The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.

“His Harbinger.
Golem? Autogolem? Machine Knight?
The White Ring Mage. The Doll Echidna.
The Dreaded One’s heartless aide.”

···

♪ ~ [Labyrinth – Abyssal Shrine ~ Yuzo Koshiro ~ Etrian Odyssey NEXUS Original Sound Track]

A white mask with three spines raised like a crown
Massive cogs as bracelets and collar
Purple robes draped around a clockwork skeleton
A staff in hand topped by a half cog wheel.
The last petals of a crystal rose casting lilac light
Blue glowing eyes burning ahead in focus

         Pir’Oth Ix.

         The autogolem’s visage was that of a sapient echidna. Though it walked as one, it was surely a machine, or perhaps something altogether different. As golems tore themselves free of the autogolem’s surroundings it could be heard sighing. It had no lungs however, and its voice did not sound as though it came from its body so much as was emitted from where it stood.

         “Foolishness,” Ix spoke harshly of the golems that moved to challenge him. “You will wither and die in time as all the Children of Gia and Chaos do. Yet, Benedict will remain, and the Rings will remember. And he will be aught but amused by your foolishness, saddened only in that he could not partake of it.”

         Holding his staff high, Ix glared down the golems as they moved to challenge him. Effortlessly he brought his staff down with enough force to make the ground crack in a rushing spiderweb of destruction. But this was not his attack.

         From the splintered ground Rings were forced into their true form, albeit temporarily. They fell as they rose and twinkled out as though collected. Then, from where they fell, golems rose to meet the ones who would challenge Ix. The ghost like human-anchor hybrids were faced with their Ring-borne doubles, and vastly outnumbered. Ix demonstrated no pleasure in the scene before him, his fierce blue eyes watching as a petal fell from the crystal rose in his staff and twinkled out.

         “I have little time or resources to deal with this rabble. Be rid of them, and any others who would challenge me.”

         Soon a trail of Light Blooms marked the Passage of Pir’Oth Ix.

Arcs of primitive electricity
Subway tunnels and paved streets
Street signs that guided no one since ages untold
An impermeable mist
Golems made from forgotten steam cars
Rings spinning on their axes all around
A metropolis left dead
Rolled over onto itself
A realm of darkness without sun
Only the ruins of a grand metropolis all around
Muted by the fog, gas powered lights
Shadows made to dance without end

         The metropolis was like nowhere in the Far Lands Sonic and Rosy had been. It was if anything a steam and early electrical age imitation of an internet age city. The existence of such a simulacrum was as unnatural as the way it did not collapse into itself, as though it were built to be rolled over and closed off as it was. The wrecked cars and debris that lined the streets and rooftops spoke a very different tale though. None of it meant anything to Ix though as he continued his deliberate path forward.

         As the crystal Rose that floated within the empty space of the half cog head of his staff neared its final petal, no longer resembling a rose at all, he found the first vestiges of what he sought.

         “Stubborn you are, Children of Gaia,” Ix remarked as he stepped before a white tree, its leaves luminescent and quiet in the windless metropolis. “But it was only a matter of time.”

         Ix did not linger, his staff splitting the ground and revealing the roots of the tree and the path ahead. A path where more of the luminescent white vegetation grew, until it strangled the entirety of the metropolis. Yet the subway train tunnel that Ix strode into remained identifiable despite the overgrowth. But it was only a point on the path to his destination and he did not linger.

         It was not until he found himself in the heart of a great underground shopping mall that Ix at last delayed his forward march.

         “And at last, I have found you.”

         Looking past the railing of the top floor, Ix peered down over a dozen stories into the depths of the mall. Greeting his gleaming blue eyes beyond the rest of the luminescent white plants was a crystal rose of tremendous size. It bloomed at the base of a tree that engulfed nearly half of the underground shopping mall and provided it with a lush, leafy ceiling.

         The golems that rose to challenge Ix spent the last of the crystal rose he possessed, but soon he stood before one far grander, unchallenged.

         “Now foolish mother of a foolish people, it is time for you to serve your master, Emperor Benedict Yoluku.”

         Striking the ground once more with his staff, Ix splintered the earth and the massive tree that sheltered the crystal rose. Rings sprang up all around and transformed into steel cogs with a wave of Ix’s staff. Soon they became as a gyroscope around the rose and shrank along with it, vanishing as it became small enough to fill Ix’s staff.

         “And now this ruin has served its purpose,” Ix remarked as he secured the rose and turned to leave. He stopped however as a rumbling tore through the underground shopping mall and a familiar voice reached him.

         :Now, now Pir’Oth. Do not be so hasty.:

         “Benedict,” Ix acknowledged the voice of Yoluku. “You delay your waking projecting yourself here.”

         :It is troublesome to be sure, a Zone where I do not see,: Yoluku laughed, as though his troubles were but entertainment for him. :The Children of Gaia are ever so stubborn. But I have come up with a solution. An idea my precious Medium has inspired.

         :Come now Pir’Oth, my old friend,: Yoluku laughed as he realized he needed to instruct Ix. :I have consumed enough of the Rings in this Zone to speak with you, surely you can open it to me now.:

         “As you desire Benedict.”

         Striking the ground with his staff again, a tremor tore through the entirety of the Zone a great crack joined by countless openings soon tore through the overturned ceiling of the Zone and a golden sky was revealed above, Yoluku resting on the horizon before the sun glaring in.

         :Now Pir’Oth, receive my gift before I return to deeper dreams.:

         From the small planet in the sky a shooting star fell to earth. But it did not strike the ground, rather arching and racing along the ground only to stop and hang in the air before Ix. A two-fifth remnant of a golden Ring, a matching hued cog wheel turning through it.

         “A new toy Benedict?” Ix questioned as he placed his free hand under the Ring to receive it. “What game have conjured up now?”

         :Do not be so irritable with me Pir’Oth,: Yoluku laughed, though his voice was fading. :The Rings will always remember. It is the nature of my world. It is how it grows and avoids becoming stale. A gift befitting their god. But here in the Far Lands they remember while no one else does. So, I devised a plan to have fun with the works of the Machine Knights.:

         Laughter filled the air, and it was as if even the small planet that shared Yoluku’s name laughed.

         :My Gold Gear Rings to use the nomenclature of my Medium,: Yoluku continued, his returning slumber evident in his voice. :They do not remember what is or was, but the history I write for them to remember.

         :Or you for now,: Yoluku continued after a yawn that was surely for show. :There is no Ring Mage who has ever matched you Pir’Oth. No dirt dweller who has touched the majesty of your existence. So go now my friend, make a new history of the world for me to wake to. Fill it with my Golden Gear Rings and make my empire anew.:

         Yoluku’s laughter rang through the air, a sound pleasing as wind chimes in a summer breeze. But like the wind it soon was gone and Pir’Oth remained alone in the transformed Zone, wrapped in the golden fog of a perpetual dawn.

         “Then it is only natural I begin where I stand Benedict. Let me test the limits of your new toy and see if I cannot have you released by your very captors.

         “May the Empire of the Ring stand once more, and eternal.”

         His purple robes swirling around him, Pir’Oth Ix, friend of Benedict Yoluku, Ring Mage without peer, and something other than the autogolem shell he possessed at last took notice of the Zone he had crossed.