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Aaron once again stood before the Old Ones, fidgeting uncomfortably in his spiritual body. Centuries on the Material Plane had resulted in the retired spirit becoming accustomed to a body of solid matter. As the misty aether of the Spirit World roiled around him, the scent brought back unpleasant memories. Above Aaron, several other spirits stood on or hovered over raised pedestals, each of them strange and alien in form.

"You try our patience, Mors Mortis," a roiling, prismatic light rumbled, "We have already told you that not even the eldest among us have knowledge of this civilization. What more do you seek of us?"

Aaron shook his head, not quite keeping his frustration in check. "How could you not know of this civilization?" Aaron demanded, "Its magic was beyond what even modern mortals are capable of! They had a ward that could block spirits, for Heaven's sake!"

The shapeless light flashed red and violet. "You would do well to watch your tone, Mors Mortis the Five-Eyed," the light growled.

A rose pink dragon covered in flowering, vine-like plants raised a hand to calm the prismatic light, which slowly transitioned to a mix of green and blue. "Your frustration is well founded, child," the dragon sang harmoniously, seeming to have a multitude of feminine voices, "But do not let your heart grow wild. If we know not of these mortal ones, perhaps they ended before we had begun."

The multitude of spirits before Aaron murmured amongst themselves. "A mortal civilization older than us?" a six-winged raven the same color as Aaron scoffed, "The ruins would have crumbled centuries ago. When we were young, mortals were still building their homes from sticks and mud, and you suggest that a magically advanced society existed before we were even born? Don't be ridiculous, Flos Mater!"

The pink dragon scowled at the violet raven. "Do not close your mind to this chance," she sang, "For these people we've not even glanced! How would you this mystery explain? The answer to it is surely not plain."

Several of the Old Ones began talking all at once. Just as Aaron was about to lose his temper, a green, gossamer-winged fox spoke up. "I hate to be the one to suggest this," he said hesitantly, "But perhaps the Primal Elementals would know of these people."

The room quieted, all eyes falling on the green fox. Literally shrinking a few inches, the fox folded his arms in an attempt to shield himself from the unrelenting gazes of dozens of ancient spirits.

But to the green spirit's relief, Aaron managed to pull the Old Ones' attention back onto himself with an overly loud sigh. "He's right," Aaron agreed, pressing on despite the disbelieving gazes that latched onto him, "We must consult the Primals on this matter. If none of you know of this society, then it stands to reason that they who have lived since this world's birth would be the only ones who would know."

Without waiting for the Old One's response, Aaron transported himself back to the Material Plane. All eyes returned to the green fox.

"I hope you know what you've done," the prismatic spirit rumbled slowly.

---

"You're telling me you can read these?" Lord Aniruddha asked disbelievingly, the tiger placing a claw on the hieroglyphics carved into the pyramid's inner walls.

Susila sat on his haunches, his folded wings leaving just enough room for Photine as she stood beside him just inside the pyramid. Even in a quadrupedal stance, it was clear that this pyramid had been designed for creatures of more average size than the lizard-turned-dragon's new form. "I think so. At least, some of them," Susila said uncertainly, squinting at the carved symbols, "This one is the sign for 'energy', and this one is 'flowing'. I think this is a passage about how these people manipulated energy for their magic."

Lord Aniruddha looked at Susila skeptically. "I hate to doubt your apprentice, Grentail," the tiger said, glancing toward the obese dragon who stood beside him, "But I don't see how anyone could translate these hieroglyphs without months of research, let alone at a glance."

Lord Grentail shook his head as he moved in front of Susila. "Bonding with the Diamond may have given Susila some knowledge of this culture's language," the dragon reasoned, placing a reassuring claw on Susila's shoulder, before turning back to Lord Aniruddha, "And possibly other things. This unfortunate event could turn out to be a boon to the investigation and research of these ruins."

Ever since he had woken up that morning, Lord Grentail had been trying his best to put a positive spin on Susila's transformation. Though they were mostly in vain, Susila appreciated his Lord's efforts. Still, the thought of being able to help research the ruins was cause for at least a little joy.

Though still looking skeptical, Lord Aniruddha relented. "All right," the tiger sighed, "You're the expert, Anaxagoras. If he can translate some of these hieroglyphs, our research team can fill in the rest."

Lord Grentail turned to Susila. "Think you're up to it, Mister Flores?" the green and gold dragon asked, a look of supportive concern in his eyes.

Susila hesitated a moment, then nodded. He wasn't exactly used to his new form, but the prospect of finally being able to help his Lord research the ruins was too much to resist.

Lord Grentail smiled. "Alright then, Mister Flores," the dragon said enthusiastically, "Dhaval, lead the way."

As they followed Lord Aniruddha, it became obvious that he was leading them to the room where Susila initially found the Diamond. A feeling of uneasiness came over Susila as they passed through the broken entrance to the chamber, but he pushed it aside, focusing on the task at hand.

Without the light of the Diamond, the chamber was pitch black, at least until Lord Grentail muttered something under his breath. Suddenly, wispy golden flames appeared in the center of each wall, revealing the ruins around them.

The entrance to the room was shattered inward, rubble from the wall strewn across the entire chamber, which was tall enough that Susila could have stood and jumped, and still wouldn't be able to reach the ceiling. A deep furrow could now be seen leading into the chamber, curving in from the direction they hadn't come from. The surviving walls remained as well-preserved as the rest of the pyramid, each of them lined with hieroglyphics. The throne where the Diamond had been found looked scorched, but the rest of the room seemed untouched by the intense radiance the Diamond had let off during its Bonding with Susila.

Turning back to Susila, Lord Aniruddha gestured around the room. "I figured you might be able to discover something about your transformation here," the tiger stated, "After all, this is where it took place, and if you could translate some of these hieroglyphs, then it stands to reason that this is the first likely place to start investigating."

Susila nodded, starting with the wall to the left of the entryway. At first, none of the symbols made any sense, but as he concentrated, Susila began to understand a few of them. "Here," the white dragon said after a few minutes, "This is 'knowledge', and this is 'sacrifice'. And this is..."

Suddenly, Susila felt as though something touched his mind, and he could understand every symbol in the room. Slowly sitting down, Susila was only vaguely aware of Lord Aniruddha prompting him, "Yes, what does it mean?" The tiger's voice seemed far away and muffled, like a whisper in a windstorm.

As he stared at the symbols, Susila realized they were arcane formulae, but they flew in the face of everything Lord Grentail had taught him about the expenditure of energy necessary for spellcasting. The passage spoke of a link between the Spirit World and the Material Plane, a physical object through which one could channel the infinite energy of the Spirit World to power spells. As he neared the end of the passage, one hieroglyph flashed brightly as he read it, "Foreigner".

The flash knocked Susila out of his reverie. "Susila!" Photine shouted beside him, a look of concern on her face, "Susila, come back!"

Susila blinked, confused. "Come back from where?" he asked, noticing that Lords Grentail and Aniruddha had expressions of similar concern.

Both Lords sighed with relief when Susila spoke. "Thank goodness," Lord Grentail said, taking a deep breath, "You've been staring at that wall for nearly an hour!"

"I have?" Susila demanded disbelievingly, shaking his head. When he looked back to Lord Grentail, the green dragon's expression was one of barely suppressed excitement.

"So, what did it say?" Lord Grentail asked excitedly, "It had to be good to hold your literally undivided attention!"

Susila smiled at his Lord's enthusiasm. "It said--" the white dragon began, but he was interrupted by a low thud from deeper within the pyramid.

Looking around, Susila noticed that Lord Grentail and Photine also seemed alert, but Lord Aniruddha looked at Susila expectantly. "Well?" the tiger prompted, "Don't tell me another wall grabbed your attention."

Lord Grentail held a claw up to Lord Aniruddha. "I heard something," Lord Grentail explained, "And by the looks of it, so did Mister Flores and Miss Emberplume." Looking at the glowing hieroglyph, Lord Grentail asked, "What does that say?"

Susila looked back at the shimmering symbol. More of the hieroglyphs had begun to glow, forming a phrase. "Ward against foreigners," Susila read aloud, a sinking feeling coming over him, "Summoning the Golem."

Another thud rang through the air, Lord Aniruddha's ears swiveling alertly in response. Reaching into his jacket, the white tiger pulled out a concussion rifle, a weapon enchanted so that it could transform energy from a crystal into a mid-ranged sonic blast.

Assuming he was qualified to use such a dangerous weapon, Susila looked to Photine and Lord Grentail as another thud rattled around some of the smaller debris in the room. Lord Grentail was holding his tail like a rifle, the emerald-like tip glowing faintly. Photine stepped closer to Susila, as if to protect him from the unseen threat.

Lord Grentail motioned for the group to take cover along the wall through which they entered as the thudding drew closer and picked up pace. The moment Susila touched the wall, a massive stony hand large enough to engulf Susila's head clutched the entryway as a mountainous figure ducked slowly through the doorway.

An enormous anthropomorphic crocodile composed of metal, wood, and stone moved into the room, its slow, jerky movements reminiscent of a marionette. Ruby eyes scanned the room, not having seen the four intruders pressed against the wall behind the colossal construct. The golem held no weapons, but its metal claws looked more than capable of tearing a person to shreds, especially given its twenty-foot stature.

Shifting his weight, Susila accidentally rattled some loose debris. The white dragon held his breath as the golem slowly turned toward him. For a while, the dragon and the golem simply locked gazes. Suddenly, a deep and rumbling voice rang out from the construct. "Foreigner located, terminating security risk," the golem bellowed in a long-dead language, only Susila understanding its words as it reared back a clawed hand.

"I don't think it's friendly!" Susila cried out as he stood, suddenly nearly as tall as the golem. Raising his claws defensively, Susila took a deft step away from the golem, covering a significant distance with his long legs. The dragon's wings flared reflexively, but Susila doubted a mindless construct could be intimidated by such displays, he just hoped the meager skills he had learned from a short self-defense class would be effective against it.

Its target suddenly out of reach, the golem turned its attention to Photine, who stood on one leg with a talon held ready to strike. While it was distracted, Lords Grentail and Aniruddha fired their weapons, a blast of sonic energy coming from the tiger's rifle, while the dragon's tail unleashed a sizzling green ray. Both attacks landed solid hits on the golem's back, knocking it forward. Leaping an impressive distance out of the way, Photine neatly avoided the falling construct.

Catching itself from falling on its face, the golem stood with a slightly quicker movement than before. The surprise attack had shattered some of the ridges on the crocodile golem's back, but the main body seemed no worse for wear. In fact, as Susila watched, the areas where each attack struck had begun to glow with pulsing hieroglyphs, but their meaning eluded him as he was distracted by the construct turning toward its attackers and bellowing loud enough to shake the strewn debris across the floor. While they were off balance from the sheer force of the golem's cry, it raised its tail, and with a surprisingly quick spin, the golem caught Lord Grentail squarely in the large gut with its stony weapon.

Grunting in pain, the green dragon was sent flying into the wall behind him. "My Lord Grentail!" Photine cried, flashing to his side.

As he moved to his Lord's side, Susila heard a roar of rage. "Damn you!" Lord Aniruddha cried, leveling his concussion rifle and letting loose another blast of sonic energy.

The golem took the blast directly in the chest, reeling backwards with the concussive force. Catching itself on the wall, the golem righted itself, its movements seeming even smoother and quicker than before. More symbols appeared where the blast hit the golem, and Susila suddenly comprehended their meaning.

"Lord Aniruddha!" Susila shouted, "Don't use your rifle, the golem absorbs magic!"

The white tiger suddenly grew even paler. "Well what do you suggest?" the Lord demanded, "I don't have any other weapons and I'm not going toe to toe with that thing!"

With a sudden burst of speed, the golem closed the distance between it and Lord Aniruddha, seemingly eager to prove him wrong. Without thinking, Susila leapt in front of the tiger, arms and wings spread protectively. Before he had time to regret his decision, the golem jabbed its claws fiercely into Susila's gut.

Grunting, Susila maintained his position, an odd feeling nagging at the back of his mind. Before he could consider it, the golem reared back a claw to strike again. For some reason, it was moving slower again. Taking the opportunity, Susila struck first, laying a full strength right hook into the golem's muzzle.

A clear crystalline ring chimed out through the chamber as diamond struck stone, while Lord Aniruddha retreated from the battling giants. The odd sensation grew stronger as the golem reeled back, and as stone teeth fell to the ground, Susila realized that he was feeling fuller. Looking down, the dragon noticed a thin layer of padding beginning to develop around his body, and his claws held a fading glow.

Beginning to put the pieces together, Susila was interrupted by the sound of grinding stones. The golem, which now moved with the same halting motion as when it first entered the chamber, reared back its head with jaws held wide, ready to take a bite out of its opponent. Taking advantage of its sluggish movements, Susila grabbed the golem's neck with one claw while the other sank into the construct's belly, sharp diamonds sinking into softer stone. With a great effort, Susila flapped his wings and pushed off with his legs, driving the golem to the ground, where he held down its arms with his wings, locking its legs with his, and twining their tails together.

Now in solid contact with the golem, Susila's every crystal facet began to glow as the construct struggled against him, growing weaker by the second. The feeling of growing fuller returned as Susila realized that he was draining the energy from the golem, though he was too focused on pinning the dangerous construct to fully realize the consequences this would have as his body's mass began to steadily increase, aiding his efforts.

Grunting as the golem strained against him, Susila almost didn't realize what was happening to his body. As he dug his diamond claws into the struggling construct, Susila felt a sensation like gulping down a hot beverage, except the feeling traveled up his arms through the clear hands at their ends. As the golem's magical energies were siphoned into Susila's body, he could feel himself growing heavier, and though he tried to convince himself that it was from the effort of holding down his opponent, the truth he knew all too well was that he was growing more massive.

The energy that Susila was draining from the golem began to distribute itself throughout Susila's body, half of the energy going into his muscular system, and half of it being stored as a growing layer of fatty tissue. The lion's share of the flab went into Susila's gut, which began to balloon outward at a staggering pace, eventually pressing hard enough against the golem that Susila's back began to arch slightly. The rest of his body didn't escape unscathed from the advance of adipose, as his thighs had grown large enough to start pressing together, and the growing musculature in his arms was beginning to become obscured by a layer of blubber. The white dragon felt an odd sensation, like his tail was shrinking, but he soon realized that it was actually his buttocks beginning to grow larger, resulting in his tail sinking into the flab on his rear. The only part of Susila's body that escaped the wave of corpulence was his diamond hands, which seemed to only gain muscle from the siphoned energy.

When the golem's struggles faded and finally came to a stop, Susila held on a moment longer, just to be sure, but as the feeling of growing fuller faded as well, he knew the golem was finished.

Sitting up and looking down at his claws, Susila watched the last of the glow fade from them. Steeling himself, Susila looked down to his body, feeling his heart drop as he saw the damage that absorbing the golem's energy had done to his figure.

A low groan interrupted Susila's grim fascination, causing him to remember the golem's victim. "Lord Grentail!" Susila realized out loud, pushing himself off of the defeated golem.

A sudden violet flash dazzled the white dragon's vision. "Ah, finally!" a familiar and exasperated voice said as Susila's eyes cleared.

"Aaron!" Susila shouted, not standing on ceremony, "Lord Grentail's hurt!"

"What?!" the spirit demanded, looking to the dragon that was slumped against the wall.

Photine knelt next to her Lord, rubbing something moist into his belly while Lord Aniruddha stood over his friend, looking at the golem warily. Feeling an odd pang of jealousy for an instant, Susila didn't take the time to consider it as he stood and made his way to his Lord's side, his extra mass failing to slow him at all.

When Susila reached Lord Grentail's side, the green dragon let out a cough, groaning as he opened his eyes. "Ugh, I'm getting old," Lord Grentail grumbled as he sat up.

"Lord Grentail!" Susila and Photine said simultaneously, relief and concern in their voices.

"By the Aether!" Lord Aniruddha sighed with relief, "You gave us a real scare, Anaxagoras!"

Grunting as he hefted himself back to his feet, Lord Grentail looked over to the fallen golem. "I see our guest has been taken care of," Lord Grentail commented, rubbing his stomach gingerly, "Who had the honors of showing him such hospitality?"

"Never mind that," Lord Aniruddha said as Susila was about to respond, "First we need to make sure you're alright. I have a medic on my team that can check you out."

Aaron, Lord Grentail, and Photine both seemed to have a flash of worry cross their faces. "No, no, no, I'm fine, I insist," Lord Grentail said, straightening quickly and putting on a cheerful smile, "I am a dragon, after all. It'll take more than a stony blow to the gut to really hurt me!"

As Lord Grentail let out a hearty laugh, Susila and Lord Aniruddha both bore expressions of concerned confusion. "So," Aaron said, calling attention away from Lord Grentail, "Does anyone want to explain why I suddenly found myself once again unable to enter these ruins until just now?"

The four Material Beings looked toward the golem, Susila the first one to respond. "I think we must have triggered some sort of trap," the white dragon explained, "I was reading one of the walls, and when I reached the word 'foreigner'--"

"Wait a moment," Aaron interrupted, "Reading one of the walls? As in these walls here, written in a dead language older than the Old Ones?"

Susila simply nodded, not wanting to have to explain himself again. "Anyway, when I reached the word 'foreigner', the writing itself reacted, like it was somehow..." Susila paused, looking for the right word, "Programmed to identify when a foreigner read the word."

Lord Grentail, Aaron, and Photine all looked at Susila with quizzical expressions. "What's wrong?" Susila asked, feeling like he had said something wrong.

"That's not physically or even magically possible," Lord Grentail said, "Unless there is a computing lattice within these walls."

"Hold on," Aaron interrupted, slithering over to a nearby wall. Closing his five eyes for a moment, the spirit turned translucent before plunging his head into the wall with the sound of a smooth stone being thrown into water. A moment later the spirit withdrew his head, all of his eyes open wide.

"It's amazing!" Aaron proclaimed, "The most sophisticated computing lattice I've ever seen! Monofilament crystalline structures run through this wall, possibly through the entire complex. Not even with modern science could a mortal society recreate what this culture built."

A long silence followed Aaron's revelation, filled with excited and curious glances between all present. After a moment, Photine finally put forward the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Who were these people?"