Author's Note

New and edited version by Wampior.

Chapter 1: Awoken The Dead Part I

Who am I? I am Golem. I am only a machine, built to serve my master. What am I? I am a Heavy Class Golem Mark IX Specialist. On my knowledge of Golems, I was supposed to be the newest type, being stronger and much more than the older models. Unlike other Golems, I was forged from the strongest metals known and fused with magic from the High Draconic Lords themselves. With estimated strength and power that could destroy an army, I was to be recognized with honor. Add my heavy armor and exoskeleton of Chaos Metal that cost a quarter of my master's treasury, I should be become a feared legend throughout the nineteen kingdoms. But there was one thing that even the Draconic Lords and Grand Forgers themselves feared about my creation, my final and distinctive ability. An ability that makes me more than any Golem known in creation. This trait making me stand out as unique and just as terrifying.

I had intelligence, a mind of my own, able to learn and understand the world around me. How? A complex spell that Queen Rin, her mother, and her grandmother had personally worked on. How long it took to create me, I do not know. I do know though that I was a top secret project that no one knew about, no one besides but a few of the Royal Family knew of it's existence, and only the Queens ever got to worked on the final spells to form my creation. Though I never remember the Queens or who I saw, for I was not even born yet. A fetus does not know who it's parents are, only the small world that I was being formed is all I can remember. To summarize the spell that created me, it is a never changing spell that recasts parts of itself to adapt and grow stronger. This leading to me learning and understanding the world I knew and that I was a being sentient.

But why was I created? For what purpose? Queen Rin, the youngest of the three High Draconequus Queens answered the question herself. "If you know your enemy down to the tips of the feather, you can win the battle before they took flight. But any amount of knowledge is useless if you can not understand the meaning behind it. That is one of many reasons why you have been created and put in this gem." After being tested and fed some needed magical power, I was taken to my newly forged body. When I was finished being built physically, my Chaos Soul Gem that held the massive, ever changing spell to keep me from falling apart. This magically forged gem was holding together my memories and knowledge together and forming new ones. But there were some things added to me as I gained my new body. I was given the standard GPKG (Golem Protocol Knowledge Gem), having it fused into my Chaos Soul Gem.

This ~~forcing~~ allowing me to fully obey and abide by my Queen's wishes and anyone else that was trusted by the Queens. But it also gave me the ability to fully know how to use my body. With my new trainers being a few Draconic Lords and some of the Grand Forgers, Queen Rin left me, hopefully to stop a great war that could destroy the world. But I was told not to care and so I did, not caring as that was my Queen's job, not mine. When she did take leave, I was tested and trained for the equivalent of 2 months. I, having pitch perfect memory, was learning quicker than they could teach, thus making me skilled in CQC and everything else they taught me. I also learned about my metallic body and how to use weaponry. But besides the Grand Forger's bitter attitudes to me, I eventually grew on them, gaining their trust. With trust earned, they in turn taught me some skills. How to use forges and fixing myself was a few to name off, but all of this mattered none now.

I was then put into this "protective" metal box and taken to my Draconequus Queen. I was to be taken and given honoring titles as I would officially serve for my young Queen. But all feels lost as I have been in deep slumber for too long, now as this box is becoming my coffin. I was supposed to serve my mistress under the Banner of Blood and Iron! Any being under my Queen's oath and was a powerful warrior belonged in the Banner of Blood and Iron. They stood out as her bloody and brutal warriors and fought in her name. Yet I was left alone, left in deep slumber as my magic was soon to deplete if I stayed active. And even while sleeping, my energy was still draining, even at a much slower rate, I was soon to power completely off... And never wake again.

But this was not the end, I then was woken to see that my coffin... The doors were being opened! I began to see the light once again, as my vision was fuzzed with ages of slumber. I expected to see my Draconequus Queen, opening the metal package and pleased to see her warrior here at last. But I was met with two unknown creatures stood before me. They were black insest like animals that stood on four legs with a curved horn on their head and bug like wings on their backs. They were gawking at me as I stood in the coffin shaped box. I then saw something in the back, waking me up quicker as I readied for battle. There was a fully clad Black Knight with two old swords stabbed into his armored chest, laying on the ground with no signs of life emanating from him. The Black Knights were the Queen's personal guards! They were in charge of bring me to my mistress. These little bugs had killed my master's guard and were going to try the same with me!

Without any warning, I quickly grabbed both of their small heads and began draining them of their magic and life force. Green mist began fuming from the bugs and danced around my fingers as I breathed in all of their neon blood, magic, and soul. It tasted so good to feast on the living rather than the dead animals I was given. It was my first meal in what felt like decades of starvation. In a few moments, the bugs were nothing more than empty husks of life and magic, completely drained but a shell of their former self. I dropped the empty and shrunken shells as they broke upon impact like glass. Without care, I slowly moved my body out of the coffin and began looking around the room. I began to stretch my once stone stiff body, bringing back my full momentum of movement. I then saw another coffin sized box, around the same size as the one I had slept in. It had dents and metal crowbar trying to pry it open, I simply used my key and found my equipment in prime.

I first grabbed and strapped on my modified Jetpack. My memories rushed in as I began to remember on what and how to use it. Unlike normal Jetpacks that Lightweight Class Golems used to jump far distances, this one was meant for aiding in avoiding and attacking enemies. When running with the aid of the modified Jetpack, I could ram right through clusters of armed knights and crash through walls with ease. Or I could even use the pack to dash away from danger and avoid deadly blows that could cause major harm. That is, if there was anything that could even harm let alone dent my powerful armor. After the Jetpack had finished connecting and locking onto my armor, I began checking to see if it still works. I was displeased to find that the Jetpack's own Power Gems were long dead and dry of any magic. They needed a lot to be fully recharged and more just to activate the dormant spells and runes again.

I put that to my list of things to do as I grabbed my custom made, deadly monster killing weapon. It was a huge sword with a tip that was slanted to the end of the handle. But the blade was unlike anything ever made before. Unlike normal swords, it was not a solid sharp blade, but a machine like weapon like myself. It was a very thick, one sided blade with a gap between the foot and a half razor sharp blade and ended two feet from the dull hilt. In the gape was a chain with small yet razor sharp spikes. When activated, the chain moved in an oval within the sword at a pace fast enough to tear flesh, bone, and some metals apart like butter with a burning knife. But just like my Jetpack, It was completely empty and needed to be recharged.

I held the Chaos Metal forged sword, still ready to do it's job even when drained of power. Speaking of power, I needed more. Those small bugs were no meal, far from it. If I was to be fully functional again, I would need a thousands of these small bugs just to replenish my body to be fully operational. I slid the sword on left side as it magically hooked on my sword like a magnetic sheath. I began to hear buzzing off down the hall as I began to hid behind a create. Two more came in, these ones much bigger as they were reaching to my waist rather from my knee like the two before. They were the same like the smaller ones, just bigger and more ripe with magic. As they investigated the dead brittle husks of their friends, I silently walked behind them. Suddenly, I grabbed them both by the back of their necks. Before they could warn others or summon magic, I absorbed their life essence and all magic that they possessed in them. These ones were much more filling as felt like I devoured 30 of the smaller ones from these two. Like the smaller ones, they fell lightly as they too were empty and devoid of any life.

They didn't shatter like the first two, just creaked into splinters upon meeting the floor. Feeling much stronger, I began walking the unknown halls quietly as I was in search for my Queen and sources of food. But on my travel, I found a few of dead Black Knights, looking like they had been rotting for thousands of years. This worried me that while I was being shipped to Queen Rin, this place was attacked, but how long was I stuck down here? I stopped walking as I then realized that if those bodies were thousands of years old, then my Queen may also be long dead too. As I began to comprehend this, other thoughts on what I should do. If there was truly no one to give me orders... But I was built to serve her and her trusted. How was I going to serve my master if she was dead? Am I... Free of their command?

No, I was entitled to serve my queen and become a member in Banner of Blood and Iron! And members of the Blood and Iron kill those who oppose her rule. These bugs have infested one of her great cities and desecrated her Knights! Even though she may not live, I was built to serve her, and to serve the queen, is to serve the country. Even though I am not officially a member of Blood and Iron, I will oblige to her rightful words of law. Now as these bugs have stolen her land, it is my rightful duty to eradicate all of them. With that said in mind, I continued to wearily walk, searching for my next source of energy. I stalked through the hallways, encountering some armed yet unsuspecting prey, easily absorbing their soul to fuel my body.

After encountering and devouring another group of five, my CSG (Chaos Soul Gem) had finally powered up. After ambushing a few more groups of armed bugs, I had enough Soul Power to activate the other parts of the magically forged gem. Yet I have no time to waste, 10 hours is all I have left until I'll power down into stasis. But now I can convert newly taken Soul Power to other parts of my body, either storing it into powering my Chainsword or Jetpack. If both were full, I could just keep the Soul Power in my CSG to improve the energy in my power attacks or agility. But right now, I needed to stay alive and refuel, that was top priority.

After taking another turn, I found an unlocked door. I gently opened it to find over 50 fully grown Horse Bugs, all of them thankfully sleeping in makeshift beds as they were all bandaged in white wrapping. I have now dubbed them that, at least, until I learn their species’ true name. Even though they only reached to my waist, it was still a fitting name that I quite liked. I quietly and silently absorbed each one, doing my best not to wake the others as I increased my CSG power supply. I also began powering my Chainsword as I finished taking the last one. I then was about to walk out of the room's other door when I heard a group of hoofsteps marching towards that door. Quickly thinking, I saw a pile of discarded corpses of Black Knights. I quickly buried myself in the pile, covering myself as much as I could. I leaned my head towards the door as I left my body relax on the stone floor.

The doors then opened to reveal what looked like a group of 4 heavily armored guards, 6 normal ones that looked like caretakers I saw at the forge, and lastly one that looked like their leader. The leader was the tallest of them all as she could reach up to my helmet if counting the horn. She had a long dark gray mane with two strikes of purple and silver. The long mane was covering half of her face as I could see one of her eyes that had a shade of dull orange and purple. In fact, she was the first to actually have pupils in her eyes. She then spoke with an echoing voice that slithered a bit like an angry snake. I began to decode the language with my magic, quickly matching her emotions with the words.

"What happened to my children?!" She yelled as she caught sight of my work, the rest of them looked over one of many empty husks of their fallen. All of them dead without a trace of being one with the living.

"My Queen, they look as if they were dead for ages." Stated one of the heavily armed guards.

"I can see that! Tell me what happened and have whoever did this to my own, defenseless changelings, to burn at my knees!" She screeched. One of these "Changeling" Caretakers began to examine the corpses near me. Her eyes became jittery as he looked back at his queen with worry.

"Well?" The queen said, persisting the caretaker to speak. The caretaker in turn began to tremble before speaking.

"It s-s-seems whoever did t-this had not only k-k-killed them, but absorbed their b-body mass as energy. I can't even trace a single speck of magical area or any traces of magic that once existed in any of them. But there's something else that scares me my queen." The caretaker said, not wanting to tell the last bit of her analysis.

"Spit it out H-83029." She demanded in a much darker tone. The numbered Changeling gulped before finally speaking up.

"It seems that there is a lacking in the body itself. This changeling's very soul is... For lack of better words.... Stolen. If there is no soul in the body, then it can't magically recycle with the world's magic. It is like something literally stole their body, magic and soul." The Changeling Caretaker said, casing the Changeling Queen to go wide eyed with surprise. Then her gaze became of interest.

"I never knew of such a way to absorb energy from another being." She stated, the gears in her head turning and thinking in deep thought.

"But that's the thing my Queen! It is impossible to absorb the very magic and soul at this scale! I-I'm sorry my queen, but there are no spells that could simply do this. This is the workings of something of legends." She said as she began to rambling on. I could only chuckle mentally as I knew I was very capable of that and much, much more. If what I was told was the truth from my Queen, my CSG was nearly limitless in holding both soul power and magic.

"Guards! I want this monster found at once! Scan every corner for it! It must have not wandered off far. You, go alert mother and the rest of the army! Now!" She demanded, quaking fear into their hearts of her servants. Though I didn't feel it, it was obvious enough the way the Changelings acted around their leader. Time to give them a taste of true fear. I instantly powered up my body, burst out of the pile and charged. Before they could blink, I quickly grabbed two caretaker changelings and quickly absorbed their essence. The Changeling Queen took another moment to process in what was happening as I smashed and absorbed the other caretakers. By now, she had grasped the situation she was in and ordered her guards to attack.

"KILL IT!" She screeched, the guards charging on command. Two of the heavily armored guards charged with their spears in telekinesis grasp. As expected, all of the iron tipped spears slashed and bent away upon impact as not even a scratch was formed on the Chaos Metal. This Chaos Metal was forged in the heart of a volcano as the Draconic Lords fused powerful magical spells into the rare metal in its molten stage. Hardening it after they shaped each and every part in perfect form, it was ready to be polished and built. The guards were in shock as I merely grabbed one of them, crushing it's heavy blue armor like copper as I absorbed his soul. The other guard fared the same fate as I crushed his armor and back with my boot, squashing it like the bug it was.

"FIRE!" The Bug Queen shouted, the other two guards lowing their heads and pointing their glowing horns at me. In an instant, both released beams of deadly Greenfire magics at my chest. I merely raised my arms in defense, taking the full blast of magical power. After ten more seconds of green filling my vision, I could see the horror on their faces as I was completely untouched by their magic. The funny thing is, Chaos Metal was not only the strongest and rarest metal in the world, but had had a unique quality that only gold and silvers had. Chaos Metal was it's own form of metal of being unaffected by magic as a solid. In fact, any and all forms of magic have no damaging effect on the hardened Chaos Metal. It was not a resistant like gold or some silvers, but an absorbent of magical energy. While they were shooting deadly Greenfire, I was having a buffet of magical energy being fed directly to my CSG.

Though it does have it's failings as the armor could only take so much. If taking more magic it can hold and absorb, it becomes weaker to physical attacks. As I said, it was like a sponge, being dry, it is solid, but the more magical energy it absorbs, the weaker and softer it become. Thus making me not an invincible killing giant if I was overloaded with magic. It would be weaker and I would take actual damage. But the thing that make this battle easy for me, is that these Changelings are using Greenfire Magic in a offensive combat. Greenfire Magic is completely useless in most combat castings such as fire spells. In fact, it was only good for illusions and used mostly by skilled thieves. The armored guards were, if anything, bewildered and horrified at how I just took on their rays of green flames. My armor’s strength only lowering by 6% and steadily rising back to full strength.

But the queen, oh, she was steaming with anger as I saw her magic radiating off of her like a molten lava in the dead of winter. She began to scream in anger as she shot volleys of magical attacks at me, all being in Greenfire category. And so my armor was holding, but this time, weakening as her magical blast were much stronger than the others. Now at 80% and decreasing in strength as magic absorption increased, I finally got in a combat stance. She then summoned a greatsword of magical fire, illuminating flames of purple and orange. With a crazed look, she then charged at me, aiming her sword at my chest. Before I dodged her Spellbound Sword, an idea came to mind on how to show who was the top warrior. I quickly absorbed as much magic in my chest as I could, thus strengthening my chest armor to full.

I stood still like a mounted target, giving the impression that I was in fear. Since pride and greed already corrupted her judgment, she continued to charge like a bull. She then drove her sword into my hardened chest with her crazed glee still plastered on her face. That smug look soon turned to absolute shock as I stood strong over her, unaffected by her summoned blade. The magically made blade just melted around my chest armor as her Swordbound Spell falls apart into gooey substance as it quickly dried up into ash. I then transferred the extra power boost into my equipment as I grabbed my swords. Before she could stutter out the impossible, I spoken in the first time I had in thousands of years.

"My turn." I said in a deep rumbling tone as I drove my sword into her belly. She gasped, her eyes wide open and pupils turned into pinpricks. She looked down to see my hand holding the blade driven into her gut. She looked up at me with a plea of forgiveness, her eyes screaming for relief. Pain was scattered across her snout as she was gasping for air. Tears began dripping down her cheek, as her breathing became more of gasping than getting air. Lowered myself to her height, leaning my head to her ear.

"Pain day" I rasped into her ear, activating my Chainsword as it began to saw through and cut up her insides. She screamed out as I gutted and ripped apart her insides and lower half to shreds. I then quickly finished as I left her lower half a bloody mess of neon green and bits of mangled flesh. Her insides were mush as she started bleeding a river on the floor. Now, most would leave her there and take care of the two guards, but I wanted her power to fuel my body even more. The good thing about souls is that they don't leave a corpse right as they die, usually still connected with the dead as their body deteriorates with their soul. I grabbed her black head with my bone crushing hands, absorbing her magic and soul. I felt my body quickly power up as she had more magic than all of the souls I had feasted on combined. If anything, this bug queen had surpassed my biggest meal I have ever had. And that meal was a young hydra attacking a nearby village. I began to feel more and more power coursing through my wires, I felt, I feel...

Glimpses of the past, memories from the unknown flooded my mind as emotions swirled around my head. I felt... I felt anger, the ability to hate another with more than being my enemy. I felt sadness, how much this Changeling had suffered to get where she is. More and more emotions flooded in with the memories as images overlapping each other, like a never ending painting of the past. Names and numbers instantly rushed in my mind as I was still processing how this was happening. The most I could gather was a name, her name. Venom Shade, Sub-Queen Changeling of Queen... Gray Star. How much hatred she had for that name, sickening and wanting to strangle anyone who mention that name. A name that belonged to a monster that only desired to torture her foes and cared little on wasting her subjects lives. But Venom Shade became the monster she so desperately wanted gone. What began as hopes to kill the beast known as Queen Gray Star, ended in her becoming the enemy she so desired to vanquish.

I quickly shunned all of this worthless knowledge out as I began to organize my mind. Locations, enemies, dangers, area, all the important things to know. As I began to sort through the attained memories, I somehow shot some burning red and white magical fire from my fingertips. This motion accidentally engulfing the one of the still stunned guards until he simmered into crisp black ashes. I was confused on how did I just use magic as the other quickly ran away, alerting the others. I didn't even know how to cast any spells, yet I had just burned one of those bugs into the wind! But I quickly pushed those thoughts away as I began to absorb all of the heaving magic in my armor. Fighting and taking this Changeling Queen had brought my armor strength down to 50%. Still sorting out the Changeling's memories, I gave myself an objective to achieve. If I was going to rid my Queen's Land of these bug, it was best to take the heads rather than the regrowable tails of these snake like pests.

"Queen Gray Star! I, Golem of Blood and Iron, warrior of Queen Rin's rightful rule! You and your kin must die." With that said, I marched, ready to do what I was built for. This day was going to be forever remembered in history as the first of many crusades against the Changeling Hives.