this place. Do not return.

“I can’t do that either.”

Then I must stop you.

The feeling of thick honey became suffocating, walling Elaina out from the goal she was swimming towards. She was losing her connection to the core, slipping down and away from the golem’s soul. “Please, I have to do this. You’re hurting people!”

People hurt this chamber first.

Elaina saw it, a group of eleven people with pickaxes and baskets. They were in a section of the cave Elaina didn’t recognize, one that must be deeper in, hacking away at crystals off the wall, tossing them into baskets they were carrying on their backs. They were laughing and talking, but Elaina couldn’t understand their words. It was garbled speech, unintelligible.

But she understood one thing: rage. It was both hers and not hers, the rage of the golem. I’m in its memory, she realized, feeling the hulking stone body she was inhabiting lurch up, climbing out of the ground behind the miners as they had their back turned.

Elaina tried closing her eyes once she realized what was going to happen next, but she wasn’t seeing through her own body, and as such there were no eyes to close. One body was crushed in an instant, two more as they turned to see what had happened. If the fourth had started running at the same time as the others he might have been safe, but he was frozen in fear, the last to fall as his friends left him behind, a loud crunch echoing through the cave as Elaina watched in horror.

She was back in the core, panting, heaving.

You rob the planet itself of its life force. You must leave.

“No, we’re not here to do that! We’re here to stop those people!”

Lies.

Elaina tried to frown, but found whatever existence she maintained in this state was incapable of doing so. She was telling the truth, but was there any way to prove that?

Maybe she didn’t have to though. She could still sense the software lock, even if it was further away. If she tried with all she had, she might be able to force herself to it, might be able to disable the golem. But that seems… wrong.

“Can I do something to prove that I’m not here to hurt you? I promise we’re not like them.”

You can leave. Stop attempting to shut me down.

It was frustrating, but only because the golem had a point. “I can’t do that. I have a job to do.”

As do I.

That was that. Elaina redoubled her efforts, pushing in through to the back of the golem’s core. It felt like shit, but she had to do it. Why does it feel like shit though? she thought. It was obvious, honestly. She was working for the kingdom, the kingdom she knew was overharvesting crystal from the earth. It was supposed to prevent stuff like that apparently, which was supposedly the reason poaching crystal was illegal in the first place, but she knew that wasn’t happening.

The golem resisted, but Temmie was right. Elaina was powerful enough to overcome the creature’s resistance. It was easier and easier as she moved forward, both to move and breathe. Finally reaching the back of the monster’s soul, she could feel it, the very essence of life in its heart. Getting here was the hard part, but now that she was it would only be a trivial matter to end the golem’s entire being.

Why do you not end me. You are stronger.

“I told you… I’m not here to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt the planet.”

Yet you persist.

“It’s not that easy. I have to do this.”

I understand.

Did it? How could it? “Is this enough? If I leave you alone now, is that enough to prove to you that I’m not here to hurt anything?”

For a while there was nothing, just Elaina in the swirling void of the creature’s soul. In the silence, she could feel the pulse of the golem as if it was her own heartbeat.

I know not why you would offer such a thing, but I accept this deal.

Elaina knew she shouldn’t listen. Getting here had taken nearly all of her mana, and she wouldn’t be able to make it back if she left back into her own body. “We’re here to look, but we won’t take anything from the cave. Is that okay?”

This is acceptable. I will not harm you or your companions. I make no promises for other intruders.

Doubt in her heart, Elaina pulled back with her mind. It was instant, and she gasped as she felt herself back inside her own body, falling to the floor off of the golem’s chest as [Personal Restraint] released.

“Elaina, are you okay?” It was Tira shouting, but the sound of the golem’s deep rumbling groan drowned it out.