The next day was rather exciting, to say the least. The Changelings had been working tirelessly to get some basic nessesitys up and running, such as pluming for the restrooms and water flow for the farmlands. The efficiency in which they did their assigned jobs was so frighting that I had to ask the queen how much stamina a single changeling had. My answer was just a small chuckle and the word 'Enough.'

Apparently something else of note was that Dominic, who was still wearing the golem armor, was silently appointed as my assistant. It was mostly because he was around me a lot to begin with. Now personally, I didn't object to the choice, but I would liked to have chosen myself. Too late now, I suppose.

Anyway, the days agenda was simple: Check the Golem Creation Centers to see if anything needs repairs or needs to be replaced. Something interesting about the Golems that I use is that I don't directly have to craft them. The bodies can be mass produced, but I have to create the runes. Though I did find another loophole. Note that I said "create" instead of "carve" or "chisel". I really didn't expect it to work, but I can just stamp the runes onto the soft clay bodies of the Golems.

Of course, if I decide to heat them up to harden, I'd have to leave the stamps in them to avoid ruining the imprint. But that's why I decided to make ten of each rune stamp. I was explaining all this to Dominic, though sporadically since I still had to step over the rubble in the back streets, when my Golem to the Gryphon Kingdom nearly crashed in front of me.

To say the Golem was a bit banged up would be an understatement. The thing was damn near destroyed with bits of its armor punctured or completely gone. Before I could ask what happened, it started jittering and tried to speak. "Bandits northward. Fifty miles. Runes damaged." It seemed it was the speech and movement runes that were damaged, if it's jittering and two word sentences were anything to go by.

Suddenly, the entire Golem fell to pieces after stuttering one last sentence. "H-H-Heading here." That was all I needed to hear.

"Dominic, Gather some of the warriors from the hive. If those bandits are heading here, We must defend Elysium."

"Um, Sir? Why not just swarm them? There are over two thousand of us here and I'm fairly certain that some bandit group wouldn't last five minutes against all that."

"True, but I'd rather not risk it. We don't know who they are and for all we know, they're some type of infamous bandit group feared around the world... No swarming, this must be done with strategy..."

After turning towards him, I could see him contemplating my words. "Hmm... I shall do as you asked then. Would you rather I choose the experienced warriors or the unblooded?"

Assuming that 'Unblooded' meant the newest warriors, I decided a healthy mix was in order. "Get some of the experienced along with a good amount of the unblooded. A One to Two ratio should do fine."

"As you wish, Sir." With Dominic flying off, I considered my options for the city's defense.

"Hmmm... I'm gonna need some miniatures for this..."

Author's Note

I'm so sorry for this being such a short chapter. It's just hard to push through this block. ;.;

But at least i got something out of my head... Again, sorry for the shortness.