When somebody asked her what she did for a living, Alexandra Simmons always told them she was a software engineer for the U.S. Army. That was not a lie but only skimmed the truth. She had been a few other things before that. Exemplary student, infantry and eventually, a Spec Ops sniper. After getting injured in the middle east, she had been retired from active duty and found a much safer workplace. It was difficult to hunt down important targets when bound to a wheelchair, after all. Her talent was still being made use of as a drone commander. That was the software part of her work. Had been. Some programming skills were required and she had to take the corresponding courses.

Now, none of that mattered. Instead of a crippled soldier fated to never run again, she was not even a living being anymore. Her body was made from a purple metal called thaumium and excessively receptive to magic. So much that even her senses were no longer ‘vision’ and ‘hearing’ but solely ground in the essence of the world. [Essence Sense] was the Skill that let her interact with her surroundings. At level four, she could make out about fifty metres in each direction, as long as it was mostly air. Walls, people and objects still interfered. As did other magic. Like her friend’s beam of earth and destruction digging into the wall above.

Fio had saved her a few months ago from the clutches of magically induced slavery. Alexandra had banished the memories of that time into the recesses of her soul and tried not to think about it. Just like what happened before her rebirth. Even so, it came up regularly. Especially when everyone else was asleep. Golems did not sleep.

Right now, that was not a worry. She was busy digging into stone with a pickaxe a little larger than her. Her skills with the tool were… mediocre at best but there was danger behind those walls. Even through the stone blockade, she could feel the essence of darkness. It was so thick, she could not decide if it was denser than the stone she was digging into. Harra, one of the dwarves had said it was two to three metres before they broke through but it felt much less.

After some time of cutting into rocks and carrying them away, Harra spoke up again.

“Okay. Now only Fio. Keep some distance. Ye ’re close to breaking through.”

Alexandra stepped back and put away her pickaxe. The green beam coming out of the owl’s eye was much softer on the stone, simply carrying away material instead of breaking it with powerful impacts.

The golem observed closely. If the wall came down, she might have to drag her friend out of there.

Moments later, the beam broke through the bottom of the wall. The oppressive darkness Alexandra had felt behind exploded outwards into the tunnel. Within moments, she was surrounded and unable to see anything. The only thing remaining was her mental connection to Fio through their [Telepathy]. She was confident the goblins and dwarves behind them were shouting in panic but she could not make out any vibrations in their essence. The only voice she heard spoke directly into her mind.

“Alex, where are you?”, Fio called out.

“Haven’t moved”, she answered, “I can’t sense where I’m going. Don’t want to fall.”

“I think the wall is gonna break.”

Was there an actual physical weight to the darkness? It was not just her imagination?

“Then get away!”, Alex shouted.

“I’m doing just that!”

Then, her friend went silent. The telepathic connection held for another moment before fizzling out. Alexandra felt her non-existent heartbeat increase. The vis flowing through her body raced in circles and she moved. Damned be the darkness!

One step after the other, she moved towards Fio’s last position. She kept her feet low to the ground pushing through any detritus that had fallen from the wall. As she touched the stone, more energy flooded her. The telltale push of vis crystals powering her rushed into Alexandra’s body. Against her will, she had to slow down. Getting overloaded on flux would be the worst option. Golems could not get poisoned but they could be shut down temporarily. Right now, every second counted. That meant, she had to refine the overwhelming power flooding her body.

The movements she did allow herself were shoving away the crystals. It barely helped. Every step brought a new one in contact with her feet. Eventually, Alexandra had to stop. It was too much. She simply focused on the energy flooding her and guided it to the ‘inner door’ or whatever Fio had called it.

Alexandra woke up several hours later in the goblin village. She spread her [Essence Sense] and quickly spotted familiar forms all around her. Roguk and Luk stood close by along with a few other goblins she had gotten to know over the last months. Fio’s prone body lay on the table in the middle of the hut. It was still metal, mostly thaumium, and felt lifeless. It was lacking the soul aspect any living being normally held.

The first one to notice her moving was none other than Ira. The weaver had become one of her closest friends, always welcoming Alexandra to stay around even when she was not yet able to communicate properly.

“You’re up! Thank the storms! I thought you were gone. How are you feeling, Alex?”

She carefully felt for her body. Nothing seemed amiss. The only change was a definite increase in her energy reserves.

“I’m good. Thanks. How’s Fio?”

“Are you really? Check your Status, will you?”

Alexandra relented. It would be good to confirm. When she popped up her menu, a notification joined it.

Species: Thaumium Golem

Age: 0

Name: Alexandra

Gender: female

Status: sapient, healthy, unbound, vis enriched (major)

Level: 20

Class: [Golem Sharpshooter lvl 27]

Strength: 19

Constitution: 23

Dexterity: 27

Perception: 26

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 12

AP: 0

Skills:

[Thaumium Body lvl 4], [Essence Sense lvl 4], [Individuality lvl 2]

[Telepathy lvl 2], [Identify lvl 6]

[Tunnel vision lvl 4], [Ethereal Bolt lvl 4], [Prioritization lvl 2], [Ballistic Prediction lvl 1]

~ding~ Congratulations! You reached vis enriched (major). You can now adapt an Affinity or create a Core to evolve.

The golem stilled. Evolution. That wonderful option she was aiming for. Would it give her vision back? Would it make her alive again?

She shook her head. Not now! First, she would see after her friend.

“I’m fine. It says Healthy. What about Fio?”

“She is… I don’t know. Can you take a look? Your [Identify] is pretty high, right?”

“I will.”

The other goblins had noticed her by now and stepped aside to make space for Alexandra. She had to climb a stool to properly look at the metal owl and when she finally did, she activated her Skill.

[Identify]

… Skill failed.

“I don’t understand. How can [Identify] fail?”

“Even yours?”

Ira was bewildered.

“Have you ever heard of something like this?”, Alexandra asked the others.

“Never…”

“I… Has she… No. She wouldn’t have a pulse, right? Or breathe. In this body.”

Roguk nodded.

“We’re as stumped as you are. I have no idea what’s going on…”

Silence spread and Alex had to kill her boiling emotions. There was nothing she could do but try again.

“I’ll stay here and keep trying. I’ll also try [Telepathy]. Until it works. It has to work!”

The goblins looked at each other.

Alexandra spent the next four days trying and failing to [Identify] her friend. [Telepathy] felt a little more responsive and gave her hope. The owl was still alive. The goblins moved around her but she did not notice them. Eventually, something seemed to give. She did not know why but Fio seemed to have returned to the living.

[Identify]

Species: Sgiathan Dorcha Owl (adult)

Age: 1

Name: Fio

Gender: female

Status: sapient, healthy, Beast Core (unique, enriched – medium), metallized, crystallized, ordered, Outside

Level: 77

The golem barely skimmed the Status until seeing she was healthy and collapsed on the stool she was standing on. Her friend was still alive! Right, [Telepathy]!

The activation of the Skill took longer than expected but with the days of waiting, Alexandra could hold on a little longer. As long as it eventually connected, everything would be fine. And it did.

“FIO!”, the golem screamed, “Oh my god, you’re alive! Thank the lord! I was so worried!”

“… Alex?”, came the careful answer.

“Yes! Don’t you recognize me? What’s going on? Can you move?”

“Ehm. I’m… not really there right now.”

“… what do you mean, not there? You Status says you’re healthy.”

“What else does it say?”

That put a stop to Alexandra’s excitement and she identified her friend again. There was a lot more to her friend’s status that she could have looked at before jumping ahead. Especially the enriched Beast Core and the high level made her stop.

“… sapient, healthy, Beast Core (unique, enriched – medium), metallized, crystallized, ordered, Outside. Outside is capitalized. Also, when did you get level 77?”

“The what now?”

The owl sounded incredulous. Had she expected something different?

“Never mind that”, she sent, “I’m outside. Like, fully. In the Empty.”

“What?”, Alex said, “Really? Let me…”

She identified the Outside Status.

Outside: This individual's body and soul are outside of this reality and have been replaced by a mana construct. They have to return on their own power to return to the living.

“Okay. You’re like… dead but not dead”, Alexandra mused, “Am I understanding that right?”

“That you do”, another voice chimed in. It sounded like several million near-identical people speaking at the same time. Along with the words came a feeling of overwhelming power she could only associate with something beyond her understanding. Was that a god?

“Who is that?”, she asked.

“That’s Death. Sort of”, Fio said.

“Truth would be a more accurate name. Death is only part of me.”

Death? And it was part of Truth? Was that not what all the thaumaturges were looking for? If the grim reaper had her friend, she could only try her best.

“Give her back right the fuck now or I’m coming over there to beat the shit out of you!”, she threatened.

There was a chuckle. Something so deeply amused at her demands it shook the very base of her soul. This truly was a being beyond her understanding.

“Oh. Wow”, she said, “I’m, sorry?”

“You are an interesting being, Alexandra”, it said, “Your soul is likely even more resilient than the one of my Friend.”

“Is… that so?”

That was supposed to be praise, right? A resilient soul… She had not submitted to that slaver so there was probably some truth to it.

“Yes. Friend asked what you are. I deemed it valuable to have you listen in since you were already trying to do so.”

That took the last bit of wind out of her sails. This being was the reason her attempts at [Identify] and [Telepathy] had failed. It had that much influence over the system. Maybe calling it a god would not be that far off.

After a few minutes, she collected herself.

“Shoot.”

“You are resilient. Your soul was taken by the mind spiders of someone else and preserved to fit their needs. And yet you kept yourself whole. Very few stay the same they were before.”

“Wait”, Fio jumped in, “Mind spiders take souls to enslave into advanced golems?”

Mind spiders? Alex had only seen them once when her maker had a particularly bad episode. The things were semi-tangible purple and pink arachnoids that made even her thaumium body break a cold sweat.

“Not quite”, the god spoke up, “They do not have that much agency. They are not souls but parts of a soul. If you do not want to use a soul for an advanced golem your mind spiders will not bring one. In turn, you will fail to make an advanced golem.”

“That makes me feel much better”, Fio said.

“I can’t say the same… “, Alexandra complained, “Am I even still me?”

“You can never not be you”, the being spoke, “You Are.”

The meaning reverberated through the telepathic connection. Alexandra wanted to ask what he meant but was unable to bring her thoughts to the other souls. It almost felt like she was washed out of the conversation. They did not want her to be there and listen in.

The golem found herself sitting on the stool, face directed at her friend’s body. It was not really Fio at the moment but it would be. Soon. The owl would come back.

It took almost an hour before Alexandra noticed the goblins and dwarves surrounding her. Everyone that could fit in the hut was squeezed as closely as possible. Smia, the smith, was shaking her shoulder.

“Oy! What’s going on? Finally with us?”

The golem nodded.

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m here, now.”

“What happened?”, Roguk asked, “What’s with Fio?”

Alexandra could see the worry on everyone’s faces and made to convince herself.

“She’s not dead”, she sent, “She will come back.”

Eyes widened and tears flowed as mouths turned into careful smiles. Murmuring broke out and the first goblins started to push out of the hut to inform everyone else that did not fit inside.

‘She has to come back…’, Alexandra thought to herself.