Creaakk..!
"Welcome, Mr. Owen Dimitri. Long time no see," an old man's voice was heard from inside the room.
A sturdy old man sat with a serious face and a slight smile, his hands folded behind a desk near the central window. The room was quite spacious, and above the desk was a nameplate that say, Mr.Philip Wang, President Director.
"Thank you for the small talk, Mr. Philip Wang." Owen Dimitri walked towards the sofa in the middle of the room, not far from mister Philip Wang's desk.
"I saw your speech today at the spring ceremony. I didn't expect you to still be so amazing at your age." Owen Dimitri continued.
Mr. Philip Wang smiled when he heard Owen Dimitri's words, then he replied, "It turns out that I was not in vain as your former teacher, surely you are proud to be one of my students."
Chuckled, Owen Dimitri teased Mr. Philip Wang, "Oh really? I'm sure you're proud to have a naturally gifted student like me."
Mister Philip Wang is the President Director, who also serves as a trainer and expert master at Etherion Academy. However, no one knows his background except for certain individuals, especially the higher-ups. He appeared at the Spring Ceremony as the opening speaker, delivering a speech from the podium. The old man, who reprimanded Lev Igor Cordoba when he tried to cause a commotion by holding Mikhael Ren's hand in the ceremony hall.
"Alright, my great student. What is your purpose in coming here despite your busy schedule?"
Sigh heavily, Owen Dimitri answered, "I come with information that you may know. Information that may not please you."
Mr. Philip Wang stunned, his eyes were wide open and he was silent for a few seconds, the atmosphere in the room turning serious. Adjusting his glasses, with a blank stare at his nameplate, he asked, "Are the signs active?"
Owen Dimitri slowly stood up from the sofa where he was sitting and walked towards the window at the side of the room which showed a view of the ocean that surrounded the academy.
"As you know Mr Wang, we keep that thing under high security. But it seems that's not enough, the enemy has been seen repeatedly trying to hack our security system to find out its location," Owen Dimitri said, while staring straight out at the ocean.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Mr. Philip Wang replied calmly.
Shocked by Mr. Philip Wang's casual answer, Owen Dimitri turned to him, staring at him with suspicion and curiosity.
"It seems like you're hiding a lot from us Mr Philip Wang?" Owen Dimitri said with a slightly annoyed expression.
While being silent for a moment, then Mr. Philip Wang answered, "Many people don't know the exact secrets of this legendary weapon. There are so many conflicting rumors that we've placed it under a high-level security system. But I know for certain how this legend works."
"What do you mean?" Owen Dimitri asked seriously.
"You know, Mr. Owen, everything in this world has an owner, and everything will return to its owner," replied Mr. Philip Wang.
Owen Dimitri looked slightly angry and replied, "So you're saying you're going to let the enemy do as they please?"
"Of course not," Mr. Philip Wang stood up and walked slowly, his hands folded behind his back. "Even if the enemy manages to take it from us, they won't be able to do anything, no matter how advanced their technology is," Mr. Philip Wang replied slowly with a smile.
"What do you mean?"
With a serious tone, Mr. Philip Wang answered, "Mr. Owen, that thing is bonded."
Owen Dimitri was shocked by Mr. Philip Wang's words. His face broke out in a cold sweat, and looked pale suddenly. He realized that even without a high-security system, that thing was capable of securing itself with a security system that even the most insane genius could not access or break.
Chuckled, Owen Dimitri then said, "So all this time we've been fooled by that inanimate object. It can protect itself without us." Owen Dimitri looked back at the ocean, "Our ancestor was truly an insane genius."
Mr. Philip Wang smiled and explained, "What you're doing isn't stupid, but simply a misperception. More precisely, you're guarding the object with such high security not to protect it from our enemies or other hostile attacks, but rather to protect it from its owner."
"From its owner?" Owen Dimitri frowned.
"Yes, that's right Mr. Owen. No one would probably know about this except me and the next generation of our two ancestors. But yes, if one of them is still alive, or the story is passed down from generation to generation."
Owen Dimitri was silent, his eyes staring straight to Mr. Philip Wang, his facial expression looked serious as he was thinking while stroking his chin.
"As we know, Mr. Owen, one of the successor generations of our ancestors who currently stands among us, and strong in our country is the Cordoba family, and they hold one of the keys which is the counterpart to the object you are currently guarding closely," continued Mr. Philip Wang.
Mr. Philip Wang walked towards the middle window and looked at the view outside the window which showed the entire academy.
"Do you know, Mr. Owen, the world is never the same, and human characters are also changeable and unpredictable. We are fortunate that the Cordoba family, one of the owners of the pair of objects, currently seems to be on our side, even though they are somewhat closed, but they are willing to be invited to cooperate with us to guard and protect our country." Mr. Philip Wang raised his hand to the window slightly. "Can you imagine if the owner was not on our side?"
Owen Dimitri was stunned to hear that, then he said, "Is that why you said we are protecting it not from the enemy but from its owner?"
"Yes, more or less. We can never know what human nature is like. They can be good or evil. That's why the legend calls it a weapon of heaven and hell, because it all comes back to human nature itself," replied Mr. Philip Wang. "So as long as the object you're guarding continues to sleep, everything will be fine."
"Then how do we know who the owner is? We know the Cordoba family because they are descendants of one of our ancestors who was a famous family since ancient times, while our other ancestor who was his friend and colleague at that time was just an ordinary person whose identity was hidden, no one knows until now, not even people who have power and high-ranking officials know," asked Owen Dimitri.
Mr Philip Wang looked at Owen Dimitri, "As I said before, it's bonded, you'll know."
"But it's been so many years, it's probably not asleep, but broken. Even the one held by the Cordoba family is still asleep." Owen Dimitri grumbled with a sudden silly face.
"Everything has its time. Staying asleep is actually better," said Mr. Philip Wang.
Owen Dimitri turned his body and looked back at the view outside the window with a blank stare.
"Hmmm... Mikha's gold bracelet, whose owner is unknown, and Gaby's gold earrings. Very interesting. Advanced technology beyond the limits of current human capabilities," mumbled Owen Dimitri.
What would happen to this world if those two awakened?
...