Chapter 1: Doors of Past

The remnant golem stood in the dark crumbling hallway, moss, fungus and roots growing rampant.

Its single eye, a crystal ball glowed blue in the dimness. Its head was a cone, with a simple string box inside for a voice. Its arms and hands were mismatched, one was a fine delicate manipulator, the other was a kind of jagged brutal war pincer. Its legs were simply in the form of stylised armour, the knees had sculpted wolf heads on them, the features erased by time. The Legs looked like they had been stolen from some savage warrior more than anything else. All these parts were made from spara, a kind of bluish bronze looking metal, which had properties of cold, and thusly was an extremely common metal in the icy lands of Nortrieln.

The torso however was made of steel. Strange patterns adorned this body, though other than the fact that they were once kinda swirly they were too faded to make out. On the torso was some sort of door, and inside was some kind of peculiar mechanism, which was in ill repair. The whole golem was rusted, mossy and had various fungus growing on it.

The Golem stood still and unmoving, but whether by chance or design, the mountain shook, and in its shaking, parts of the ceiling broke off and hit the golem. The golem fell and that may have been the end of this tale, but the golem had shadow bound within, and so it also fell through the shadows and out of Kigan.

Into the world of Awarth, the shadowrealm, the world behind mirrors and where all dreams reside. It was this transition from the physical realm of Kigan to the ethereal one of Awarth that birthed a will in the golem, it was a weak shadow of a will, but such was to be expected of newborns.

Now, when the golem entered Awarth, it did not stop falling, for as much as Awarth is a reflection of Kigan, sometimes things are there that aren’t in Kigan, and sometimes things are missing.

Often though things are simply different.

In Awarth, the hallway that the golem was in did not exist, there was only a great abyss. As the golem fell, eyes of unseen forms watched it, and the darkness gave way to shimmering rock. The golem did not hit the ground, instead like a feather, it wafted down.

The golem found itself in a round room with many doors, each door was great and wooden, carved on them were various figures the golem knew naught of. There were six doors in total.

A Grand Knight, like an embodiment of justice was on one door. The nature of the Knight was hidden by his armour. He held a spear of twisted blades.

A Noble man and lady were on another, entwined together, both dwarves, the dwarf maid’s long flowing hair covered the faces of herself and the nobleman.

The third had a great wolf with a gem in its maw. The gem was in the shape of an eye.

A mage in deep robes clutched a gnarled staff was on another.

A dwarf surrounded by cogs and a broken golem at his feet was carved on one of the doors.

The final door had a regal lady with snakes for hair on it, a gorgon. There was a sinister image of a serpent burnt in around that carving.

The golem had not the time to consider who itself was, as events began to unfold.

-A remnant… of this place… will… not so easily… escape here…- a voice struggled to say.

The golem looked about, but saw nobody.

“Query; where are you, Addition; what are you.” The golem stated.

-I am in the forgotten place, I am the forgotten place, I am that which remains-

The golem didn’t quite know what to make of this enigmatic speaker.

This was perhaps the first feeling the golem had, it was puzzled. This puzzlement in turn brought on its first desire, it wanted to know what these doors were about, and who the mysterious speaker was.

“Curiosity; what is the function of these carved doors.”

-This place… is spawn… of the abandoned… memories…, it is but… an echo-

The voice was extremely dull and took a while to say anything, the golem had barely gotten what limited emotions it now had and it was already getting annoyed by the manner of the speaker.

Deciding that there was no other course, the golem stepped forward to open one of the doors, choosing the one with the dwarf and the broken golem, A wave of memory washed over the golem as it opened the door, memory not its own, but of distant past.

“It doesn’t matter, I need more time, I’ve had my apprentices convert just about every accursed golem in this place for battle” the voice of a gruff and panicked one

“They cannot hold him back, I… we must begin to send the living to die, they may buy us more time” A deep calm voice spoke.

“… hopefully that will give me enough time to finish this grand golem, though I know not if even this will…”

A crashing sound, a great howl. The artisan turns from his work unfinished.

“RELHS!, he has come, flee from here, I’ll hold the beast off myself, but he must not reach the sanctum” The gruff voice cursed.

-Surrender your lives, sinful ones and my mistress may yet show mercy on this place-

“Back with you, hound of Yullris! I’ll not give my life to a mangy cur like yourself, face the glory of Tavarnian Golemwork!”

-Enough… I will not… let you pass through… the veil… of these… memories-

Though the voice said so, the golem went to another door, this time the wolf with the gem. A wave of memory washed over the golem as it opened the door, memory not its own, but of distant past.

The hound stood before his mistress, she in resplendent fittings.

-It is done my mistress, none remain, I have broken them all, and the crimson watcher bore witness to it all-

“Well and good, my loyal hound, though, one remains unbroken…” a soft sensual voice hissed.

-One left? I am sure I took them all… speaking of which… was all this really necessary?-

“Do you not trust me my beloved guardian?”

-I do… but my heart is heavy-

“Very well, I shall relieve you of that weight, after all, there is one left”

-What?-

Metal meets flesh, and betrayal is shown.

-Yullris… why? What has… become of you?- The hound whimpered.

“You could never understand my pain, Haorn”

-This is… meaningless… what do… you hope… to achieve?-

Though the voice said so, the golem went to another door, this time the Lady and Snake. A wave of memory washed over the golem as it opened the door, memory not its own, but of distant past.

She walked through the shattered halls, past all the remnants of people and golems and she laughed. Joyous and pure sounding laughter at odds with reality. She stepped through the ruined door of the sanctum, and twirled around the fallen, blood red jewel held high.

“At last I shall suffer no longer, it will all have been worth it, oh, what a joyous day, isn’t it Haorn?” She exclaimed, quite mad, not just wicked, Haorn was dead.

-Foul one, you shall have no victory here, I have called on all those slain, our last act here will be your doom- A robed remnant snarled

“What… you but the ritual was stopped, you can’t”

-What would you know? I suspected I would fail, so this sanctum bears a curse, thus we shall rend you, false priestess!-

The vengeful fallen would not be denied.

– This will… not aid… you-

Though the voice said so, the golem went to another door, this time the mage with a staff. A wave of memory washed over the golem as it opened the door, memory not its own, but of distant past.

It seemed not even the champion of the spear of Whaichayl could hold the hound back.

“You there, reinforce the barrier, we cannot let him in, if we fall here then all will be for naught” A ragged voice ordered.

“Yes Grandmaster Boskail, but surely the mongrel cannot beat him”

“He has already fallen”

“What?!?”

“Focus you fool, put your very spirit into the barrier if you have to”

Flashes of light and howling.

“So, you have come, Haorn, how far we have both fallen… but I shall not let things end like this…”

The barrier fails.

“COME HOUND OF YULLRIS! KILL ME AND SEAL OUR FATES!!”

– This will… not gain… you escape… cease.-

Though the voice said so, the golem went to another door, this time the Knight with a spear. A wave of memory washed over the golem as it opened the door, memory not its own, but of distant past.

-Will you not move for me, Champion of Whaichayl?-

“I shall not, by this spear, It will cost you dearly to pass” a deep calm voice responded.

-I am loathe to fight you, you are a man of much honour, you need not die in this senseless conflict-

“So you know it is senseless, why not stop?”

-I cannot, I must do what I must-

“So too must I, she asked it of me, and I shall not betray her”

-Is there nothing I can do to get you to stand aside-

“You can do it over my corpse”

A growl.

-So be it, child of a spear of thorns and sorrows, You too shall be broken before me-

The knight laughs.

“Come then, let us rejoice in the battle, PRAISE WUIDRIN!”

Spear meets claw and fang.

-I do not… understand… you continue… but… it avails you… not… remnant-

Though the voice said so, the golem went to another door, this time the pair of nobles. A wave of memory washed over the golem as it opened the door, memory not its own, but of distant past.

“I am scared beloved brother… where have the last guards gone?” A young woman says.

“To the sanctum, that snake Boskail has taken command, he has some form of plan” a cold man’s voice answers.

“Then everything will be fine?”

“No we shall die, even now I hear the pounding of his paws, he comes for us”

“No, don’t say such things, what of Faihn? He promised to protect me with his spear”

“Boskail has ensnared him, and you shall die with me, ‘dear’ sister”

A bloodchilling howl.

“Why?Why is this happening, we did nothing wrong, didn’t we?”

The man says nothing, the dwarfmaid breaks the silence.

“We had no choice, yes no choice, it had to happen, yes, we were forced to to”

“Please, try to face your death with a bit more dignity, I am not ashamed, I would do it again”

The hound of Yullris bursts in.

-Your day has come, wicked children-

-There, see… you have… seen all… doors… and you… are still… trapped… remnant…-

Though the voice said so, golems as a whole, willed or mere automatons tend to have little understanding of futility. A golem will keep at a task until either it is completed or its body breaks down. A willed golem rarely understands the concept of giving up. You do, or do not, to a golem there is no try.

This has the handy effect that often, when there is actually a way, the golem will find it, eventually, though it take thousands of years.

In this case however, it took a few seconds. The golem didn’t know why the voice thought it was trying to escape, or why it wanted to keep it trapped. The golem would have been happy to stand in the pit and consider its new found self. As it was, the voice was annoying and unpleasant.

“Innocent question; what happens if this one destroys all the doors”

-I… what?-

The golem was gaining emotions and character apace, not to mention cunning.

“Satisfaction; This one computed so”

The golem began smashing the doors with its great pincer.

-No… stop…-

First the Knight, and memories flooded out whispering.

-You can… not…-

Then the Golem-maker, the memories were louder now.

-Do you… truly understand… what you… do?-

Then the mage, faint images wafted about.

-Even this… will not… gain you… freedom…-

Then the nobles, the images grew stronger, and sounds of the past resounded in the room.

-Though you… continue… I shall… stop you.-

The the Wolf with a Gem, There was ghostly figures spinning about now.

-You will… never escape…-

Finally the golem smashed the door of the Gorgon and Brunt Serpent.

The memories flew out in a rush… but suddenly they were silenced and consumed, some kind of vile presence had appeared.

-This is… as far as… you… go…-

Hovering before the golem was an spirit of the forgotten.