“Of course I know them. Everybody who deals with golems knows of their golem menagerie.” She leaned down and nudged the inert stone, sending Basila rolling onto her belly. “Though this one doesn’t seem functional.”
“It used to be, as I said. However, it was damaged, modified, repaired, and exposed to a handful of potions. Not necessarily in that order.”
“I see.” She pulled out her wand, pointed it at Basila, paused and glanced up to Eva for the first time since she noticed Eva was still in the classroom. And even now, she didn’t quite meet Eva’s eyes, choosing to stare more at her ear than anything else. “Do you mind if I perform a few diagnostic spells?”
Eva pulled her hands away from the table as she shook her head. “Not at all.”
The lines on Professor Price’s cheeks stretched as she smiled. Soon enough, colored ribbons filled the air around them. None of which Eva knew the meaning of despite having taken the class for a few months now. Brier Price was just the opposite. She hummed and hawed as each appeared with a swish of her wand. After a few minutes of scanning each, a single wave of her wand wiped away all but one red ribbon and one black ribbon.
“Alright. Found the primary problems. Neither of which should be too difficult to solve.”
That had Eva perking up. She was inordinately pleased that Basila wasn’t permanently broken. After the Elysium Order’s cathedral, she hadn’t been quite the same. And then a few weeks ago, she had ceased responding to anything entirely.
“The first problem,” she said, dragging the red ribbon over, “is that the magical reserves keeping the golem operational are nearly depleted. It has entered a low power state to preserve the imprinting. Now, I own a small nereid produced by the Rivas, so I know a little something about their quality. This should never have happened. There is enough magic crammed into these things to keep them operational for a century at least.” She ended with a pointed look at Eva. A look that she only maintained for a second or two before averting her eyes.
Eva, shrinking slightly in her seat, looked up to her. “Would a growth potion have caused that?”
“More mass to move around means more energy consumed,” she said with a slight hum. “I assume so.”
“But you said it is easy to fix.”
“I can show you how to refill it in a moment. Though that potion might explain the second issue—as I assume you shrank it back down. Perhaps while damaged?” She dragged over the black ribbon using the tip of her wand. “You repaired it admirably, but you missed one part. Or rather, you didn’t align the substitutiary locomotion array before beginning your repairs.”
Nothing she just said sounded familiar to Eva. Shrugging, Eva said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Substitutiary locomotion? Mystic power that’s far beyond the wildest notion?” Receiving no recognition from Eva, Professor Price made a slight noise in the back of her throat. “Right. We haven’t covered it in your class yet. But you couldn’t have repaired without knowing…” she trailed off, last sentence little more than a whisper.
“One of the modifications I made causes it to self-repair.”
“Ah. That’s an advanced bit of magic,” the professor said with a slight hum. For a moment, Eva thought she might have made a mistake. The ritual that caused it to repair was a blood-based one. But, after staring at the basilisk golem for a few moments, Professor Price shook her head. “Then before it self-repairs, straighten it out as much as possible. Better yet, don’t damage it again.”
With Basila repaired, Eva still needed to make a quick trip down to the alchemy labs for a few potions. But there were no rules against bringing in equipment to the event. So long as Basila counted as equipment, she felt prepared for whatever the task would be.
Commentary
“Today’s spectacular spectacle will be beginning shortly. The judges are being briefed on exactly how things are going to be going down. So far, neither we nor the contestants are aware of the specifics. However, that does not mean we are not prepared to bring you any action that may take place.”
Stepping away from the camera, the announcer waved his microphone-less hand towards an array of small flying machines. Several of them bobbed in the air at his gesture.
“Twenty drones flown by our team of experts will be out recording everything. Each has multiple cameras, operated independently by professionals. There will be a slight delay before the footage reaches your televisions. That delay is to allow our editors to select the best angles of any particular scene for your viewing enjoyment.”
