Fet Returns

“Now can you tell me how to restore golems?”

Î was close to tears. She had been asking Emet the same question for over a week.

“…wait... soon… remember…”

Î could no longer hold back her tears. She clutched at Alisa and began to cry. Emet’s speech had been rapidly deteriorating. In the last few days especially the golem had become nearly impossible to understand. Î worried that by the time Emet relented Emet would be unable to speak altogether.

Alisa seemed to sense Î’s fear. She smiled at Î, “Don’t worry about me. No matter what happens I will have lived nearly seven times seven days longer than I would have without you.”

Alisa wrapped her solid arms around Î and pulled her closer. Î clung to the golem and let her tears fall. They splashed against Alisa’s warm red body and dried there, vanishing as if they had never been. Î drew in a long shaky breath and let it out in a sigh. In that sigh all the pain and frustration she was feeling slipped away.

Î pulled away from Alisa and wiped her eyes on the neck of her dress.

“Thank you.”

Alisa chuckled. “Always.”

It hurt too much to laugh, but Î managed a smile. That hurt too, but it felt right. She wondered if that was why Lanet smiled even though it seemed to pain him.

A pattering began. It was far away, but coming closer. As it grew louder Î realized it sounded more like clacking than pattering, like two nuts being knocked together. A moment later Fet dashed into the room.

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Emet breathed to life; a long shuddering breath which caused the entire wall to shake and her eye sockets to collapse, “Ah… time…. Hurry… Bring… it… to me…”

Î carried the horse to Emet and placed it down in front of her.

“What do I do n—”

Î gasped and jumped back.

The horse was standing as still as when it had been carved, but the floor was moving. Tiny figures of glowing light were pulling themselves free from the ground. There were scores of them. Hundreds. Each was represented in perfect detail, and each shone like the sun.

Soon two miniature armies had arrayed themselves on the floor. A lone horseman rode across from one army to the other. Everything was moving far faster than it would have in real life. The soldier only took a couple of seconds to reach the other army. They rode back to their own army a moment later.

Nothing happened for several minutes. The little figures shuffled about on the spot, their actions too fast to follow.

“Find… golems…”

Now that Î was looking for them, her golems were easy to spot. They were the only soldiers who weren’t moving. Î bit the knuckle of her index finger. If those were her golems, then that was Lord Glove’s army.

Seek what I must know, and show it to me.

If Fet was showing her Lord Glove’s army, then something was going to happen to them. Or Lord Glove was going to use her golems.

Even as she had the thought the golems began to move. In the blink of an eye half of them were across the battlefield. Tiny soldiers flew from the ground and landed a full finger width away. They hit the ground hard and burst like cattails into twinkling lights. Î grasped at the fighting soldiers in a futile attempt to save them. Her fingers past through their bodies, finding only cold dirt.

“Why? Why?” Î clutched again and again at her golems, she didn’t know what else to do.

Something ruffled her hair. She looked up. It was the wind of Emet’s breath, “Good… Restore… golem… drop seven… the ink of… creation… onto its form…”

The army was torn to softly gleaming pools of light before her eyes. Tears filled them. How could Emet think any of this was good? Emet hadn’t even wanted those other soldiers to die. She had wanted …

It was then Î noticed Lord Glove’s army.