Fake Artifact?

(Chloe's Pov)

"This is how we know Orion, who saved our daughter." said Mrs. Riley.

"No way! He never told us about it and Elena didn't even tried to tell us before!" said Reina.

"I apologise for it." said Elena.

"No, what I mean is that, why Orion never told us about this and why he never tried to interact with you Elena?" replied Reina.

"Isn't it obvious? They both are arbiters and were assigned to different cities so it's hard to get in contact while doing your job as an arbiter." I replied, giving the reason.

"But but!"

"Come on Reina, you must not delve deeper in this topic as it is not our top priority. Don't forget what we are here for..." I said.

"Uh...okay... Chloe..."

She was not completely distracted by what I had said but she had still understood the situation. Arbiters can interact with each other per week or two- three times at most but both Orion and Elena seemed to be a little introvert so it was only normal they would not talk much unless their is special reason. However, I was also a little surprised that both of them had never even tried to contact with each other atleast for once. I had wondered why.

"Actually that's not correct, We always talk with each other whenever we are free but I told him that, it should be our secret conversation..."

"...eh?"

I was a little surprised by this fact. However, why she had bothered to reveal a secret like that?

"Whaaaattt!?"

"Oh come on Reina, you are noisy." said Ray.

"You are talking to arbiter Mr. Ray."

"That's not fair, you are abusing your powers now!"

"Whatever!" she replied while sticking out her tongue to taunt Ray.

"Sigh ...why are you both fighting like kids?" said Kurt.

"You have some problem?" Both Reina and Ray said.

"....No I think I should not have said that..." said Kurt while not able to handle the pressure from them.

"Hehe." Elena chuckled, struggling to control her laugh a little bit.

"Ah! Look Elena is laughing."

"..! Oh, I am sorry.."

"No no, it's just that you look cute while laughing."

Upon hearing this, Elena looked embarassed.

"Look you made her embarassed, you spoiled one." said Ray.

"What did you say."

Voila violently slammed the table with a dangerous look in her eyes as if she wanted to murder them.

"Shut up..."

"Okay." Both Ray and Reina said and they went silent as if they were scolded by their mother.

"Hahaha, Elena, You have such good friends with you now. I am happy for you." said her father.

"Dad..."

"It's true, I am glad you have good friends who always support you while you also do that for them." said her mother.

"Yes! I am happy I got such good friends now."

"Alright, since we are friends then you will have to do some chores in my house." said Reina proudly.

"You just wanna use her." said Ray in a low voice while showing sarcastic smiling face.

After a little bit of fun and had our dinner finished, we started the main topic regarding the White Tear.

"So, you want to obtain White Tear as per orders from Libra? Correct?" said Mayor.

"That's right, can you tell us everything you know? It will be helpful for us." said Ryuji.

"Hmm, alright then."

Everyone went silent to hear what mayor had to say. For some reason, Elena's parents were looking as though they saw a ghost or something.

"Many years ago, there were many evil people who sought the power of White Tear. White Tear was originally created in order to counter Shadow Tear. It was said that if Shadow Tear and White Tear are combined then it can produce massive amount of strength or it can be destroyed too. However, they are not capable to defeat the powerful entities like Dark Demon Regal or other powerful individuals." said Mayor.

For some reason, I noticed that Ryuji reacted a little towards the word of Dark Demon being spelled. He had also averted his eyes. Kurt also noticed this difference. It is common to be afraid of Ancient Demon however, it looked as though that wasn't the case here. I had ignored this because I couldn't understand what really happened and turned my attention towards the mayor to listen what he was saying.

"But... The real purpose of making these two artifacts were different..."

"Different reason? You mean they have other properties other than granting strength? Also is it true that the artifacts will be destroyed when combined?" said Voila.

"I will move onto that topic but for now, Shadow Tear was created for evil purposes and White Tear was made in order to counter Shadow Tear to stop or cancel it's effects." explained Mayor.

"Is this artifact also related to Dark Demon Regal?" asked Ray.

"Yes it is, rumours has it that the artifact was used to summon the most powerful demon. However, no one really know what Shadow Tear is mainly used for."

"Does it control the entities summoned by this artifact?" asked Ryuji with some interest.

"No, as you all know, there was no one who was able to control Dark Demon Regal."

"Then what is the reason of summoning something that isn't controllable?" asked Ray.

"That, we don't know. But atleast it was confirmed that there was some connection between Shadow Tear and Dark Demon Regal. White Tear was made in order to stop them." replied Mayor.

Ray made a face that looked very serious as if something was bothering him.

"Is it possible that whoever summoned the Ancient Demon, they just wanted to destroy the whole world along with their own life?" asked Ray.

"That might be possible as many people suicide due to some kind of pressure or whatever traumatic event they had faced."

"I see... Before we move further, there is something I want to share with you guys..." said Ray.

"You want to share something?" asked Reina.

"Yes, actually-"

He told us about the Lost Kingdom where the real name of this Kingdom was not found after the battle between Dark Demon Regal and Grand Summoner. Therefore they call it simply Lost Kingdom.

"Hmm, according to what information you gave, it seems the Demon was summoned after all or maybe not at all. However, I have never heard about this Lost Kingdom where the name of this Kingdom is unknown."

"Can I know why White Tear was not used in that battle if it was really created to cancel the effects of Shadow Tear, the Demon would have been returned to it's world by using this artifact maybe or something like that." asked Ray.

"Because White Tear was unable to cancel the effects of Shadow Tear for some reason. People said that the White Tear's counter strength was just a myth and it also didn't grant any powers as it was expected from the artifact. People were enraged by this fact while they also lost their hope of survival. However, we believe that this artifact is not ordinary or fake." said Mayor.

"White Tear was not effective?" said Voila with a surprise look on her face.

I was also surprised by this fact as well. Why there was no effects on Shadow Tear and Ancient Demon or was the White Tear artifact fake? These thoughts were generated as I was trying to figure it out but gave up on it due to lack of informations.

"Our village took the oath to protect the White Tear from evils and only hand over the White Tear to someone who wants to use it for good reasonable purposes. The ancient sorcerers made the White Tear and gave this artifact to ancient people of this village. Basically, we act like secondrary guardians of this artifact and pass down to the decendents to keep the White Tear safe." said Mayor.

"Secondary? Does that mean there is something else that protects the artifact?" I asked.

"That's right, a Giant Serpent who also represents the dragons."

"Is that a guardian?"

"Yes, it is. Ancient sorcerers, who created this Serpent, gave it immortality."

"You mean, it cannot be killed?" I asked.

"That's both true and false..."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Kurt.

"I mean it is possible to annihilate the guardian." said Mayor.

"So how can we beat the guardian?" asked Reina.

"There is an ancient ruin that will give you all the answers."

"You won't reveal it to us?" asked Ray.

"We don't know because no one ever tried to obtain the White Tear."

"So we are the first one, huh?"

"Yes. So, you need this magic item first." said Mayor.

"What does it do?" asked Voila.

"It will come in handy, you will notice it yourself later."

Everyone, including me, looked confused what he meant.

"Anyway, you need to go through the Dream Grassland and look for route 10 and go through their to reach the ancient ruins known as Viking Ruin. You will find your all answers on how to defeat the Giant Serpent there."

"I see, thank you for telling us. We will depart tomorrow."

"Sure, please rest as long as you want and recover yourself."

"Thank you." said Voila

"I should be the one thanking you all."

Just as we tried to stand up then-

"Elena, can you come for a minute? I have something to discuss with you." asked Mayor.

"Me? Um, okay."

As Mayor wanted to discuss something with Elena, Elena's parents looked more uncomfortable as they looked at her.

"Maybe it's just my imagination?". I thought and if ignored it.

"I wanna use the restroom if you don't mind." asked Reina.

"Sure you can use one, there." Mayor pointed to a direction, letting Reina know the location.

"Alright thank you."

I went outside with others and we were being lead to the guest room to rest for tonight.

I was in the guest room alone and I wanted to sleep quickly to get recovered and avoid fatigue by tomorrow. Just as I was going to bed, someone knocked at my door.

"Who could it be at this time?" I muttered as I moved towards the door.

When I opened the door, I saw Elena's parents standing while looking concerned.

"Um your name, was it Chloe, right?" Elena's father said.

"Yes, do you need something?" I asked both of them.

"Actually, we need your help Chloe..." said Mrs. Riley.

"Help?" I asked while being a little bit confused.

They both looked at each other and then looked at me again and told me everything they wanted to tell. Upon hearing what they had told me, I was shocked by what they told me.

"No way! You mean.....but...." I was unable handle my emotions as I listened to them.

"That is why, we need your help. We believe you also don't want this to happen, right?" said Elena's mother.

"Ofcourse I will help you! There is no way I could refuse it based on what you told me!" I said, accepting the reality.

I will never let this happen no matter what. Even if it means abandoning the White Tear. There will be other opportunities apart from White Tear.

"Alright then, goodnight Chloe. We will execute this secret mission tomorrow. Please don't tell anyone as it can become more hard for others to decide." said Mr. Joseph.

"Decide?"

"You will understand it soon." He said while averting his eyes as if he was hiding something else from me.

I saw both of them going to their house. I shut the door and tried to calm myself.

"No matter what, I will not allow this to happen. I will not let anyone see in pain anymore. I promised myself and made a resolve. This time I am not going to let it happen again." I thought while clenching my fist.

"First of all, we need to take care of this Giant Serpent... This battle will not be so easy according to what Mayor had told us..." I muttered.

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To be continued...