independent piece 4

In the old legends they used to talk about golems, men of mud without souls or minds. Only the purest of heart could make a golem, though only the most conflicted would want to. The process was simple enough, write a secret word on the hand of a clay entity you wished to animate and it would live. Without the ability to reason or think, the beast would obey any order given it with complacent obedience. Here’s an interesting conundrum for you to ponder, what if you ordered the creature to feel guilt, what if you ordered a golem to be human?
I assume, of course, that you have no idea, so let me relay to you a little story. Eighteen years ago a very pure man was faced with a very tragic circumstance. His wife had a son. They were overjoyed at the birth and the child was the apple of their eye for several years. But at age three the boy was taken ill with a fever. His sickness lingered for months. Driven nearly mad by grief his parents were pulled apart nearly to a break. The boy died and his parents were finally driven apart. His mother leaves our story for the time being. Our grieving father carried his sorrow with him for weeks. He had consulted doctors while his son lay dying and they had lied to his face, so he turned to the only other truth he knew, his faith. Priests and rabbis and monks and clerics of every faith and they all assured him that his young son was healthy and whole in the kingdom of God, but his sorrow still remained. It drove him further and further away from what he knew. He left his life behind and devoted himself in full to finding the answer to the question of death. His studies took him far from home and far from the common understandings. On one such trip afield he found himself in Prague and it was there that he first encountered the legend of the golem.
An old manuscript all but forgotten in some musty basement had been recovered not too long before his visit and was causing a stir among the local educated elite. Some claimed it was a parable, others dismissed it as a foolish folk-tale, but a small minority claimed it as fact. The manuscript contained detailed instructions for the creation and command of a golem as well as long narrative meant to warn would-be sorcerers. When our searcher heard about the book his interest was captured. He went to speak to preeminent scholars and well-respected rabbis about the legend and they all told him to abandon it, even the few that believed the legends warned him that it could only end in tragedy, but he was persistent. After much searching he found a man in Hungary who was willing to teach him the ceremonies he would need. When he was able to animate small clay birds and cats without complications his teacher told him he had reached the end of his education and he was ready to make his golem.
Since the passing of his only child ten long years had elapsed but the pain was still raw. It was without hesitation that he began the work of summoning his creature. He decided to start at thirteen to account for the years that passed, and once decided it was a simple task of sculpting the clay. He worked day and night without rest perfect the clay puppet he wished to incarnate. The final product was perfect, it was a flawless human child, only made from clay. Once finished, the closely guarded words were carved into the doppelganger’s wrist and the breath of life was breathed on the boy and he awoke.