She was nervous. She had never worked with a golem before and the nerves made her fingers prickle. She stood behind the circle of mages as they finished their incantations. Their low voices were like a buzzing hum in her ears. The woman shifted back and forth, peeking through their arms to see the body they worked over. From what she could see, the being was immense and covered in muscle. She had seen golems before but they were all different. She wondered briefly why hers came out that way, but her thoughts were cut off when the Elder Mage beckoned her over.
“It's time.” His papery voice quivered. She nodded, approaching the circle. As she got closer, she could feel the thrumming of the magic in her veins. It pumped in time with her heart, like electricity shooting from her hands and feet towards her core and back out. Swallowing her fear, she entered the circle.
As her body crossed into the interior of the spell room, she was immediately aware of the increase in her heart rate. The little organ began to gallop, climbing into tachycardia within seconds. She panted, wheezed, nearly fell to the ground. They told her the bonding would be difficult, but she was not prepared for this. She tried to suck in some deep breaths, tried to slow her panicked heart down. It seemed to work at first, bringing the rate down towards normal. But then, it kept falling. Each beat grew softer and more spread apart; her heart even seemed to be having a hard time refilling with blood. Her ears were ringing and she collapsed to the ground, clutching her chest.
Her eyes found the closest mage, who was staring right back at her. His hands were clasped together and his mouth was moving frantically, but she couldn't hear him.
“What?” She mumbled, wondering what he was saying. Over her confusion, another voice boomed as loud as thunder.
“You must reach the golem and activate its core. Do it or your heart will fail.”
'My heart will fail?' she thought to herself. The memories were fuzzy, but she remembered the Elder telling her that once she started the bonding, whatever condition the golem was in would reflect on her and visa versa. So... its core wasn't active much like a heart being in arrest. That's why her heart was acting strangely. She was already linked to her golem and it was killing her.
Biting down on her fear, she began to crawl towards the body of her golem, shaking from head to toe. Every few seconds, her heart would beat hard once as if trying to say 'I'm here! I'm still beating!' before falling back into its struggle. The woman felt her breathing become shallower the closer she came to the golem. Once she was by his side, she could barely draw in oxygen anymore. For a second, she stared down at him, willing the fogginess from her vision.
He was utterly still, no more than a corpse before her. His muscles stood out prominently even in this state and blue runes were drawn along his pectorals and abdomen. The woman tried hard to remember the words of the spell she was supposed to cast here. To activate his core, she would need to reach inside of him. A long run of fluttering beats caused her to gasp and she laid across her golem until the pain of it subsided. She had to work fast or she would die.
Sitting up, she brought her hands together and began to recite the spell. The energy around her crackled and for a split second, she felt her heart stop entirely. Silver blue magic tingled up her wrists to her fingertips, coating them in a glow. She knew the spell had worked and she wasted no time laying her hands on the golem's left side.
“Let me in.” She begged, pushing gently at his chest. Suddenly, her hands disappeared into him. She had done it, but her work wasn't over. Now the difficult part.
She reached around inside him, feeling for his core. She read that golems were built to resemble humans in almost every aspect, so she knew what she was looking for. And soon she found it. His massive heart lay quiet and still in his chest, waiting for its master to bring it to life. Gripping it like one would a delicate egg, she brought her hands upwards to expose the organ to the light. Wincing as another wave of erratic beats shook her, the woman marveled as she gazed at the heart laying in her hands.
Enormous and pale purple, the heart was like a treasure to her. She found she could not look away from it. This was a creature's life, its very essence. And she was in complete control. Steeling her nerves and taking the deepest breath she could, she began massaging life into her golem. Placing her left hand on top and leaving her right to cradle the heart, she squeezed it rhythmically to mimic a normal heartbeat. She felt the reaction in her own chest instantly. It began to beat in an identical rhythm to the one she placed on the golem's heart. Each contraction mirrored perfectly to the heart she held. It was ecstasy.
“Come on, big guy. Let's get you going.” She muttered and focused on the task with a vengeance. Squeeze, release, squeeze, release. She kept up a steady rate of compression, doing the heart's work for it. After a long moment, she felt the organ quiver. She halted her hands and waited. Nothing happened for a tick or two, but then the golem's heart began fibrillating in between her palms. The large heart shook as if it was trying to begin beating; once or twice it did fully contract on its own. The woman was elated, but could feel her own heart start to match the golem's, a feeling like a hundred spiders crawling inside her chest.
She spoke another spell, this time gloving her hands with a God's Gift. Electricity snapped and hissed over them as she gripped the heart. Taking another deep breath, knowing what this was going to do, she released a wave of lightning into the heart. It paused its shaking, once more a lifeless thing. Seconds ticked by and the woman felt her own heart go quiet. 'Oh no.' she thought as her vision grew dark. She slumped down over the strong chest of her golem again and found she could no longer draw breath. In a last ditch effort, the poor thing shot another jolt into the golem's core, hoping desperately that it would bring him to life. As she began to black out entirely, she thought she felt the heart beat on its own.
“She's not breathing. Get me a healer.” A hand was tapping her cheek gently.
“Heart is still going strong on the golem.” A voice, far off.
“Come on, sweetheart. Breathe for me.” Knuckles were rubbing against her chest.
She wasn't sure why she was aware of all of these things going on above her. She was surely dead, no? Her heart had stopped. She could not feel it beating inside her, so that must mean she was no longer alive. She felt someone bending down over her, a mouth locking onto hers and her lungs expanding with a shared breath. What had happened? What had she been doing before all this? A spell, pain radiating in her chest. A golem. Wait! Her golem! She suddenly became alert, sucking in a heaving breath. Her eyes found the mages above her, relief on their faces. She tried to form words, but her lips wouldn't listen to her. Her gaze tilted to her left, where she finally spotted him.
Her golem was close by, laying as she had left him. She saw his chest, that muscular, beautiful chest rise and fall with a shallow breath just as hers did. A mage knelt near the creature and in his hands was the now scarlet heart that she had painstakingly brought to life. It was beating, each quick contraction making an audible thump. She felt the sudden need to feel it. Despite the mages protests, she sat up and crawled back to the golem's side. Sheathing her trembling hands in the guarded spell again, she reached for the heart as a parent would for their newborn. The attendant set it softly in her hands and backed away.
It was glorious. It was beating too quickly, but it was beating. She bent her mouth down to it, laying her lips on the atrium. She relished the feeling of it pulsing against her, it almost made her salivate. She did it! She brought him to life. She looked at the golem's face and noticed for the first time that his eyes were open. Pure white and luminous, they watched her with an intensity and a fondness that she didn't think a creature like him would be capable of. Smiling to herself, she laid down beside her creation. His gaze never left her and he tipped his head to track her.
“Hello, my guardian.” The woman spoke ever so gently to him. She brought the heart up for him to see and then proceeded to nestle it between her breasts. The golem's expression didn't change, but the heart's beating picked up pace as it felt her own beating wildly against it. The massive organ made her breasts shake and she swore her own heart was reaching out to tap it. The two hearts beating as one filled her with an indescribable feeling. She curled around the golem's heart protectively and whispered to it.
“Keep beating. One, two, one, two. I'll never let you stop.”
