[System Message:

Reboot Complete.

Battery at 100%.

Mana reserves at 0%

Damage assessment incomplete.

Unable to access:

~Lower torso and legs.

~Left arm.

~Left ocular receiver is badly damaged. Recommend replacement at earliest convenience.

Significant impairment to motion and activity until repairs can be made]

"Uggggh" I had a tremendous headache. Someone turn off the droning in my head!

My eyes clicked open. I was lying in someone's bed in a fairly small but breezy room. There was a curtained window that let in what must be midday sunshine. The curtains moved about in a cool breeze that danced across my face.

My face.

My golem face.

How could I be feeling this breeze?

[System Query: Feelings. Sensory and Mana sensitivity result of MagiTech components beneath the outer shell. Sensory mode at 0 (normal)]

How was I doing that? Talking to myself? Were there two of me in my head?

[System Query: Spiritual / Mana / Mechanical Interface at Level 0 ( text only ) due to severe trauma and system resources dedicated to maintaining AEGIS.]

I took a deep breath. I could smell complex odors. There was food being cooked in a nearby location. Outside the window I could hear the sounds of clopping -- presumably horsed on cobblestones, and distant people talking.

I blinked several times. CLICK CLICK.

So, you're the Interface?

[System Query: Interface at Level 0 (text only) due to lack of integration with Spiritual Entity residing in the Host system. Further interaction required.]

Oh, so you're the interface between me in my head, and this body. And it's text only because I'm basically a baby again and I could accidentally blow myself up if I start messing around with my system?

[System Query: you are a baby.]

My eyes opened wide! I did not expect sass from a command line.

I stretched out my hand ( the only one I have, apparently) and looked at it closely. It seemed to resemble a human hand very closely on the surface, but deep inside I could sense that there was a lot going on. I was human shaped, but definitely not human. I touched the place where my left arm should connect to my body and got a shock.

"Ouch" I said to no one in particular.

The door to the bedroom I was in creaked open.

A blond set of curls and a blue eye peeked through the opening. I grinned and waved. With a muffled "yeep" the curls disappeared as the door latched shut.

"DAAAAD! It's awake! Come see!"

I cringed. *it*'s awake. Did I look that bad?

[System Query: AEGIS is designed to appear human. Current camouflage routines are offline due to lack of Mana.]

Well, whatever this Mana was, apparently I needed it. It must not be ambient, or from sunlight, otherwise I sensed that my battery system would be receiving it. Somehow I knew that between the solar cells somewhere on my body, and moisture collectors constantly feeding water to my ... heart? I could maintain power indefinitely. How odd that I could just simply think about it and it was just there. I felt like a small boy trapped in a very large and complicated castle. And if I wasn't careful, I could fall off a ledge or set the place on fire.

Was this really the simulation I was supposed to be in? Was this some surprise my dad set up? Telling me I was going to be in some boring space sim, and instead popping me into some kind of fantasy realm?

I smiled inwardly.

I had played so many video games after I'd been pulled out of school, and all other doors for activity had been closed for me. There were a surprising amount of soccer games, as well as role playing games, space battles, first person shooters, and more. I beat them all. My favorites were ones where you started out essentially a helpless newbie, and you became godlike in the end.

System, is there a list of my capabilities?

[System query: Capabilities. AEGIS is a sentient golem who's capabilities are limited only by 3 factors: 1) physical and mechanical laws of nature 2) mana and magical sophistication 3) *** classified ***]

Classified? What the heck does that mean?

[System query: you are a baby]

I chuckled. So whoever created this golem ... me ... had a sense of humor. I could almost feel the presence of the person or persons who created this ... simulation? They knew I would be curious. They were not going to give me all the answers right away. What fun would that be?

Steeling myself, I resolved to take this world at face value. To confront these challenges like I would any video game. This felt so ... real.

I gazed at my mechanical arm. It looked like a work of art. Metal, with rune-like indentations all over it, but there were organic aspects as well. It felt so ... alive! I could see wires and glowing parts near the joints. I had a sense that my body was waiting for something. For what?

Well, how about some legs and another arm for starters!

My attention snapped back to the room as Clarissa and her dad walked in hesitantly.

"Hello," the man said. "My name is Gier. This is my daughter Clarissa." he gestured to the beautiful girl standing next to him. She curtseyed unconsciously, then caught herself as she realized she had almost treated me like ... a real person. She punched her dad in the shoulder.

"C'mon dad. This is not a person, it's a robot. Why are you talking like - "

"I am a person," I said plainly.

Clarissa's eyes went wide and her jaw fell open.

"How can - how can you be doing that?" She looked at her dad with a sly, knowing expression.

"You're doing that, dad. How did you do it? You have some controller behind you?" She twisted around her surprised father - who was dressed in plain coveralls, with some kind of leather apron over them. He looked to be in his late 50′s - with white hair, slightly pudgy stomach, but kind eyes and an angular face that implied he'd been a powerhouse in his younger days.

He looked at his daughter walking around him and he raised his arms defensively.

"Whoah whoah, Clarissa. This isn't me. I think this is a Golem."

Golem. That name again.

"Yes. I'm a golem. My name is Aegis. Nice to meet you." I held up my arm to shake his hand, but I got imbalanced by the sudden movement and fell over in the bed. I was lying sideways, my face half covered in blankets, and my arm outstretched on the bed.

A giggle burst out of Clarissa's mouth. Both her and her father stepped forward to put me upright again, their initial fears somewhat allayed by my clumsy movements.

I grinned, despite myself. I should be pretty upset that I was ... in pieces. But their kind faces and the sunny, bright room pushed away the shadows in my thoughts ... for now.

"Let's try that again, Aegis." Gier said. He grasped my hand firmly and shook it. He then gestured to Clarissa. With wide eyes she looked at her father, then me. Tentatively, she held out her hand. I held it very gently.

"Thank you for saving me," I said.

She pulled her hand back as if she'd touched a hot iron.

"I didn't do anything. It was my dad." she muttered.

"You found me. I was ... dying." Could I die? What if my power had gone to zero?

[System query: complete loss of power would result in loss of integration with AEGIS system. Spiritual energy would cease to exist.]

Well, THAT was scary. I almost did ... die. But, I had been dying for a long time now.

"So, Aegis. Who or what are you? Where did you come from? Mir castle has been abandoned for over 50 years. Is that where you are from?" Gier asked as he walked around to the open window. The breeze moved the curtains to brush his face as he peered out the window.

Mir castle? Wait, the Interface had said I had been created by a Kendranen Mir. Was he the master of the castle?

I pursed my lips. "I don't have any memory of anything before your daughter found me" I lied. I didn't want to mention the hooded figure. Last thing I wanted to do was scare the two people who were showing me some kindness. But, I wondered if I was putting their lives in danger.

Already this game had its hooks in me, I realized. There standing before me were two people I would fight to defend, and I barely knew them.

[System message: You are THE SHIELD]

A shock went through my body. It was more than electric.

Something had resonated deep within me. Aegis. THE SHIELD.

Oh man.

"I know I was created by someone named Kendranen Mir. Does that mean anything to you?" I asked.

Both Clarissa and Gier took a step back from me. Their eyes were wide. Was that ... awe? Fear?

"Please! Please don't do that. What did I say? " I begged.

"That guy was our town's wizard. He was very powerful. He kept us safe from all kinds of creatures and dangers from the Wild Woods and beyond. They called him Ken the Kind. " Clarissa said quietly.

"Was? Where did he go?" I turned my head sideways in question as I asked.

"Go?" Gier snorted. "He's dead. Killed."

Oh.

Oh no.

"Do they know - do you know who did it? How did he die?"

They looked at me warily.

"They said the killer had glowing eyes," Gier said flatly.