•Sad Golem•

Glaciers

He began punching. His fist was glowing, brighter, more vibrant and hotter than before, and he kept punching it, attempting to break it. This thing was really hurting his hand, but it was her only weakness. He kept punching and punching. It was cracked, and he wouldn't let up. He couldn't. If he did, that poor kid might be shark food. He kept pounding, but he was getting weaker. He was heating up faster than the surrounding coolant could cool him down. He was barely able to keep with the shark, who was flailing around erratically and crazed, and soon enough, Golem left his grip. He could only watch as the wild behemoth whipped around in the water-- the cage following through every stroke. The shark wasn't paying attention, or in a fit of rage and insanity perhaps, it began smashing its' face against a rock. Golem was mortified, but it was loosening the cage. The cage banged against the rock and Golem could see it was beginning to open-- but something was wrong.

The kid kept screaming and, suddenly, the cage was open. The kid was being tossed around inside, however, unable to control himself. Golem was too weak to help him, his hand was heavy and his shoulders ached. He tried to follow, but he saw, finally, that his hardships came to nothing. The child was swung out of the cage and his head was bashed against the rock and... drifted back, slowly. He was still and lifeless. Golem was exhausted, and now carried the burden of the knowledge of what he'd done. He was killing, yes, but in order to save the life of another just like him... and now he's killed his own kind.

Golem knew he couldn't have seen it coming, but if he hadn't tried to attack the shark head-on... no... no, then the shark would have just killed him and taken the child... But he hadn't tried to swim across... well, walking some more wasn't going to make much difference... looking back, in that moment, Golem was unsure what he could have done to make things right.

Perhaps he should have just left the kid alone. Might still be alive. Probably should've just swam away and hoped a diver found him or a fisherman, or... somebody...

Golems' mind was scrambling around looking for answers and solutions, all the while just laying back, letting the current push him back as he watched the menacing beast flailing around in insanity fade into emptiness, her presence being replaced with a foggy reddish mist.

Golem couldn't do anything, he just accepted that.

Anything.

Golem awoke. He'd not even realized he'd been asleep. He got up and realized his arm was still missing. His head was feeling almost broken... He could hear something rattling around in there. He didn't know what it was or why, but it hurt, and he was feeling weird. His sense of direction was gone, his sense of home was gone, his mind just lost everything that told him where he was and wasn't. He found the cuff hit his foot and he grabbed it hesitantly. He liked being able to speak, but he found it was probably best if he didn't. He was really regretting leaving his friend in the desert. Why would he do that?

He began to stand, but realized his insides were cooling too much. His machinery, obviously, was fine, but his heart was being chilled by the atmosphere. He was on a giant island made entirely of ice! Golem had no recollection of having come here, but it seemed to him that he'd been washed up. Days, weeks, months could have gone by. He didn't know where he was or where he could go. Golems' pace maker was in rapid function. He was stranded, he was panicking, and he had no idea what to do. 

Golem could try and swim... but he wouldn't know where to go or how to go about it.

Golem just sat back down and began quietly sobbing to himself through his cuff. His mind was captured in a loop he couldn't break out of, thinking of the kid, thinking of himself, thinking of his home, thinking of the future, thinking of what will happen soon. That kid was supposed to help me get home, or keep me company on my journey, or... something. Golem thought about the kids at his school, all laughing at him, and he said to himself, "What a stupid thing to run away from". 

Golem cried and stuck his head in his arms.

He sat there all curled up in a ball for a few good hours... it all seemed like a few minutes to him. He looked over to see his favorite blanket was stuck to the ground, a bit frozen. He was feeling this blizzard get stronger and he knew he'd need the blanket to keep his heart warm. He was still crying, but he had the strength to grab it. He tore it from the ground, some of the fabric being ripped off, but it made little difference to him anymore. He didn't care about his blanket, he just cared about staying alive long enough to finally do something right.

He wrapped himself in it. He didn't feel much difference, but he knew it'd do him some good. He warmed his hand up and kept it to his center, to his core, to keep his heart warm and to melt some of the ice off the blanket on his back. He kept walking. These glaciers were big, snow everywhere... and this godawful blizzard... Golem could see some pretty colors and lights up ahead, but it was through the sharp pain in his eyes of the cold winds scraping against his face, and sliding against his motion.

Once again, an attempt to be helpful, failed. This mockery of justice damaged him and taught him something. No talking. Don't open your mouth. The more you talk, the worse things get. Seemed the stupid cuff from all those years ago taught me nothing.

Why did he even keep it? Why did I keep it? There are so many things with this kid I just don't understand... but I guess a lack of education... having run from it all in a fit of anger... this temper tantrum... really shows me how fragile life can be. It's hard to take back big decisions as a child... It's a surprise I'm still alive at this point.

I was... out cold for a long time... but eventually his brain just sort of... clicked back on.

He got up and looked around... no one anywhere... it was silent in all but the empty whispers and whistles of the violent wind piercing his... ears... 

Still... nothing... no reward... not even for trying... just a spit in the face and a venture into a whole new area of the world... His hands were sunk into the ice...

I guess this was rest for him. After all this... he tried everything... it just wasn't fair... But... just moving on...

He continued forward with whatever strength was keeping him forward. He just wouldn't die. Blame it on his stubbornness, his frustration, his inspiration... as far as I'm concerned, it's just plain luck. He slid back down into the misty winds and blizzards ahead of him. He kept his hands in the snow, his homeostasis coordinator lobes were obviously not keeping up because he felt that. He felt every last bit of ice scrape across those fingers. If those were human hands, they'd be bleeding tracks in the snow. Tears... oh how the tears wanted to flow, but they didn't.

Every bit of this was painful, and left Golem weak. He saw no reason to keep going but felt no reason to stop. What a fool. Still, as in denial of death as he was, he was careful in every last step he took into the abyssal snow-storm despite his chilling agony--when a distracting loud moaning occurred.

It was distant, and it was mostly overpowered by the killing wind, but it was definite. Golem made out a large distant figure up ahead. He lumbered toward it, shielding his eyes from the oncoming snow, which was a challenging course of action with the ice buried just beneath the snow-- but it was mesmerizing... what is something alive doing out here in such cold conditions...?

Golem reached the top of a peak and saw he'd have to sink further to meet with the large figure. Golem reheated his hand and marched forward. He climbed down into a small crevice-- seemed to be peculiarly artificial- not that he thought any human should dare step into this place-- it's bad... Real bad...