By the time he found consciousness - again - it was already night time and days later.
He was not sure how he had survived some of Modest's nocturnal demons given the fact that he had passed out right in the middle of a plain, no refuge landmark in sight.
Sitting upright, Hiroko let his curiosity drive his mind as he eyed himself and the surroundings. He looked at himself first. Since when had he put on a black t-shirt and matching trousers? And what was the deal with the classy and fantastical elbow-sleeved purple coat he was wearing? Whose shoes were those?! What gave?
Where were his pajamas?
Turning to the environment, he saw another slightly perplexing thing. A pair of purple glowing dots situated closely next to each other hovered in the air at a five meter's height. His sharp eyes instantly making out the silhouette of the tall creature and his brain registering the image as Rocky, Hiroko widened his eyes and then sprung to his feet and instinctively summoned his sword from the ground and into his hands.
His reaction was fueled by the thought:
"Rocky Golem was the only one of his kind around here and he perished into dust. I know so because… I swallowed him up. Who the heck are you?"
Not that he expected the rock structure to verbally answer him – but when the creature stood still like a statue, Hiroko's shoulders weighed on him in disappointment. He heaved his disappointment out in the form of a sigh and lowered his flaming sword.
"I know, I'm hallucinating." he told himself, dismissing the sword onto his back, shaking his head. "That's not Rocky. I swallowed the dust, yes, it's the dust. It must be a… a… a drug of some sort. Rocky's dead."
But even as he tried to tell himself all kinds of things to coax himself into believing he was crazy… Well, crazy-er, the rocky structure stood there, motionless, eyeing him with listless eyes that flickered with a purple flame. He finally decided to approach it. His feet forced his legs to move and before he could even breathe, he was standing right next to the giant golem. Starting his eyes from its base, up its midsection and reaching its top, Hiroko did not notice anything out of the ordinary with the rock monster other than that it was a meter taller than he remembered.
"Rocky, is that really you?" He couldn't help but ask.
Finally, as if coming to life, the golem lowered its head with Hiroko's face and stared. Hiroko flinched and took a step back. That was the same monster that was man-hunting him for the past couple of months - or at least he thought it was the same one.
Wanting to make sure he was not completely demented; Hiroko cleared his hypothetical throat and cautiously asked:
"...Rocky... Do you still want to fight me?"
It took a moment for the rock golem to react, but when it shook its head, Hiroko was taken aback and lost some of his breath. He fluttered his eyelashes several times and gasped dramatically. He asked:
"What? Rocky, can you understand me?"
Rocky stood still for a moment. A second later he - it - tilted its head and blinked.
That was probably a coincidence.
"Nani kore?"
Hiroko's spirit fell and he huffed out through the nose, turned around and began walking away.
Just like that.
Unbeknownst to him, the rock monster started following right behind him, silent as the night.
By daybreak, it was still following Hiroko as he trekked across the desolate valley of rock formations, through the smelly tar pits and geothermal geysers, and through more bone-covered landscapes. The sun, white and harsh as it was, remained hidden behind purple veils of patchy clouds, casting diagonal sunbeams down onto the black rock. Something just happened to occur to Hiroko, and he stopped.
He looked at himself; he was still wearing those clothes he didn't know the source of. He widened his eyes and glanced back. His eyes narrowed.
Rocky Golem was right behind him, staring and standing all odd-like.
"You? Are you following me? Again? Go back! Get!"
The golem tilted its head and then nodded. Hiroko felt a surge of frustration simmer inside his chest. The blade on his back instantly burst into purple flames and disappeared before reappearing in his right hand. He made his way to the rocky creature, dragging the blade behind him.
Coming to Rocky Golem, Hiroko raised the saber up to its face, his eyes shimmering with an ethereal purple glow. He gritted his teeth, trying very hard to control his emotions.
"Rocky, or whatever you are... you can't just follow me. No, not after what happened. Why are you even following me? Are you lonely or something? I'm not your master!"
And at those words, Hiroko fell silent as he began seeing another Glance. That supernatural holographic memory.
The clouds swirled and quickly split to make an opening for a bright blue entity to open in the sky. Hiroko recognized it as the same one that had changed his whole life. And he was not shocked to see a small, lonely figure falling from the tremendous height of the clouds.
"Repetitive much?"
There was a sudden thunderous clap and the vortex warped and disappeared. The figure, who was glistening because of the startling sunlight, eventually made a hard landing on the obsidian ground, their raiment producing an echoing metal clangor with it.
Hiroko observed as the Glance shifted and he found himself a few meters away from the figure, who appeared to be a man in shiny metal armor.
"A knight?"
He turned to Rocky and for some reason, noticed the piercing look the rock monster gave the Memory Knight.
The Memory Knight, grunted in pain on the ground, usurping Hiroko's attention once more and panted. That was quite a fall. The knight, visibly pained, lay down for a few moments, but when a new character showed up in the memory, he regained his senses and rolled to his side... only to meet with a colossal golem made out of obsidian rock approaching him.
The knight looked very taken aback, his blue eyes flashing with horror through his visor for a second and then filling with trepidation. He waited not a second more and miraculously rose to his feet, pulling off and throwing aside his helmet.
He was instantly face-to-face with the large creature, his breathing audible and dark hair draping over his eyes.
"What... are you, mighty creature?"
He spoke in a medieval accent carrying a lot of sophistication and history.
The golem before him tilted its head, curiously eyeing the man in metal before it. The knight, surpassing Hiroko's guessing abilities, dropped his longsword onto the ground. He took a step forward.
"How do you do? I am Sir Lancelot..."
Hiroko remained stiff.
"Who?!"