The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-143

Chapter 143: …It Hatched!

Looking at Raven 12345’s calm expression, Hao Ren realized that a goddess like her did not need to purposely tell a bare faced lie to an entry level staff like him. He decided to just take her word for it. He nodded solemnly and dropped the topic about the “Goddess of Destruction”. Instead, he brought up the topic of the Letta runes. “What’s with the runes?”

“Ah, seems that you’ve noticed as well.” Raven 12345 had somehow managed to foresee the situation. “The runes used by demon hunters in the Superficial World exist in The Plane of Dreams. The same goes for werewolves and vampires. This is not a coincidence. In fact, most of the supernatural stuff that appears in the Superficial World… came from The Plane of Dreams.”

“F*ck! Why didn’t you tell me about this?!” Hao Ren exclaimed.

Raven 12345 waved her hand all too casually that it pissed Hao Ren off a bit. “I warned you before. I told you the Superficial World and the Dream World are very closely linked. Remember when you managed to bring a tuft of wolf fur out from The Plane of Dreams the other time? I didn’t tell you the deeper truth because, I wanted you to use your eyes and see for yourself, the truth of things. Alas, you’re still too inexperienced, and to have you take on such tasks will require proper nurturing.

Hao Ren stared hard at Raven 12345, trying hopefully to pry any insidious trickery that was hiding behind her doe-eyed features. Then again, the goddess had developed a skin so thick that it rivaled composite armor. Hao Ren’s puny gaze meant nothing to her. Raven 12345 allowed Hao Ren to stare at her for a good while before she casually continued, “Hmm… just to satisfy your curiosity, the supernaturals on Earth, at least a good 90% of them came from The Planes of Dreams. The demon hunters started that way too but, I’m still investigating this. Their sudden appearance also caught me off-guard. You should know, I’m not only in charge of Earth alone. The proliferation of demon hunters and supernaturals happened when I wasn’t around. It had been for a good millennium or two. As they didn’t cause any overly big ruckus, I didn’t send anyone to investigate. So, whatever information I have is also sketchy.”

It took a while for Hao Ren to digest the revelation. He came to realize that the unknown parts of Earth’s history itself were monumental, and could possibly be extremely shocking. The arrival of the supernaturals and demon hunters could be traced all the way back to The Plane of Dreams. What was their intention, coming here in droves?

“Could it be the catastrophe 10,000 years ago?!” Hao Ren suddenly recalled. “The Empire of Magic in The Plane of Dreams was destroyed 10,000 years ago, and Vivian’s earliest memories seem to only stretch back that far. Is it because of the apocalypse in The Plane of Dreams Plane that had many of the supernaturals coming to Earth as refugees?”

“Hah, you seemed to have caught on a bit, but sadly, you’ve missed the mark.” Raven12345 shook her head. “Did you think that 10,000 years ago, The Plane of Dreams and Earth were aligned? Who told you that it’s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year over there?”

Hao Ren was stunned. He had messed up the most basic of things.

“If both the supernaturals and demon hunters came to Earth from The Plane of Dreams, it would have been a history defining moment.” Hao Ren looked on at Raven 12345 in anticipation. “You see…someone who can connect to The Plane of Dreams is very uncommon. It’s like one in every few hundred years. Given the number of arrivals, it is clearly unnatural. How did they arrive from the Dream Plane?”

“You really want to know the truth behind The Plane of Dreams?” Raven 12345 demurred for a moment and gave Hao Ren a cold, piercing stare.

Hao Ren swallowed his saliva. He felt things were about to come to a climax.

“Not telling you.”

“…”

“Have patience, young man. You will know when you need to.” Raven 12345 grinned as she patted Hao Ren on the shoulder. “With your capabilities now, what can you do even if you know the secrets of the supernaturals and demon hunters? Can you broker peace between them? Can you pacify all of the supernaturals? Or can you ensure that there won’t be any further incursion between The Plane of Dreams and the Superficial World? You simply can’t. So, it’s best if you just focus on what you can do. Listen, you’d be better off resting at home for your next foray into The Plane of Dreams. My words alone won’t be enough to describe what’s going on. It’s better for you see it for yourself.”

Raven 12345 then crossed her arms with a forlorn look on her face. “My child, the blessing of the goddess is with you. I’ll try to be there before you get killed… Well, even if you do get killed, I’ll do my best to get there and resurrect you.”

Hao Ren was just about to respond to that when Raven 12345 broke his attention with a wave of her hand. “I’ll be out for work these few days. Do things as you see fit. Maybe there’ll be a stand-in but, don’t put your hopes on that.”

Hao Ren could sense that something was very urgent since Raven 12345 needed to leave in a jiffy. He was curious about what was going on but, figured there would be no answers to his questions. After finishing their afternoon tea, the goddess tossed him off the heavens and back to his house. (There’s a goddess here so, is it considered Heaven?)

All was quiet when he got home. Wuyue was still napping, and Y’zaks had not come home. He saw Lily’s pouch on the sofa, and realized that the werehusky was home. He was not sure if Vivian had also come back though. Hao Ren was still fretting about the egg, and he went straight to the aquarium.

His heart dropped at the scene before him.

The aquarium was there but, the egg was not.

At that very moment, Hao Ren feared for the worst. He initially thought the little mermaid had hatched and flopped its way into a corner but, there were no egg shells around the aquarium. He turned the room upside down, looking for it and could only come to a sad conclusion: An egg that he labored so hard to bring to Earth, and his promise this afternoon to Raven 12345 to take care of it. He even wondered when the egg would hatch. All that was gone now…

He suddenly remembered that Lily was home. By chance, she could have seen the egg in the aquarium. He yelled at the top of his voice, calling for her. “Lily!!!”

She responded almost immediately from the kitchen. “I’m here!!!”

Hao Ren almost ran towards the kitchen and saw the werehusky squatting while staring at the stove. As all of them were part of the “family” at this point, Lily could tell if a stranger had come in. So, she was in a semi-canine form with her eyes and tail out. The sight of her squatting and wagging her tail reminded him of a real house dog. As she saw Hao Ren appear by the doorway, she turned over excitedly. “Oh, you’re back Mr. Landlord? Is the alien planet fun? Did you get anything nice for me to eat?”

“…I wasn’t sure what to get you in that jungle of a planet.” Hao Ren could not help himself as he pressed Lily’s ears. “Did you see the egg in the room… Uh…what are you cooking?”

Only then did Hao Ren realize that there was a pot on the stove, and something was boiling in it. Lily was staring at it all the while she was squatting earlier. Cold sweat started pouring out of Hao Ren’s forehead. He swore that this idiot of a husky had probably outdone herself again. The thing inside the pot was most likely…

“I’m hungry!” Lily growled pathetically as she continued to squat there. Her tail swept the floor back and forth. “Battie said she was going to find some wild herbs for tonight’s stewed pork but, she’s not back yet. I was starving… And I saw a big goose egg in the aquarium so, I put it to boil. Why are you sitting on the floor too, Mr. Landlord?”

Hao Ren fell straight on his butt and almost asphyxiated himself from disbelief. He clutched his chest as he looked at the husky, her face all too innocent. He really saw the true essence of an idiot in her and did not know what to say towards the husky, who was still wagging her tail. He could only get up and open the pot cover as quickly as he possible, not knowing what to expect.

The next scene would forever be etched in his memory.

In the pot, a little mermaid about half a foot in length was swimming in the water. It clutched a broken eggshell as it swam. Hao Ren’s opening of the pot cover seemed to have startled the little thing. It’s eyes widened as it saw Hao Ren’s face. Then it cheekily shot out a jet of water at him.

Boiling water.