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The vibrations that came upon him tonight were somehow different. T-39 stood in his chamber in the tallest parapet that peaked just out of the capital city’s vault. It was past midnight and the moon glowed brightly in the sky without clouds, but he did not require sleep -- the calmness during night helped focus his senses. He also enjoyed the soothing mana that seemed to breathe from the great Vault Tree and the whispering of the leaves around him as the wind gently passed. The moon, much like the sun, could charge T-39 with certain properties and he allowed himself to enter a meditative state whilst listening to the vibrations, bathed in moonlight. Even with the extra focus it was hard to determine what this source was – he surmised it was the shifting and colliding of two ley lines as they sometimes migrate, much like tectonic plates shifting. It might have also been the birth of a powerful child with great magical potential. He had to know. T-39 stood for several hours longer until he became fully infused with moonlight. This allowed him to channel his inner vision across the land to explore with true clairvoyance the surrounding lands. Whenever he did so he could view far and wide and the images were clear, but he would also see images from other worlds and memories. These interruptions would become more frequent the longer he channeled and soon it would be all he saw. He would need to be thorough – sweeping side to side in his mind he paused only for three brief moments to pick up the direction he needed to move in his vision. This allowed him to triangulate the source and ignore all else.
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He came to rest his sight on a ruin with a blood red aura around it and dread that filled the air. Monsters emanating this kind of power? It seemed impossible. He attempted to zoom his vision into the ruin chambers, but when he did so his visions become flooded with dark skulls and fire. Upon this disruption T-39 began to lose focus and was becoming drained from prolonged channeling. Images of blood sprang into his thought as well as images of the simple materials he was forged from: steel, iron, palladium, and mithril – he saw a workshop and alchemical vials – and then he saw his creator, Master Jereziah. T-39 yearned to speak to his lost master and completely losing focus he reached out for him. As he was about to embrace his master more visions of fire engulfed his view and a dark laughter bounced through his head. He shook himself of the images and ceased channeling. For a moment T-39 felt exhausted and hopeless as he remembered his dream to find Master Jereziah. He’d not seen him for many years and it was only Jereziah who could create such a sentient golem like T-39 was, not like the mindless golems that roamed the ruins with monsters. To find out his purpose in creation is what he desired most. He sat in quiet yearning for some moments, then gathered his thoughts. He headed to the Vault and infused himself with mana scrolls and potions, becoming full strength of mind again. For a moment, he was about to martial the entire army for the campaign to this Arch Ruin – but then remembered that mortals needed sleep or they would not perform at their best. Respecting this, he stood once again in his parapet meditating until sunrise.
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. . .
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The great call of the royal unicorn horn sounded over the kingdom and the troops martialed expertly and swiftly. The elves were known for being able to mobilize a campaign faster than a leaf could fall from a branch to the ground. With the exact location known from his clairvoyance the previous night, T-39 needed no authorization from the council or marshals who trusted the immortal metal paladin. He gave only a short explanation of their campaign, “To pursue the a rising darkness,” and with that he led the troops to the foot of the ruin, again using his keen sense of magical vibrations along the way to confirm their path.
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Infusing his army with a magical boon, T-39 led the charge into the hordes of monsters that awaited them. Normally a camp was made and battle plans drawn out in detail, but T-39 had foreseen a great outcome without delay and his troops followed him into battle with the highest morale. Crushing into the hordes it seemed to be a standstill for a time, but calling in his 1.5 million reserves they flanked the monsters and T-39 charged straight for the monster hero Elneen.
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Elneen was a horrendous monstrosity that seemed to be a mutated form of a rat and a wolf. She screeched and howled and golems seemed to rise from the ruin blocks and stones to fight for her. T-39 felt insulted and enraged by this act which seemed to mock his own creation. He charged forth with his shoulder and knocked into a pack of the golems and they exploded into bits of iron and rock. Picking up the torso of one construct he spun around three times heaving it at incredible speed to another pack. Their dull speed kept them from evading such swift attacks by T-39 and he effortlessly tore them to pieces. He then stood and gazed at Elneen with a fierce stare as rocks and debris rained from the air. This was not what golems were for; golems were not meant to be slaves to evil monsters; golems DID have a higher purpose. His jaws and fists clenched as the sound of the rocks continued, but they were no longer falling. T-39 glanced around him to his horror and saw the rocks were rolling together to form one massive golem with a torso from the ground up. Huge fists slammed to the ground and the tremors ripped the ground open, separating T-39 from his army. The fists came down again and there was nowhere else to move, so he braced his arms up and caught the fists as they stuck upon him. The force plunged T-39 into the earth up to his torso as well and he became stuck. Trying to see his next move he searched for Elneen and could not find her. He closed his eyes and channeled mana into his arms while the fists still pressed with magnanimous force. Struggling and shaking with the weight he knew this could not be result he foresaw so clearly before. He had not found Jereziah and he had not yet discovered his purpose. In his focus, he recalled one of the few memories he had of his master saying, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it is not okay, it is not the end.”
The head of the giant monster golem peeled open like a flower blooming, revealing Elneen within. She had enslaved the rocks and steel with a greater power than any golem-smith before. T-39 wondered how this was possible, he had to know the reason and it couldn’t end now. The mana he’d built up in his arms began to charge against the mighty fists. With enough energy, he could blast them away. Elneen saw this and began to siphon his mana from him with her Arch-Mage’s ring in attempt to undermine his plan. Before she could steal too much of his mana, T-39 gave one final burst and the fists exploded backwards and up into the head of the enslaved monster golem. The power caught Elneen by surprise and she attempted to close the rock skull around her like a shield, but it was not enough. The mana infused rock and steel fists were like a meteor. It crushed through her like an arrow through leather. The force sent her and the ball of fire soaring into the air, then plummeting to the earth almost to the next domain. There in the crater her body sizzled under the magma-like earth and a few moments later T-39 felt that familiar pulse of energy being released from her death. The mana was free from this corrupted host and the iron stones once again at rest.
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Pulling himself from the earth, T-39 still felt a powerful draw from within the ruin vault, it was even greater than Elneen’s had been. He picked up a large flat boulder that had been a part of the monster golem’s chest and laid it across the chasm that separated he and the army. They helped secure the area before he opened the vault in case another demon lie within. Upon opening the vault a mix of emotions fell upon T-39, the Iron Paladin. First relief that there would be no more battle, followed by understanding the source of Elneen’s ability to manipulate the golems so adeptly, and lastly hope – hope that he could use the power of the thousands of black gems within this vault to one day find his master.
“Jereziah…wait for me…”