text: Author's note: I am utilizing the word "vacation" as more of a metaphor in this story, albeit one that involves bonds. "An automaton, Tholan! Imagine, an actual walking artifact of the last war of the world!" "Yes, Merchen, it's all amazing, but automatons are walking weapons! We need to assess this anomaly, and we either subdue or destroy it." "Destroy-ah!" Merchen caught himself before he heavily joined the dirt with a root that nearly tripped him. "Destroy an artifact? One that had soldiers quake with fear? We should report this to Garrold!" Merchen had not realized that Tholan stopped earlier, but he slowed his pace when the sentinel was not at his side. Turning, he noticed that Tholan was not even looking ahead, but at the ground. Merchen ran to him. "Tholan?" Tholan looked back at Merchen. "If this is an automaton, we must not lead it back to our community. The constructs were obstructs to soldiers, what chance will we have?" "But Tholan, we're Moon-Keepers! Our strength-" "-would not be enough against such weapons!" Tholan finally looked upon Merchen, whom was taken aback by the interruption. "What if it was carrying more than mere weaponry? You saw the tank; it could be harboring a bomb!" This sudden possibility left both quiet. Even the forest seemed to try and grasp the vague concept of silence so as to listen to any further insight of the intruder currently ahead of the two Patrollers. Merchen sighed and carefully placed a hand on Tholan's right shoulder. "You're right, I'm sorry. I don't want to endanger anyone." "It's fine", Tholan acknowledged. "But we still need to find a way to destroy it. While our strength alone won't stop its weaponry, we could still try to get close enough and see if we can rip it to shreds. But that will be a last resort; we'll have to see if we can keep it contained. We could use the spears, find rocks and pummel it, exhaust it, but we must check to see if we can contain it first!" Tholan looked at Merchen, a harsh determination plastering as a mask to hide a new fear that he never knew until recently. Merchen had long lost his mask of satire, and his face of confusion broadcasted itself loud and clear. Tholan turned from him, stating, "Lindia is pregnant. I...I just..." "You want to do what any father would do", Merchen finished. He looked in the direction from where the armored "child" had ran off unto, and then smiled. "So, 'Dad', let's go find where this thing went, and we'll see if we can keep it still at least." Hefting his spear, Merchen picked up the pace as he picked up the scent of the iron contraption moving in its current trajectory. Tholan also smiled, and followed suit. As the trees gathered behind his body, the thought came forward before his eyes; he will be a father soon. His child will be raised in this dangerous world, and he would need to be there for his son or daughter...or maybe twins? The imagination of what could be was suddenly swept away by the image of what was, and Tholan slowed down behind Merchen as the forest gave way to a caldera. Where more trees should have stood, the edge dropped fifteen cubits into a barren dirt bowl meeting the pair. The abrupt canvas was completed with what could only be described as a compact city of giant cylinders and great patterns of beams woven amongst the median. Dotting around the construct, great mechanical wonders upon wheels and tracts rested on the dirt like giant sleeping cattle, awaiting the day that someone would come and stir them into action. But where was the child? Tholan sniffed the air, catching the aroma of iron and those strange chemicals. The scent was right in front of them, going down until... There he was! Tholan squinted. The child was in front of one of those giant tanks, having set the green crystal down about nine cubits to its left; for some reason, he was sitting down and motionless. He looked around; was this being waiting for something? The only other creatures here, aside from him and Merchen, were a flock of birds that made a home atop the roof of this strange building. Clack-Clack-Clack-Clack. A chorus of metal tapping metal echoed from the caldera, as if a great metal insect was crawling up the giant tank. A few seconds later, the analogy just about came true, as a giant mechanical centipede circled the middle circumference of the construct, its long appendages ending in claws that gripped like human hands. It stopped, turning a triangular head in the direction of the child, whipping its thin antenna forward and circling like a rapier practitioner. Without warning, it lunged! Before anyone else could react, it landed a body's length from the child, the wires still circling, and Tholan could see its eyes; bright-red and glass-like, just as granted upon the child plus two more. It crawled to the small automaton, halting as it shifted its head left to right. The green crystal seemed to finally draw its attention, as it moved towards it instead, only pausing as a flock of birds flew overhead; it regarded such, reacting initially as if it were being attacked, but then observed in cautious discernment before returning to the green crystal. Tholan backed up, reaching out only to grab Merchen and pull him away. Merchen, not knowing Tholan's intentions, yelped and kicked some of the earth down into the pit where the Iron Demon resided. A great hiss erupted from the demon, resounding within its vicinity, and Tholan practically yanked Merchen out of sight and onto the ground. Thud-thud-thud-thud! That same pattern of legs once scaling the metal wall was now digging hurriedly into the ground and heading their way, closing in as it scaled the dirt wall of the caldera, less than a minute from overcoming them. "Change!" Tholan managed to whisper to Merchen. Before being inquired, Tholan practically screamed, "CHANGE!" Several seconds later, the Iron Demon appeared at the rim, and it hoisted its full frame over and crawled forward. As big as it appeared from down below, it now stood with the length of a tree and a head higher than a house, a hundred legs moving underneath its gargantuan segregated-shell form. It paused, examining the surroundings from the foliage to the two wolf-like creatures staring at it, one of them baring its fangs. Another hiss erupted from the monstrosity's mechanical mandibles, curt and quieter than before. It turned and then headed back down the dirt wall. When a minute had passed, both Tholan and Merchen turned back to their original forms. "Tholan!" murmured Merchen. "That thing could have killed us! Why did you have us change and remain still?" Tholan muttered back, "It didn't attack anything that wasn't threatening it, nor did it attack the birds. I took a gamble that it doesn't go after animals, or what it perceives as an animal." He noted Merchen's frown but continued looking back at the caldera. "Regardless, this just went from bad to worse. You should go and report back to Garrold." "The hell I will!" Merchen growled. "We're in too deep, and I can't leave you alone with the automaton and that...thing." Tholan was about to argue, but then realized that their chances would be better if one watched the other's back. It was now two and two. But what was so significant about that dark-green crystal? Picking up their spears, both Tholan and Merchen walked back to the rim. All clear; even the little automaton had vanished. Tholan signalled to crawl forward quickly and quietly as real wolves would, and the two of them set for the ominous structure in the center of what could be designated "Hell on Earth".