The Dawn of the New World

And just like that Hao Xuan was left utterly alone in both mind and body.

"Baracus?!" he called out a couple more times just in case but there was no answer.

"Fuck me. What is this place then? He said reality was being manipulated around me which means someone also created this. Did they read my mind without even alerting me? That's not a good start."

But even if he wanted to turn around it was too late already. The portal had already vanished and there was no way to go but forward.

"Let's get this over with then,' Hao Xuan mumbled to himself before he started moving towards the house.

And the closer he got the clearer it became which jogged another part of his memory.

"This was a recurring nightmare I had for years after watching that damn horror movie when I was a kid. Lost in woods after being chased by a monster, I would take refuge in this house but there was always something hiding in the basement. I always woke up before I could find out what it was."

Hao Xuan took a deep breath seeing as he was already on the front porch, "I guess that time is now," and knocked on the door.

*knock*knock*knock*

Three times, just like he used to in his dream. It had to be thrice otherwise the door wouldn't open.

A moment later the door clicked open by itself and the voice of a sweet old woman came through.

"Come in deary."

Hao Xuan pushed it open all the way to see who the speaker was and surprisingly, the voice matched the exact appearance he had in his mind after hearing it.

The old woman was sitting in front of the fireplace on a rocking chair. There was a ball of yarn and two big knitting needles in her hands. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose when she turned around to look at him.

"Well come on in, what are you waiting for silly?"

Hao Xuan swallowed a mouthful of saliva. His throat was completely dry and he was cursing himself for blindly coming here.

"Should have at least talked to Jin Wang before going through with this."

The old woman chuckled lightly, "Oh deary, you will talk to him soon. You can ask him then if you still want to."

Hao Xuan's brow furrowed, "Does that mean you will let me go back?"

She laughed again but this time she turned back and pointed at the chair to her right, "I never forced you to come here. You are free to leave now or come take a seat and find out what you really are."

Hao Xuan felt some disturbance behind him and when he looked back the same black portal had reappeared just a couple of meters away.

His head tilted to the side as Claudia's warning echoed in his head, "I guess you really do need me to cooperate to some extent. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble."

"Certainly dear. But the little girl has taken quite a liking to you seeing as she told you even that. Although I'm sure it wouldn't have come without a cost."

Hao Xuan let out a weak sigh before entering the house. He needed to play this out till the end.

He walked up to the big red chair and sat down unceremoniously, looking right into her eyes.

"Don't hurt her."

The old lady shrugged, "She is not worth my time darling. I won't do anything to her."

Hao Xuan quickly got the hint, "But someone else will?"

She let out another little laugh, "That's on you now, isn't it?"

Hao Xuan leaned back into the chair, feeling a lot more comfortable than he had any right to be in such a situation. But this allowed him to loosen up enough and speak much more freely.

"You won't protect her even though you were the one who sent her to me?"

"I am just an old woman and she is just the pigeon with the message. Now that you are here her work is done. Whatever happens to her now is up to her."

Hao Xuan scoffed at the insinuation.

"Why do you people always pretend to be something you're not? Is it really that difficult to speak plainly? Why pretend to be weak?"

"Because, dear, otherwise you would be too scared to speak," she retorted in much the same warmhearted manner as before.

Hao Xuan couldn't help but smile in response.

"That's perhaps the first honest thing you have said since we started talking."

She didn't even bother to look up from whatever she was knitting.

"It has to be this way. It is after all the first time we are meeting in person."

"Does that mean we have met before in some other way?"

"Yes and no. We have yet to meet in the past."

"Yet to meet in the past? That doesn't even make sense."