I’ve always hated sleeping, ever since I was little, I’ve been the type where everything and nothing wakes me up. Most nights I have to wear earplugs just to get a few hours. Zeke however can and has slept through earthquakes, with a terrible habit of just slipping into a nap if he sits still longer than five minutes.

So, the moment my brain registers a sound of any kind I’m awake, but there’s always been one sound that will wake me up immediately. Voices.

I catch just the tail of it but, I definitely heard—

 “…shouldn’t be here yet.”

The words are strange even though I can understand them, squeaking and echoey and… clattering? As if the person is speaking through a rattling metal tube, a strange reverb on their tone.

‘Who could be talking?’ I think, trying to feign sleep, even though I feel every muscle in my body grow tense, fingers tightening just a fraction tighter on the mace in my lap. Last, I remember I was running from some monsters and found a weird room, then—

‘The chest.’ And it all comes rushing back. ‘Turns out I was right, and the stupid thing can talk.’

I wait a breath then two. The voice doesn’t come again. I don’t know if it heard me or not. ‘I could have just imagined it?’ a hopeful part of me thinks and it wouldn’t be the first time my brain has conjured a voice, paranoia made worse with nightmares, but I’m certain I heard—

‘There.’

It’s faint but… it’s there, the tiniest creak of wood.

I am not alone in this room.

I don’t risk it getting the jump on me and spring out, swinging my mace in a perhaps reckless move. Nothing connects so I’m at least not about to treasure food.

My vision swims from the sudden vertigo of bother being immediately awake and rushing to my feet, but even with a swirling vision I still catch the briefest glance of the treasure chest’s lid clicking shut.

“Gotcha,” I grin, picking up my spear and stalking forward, I debate giving it a poke with my spear, but opt to instead raise the mace high above my head with both of my hands. ‘Don’t want to give it the chance to strike first,’ I reason even as I hold off on breaking it apart for a moment.

“Seems like you can talk, so I’ll give you on chance to be civil before I bash you apart.”

Silence.

“Bash it is then!”

And I slam my mace down, splintering the wood—

Only my mace bounces off as if I just hit solid metal, and I nearly stumble to the floor with the impact of the recoil. The chest is unharmed. In fact, its glimmering hinges only seem to sparkle more as if gloating its victory.

“Well, now I know how Night felt,” I mutter, glaring at the chest, “an impenetrable shield is annoying as hell.”

“Ding!”

I turn as the system appears with a little blue window.

[Player has encountered a creature outside the system, please eliminate immediately! Rewards will be tripled for erasing anomalies! Please-] and the rest of the message statics and fizzles into nothing, as if the system can’t hold its signal.

“Stupid lump of code,” I grumble before turning back to the chest with a new thought, “Outside the system?” I repeat a weird idea swimming in my head.

It’s not glittering silver like my ability dose, but it is weird that it also seems to have a very similar ability. “You don’t work for Hacker too, do you?”

Once more the chest does not answer.

“Either way, little hard to eliminate something I can’t hit.”

Though the longer I stare at it the more I realize something about it is different…

Oh. The lid is opened every so slightly.

“No way it’s that easy right?”

Yet I sheath my mace and grip my spar, wedging the pointed tip under the lid. With a creak the top of the chest lifts. Sensing victory I Quickly flip it open and hover my weapon over the exposed insides, ready to stab. I’m expecting to see weird twisted monster guts, maybe a lot of teeth, but I didn’t think it would be…. Normal.

At the bottom of the chest lies a tiny pile of… treasure? Tarnished gold coins, broken silver candle sticks, and rusted buttons, along with other mostly worthless trinkets and baubles. It’s more junk than treasure really.

“Wait…” I hold my position in case it’s a trap but… nothing moves, nothing changes, just a pile of coins and weird other bits and baubles.

“Is this really just a stupid treasure chest?” I ask, “All that trouble for a worthless pile of junk?”

As the words leave my mouth the pile of baubles and trinkets moves. Just the slightest bit so one might think it was just a single coin falling victim to gravity, but I watched the pile move up as if something below it moved. It’s enough for me to know I’m not crazy at least.

I don’t even try to give it an out this time, I’ve given it plenty of chances to do something other than get killed. ‘Seems I’m taking out two monsters today!’

I go to strike-

[WAIT.]

My swing goes wide, spear lodging into the stonework and not into the chest as I stumble. Turning quickly back around to face the white window.

“Hacker?!” I question, more angry than confused. The stupid thing just ruined my sneak attack—

[Do not harm it.]

“Why would I not-?”

“Master!” and something inside the chest hops up, no-the treasure itself gets up. The coins and baubles and trinkets forming a small vaguely humanoid figure of gold and silver.

“Holy shit it talks,” and I level my spear at it but don’t strike, glaring at Hacker’s white widow, “mind explaining what the fuck is going on Hacker?”

[That is a treasure bear.] it types, window lowering to almost protectively float above the strange chest and it’s even stranger inhabitant, [Do not kill it.]

“Master!” the little thing? Monster? Person? Squeaks out the words. And it’s for sure the thing that was talking earlier. “Your player is rude! A big meanie!”

I lower my spear but keep a hold of it as I glare at the strange thing, “That was me being careful. I was just going to stab you and be done with it, but I can show you mean if you want.”

It squeaks and scrambles back into its box, though I can still see it perfectly clearly since I’m standing over the chest.

“Meanie player!”

“Hacker,” I cut in shifting my gaze away from the strange thing to glare at the window once more. “Explain. And no more of your stupid ass riddles. Why are you here? Why shouldn’t I kill it? I thought I had to “go alone” or I would explode from your power or whatever.”

[It would seem your bond is beyond even what I originally thought, you should not be here, yet somehow you found the way all on your own.]

“Geez wow, so uncryptic of you, thanks for making that crystal clear for me. At least tell me why the hell the monster is talking and why I shouldn’t kill it?”

“Not a monster!” the tiny metal creature yells, hooping back up to lean over the edge of its chest, cheeks puffed up in annoyance like a pouting toddler. Voice squeaky and tinny around the edges, “Rude player!”

I glare and it cowers before glancing up Hacker’s system window and resettling its resolve, pointing a chubby little paw at me.

“Of course, I talk!” the little creature huffs, before putting its little rounded hands on its hips “I am far above the mindless creatures you call monsters, I am a very proud ******!” and the not-monster makes some sort of weird sound, that more resembles an exploding engine or a malfunctioning clock then words. “It is an insult to compare the two.”

For a moment I ponder trying to repeat whatever ‘word’ it just said, but the whole conversation is already giving me a headache, so I settle for, “A what?”

“I shouldn’t be surprised you can pronounce it, our language is too advanced for you,” he states, little sliver button nose stuck up into the air, “your kind tends to call us treasure bears.”

‘Yeah, I know. That’s what Hacker called you,’ I snark to myself, but honestly this situation is already stupid enough without me making more trouble by insulting the egotistical chest monster.

Tilting my head I evaluate the strange little thing, I guess you could say it’s somewhat bear shaped…. Its proportions are unusually round, with rounded hands containing no fingers, and somewhat rounded ear-looking brooches sticking out the top of its head. I guess if you pretend it’s made out of fabric it does kind of look like a teddy bear? Though that’s a bit of a stretch, I would liken the creature more to a monkey than a bear.

“And why are you here?”

It brightens up immediately, face breaking into a smile, “I am a treasure bear!” It proudly proclaims once more. “An ancient and magical species born from the riches of the world!” It gestures towards itself and all the bits and baubles that make it up, “and providers of the finest gems, gold, and other fineries. Would you like to browse my wares!?”

“Your… a shop?”