"Sid!" Meg cried. He heard footsteps around him. "Sid!"

"I'm not dead, just give me a minute," he murmured. He put out two of his hands and pushed himself up.

"That was close," William said.

***

Once Sid had recovered, they continued moving through the temple. They encountered no more swarms of Flying Snakes, and had no more problems with the traps. They soon emerged into a massive chamber larger than any of the others they passed through.

At the back of the room Sid could see what looked like a rotating yellow sun symbol, being visible in stark contrast against the darkness of the chamber.

Meg stepped forward, eyes still to the ground, and placed down a torch.

What it revealed was far more disturbing than a trap, or a horde of Flying Snakes.

Bones.

Not human bones, or skeleton. Sid couldn't be sure, but they looked like –

"Lihzahrd bones?" the Witch Doctor exclaimed. "This... this can't be..."

Another torch was placed by William, lighting more of the floor. Unveiling more bones strewn across the ground.

"No, NOOOO!" the Witch Doctor screamed, falling to his knees and throwing his head back.

Sid bit his lip as he looked around the scene. Meg and William had lit up the entire floor before long. It looked like a massacre had taken place, and nobody had cleaned up. There were broken spears and shields scattered in amongst the remains, and one chest lay with its lid propped against its side, cobwebs coming out of it.

The back of the room looked to be clear of bones. It was raised higher than the rest of the room, with the source of the yellow glow – a large brown altar with a pattern resembling the spikes of the sun engraved onto its base, and the glowing yellow sun levitating above it. Behind that looked to be a large throne, decorated with gold.

Sid stepped forward as William approached the throne. He opened a chest that sat next to it.

"There's a... some sort of item here," he said. "Kind of looks like a distant, shining sun. Its label says, 'The Golem is a primitive construct. I admire the Lihzahrd race for their ingenuity, though finding faith in such a flawed idol would invariably lead to their downfall.'"

Sid looked around at the Lihzahrd bones once more. "I guess that happened."

"How can this be?" Zop'a wailed. "Who would do this?"

Sid looked to William. He had that look on him, the same look that always went onto his face whenever the Cultists were brought up. He could guess what he was thinking.

"Whoever did it," William said, "They're long gone. Look at these bones. There's nothing else here."

"What about that power cell Sid found?" Meg asked.

He'd almost forgotten about it. He reached into his inventory and pulled it out. He then turned to the altar with the floating sun above it.

"This is definitely going to trigger something if I put this thing in there," Sid said.

William got out his True Night's Edge, his grip tightened.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be, whatever it is."

Sid turned to the altar. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and placed the cell on top of the altar's base, underneath the sun.

Suddenly a large slab of rock dropped from the ceiling, landing a few steps in front of the altar.

"Well, that trap missed us," Meg muttered.

"That's not a trap," the Witch Doctor said. "It's the idol of my people."

The Golem, Sid thought, remembering the item William had found.

It looked to be facing away from them, seemingly unaware of their presence. William, Sid and Meg stepped forward, cautiously moving around it, into its line of sight.

Suddenly a head snapped down in William's direction. Glowing orange eyes, fins on the back of its head like a Lihzahrd, a glowing sun-like symbol on its chest, two rocky arms with large fists, and two massive stone boots. One of those fists punched forward, attached to its arm by a extending chain, smacking William clear in the face.

Sid readied his Staff of the Frost Hydra, but then the Witch Doctor ran forward into view of the Golem.

"Stop!" he shouted. "I'm a Lihzahrd!"

***

SCANNING...

SPECIES CONFIRMED: LIHZAHRD.

CEASE ATTACK.

The Lihzahrd was dressed differently to what the Golem had registered as traditional Lihzahrd garb. He wore a large animal's skull over its head and was clad in ragged, primitive clothing. He held a staff in one hand, and had a blowpipe strapped to his waist.

DIAGNOSTICS: TIME SINCE LAST ACTIVATION: 2------S

"Golem, what happened to the Lihzahrd people?" the Lihzahrd asked.

PROCESSING QUESTION...

RESPONSE READY. PREACHING...

"There is no kno---dge I can ----- to that quest---. On last -----ation, the Temple was thriving, overseen by the Lord ------."

One of the humans – the one with green hair and dressed in silver-and-gold armour – spoke. "Sounds like it's been deactivated a long time if its speech is glitching like that."

"Or maybe he was damaged in battle." That was the one who looked like a ghost but wasn't. Appearances couldn't fool scans.

CONTINUE DIAGNOSTICS: BATTLE COMPONENTS.

LASER EYES: 34% EFFICIENCY.

FIREBALL BREATH: 29% EFFICIENCY.

FIST CHAINS: 46% EFFICIENCY. REMARKS: RUST.

LEG CHAINS: CANNOT RETRIEVE DATA. REMARKS: MOBILITY DISABLED.

ARMOUR: 18% INTEGRITY.

"Was there any sign of... conflict?" the Lihzahrd asked.

PROCESSING QUESTION...

RESPONSE READY. PREACHING...

"--- last con----- witn----d was inst--ated by --- witch ---------."

"Witch?" the gold-armoured human exclaimed. "It doesn't mean you, does it?" he pointed a finger at the Lihzahrd.

PROCESSING QUESTION...

RESPONSE READY. PREACHING...

"----tive. --- attem---d to unle--- me, tur---- me against the Lord."

INFORMATION RETRIEVED FROM MEMORY BANKS.

INFORMATION: THE CAUSE OF DAMAGE TO SELF.

"The Lord dis---ed me in ret---. --- --tch esc----."

"I guess, this Lord must be dead now, along with the rest of the Lihzahrd," the third human, the one dressed like a turtle, said.

INFORMATION: CURRENT STATUS OF THE LORD OUTSIDE OF KNOWLEDGE.

"Do you know who this witch is?" the ghost-human asked. "Is the witch in league with... the Cultists?"

PROCESSING QUESTION...

ERROR: 'THE CULTISTS' EXIST OUTSIDE OF KNOWLEDGE.

PREACHING ERROR MESSAGE...

"Error. The Cultists exist outside of knowledge."

"In other words, he doesn't know," the turtle-human said.

"Funny how he was able to get a complete sentence out that time," the gold-armoured human said.

"Who are you loyal to?" the Lihzahrd asked.

PROCESSING QUESTION...

RESPONSE READY. PREACHING...

"My loyalty is to the Lord."

INFORMATION: CURRENT STATUS OF THE LORD OUTSIDE OF KNOWLEDGE.

"I thought the Lihzahrd worship you," the Lihzahrd said.

PROCESSING QUESTION...

RESPONSE READY. PREACHING...

"The Lihzahrd people worship me. I worship the Lord."

INFORMATION: CURRENT STATUS OF THE LORD OUTSIDE OF KNOWLEDGE.

NEW PRIORITY: MUST SEEK THE LORD.

LORD-GRADE PROTOCOL UNLOCKED: MUST DESTROY ALL IN THE WAY WITH NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD.

***

The Golem shot out both fists at once. One caught William in the face, again, because he wasn't expecting it. He saw Meg jump to avoid the other.

"We are not your enemies!" the Witch Doctor yelled. "We can help you!"

"If the existence of the Lord is outside of your knowledge, then you are no use to me," the Golem said, his voice as dark and robotic as ever. "Therefore, I must terminate you."

He opened his mouth again, but this time a fireball shot out, which hit the floor and bounced up into the air, kind of like Meg's old Flower of Fire weapon but without falling again due to gravity.

Sid summoned his entire armada of Twins summons, and whipped the Golem's right fist to set them forward.

"Sid! Wait!" Meg shouted. William watched his head turn to her, and he nodded and called back his summons.

Meg stared at the Golem in the eyes and said, "If you stop attacking us, we will stop attacking you, and let you go on your way."

The Golem, no doubt with his robotic brain, made up his mind in an instant. "Unacceptable."

"Then we are left with no choice but to destroy you."

***

WARNING: FIST INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.

WARNING: ARMOUR INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.

INFORMATION: MUST TAKE EVASIVE ACTION.

LEG CHAINS EFFICIENCY: RETRIEVING DATA...

INFORMATION: LEG CHAINS: 5% EFFICIENCY.

INFORMATION: CANNOT WALK.

DEPLOYING ALTERNATIVE MOBILITY OPTION...

***

"Watch out!" Meg shouted as the Golem leapt up and sailed through the air.

William narrowly avoided being crushed by its massive feet. He gripped his Paladin's Hammer and began throwing it rapidly at the Golem's head, but another fist shot out at him. He dodged it, and switched to his Starlight. When he stabbed forward using it, beams of multicoloured energy shot forward, dealing massive damage to both the Golem's fist and its head.

Before too long its left fist was destroyed, and he got to work on the other fist. However, at that same moment wicked yellow lasers began shooting from the Golem's eyes. The first two struck him, so he flew backwards, away from Golem, to avoid the next.

He switched back to his True Night's Edge, which could attack much further away than the Starlight. He watched the Golem leap towards Meg, who used her Rod of Discord to teleport out from beneath it. Sid snapped at the Golem with his whip. Before too long its other fist was destroyed, and William could see its head was getting low in life.

He ran forward, Starlight in hand, and slashed forward. The rainbow beams removed the last of the Golem's life, and its head was sliced clean off and landed on the chamber floor with a loud crunch, its eyes fading to black.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sid said.

***

WARNING: HEAD HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM BODY

ESTABLISHING WIRELESS LINK...

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.

ACTIVATING SUN THRUSTERS...

***

Its eyes flickered back on.

Yellow energy began blasting from the bottom of its head, and it suddenly levitated upwards and stared down at all of them.

"Spoke too soon," Sid muttered.

At that same moment the body jumped as well. The loss of the head's weight suddenly meant it was able to jump more easily, soaring higher into the air, and even as William flew to avoid it, the body jumped again, slamming straight into him.

From the looks of things, only the body seemed to be damageable now, while the head floated freely overhead. That didn't make the head any less dangerous, as it kept on firing lasers and bouncing fireballs from overhead.

William was barely able to land any attacks due to concentrating on keeping away from the body. That didn't mean it wasn't taking lots of damage – his friends were dealing the bulk of the damage, Meg casting Magnet Spheres and exploding fireballs from her Inferno Fork, and Sid's rockets blasted their way into Golem over and over again. Even the Witch Doctor was shooting darts from his Blowgun as quickly as he could.

Before too long the body had lost all of its life and fragmented into chunks of orange rock, dropping some items that looked like a pickaxe, a hatchet, a bracelet with an emblem depicting the sun attached to it, and what looked to be some purple beetle husks.

The floating head also fell, though it didn't break apart. It smashed onto the floor, impacting against the edge of the throne, and rolled across the room before friction eventually slowed it to a stop. It ended up facing William, and he couldn't be sure if it had done that on purpose or if it had just been a coincidence in physics.

"The Lord is all-powerful," the Golem spoke. "Once he learns of my demise... he will come for you."

Its eyes faded away one last time.