Van Richten's Monster Hunter's.pdf - Askadesign.com

X2 hearts in your sister’s body?” 1
whispered. My stomach, so re1 xntly
warmed with hot tea, turned 1 ‘0 ice at
the thought.
Nodding distractedly, Antor iin continued.
“Yes, yes. But nothing worked.
Until I used the living heart. It worked.
I took it from that poor urchin, and yet
it still beat. /placed it within h ler, and it
still beat. But not enough, not enough.
So I found other pieces to use, other
parts to replace. Until euery or gan,
every appendage, was functio nal. ”
Here Antonin paused, lookir w UP
from the wooden heart he still clutched
to his breast. “Her eyes openec l, Van
Richten. And she smiled at me I. At me.”
When Antonin smiled I kne w he
was mad. Through my tears I asked
him to continue.
“But it wasn’t my sweet sls fer after
all. She was so different, not a t all
herself. One day I arrived horn e to find
all the crockery smashed. A u leek later
lawoke with her hands about mY
neck, strangling my life away.
Tears had replaced his earlit zr smile,
and we cried together as he cc ntinued.
“I hit her, the mockery of my s ister.
Again and again I hit her Whc :n it was
ouer, I buried her. But the next night I
again awoke to find her choki ng the
life from me. That is when I fle d. ”
“Then you have escaped yc iur creation,
Antonin?” I asked. The i incertainty
in my voice stemmed frl 3m the
madness still in Antonin’s pale z face.
“Oh, no. That isn’t euer pos! iible. I
just keep moving. When I stop , she will
find me again. She tells me so every
day and night, inside my uerg ’ head.
She speaks of how she wishe5
strangle me. ”
; to
Rising slowly, Antonin strai ghtened
his tie and smoothed his pant: i. “Ishall
be leaving you now, doctor. SI ie says
she is near, and I have no reas on to
doubt my sister.”
“But surely ifyou stay we c ’an
destroy her!” I cried. “I do haul ? some
small measure ofexperience LL lith such
“Not with golems, doctor She is not
truly alive, and thus she cannot truly
die. She is unstoppable, euen by you.”
Turning, Antonin headed to the
door. Looking back at me, he tossed a
small journal to the carpet. “You are
the only person I could trust to read
this, the only one who would not be
tempted to follow the path laid out in
this book and construct an abomina-
tion as I did. Should you euer run into
that creature or others like her, use this
information in your defense. The man
who gave me this book is dead now.
Killed by his own creation, as surely as
I will be killed by my . . . sister.”
With that, Antonin lei? me. Several
weeks later I learned he was strangled
to death in a small inn some two days
south of my home. Although Antonin
succumbed to madness, he did manage
to bring me the knowledge I needed to
begin hunting down the Created.
In the pages that follow, I will attempt
to put forth all that I have learned of the
Created. I have gathered this knowledge
from Antonin’s journal, my own re-
searches, and my own experiences. It is
my sincerest hope you will come to dis-
cern that the monsters and their creators
are both, in some sense, victims. Should
you ever confront a golem, perhaps this
realization will aid you.
I say this, of course, so that you
might better understand your foe.
Never should such empathy keep you
from using all means at your disposal
to destroy it. For the Created are
indeed monsters, despite their vaguely
human appearance. And they are
enemies to be feared. Golems do not
view life and death as you or I do; they
cannot share our joys and fears.
Should you ever be so unfortunate as
to fight a golem, do not rejoice too
swiftly upon slaying it. You must be
prepared to become acquainted with
true horror as your victim rises again
and again from its supposed death. It
will take all your resources, and
perhaps more, to free the world of just
one of these unholy menaces. G
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