Petition

With it more or less decided that Omni was going to petition the Queen for permission to possibly end up absorbing the Myth Monolith of Formeldr, Krave began using his magic tools to make several calls around the city. The golem takes interest, but it seems they can only make calls to linked tools, and once it had absorbed one the link is severed, rendering it useless without giving a skill. Though that doesn't stop Omni from incorporating one into a separate location in its body in order to remain in contact with Krave.

With that settled, it makes its way to The Quiet Respite with Kaida in tow. Despite less than several hours passing, Valentina tackles Omni with a hug.

"... What are you doing?" The golem protests, pushing her off.

"You looked sad, and it feels like it's been over a year since I saw you!" She says with puffed cheeks.

"Sad? Don't be silly." It rebukes. "And what do you even mean, are you that clingy?" It shuffles into the kitchen, not wanting to disturb the patrons.

Christoph looks up from the medicinal dish he's making. "... And why is Kaida here?"

"Can I not be~?" Kaida pouts.

"You know her?" Omni asks, beginning to prepare meals on reflex.

"Not personally, but she's a rather famous adventurer." He responds, shrugging and getting back to work.

"Famous? Her? She forgot to have someone run night guard, so her and her group got captured by goblins."

Valentina gasps. "Goblins?! Are you okay?"

Not really caring to listen the chatter, Omni zones out and focuses on work. It was always the calmest when it came to work. Other than the outbursts when work is inefficient, of course. Movements can be left to instinct and muscle memory, even if it no longer has muscles.

It lets time drift away and enters a state closest to sleep its had since descending to this world, its body moving in sync with the other golems under its control.

~⚪~

"💧︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎❄︎☟︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ✋︎💧︎ 💧︎☟︎🕆︎👎︎👎︎☜︎☼︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ✋︎☠︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎📬︎ ☹︎✋︎☠︎☜︎💧︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ 👌︎☜︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ 👌︎☹︎🕆︎☼︎☼︎☜︎👎︎📪︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 👌︎☼︎✋︎☹︎☹︎✋︎✌︎☠︎❄︎ 💧︎❄︎✌︎☼︎ ✋︎💧︎ 💧︎❄︎🕆︎💣︎👌︎☹︎✋︎☠︎☝︎📬︎"

"... Ugh." The Dwarven King clutches his head. Listening to the bellowing always gave him a headache. "Is this about the thing you talked about last time?" He asks, to which he receives a positive. "Right... And what do you expect of me?"

"☝︎⚐︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ ☼︎☜︎☠︎👎︎☜︎☼︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎💧︎☜︎☹︎☞︎ 🕆︎💧︎☜︎☞︎🕆︎☹︎📬︎ 🕈︎⚐︎☼︎☼︎✡︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎📪︎ ✋︎ 💧︎☟︎✌︎☹︎☹︎ 💧︎☜︎☠︎👎︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎📪︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ 💧︎❄︎🕆︎👌︎👌︎✡︎ ☹︎☜︎☝︎💧︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ❄︎⚐︎⚐︎ 💧︎☹︎⚐︎🕈︎📬︎"

"Whaddya mean send me! I'm a king now, I have responsibilities! You can't just-" He tries to protest, but is cut short.

"🏱︎☟︎✌︎☠︎❄︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎📪︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 🕈︎⚐︎☼︎☹︎👎︎ ☞︎⚐︎☹︎👎︎💧︎ ✌︎💧︎ ✋︎ 👎︎☜︎💧︎✋︎☼︎☜︎📬︎" And with that, the Dwarven King disappears in a flash of light, eliciting a chuckle that shakes the chamber.

~⚪~

"-ni. Omni!" The kitchen knife descends, barely missing Christoph's fingers as it severs a ligament of meat.

"... Please don't put your hands so close, friend." The golem replies, looking up from its work.

Christoph clears his throat and wipes a little sweat off. "Sorry, but we've been trying to get your attention for a while now." He motions to the batwing doorway back out into the eating area, where Vaud, Elizabeth, Edmund, and Ace are waiting.

"...?" It looks to the window, noticing the orange light trickling in. "Has it been a few hours?" It asks.

"More like an entire day. At some point you stopped responding and began working the same as the normal golems, all through yesterday and last night. It's currently morning." Christoph states, looking rather exasperated.

"That long?" It looks to the veteran trio, who nod in affirmation. "... Huh. Perhaps I'm even worse off than I thought." It begins looking inwardly to its core. The crack remains, and the black sludge is much more visible. With a thought, John, the poster boy golem standing out front flips the open sign to closed, causing Christoph to look at Omni with confusion.

"Until I am sorted out, I will be severing Harmonize with the golems, putting them out of order. If I am acting strangely, it might extend to them through the skill. Was there any issues with us during the time I was 'unavailable'?" It asks, cleaning up the kitchen and putting the prepared ingredients back in the pantry.

The elf shakes his head. "No. But I was worried, so I had Valentina take time off just in case. She protested heavily, but Kaida took the hint and whisked her away."

"Good. Did anybody else stop by?"

"Just Krave, said your audience with the Queen is in an hour. That's why I shook you out of your... Whatever that was."

"Hmm... You could call it my way of relaxing." Omni states flatly, which gets a chuckle out of Vaud.

"So yer doin fine now?" Vaud pipes up.

"No."

"Oh."

"Yeah." The building is silent for a bit after the back and forth with only the sound of cleaning, the veteran trio and Ace awkwardly taking a seat in the eating area where Ghorm was passed out as usual.

Christoph keeps looking at Omni's face, clearly having something on his mind.

"... What? Was there something else?" Omni sighs, not fond of people dancing around on eggshells.

"Well... I slept upstairs to keep an eye on you in case something else happened, and around midnight I woke up to the sound of music."

"Music?" That gives it pause.

Christoph nods. "It was kind of an eerie, melancholic tune."

"... I see. Can you replicate it? Sing, whistle, or whatever?" It asks, confused. Why would it sing? Then again, Harmonize made it feel like singing at high usage, and Krave said music has a strange link with magic.

The elf nods, pulling a leaf from the ingredient box for the medicinal meals. "It's hard to forget." He puts the leaf lips and takes a deep breath before starting.

The first two notes strike something within the golem, the next two show a familiar pattern, and by the 8th note, Omni reaches out, grabbing the leaf from Christoph and crushing it, nearly crushing his fingers along with it, causing the elf to stumble back in confusion.

"𝐃𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧." It states coldly, hands cracking as they curl into fists.

Back in the eating area, Edmund leans over to Elizabeth with a whisper. "𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦... 𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?" He asks, remembering it clearly. Elizabeth nods, but shushes him, as it's clearly something important or sensitive to the golem.

The golem leaves the kitchen, its subconscious changing its face to a scowl.

'𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵... 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.' It wonders. Of all things, why did that come back up? It doesn't want to remember its past life. "I have to prepare for the audience. From what Krave said, I take it all of you are attending?" It asks the group.

Elizabeth nods. "He wants us to vouch for you, but didn't tell us why."

"Of course not. I'm in a foul mood, so I'm going for a walk. I'll meet you at the castle." It states, before heading out the door.

"... Haah~..." Christoph finally lets his breath out. "Even with closed eyelids, I felt like it was staring daggers at me. Anybody know what that was about?" He asks the group.

Elizabeth nods. "You weren't aware? At the same time Omni, or 'Atlas', was activated, golem cores everywhere stopped and began to sing that tune. It wasn't limited to Formeldr either, from my sources, it happened all over Grimora and even on Asdea apparently."

Christoph and Ace both double-take at that. "So... All over the world is what you're saying? What the hell... But... I guess it makes sense if a god, Twilight is involved... Should we really be interacting with Omni?" Ace says, looking quite worried. "Maybe we should have left it in the dungeon..."

Christoph shakes his head. "What's done is done. And its done nothing to warrant pushing it away. Certainly its weird, and has been oddly violent at times, but there's a vibe about it that makes you want to get along, like a tired old man just looking for respite."

~⚪~

A little under an hour later, Omni arrives at the castle of Formeldr. The castle was actually quite close to the entrance of the Labyrinth, so that the royal guard could be dispatched in case of emergency such as a dungeon break. During its walk, it had calmed down from earlier, and had been slowly shifting and carving its body into clothes appropriate for a royal court. It thanked itself for going through months of memorizing clothes and armor in the vacation zone. It kept the hood and androgynous nature from the previous design and went with an armored robe with militaristic designs with Krave's medal on its chest.

Having the ore still stored inside, it had to keep a larger size, standing 7 feet flat with the two extra pairs of arms hidden under the robes. Occasionally light creaks can be heard as it is still using them to practice manipulating the metal bars functioning as its skeletal structure out of sight.

The royal guards manning the main gate have armor similar to that of Saric's unofficial knight's order. Or rather, It seems Saric designed his order's armor after the royal guard's armor. Omni wonders if he ran into any issues with the Queen, blatantly wearing a similar design despite not being recognized by the Queen. It shrugs, heading forward. The guards nods and let the golem in, having been told ahead of time about it.

Several guards guide Omni through winding halls until they reach the throne room.

"Your colleagues are waiting inside already." One of the guards states before slamming a knocker against the door, then speaking into a magic tool next to the door. "The Phycaster Golem Omni has arrived, my liege." A few moments pass, and the magic tool speaks back, stating "Enter." with a strong feminine voice.

'𝘈 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮, 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵.' It thinks to itself as the large steel doors are pulled open. It enters the throne room, royal guards lining the walls. '𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦.'

It was like a reunion with everybody it had met so far. All kneeling in front of the Queen, even Krave. Vaud, Edmund, Elizabeth, and Ace. The three senior knights Saric, Lager, Vale, and her sister Kaida. The retired Christoph, Valentina, and Ghorm (Who was surprisingly sober.) And finally, Dean, who instead of kneeling was standing among the Queen's retinue. Seems his job was more than just part of the adventurer's guild. Beside him was the nun, though Omni did not know her name, or could not remember it at least.

There was a gap in the middle of those kneeling, so Omni took the hint and moved up before kneeling in place, head down but cognition still looking up at the Queen. It still had not learned her name, but the sight of her was rather stunning.

A tall and imposing woman, her royal garb exposing her muscular abs and arms. To Omni she almost looked like a gaudy tomboy delinquent, with a smirk on her face and sharp eyes. In addition to her silver ears and tail, she had short silver hair.

"You may all rise and take a seat." She says, snapping her fingers as chairs were brought out for everyone. One could tell how much each person paid attention by how quickly they sat down, with the two elves and Omni acting the most eloquent.

"Court Magician Krave. Please restate your petition for all in attendance." She barks.

The old demon nods, clearing his throat. "In order for the Ancient Golem known as Omni to be able to survive and aid us, we request that the Myth Monolith of Formeldr be put at its disposal." Short and simple, but causing many gasps from the higher nobles who were allowed to attend.

"Elaborate on to what extent you mean by disposal." She states.

"Of course. Omni's golem core is very unique, in that any magical tool that makes contact is absorbed, granting that tool's abilities to Omni. While we are uncertain the reaction of the Myth Monolith, there is a non-zero chance of it being absorbed." He explains, causing more bustle from the nobles, who are silenced with a hand motion from the Queen.

"You are asking for a relic as important as the Myth Monolith be handed over to a golem we know frighteningly little about?" She asks, frowning.

"... Yes." Krave says with a sigh.

The Beastfolk Queen ponders for a bit, observing Omni sitting there, so still it might as well be a statue.

She grins.

"𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲."