Part 1

At one of the underground area, near the place where the Oracle resided, there was a room that was used for the excavation team whenever a meeting was held.

The boss of the team and the Oracle were currently in the room. With them were three clueless individuals; One was a golem, the other was supposed to be the vice boss and the last one was a muscular man.

“So… let me get this right.” Amir scratched his head as he stared at the golem who was sitting leisurely near the Oracle.

“You want us to travel as guards for Ali, and the destination is to the north?” Amir repeated the words of his superior.

“That’s right,” Saleh replied whilst simultaneously looking at the ancient scripts on his desk.

“Why the north? Wasn’t he from the south?” Amir curiously asked wanting to know more about the mission.

Taking off his glasses Saleh looked at his friend and then towards the Oracle who had noticed his gaze. After seeing her nod of approval he started to tell his friend the situation.

“Ali here is a very peculiar golem.” Saleh began explaining, “From my understanding, he could help us in our search. However, the problem lies with his memory and I believe the northern team might have the solution for that.”

The Oracle interrupted him as she explained another matter, “It seems that somehow or another this golem was able to initiate a contract with the time imp.”

“And because of that contract, I assume that the price could be his memories.” The Oracle gave a slight pat to Ali’s head. “Frankly I don’t think it’s even possible to destroy the contract, but Saleh here believes we need to at least try.”

Amir tried to process all the information but he was too shocked at the moment. “A golem initiating a contract with those imps? Is that even possible?”

“Most golems could be described as a simple-minded being who obeys the commands of their golem meister.” Saleh explained, “But if that were the only case then we wouldn’t have considered them as our brothers and instead we would see them more like a slave bounded by contract.”

Amir contemplated for a while as he agreed to what his friend said. “So there must have been golems that had a will of its own… wait a minute could it be?”

“Correct.” Saleh looked towards Ali and continued his explanation. “Though rare they were the ones that had saved our race during the apocalypse. They were the key to have saved us from the Devourer.”

Amir and Kasem were completely surprised by the news, they look towards their friends with new found respect but what was given to them was the appearance of Ali who was nodding off as he tried his best to stay awake.

S-surely this was not our savior… right? As much as they tried to imagine, both Amir and Kasem could not picture Ali as their hero.

“W-wait didn’t they say that the guardian golems all died out?” Amir couldn’t help but felt dubious.

“Well, I am still not sure if Ali is one of them but the possibility is there,” Saleh replied. “I believe that with careful analyzation at the north we could finally get something out of our excavation this year.”

“I still don’t like the idea of sending him north.” The Oracle responded. “There must have been a purpose as to why he had to make a deal with the time imp.”

Saleh couldn’t help but feel a headache. “Don’t go sentimental on me Jasmine. This is logically the best possible solution for all of us.”

Amir and Kasem never got to know the Oracle’s name, this was due to how secretive most Oracle acted. Knowing their boss was letting them in on her secret was quite surprising, especially for Amir; he never knew that the boss he was friends with for a very long time had some history with the Oracle.

Jasmine glared at Saleh as she could not refute his statement. Shifting her sights towards the two who had heard her name she coldly stared at them as if to tell them that they had better keep what they heard a secret.

Seeing the fierce stare from the Oracle the two nodded quickly in order to appease her.

After seeing that the two understood Jasmine looked towards Ali whilst giving out a sigh of defeat. “You two better take care of him during your journey.”

“Understood lady Oracle!” The two spoke out in unison.

Seeing the tense look of his friend, Saleh couldn’t help but find it amusing before proceeding to continue reading his ancient scripts again.

“You guys leave tomorrow night, I have already asked our supply team to prepare for your journey. You better rest for now and get ready for tomorrow.” Saleh spoke out uninterested in continuing with anymore conversation.

Part 2

After a day passed it was already the time for Ali’s departure with Amir and Kasem, as the three of them headed towards the surface in the early night.

Riding on the kremols, which were an onyx-like creature that was commonly used for traveling and transport in Nezkaria, the party began their journey to the north without much farewell.

“You’ve been quite weird with us lately Ali,” Kasem spoke out after noticing his silent friend who had not been conversing with them for a while.

Ali looked towards Kasem and made a frown on his face. “Not weird!” pausing for a bit he tried to explain how he felt. “You guys… are weird…”

Not understanding what the golem meant the two ignored his passing comment thinking it was nothing big.

Knowing that they hadn’t understood him, Ali could only mutter to himself trying to figure out his feelings. “Strange… they are strange…”

“We’ll try to reach a cave before sunlight. We’ll stay there till the next night, is that fine for you?” Amir looked towards Kasem to ask if there was anything else he wanted to add.

“I’m fine with that,” Kasem replied before asking a question of his own. “Which cave do you plan to go to?”

Thinking for a while Amir looked towards the empty desert. “Let’s go with the route close to the center so we’ll head over to cave no. 63.”

“That’s quite close to that desolate region…” Kasem spoke out as he remembered the rumor he heard from Amir. “Didn’t you tell me that there was some bizarre weather there?”

“Yeah, I wanted to check it out.” Amir nodded as he looked towards his doubtful friend. “Come on lets adventure for a bit, we’re only brushing past the outside of the deserted region.”

“Besides don’t you want to see the rare sight of rain in the empty region?”

Kasem looked uninterested from his words but agreed to it for the sake of pleasing his friend.

“Well better hold on tight to your kremol Ali because we’re going to be traveling faster now,” Amir spoke out towards the back.

Ali who was busy staring at the night sky suddenly got jolted by the sudden increase in pace from his kremol. Quickly trying to regain his balance he couldn’t help but cry out loudly.

Hearing his cries the two men came quickly to his aid as they wore a concerned face towards him.

“Are you okay Ali?”

Though they were concerned for his well-being, Ali couldn’t help but feel somewhat strange from the kindness of the two.

As they helped him take a more comfortable position Ali started to think about what was it was that was bothering him.

Part 3

Several nights had passed after the start of their journey, yet they were still only halfway to their destination.

Currently, at a cave near the center of the Nezkarian desert at the outskirt of the region known as the lonely area, the three travelers were looking outside of their caves towards the skies.

“I guess you are right. It is quite a rare sight.” Kasem couldn’t help but whistle as he looked at the dense cloud gathering above.

“Let’s go outside!” Amir suggested. “It’s daytime but it’s quite dark outside because of those clouds. Isn’t it the best time to just relax?”

“The weather is nice and cool.” Kasem looked towards his friend who was already moving his round body outside. “He really does like the rain.”

Before going outside he noticed that Ali had already gone ahead as the golem excitedly ran outside waiting for the rain.

“Ali, are you that eager to see the rain?” Kasem shouted as he got out.

Turning his view from the clouds to the muscular man Ali gave his reply. “The rain makes me super strong.”

“S-strong…?” Amir and Kasem responded exactly the same way.

“Ah! You mean your body becomes more solidified since the sand will get stuck together.” Amir guessed as he observed Ali’s body.

“Yeah! Everyone… makes fun of me for being weak…” Ali reminisced his past. “Golems… are strong and made of rocks… Ali is made mostly of sand.”

Amir and Kasem looked at the depressed golem and could not help but feel intrigued by how expressive he was.

“Now that you mention it, you are quite different to most golems that I’m used to seeing,” Amir replied. “But it’s okay to be different Ali, you’re quite a special one anyways.”

Hearing Amir’s words Ali couldn’t help but frown. “I’m… not special…”

However, the loud wind covered what Ali said as the rain began to trickle down to the ground.

“Oooh! Rain!” Amir danced as he felt the rain touched his skin.

“Ahhh! It sure feels great!” Kasem commented.

Bathing on the drizzle of the rain the three was able to relax their mind and wholly focus themselves to the peaceful rain. The three were so immersed that they did not notice a group of people charging at them.

“Here comes the thunder!” A crude and violent voice came as laughter followed behind the voice.

Sensing the danger Kasem was the first to quickly react as he pushed his friend Amir down to the ground with him.

“What the…” Amir puzzled by the sudden voice as well as being driven to the ground could only look around to check what was going on.

“Bandits!” He glared at the man who had attempted to slice off his head with a scimitar.

Ali, who was unfortunately unable to react, was puzzled by why his lower body was upside down until he realized that he had been sliced in half by the men that ambushed them.

Five brutish looking men were each riding a kremol and each of them began to position themselves in a circle to surround the three.

Sensing their hostility Amir and Kasem took out their weapon as they position themselves to cover each other’s back.

“Look, Look, Look. A couple of Azedians going outside in the day!” With a smirk, the brawny one condescendingly looked at the two as if seeing looking at a bug.

The malice from the enemy was open but the anger from Amir and Kasem was also there, as they looked bitterly at them.

“Told you guys that the Azedians would try to come here.” One of the thinner guys spoke out to the others with a look of delight.

“More importantly look at that!” The smallest one quickly pointed at Ali who was putting himself back together.

“A golem, now that’s a treat.” The brawny one who seemed to be the leader of the group smiled with joy as he realized what they had found. “The nobles will surely pay a ton for that.”

Whilst the group were carefree of the situation the time wasted by them were being used efficiently by both Kasem and Amir. As Amir had already started to chant a spell.

With suspicion in his eyes, the fattest one out of the group realized what Amir was doing. “Yakhi! That guy is a mage!”

However, it was too late as Amir sent out a wave of light that burst forth in a circular arc around him blinding the five.

Having succeeded with their distraction Amir whistled as loud as he can and the three kremols that were resting near the cave started to move quickly towards them.

Cutting his way through Kasem swung his sword towards the thin man in front of him killing him quickly before he could even see again.

Hearing the death cry of his rider the kremol started to screech in fear. With panic the kremol of the dead man started to get out of control as it charged forward, still blind, crashing towards the smallest of the group.

Fearing what was happening as he heard the cries of a kremol getting closer to him, the small man aimlessly swung his scimitar in front of him hoping to defend himself from any attack. Unfortunately for him, it had cut the charging kremol making it more scared as it frenziedly started to attack the small man’s kremol.

Having escaped the encirclement Amir quickly shouted towards the golem, “Ali! Come here! Get on the kremol!”

Having fixed his body Ali quickly trudged towards his kremol and slowly got on after being helped by Amir.

Whilst helping Ali out, Amir could hear that the leader of the group and the two remaining members were already coming towards them.

“Hurry Amir!” Kasem shouted as he dragged his friend’s kremol towards him.

As quick as he can Amir quickly took to his kremol and the three rushed out to escape, but following them closely were the three bandits.

“Damn those black-eyed bastards.” The small man who had trouble with his dead friend’s kremol had already killed it after he had regained his sight.

Looking at his group already chasing their prey he quickly followed behind them.

“Tch, those white-eyed boors are still following us Amir! Should we fight?” Kasem looked behind his back. “I’m certain I can take down two of them myself.”

“No Kasem! It’s about to rain really hard its best if we use the weather to escape.” Amir looked up at the sky which was looking as dark as night. As they moved along the desert he could feel the rain gradually getting stronger.

Maintaining a good distance between their enemies time slowly passed but eventually, it bore fruit for Amir and Kasem as the heavy rain came disrupting the vision for the ones chasing.

“Blast it! I can’t see those little shits!” The leader shouted as he tried to control his kremol who was finding it difficult to traverse through the wet sand.

“Should we split boss?” the fat one asked.

Irritated by the result the boss could only try his best to look for the escapees but as time passed the rain grew stronger.

“Return to the cave! We can’t catch them.” He shouted his orders as they started to ride back to the cave they were at.

On the other side, Amir and Kasem felt glad by the result as they looked back behind them. Unlike the bandits the two of them had better vision when it comes to the dark and difficult to look environments.

“We better go to the next cave before the rain ends, else daylight will burn us,” Amir shouted out loud towards Kasem.

Waiting for a response Amir couldn’t help but look towards his companion. He thought that Kasem wasn’t able to hear from the sound of the heavy rain so he tried to repeat what he said but before he could he was interrupted by the sudden panic voice of his friend.

“Ali’s gone!”