He awakens, eyes open to blink in darkness. The breath of life inflates his body, his chest making a life-like heave with the ambulatory aether than animates him.
Long ago, that aether was given to lifeless clay, formed into familiar features and given as a present to a little boy who had lost his mother. Golems were symbols of wisdom and it took a great deal of wisdom to enact the rituals and learn the alchemy that could bring life to the inanimate.
The golem was given a human name and grew as the boy did, a constant companion in the shadow of his master. The golem hung on every action of the boy and learned mimicry, acting as people do. He learned many things from the boy and they shared many an adventure and joy in the world.
Except for one.
For you see, there was one thing the golem had not learned. The golem loved the boy very much, as much as a part of himself (which he was), but when the boy loved another, the golem found himself on a road he could not follow.
So the golem was packed away, left in a wardrobe for when he would be needed. His careworn clothes gathered dust, from his carved and sculpted features hung cobwebs, his expression a little sad but always patient. Waiting.
Today, the golem blinked and was happy.