8.16 - RESONANCE

Elrin gave Theo a schedule for destroying the phylacteries. He couldn’t do it too quickly, since that would put more strain on the world, but it would only take him a few weeks to destroy all of them. Yet that wasn’t the thing that occupied the alchemist’s mind. After returning to Broken Tusk, he sought out Xol’sa in his tower.

Ever-looming in the swamp, Xol’sa’s tower struck an imposing image. Theo climbed the steps, finally finding the wizard on the top floor. Spell arrays hovered in the air, just over the tower’s edge. The alchemist couldn’t understand most of them, but they were related to the nearby dungeon.

“Working hard?” Theo asked, causing Xol’sa to jump slightly.

“You scared me,” Xol’sa said, turning to offer Theo a gentle smile. “You normally need something when you come to my tower. So, what do you need?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Theo said. “I’ve got a magical anomaly.”

“Ah, always coming with so much information,” Xol’sa said, sighing dramatically. He turned back to his magical arrays, swiping his hands through the air to manipulate them. “Let me finish this. With only one dungeon to work on, my efforts have become focused.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yes. I have vast control over the Swamp Dungeon. We have multiple instances, difficulty scaling up to a point, and even control over the types of monsters,” Xol’sa said. “The dungeon has become quite the attraction.”

“Wow. Who knew? All we had to do was destroy all the other dungeons.”

“A steep price to pay,” Xol’sa said, nodding. “And a feat impossible without the siphoning effects of the shards.”

Theo lingered nearby while the wizard did his work. The alchemist had a lot to say about the new artifact he had discovered, but pulling Xol’sa off his work would just make it take longer. So he waited, looking over his administration interface and planning some work for the future. He needed to test the Pyro, and Accelerant properties from the Lavashroom and the Ablate property from Spit’s Pumice. He planned to do this the normal way, as it would give him a system description.

“I’m ready,” Xol’sa said, snapping the alchemist out of his thoughts.

“Excellent,” Theo said, clapping his hands together. “Gonna be pretty cold, so… Get ready for that.”

“Allow me to grab a—”

Theo folded the void directly atop the artifact, throwing up his fire bubble the second they landed in the snow. The constant drive of the storm had resulted in a significant accumulation. He had only been gone for about an hour, but that was enough to leave a foot of snow piled in the hole. Xol’sa whistled to himself the moment they landed, seemingly unbothered by the lacking coat.

“I’m glad you brought me from my tower,” Xol’sa said, keeping a healthy distance from the snow-covered stone statue. “That magical flavor on this thing is… strange.”

“Right? That’s what I said. Figured you’d be the best person to ask.”

“I don’t know if I’m the best person… There are likely better mages for the job, but I am the one at hand.” Xol’sa stalked closer to the statue, looking around and shaking his head. He passed his hand through the air, sigils appearing in a trail behind the motion. The surrounding snow melted, revealing more of the statue and the hewn stone platform it rested on. He then summoned some more sigils, some of which Theo recognized as runes designed to search for something. Maybe magic.

“Initial impressions?” Theo asked.

Xol’sa hummed to himself, switching between the melting spell and the one that looked for stuff. A half-hour later, he had created a dome of ice above them, and cleared out most of the snow obscuring the area.

“This requires study,” Xol’sa said, finally daring to get close to the statue.

Perhaps Theo shouldn’t have been so eager to get close to it…

“Are we dealing with a dangerous artifact?” Theo asked. “Maybe something that turns squirrels into cows?”

“What?” Xol’sa asked. “No, nothing like that. The magic feels similar to that of the shards… In as much as one fish is like another. But the exact function of the object is beyond me. If you wouldn’t mind defending me for a few hours, I could find better answers for you.”

With a shrug, Theo crossed his arms and stood guard. And was immediately bored. Automation was the key to most of his life at this point, so he got to work with the snow. The alchemist rolled it into balls, creating a snowman complete with coal eyes. He didn’t have the carrot for a nose, but it would have to do. From his inventory, he withdrew a containment core and shoved it into the chest of the incomplete golem. A flash of magic passed over the creation’s coal eyes, glittering with a pale blue color for a moment before the golem waggled its stick arms around.

“Well, that worked for some reason,” Theo said, pressing his hand into the golem’s chest. A system message appeared.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Lesser Snow Golem]

[Alchemy Construct]

Level 10

Snow is possibly the worst medium in golem construction. Snow golems are short-lived, weak creations that struggle with basic tasks.

Containment Core: [Alchemically Treated Drogramathi Cage]

Monster Core: [Goblin Sapper] (Level 10)

Medium: [Snow]

Alchemy Slates: [Mana Construct]

Power System: [Mana Construct]

Siphon System: None

Additional Modifications: None

It wasn’t a good golem, Theo didn’t need the description to tell him that. But it wouldn’t melt in the frigid environment, and would serve as an excellent watchdog. If Xol’sa thought there was going to be a problem, the alchemist wouldn’t risk it. He worked on more golems to pass the time, sending them off into the desolate landscape to keep guard. It served to make his stay in the ‘Calet’ region more entertaining, and there was soon a scatter of ten golems roaming the area.

The golems ranged out, lingering behind sheets of white like haunting snowmen. Since they were shaped like snowmen, it made the scene even worse. Theo couldn’t help but laugh, even in the uncomfortable conditions. But setting up the guards seemed like a waste of effort when nothing happened. Only when the subtle shift of energy filled the air did the alchemist’s mood change. It went from the random ambient energies of the world to something unique. The power within the statue poured out.

“What was that?” Xol’sa called back.

Theo jogged over, craning his neck to get a better look at the statue. It glowed with a faint light. “That’s not normal.”

Xol’sa turned back to the statue. “No, it is not. Can you see? The statue is casting a spell.”

“Last I checked, statues can’t cast spells,” Theo said, seriously thinking they should think about running, rather than sticking around to see what kind of spell a statue could cast.

By the time either Theo or Xol’sa could collect their thoughts enough to do anything, the spell was made manifest. At first, the alchemist couldn’t see the spell. But an absurdly complex spell array appeared on the ground, glowing with a pale blue light. The circle, which was half-buried under the snow, raced out with enough force to create a howling gale over the narrow passage above. Both men were blown from their feet, the tingle of magic dancing over their skin.

Theo groaned, rolling from the wall of snow and checking his health. The spell had done no damage, but he felt it in his bones.

“You good?” Theo asked, pushing himself to his feet.

“I’m alive,” Xol’sa said.

Theo followed the sound of the wizard’s voice, finally finding him embedded high in a wall of snow. “I’ll dig you out,” the alchemist said, moving snow from beneath Xol’sa to loosen him up. “What even was that?”

“An excellent question,” Xol’sa said, wiggling until he popped out of the wall, only to tumble to the ground with a pained groan.

“My brain tingles,” Theo said, dusting the wizard off. “Do you feel that?”

“Yes, unfortunately. There’s a constant buzzing,” Xol’sa said. “The system magic hasn’t gone. It still lingers. Perhaps coming from the statue itself.”

On the surface, not much had changed about the statue. Only the gentle glow revealed that anything was different. Naturally, Xol’sa casted magic to investigate what happened while Theo reached out to his golem network. His snowmen detected nothing strange in the distance. No monsters, no strange magical storms, nothing.

“We weren’t the ones to activate it,” Xol’sa said after a few more minutes of inspection. “Of the many strange things this spell does, that’s the one part I can understand.”

“So, the spell is still active? How does system magic work anyway? I thought it was simply a natural law.”

“Natural laws governed by magic,” Xol’sa said. “Anyway, I suggest we get out of here.”

“Yeah, no problem… Wait, why?” Theo asked. “Are we in danger? We should’ve been in danger before… Why is there danger now?”

Xol’sa placed his hand on Theo’s shoulder, shaking his head. “My friend, if I fled from danger every time you put me in it, we’d get nothing done. But now we’re reaching a level of danger I cannot control or predict. So, I recommend we retreat to a safe distance before the resonance builds within the statue.”

“Resonance?” Theo asked.

“Kindly teleport us away.”

With a shrug, Theo folded the void on itself, only targeting himself and Xol’sa. They vanished from the snowy planes of Calet, appearing on the outskirts of Broken Tusk a breath later. The bell that had been ringing in the alchemist’s head went silent, leaving behind a hum that wouldn’t stop.

“Well, that sucked,” Theo said. “What were you saying about the resonance?”

“We’ll have to wait to see,” Xol’sa said. “I’ll be in my tower. Just find me if something finally happens.”

Theo blinked, mouth open as the wizard walked away. From what the alchemist understood, this was a big deal. For something to be so conceptually heavy, it had to be important. When the statue cast the spell, Theo was certain Xol’sa would do something about it. Maybe a fancy space elf spell or something equally impressive. Yet there he was, standing and staring toward the harbor in confusion.

“I think he’s hiding something,” Tresk said, appearing from nowhere behind Theo. “Doesn’t want you to know how serious it is.”

“You think?” Theo asked. “But what could the statue be?”

“Magic? System? Gotta be some kind of control device. I expect there will be others in the world,” Tresk said.

“For what purpose?” Theo asked.

“That’s the tricky part. The system won’t tell us what they do. It’ll just keep them there. Forever.”

Theo sighed, slapping himself in the face. The last thing he needed was a paranoid marshling. On his end, nothing much had changed. He wasn’t nearby to the statue, but he had a faint idea of what was going on. As the alchemist had left behind his snowmen, he could feel occasional wisps of their thoughts. The magic might’ve been increasing in the air, but nothing had physically changed about the location.

“So, if he’s hiding something from us, what are we dealing with?” Theo asked.

“Something weird and systemy.”

“Thanks for absolutely nothing,” Theo said. But he paused, feeling some of that energy he had felt in Calet come back. “Do you feel that?”

“Yeah. That’s the same sensation you felt before.”

“This one is different. Almost as though it's ringing a lot more than before.”

“Like resonance?” Tresk asked, raising both brows.

A moment later, a message appeared. Theo wasn’t surprised by the message popping up, but it was the contents that alarmed him.

[World Anchors Engaged. Monitor System Activated]