Chapter 3: Changes

  Null remembered his past life- the whirlwind of puberty. The girls, the uncomfortable moments where you needed to stand up, but you really didn’t want to. Well, apparently as a Half-Vulupursyd, this hits around age 6 and fast.

  It started one morning, that familiar sensation of his sleepwear being a little too tight- unfortunately occurring right as his father walked into the room.

  “Son, we…” his eyes flicked downward. “I’m sorry!” he blurted as he spun. For a moment, they stood in silence as Null processed why his dad just looked like he walked in on someone’s naked grandma. As the realization dawned on him, a brief flash of embarrassment crossed his cheeks, only to be quickly followed by the satisfaction of revenge.

  Serves you right, for what I had to witness, you freaking creep. Bask in it! He thought. His adult mind knew he shouldn’t hold such a natural thing against his father, but his immature mind raged at the injustice of seeing himself conceived from such an unforgiving angle.

  “Son?” Null’s father said, back still turned.

  “Dad?” null returned

  “Are you. Are you decent?“

  “Whatever do you mean dad?”

  “Have you had a chance to get your. Erhm. wits about you?”

  “Of course, dad. I’d like to think I’m pretty smart.”

  “No, I meant.” he sighed “You seem to have had a moment of… uh, excitement”

  “Dad, I’m always excited to start a new day.” He held back a snicker as he sat back on his bed. Luckily, he could draw upon his experience as a man to quickly get under control. Still it was shocking to have to go through this again so early, but.. Magic world and all. He shrugged.

  “Son, sometimes, when a male reaches a certain age, there are certain changes that he must go through. He goes through this so that his body can mature.” Null’s father struggled through his version of ‘the talk.’

  “Will I get wings?”

  “Well, no.” He frowned. “Maybe?” he squeakily added. “ I mean, we are golems, so, you could, perhaps. Uh… that’s beside the point. What I mean to say is that, son.” he awkwardly paused as he dared to turn to face Null. “son you can always talk to me about-” He finished turning to see Null again proudly standing on his bed.

  “Dad, I get it, I'm growing a tail! But aren't they usually in the back?” He exclaimed.

  I did miss the on-demand feature of puberty. He chuckled to himself.

  Null’s father scurried out of the room, gripped by embarrassment. Down the hall, he could hear him hurriedly whispering to his mother.

  “I swear he hates me! You need to talk to him…” followed by a lighthearted giggle by his mother. “I'll give him some time and I'll talk to him. Don’t be so hard on yourself. He’s just like you.”

  Null bristled at her unintended jab. Apparently having the mind of an adult did nothing to stop the raging hormones.

  Later that day, Null went to play outside. His version of play somewhat alienated him from the other children. Null set up familiar courses from rocks. He’d do his best to time himself as he imagined his old pastime.

  Shooter ready? He whispered to himself. Then he was off, stringing from station to station making cute little pew pew sounds as he arrived at each station. Aside from being cathartic, it worked wonders for his [Wireframe] racial ability and his [Agility]. [Wireframe] leveled slowly only reaching 43% in all these years. From what he could tell, only progressed when he pushed the limits of his imagination. Luckily, guns weren't really a thing here, so comparatively, setting up a shooting course was wildly imaginative. The more challenging the course, the better. He also found that he could overlay [Wireframe] on reality- so to everyone else, he was a child playing with rocks, but to him, a full blown course was laid out in front of him and his old faithful gun sat snugly in his grip as he raced through the course. Having essentially an integrated virtual reality made life so much easier.

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  [Agility level up! Endurance level up!]

  He dismissed the notification. Typically, he’d level at least once each session. Stat leveling worked a bit differently than skill and ability leveling. Stats were clearly an ongoing thing and the changes were much more subtle. Compared to earth standards, Nulls now [Agility 28 (+5)] and [Endurance 20(+5)] put him roughly on par with a junior college gymnast compared to earth standard. Not too shabby for a 6 year old. He ran a few more courses before wrapping up. He looked up at the evening sky. A sense of excitement laced with dread filled him. This feeling had been increasingly more prevalent in the past week and he wondered what it meant. Something was in the air, something was coming, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

  “Null!” he heard his mother shout from the window. “Come eat!”

  He snapped out of his reverie and sprinted to the house. Golems didn’t really need to eat, but boy could his mother cook a good ribeye. Meat from leatherworking was almost always in supply. If this were earth, his food budget would be astronomical. Today, for some reason, he wanted his steak a little more on the rare side.

  He sat down at the small table his parents fashioned for him specifically for eating.

  “Mom! Why did you cook it so much!”

  “Null, it's the same as I always cook it.”

  “No it’s not!” he exclaimed. For some reason she was being unreasonable. Maybe he needed to start cooking it himself. “This is like a boot!”

  “ Null!” his father shouted from their room.

  “What! It’s not like you ever try to cook, Dad.” He shot back.

  “ Null..” His mother said with a stern look.

  “ Mom, I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t see why you’d change how you cook it now. Why?”

  “Null, I didn't change anything. Maybe we should discuss…”

  “You did! Why are you lying!” a well of emotion somewhere deep down burst in Null. “I can wear this and probably get shot with an arrow and walk it off.”

  She looked struck. A set of heavy footsteps thundered toward the small kitchen area. His father in a much more intimidating ash golem form burst into the room- the first time his father ever shifted into such an intimidating form. A voice like grinding stones shook the room.

  “You will stop, now!” the hulking figure lurched toward Null, swiping the plate from the table, sending it flying. Null, overtaken by a sea of anger rose to meet the figure. His skin tightened. It felt like it was crawling as his six year old fists balled, feeling as if he was rising to meet his father’s stony gaze. Somewhere in the distance he heard a gasp, but it was too far, too inconsequential to the anger that told him this man who dared challenge him must pay for his impudence.

  “Fuck you! You pebble-munching pervert.” The words came out more as a guttural bark and in english. His father’s face twisted in confusion, he certainly didn’t understand the words, but he understood the sentiment.

  “Null,” his mother whispered. That tone, that tone reached something primal in him. He shook his head as if to shake off a fever dream. A clawed hand gripped his father’s neck, the stone cracking under the fingers. The fingers of the monster were long, ape-like but with black claws. Those claws were currently sunken into the stone of his father’s neck. The forearm was a coppery hue and lean, like a bodybuilder. The upper arm was elongated and equally muscular with fur mottled black, gray and copper. His gaze struggled to progress for some reason

  “Let him go.” She sounded like those tv hostage negotiators, but a steely undercurrent accompanied her plea. The hand released. He looked at his mother who flinched at meeting his gaze.

  [Full moon activated, +10 to all stats] the system unhelpfully chimed.

  Horrified, enraged, and enraged from being horrified, Null tore his gaze away from his mothers and rocketed toward the door- into the newborn night.