"You know White people rarely hug this long, its already been 5 minutes." Serena Spoke in an apathetic tone.

"5 minutes is not that long!" White argued.

"think of it as 300 seconds, then you will understand what I am feeling," Serena retorted.

"ok." White said and stood up properly.

And silence prevails between them and both were feeling awkward.

"this is getting awkward," saying so White snapped her fingers "lets have something to drink!".

A white table materialised where the door was. When Serena turned around in a blink, she was already sitting facing White in front of her.

"What would you like to drink?" asked White, "How about tea? You always drank that when you came with Illya to meet me." she suggested.

Serena had a hint of confusion in her eyes, "as a soul can I even drink?".

"You can, in this dimension I materialised your soul which activated you consciousness and 5 senses." White answered.

"Then tea is fine with me." replied White.

The moment she replied, a cup of earl grey greeted her on the table.

"This tea is 'Earl Grey', enjoy it." saying so a white glass materialised in White's hands.

"are you not drinking tea too?" inquired Serena.

"I am more used to drinking milk," replied White sipping her glass of milk.

"Is that so." Serena lifted her cup of tea and started sipping it calmly, "good tea" it was fragrant and calming.

"So Serena, what do you want to do now?" Asked White, she paused her drinking.

Serena raised her eyes, "I can stay here right, I can meet you here always, just sad that I can't meet Illya ."

"You can stay here as that was the plan and about meeting with Illya, I can bring her here as a soul but there are issues with that, or you could come out and meet her as a ghost but I would not recommend it as a materialised soul in the real world can be easily destroyed even if I can keep you safe I don't want to take any chances and risk your existence." contemplated White.

"It feels like you already have a solution in mind." Serena spoke.

"Yes, quite simple actually but will rather take a very long time." White argued.

"It is fine I can wait." Serena replied.

"I will bring you back to life, as you are technically not dead and mana has not completely left your body but I can't do it in this world as it will break the natural laws and the world will be harmed." lectured White.

"But you said I can't have a life again." Serena quipped.

"You can't have a next life as you have exited the cycle of reincarnation but that doesn't mean you can't be brought back to life."

"So basically as I can't go forward in the cycle I am going back?" Serena asked.

"Yes, the time in this dimension runs differently, not even a second has passed in the actual world so I can preserve your body and bring you back to life.

The problem is that: first, I can't bring you back in this world; second, you will resurrect in your own body but it is weak and poisoned, you see I can't create you a new body as the synergy with your soul will not be good so I have to cure and strengthen your own body and lastly three, you as a soul are very weak right now and can not handle the burden of resurrection.

the first two problems can I can solve easily but the last one will require a lot of time, your soul will have to gather spiritual energy naturally, meaning I can't interfere to help while your soul procures energy and strengthen itself and when that process starts you will be in a dormant state but for how long I don't know.

The lucky thing is that spiritual energy is abundant here, when I feel your soul is strong enough I will resurrect you and you will wake up in your body but till then you will be asleep in here for a very long time, in your perspective at least.” White said sighing.

"Is it like going into a coma?" Serena asked.

"yes" White answered.

"I am fine with that, its better than being awake alone here, I can also meet my daughter when I wake up and her dumbfounded look is something I can look forward too," Serena answered.

"you are chipper about this topic, don't you feel sad or anything?" White quipped.

"If you think about this realistically while I am in a dormant state I can't consciously sense the flow of time so when I wake up I won't feel like I have been asleep for decades or centuries and secondly when I wake up in my body not much time would have passed there because of the difference in time flow, it might just be a few months or years from Illya's perspective." Serena smiled and spoke with a wise look.

"..." White couldn't retort to that, she just drank her milk and slammed it on the table.

"When will I go to sleep then?" Serena asked.

"Whenever you want, I just have to initiate it and your soul will take care of the rest." White replied.

"Hmmmm, then before I go to sleep I want to you to satisfy my curiosity," Serena declared looking at White with amused eyes.

White noticed the look in her eyes and felt confused, "Sure ask away." she said.

Serena with no hesitation started asking, "You said you gave Illya your phoenix blood, but you appeared as a White tiger to save me, are you a phoenix or a tiger?"

"There were 4 divine beasts which had immense power, these godly beings maintained balance in the universe from before the ages of antiquity. They left their mantles to their successors and before proceeding for their eternal rest they passed on their divinities to me, why they gave me their power instead of giving it to their successors, don't ask as it is something better left unknown. The Pheonix and The White tiger are  two of these 4 beasts," White lectured with a sense of nostalgia.

"Then why come as a White tiger, you could have come as a phoenix." Asked Serena confused.

"A phoenix is a blazing bird and could have caused damage to the forest I did not want to cause any collateral damage." spoke White righteously.

"False, you could come as the other two beasts or just in human form but you came as a tiger, why don't you tell me the actual reason."retorted Serena with a straight face.

"...." White paused for a second, she lowered her head and lightly spoke "I just like tigers and cats. " scratching the back of her head with her hand.

"Now that makes sense." Nodded Serena.

"..." White was reconsidering her choices.... My friend is great at making me embarrassed. Is this okay? Should I go along with this?

"Speaking of phoenix, Illya's eyes and the phoenix you manifested with flames, both had crimson eyes, unlike the royal idiot's bland red eyes." Serena started interrogating White, she always had these questions in her mind and couldn't get the answer as White was not present for a decade.

White had panic in her eyes and pulled a poker face "Um, you might just be mistaken." she spoke with a straight face.

"Not just her eyes, you said she was injured when she was born and gave her your blessing by giving her your phoenix blood to save her. That doesn't add up. Sure I crashed, but I am certain I shielded my womb. The blessing was fine and you could have just healed her with magic, but why use phoenix blood or specifically your blood? "

White went pale "..." She did not think Serena would remember such a small sentence with detail from a day about 13 years ago.

"You are hiding something aren't you, what is it? Please tell me!" Serena spoke calmly without a slight worry in her tone.

"..." White did not know if she could answer this.

"Don’t worry I will be fine, you are also here, so just out with it." Serena demanded, though patient normally she did not like suspense when the topic was about Illya.

A light voice came from White ".... Born", Serena could hear White’s words but not clearly.

She assured, "Speak louder, I will be fine." she gripped her fists, Serena wanted to know what happened.

"Illya was stillborn!" White spoke in a grave tone.