Sacred Chamber

Celestia thought she must be dreaming. There is no way Vivian was here. Unless…

No!

Celestia refused to believe that Vivian had anything to do with her lord. She had personally seen to it that nothing like that happened.

She even angered the World Tree in the process. That better be worth it!

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Celestia uttered those words as if she was spitting out venom.

"Great! More humans!"

-Star Beam-

"Argh!!"

Celestia's eyes glowed dangerously as she turned towards the source of the voice and spotted a young elf from her tribe.

A golden beam of destruction whizzed past his head, taking a chunk of his left ear with it.

"I am talking here. Don't interrupt!" Celestia blinked and her eyes returned to normal after firing off that destructive beam of light.

Elder Snowfang, who was about to pass snide remarks at Vivian, clamped his mouth shut. The High Priestess would get crazy when she was furious.

He did not want to be the target of that anger.

"Umm, Celes, listen, have you seen a human with black hair and wearing a silver necklace?" Vivian asked nervously.

The bitch was crazy, she realised. It was better to bolt out of here as soon as they found Ray.

"Hehe, we are meeting after so long, Vivi. Why don't we catch up inside my home?" Celestia beamed causing a shiver to run down her spine.

"No, I don't have anything to talk about with you!" Vivian slowly backed off. She was no stranger to that cruel smile.

"Ahem! Come now, don't be like that. We were so close back then. Surely, you must have tons of things to share with me," Celestia pressed on. "How about it? For old-time sake, let's chat for a while."

"Nuh-uh, I am not here for that. Where is Ray?"

"Ohoh, Ray— is it?" Celestia's eyes crinkled as she closed them and drew a tight smile on her lips.

'Damn! When did she get on a first-name basis?'

"Yes, have you seen him?" Vivian asked, completely unaware of the chaotic storm brewing in her friend's mind.

"I am here!" The door to the Sacred Chamber swung open again and Raymond poked his head out. "Arlo, you can go back! I will be here from this moment onward. If you have anything to discuss in the future, feel free to come here."

"My Lord, I don't think—" Arlo was interrupted by Raymond.

"Don't worry, they aren't going to do anything to you!" Raymond shouted for everyone to hear. "If any of them lay a finger I will start beating their Elders one by one!"

Raymond smirked at Celestia challengingly.

Celestia simply shook her head and didn't say a word in reply.

"Well, see? They don't mind. You can come here whenever you want!" Raymond said.

"If you say so, My Lord!" Arlo bowed deeply to Raymond and scanned his surroundings one last time before taking his leave.

"Lyla, Vivi, come on in! Think of this as our new home," Raymond tapped on the door and beckoned them inside. "I see Jasmine is still sleeping."

Vivian ran as if her life depended on it and reached Raymond in no time. She quickly glanced at Celestia, expecting her to fire off a lethal spell.

She let out a breath she was unknowingly holding when she realised there was no spell coming her way.

Raymond chuckled to himself, took Jasmine from Vivian, and carried her inside the Sacred Chamber followed by Vivian and Lyla.

"My Lady, why are so many humans here today?"

"I don't know. Don't ask me anything!" Celestia shot back hotly to whoever asked that question. She didn't even turn to look who was asking.

Her eyes were fixed on Vivian and Raymond. Particularly, the way she clung to his arm.

There was definitely something wrong here. What was the point of offending the World Tree in order to separate them?

Things were not at all looking good for her.

-Thud!

The door shut behind them as they disappeared inside the Sacred Chamber, bringing Celestia back to reality.

She took deep breaths to calm her nerves. The fire of jealousy burning in her chest was threatening to consume her rationality.

'What the hell is that bitch doing with him?'

Droplets of blood dripped from her palms as her nails dug into the soft skin.

"My Lady, I understand your anger. Vivian is not supposed to be here, much less a squad of humans," Elder Snowfang quietly signalled for everyone to leave the premise and go back to their homes for the time being and slowly approached the fuming High Priestess.

"I cannot express how serious this matter is, but we need to tread carefully around that man!"

"I understand, Elder Snowfang. Don't worry too much, I know how to handle him."

Celestia didn't correct him. She let him believe that she was angry with Raymond and his human wives.

It would serve her well in the near future if he believed that. Elder Snowfang was close with Ronan and they held each other in high regard.

"No, My Lady, you don't!"

"Excuse me?" Celestia raised her eyebrows in question.

"He climbed the World Tree and brought its leaves with him!" Elder Snowfang explained.

"Is that all?"

"He killed Elder Barhawk in one punch!"

"Hmmm. I get it now. I will handle this matter. Make sure no one wanders around this area while the humans are inside, understood?"

Celestia ordered and stormed towards her tree house in a hurry. Today, she was going to knit a new doll— one that was made of green hair and golden eyes— and shred it to pieces and wait for the rest of the Elders to come back from wherever they had been thrown by Raymond.

***

Raymond sucked in a breath of fresh air once he stepped into the dimly lit chamber of the World Tree.

As the room was always closed and had no windows, one would expect the air to be stale and stifling. But contrary to expectations, the room smelled like nicely lacquered wood and had a fresh earthy fragrance.

Every breath was filled with exuberant mana, energising those who spent their time here.

[Wow!] Heartsbane exclaimed in Lyla's mind. [I don't care how we got in here. We are not leaving this place. Tell that to our man!]

'When did he become your man?' Lyla felt the need to seek an answer to that question.

[Keke, don't mind my small slip-up. Seriously, this place is like heaven for cultivators. You can quickly become a Martial Monarch if you dual cultivate with him here!]

Lyla carefully took a look around the chamber. Even though the lighting was scarce here, it was still possible to see a few of the cushioned seats and several tables with short legs sitting around.

Jasmine was unceremoniously dropped on one of the tables by Raymond, still completely unaware of the change in their residential arrangements.

Zzzz~

Lyla released an exasperated sigh at her sister's careless attitude and ignored her loud snoring in favour of scouting the room.

There was also a stone statue of a man wielding a bow and notching an arrow in one corner of the room.

She saw Vivian dreamily gazing at the statue as if she was recalling something from the past.

Lyla left her to her own devices and observed the walls covered in runes.

"It's so dark here."

She heard Ray grumble and just as she was about to take out an oil lamp from her spatial ring, the cluster of runes in front of her lit up, emanating bright white light that filled the dome-like chamber.

"Damn! This place can be controlled via voice command? Awesome!" Raymond chirped happily. "Turn off the lights," he commanded and the runes turned dark following his words.

"Heh. This is great! " Raymond rubbed his palms excitedly. "What else can it do?"

"Hmmm, let's see…" He contemplated for a few seconds and said:

"Turn on the lights and increase the temperature!"

The runes lit up and brightened the room. Raymond felt the air churning up and the temperature slowly rising.

"Alright, lower the temperature!"

And just like before, the runes glowed and the ambient temperature dropped gradually.

"Ray, what happened here? Why are we staying in this place?" Lyla asked, finally remembering the important question.

Raymond smiled in response, reminding himself to check out the other functionalities inside the room, and sat on one of the cushions.

"Come here," he gestured for her to sit on his lap which Lyla did promptly by plopping her butt on his lap. "You too Vivi."

Vivian quickly came out of her idle dreaming and sat next to him. Raymond wrapped his hand around Lyla's slim waist and his other hand caressed her head.

"You did a good thing by bringing those two here," he praised and Lyla nudged her head into his hand, wordlessly asking for more of those petting.

Raymond laughed silently. She was not even aware of what she was doing.

'Cute.'

Vivian thought, seeing the usually stoic Lyla acting like a spoiled girl.

"You see when I woke up this evening, there was this mad lad who was looking for Vivi…"

And so began Raymond's elaborate monologue on how he ended up encroaching on elven land.