‘How did he find my place? Was the World Map God made more advanced than the one I have?’ Rick thought as he finally reached his destination.

The glass door squeaked as it opened up into the deserted reception hall.

“Dale” Rick called out. “Are you there?”

A moment later footsteps echoed through the empty halls as Dale walked down the stairs.

“Kir,” he said with an unenthusiastic tone. “You are back!”

“Yup,” Rick replied with a smile

“Why?”

“My place is- is a mess right now,” Rick replied after a pause. ”So I was hoping, I can set up camp here with you.”

“No,” Dale replied with a straight face.

“What? Really? Come on,” Rick pleaded. “It’s better not to be alone you know. Times aren’t that good right now.”

“My decision is final. But,” he added after a short pause, “I can help you find another place. There are a lot of places around here.”

“Are you serious?” Rick shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t have a place and you are kicking me out? This place is so big you won’t even realize I am here!”

“We all have our reasons,” Dale stood stiff at the end of the staircase. “So, you want my help or no?”

“You are unbelievable,” Rick shook and turned his back to him, “I can find a place on my own.”

Rick slammed the door behind him as he walked out.

“Pip, we have to go find a house for us first,” Rick said.

“Peep! Peep!”

“You think I want to walk into a dungeon?” Rick responded to her obvious statement.

‘It should be at a nondescript place, but then I will need a big enough place with everything going on.’ he calculated, ‘but before that, the place cannot be near Dale’s place.’

He knew he had to hide his identity with Dale around, and was willing to do that, but now that Dale had outright refused him, he wanted to find a place where he could easily keep up appearances.

Rick removed the Golem mask and walked away from the building. He hid by the fences and tried to keep a low profile while looking for a place that fit his requirements

“This one looks good right,” Rick said peering inside a house after an hour of searching.

“Peep! Peep!”

“Don’t rush me. I want to find the best place I can,” he said looking sideways at his pocket “You have to live there too you know.”

But then Rick knew Pip was right, it was already getting dark.

The blue painted house was in the midst of other similar looking houses and besides it a small picket-fenced garden he always wanted. Rick looked around finding nothing else, picked up the plant-pot.

With a deliberately slow motion, he carefully tried the handle to the front door. It was open.

With a quick motion, he pushed the door open while holding the pot ready to hurl at a moment’s notice. The door hit the wall with a thud, but there was no one that came at him.

Carefully Rick walked in and closed the door beside him.

The Master-bedroom, the guest room, the study, Rick carefully checked every nook and cranny of the house, but the house was completely deserted.

‘Thanks for letting me use your place,’ he said staring at the line of pictures in the master bedroom.

There were pictures a young couple sky-diving, another of their wedding and a third, of them, trekking in some place Rick could not make out. There were dirty dishes still in the sink, the half-read newspaper on the table and clothes kept in the laundry basket.

‘Focus,’ he reminded himself.

“I need to secure the place first,” he decided. He needed to be prepared in case a second Hands situation.

He double checked the place and confirmed that there were only two exits from the house if you did not count the windows. The first was from the way he walked in, and the other was the exit through the kitchen which led to the backyard.

“Okay, which one would be the best,” Rick wondered, drawing up the pouch of golem cores from the storage ring.

He could not spend hours doing this either. He had another bigger project he was already procrastinating because of how things had transpired.

After a moment’s deliberation, he chose five golem cores and put the rest back into the storage ring.

He walked out the door and pressed the first two golems into the ground, covering them with a little soil. The first was by the garden fence and at the end of the outer edge of the backyard.

“I didn’t think you guys would come this handy,” Rick observed.

It was an understatement. He was rather sure nobody would even want to buy it.

He had named both the golems One and Two, because of how useless they were. In essence, they were mutated and overgrown Amoeba’s that had lost its ability to even reproduce, leaving them like immovable water slimes.

These slimes were so slow and clumsy that Rick could find no use for them in the herb garden and had little doubt anybody would be interested to buy them.

But now, he had found the perfect use for them. He gave both the slimes one direction, “Wiggle if somebody crosses by this place.”

Walking back inside, he placed two other golems by the doors. These were Air golems. One was a Bat Golem while the other was a Vulcrow Golem.

They too had just one instruction. He made sure his instructions were exact, leaving no scope for error.

“If I am within the premises of the house, and One or Two moves, come and let me know.”

With everything done, he released the golems to return them to their cores. They would only become active if an intruder approaches the house now.

Once done, he took the fifth golem to the basement.

He tossed the golem down and a giant worm made up of earth appeared before him. If it was before the Heaven’s Dictate he would definitely have been repulsed by the sight. But now, the seven feet earthworm, as thick his arm made him proud of his own achievements.

“Dig a hole down and at the exact length of your body and twice the width. Next, dig horizontally from there for twice the length of your body and twice as thick as your body”

Having received his instruction, the golem immediately got back to work.

Satisfied with his preparations Rick walked up the basement and into the study room.

Finally, he had the time to himself after the day’s craziness

“Now the important work,” Rick mumbled pulling out a piece of paper.

He stared at the white paper before him and closed his eyes recalling the feeling.

He could feel, the tear of space as the Shield disappeared. The same as when he used the Storage Ring or the Entrance Portals.

But even after trying with all his might, he could not draw even a line.

“How the hell do you draw a feeling!” Rick tossed the pen in his hand away in frustration. The feeling was so obvious to him in his mind. It was a violent and simultaneously elegant, cold and warm, mysterious and obvious, all at the same time!

He reached into his pocket and drew out the Lemegeton.

“Please help me here Lemegeton,” he pleaded. “How do I draw something that I can only feel”

The pages of the grimoire flipped on its own for a moment and then finally halted on its own.

Beginner’s Guide to Abstract Art,

Expressionist’s Expression

Understanding Surrealism…

Rick chucked, not knowing how to react.

The volume was on art!