It's been awhile since I've flexed my creative writing muscles, be gentle. I know this sort of thing isn't seen much on the sub, but the incoming (possibly indirect) nerf hammer on our favorite little dude is what inspired this.

I'm no artist, but I hope this can still be considered "art".

Logan was late. Like, late late. Abandoning all pretext of organization, he just scooped up his mystical scrolls and brought them all with him, not bothering to check which monsters' scrolls he had picked. He could organize them later in the labyrinth. He nearly forgot his glasses, and turned to grab them, stepping on his too-large cloak in the process.

He caught himself before anything drastic happened, but the damage was already done - he could hear Ellia giggling behind him at his foolishness. His cheeks were burning as he turned around and walked out into the sun with her. Idiot. "So, uh, which areas of the Labyrinth have our guild opened up, Ellia?" He asked as they walked to the gateway. Logan was at least grateful that her mind was easy to distract.

Her stare went blank for a second. "Hmm? Oh, ummm..." she looked away and into her bag, and Logan knew his cheeks were burning even more, "I know it's in here somewhere. Ah! Here it is." She pulled out the schedule, and Logan saw it magically change as she slid her finger across its contents. Magic was as incredible as it was diverse. Imagine, one piece of paper that could hold pages of information! "It looks like you've discovered the water golem, Leos! I bet it would be a huge help to the guild if you could take him on!" She beamed at him in that innocent way, and he flustered again, nearly dropping a few scrolls.

~~~~~~~~

The trip through the Labyrinth was a short one, the guild had already cleared out most of the hallways. Durand was leading the charge, and Logan had witnessed his Laika ripping into monsters firsthand just yesterday. Durand had such great monsters, yet he had always been so kind to Logan, even letting him borrow Laika from time to time as Logan was starting out. He truly was a great friend, and never made Logan feel like a burden, despite knowing he definitely had been from time to time. This newly discovered Labyrinth was no exception.

"HOLD!" He could hear the voices down the hallway echoing, among them was Durand and a few others from the guild. "Come on, boys! We can do this, HOLD!"

Logan rounded the corner and saw the monstrosity called Leos in the distance. A being of rock and water, it stood leagues high and was bathed in water from the mid-section. Which meant it likely extended just as far beneath the surface. Truly a massive beast conjured by - and mostly comprised of - magical energies. The summoner who had conjured this great golem must have been powerful, indeed. Logan wondered again what secrets this labyrinth must hold if the creatures in here were so powerful. As an afterthought, he noticed a great number of runic symbols over the golem's abode. They shone a bright hue of blue, lighting the way to the beast himself.

Below, a battle raged and Logan could see what was clearly Durand's lineup - minus Laika - in various states of battle against the beast. Ritesh and Woosa lay battered and beaten, and the enormous golem was winding up for what looked like a very devastating attack.

Durand turned as his last monster was defeated, a hint of pain in his eyes, before he noticed Logan. The pain vanished in what Logan knew was a false grin for his benefit. "Logan! Welcome! Finally decided to get out of bed, didja?"

Logan reddened again, he was glad Ellia had stayed back, not wanting to get involved in the danger. "I, uh, I'm sorry, Durand. I got caught up with-"

"Nonsense, my friend!" Durand interrupted, having none of his melancholy attitude. "Did you see the beast!? He's a big one, you have a lineup ready to tackle him?"

Logan shook his head. "I think I need to take a minute and figure it out." Durand nodded understandingly and left him to it, moving on to talk to another member of the guild. He heard a few other guild members asking Durand why Logan was here, since he was so new. They hadn't meant it to be mean, but it still hurt a little. Trying to ignore it, he shifted to a quieter corner where he could mull things over undisturbed.

He laid out his summon scrolls. He had only managed to summon two of the rarer, more generally powerful monsters - likely through luck more than his own skill as a summoner - but he treasured them dearly. Lagmaron would likely help against this beast, though from the looks of it, the golem's attacks drew so much magical power that the element advantage would not be a factor, Lagmaron was still a great monster and had helped Logan immensely as he was growing as a summoner.

The other rare monster he had was Laika. Recently summoned, and not quite as strong as Durand's, but he was happy he had summoned him, and he had been a great companion to Logan so far. It helped that he looked up to Durand, so having a similar monster to help him had been a great morale boost for him. Unfortunately he would probably not be useful for this battle.

Lagmaron's scroll thrummed with energy, and the animated, unsummoned form of Lagmaron nodded in understanding, readying himself for combat. Laika, on the other hand, disappeared from his scroll, he could be of no use for this battle, so he would be resting, preparing for another. Logan continued to spread his scrolls out on the jagged rock floor, figuring out strategies until he had a team of four monsters. He was struggling to find a fifth member, though, to round out the team.

In the middle of his musings he felt a small tug on his shirt. His heart dropped and a sense of quiet, sad dread filled him. He turned and peered down below him, and Racuni sat there quietly humming, as he always seemed to be. The little guy had summoned himself, again desperate to help his summoner become an accomplished member of the guild, and was pointing to the team of four, indicating he should be the fifth.

Laika may have been the monster that tied him to Durand, but there was no monster he truly felt closer to than Racuni. He saw much of himself in the little guy. Helping out wherever possible, even if the odds were against him, he had come away from battles scarred and bruised more than any of his other summons. He had been one of Logan's first summons, and despite the guild's advice not to focus on him, he had made sure Racuni felt included in the team, and had been a big help on multiple occasions.

He shook his head, he had meant to leave Racuni at the lodge. "Racuni, little dude," that had always been his nickname, Racuni seemed to like it, "you're fire element, Leos is, like, five-hundred times your size and he's water element. You know I appreciate you, but I'm not sure this is the best fight for-" Racuni shook his head, angrily staring down his summoner and dramatically pointing to the team again, this time a tear in his peculiar star-shaped eye, as if to say "don't you trust me?"

Logan cursed himself for doubting his friend. "You're right, I trust you, little dude. Let's do this." Scooping up the rest of his scrolls, he summoned the other four monsters and led them all back down the battlefield. Another battle was just finishing up, one of the older members of the guild gathering his scrolls and carefully returning his battered monsters to their dimension, where they could heal and rest. He saw Durand, who raised a questioning eyebrow at his friend but otherwise said nothing as to his choices, and pointed to the side where he could direct his monster's actions.

Logan moved to the conveniently-placed platform (had the Labyrinth's summoner set this up as a challenge, then?), then turned to his team of five and nodded to each of them. "Let's do it, guys." They nodded in turn and he summoned them to the platform below.

From the very first few seconds, Logan knew he was in trouble. He had just not had an opportunity to explore the Giant's Keep long enough to find quality runes for his monsters, it didn't help that the endless hallways of that magical structure were far more likely to give you garbage than anything useful. His monsters were looking battered from the first attack, Lagmaron was bravely holding his own, and he could see chinks in the golem's armor from his attacks, but that was all they were - chinks. Meanwhile it was all the others could do to stay alive. Belladeon was having a hard time keeping everyone standing, even with Darion's help. Racuni was struggling just to stay upright - he was keeping Darion as healthy as possible, but his wounds seemed to be dancing two steps back, one step forward. The golem's freezing ice magic wasn't helping any, either. It was only a matter of time.

Sure enough, within moments Darion had fallen and Logan was forced to call him back. "He should just call them all back, he's practically torturing his monsters for no reason." His guildmate hadn't intended him to hear the comment. Ignoring the burning sense of failure as best he could, he called back Arang as well, who was barely holding on. It was all down to Bella, Lag, and Racuni, all of whom now looked the worse for wear. Lagmaron scored a hit on the golem's armor and Logan saw it crack. The guild - even the naysayer, whose name escaped Logan, which led him to believe he should perhaps get to know his guildmates a bit better - all cheered for a moment in triumph, but it was quickly drowned out as the beast growled in rage and smashed his fists down in fury, knocking Lagmaron flat to the ground and sending Belladeon flying, his yelps of pain echoed through the hallway and Logan barely managed to call him back before he smashed into the wall.

Only Lag and Racuni left. Both of them looked to be on their last leg. Logan's heart dropped, the depression snaking its way through his body, filling his minds with thoughts of failure and ridicule. Perhaps he was only torturing his monsters, tying them to his selfish crusade to prove he could make it with the senior members of the guild. Just as he was about to call them back, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Durand standing there. "Hey. Don't sweat it, a crack in the armor is more than most of us have been able to accomplish. He's tough. You need to trust your monsters more, Logan. They feel what you feel! Look, Lagmaron is slowing down, doubting himself, as you are doubting yourself."

It was true. Lagmaron seemed to be hesitating before each attack, not taking opportunities the golem was giving him, his lightning-quick attacks slowing down considerably, losing their strength. Racuni was struggling just to keep them both from collapsing, his song wrapping them in enough warmth to weather the cold, but only just. "You're right, Durand, thank you." He only smiled in response. He turned to cheer on his small team of two, but before he could, Lagmaron had miscalculated the golem's intention and flew straight into its palm. Reacting quickly, Logan summoned him back before the inevitable crash. Inside the window of the scroll, he noticed that Lagmaron collapsed immediately, exhausted from the fight. "Rest, now, my friend. You've done well." During all of this, several guild members had turned to him with pity and a small amount of respect in their eyes. Several grabbed him by the shoulder as they passed him.

Racuni was still down there, giving Leos hell. Racuni was still humming, but his tune had changed. He was furious, and it came out through his new song. Even on his knees, he was the very picture of righteous anger. His song cursed Logan for doubting himself for even a moment. Cursed his guild mates for doubting him. The song cut him to his very soul. It was a song of tribulation, a song of triumph. Logan couldn't bring himself to call back Racuni, not yet. He wasn't sure his little friend would forgive him if he did.

The battle raged on, almost as if the two were dancing the deadliest dance. Leos would smash and Racuni would weather it, he would send freezing winds to crush him, and Racuni would hum, always that furious song, melting the ice practically as soon as it froze, and and healing his wounds. Soon Racuni was standing, recovering from having to carry the team. The golem was furious - if a golem can actually be such a thing, its creator put a lot of care into its creation - but he could not break Racuni's spirit, much less his defenses.

They say miracles are born out of strife and need. And it was in that fight that Logan understood what that truly meant. Not long after, Racuni was not only standing, but fighting back. His attacks weren't as effective as Lagmaron's or even Darion's, but they were getting through. Small patches of melting ice soon began to appear on the golem. Its movements slowing down, the armor ill-fitting now.

Like a rising tide, the guild began to cheer. First it was only Logan, so enraptured by his own fight that all other thought had left him. Others quickly came to his aid, thinking he or his monsters had suffered some painful blow, but soon they too were cheering, as the little dude raged on. It wasn't long before the rising tide became a full tidal wave of jubilant energy, the golem's attacks were now almost entirely useless, and Racuni was slowly winning, until finally, the golem collapsed in a heap of half-melted ice and water, its armor dead weight and floating in its owner's mass.

Logan ran down to the fighting area, totally in awe of his friend. As he got close, Racuni turned around, whacked him once on the head with his staff for good measure, then gripped Logan's legs tightly in a bear-hug. "Well done, little dude, and thank you."

~~~~~~~~

As they were walking back up to the overlook, the guild's cheers still ringing in their ears (and Logan grasping his blue grindstone firmly), a great noise shook the cavern. He noticed the water coalescing and freezing back into ice. Five of the over-one-hundred glyphs surrounding the cavern lost their light, fading into the stone without a trace, and the golem reformed with a howl.

'Naysayer' turned to Durand. "You mean we have to beat this thing like THIRTY more times? And for rare grade garbage?? Logan, you realize that's a FLAT grindstone, right? What the f-"

~~~~~~~~

Sooooooo it's pretty cheesy. Lots of cliches. Super rough-draft, but I still hope it was enjoyable! CC is welcome if you wish to give it.

EDIT: Nysra you fiend.