The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren left Lily and the rest in the hall to talk with the First Born as he and Vivian came to another section close by.

They walked through a crystalline bridge that was set up with an array of seals, a semi-translucent lightscreen appeared at the front of the bridge as it opened the way. The Guardian Giant that they taken captive from Hoeltta was locked in there, as a prisoner.

“You think letting the giant meet the First Born is wise?” Vivian sounded rather jittery as she looked at Hao Ren.

“What are you worried about?” Hao Ren smiled.

“We don’t know how far have the giant calmed down, or if he even did. What if he told the First Born about the fall of the Goddess in detail, and riled it up?” Vivian’s frowned slightly. “Rather than letting the giant speak we should try to handle it ourself, trying to sugarcoat it or whatnot.”

Hao Ren looked at Vivian before speaking slowly. “Sometimes, it’s better to let the family members of the deceased to calm one another. Besides, I don’t think the giant will try to instigate the First Born’s hatred, he would in fact try to pacify the latter.”

Vivian was curious. “What makes you so sure about that?”

“Because that was his mother’s last wish.” Hao Ren nodded with confidence. “There’s no oath stronger than this.”

Vivian went silent as she heard Hao Ren’s response and nodded without a sound. The Guardian’s loyalty to the Goddess was an undisputable fact.

As the two stepped into the room they saw the giant seated at a corner of the chamber. He was surrounded by a few holographic displays while the floor around him had massive containers that were planted with all sorts of plants. Hao Ren remembered that before he left the area he had ordered the droids and arcane servant that they could entertain the giant’s every whims as long as it does not violate the security protocols. Seems like the holographic projector and the plants were items that the giant has requested during his time here. Seems that his life here was rather peaceful and laidback.

The giant noticed an approaching aura and he looked up at Hao Ren and Vivian before giving a small nod as a greeting. Hao Ren came to him and saw the holographic display showed the scenery on Tannagost. As curiosity got the better of him, Hao Ren asked. “What are you looking at?”

“A planet that was re-created.” the giant’s deep voice rumbled. “Life is really an odd thing, once it is there, it is very difficult to extinguish… This planet’s ecosystem looked like it was destroyed before, but now everything is in motion again, from the bodies of my brothers new forest and plains are born, seems like nothing had changed… except for the lost of Mother.”

Hao Ren threw the giant a question out of whim. “What do you think of this new ecosystem?”

“Nothing.” The giant pointed towards the plants beside him. “Life is life, it is a significant thing at the same time, insignificant, their existance is just because. That aside, we meet again, are you looking for me to talk about the ecosystem?”

“No, I’m here to bring you to meet a person… okay, maybe not a ‘person’ literally.” Hao Ren waved his hand. “Before that, I want to hear your opinion. If you ever meet another Guardian, who had maintain his or her sanity, will you speak with the guardian?”

A sudden burst of gust later, the giant rose up as he bend his mountain like body down to look at Hao Ren, who was no bigger than a midget in his eyes. “You found my brethrens?! And they still have their sanity intact?!”

“Not a giant likeyou of course, but still a guardian, a First Born.” Hao Ren said as he skipped a distance away. “Uh, mind your distance when you speak, it’s a level seven gale when you open your mouth… I found it at place some ten billion light years away. Both it s body and its ecosystem has been incinerated by the system’s sun. But I managed to preserve all their souls, and they are stored in this mainframe computer of this space station, think of it as a salvation of the soul…”

Hao Ren told the giant what exactly happened on Zom, and he did not even hide the truth about the Dream Ark. He knew that the First Born would talk to the giant about this and he took the opportunity to explain the existance of the Zomnites rather than trying to hide it under a pile of lies. That should earn him sound brownie points with the giant.

Surprisingly, the giant did not have much of a reaction when he heard what Hao Ren had to say, he did not even say a word. After frowning as he pondered hard, the giant rose slowly. “Bring me to it.”

Hao Ren and Vivian immediately stepped aside to avoid getting stepped on. Looking up, Hao Ren yelled. “If you have any opinions abou the Zomnites say them now. If possible I want to avoid any bloodletting if possible… although you won’t be able to slash at them anyway…”

The giant looked down as his voice thundered. “Mother had willingly protected them, I have no opinions about that. Now I just want to see the other guardian.”

vivian threw out a bat to lead the giant. As she walked with Hao Ren behind the giant she started whispering to him. “Say, Mr Landlord, what you think, between the giant and the First Born, are they brothers, or sisters?”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “Who knows, they are genderless… Say… stop mingling with Lily, your focus is more and more like hers.”

After leading the giant to the central hall, Hao Ren and the rest stepped aside but remained in the room. Everyone was curious about this momentus event and no one wanted to miss a thing. It seemed like the giant could sense the First Born’s spiritual presence and walked straight towards the crystal prism in the middle of the room. The giant gazed upon the crystal prism for a moment before speaking with a low voice. “Can you recognise me?”

The First Born’s response can a few seconds later. “I… I have some inkling. When I was just born, your aura was there.”

Nangong Wuyue stealthily tugged Hao Ren’s sleeve as she went. “Eh, Mr Landlord, how did it detect the First Born? It was in the data vault right?”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “Metaphysics, not something that you would be able to understand even if I explained it to you.”

Lily too decided to join in the fun as she tugged Hao Ren’s sleeve as well. “Eh Mr Landlord, Mr Landlord, what you think, between the giant and the First Born, are they brothers, or sister? Does it have a gender…”

Hao Ren did not say anything and just took a glance at Vivian. The message in his eyes read: Told you to stop playing with Lily. Just look at this line of thought.

Vivian shrugged and indicated she had no reply to that.

As the bunch muttered about by the corner of the room, the atmosphere soon gotten weird and Y’zaks, the sole ‘person’ in the party who serious could not take it any longer. The demon let out a deep cough as he dragged his daughter and motioned to the rest to leave. “Lets stop making a raucus here and make a move. Let the two siblings handle this.”

Hao Ren shook his head, slightly dejected before dragging Lily and Rollie as he followed behind Y’zaks. Lily was still going about the topic as she went. “Eh, can anyone explain this to me, are they brothers or sisters…”

After everyone cleared the room, only the two guardians were left. Or one guardian and a spirit. Their reunion after ten millenias was in a situation like this, such was a ironic hand of fate.

As Hao Ren brought the rest outside the hall, Nangong Sanba looked back towards the room. “Mr Landlord, what do you think they’ll be talking about?”

Lily nodded with a grim look. “They must be talking about how to exact revenge, what to do after their mum got blasted to smithereens…”

Nangong Wuyue gave the werehusky an odd look. “Can’t your thought process veer towards flowers and sunshine?”

Lily shuddered suddenly before glaring at Wuyue. “I just came back from a place the sun shines the brightest in this system. Almost blinded my dog eyes. Don’t talk to me about sunshine for the next two months!”

“How does that even got to do with anything!” Wuyue was exasperated.

Hao Ren stayed silent as he looked at the bickering duo and he seemed disinterested with their squabbles. When Lily’s imagination had ran wild almost to the boiling point, he intervened with a couple of dry cough. “Stop imagining nonsense. Their topics are rather normal. The giant is explaining the truth to the First Born, very very gently.”

Y’lisabet looked at Hao Ren, surprised painted on her face. “Uncle Ren, you’re eavesdroping?”

“Of course, the surveillance system is online twenty four seven.” Hao Ren shrugged. “This place is still a prison after all. You’d think I did not take any precautions? I’m much much more afraid than all of you if the two were to start fighting.”

Vivian crossed her arms as she laid on one of the crystalline pillars before letting out a sigh. “Regardless, this is a good sign.”

“Hmmm?” Hao Ren looked at her.

Vivian turned around, a faint smile on her face. “A guardian, and a First Born, both are still sane. We are slowly reuniting the surviving members of the Goddess’s children after her fall. While it’s only two now… we will find more in the future. Isn’t this a good sign?”

Hao Ren smiled as he heard what Vivian had to say. “Yes, a good sign indeed.”

Lily’s gaze swept between the two as she started mumbling to herself. “Why does this two look like an adulterous couple when they smile at the same time.”