Jesse had never felt more alone. The shock after just getting Golem back days ago to losing him again made the loss so much greater. He hadn’t realized how much he had come to rely on his AI. His HUD’s absence was a constant reminder of the loss. He sat on the floor staring off into the room but not really seeing. The loss of a limb felt mild in comparison to the loss of his AI, who had started to grow into something new. A true general intelligence.

  “I know you’ve suffered a big loss here, but I think we need to get moving. The wraith is still around and we don’t know if those soldiers survived or are still fighting.” Tormund said gently, looking worriedly towards the door they came in through.

  Aegis’s head rested in Jesse’s lap. She could sense his mood and wanted to cheer him up. Jesse still stared at nothing, not answering.

  Above he could see the wraith had turned a bright red from the blue shade it was previously. It floated down at a quick pace, diving straight for Jesse. Tormund swore and his hands crackled with electricity.

  “No you don’t!” He yelled at it, shooting the energy at the nebulous being. It struck and the creature flew away. It seemed to flee into the wall and disappeared entirely.

  “Hopefully it doesnt come back.” Tormund said. “I’m going to start trying to find a way out of this place. Join me when you are able.” He walked away towards the door on the opposing side of the room from the one they had originally entered.

  Aegis rubbed against Jesse, who absently pet her with his right hand. After a few moments it occurred to him that he hadn’t checked on Golem’s power crystal. The power module was still open from when he had connected the wire but he was in such shock after the battle that it didn’t occur to him to actually check the crystal. He rotated his arm and found it was dim, not dead like the one they found in the console. The bright light it previously emitted was just dimmer. Would removing it be like removing someone’s heart? If not done carefully it would kill the person. Of course golem may already be dead.

  Jesse thought for a moment. Well if the essence charge goes from high to low then maybe he could use a different crystal to charge the power module. He took one of his last few crystals out of the bag and placed the still connected wire against it. Immediately it began draining the power from the high crystal into the low crystal until the glow of essence within was roughly even. This somewhat knocked Jesse out of his downward spiral, his technical mind focusing on the mechanics of what was happening for the research log he would have to eventually create.

  Jesse spoke again. “Golem.” No response.

  With a sigh he stood and began walking to an archway to examine it. He only had three fully charged crystals remaining and the half charged one he just used. Maybe he could power one of these and get out of here with Tormund and Aegis alive at least.

  His vision flickered. In front of him the boot up sequence began playing over his eyes. It was beautiful. He had thought his AI was gone. Jesse allowed the boot sequence to complete, noting that instead of the typical hour it took mere moments.

  “Hello.” Golems voice rang through his mind.

  Tears of relief welled in Jesse’s eyes. “What happened?”

  “The constructs core appears to have drained my power core. I am not certain why. I can’t scan the internals of the construct still so it’s impossible to determine. What I am curious about is why you absorbed the essence from it. According to Tormund only living creatures create and absorb essence.” Golem reported.

  “Yeah that’s certainly an oddity.” Jesse said, Golem having voiced what had tugged his mind earlier. His brow furrowed in thought.

  “Damage report please.” Jesse said a moment later.

  “No permanent internal damage detected either to my matrix or power supply. The power supply was merely drained.” Golem reported.

  “Okay good. The power source for that construct must have been significantly larger than yours. If it functions similar to pressure then it will go from high to low.” Jesse postulated out loud.

  “Perhaps.” Golem said. Then he paused, which was unusual. “Jesse. Your condition…” he let the word hang.

  Yes. I lost my lower arm. I know. Jesse thought.

  “It would seem essence can’t heal all injuries. The psychological trauma from that will need to be addressed as well.” Golem replied.

  I’ll add therapy to the to do list. Is there anything else? Jesse asked.

  “You absorbed a large amount of essence from that construct, enough to rank you up a couple of tiers.” Golem replied.

  What good does that do if it didn’t heal my arm and I don’t have abilities? Jesse asked, just a little bitter.

  “I believe I may be able to use your essence.” Golem told him.

  Jesse was a little shocked. What do you mean? Use it to do what?

  “If I am correct then I could use it as a way to temporarily increase my processing power. There may be other effects as well. I did this when you connected to the construct.” Golem reported.

  Jesse thought on that for a moment before a loud bang came from the entrance to the chamber where they came from. Where the soldiers were fighting a few minutes ago. The noise didn't repeat.

  “Interesting… we will have to discuss the implications of this later. We need to move quickly. For now I want to take a look at the construct and find out if we can learn anything.” Jesse said, trying to move on from the revelation.

  Jesse moved over to the fallen construct. He looked at the behemoth with a sense of wonder. “I wish we had more time to take this thing apart.” He said. He walked over and climbed on its back and up to the spear protruding from it. He wrenched it side to side to expand the hole before pulling it free. Jesse crouched over the hole and peered inside, holding his torch closer for the light.

  Inside he could see wires crisscrossing in every direction. He could make out the frame of the machine but couldn’t quite see the articulating joints or what made them move. What he could see was a bright glow from a very large crystal in the center of its chest. “That would be useful. Do you think we could break into there and remove it?”

  “With time possibly. Pry with the rebar here.” Golem said, highlighting a spot on the construct in Jesse’s HUD.

  Jesse did as Golem instructed. Soon the hole widened more. Jesse could see wired knobs on each side of the crystal. He moved to carefully unscrew them and extracted the fist sized crystal.

  We don’t have time to figure out how this thing works. Jesse decided with some disappointment.

  With a sigh Jesse began to rise, then he stopped. Was that? No it couldn’t be. He crouched down further, nearly sticking his head inside the crevice on the machines back. I’m going to stick you inside the chest cavity. I want you to scan. He said urgently.

  He shoved his left arm, or what was left of it, as deeply as he could within the construct. After a moment he pulled it free. What did you see?

  “There is organic material within the construct.” Golem reported, confirming what Jesse had seen.

  “It used to be a person.” Jesse said softly. “That’s why I could absorb its essence. We killed them. Or whatever was left.” He felt a pit in his stomach. He had killed someone. The only solace he had in it was the person was likely insane or very little humanity had remained in them. After all, how long had they been down here? He still wanted to throw up but managed to talk himself down from his visceral reaction. It wasn’t a person. It wasn’t.

  “It appears the machine keeps parts of them alive.” Golem stated. “They are interfaced in it. Organic parts are scattered throughout the cavity. Likely only certain organs remain of the original human.”

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  Let’s learn what we can about the laser weapon and then move on to the pedestals. Jesse said.

  He hopped off the metal tomb. On the ground he focused on the laser weapon embedded in the constructs arm. Through cracks in the plating he could see there was another crystal, this one small. It was connected to a series of wires and a metal circular housing. Jesse noted how these connections, almost circuit like, were made and figured it was to transfer the essence energy into another form of energy, heat. Perhaps he could create magical effects with the crystals as well? Cold or electricity or maybe even more complicated designs. The possibilities ran through his mind. They melded with the circuits he saw in the pedestal while his perception was within the constructs.

  “What’s going on?” Tormund asked, approaching from his examination of the door. “We need to get moving.”

  “Well for one, Golem is back. For two, that thing was alive. At least until we killed it.” Jesse reported.

  “What? What do you mean it is alive?” Tormund said looking at it with an eyebrow raised.

  “It had what used to be a person inside.” Jesse said.

  “Well that would explain the essence that came out of it.” Tormund said. “But alive down here for thousands of years?”

  “Yeah I know. I don’t understand it either.” Jesse said. “Did you find anything with the door?”

  “I couldn’t get it open. Though now that we have golem back, that’ll do.” Tormund said.

  “I want to check out those arches. If we could get them functioning again maybe we could teleport close to our destination.” Jesse said.

  “Worth a try. I can’t say I’m dying to explore more of this place after what it cost us. Well you I suppose.” Tormund shrugged.

  The pair walked over to a nearby archway. As they walked over the bang on the entrance doorway returned, but much louder. This time it repeated. Jesse looked over at the door as another one rang out. He could see the stone door shift and dust fell from the ceiling.

  “Shit, I was hoping the spiders forced them to retreat.” Jesse said. “We better move quickly.”

  Jesse crouched to open the panel but saw something shiny catch his eye. He picked it up. It was a golden coin with the cog on one side and the crystal on the other. He pocketed it and picked up 4 more. Maybe they would be useful when they got to the town.

  Jesse again opened the back panel on the tablet pedestal. He replaced the crystal inside with his half charged crystal. He rounded the pedestal to look at the tablet.

  “I can now partially translate the language.” Golem stated. “I downloaded a limited dictionary in my interface with the construct.”

  The letters shifted on the console and Jesse read it aloud.

  Terminal to Drakmorden

  Initiate Transfer?

  “That sounds almost like the village of Drak’Mor. That’s a resistance hub.” Tormund reported.

  Text began scrolling in what appeared to be a description of the area. Jesse started to read it but was startled by the sound of crashing stone. Jesse looked towards the door to find Kaelan stumbling in. He stood on the ruined remains of the doorway, having apparently knocked it down.

  Kaelan looked rough. His plate armor was covered in blue and red blood. There were large holes in several places on the armor and it looked partially melted in places. His face was pale and his steps uneven. Through the door Jesse could see the body of a soldier surrounded by several large spiders, also dead.

  “He never gives up it seems.” Tormund said frowning. Fire was growing in his hands. Jesse grabbed him and shook his head. He turned and pressed initiate. A blue hue shimmered to life in the archway. They didn’t have time to hesitate. Jesse ran through with Aegis following close behind. Jesse assumed Tormund would follow.

  A moment later Jesse appeared on the other side. He found himself surrounded by trees. Thick vines hung low with wide leaves in a canopy above. Jesse smelled the humid air and felt the warm breeze that shook the branches of the nearby trees. He walked forward and Aegis came bolting through behind him whining loudly. It seemed the change was disorienting to her. Jesse turned and redied himself. Tormund came through next and tripped over a root. The portal began to close, its edges folding inward, and Jesse started to let out a breath before he suddenly found himself on the ground.

  He looked at the portal in confusion and saw it dissipate. Vines that had previously gone through the center of the portal were now burnt in half. On the ground below him was Kaelan. He must have come through the portal and crashed into Jesse. Jesse swore and kicked the man square in the face which was uncovered, his helmet nowhere to be seen. Kaelan grunted from the impact but recovered quickly, shooting to his feet.

  In an instant he stood above Jesse raising his own boot. It descended towards him in what appeared to be slow motion. Jesse’s body couldn’t react though, lacking the essence boosted power of his adversary. Surely he wouldn’t kill him…

  Aegis crashed into the man’s lifted leg, growling viciously. She bit deeply into a joint and pulled him to the ground. He kicked her with his other boot only to be struck by a bolt of lightning. His body convulsed. A moment later Aegis latched onto his arm. It was covered in metal so there was no damage but it did keep him from being able to rise or fight back effectively. He swung and hit Aegis with a closed fist, who yelped and jumped back. His eyes glowed momentarily red as he caught the rebar club that Tormund swung downward towards his breastplate. He wrenched it from the scrawny arcanesscents grip and slammed a fist into Tormund’s makeshift armor, sending him flying backwards and crashing through the brush.

  What do I do? Jesse thought.

  He swung for Kaelan but his fist was caught and Kaelan kneed him in the gut. Jesse doubled over coughing. Aegis latched onto the soldiers leg once more, pulling him back. Kaelan let out a frustrated grunt and drew his sword. “I only need you alive.” He said to Jesse coldly. “The dog and the heretic will both die then.” He turned to swing down at Aegis but Jesse swung his left arm, catching Kaelan in the back of the head with his AI module. This caused him to stumble.

  Kaelan slashed towards Jesse this time, who jumped back. Lightning fast Kaelan turned back to strike at Aegis but was again hit by a bolt of lightning. He dropped to the ground convulsing, as did Aegis. Tormund emerged from the bushes and shot another blast of lightning into the soldier.

  Jesse kicked Kaelan in the side of the head with all his strength. He did it a second time for good measure, hoping that the soldiers magically enhanced body would prevent permanent damage. Tormund, who looked a little pale and sweaty, slammed his club into the breastplate, denting it inward. Finally the soldier stopped fighting. He lay limp. Jesse checked and he still had a strong pulse and was breathing. Jesse took out the wire he had used earlier and used it to bind Kaelan's hands behind his back.

  “We need to kill him now.” Tormund said, puffing for air.

  “No.” Jesse responded.

  “Tactically it may be necessary to kill him.” Golem added from Jesse’s wrist.

  “He is a clear threat to us.” Tormund said. “He is relentless. He needs to die or he will just keep chasing us.”

  “I can’t do it.” Jesse said softly. “I can’t be responsible for the loss of more life.”

  “The machine down there wasn’t alive.” Tormund told him.

  “That’s not what I meant. Back in my world…” Jesse trailed off, not wanting to think about it. “I didn’t mean to but it was my fault. I can’t do it again.”

  “It was not your fault.” Golem said aloud. “The destruction of your home, the death of Amanda, these were caused by the actions of VP Bradford.”

  “I helped design the gate. I caused this, at least in large part. Maybe I needed to push for more safety precautions. Bradford may have pulled the trigger but I built the gun.” Jesse shot back, anger and self loathing boiling up in his chest.

  “The designs were reviewed and approved by multiple other individuals. The blame is shared. Bradford activated the gate prematurely.” Golem said.

  Jesse just shook his head. “No. We are done discussing it. We leave him here, tied up and alive. If he dies out here to something else then that’s his fault for following us. It will delay him long enough that we will be hard to track.”

  “Fine. There will be a price for this though. He will keep following us. This isn’t the first time we’ve spared him. If he had any decency he would have recognized your mercy and stopped.” Tormund said, scowling. He still looked pale.

  “We need to go.” Jesse said.

  “I don’t recognize this area.” Tormund said. “The door said we would end up near Drak’Mor though. Maybe the ruins aren’t right next to the town but some distance away.”

  “Golem?” Jesse asked.

  “I do not have a map of the area and there is no GPS. We will have to manually map the region. There is water to the north however.” The AI responded.

  “If we follow the water then we will eventually find civilization. That’s our best bet I would say.” Jesse stated, walking in the direction indicated.

  “That portal.” Tormund said as they walked. “It would be a huge boon to the resistance. Or anyone who could control the hub and get the crystals.”

  “Yeah but there might be more defenses down there.” Jesse countered. “And the spiders.”

  “I’m sure the resistance has the manpower to kill them.” Tormund shrugged. “We need to give them the information.”

  “We should trade it for assistance in getting to the Archons prison. For finding Rebecca.” Jesse said.

  In front of them vines writhed and pulled away from the path. “What the hell?” Jesse asked.

  “I don’t know.” Tormund said. “Maybe we should hurry along. These woods are starting to give me the creeps.”

  “Isn’t there a magic that can tell us which way to go?” Jesse asked as he picked up the pace.

  “Yes but I don’t know it. I’m an elemental focus remember?” Tormund said, panting at the pace they set.

  “Uh are you alright there?” Jesse asked.

  “Yeah, I just. Well I, uh, used too much essence. When using the lightning on the soldier.” Tormund responded.

  “What? What’s that mean exactly?” Jesse asked.

  “It means I drew from my life essence a little bit. Any essence user can do it if they burn the essence beyond what they should. I need to absorb some more and i'll feel much better. Killing the soldier would have taken care of that actually.” Tormund responded.

  “We will find something else for you.” Jesse said. “Hopefully not a person though.” Were the trees moving more than normal? The wind wasn’t that strong. Beside him Aegis let out a bark. They kept moving.

  Finally they made it to the river, which butt against the forest. “Well I guess we just pick a direction.” Jesse said, choosing east. As they walked Jesse couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. The forest grew eerily still. A few times Jesse thought he caught a glimpse of glowing yellow eyes but every time he looked they were gone. In the deafening silence, their footsteps crunching on the gravely shore, the trio continued down the riverbank.