“What are you going to do today… to set you apart? How much are you going to give… to set yourself apart from the competition? What legacy… do you want to leave behind? It all comes down to this… right here, right now.”

  Pepper listened as the motivational speaker finished his speech while an upbeat rhythm played along with it. He had taken a quick break and was stretching his hands out after they had started to cramp up. The small spaces of the interior workings of Nightmare Mala was still a struggle to work inside.

  The final phrase of the motivational speech resonated within him and he wiped the few beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead. He took a deep breath and plunged his hands back inside the construct. He felt the small Allen key he had left inside the compartment and wrapped his fingers around it. A firm squeeze and he continued to pull as hard as he could in the awkward angle.

  To his surprise the door swung open and he looked over to see Wilson walk in. “What’s up Squints. Thanks for not startling me this time.”

  “I will admit that it is certainly different having to remind myself that I should make more noise to warn people I am around.”

  Pepper couldn’t directly see his roommate anymore for his eyes had returned to glancing inside his golem. He did mentally picture the deadpan face that Wilson was more than likely making and the image made him grin. “I figured you would be playing a TCG match online, what brings you by?”

  Pepper turned to see Wilson was slowly approaching him. “I would be, but I broke another keyboard and am waiting for a replacement.” The response caused Pepper to smile and roll his eyes. Go figure. He thought to himself, but Wilson’s next statement is what really caught him off guard. “I brought something for you.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah…”

  Pepper felt the final pull on the Allen key would do the trick and then detached the tool free. He leaned back to see a small box was in Wilson’s hand and being presented to him in the motion of a gift. A quick toss sent the Allen key clanking on the metal work bench off to the side. Pepper began to take a few steps down from the metal mechanics platform he had positioned off to the side of his golem.

  He took hold of the box and hesitated. A quick glance to see the sincerity in Wilson’s eyes. There was a flash of a second when Wilson shifted his gaze and the two locked onto one another. There was a small grin on Wilson’s face, but that quickly faded away and his gaze shifted away once he placed the box in Pepper’s hand.

  Pepper watched Wilson slowly step away and take a seat next to Amprage. His metal familiar wagging his tail and giving his newly acquired company a dog faced smile. He looked back at the box and slowly cracked open the lid. There inside lay a deep purple crystal.

  Pepper’s eyes widened and his weak fingers reached inside to retrieve the gift. He lifted it up to look at it through the light of the workshop. A faint glow of royal purple welcomed his eyes as he looked over every jagged edges. The bottom edge had a metal base with a PCEI connection port.

  “Are you serious?” He asked. He instinctively knew the item wedged between his fingers was a fae crystal. He had never seen a purple one, and had only seen a few random images of the items through Golem Chat forums, but purple was one he certainly had never seen before. “I… I can’t accept this.”

  “Well, you’re going to, because it’s yours.” Wilson stated. He quickly adjusted his glasses back up higher on his nose.

  “Squints… this thing had to have cost you quiet a bit.”

  “Not really… my dad owns the quarry that harvests them. I randomly found that one years ago. I have kept it as good luck ever since.”

  There was a brief pause when he realized. Of all the random and odd pieces of information he knew about his roommate, he didn’t know much about Wilson’s family. The only things that he consistently knew of was how terribly they had treated him. The neglect. The emotional and mental impact that all had on him.

  “Still Squints… this thing has to be worth… like, a lot.”

  He could just make out a small huff from his roommate. “It’s actually very small in comparison to the gift you gave me.”

  Gift? His mind flashed through his memory bank until it clicked. The trading card. “Well sentimental value can never be…”

  “That card is currently selling for 47,500 FLEX.”

  Pepper dry coughed and shot his free hand out, grabbing hold of the hand railing as tight as he could. He took a deep breath and felt his eyes slowly blink. “I’m sorry… did you say, 47,500 FLEX?”

  “On the low end yeah. The high end is something crazy like 63,215 FLEX.”

  Pepper was happy that he was sitting down, but even then, he felt the room start to spin around him. He slowly placed the fae crystal back inside the box. His hand started to shake and he grabbed hold of his face. What the literal…

  “Dad… are you okay? You’re heart rate is through the roof right now?” Amprage asked.

  “Yeah Amp… I’ll… I’ll be alright. I just need a minute… or maybe even a lifetime to think this over.”

  “Okay, I’ll set a reminder to tell you every year about this moment.”

  “Nope!” Pepper immediately cut off his familiar. “I don’t need that… ever…. This moment is hard enough to deal with.”

  Wilson then piped back in. “Do you want the card back? You know, now that you know just how rare and valuable it is?”

  Pepper swallowed and for a brief moment, he felt his heart rip in two. A temptation swelling deep within him to ask for the card back. That amount of money was of such significance that it could seriously provide a nest egg like no other. Hell, he could even build 3 Mala’s for that price.

  The more is mind wondered about the possibility that faster he erased the thought and stopped hesitating. “What? No way man. I’m… It just really surprised me with how much cards could be. That’s all. I am happy I got to pull it, but even more happy that I could be the one to gift it to you.”

  He looked up and saw a small smile appear on Squints face. “Thanks Pepper.”

  All he wanted to do in that moment was change the subject, and quick. “Hey… I know Marcus is probably going to hire that company to work on his golem. Looks like it will be a last minute job. No surprise there. But… what about you? Aren’t you going to work on yours?” He motioned with his head to the large crate behind them that remained unopened.

  “Oh… there is really no need. Cube is ready to morph into Regional size whenever I need it to.”

  “I’m sorry… but what was that?”

  Wilson gave Amprage a small pat on his metal head and then stood up and began to walk over to the wooden crate. Pepper watched curiously as Wilson looked throughout the area, but then found a pry bar laying nearby. He grabbed hold of it and started to wedge it into the side seem connecting the two closest sides together. Pepper could hear the grunts of struggle as his tiny frame continued to try and pry the pieces apart.

  “Need a hand?”

  He listened through Wilson’s gritted teeth and labored breath. “Yes… please.”

  Pepper chuckled and made his way over, placing the fae crystal in his pocket. He shooed Wilson away and took hold of the crowbar. A firm pull and a strong rotation in his hips and the wood creaked and then squawked with life as the pieces separated. Pepper grabbed hold of the frame and pulled, separating the two pieces apart.

  It only took less than a minute or two, and now Wilson’s golem was free from its’ confines. Pepper looked and was surprised to see his reflection staring back at him. He took a few steps back to see the high polished black finish completely covering the entire surface. The golem truly was a large cube. Pepper was surprised when he realized there had been no additional padding besides a few extra sheets of cardboard. The corrugated fiberboard had been wedged between the golem’s high polished surface and the wooden crate it was transported in.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The other thing that Pepper now noticed once he stood back a few feet, was that it appeared seamless. He stepped back closer to the cube and had to strain his eyes in order to see the faintest lines of separation which ran vertically. Each line appeared to be precisely spaced two inches from the other. “Whoa, this is pretty cool Squints… but how does…”

  “Step back.” Wilson instructed him.

  Pepper turned to see that Wilson held a control module in his hands. “Is that a Stingray 7?”

  “Yup.”

  Pepper was dumbfounded to see the controller being utilized. He couldn’t help but think of the device as archaic. The controllers were quickly abandoned mid way through the first season of competition in the Golem League.

  They had originally been modeled after old video game consoles. Pepper admitted the few that he had handled were comfortable and naturally fit in your hands when you held them. Their downside was in not being able to handle the complex configurations that the rune cards allowed for.

  “Why in the world are you using a Stingray 7? Did you steal that out of a museum or something? Ha!” Pepper continued his laugh until he saw the reaction on Wilson’s face.

  “No… I just like it. That and I don’t need to do a lot of configurations in mid battle.” Wilson paused and though he was already looking down at the ground, Pepper felt like he could sense that his roommate was re-living old memories.

  It was then in that moment that Pepper realized his reaction could easily be taken as one of being a bully. A teasing that Wilson had endured through a hundred times before and certainly didn’t need another instance to add to his list. He cleared his throat and tried to change course. “Well, that’s cool that you don’t have to worry about it and can remain focused on the match at hand. I would have never guessed to use an original controller like that. Who knows Squints, you may be onto something there.” He leaned over and gave Wilson a reassuring nudge on the shoulder.

  “Thanks.” There was just enough of an uptick in Wilson’s voice that Pepper felt his effort had been a success.

  “Well, come on! Let’s power this bad… cube up and see what it can do.” Pepper exclaimed and he energetic clapped his hands together and started to rub them aggressively with excitement.

  “Uhh… okay.”

  Wilson seemed to pause but then pressed the center button on the controller. A second later the cube began to buzz to life. Pepper smiled and then crossed his arms as he looked on. It only took a few seconds later and a central column began to rise upwards from the cube.

  Pepper’s eyes slowly grew wider as the column continued to rise upwards. The golem’s height stopped just before it touched the ceiling of the workshop. The exterior portions of the cube had now formed a base of two legs, and somewhere along the way of its morphing had generated two thin arms extending out from the central column.

  “Hhh…how is this even possible?” Pepper asked in disbelief.

  The entire golem looked more like a highly polished stick figure than it did a battle hardened competitor. Each of the pieces looked to be a 2 inch by 2 inch in depth and width, but was roughly 2.5 to 3 feet in length. He couldn’t help but notice how some of the pieces stacked on top of one another to make their length longer. He quickly leaned his head and noticed the pieces would stack one on top of the other to stack their thickness and density.

  “Seriously Squints… this thing is nuts.” Pepper commented while still being fixated by the design.

  “Thanks. I use magnetism to keep each rod together, but that is also what allows me to change the physical structure of cube. Granted… if I were to ever move on past the Regional League I would have to add onto cube to grant them the ability to become larger to meet size requirements. But… that won’t happen.”

  The last part didn’t escape Pepper and he immediately felt sad for his roommate having such a negative thought. “Why do you say that Squints. You have just as much of a shot to progress onward as any of us do.”

  Wilson shrugged his shoulders. “Not really… I only have a 12% chance of winning enough matches in the Regional League to be qualified for advancing, but a 3% chance of being offered a spot on a guild or being sponsored.”

  “How did you come to that conclusion?”

  “Well… I did an in depth analysis of everyone who registered for the invitational. Their win / loss ratio, along with their summarized fighting style, attack combinations, material configurations, popularity amongst fans and overall level of charisma.”

  Wilson paused and Pepper was still curious about why his roommate would be evaluated at such a low level. “Okay…” He drew out his response to draw his roommate into explaining further.

  “Well… cube is highly ranked in attack combinations. I’ve practically setup custom button configurations on my Stingray 7 command module. So, I never really am just launching one attack, but a series of attacks in rapid succession. The fact that cube is a pure melee fighting golem allows me to have a high energy efficiency rating.

  “But, the attack combinations being a strength is also a weakness. It doesn’t allow me to have room for adapting to a changing environment. Besides have a run defense, I’m heavily exposed to gravity attacks. Additionally, the attack and movement combinations lock me into limited mobility options.” Wilson stopped and moved his glasses up higher on his nose. He looked up at his golem and then pressed the central button which began to process of it retracting back into a solid cube structure.

  “Yeah, but Squints… I mean, you’ve clearly gotten this far. That tells me you at least know what you’re doing. You still have a chance to…”

  To Pepper’s surprise, Wilson cut him off. “You’re still forgetting the popularity amongst fans. I’m in the bottom 5 out of the 212 gladiators who will be competing in the invitational. Being in the bottom 2.35% doesn’t help.”

  Though Wilson spoke in his normal monotone and emotionless voice, he couldn’t help but get angry at the negative label he was placing on himself. “What difference does that make Squints? Come on, you got this. That is just a random statistic and has no bearing on whether or not you’ll get accepted.”

  Wilson reached up and placed his Stingray 7 on top of the cube. “Pepper… do you know how many followers you have on Golem Chat?”

  The question caught him off guard and Pepper stopped to think about it. He had stopped checking his Golem Chat account due to the increased attention he had been getting. In that moment he did his best to estimate it based off the numbers he remembered last. “I think it was something like, 4,500.”

  Wilson didn’t even hesitate. “Try 8,433.”

  “What!? There is no way.”

  Wilson walked right past him and returned to his seat on the couch next to Amprage. The metal familiar just as happy to see his roommate return as he did when he first gave him attention. “You maintained an average of 112 followers when you were at your KBVS club. Fluctuating up and down by 10-12 followers every month. Once your sponsorship with Big Duck Energy was established, you reached 5,412 followers. That fluctuated up and down by 132 followers per month.”

  Pepper’s eyes widened when he saw his notification icon displayed 4,112 unseen updates. What the… He clicked on the screen tab which opened up his main details page and felt his heart skip a beat when his eyes locked on to the five-digit number on full display. “I have 11,279 followers!?”

  Wilson sighed. “I haven’t run the algorithm in two weeks. More than likely that would be due to the new marketing campaign that Big Duck Energy did with your professional photos. They’ve been advertising you all over the place.”

  Pepper slightly shook his head and shifted his attention over to his roommate. “Really?”

  Wilson just nodded in response. “Your face has been all over Golem Chat, TCG. They even started adding in videos of your old matches at KBVS. Looks like KBVS has started to utilize your photos for advertising also. You basically look like a small-time celebrity back home.”

  The fact that Wilson knew so much about his home and KBVS information was slightly alarming. But Pepper didn’t really feel threatened by Wilson and had come to know that his roommate seemed to be one of those people who just enjoyed learning odd factoids of information. He walked over and took a seat across from his roommate.

  “I still don’t understand why that even matters.”

  Wilson let out a soft sigh. “Because a lot of the draw for the higher leagues is how much they can market you. It isn’t just about skills and abilities. Granted, that does play a part in it, but if you can stand out from a crowd, if you can be a person that other people want to be like. Well, than you’ll be presented with opportunities to continue.”

  Pepper didn’t want to agree with what Wilson was saying, but he couldn’t deny he was starting to wake up to that realization. The longer he watched Marcus, the more he questioned how some people could rise and fall in popularity. There was still this deep seated belief within him though, that if you worked hard enough, and devoted yourself, you could climb the mountain of success.

  “Okay… so… let’s say you’re right Squints. Let’s say that popularity, being marketable is all a part of the factors for moving on. You’re still here though. If all these factors are against you, than why would you come here and compete?”

  “Because my contract says I have to be an active competitor in the Golem League.”

  “I’m sorry… but, what contract?”

  “My contract with TCG of course.” Wilson said with the faintest of amount of sarcasm. “The Golem League TCG is a branch of the Golem League, but does operate under its own set of rules, guidelines and structuring. Unfortunately, a part of the contract we sign as professional competitors is that we must be actively participating in the Golem League main circuit. But… most of us never promote past the Regional League. In fact… many of us don’t want to.”

  “But… wouldn’t you want to promote further in the main league?”

  Wilson tilted his head to one side. “Not everyone likes combative action, or direct conflict. Some of us love the planning, preparation and thought that has to be put in to building a deck. You devote all your time, energy and effort into getting just the right ratio of cards. And then… when you get into that match and that deck just hits with the right cards at the right time.”

  Wilson paused and Pepper watched the entire time his roommate shared his thoughts. The excitement was clearly visible in the small sparkle in Wilson’s eyes as he talked more about the TCG. Wilson’s pause ended with a quick glance that they each shared with one another. “In that brief moment of time, you see how real magic can be.”

  Pepper chuckled. “I get it.” He reached up and massaged the back of his neck while he felt the soreness in his muscles set in from working on Mala. “Well, no matter what Squints… you’re a gladiator in my book. Even if you just stick with TCG.”

  Pepper’s comment caused a small smile to appear on his roommate. “Thanks.” Wilson replied.