34 loop 1, part 14

The book paused, as if collecting her thoughts. Behind me, I finally noticed my uncle drifting an inch to the left. I hadn’t canceled [Move] because I had passed out the second I’d gotten into the room last night.

He had been following me through every corridor like a lost little puppy. I flicked my wand and dismissed the spell. He fell to the floor with a dull thud that I immediately felt guilty about.

I told myself I’d make him comfortbale later. But for now, I just watched his chest until it moved. Then, I made myself look away as the Keeper finally continued speaking.

“There is, however, a condition on me teaching you the spell.”

“Really? After all the effort I just went through, you want me to put in more work?”

“Yes.”

“In exchange for learning a spell.”

“Yes.”

My uncle was lying on the floor, breathing shallowly, and being no help whatsoever.

“Usually, when someone teaches me a new spell, the only condition is that I show up to class.”

“I am aware of how instruction typically works. But this is not a classroom.”

I shook my head. “So what’s the condition?”

The book lazily drifted in the air, pages fluttering.

“I want a body,” she said.

I waited for more, but nothing else came.

I looked side to side. “That’s it? That’s the only condition?”

“Yes. I want to take a golem vessel. There is a workshop on this floor. I am sure you passed by it.”

I had, but I hadn’t stopped. As much as I’d wanted to. I’d seen the stone workbenches and rows of constructs standing around like they were waiting for someone to give them a job.

“I know the one,” I said. “I saw the mana batteries, too. But everything was empty and unpowered.”

“Well, yes. Instead of batteries, the mana would come from me.”

“And the reason you need me to get this body for you is because you can’t get it yourself,” I said.

“Yes,” she responded.

“And somehow, the golem body gets you across the threshold and out of this room?”

She nodded before adding, “I will also be able to build myself a proper vessel once I have hands again. This golem is but a first step.”

I glanced at my uncle on the floor. His breathing hadn’t changed since we’d returned up here. But I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. While the tether between us still pulsed, faint and steady, it was starting to feel less like a reassurance and more like a countdown.

The idea of my own personal golem army was assembling itself in my head. I couldn’t fight a dragon or save my uncle alone. But with an army of golems, or even just an ancient intelligence inside of one on my side, well. There was a lot I could do with that.

But an annoying voice in the back of my head kept prodding me. It sounded like Finn.

Your uncle has been visiting this room for years, and has never once helped her get a golem body. Why do you think that is?

“Fine,” I said. “I understand why you need my help. But I have a quick question. My uncle has been coming down here for a long time. Correct?”

“Years,” she replied.

“And in all that time, across all those visits, it never came up? The body thing?”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the response.

The pages turned lazily a few times, as if she were collecting her thoughts.

“It came up.”

I waited for her to elaborate.

“We discussed it a few times, he and I.”

I waited again.

“No, truly, he considered it. But he always declined in the end.”

“He just declined to give you a body, leaving you trapped in this book.”

“Yes.”

“Did he ever say why?”

“He said…” She paused precisely in order to mimic my uncle. If she had been a person, I was sure she would have held her fingers in the air quotes pose. “That some doors were better left closed forever.”

I laughed, and then I felt bad. I couldn’t help it. It was such a Corwen thing to say. The man had more ominous non-answers than I had excuses. And I had a lot of those.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Well. Right. Guess I better start getting to that workshop.”

“I’ve already cleared the path for you.”

The wall to my left ground open. Before I left, I cast [Wideview], but despite missing [Subtitle] during my talk with Keeper, I had a feeling I couldn’t afford the mana.

–

A few minutes later, I swept into the golem workshop I had floated past earlier. God, running even on air. What had I been thinking?