Chapter 7: Grave Keepers
After a minute of silence #11077 stood up and passed the rows of golden bowls in silence. In the back of a pillar, there is a staircase leading up. The door was cracked and damaged, putting his hand on the door it crumbled slightly, pushing it open he began to climb the stair, like before the place was littered with skeletons, broken weapons, and debris. Seeing the light on the end he quickened his pace.
The spiral of stairs took him a few minutes. Stepping out of the staircase, the golem was now standing at the top of a tower overseeing the landscape below. The warm desert breeze blew fine sand around.
Looking around he saw the ruins of a mighty civilization could be seen, large towers broken and destroyed, houses completely decimated and buried under sand, and the walls of a city barely stood against the time. Only the Castle of Rukia stood out. It was the most important place and the most safely constructed building, but still, large parts of the castle got torn apart.
This was the heart of the Sakata Empire, this was the place where almost all of the sand golems were made and born. From this very sand #11077 and his comrades were made of. Seeing the destroyed city he sat at the edge of the tower.
He dangled the feet off the edge and stared at the horizon. This wasn´t his first time here, and it won't be the last.
For hours he just sat there thinking, brooding, like always did. He got a long way already, but not without sacrifices. Many sacrificed so that he could live another day, but he didn´t understand why. The programming should have allowed them to make the optimal choices, even then high ranking golems sacrificed themselves for weaker ones like him.
The sand on his hands crumbled slightly as he clenched his fists.
[Emotionally unstable, recommend a system checkup!]
The golem ignored the message and stood back up with some difficulty now with the long sand spear on his back.
Standing at the top of the tower he picked up the spear and hold it in his hands.
'The humans have killed themselves off because of their own greed and anger. They used their own creations to fight each other without reason. They don´t deserve this place any longer... so I will take it for myself.'
Making up his mind #11077 hold the spear high with both hands and slammed the bottom of the spear into the ground.
The spear was stuck in place with the tip pointing up. Large amounts of core sand flood out of the bottom and covered the whole rooftop. The sand seeped into the cracks and crevices of the tower and mended together into sandstone, repairing the place. His energy began to sink but he continued on, even siphoning energy out of the cube, till he saw the message he was waiting for.
[Golem #11077 has claimed a named territory!]
[The Castle of Rukia is now under #11077´s jurisdiction!]
Information about this place seeped into this core as he began to process it.
He was already familiar with this place so it didn't take long. The spear was now ten meters tall with a blank light sand-colored flag waving in the wind.
Satisfied with the result he went back to the grand hall where his comrades are in eternal rest. Just as he finished he noticed that the creator's codex no longer limited him. It had nagged him all the time, but he finally realized. His sense of self grew past the "save" threshold when his core expanded. There were cases where golems would do out-of-line thinking and actions, but #11077 never understood why they did so.
But now he realized that they too were only acting because of their own free will and thoughts, and not because of preprogrammed codes. That is why sand golems were periodically disassembled for "maintenance".
Entering the hall, with a new outlook, he noticed that the cracks in the walls have been repaired and, even the statue of Rukia was now standing proudly at the end of the hall. In the middle of the room right under the picture of the sun, a large glowing crystal orb on a podium appeared.
A mana generator...
The energy in the cube was reduced by one-third. It still contained unimaginable amounts of energy, but the large drop made #11077 think.
'Was the energy used to create this mana generator... but how?'
Claiming territories should just reinforce the claimed place, but building new things appearing was never mentioned, or at least #11077 never heard of it. Maybe high-ranking generals and field operators could do that.
Setting those thoughts aside, he walked passed the seemingly endless rows of bowls he stood in front of the statue of Rukia. 'Are you proud, goddess? Have we done well? Is this enough?'
Looking at the statue he noticed that at the bottom of it, there are now two golem cores.
He wondered where it came from looking up at the statue again, he got confused, 'Is the statue of Rukia smiling at me?'
His memories told him that the statue was always in this position.
Picking up the two cores he noticed that they were active. They were still alive...
Pouring more energy into the two cores, a small amount of sand began to come out of them. The cores began to restart.
Placing the cores on the ground he took a step back and observed the two cores work.
...
It took them almost exactly 5 minutes till the two newly formed sand golems stood before #11077, with one slightly struggling to form its weapon.
Slowly the vital sand formed the bodies, then the core sand began to form armor around them. Their appearance was vastly different from #11077. Their armor looked like a black robe that draped over their whole body and touched the ground.
They were almost completely identical to each other. They both had an old mana lamp in their left hand with a pseudo-core inside. The orb glowed in an ethereal blue color. But their weapons of choice are different. One had a massive scythe that was 2 meters long, and the other had a long scepter with a slightly curved blade on it, and another secondary core on the tip of the staff.
[Unique System Rank 3 Grave Keeper now under your command!]
[Unique System Rank 3 Grave Keeper now under your command!]
The messages made the sand golem freeze up. How long has it been since he last saw a sand golem? Years? Decades? Probably Centuries...
The two golems were Unique grade golems, meaning they were far more powerful and advanced than #11077
The strength of golems is split into system ranks and grades. Grades are split into Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, and Mythical. It stands for how difficult and hard it is to produce one of them and their overall offensive and defensive abilities.
Types only show what the golems specialized in. There could range from foot soldiers to royal guards.
System Ranks are split into, ranks 1-10. It shows how far-developed the core was, it is hypothesized that a core´s rank was limitless, but there were no accounts of System Rank 11 or higher golems ever created. System Rank is limited and not all could reach rank 10 as the strain on the core would be too much.
The higher one's grades are the higher the starting System Rank was, the highest starting point was a System Rank 7 Mythical grade Sieg-Golem.
#11077 started out being a Common System Rank 1 type footsoldier, but now he is a Rank 6, Uncommon grade, type general.
System Ranks could be improved over time, but normally grades are unchangeable without humans changing the core itself.
...
The grave keepers stood stoically in front of the frozen General, waiting patiently for his command.
It took #11077 fifteen seconds to regain his functions, and the sand on his face shifted rhythmically.
'You are now under my command, your first task is to clean the whole castle of any debris. Keep the castle of our goddess safe and don't let anyone blemish this ground, and turn this place into a proper pristine condition. This is the place where our fallen kind rest so behave accordingly. The mana generator will allow you to refill your energy, so keep maintaining it by exchanging energy.'
The two nodded and immediately began to work, walking out of the burial place.
They were newly made so they still haven´t formed a sense of self and acted more like stone golems, rigid and dumb.
...
Months have passed, and he now stood amidst a well-lit hall. The grave keepers are able to produce pseudo cores that function similarly to mana stones, powering the lights in the castle. The castle came back to life but they had to periodically all of the cores after some time. The three of them disposed of all the debris and waste and burrowed it far away from the castle.
They even planted moon sprouts all around the castle and made small gravestones out of marble. placing them at the back side of the castle. They were just there for memorial reasons the real remains are being kept in the golden bowl of the main hall.
#11077 periodically talked to the two and over time they learned to talk back, even able to learn most of the abilities they were compatible with. #11077 sadly wasn´t able to learn the techniques of the grave keepers as it was just too complex for his system to understand.
The work never stopped as the grave keepers had to guard the whole palace at night and refill and maintain the light during the day. He named them Alpha and Beta respectively. Alpha being the one who carries the scythe. They even have small α and β symbols on their face.
Having named them they have decided to call #11077, General Oberon Sakata, for being the last surviving sand golem of the Sakata Empire. #11077 found it quite touching and decided to take on that name from now on. Like them, he adopted a small symbol on his face. It was three circles in an upside-down triangle with lines connecting them. The Sakata symbol of the rising sun.
The time he spent with them in the Castle of Rukia was one of the most enjoyable times he had in decades.
He wanted to stay here for longer, but he had to move on. Maybe out there he would be able to rebuild other places. At least they weren´t alone, they got each other and the 5 earth beetles that he left them. They acted as an extra security system, alerting the Alpha and Beta when intruders are nearby. #11077 didn´t want to have them with him on his next trip as it was a certain death for the little critters.
...
Standing amongst the blooming moon sprouts the two kneeled down respectively.
'May your journey be fruitful under Rukia's guidance, General.'
'Guard this place well, this should not the be last time we see each other, Grave Keepers.'
Looking at the back of their "creator" they felt slightly lost. But nevertheless, they looked at his retreating figure disappearing in the dark of the night.
Standing up they both began to do their task.