4 A Chat

Nea couldn't wait to see the so-called 'divine artifact' so she pestered Liana to bring her to the archive. The Sanctum didn't reject Nea's intrusion. Perhaps it considered her harmless because Liana was tagging along. Unlike Liana who wheezed and panted as she climbed the stairs, Nea was jumping around and telling her to hurry up. Nea tried to push open the door by herself but it didn't budge.

"Here, let me." Liana put her hands on the door and opened it with ease.

"Unfair." Nea ran into the chamber. Her gaze flitted around the room in interest. "Which one?" There were so many mighty and mystical artifacts in this room. Each one of them looked fit to be the 'divine artifact'.

Liana approached the marble which on and pointed at it. "This one."

"Eh?? But it looks… so plain." Nea scrutinized the artifact. "Are you sure you don't remember it wrong?"

"No, it's this one. It may look nothing special but it gives off a different aura."

Nea tilted her head and then continued observing the marble. Her face scrunched up as she increased her focus. "I don't feel anything."

Liana laughed. "Maybe it's my heir's senses tingling."

Nea snorted and reached out.

Liana quickly caught her hand. "What are you doing?"

"Checking."

"He said he didn't like being touched."

"Well, how do we get him to show himself then?"

"Ask him?"

Nea rolled her eyes. "Fine." She cleared her throat. "Hello~! Sir divine artifact? Can you please show yourself? We want to talk to you."

There was a long silence.

Nea looked at Liana. "Hmm?"

Liana sighed. "Just don't blame me if he gets mad."

"I'll take full responsibility." Nea grinned and touched the artifact with her forefinger.

Suddenly, the ground shook.

"What the-?!" Nea shouted.

The ground shook so hard that both of them crumpled to the ground.

"What did I say?!" Liana yelled.

Cracks spread out from the pedestal where the artifact stood. Yawning darkness greeted them below. A strange deep bellowing sound from an unknown creature rang through the air.

"We're sorry!" Liana said and turned to Nea. "Said something!"

Nea stammered, "Uh-I'm sorry, I swear I won't do it again."

The chaos continued for several seconds before a snap was heard. The cracks on the ground disappeared and the rumbling ceased.

The boy appeared before them and said, "As always, a mere warning cannot stop bear kids like you."

Liana and Nea didn't react for a while. Their mind was too scrambled after such ordeal. Nea looked around and saw everything was like before. She took a deep breath and gushed out, "What was that? Is that an illusion? Wow, I've never seen one so real before!"

The boy raised his eyebrow and squinted his eyes at her. Nea returned his stare. The boy sighed and took a seating position while hovering above the ground. "What do you want?"

Without hesitation, Nea asked, "Are you the divine artifact created by Saint Yulan?"

"Yes." The boy looked at Liana. "Any other question?"

"Of course there are!" Nea scrambled closer. "How does Saint Yulan look like? Are you there when the two great wars happened? What are you made of? What can you do?"

The boy frowned and pushed Nea's face away. "She looked cold and unapproachable. I was in the first one but not the second. I don't know. Many things."

Liana held back Nea who was about to get close again. "Sorry for bothering you. We're just curious."

"I know, you humans are like that. Always greedy for many things."

Liana and Nea were not sure how to respond to that.

The boy sighed. "Anyway, I changed my mind. I've been asleep for so long it's getting tiring. So I'll humor you guys for now."

Liana covered Nea's mouth when she was about to continue her rapid questions. "Thank you. My name is Liana. This is Nea. What should we call you?"

"I don't have a name."

Nea pulled off Liana's hand. "Why's that? All of Yulan's creations are named."

"She wanted me to name myself and well I haven't found one that I like. But an old friend of mine often called me White."

Nea asked, "White? Because of your ha-?"

Liana once again covered Nea's mouth. "Sorry, she doesn't have tact."

"No, it was the name of the cat that my friend raised. It died and he was so sad, so he used me as a replacement."

Liana and Nea were speechless. Using the divine artifact as a substitute … who was this guy?

"Were you guys close?" Liana asked.

The boy replied, "I'm not well versed at measuring the depth of human's relationship however he never stopped yammering at me even when I staunchly ignored him. But I suppose he left some impression on me. After all, this look was based on his appearance." The boy's eyes looked distant as if remembering old memories. Liana and Nea kept their silence.

"I'm tired," the boy continued. "It has been a while since I speak for this long."

"We are sorry for bothering you," Liana said.

The boy hummed. "You can come again sometime later." With that, the boy disappeared.

Liana and Nea left the chamber. They stood in a daze as the door closed behind them.

"That was awesome!" Nea cheered.

"For a second there I thought we were going to die." Liana glared at Nea. "Next time you should be more polite."

"I don't like beating around the bush, and it's not like he's actually mad."

"You can still word your questions better!"

"Hey, which one of us asked more questions? Not you."

Liana warned, "If you keep acting like this, next time I won't bring you with me."

Nea retorted, "Alright then, I will just stay with you from now on! I will sleep in your room and I'll even follow you to the bathroom. You can't escape!"

Liana crossed her arms. "Brianna won't let you."

"Is that a challenge?" Nea smirked.