Marin's fear grew as the realization set in that the golem had indeed been activated, and was just standing dormant, awaiting instruction to wake up. That, or the case of a life threatening attack. Marin had made a wrong assessment, but regardless, the golem had to be disassembled. Had he known the truth though, he would have better prepared.

  Instead, it was just him and Loid who had the task of taking it down. The stony figure had roared to life after Marin's attack, and began swinging its arms in a wild fashion at its new found enemies. The strength of a properly built stone golem at this size was nothing to underestimate. A single swing from its arms could easily punch a hole in a fortified building.

  "Get it away from the castle!" Was the first command out of Marin's mouth, his concern for the kingdom's well being was the most important thing to him.

  Marin and Loid ran backwards, and to his satisfaction, the golem took the bait and followed away from the walls behind it. At being attacked, the golem was rightfully angry, and looked to destroy the two in front of it.

  All Marin could wonder was how this thing had been assembled under his nose this entire time. He was so busy with castle affairs these days that he no longer had time to wander the castle like he used to. He had counted on his guards to catch something like this. How unfortunate that they failed to do so.

  Facing a grave danger such as a golem was definitely not something Marin anticipated he would spend the evening doing. Even when he discovered the thing, Marin was fairly positive that it had not been activated yet. Now here he was, brainstorming the quickest way he could neutralize this very apparently active golem.

  Loid would have dispersed ahead to increase the distance from the monster, but he knew there was a better chance that the golem would keep chasing them if both were there. It became necessary though, as the golem's movement speed began to surpass a normal man's capabilities. Marin used Kinetic Ice, and Loid wisped ahead.

  The golem was now a good ways out from the castle. At this point, the two would now have to take the golem down. Marin doubted his ice was strong enough to render the monster immobile, but he gave it a shot as he turned around. Marin held his arms out, and ice formed at the golem's feet.

  It staggered from the sudden ice, but after a small struggle, broke free its rocky appendages.

  Marin cursed. He would have to take more time and focus to create ice hard enough to trap the thing. Time he wouldn't have. There would have to be another method of neutralizing the golem instead.

  The golem roared again, it's white eyes glowing full of life. It was done chasing, and was ready to crush.

  "What do we do?!" Loid demanded, not in anyway prepared to handle the danger before him. While not as big as the golem he saw in the wars years ago, the half size of this current one could still kill anyone from a single swing.

  "I need you to keep it distracted. I'm not strong enough to freeze it. I need time to launch another ice lance into its chest!" Marin answered.

  The golem swung its arm at Marin, who in time veered himself out of the way with the moving ice beneath his feet.

  The golem was not happy it missed. It made an attempt for Loid next.

  "Easier said than done," Loid dreadfully spoke, trying to figure out if his capabilities would be enough for the task.

  The golem went for a hammer arm at the shadow elemental, but Loid dispersed, and reappeared beside it. He began creating dark smoke out of his hands, aiming the smokescreen at its white eyes.

  Marin ran backwards a bit, and began working on a new ice lance.

  The golem was blinded, but that didn't stop it from still swinging its arms like a madman. Even with it not being able to see its target, one lucky swing could kill Loid as he concentrated.

  Realizing this, Loid eventually lunged backwards as he thought of some new tactics he could try.

  Before the smoke in the golem's face had completely cleared, Loid shot shadowy tendrils from his body to further keep the stone figure busy. It was quite obvious that the strength in the monster could easily rip the tendrils away, but if it bought Marin time, it was all worth it.

  Marin wasted not a single second. He was already growing a new ice lance, and was stretching the power plane that it came from behind it. He worked diligently, and hoped that the time Loid was buying him would be just enough for him to pull the attack off.

  The golem was angered with the tendrils, especially those dancing in front of its face. After a moment of realizing that the relentless tendrils would not give heed, it began to ignore them and went for Loid again.

  Loid had hoped it was stupid enough to be fascinated by the gripping strands of shadow, but unfortunately, the golem had a higher priority of destroying their creator.

  The golem roared again, growing tired of the constant stunts. It moved forward, the shadow wrapped around it not slowing it down in any sense. It swung at Loid again, but the former captain of Neo was able to disperse in time, narrowly avoiding his death.

  The golem was not unaware of its failure. Each time its target mysteriously disappeared, it only got more angry. Loid would reappear, only to just barely dodge another attack.

  Loid began to wonder how long he would have to dance with the towering stone figure until Marin was done. He had half a mind to yell out at Marin, but knew that Marin was already focusing as hard as he could, working with great speed to finish the attack.

  It wasn't missed by Marin that every extra second he needed posed a great risk to Loid's life. One mistake in dodging the monster's attacks would result in serious injury, or his death. Marin barely peered over for a second just to see the golem swinging, smashing, and punching a version of Loid that faded in and out of solid matter.

  Marin wasn't entirely familiar with the inner workings of the other elements, but he was pretty sure a shadow elemental could only continue that skill for so long before brain fatigue would set in. Either that, or the power plane would begin to deny such constant requests for a shift in one's material makeup.

  One of the two would happen first, and soon, if he didn't finish in time. Finally at the right size and toughness, what Marin only had left to do was build enough momentum to truly finish off the monster in one shot.

  "Almost done!" Marin yelled out, hoping it would bring some comfort to Loid, if any at all.

  Loid heard, but didn't respond. The fight required all his concentration, and he feared that if he couldn't keep the golem properly distracted, it would soon grow tired of Loid and attempt to make a move for Marin instead.

  Meanwhile, the guards who kept watch over the hinterlands had absolutely noticed the stone monster chasing the King and his right hand man. At the sight, they immediately left their post, and headed back into the castle to get help.

  A situation such as this was to be called 'code blue', according to Eisen. It had been established earlier that if a dire situation arose where the life of one was in danger beyond the capabilities of the kingdom's guard, Doctor Eisen was to be rushed to the scene.

  As all the guard had been notified of this scenario, the guard who witnessed the situation in the back knew exactly where to go and who to talk to.

  "MAKE WAY! EMERGENCY!" The guard yelled at the top of his lungs to anyone who might get in his way. He sprinted down the halls, and everyone glanced at him as he ran by, some even following pursuit to see if they could help.

  The guard ran down flights of stairs, making perfectly calculated turns in the halls, going directly to the location he had been trained to know of, and could get to from any distance. He ran into the basement, passing the front room without pressing the buzzer, and into Eisen's ward.

  "CODE BLUE!" The guard yelled as he entered the large basement.

  Eisen wasn't in the immediate area. There was a shuffling in a room further back, the noise of items falling to the floor.

  He took him a moment, an especially long one considering the urgency, but finally Doctor Eisen produced himself, dusting off his lab coat.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Oh jeez, where?" He said, frustrated with the interruption, but understanding that it was an emergency.

  "The back of the castle! In the hinterlands! The King!" The guard huffed out.

  "Well lead on soldier! Let's go!"

  Back out in the fight, Marin had finally prepared his attack. While the time it took lasted more or less a minute to get ready, that same amount of time felt like an hour to Loid.

  The ice lance was quivering with the amount of energy it held back, ready to get shot at a moment's notice.

  It was met at the perfect time as well, as Loid's ability to disperse was waning quickly. At Marin's notification that the attack was ready, Loid finally disengaged with the rock giant, and started backing off.

  He could barely disperse anymore, and hadn't enough energy to do much else than run from his foe. The golem at the sight of his retreat let out a new roar that he would not be so easily dismissed.

  However, with Loid safely making distance from the golem, and the fact that the large monster was entirely distracted with the shadow elemental, it allowed Marin to launch his attack without it being countered.

  Marin didn't have to spend much time in accounting for a decent aim. Even after the ice lance was launched, he could subtly guide it with his mind to home in directly to its chest.

  The time was now, just before the golem rocketed forward to pursue Loid, Marin released the mental grip on the ice lance, and it shot forward, a speed just as incredible as the first one, and before the golem could even take note of the situation, the ice lance collided with him.

  Under normal circumstances, a stone golem is tougher than ice. A hastily made ice bolt would not do much more than shatter upon meeting its body. However, Marin had spent a considerable amount of time increasing the toughness of the ice to that of diamond. In this case, his carefully created ice lance would not be the one shattering in this situation.

  The ice lance collided, and split the chest of the stone golem to pieces. At the loss of its center structure, the golem could do nothing more than fall apart and collapse. Being reduced to a pile of rubble from its humanoid form, the white glow in its eyes slowly faded out.

  It was done. Loid was bent over, hands on knees, panting from the exertion. Great relief overcame both of them, especially Marin, who was overjoyed he hadn't lost the life of his dear friend.

  Marin slowly walked up to him. While he couldn't experience physical fatigue like Loid was, he still understood the pressure he had gone through.

  "Fine job you did, distracting him for that long. I couldn't even begin to tell you how worried I was that I wouldn't get the attack prepared in time," Marin stated, placing his hand on Loid's back.

  Loid stood straight up, recomposing himself. "I had it all under control. It will take more than that to defeat a former Neo captain. I will say though, I never thought I'd be able to say that I battled a stone golem and lived to tell about it," he said through deep breaths.

  They both stared down the pile of rocks that used to be a life threatening danger. The head, arms, and hands were still recognizable in the rubble.

  "...I thought you said it hadn't been activated yet," Loid finally spoke, a statement that Marin knew would come sooner or later.

  Marin nodded in response. "I failed to mention that I was not entirely sure of it. Can't say I'm an expert in the realm of golems. Just what I had learned years ago at Arkana."

  Before another word was spoken, they both looked up at the hearing of feet stomping in the snow. Doctor Eisen was running over to them with a handful of guards.

  "What's going on out here?" He yelled, finally catching up to them.

  "Ah, Doctor Eisen," Marin greeted. "I assume the guards notified you of a code blue?"

  "Indeed they did! Now where's the blue? It's freezing out here!" Eisen said, now feeling annoyed after seeing that Marin and Loid looked perfectly fine, standing near a pile of rocks.

  "I'm afraid you're a bit late, Loid and I have already taken care of the situation."

  "And what situation would that be?" The doctor pressed.

  Marin fell silent for a moment. There was a long pause.

  Finally he spoke out, with a certain idea in mind.

  "Who were the guards who reported the emergency?" Marin asked, shifting the topic.

  Two of them raised their hands.

  "And have you spoken of what you had seen?"

  Thankfully they replied negatively.

  "Very good. All else of you, please leave. The situation is clear," Marin said to the handful of other guards who hadn't been on watch over the back.

  "What's the meaning of this?" Eisen asked.

  "Have patience, doctor," Marin replied.

  Once the other guards were gone, it was just Marin, Loid, Doctor Eisen, and the two original guards who witnessed the living rock figure.

  "Listen to me closely," he began at the two guards. "Whatever you saw, you are not to speak of it to anyone. This is an order from your King, do you understand?"

  At the dead serious tone of King Marin, a tone he did not use very often, both guards rapidly nodded. The mysterious masked king was already an intimidating figure, but such a bold and serious command met them with fear. They dared not disobey, even risking it in secrecy, for fear of the King's wrath.

  "I understand what you saw would be means for alarm throughout the castle, but I can assure you, the situation is under control, and I do not need the Kingdom citizens to become restless. Go now, and due to your help earlier and future compliance, I will make sure you're both justly rewarded."

  "Thank you, King Marin," one spoke. The other nodded.

  They left as well, leaving just the three around the pile of stone.

  Eisen watched the two final guards leave, and once they were out of ear's range, he turned around back at Marin.

  "Now are you going to tell me what's going on?" He asked again.

  "Study this pile of rocks for a second, and tell me your thoughts on it," Marin asked.

  Eisen grunted, but then looked down at them, adjusting his glasses. His look of annoyance slowly evolved as his eyes darted around, studying the detailed features of the stone. He became wide eyed, his demeanor of inconvenience replaced with one of wonder.

  "...It can't be…" He uttered.

  "It was indeed, Doctor. And it attacked us. Loid and I had destroyed it just before you arrived," Marin replied.

  Eisen crouched down and studied the head of the golem. "And who's responsible for this?" He asked.

  "I have a decent idea," Loid grumbled. "But Sullivan won't allow me to confront them."

  "In time, Loid. We're not going to let this event disrupt our composure over the situation," Marin calmly said.

  "Ah, so we have a suspect." Eisen stood back up, and kicked a rock to the side, halfway expecting the other rocks to react. "And you're waiting him out."

  "Something to that degree. Although if we don't get some solid evidence soon, I might make a move to do so," Marin decided.

  "You're lucky this thing didn't kill you. Where was it? Where did it come from?" Eisen pressed.

  Marin told the entire story of what had happened earlier. He even walked the doctor over to where they had first found the dormant golem. By the time he was finished, the sun had set, and dusk had crept over the mountains.

  "Hm. Let's head back inside. Interesting, though." Eisen walked with Marin and Loid back into the castle.

  "It must have taken the creator weeks to build it with no one noticing. They'd have to slip out every other day or so, and take a few hours to assemble it. Then there's the actual task of activating it. Not something a novice earth elemental could do," Eisen added.

  That filled Loid with more paranoia. If Rocko was indeed this same earth elemental they spoke about, he was a well-versed one. That was incredibly hard to believe, however. It almost made him think that perhaps Rocko was not the prime suspect they thought he was. Could he truly be hiding all that power and intellect? Probably not.

  "Honestly, I'm surprised none of our guards ever noticed it. Or if they did, they did not find it suspicious and report it," Loid stated.

  Marin found that disappointing.

  "Loid, would take some time later on to talk with Max and discover if rounds are ever made along the back walls of the castle? And if so, if any of the guards had ever noticed it? I'm interested in finding that out," Marin requested.

  "Of course."

  Marin thought for a moment. They had first discovered an earth elemental was among them when he found Rocko's wall reformed. It wasn't so much an issue since it was not a dangerous action. This golem, however, was more sinister in nature. Marin doubted that it had been built as a guardian, a gift to him at some point when the elemental revealed themselves.

  No, the earth elemental was planning something. That golem was likely going to be used in an attack. Marin had disrupted their plan, but his desire to find the elemental now became more serious than before.

  If mail did not arrive for Rocko soon, Marin would have to start making plans to bait the earth elemental out of hiding, whether that was Rocko or not. The situation was no longer a passive issue, but one that nearly caused death.

  Marin would not let this act go unanswered. Someone would soon pay.