Die. Respawn. Repeat.

The worst part about fighting a golem is that it doesn't really have any emotions I can exploit. It's not like fighting Naru, who I can goad into anger pretty easily — or the harpies, who seemed focused on causing as much pain and misery in Cliffside as possible. As far as I can tell, these are either the natural defense mechanisms in the Fracture or an entirely new type of monster that I haven't fought before.

I'll find out soon enough. Color Drain.

This time, I pull on the color yellow. I don't know what it'll do, exactly, but the golem is colored like sand; yellow is the most dominant color. It oozes out of the construct into a puddle on the ground, leaving behind a stone-gray golem glowering down at me, raising a hand to smash me into the ground.

Slowly. So slowly that I can step out of the way, even without Triplestep. Mental Acceleration is helping, but it certainly looks for all the world like it's attacking me in slow motion. Part of me is almost tempted to see how hard the blow will be to block, with nearly all the velocity drained out of it, but considering I don't know exactly how long Color Drain lasts...

Yeah, no.

Now that I have the time to look at it — you know, without having to worry about getting my skull smashed in — I realize that it's a lot more intricate than I'd initially thought.

The golem is comprised of six individual carved blocks, attached to each other with nothing but Firmament. The central block looks almost like a processor of some kind — the design carved into it is intricate, starting from a gem held in the center of the chest and curling out towards each limb, with a particularly dense structure of curling lines leading towards the golem's head. Each limb is a single carved piece of stone, with not two but three joints that let it bend at unnatural angles.

I'm going to have to watch out for that.

Fortunately for me, it seems that this golem is the sole guardian I have to fight before entering the structures built into the side of the Fracture. I have no doubt there will be others, but I'm not sure I can handle a group of these, even with all the skills I've gained.

Since I have time now, though, I'm going to figure out its weaknesses. The most obvious target to exploit is the gem in the center of its chest.

Barrier. Crystallized Strength.

A shaped Barrier, formed into the shape of a spike; Crystallized Strength to fuel the raw power behind the blow. I Triplestep forward, aiming directly for the gem in the center—

—but instead of shattering it, my blow slips to the side, catching the corner of the seam where it's embedded instead. My blow is still powerful enough to chip away the stone, but it's not enough.

It's not surprising that a stone golem is durable, I suppose. I grit my teeth, hopping back, and spare a glance for the pool of yellow on the floor.

The color is oozing back, slowly but surely — not climbing back up the golem's leg like I'd expected, but sort of fading away from existence while the golem slowly regains its hue.

There goes my plans for bottling or barricading the color after I use Color Drain. There's a danger here, too. I can't let myself get used to any speed the golem fights at, because it's slowly going to get faster.

That's fine. Next target.

I could chip away at the stone around the gem-core and eventually pull it out, but it's going to take several blows for me to be able to do that, considering how little I was able to damage it. I go for the next most obvious target instead — the carved lines that carry Firmament to the head and limbs.

The cluster of lines heading towards the head, first and foremost. I rocket forward, this time powering myself with both Triplestep and Firestep; the secondary effect of Firestep isn't going to be useful here, considering it's made of stone and I doubt it has any guilt the Firmament flames can take advantage of, but the extra speed helps. The Barrier forms around my fist, and I slam my hand into the cluster of golden lines above the gem.

Once again, a small piece of stone breaks off. A golden light falters, flickering out.

I realize — as half the lines of gold turn abruptly red, and the gemstone snaps from blue to that same shade of angry crimson — that there was a second possibility.

I leap backwards, Mental Acceleration speeding me up just enough to react in time. The yellow on the floor fades out almost entirely — I can almost feel the golem's Firmament pulling, dragging back its speed and somehow enhancing it even further. There's a twist in the Firmament that feels almost like—

—It feels almost like it's using a skill.

Do these things have access to the Interface?

I don't have time to think about it, because it rockets towards me and it's all I can do to put up Barrier after Barrier. The golem smashes through two of them at once, halting only on the third and cracking the Firmament of it; I feel a commensurate ache in my mind. I'm straining my Firmament already.

It has eyes, I realize. They glow at me through the light of my Barrier, crackling a fierce burgundy red. They were just crevices in the stone, before, less noticeable than otherwise.

"Don't go for the crystal or the Firmament circuitry," Ahkelios supplies helpfully. "It makes them go berserk."

"You don't think you could've told me that before I did both those things?" I grit my teeth. I use a second Color Drain, but it feels like trying to squeeze water from a rock; the raw stuff of its Firmament is resisting me, somehow.

But it's not resisting me enough. I tug at it with raw willpower, trying to drain the red from it in the hopes that I can disable its berserker state.

The process is slow.

I have to keep dodging. There isn't that much space on the platform I'm on — basically about two lengths of a person — which means I have to be careful about where I'm dodging, too, lest I slip and fall into the chasm. I think it might actually be survivable, now, with appropriate use of Barriers and Second Wind, but I'd still really rather not fall down there.

Especially if Ahkelios himself didn't survive it, now that I think about it.

Triplestep and Firestep are almost dangerous to use in combination here. A step too far nearly brings me over the edge, and it's only a rapid Barrier behind my back that prevents me from falling over the edge; I use it to stabilize myself, and then I'm immediately forced to dive underneath an oncoming blow that smashes through the barrier —

— Wait.

I don't need to kill it.

We're on a platform that's about two lengths of a person. The golem itself is basically one-and-a-half lengths, launching itself about in a berserker rage, and it's carrying a hell of a lot of momentum with it. There's a sheer force of Firmament it uses to stop itself, to change directions.

Right now, it's stopped, right at the edge of the platform we're on. The abyss of the Fracture yawns precariously behind it. It's turning around to grab me.

I reach for the Firestep stone in my pocket.

I don't know what I'm doing, exactly. I haven't tested these stones, and I don't know what they do; if it didn't take me so much energy to imbue, it would've been better for me to test it out with Mari. It's possible that all I'm going to do is speed it up, and that'll spell a death for me, a fate I'm really hoping to avoid. I want to go back to the Hotspot this loop, see if Naru's still there.

But also...

I smash the stone against its fist as it spins towards me, and it keeps spinning.

Firestep Firmament spreads into the golem. Part of that, I think, is the construction of the golem itself — those lines carved into its body are specifically made to carry Firmament, and it's almost immediately overtaken by Firestep. Flames flare to life around it, but they don't do anything to the golem.

What does do something to the golem is the fact that it no longer has the Firmament to stop itself. Pure Firestep courses through it, and it spins even faster; I have to take a step back, to avoid being hit...

But a piece of the ledge crumbles. The golem misses a step on the second spin, trying desperately to stay stable.

It tips, and it falls.

In the depths of the Fracture, about thirty seconds after it tips off the edge, I see a sharp flash of light. Shortly after that, an echoing bang ripples up the walls of the Fracture, triggering a small avalanche of stone to fall from the more fragile ledges. One of them, I think, falls apart entirely.

[ You have defeated a Fractured Guardian (Rank D)! +21 Strength credits. +17 Durability credits. +15 Reflex credits. +30 Speed credits. +10 Firmament credits. ]

A Fractured Guardian. And less credits than I'd hoped, for all that I'd trained with Mari.

Something about that name tugs at my brain. I almost try to reach out to it with Temporal Fragment before I realize its remains are far out of reach. Ahkelios peers over my shoulder, still half-clinging to my hair.

"I wish I'd thought of that when fighting them," he remarks.

"How did you beat them, then?" I'm curious. Ahkelios is silent for a moment, then shakes his head slightly.

"I don't remember," he says. His voice is soft — missing a lot of its usual cheer. Not for the first time, I realize that missing so many of his memories, and being aware of it, has to be uncomfortable for him.

I wonder if that's why he was so silent during the battle. He'd been so eager to help when it was against Naru, but I'd barely heard anything from him during this fight.

"Is there anything you do remember about the Fracture?" I ask. I try to keep my voice gentle. "Anything at all."

"There's something really deep down." Ahkelios' voice is uncertain. "Really... really deep. I don't think you should go that deep. Not yet."

"The Fracture is just a Rank C danger, isn't it?" Not that I'm capable of handling a Rank C just yet, but the way Ahkelios is talking about it...

"There are levels to it. If you go deeper, you'll discover a deeper section." Ahkelios shakes his head quickly, and clings tighter to me. "There's something special about the Fracture. I know I discovered something, I just... I don't remember what. Was it the first location you found?"

"It was." I'd been traveling at random, I'm pretty sure, but from the look on Ahkelios' face...

Ahkelios is silent for a moment. "...Stick to the upper level. The part you want is a translation stone. It's in one of the rooms in the northern section of the Fracture. I think there are some traps, but I don't remember what they are."

He trails off, and then more quietly, he adds: "I'm sorry I can't help more."

"Hey, it's fine. We'll go look for some plants for you when we get out of here, alright?" I say. He brightens a little at my words, but not completely.

"You have more important things to worry about," he says.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want to die to something stupid because I didn't take five minutes to relax." My tone is dry. I've been there before. Not the dying part, obviously.

Ahkelios fidgets. "Let's focus on the Fracture for now. I'll try... I'll try to be more helpful."

I watch him for a moment. "Would you prefer it if I dismissed you? I—"

"No!" Ahkelios sounds almost panicked at the thought, and I pause. "No. I'll be fine. I need to face this."

"...If you say so." I'm concerned, but I'll respect his wishes.

The Fracture looms in front of me. For the first time, I'm standing in the depths of it — so to speak — and I'm not dead. I can feel the walls radiating with accumulated heat. The makeshift homes built into its sides practically beckon me forward.

It's not immediately obvious, but buried among the heat and the sand and the dust...

I sense Firmament. Tiny sparks of it, scattered all throughout the ruins.

"Come on, Ahkelios," I say. The headache of Firmament overuse is already starting to dissipate — I didn't push myself too far, that time. "Let's see if anyone's home."

That, and I want to bank some credits. I've got more than enough by now, after all.