Mark of the Fool

There came a terrible crunch.

The sound of steel collapsing.

“Yeeeesss…” Toraka hissed, delighted with her new golem’s performance as it crushed the heavy metal sheet with ease. “This is excellent. Look how quickly it responds to my commands, and the power output… it’s beyond anything that even I’d imagined.”

“I agree. It seems to be pretty well at the upper end of expectations.” Alex chimed in, watching the iron golem tramp away from the crumpled metal.

It stomped toward a line of stone cones set up to test its agility and began weaving its bulky frame through them, moving forward. The sight of a massive iron construct performing such precise movements wasn’t exactly common, but Toraka was nodding along as if it was the most impressive, natural image in the world.

Each footstep came like the clang of a blacksmith’s hammer with the peal of thunder, shaking the stone beneath their feet. Towering over Claygon by a good three to four feet and likely outweighing him by a couple of tons, the size difference between them was clear.

“It’s definitely more agile than a standard iron golem would be as well.” Toraka entered detailed notes on the golem’s performance into her own log. “Much more agile.”

She nodded across the testing chamber to where an iron golem—of similar dimensions and physical design as the new one—was negotiating the exact same obstacle course.

The ungainly construct had knocked over several cones during the test, leaving them scattered across the path.

“The extra agility really expands the tasks it can perform,” she commented. “A golem could out wrestle a dragon, but if it trips over its own feet every time it takes a step, then its uses would be limited to the most basic of manual labour. Now…let’s move on and try a more direct test.”

As the two golems reached the finish line of their respective obstacle courses, Toraka snapped her fingers, bringing them to attention, their heels clanging together like trained soldiers. The iron giants turned to face each other across the broad testing chamber, bowing at her mental command.

Then, they charged like raging bulls.

“Holy sh—” Alex barely managed to stifle the curse word as the room shuddered from the impact of their footfalls, their weight pounding from stone to stone.

Claygon stepped up beside Alex and Toraka, intent on the iron golems.

With a tremendous crash, the metal titans collided, hands connecting, driving their enormous bulk against the other. A screech pierced the air as iron ground against iron…

…a golem’s feet raked the ground as it was pushed backward. The dungeon core powered construct drove the older model back as though a bull was pushing a young boy.

Whistling her admiration, the master craftswoman began clapping. “This is excellent!”

Alex breathed a small sigh of relief. But, as his mind often had a tendency to do, it conjured a horrifying scenario: the old golem was handily defeating the newly crafted creation, melting away his financial future in one fell swoop.

But, the image was soon erased by the look in Toraka Shale’s eyes, fixated on the new golem and dancing with undisguised greed. He could practically see coins piling up around her.

With another snap of her fingers, she stopped the contest; both golems broke contact with the other, relaxing their grips and stepping back. They faced Toraka, giving her a deep bow.

“Alright, well there’s one more test that we have left to do.” She said, throwing Alex and Claygon a sly look. “What do you say? Would you like to see a little prototype I’ve been working on?”

Excitement gripped the young man’s chest. “Hells yes, I would!”

“I…am interested too…” Claygon leaned toward the woman in curiosity.

“Good. You must share this with no one.”

Toraka clapped her hands.

A sound like thunder grinding on a cliff face echoed from the back of the chamber as an entire section of wall slowly rose, revealing a secret room. From within, a tall brass construct forged in the curious shape of a humanoid praying mantis, unfolded its arms. Atop scythe-like blades on those arms sat a pair of hands, and in those hands was a tray held by elongated fingers possessing a dozen joints.

Upon the tray lay a curious device: a thick iron box, covered in dials, tubes and exposed circuitry that wove together in a complex pattern. On one side, a hole big enough for an iron golem to insert its arm up to the forearm, gaped; from the opposite side of the box a thick, heavy tube jutting more than half a dozen feet, protruded.

“What’s thaaaaat?” Alex’s eyes shone. “Looks like it’d make a very big boom.”

“It’s designed to do just that.” Toraka smirked. “I would like to introduce you to the Gale Force Cannon Mk. I Prototype.”

“Holy crap, that’s an awesome name. You’re good at naming things.”

“One of us has to be,” she murmured.

“I heard that.”

“You were meant to.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “So, how does it work?”

“So glad you asked,” she said. “And my answer is that's a proprietary secret. But what I can tell you is that it produces a super-heated column of fire magic, further charged with a burst of lightning magic all held within a force magic carrier wave.” A twinkle danced in her eye. “Add in a sprinkle of disintegration magic, and…”

“...and you have the coolest sentence I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Exactly.” She beamed as the mantis-construct bowed to the old iron golem which inserted its limb into the hole. Energy sparked, emitting a pulse of mana so powerful, Alex’s hair stood on end. “It’s a bit of a pig on mana—for obvious reasons—so it's built to draw power from a golem core.”

“Right.” Alex veritably drooled as a pair of stone golems carted out an immense steel target from a storage space. “Drawing power from a golem core puts less pressure on the device’s internals since some of the burden is offloaded by having its own power source. It’s a great solution. So, what’s the practical application, aside from rampant destruction? Military use?” He asked.

“Oh by the gods, no.” Shale laughed. “It’s far too expensive and impractical. For the same price as this, a kingdom could hire at least two dozen battle mages. No, this is a pure hobby. And, a rather fun one! Observe!”

With the snap of two fingers, a blast screen emerged from the floor before her, Alex, and Claygon, thick enough to withstand explosive magic or deadly flame, yet clear and shielded by a force screen for them to view events behind.

A memory returned, the explosion caused by chaos essence and dungeon core essence coming together in Greymoor.

‘This…I have a…memory…’ Claygon thought. ‘A bright light…standing in front of you, father…to protect you…’

‘You remember that?’ Alex replied mentally as the golems set up two rows of giant steel doors.

‘I do…but…it is…vague…I…hope…whatever happens…is not…so powerful…’

“So, we’ll learn a lot about both golems’ power output.” Toraka pressed a hand against the force screen, peering through it in anticipation. “If the new golem’s power output’s…well, we’ll see. Time for the first demonstration.”

A sudden surge of mana and a hum of powerful magic coalesced.

The old iron golem pointed Shale’s deadly device at the closest line of steel doors.

Humming power built to a peak.

A beam of white light blew through the tube, lancing into the steel. Lightning crackled and a wave of heat shimmered, slamming into the shield like a runaway boulder, Alex reflexively recoiled. The beam—as thick around as his waist—tore through reinforced steel plate after steel plate, reducing five into smouldering ruins.

“By the Traveller!”

“Haha, pretty cool, eh?” Toraka grinned. “See, this is one reason having a lot of coin is nice. It lets you have all kinds of exotic fun. Now, let’s test my newest addition.”

Before them, the old iron golem was passing the weapon to the dungeon core powered one who hefted it above its head and inserted its arm. The rush of mana when it connected to the machine spiked to a higher peak.

Without hesitation, the golem turned the device to face the closer row of steel doors.

An immense power surge rocked the room.

The device rattled, its tube glowing lava red.

The beam forming was twice the diameter this time, bulging from the end of the tube, then tearing through the air. Slamming into the closest door, it burrowed through, leaving a smoking pile of slag behind.

Plate after plate ruptured into molten shrapnel, a trail of smouldering ruin hissing in the beam’s wake. The last metal plate split as the beam flew straight ahead, hitting the testing chamber’s back wall, blowing a ragged hole through it, sending stone fragments pelting down like rain.

A line of smoke ascended from the tube, dissipating around the damaged wall.

“Hohohohoooooo!” Toraka cheered. “Now that’s power! The output! The efficiency! It’s incredible!”

“Hells yes!” Alex cried. “Look at that! It is incredible!”

A tinge of envy flashed through him, and—for the first time in a while—he cursed the Mark of the Fool for preventing him from using and constructing weapons. The very idea of Claygon taking up a device like Toraka’s and blowing holes in ten demons at a time…

“That…is impressive,” Claygon said, his voice slightly distant.

Toraka’s cheering stopped, as she gave the golem an incredulous look, arching her brow. “Oh? You don’t sound impressed.”

“The device’s power…is very high. You have done good work…and the new golem has done very well.”

Again, that distance in his voice.

Shale cocked her head. “You still don’t sound impressed. Care to try wielding the device yourself.”

Alex’s heart skipped a beat in excitement. With Claygon’s power, he wondered just how much destruction it could cause. The golem looked at his father for a moment, as though poised to ask permission.

He paused.

Then marched forward, filling Alex with pride. “I…will do it…”

It didn’t take long for Toraka’s golems to set up another row of steel doors, ready for Claygon’s use. The four-armed golem gently took the device from the dungeon core-powered construct, his hand lingering on the other golem for a moment before he finally inserted a lower arm into the hole.

A wave of mana impacted Alex, his skin tingled.

As Claygon aimed the weapon at the closest steel door, the young Thameish wizard was suddenly struck by the thought that this experiment might be—in fact—a bad idea. He knew that the iron golems produced only a fraction of the evolved Claygon’s mana.

And if the second one had punched through the wall in back of the chamber…

Alex whirled toward Shale. “Toraka, maybe we should—”

But it was too late.

Claygon had activated the device.

A hiss followed a whine, and the sound of metal screamed.

The room shook.

Steel doors rattled as the stone golem levelled the device at his target. Humming power increased, rising to a screech.

There was a flash.

A terrible impact.

Crumbling stone.

Alex and Toraka cried out, their eyes stinging.

Then, it was over.

As Alex’s eyesight recovered from the blinding light, he gasped.

Five steel doors were gone. Just gone. The floor around them had crumbled into steaming gravel and the device’s tube had melted, now in utter ruin.

“Oh…I broke it…I am so sorry.” Claygon muttered.

“Don’t be!” Toraka said excitedly. “Look at the devastation! The destruction! Claygon, I knew you were unique but this…ohohoho, this is great!”

“You’re not…mad?” Alex murmured.

“Of course, not! Claygon revealed a design flaw in the device, and now I get to rebuild it. Make it better.” Her eyes shone in anticipation. “And that’s what crafting is all about!”

She looked at her golem with pride. “And my golem represents a new stage in golem crafting. More efficiency. More power.” An evil grin took her features. “We’re going to have half the city’s wealthy tossing their golems aside for the new model. It’s perfect!”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed. “Now we both have excellent golems.”

She rubbed her hands together. “I’ll start bringing my new golem out for demonstrations next week. Word will spread fast, and I’ll have kings from here to Thameland ordering one.”

Her eyes looked her golem up and down. “This is going to be a new chapter for both you and I, Alex. Forget that place you have across the street: in a year, you’ll be able to buy half the damned bakeries in Generasi.”

Alex thrummed with excitement, imagining the bright future that lay ahead of him, Toraka, Claygon and his family. Things were looking up, now all he needed to do was breakthrough to third-tier spells outside of summoning magic and prepare for Baelin’s next mission into the hells.

But…a note of melancholy touched him.

And it took him a moment to realise that it was not his own.

Claygon was looking at the newest of Shale’s golems with a long melancholy note drifting through their link.

And his voice echoed in Alex’s mind. ‘Father…I wish to talk to you.’