With the help of the essence from Salamander, Spider and others, Will jogged faster. Careful to not spill any of the vile liquid he had collected from them.
The other side of the Furnace from where he stood is where the scream came from. He kept his distance. The air had "cooled" - but it could still cook him.
He crossed fast. He also realized that the bowl had become much heavier in his run over to this place. But now that he was close to the Golem it was rapidly becoming lighter. Way too light.
Will could see a crowd of chained humans ahead. About 40 or 50 of them. All silently looking towards the Golem. No doubt they were the other slaves being held here. All of them under the molten thumb of the Golem. He could see the figure was standing away from its anvil and furnace. Looking around to his fellow humans. They all had an amalgamation of tattered cloth and strips of leather covering their bodies. Some didn't even have that.
A mechanical voice breaks the eerie silence. "You failed your task" A low hiss punching the end of its statement. Finally, he could hear sobbing ahead of the whole group of slaves.
"Please! My arm is hurt! I can't possibly -" Before he can even process it.The Golem's hand twitches. In a blink it slams down. The woman is gone.
No one screamed. No one moved. Just the ash in the air.
Will had just been mulling over the possibility of fighting that thing and his hopes of fighting it were crushed. Along with that woman. It was like a bucket of ice thrown on him. Reading about how scary the Nightmares were. How dangerous the beings living inside. How helpless he was. Any of the other regular humans around him. They were alive under the whim of this Golem. Who could kill them like swatting flies. Will watches as the Golem slowly lifts its hand. A sticky gross sound comes from the flattened body of the woman. The Golem shakes whatever was left of her off its hand.
"Any more injured?" It looks around to the collective. It's aura enveloping them all. Heavy and suffocating. Every human was holding their breath. "Good… Fill." It commanded.
Will just noticed laid out in front of him was a giant bin, longer than 2 of the Salamanders. The humans walk up in two lines dumping the 'ichor' they collected into the bin. No one else failed their duties. Being this close to the Golem he could feel his heightened strength returning. Significantly more than what his attribute had taken from the Salamander and the Spider together. The thing was definitely a devil at least. But tyrants' big ability is that they control smaller Nightmare creatures. Yeah, it had seemed to have defeated and captured dozens upon dozens of Nightmare creatures. But none of them were its subjects so maybe he had lucked out and it wasn't a tyrant.
The last drops of 'ichor' are poured into the bin. The Golem stares at the liquid sloshing inside. Was it unhappy with the haul? It turns silently to one of the many streams of lava flowing into the furnace. Plunging its hand in and pulling the blade he watched it make earlier. Lumbering back to the humans. The more experienced slaves force the newer ones to retreat back away from the bin. They knew what was going to happen next. As soon as the Golem walks up to the rim of the bin and plunges the molten blade into the profane 'ichor'. It was using the blood to oil quench the blade, but with vile liquid as its replacement. The blood bubbles for dozens of seconds. Boiling blood sprayed out hitting where the humans had been gathered before. As the liquid settles, it lifts the blade out inspecting it for any cracks, raising it high above its head.
Before the plunge, the blade radiated power and violence. Now, its aura was terrifying. Almost as if looking at it could cut him. The Golem plunges it into the river of fire once more, just for a few seconds this time to finish the process. Seemingly satisfied with creation, its sword arm rotating behind it. The hammer arm in front with one regular hand. Turning its back to them, it almost seemed like it was about to walk back to the furnace. To sharpen it maybe? But something different happens. Almost in response to his thoughts earlier. A terrifying event unfolds before him.
The golem hunches its back over. Two holes in its back are much more visible now. Expelling two plumes of black steam from them and shooting high into the sky. After a moment the light begins to emanate from the holes as something crawls out of the back of the Golem. It resembled dolls. This one resembled a little man with wings emanating a dull glow around them. The first one looked around stretching as it exited the cramped space inside the Golem. It looks like the ground of people with big glass eyes. It looked almost cute. That was probably the most terrifying thing. He knew it was a Nightmare creature. But he couldn't help but think it was cute and wanted to hug it. It sniffed the air. Freezing as it caught some scent. Slowly the fairy's head turned looking right at the bin of 'ichor' that was used to quench the Golem's blade. Horrifyingly, its mouth spread into a smile that reached up past its eyes revealing razor sharp shark-like teeth. With a shrilled screech it flew straight into the pool of blood. Quickly following it a wave of similar creatures all making the same shrill feeding call. Will had to cover his ears to even keep his brain processing what he witnessed. The demented fairies emerged like a tide of locust enveloping the whole bin shrouding it from the frozen humans. In mere moments the tide returned through the holes strewn about the body of the Golem.
The Golem stood up tall once again. It's aura so much deeper. No doubt it was substantially stronger now. Hopefully only temporarily. It seems Will made his first mistake of merely thinking along the lines of "it couldn't possibly get worse right?" and immediately meeting the response from the universe. Turns out he was just as unlucky as Sunny and was dealing with an Awakened Tyrant in his own first nightmare.
"I might be fucked." He whispered under his breath. The Golem seemed to walk towards the cages and none of the other humans seemed to jump at the chance to leave.
"You shouldn't be using that kind of language young man" The voice is accompanied with a solid knock on the side of his head. It kinda really hurt. Rubbing his head he turned. Ready to let the person who hit him have it, he turned and was looking straight into what looked like a mysterious black wall. Someone seemed to have misplaced it behind him. "Down here potty mouth" Looking down at his assailant. Grandma. Another Awakened Devil no doubt with how hard she hit him. "I didn't knock you for those potty words. I'd break my bones on that boulder you call a head. So I had my friend give you a knock. He's a much bigger rock." She said it smiling to herself satisfied with her logic.
Looking closer at her. Will could see she was much smaller than he thought, barely four and half feet tall. A wrinkled bag of bones and sinew. Her skin was like parchment-thin and streaked with grime. The rags on her skin may be some other color at some point. Now they black and rusty brown loosely covering her, fluttering like prayer flags in the hot wind. Ash had settled into every wrinkle on her face. Her scalp was marked with scars and what looked like… faint glows of runes?
"Don't you know it's rude to be ogling a young lady? Did he knock what little sense you have left out of that rock of yours?" She cracks a smile missing a few teeth and doubling her wrinkles but he can't help but smile back. What a feisty little Nightmare Creature.
"Sorry ma'am. I must've missed the lesson" He says rubbing the quickly forming lump on his head. "I just couldn't help but notice the runes on your head."
"Those old things? Have you not looked in a mirror son? All of us born from the volcano have them." Her shriveled hands shakily reached up touching a few of the runes that crowned her head. "They're symbols that the gods watch over us even during these hopeless times…" She waves her hands in disgust. " If you believe in that then there really is no hope for whatever's left in there. I think it's all malarky. I think they're a curse to pay the sins for whatever our ancestors committed long ago." She looks at him. Some other emotion flashing across her face as she talks about the possible origins of it all. "Why else would we be trapped here with that beast."
Will feels his own head. Did he really have runes etched into his scalp?
"Dont worry about yours young man. It takes time to figure out the purpose of your runes and how to use them. Take him for example." She points with her boney chin at the wall that was Coal.
Coal was an eight-plus feet tall mass of ash-caked muscle. His skin cracked like basalt, dusty and gray. Thick stripes of soot covered cloth wrapped around his hips hanging low in tatters. There was almost a heat emanating off him as well. Nothing compared to the other creatures he's seen here but still strange. The runes crowning his head were barely lit.
"He only just discovered he has a bit of a hot head. So he's always practicing controlling his breathing and thoughts." She says tilting her head slightly up but not nearly enough to look Coal in the eyes.
The apparent hot head looked down, his chin nearly flush with his chest. His face was relaxed but there seemed to be a hidden fire burning behind his dark eyes. He does a nearly imperceptible nod as if agreeing with the old crone.
"Luckily my gifts and his compliment each other." She rests her leathery hands on his arm. Instantly, he feels this sense of ease overcoming him, as if he wasn't standing in the most dangerous place he could think of in the dream world. Besides the Ariel desert itself. He could feel the soreness in his arms fading away, his body quickly repairing itself from whatever damage he sustained before and during his time at the start of the Nightmare. "I was given the gift of healing and serenity. As funny as that is, unfortunately I'm very prone to getting hurt. Can't even try lifting those bowls you two carry without breaking a dozen bones" She pats Coal on the thigh, "His blessing makes him stronger but angry. It also lets him protect people" She stared at him for a few moments. Expectantly. Slowly a frown appeared on her face. "Well?" Will internally debated telling her. Or lying about his abilities. Could she be genuinely curious? She seemed to be telling the truth about her abilities but Coal could just be naturally strong and that had nothing to do with his abilities.
"Why are you so curious about mine? What do you gain from telling me yours?" Will distanced himself a step from the pair. Just in case they didn't like him questioning their motives. Grandma pauses for a second before that gapped smile shined again.
"Well, you don't seem like you've lost hope yet, unlike all of these other sad sacks of manure" She looks at the crowd. Even those close to her barely reacted to her words. "See? They can't even stand up for themselves. From this old bag of bones. They're just zombies moving around" She spits a loogy on the ground. It cooks and evaporates quickly. Disgusting… "But you went into that lizard's cage, usually people are dead when they do that. Not only that, I could see you looking at The Smith as if it was a problem to solve, not an unholy god to serve."
Will couldn't really argue with her assessments. Looking at all of the slaves around them. Most of them had a hollow look in their eyes and maybe that was some kind of bewitchment. But it was actually they were just like husks. Humans that lost all hope and desire to be free. Accepting their fate and only striving to reach the end of each day.
There was no doubt that if he tried to engage in a battle with the Golem Smith or escape this place, he would be speedrunning his death. These two seemed like his only other options for help. Unless he could convince a random nightmare creature to face the dominant creature of the Volcano. With a sigh, he relaxes. He really had no other options right now but to trust them.
"My 'Blessing' lets me get close to the abominations; they see me as almost one of them. It also allows me to siphon some of their essence. It seems to matter how powerful the creature I'm near. It gives me different levels of increased strength at least I haven't tested much else. I'm also prone to extreme levels of good luck and bad luck. I haven't figured out any way to actually use it, it kinda just happens" He flexes his arms. Even though the Tyrant had been gone for several minutes, his strength was taking longer to fade away than the dose Salamander gave him.
"HA!" A short cackle followed by some snorting as Grandma doubles over slightly laughing. "Well then, the blessing you have IS the best luck. Because your abilities are exactly what we needed." Raising a finger to her eye wiping away a fake tear. "The only thing that can defeat that monster is another monster. We slaves have no hope of beating that thing with nothing but our bare hands. But another beast with its own weapons? That might be possible if we can somehow help it." She looks over his shoulder and behind him he can feel the slight tremor in the earth. The golem was returning. "For now. A word of advice?" She places a hand on his shoulder gently. "Make sure to grab a good piece and move away. They might seem like frail things, but I meant what I said about them being like the undead." Grandma turns to Coal who nods, placing her on his shoulder and facing the Golem. Thoroughly confused by what she said. Will turns around to face the approaching Golem and freezes. It was dragging a massive wolf through the ash. Its jet black fur was matted with blood and slices all along its pelt. The head was no longer attached to its body. Instead it was in the Golem's other hand held above one of the holes in its body. Vile blood draining into it, feeding those terrifying Fairies. Will couldn't believe he thought that. Walking up to the crowd of humans, the golem stopped. Shaking off the last droplets of blood from the canine's severed head, tossing it into the crowd. Will saw something that shook him to his core.
The human acted just like those fairies. The nearest ones almost became animated again, lunging onto the head. They were unable to pierce the beast's fur with their hands, but they could tear and rip at the slices made by the Golem. Others just opened its mouth and ripped out chunks of its soft mouth flesh, shoveling it directly into their mouths. Then in a blink, the wolf's large brown eyes were stolen. Some random woman was running away with them eating them like apples. Will in response vomited all over the ground in front of him.
"What in all the hells is wrong with them?" He got out before vomiting again.
"They're the living dead. This is the only time they get to eat. Sometimes the golem might not feed them for weeks. If your body can't keep up then you'll fall behind. If you fall behind…" He points to the stain that used to be a human woman. "You won't exist. Relax though you don't need to be like them. Just get a piece and get it away to cook. Just try not to lose an arm to one of them." She laughed. The Smith finished butchering the wolf, cutting it into pieces the size of a man. If those men were the same species as whatever Coal was. The Tyrant gathered the pieces and tossed the chunks into the crowd. One man was actually crushed by it, unable to get out of the way of the falling sustenance.
That's when all hell broke loose.