A Worthless Crown

The voice of Alcors Pallen:

The night air whipped at my face as I ran, I was a slave to the fear. I felt deaf hearing my heart pounding louder than the rampaging golem. My feet barely touched the ground as I darted between trimmed hedges and stone fountains.

Fraero was right behind me, his breath ragged, fear mirroring my own. I could tell he couldn't keep up, perhaps a little more training and a little less watching would've helped him. The garden no longer felt like a place of beauty—it was a death trap. The neat rows of hedges turned the beautiful scenery into a terrifiying maze, we crumpled hundreds of flowers as we ran from the mechanical monster.

I glanced back. The massive construct lumbered forward, its crimson eyes burning like twin embers. It smashed aside a marble statue, the stone shattering like glass under its heavy fists. Every step it took shook the earth beneath us. If we were a little slower, that could've been us.

This wasn't normal. Golems were tools, servants of mages, bound to their will. They didn't act on their own. Someone had set this on us, surely. There was no way an adventurer could be so stupid as to let their creation rampant on accident.

My hand instinctively fell to my sword hilt. The polished steel felt reassuring, but I knew better than to fight this thing head-on. I had survived the abominations in the mines through wit and desperation and that strange power, not with my own strength. And this golem seemed far more powerful than those half-crafted monsters. I brought my sword with me everywhere these days, but unsheathing it here would be my last resort.

"Alcors!" Fraero hissed, ducking behind a low wall. I joined him, peeking over the edge. The golem paused, scanning the area like a predator. "It's lost us, ha. A stupid creation, of course since one of those folly adventurer's probably crafted it."

I gritted my teeth. "We can't outrun it forever. We need to outsmart it. I'll protect you, then the favor will be paid."

Fraero stood still then nodded, though I could see doubt flicker in his eyes. "Yes, you do owe me a favor from the suit selection... Do you know how to stop it? Listen, I'll let you take the lead this time..."

"Not exactly. But didn't you say you were a master of magic? Don't you have a spell to take it down? Do you need some space or time to cast it, I can be a distraction." I felt a surge of bravery through my veins, perhaps this was the way the favor would be repaid.

"About that..." Fraero laughed in an unnaturally high pitch. "Do you see the metal in it's form, that's not regular metal. It's white steel, a magic resistant metal. It looks like you'll need to be the one to take it down. If you want, I can throw a rock to get it's attention then I'll-."

"Wait. Aren't you just trying to get me killed so you can run?" My words caused Fraero to break out into a nervous rant.

"Of course not, but since you do owe me a favor, maybe that's not such a bad-." As Fraero nervously spoke, we both realized we had forgot to keep our eyes on the golem. Soon, a mechanical whirring noise blasted out from behind us. I raised my blade, instinctively, as if to retaliate. There was no retaliation, the golem smashed downward and my blade was crumpled into a pile of scrap metal.

Luckily, we were just outside it's attack range. We ran once more, Fraero looked back, a different kind of look lay in his eyes.

"Curse you, stupid adventurers. Enhance Arcana." His look did not change, but a strange forced seemed to hang over his figure, like a silent god watching from above.

"Dark thunder." He chanted it, he aimed his right arm towards the golem's head. Soon bolts of thunder rapidly crashed onwards, each produced a reassuring boom and formed a cloud of dust on the golem's form.

Eventually, he ran out of energy, both magically and physically. We stooped to the ground, the golem was unharmed.

"Huh?" We spoke in unison.

"That did nothing!" I shouted egregiously, in my voice fear and frustration mixed into a grotesque sound. 

"I already said, it's magic resistant metals are protecting it, I was just proving my point. Why are peasants so foolish and loud!" Fraero coughed out.

"That was some pretty powerful magic, especially since I enhanced it beforehand. I'm out of energy for now. Wait-. We're against a golem there must be something else we can do-."

"That's it? You said your magic was worth a thousand swords!"

"Silence, I have a plan!" His eyes lit up with geniosity. This was the Fraero I knew from months of gloating. "Every golem has a weak spot, to ensure if they go out of control they can be taken down."

"Where is the weak spot?" I asked instantly.

"That's the thing- we don't know. So you just need to stall it for a few seconds and then I'll hit the weak spot with a rock. Which means I need to get close, so you'll need to be a good distraction for this to work."

"Are you crazy, with it's strength I'll get crushed before I can even say my last words!" This was the same golem which had toppled a stone statue in a millisecond.

The golem was now up to our faces once more, our energy was so sapped from minutes of relentless running that this was the end of the road.

Fraero crashed out, as we shifted to a part of the garden where the moonlight shone in fully, I saw a side of him I had never.

His white hair was completely dissheveled, his entire body was twitching and he was covered in goosebumps from head to toe. His noble costume, covered in dirt and flower petals was ripped in several areas.

"Can't you listen..." He muttered, speaking in a crescendo that went from mere whispers to terrifying shouting. "I JUST NEED A SMALL DISTRACTION." I took one step outwards.

"Fine if that's all you need I'll-." He pushed me onwards before I could finish my sentence and I found myself stumbling head first into a full powered golem. I reached for my sword, forgetting it already been crushed into a thousand pieces. Wait, if that's what happened to my sword, what was gonna happen to me?