Chapter 7.8 - Fitting In

Lift, Move, Drop, Repeat.

This was Sigil's life. Day in and day out, this was the hole he had pidgeoned himself into.

Sigil was a Guardian Gole. As a Guardian class Gole, Sigil's expertise was terramancy, and like his brothers and sisters Sigil could form an earthen body over his own. But in an effort to stand out from his brethren, Sigil had branched off from the normal expectation of forming a golem. While most 'could' make golems, it was not their expertise. Sure they could make small shells they could curl into, making them a little taller than normal humanoids. But their expertise was in fidelity. It was creating a stone body to protect them from the elements. They used their terramancy to work stone into complex shapes and designs, creating architectural wonders. The Guardian Gole were the ones that had taken over the task of building Haven block by block. And while most took this initiative and were happy with it, Sigil was not.

Sigil had focused on might over fidelity, creating a large simple golem that could lift, punch, and run. Because of this, he was able to move stone from the quarry, then from the dungeon, at a rate much faster than entire teams of homunculi or fellow Gole. So that was his niche. And he did grow stronger. But his ability ended there. It seemed that guardians could focus on might or fidelity. Not both. Even at higher levels, those focused on fidelity could create golems with hands but they were still smaller than the golem Sigil could create when he first started using them. Now the Golem he could build was maxed out in size as bigger than a 3 story building in Haven's capital region. It was magnificent in size and strength, but that was its limit.

Although it was strong and powerful, it did not have fidelity. Sigil's golem could not use hands. Instead he could form the end of his arms into wedges to help with lifting. So Sigil had kept increasing in his ability to control more and more stone, but his skillset had been pigeonholed.

But it was a fairly good existence. Sigil wasn't unhappy. He had a mechanist gole wife, several children, a steady income, and job security. On his rare instances of being pulled to active duty with the protectorate, he was invaluable. The last instance being called to quickly rebuild the walls around Ston during its great siege. And while his more nimble brethren excelled at forming stone around the gates, Sigil formed entire walls. He just needed a few of the others to come behind him and 'clean up his work' as it was uneven.

But he felt that his expertise was ending. He had reached the apex of what his skillset allowed. He could always go back and increase his skills to allow for higher fidelity, but he would be hard pressed to do that and keep up with his current workload. It seemed every day more and more stone needed to be moved, and Sigil was one of the few who excelled at moving thousands of kilograms.

Today's task was no different than his others. He was to move stone from the dungeon deposit to the stockyard in the foundry. Shortly after the dungeon opened and it was determined that there was mineable stone inside, it became an easy resource to use as the goods tax, and because of it the quarry was shut down. It was determined that should they keep digging, they might not like what they find. And although the space was relatively large and heavy for its value, those who couldn't go deep into the dungeon preferred to bring out stone, as this was usually what the government took in tax on using the dungeon. It was done to ensure that the weaker dungeoneers got the highest values on what they pulled out.

When enough stone was collected and put onto pallets and morphed into solid blocks, Sigil carried it from the capital dungeon to the Foundry Stockyard. Even using main roads, the trip took him most of the day. When he arrived the stone pallet was dropped off and Sigil turned around and prepared to travel back. He was paid per delivery of goods, and if he was able to knock out two deliveries in a day he could spend tomorrow with his wife. But just as he was moving, he stopped. There was a small elven girl playing on the stones in the stockyard.

Sigil rolled his eyes. 'Another bored kid looking to develop Post Death Syndrome' Sigil said to himself. He had trouble speaking through his golem, so he exited it and went towards the girl.

"Excuse me, little girl, this place is quite dangerous. You should go back to the grove."

She did not make eye contact with him. "Milian". As she continued to jump between blocks, her sundress fairly still despite her movements.

Sigil was confused. He did not know what she meant, and the [Comprehend Languages] spell did not change her words.

"What do you mean by Milian?" Sigil asked. The girl stopped, then looked at Sigil. She took a swan dive off the top of the 3 story tall stack of stone.

Sigil gasped. He was too far away from his golem to intercept her fall. So instead he watched in horror as this girl dove straight down.

And as if in a nightmare, Sigil watched as she splashed down into an amorphous blob, and quickly reformed into the girl. Sigil was dumbstruck. Then Sigil saw the tuning fork and understood. This was a Transmuted. As she walked closer, her gaze didn't waver from him. "My name is Milian. Who are you? Why are you here?"

Sigil gulped. She seemed rather intense. He had been warned that the Transmuted were a strange folk, keeping to their groves and gunships. "My name is Sigil. I deliver stone from the Dungeon to this stockyard, and deliver stone from this stockyard to various construction sites around Haven. The stone is too heavy for the average transport to handle, so it falls on me to do it. Why are you here?"

The Transmuted seemed to accept Sigil's answer "I am Milain of the second Grove. I have no assignment, so I review the surrounding area and the interactions of the citizens within this region."

Sigil was confused. It was very rare for someone to be jobless. "You aren't assigned to the Monarch's fleet?" Sigil referenced the absolutely overpowered flying death machine his fellow Gole Shurik designed.

Milian answered, "I am unable to withstand the kinetic forces as my brother Thanatos and his clan can. Therefore I am unable to handle this venture. In keeping with tradition, I am seeking out my purpose, as with purpose I can be fulfilled, and possibly create a clan to rival my brother."

Sigil nodded, "Not sure you can beat out being a commodore of Haven's most powerful fleet. But I do feel you on this." Sigil gestured to his golem. "I can pilot the largest golem out of any of my people. But the size and strength comes at a cost of fidelity. The complexity of hands is beyond me. I can have elbow joints and partially actuated wrists, but nothing more complex than that."

Milian nodded. "It seems that we have the same problem." Milian then asked, "How do you control the golem you are inside?"

Sigil smiled, "Well while most guardians have to curl and enter a dreamlike state to use their golem, I am completely awake. However because I am awake I have to mimic the actions of the golem inside the stone." Sigil explained how the stone was just an extension of their being. In the end Milian understood.

"Can you make holes in your golem?"

Sigil, confused, nodded. "Yes. I can always change the stone, it's just controlling it is different."

Milian smiled, which for Transmuted was simply a non-verbal cue to show agreement. It was quite off putting.

"I have an idea."

***

The sun was setting. Sigil's wife would be worried soon if he did not return home soon, but it was worth it.

Sigil had made the slight modifications to his stone golem. Thin holes were run throughout the design. Now he was inside the golem. Awkwardly, so was Milian. More awkwardly, Sigil was inside Milian. Specifically, his hands were encased in a portion of Milian's slime body. It felt cold and wet. He brushed such thoughts away. Milian was currently stretched as mostly thin portion of her body from Sigil's right hand, through the torso and arm of his golem and out at the wrist, where the rest of Milian's body was a hand. Albeit a slime hand, it was quite the development.

When Sigil moved his hand inside Milian, Milian followed his actions with her body and made the golem's slime hand mimic the motion. "Milian this is amazing! The possibilities of this are endless, but for now, would you like to come have dinner with my family?"

Milian smiled, "That would be amenable."

***

This interaction was not without witness. From his observation tower, Shurik had been watching Sigil and Milain's interaction. Seeing the symbiosis between this massive golem and the Transmuted acting as his hands, it gave Shurik pause. Shurik called for his intern, a human from The Collective. This intern had yet to make patents. Therefore, Shurik did not know his name. Instead, he was called 'hey you'.

"Hey you, make contact with the Guardian Gole Sigil and the Transmuted Milian. Invite them to this lab for a special project. I have found those who can fit the requirements for Project Shpaga"

***