Dungeon Beast Pet Queen

Jessie felt her throat went dry as she sat on the bed with the orb in her l.a.p. Nexx purred as he circled around from behind her, his feline head nestling into her t.h.i.g.h as he in turn contemplated on the orb.

"He-Hello?"

For a second, she felt like crying from the shock. Is she really talking to a core right now? Did the night really screw her up that much?

The orb glowed in time with the impatient syllables echoing in her head. The masculine voice a telling sign of its – his – gender.

Holy f.u.c.k. Surprise almost caused her to jump up and almost dislodging the core and Nexx from her l.a.p. Maybe it wasn't a hallucination... But would she even know if it was? Jessie made a wry frown. Let's play along with it for now. Maybe she'll wake up in the morning tomorrow and it'll just be a weird dream from staying up the entire night trying to bind with the orb.

Still... Jessie thought as she stared at the orb dumbly. What should she say to a freaking orb?

Cool. He's fielding the questions, Jessie internally sighed with relief. "We're in..." The words fell out of her lips, but she didn't know how to answer the orb accurately.

My friend's house? Off of Trangel street? The orb was clearly looking for a point of reference, but how much did he know about where he was at if he has been sitting on a shelf for as long as Jessie knew of him?

Off to the side, Nexx made no sound, but continued staring at the orb intently.

Jessie thought for a second longer and answered, "We're in New Brynheim... Do you know where that is?"

The orb was silent.

Jessie's mouth went wide.

Vurghin was a kingdom from back in the old continent of Raede! It had been dissolved shortly before the humans migrated to Tyraede!

Holy crap. This orb was old.

"Uh... We're on a whole different continent now. Tyraede," Jessie told the orb with all the reverence that she could offer to the orb. Respecting her elders has always been one of key things in life, after all. "From what I know, the old continent has all but destroyed and left uninhabitable after the war..." Then she added sheepishly, "Sorry."

The orb was silent once again.

Trying to change the subject, she asked, "What's your name?"

>

He said flatly.

Jessie wanted to chuckle with a tsukkomi. You sure don't sound alarmed!

But she resisted the urge and soon the orb was speaking again.

The suggestion sounded good.

"I can't tell you much about the old world since a lot of the history was lost when humans came over to Tyraede. As far as I know, Raede is lost. There has been no line of contact from over there, no matter how much our side has tried..."

She sensed the grief from the entity again and she quickly added, "But let me tell you about Tyraede! Humans have been over here for about four hundred years now and we're still in a marked stage of exploration!"

This was also something she was excited about and it tinged her tone with the same passion.

"They say only fifteen percent of this continent is charted and inhabited by humans! The rest! It's a wild frontier out here! Every day there are more and more cultivators making their way to the uncharted places to try to map and stake their claim for fortune and fame! It's a time of romance and adventure!

"Not only that, the number of nations that have migrated here have formed a treaty of peace! No wars here! It's a time of stability and unity! Everyone is relaxed and easygoing here compared to Raede! The standard of living here is good enough that most of the people can afford a beast of their own and cultivate!"

Jessie stopped for a breath before she even knew that she was running out of steam. She might have left out the minor conflicts still rolling about considering her own family issues, but she meant what she said. The time she lived in now was a good time period where everyone was entitled to their own peace of mind and still enjoy cultivating – not as part of a war-time situation, but as a personal endeavor of self-fulfillment.

"It's said to be the golden age of cultivators!" She boasted.

The orb was quiet as he digested the new information and Jessie decided to get comfortable. She took the orb off her l.a.p and put it in front of her while she grabbed Nexx. The feline beast was caught by surprise and struggled for a bit before relaxing as she put him her l.a.p and started petting him down his side.

>

Jessie laughed and flashed the orb a smile. It was strange to take comfort from the orb, but it lifted a weight off her c.h.e.s.t all the same. "Thank you."

The entity in the orb just froze.

For a second. Just a second. The image of the girl in front of him merged with someone else. A flaxen-colored woman smiling at him. "Thank you, Oz."

Then it was gone, but the memory told him something new.