The golem whirled to life. The moment the crystal was fully inserted it began to move, becoming animated in form. It began to stand and as it did, electrical lightning came over it. It pierced through the ground sending shockwaves of electricity that caused all the magical devices in the room to malfunction. The room began to flicker as the lights went on and off. The output of arcane energy was tremendous. It was almost overbearing. Prometheus for a moment could barely stand, the immense amount of energy in the room made it feel like an intense pressure was being placed upon his shoulders. As the golem stood finally to full height, suddenly the lights fully went out. It was pitch black within the room. But then, the light of the golems eyes showed through the darkness, it showed onto Prometheus and Daedalus, blinding and illuminating them within the light. Prometheus squinted before it but then could see the outline of the golem also begin to glow as the arcane energy fully traveled to each part of its bronze and stone structure. It stood looking down at them, this nine foot Goliath could only be seen with the lights illuminating from him, the rest of the room remained black. The golems lights dimmed a little, and Prometheus was no longer blinded by its gaze.
"2 minutes" Daedalus said.
"Program: conduit: assume form," Prometheus said.
The golem didn't react for a moment but then a shutter of light ran through its body, like a recognition. "State name," the golem said through its cold and almost incomprehensible voice.
"Telluides, advisor in the Blessing of Love," Prometheus said.
"Telluides," The golem said. The lights began to flash on and off in a wave until they all turned gold, "confirmed." The golem suddenly began to shrink in size, the lights went lower and lower until they were around the size of Prometheus. Then they condensed into what looked like a ball of blue light. The ball then began to stretch and form until it took form, the form of Telluides. The blue form stood there, motionless, waiting for a command.
"Remember we don't get a lot of questions, be as specific as possible," Daedalus said.
"Are you truly a member of the Azurite order, sworn to protect and uphold the sentinel of Midoku and the Randorin?" Prometheus asked.
"Yes," the form said, "it is my solemn vow. Or else I would have to forfeit my life."
"Have you lie to us about things you have told us?" Prometheus asked.
The form tilted its head in confusion, "Prometheus you need to be more specific than that," Daedalus warned.
Prometheus waved him off in frustration, "were you dishonest in the way that approached telling us the information you know about the blessing of love?"
"Everything I have told you is what I believe to be true," The form replied. This was an unsatisfying answer. Yes it confirmed that Telluides believes what he is saying, but believing what you are saying and it being true are two different things. As an advisor to the Blessing of Love he should know the different comings and goings, his answer should be more definitive, but it wasn't.
"Has any of the information you told us been manipulated in some way?" Prometheus asked.
"Manipulated? The information I gave you was very straight forward," the form replied.
"Hmmm," Prometheus thought of what to ask next.
"Prometheus we have to hurry you only have seconds left," Daedalus said more hecticly.
Prometheus turned, "this is a delicate matter let me be!" He snapped. He felt bad about it but it was disrupting his ability to think. In reality he only had one question left he could ask, he had to ask something that mattered. Something that could help them, otherwise this was all for nothing. Then it clicked.
"Were you told to tell us this information?," Prometheus asked.
"What?"Daedalus said.
The form cocked its head, it processed and thought for a second before replying, "yes."
It was like a flare went off in Prometheus's head. He knew there wasn't much time but he had to get one more question in if it was possible, "are you the same Telluides that became an Azurite?" Prometheus asked quickly.
The form thought once more. Prometheus knew there had to be only seconds. If it was going to respond it had to respond now and quickly. Then finally it said, "no."
With that the form dissipated and reformed into the golem. It towered over them once more before beginning to kneel down on the ground once again. As it did so, the lights flickered back on and the blue energy faded. The golem remained where it was, lifeless.
"No?" Daedalus said.
"No," Prometheus said, pleased with himself. Suddenly the crystal dropped out of the face of the golem onto the floor, depleted of energy; only two left on this journey.
"Well this was a waste of time," Daedalus said definitively.
Prometheus turned to his companion, offended by his words, "a waste of time?" Prometheus said.
"You got us nothing. All we know now is that Telluides is not the same person he was when he became an Azurite. I understand we restored this golem but we know very little about it, to waste almost 20,000 gold on a crystal that got us one incomplete answer I would say is a waste of time," Daedalus said clearly up in arms.
"You need to learn your place Daedalus," Prometheus said, "unfinished? We learned everything we needed to."
"This golem answers questions in the literal. You have to be very specific. Instead of following the protocol you asked one of the worst questions you could about personhood when we could have gotten so much more," Daedalus said, still angry.
Prometheus could feel the anger swelling like a restless sea in his soul but instead of letting it over take him, he let it subside. He took a deep breath before replying, "before now we only knew two things and Telluides. That he is an Azurite, and that he is the advisor to the Blessing of Love. After this conversation one thing became unequivocally clear; Telluides is being controlled."
"That is a pretty far-fetched conclusion to draw!" Daedalus said offended.
"Think back to what I asked, I didn't not ask if he was the same person he was, I asked if he was the same 'Telluide'," Prometheus said rather pleased with himself.
"And?" Daedalus said.
Prometheus rolled his eyes, "a name holds a lot of weight. Asking someone about their identity or personhood by identifying their name is an important distinction. If I said 'are you the same person', it is too nuanced. There are too many variables that could be true. But by identifying his name that changes the question, it is a roundabout way of asking 'have you always been Telluide'," Prometheus replied.
Daedalus wanted to protest but even Prometheus could see he was impressed. "So what do we do?" Daedalus asked.
"We stick to the plan," Prometheus said matter of factly.
"If what you just said is true, and the advisor to the Blessing of Love is being controlled, then the plan is a trap," Daedalus rebuttled.
"Then let's hope that Fuju, Rijin, and Qrow have a way to stop it. In the meantime, we need to prepare," Prometheus said.