A petrified forest. Here in the middle of the empty landscape. Dead, calcified trees bending under their own weight, branches fused in a mesh under which the dusk barely pierced.
A petrified forest where there should be nothing.
I let the two hulls of the Parao crash into it and break a path for itself. With featherweight, the ship could have glided over it. But featherweight had ran out.
The trees cracked and crumbled on contact, akin to salt.
Even the ship's sails were starting to weaken. Time to fold them. Slowly, the vessel lost speed, until it stopped completely.
All around me dead rocky trees remained silent. If any monster resided here, they would not show themselves. A source of mana should have them excited. They were nowhere to be seen.
I jumped off.
My clay feet met the dry surface where stone leaves started to rise, small and confused, breaking off the moment they gained a finger of height. A brittle ground and sharp that cracked when I walked on it.
Just a touch of my hand on the closest tree made the stone recede a bit to etch what had been the vague shape of bark.
Okay! Basically a mirage!
Even though I could only perceive vibrations from what, two dozen meters away? All so far had told me that this place was empty. Just an ebb in the flow of magic that would eventually vanish.
Perfect for me.
I had a human to... something.
Back to the ship, up the nets and then down the lower deck. The cursed summoning circles glowed faintly in that wooden space. The smaller one, for the caster, was only a few steps away.
And underneath, hidden by the floorboards, slumbered the meters wide glyphs this ship relied on.
First order of business: erasing all the erratic writing on the wooden walls. I had, maybe, let old habits get the better of me. A human really didn't need to see any of that.
Once that was done, I adorned the pieces of armor I had completed.
By now I had a whole stand for it, but still the armor was not complete. The silver plates shined at my approach. Heavy iron underneath. Then clay. I attached them to my body one by one.
I had only forged one arm, the torso and one leg so far.
I was working on the helmet. For now, my old badger mask would do.
And for the rest, I had prepared a toga that would cover the ugliness of clay to the eyes of humans. Silk and gold embroidery to please their sight. Maybe I should turn the fabric into a sleeve? Maybe a glove?
No, this would do.
As long as I kept my arm covered, humans would be easy to... assuage.
What was left to do? Nothing! I forced myself up on the caster's circle, watched it almost turn alit at my presence. With my armored arm I held my necklace for just a moment, as a form of prayer.
Ah! A golem, praying to a necklace, just before turning to its masters for help.
And the way to get help was to beg and plead.
So, I started. Impassionately. I made my case, I cooed, I screamed, I called, I asked, I declaimed and harassed and nobody answered.
Oh, they were there. Over the bigger circle, there was an abundance of small lights, flickers buzzing and hovering! Dozens of them that came and went and with them a maelstrom of voices.
"Go away!"
"This is stupid."
"You know nothing..."
"I am really losing it!"
Humans! As many as one could wish, masters of the realm that my unholy presence annoyed. Dared I say? Irked! All powerful beings had no time for a wasteland.
An hour, two hours, four, seven, for twenty hours straight I would keep at it. I was a clay golem! What was thirst, what was sleep? Why would I skip even a second of the privilege I had to be heckled by my masters?
"Another scam..."
"Make it stop already!"
"What's wrong with this arm?"
I stepped back and stopped when I realized that, in my zeal, I had forgot to hide it. The words were burning on my clay limb.
The wooden deck returned to silence, the last specks lasting a bit before fading.
Stupid arm!
I pulled on it then threw it away and stood there, reeling. Fine! The ugly arm was gone! Now come back and talk to me! Masters! The ugliness is gone!
One step forward before my body fell. The throbbing was tolerable, the shoulder was cast and yet I struggled to move. My remaining hand was instead holding that ugly, faceless ant head of mine where the voices kept echoing endlessly.
Who cared? Not me. Just a bit of rest, just a bit, and I would be back at it.
I was back at it again.
I had heard my own pleas so many times that my own voice was not even registering for me. Even though it blasted against the walls and ceiling, too loud, too weak, too assertive or too servile, all the vibrations I felt were that of the humans.
Another sixteen hours wasted.
The light! Had it been a factor? Ever? Maybe the humans hated the lighting here! With that excuse to pause the summoning I went to work. Candles and candlesticks. There was was left in the reserve. It would be beautiful!
Ah. Glass. The ship really didn't need a fire.
Gold! On the walls! And paint with it to make it more appealing! Oh, this would be the most appealing cargo bay this realm had ever seen!
And with that, I went at it again.
Look at the lights, look at my body! A hundred of them had assembled to see their loyal servant dance and sing! I pressed, I appealed, I chose my words or let the passion run free! Listen humans! The realm is in danger!
No, the realm was dead.
At my silence the voices slowly receded. The bay plunged in that faint hue again, after the central circle went quiet.
Ah. There was an arm on the ground.
Could not have that. What would a human think if they came?
Should I burn it?
The wood was cracking all around me. With wasted time came the mana drought. Each hour degraded the ship. It had massive reserves of oil in its hulls but there was no fighting entropy.
"Eh." I whispered while slumped against the curved wall. "Come die for the realm."
And then I slammed my head against the wall until my mask fell.
"Just lie! Lie already! What is wrong with me?! Lying is human nature, lying is what they want, they instructed that in me! So just tell them what they want to hear!"
The next session went just as well. I cut it short to work on the armor. Yes. If I worked on the armor, maybe, that would help. Somehow.
I had more time than I thought. Outside the petrified forest had not waned. The Parao's hulls were now empty. No oil to burn. No reserve. But though all the runes were gone and the entire structure creaked, only the masts so far had really suffered.
The whole rigging was breaking down. Poles crashing on the deck, one rolling overboard where, on meeting the ground, it had turned to stone.
So things were holding. Things were fine.
Also there was the monster.
"Are you okay?" It asked while approaching sheepishly. "You look tired."
I looked nothing. I was a clay golem. I just had my hand still on my hand, that was all.
That beast did not even mean the words it pronounced.
Rapts. Back when the world had magic and humans reigned uncontested, those fluffy worms were living mana reserves. A mobile bag of magic for the masters.
That was why their body was designed to look cute to humans. That was why they would lend magic so blindly. For the longest time that had been their strategy to thrive under the humans' rule.
And when the mana drain hit, they were so used to be deprived of it that they became the dominant species. Passive husks lingering everywhere, as good as fruits for other beasts, enduring years where others had hours to live.
This one was simply following its instinct. Its fluffy fur, its round mimicry of a head, its small legs all sought to please and make it look harmless.
The day mana was done flowing, when all would stand still they would be among the last left.
"Don't go back down!" It whined. "It's scary and loud!"
I closed the hatch behind me.
A bit of melting. A bit of runemaking. Hard to tell if the runes worked with how little mana was around, but the patterns looked right. I finished reforging the iron cast, salted it once more then let the plate sizzle on the furnace.
The furnace could not heat up enough to keep working. Great.
Back to getting yelled at by voices!
"Why is this happening..."
"Who asked you?!"
"I must keep going..."
Sometimes a light would approach, just somewhat closer than others, get my hopes up then retreat. I could not tell what I was doing wrong. Maybe I was doing nothing wrong. Maybe there was nothing to be done but keep trying.
Ten hours and counting.
"Is this scorn? Is this contempt?" I had started to complain. "Are you so upset at our existence?! What kind of luxury do you live in, what kind of magnificence you enjoy, what kind of peace! For you to get angry at a plea!"
Before me the human presences faded one by one, rapidly, just a few dozens febrile.
"Since you left all we have is monsters and ruins! Do you not long to return? To reclaim your place? Is the land you found to rest so divine?!"
Those dozens buzzed mad, their answers indecipherable. "I must keep at it..." And: "There is always tomorrow..." And: "Why even bother!" I had long realized that their words were disconnected from mine.
They probably didn't hear me at all.
"I have nothing to offer you! Nothing but death and misery! That is all we have left here! That is all you left us! You are the ones meant to bring hope!" And I fell to my knees. Again. "You are humans! You are the ones who do miracles! I am asking for a miracle! I am asking for many miracles!"
And I shouted: "So come and make miracles happen again!"
"Hang in there..." Derided one. "You come here." Groaned another.
"Can I?" Chimed a voice among them.
It was a faint, exhausted voice. Almost trembling to a breaking point. Those voices, I would never figure out why, were the most promising.
"You can! You are human! You can defy the realm!"
It approached. It was getting louder. "How long as it been?" The voice hesitated.
"This is a deadly realm, it will try and kill you!" I couldn't help myself. "And no matter what I try, I can't promise I can protect you! You have to do it! You have to save us!"
"No!" The voice recoiled, nearly fainted.
Then came back, erratic. "Not again, never again..."
"You are a human! You can save the realm!"
What hollow words, but the voice was so close, almost touching my armored, glimmering hand.
"Anywhere else..."
By the time I had realized that it was happening, I was already too late. Mana surged in, crashed on the walls, crashed past the walls in a tidal wave. I fell back against nothing, blinded and crushed. The weight of a realm pressing me on all sides, suffocating.
I was recovering, I was searching for the human silhouette. They were there, right? Right?!
She was there. A lady in pajamas, pillow still held behind her head, looking around the bright wooden space. Brown hair tied in a bun. A long nose, teal eyes dug by dark circles. Sunken cheeks on a tanned skin. Approaching her thirties overall.
Her gaze passed over me, came back and stopped.
She burst: "Yes! Yes! In your face, gods! I win!"