The Last Sand Golem

hed for the time when the empire was still standing, to a time when he still had a purpose… but the millions of shooting stars never fulfilled his wish. However, he continued to make wishes as the stars continue to whiz past.

…

A few days passed.

The soldier was now standing in front of a lone dried-up tree. Placing a hand on the dry bark it crumbled down. Staring blankly at the husk for a bit, he continued to walk under the scorching sun. The rivers dried up as the dry season arrived. It was almost the start of a new year.

The few rivers that went through the lands were largely man-made and with no one taking care of them, they slowly dried up. But a few still stand till now making life around them abundant.

So planning his next destination, #11077 took off towards the Godali river in search of more sand crystals.

A month passed.

During his march, he collected enough energy to restore vital sand and core sand back to 100% except for energy which is at 74%.

Now at a hill overseeing the Godali river, #11077 saw the many diverse vegetation and wildlife surrounding the water source. Even during the day the animals and plants are outside. He could see a few canis resting underneath a guidetree, while the pups were play fighting with each other.

The scenery was a good chance of the usual monotonous sight. The golem slowly desendet towards the river.

The sandy floor slowly became patches of grass as he walked closer to the river. A few curious animals looked toward the newcomer but otherwise ignored him. The sand golem having stored up enough energy, for now, searching for a comfortable spot under a tree. Finding a particular large guidetree he sat under it and rested his back against the bark.

It was time to do some maintenance work on the core and system.

[Auto defense mode is active!]

The sand golems body turned rigid as small sand spikes formed on his armor. His senses turned off as he sinks into nothingness.

[Runing diagostic scan!]

[Searching…]

[Searching…]

[Searching…]

[Problems found: Memory storage at 102%! Emotion stabilizer unstable!]

[Searching for solutions…]

[Searching…]

[Searching…]

[Solution found!]

[Deleting unnecessary memories!]

[Memory storage 102%…]

[Memory storage 101%…]

[Memory storage 100%…]

[Memory storage 99%…]

…

[Memory storage 71%…]

[Memory storage out of critical range!]

[Emotion stabilizer stable!]

The soldiers core didn´t have this pressure in his core anymore and was running at top condition again.

[Auto defense mode deactivated!]

The spikes retreaded again, but #11077 sat there unmoving. the birds in the tree chirped above him and the sounds of the flowing river filled his senses again. As he sat there a few curious canis pups walked towards #11077. They waged their tails as he turned his head towards them. the circled him and yelped but otherwise stayed a few paces away. Their parents watched them carefully, but otherwise let their pups do as they pleased.

#11077 slowly raised a hand towards them, carefully to not scare them off. The pups backed off slightly and sniffed the air. Smelling no thread the bravest one out of the group walked towards the hand and sniffed it. A few grains of sand went into the nose, and the pup turned its head and sneezed a few times. It growled at the outstretched hand but seeing no reaction it just huffed and sat beside the tree, under the shade.

#11077 watched the pups behavior, even if it was a wild animal, the pups still behaved quite docile and naive. Not knowing that the sand golem could kill everything in this area.

After a few minutes of watching the pups play around him, the mother barked ordering them to go back.

Seeing the pups walk away, he took it as queue to finally collect some energy crystals again. Walking towards the river he searched for energy sources. A few places lit up in the sea, indicating some fish inside.

Searching the shore he immediately found a small crystal, sadly it had too many impurities inside to be useful. It would only do more harm to the core than good. So throwing it into the river he saw a giant plated fish swim towards the sinking gem and gulp it down before disappearing back into the river.

The rest of the day was spent collecting energy. The river carried many crystals inland and so it didn take long to top the golems energy reserve back to full.

Night time came but #11077 still stayed awake. With full energy and plenty of energy crystals around the riverside, he watched the hunters emerging, and they were hungry. The guidetrees lit up as the fluorescent leaves shone in a pale golden light. They guided lost travelers toward water during the night, as they only grow near large water sources. The night became just a little bit brighter.