The Dawn of the New World



Hao Xuan immediately backed away, pushing down the beastly urge to respond in much the same manner.

"That's a lycan!" he exclaimed, "Another one like me!"

But the raised hair on his neck spoke volumes of its nature. He continued moving back until he was halfway up the hill and only then he turned around.

"It was fighting something...best to stay out of its way. Already have too many problems of my own to deal with," he whispered to himself looking at the strangely normal view of the sky.

A full moon hung over his head, all by its lonesome.

"Looks like we're not on that planet anymore..."

*Beep*

Baracus immediately spoke up seeing as they had some 'free' time.

"Inquiry. The system requires further explanation on the occurrence of the event that the host referred to as the 'hell-tide'. Please elaborate."

Hao Xuan lightly shook his head in a mixture of annoyance and dismay but he knew that Baracus would keep hounding him until he told him everything so there was no need to hold back, not that there was even a need to. This wasn't much of a secret.

"Can I sit down first? Or is that too much to ask?"

"You may."

He chuckled to himself through gritted teeth, knowing full well that Baracus was responding that way just to make him angrier than he already was.

Hao Xuan found a patch of soft dirt to lie down in in the middle of the flower field, looking up at the extraordinarily ordinary sky as he pulled out the information Baracus needed.

"A hell-tide is a relatively common phenomenon in the far reaches of the greater worlds where there is no force left to keep the balance. No one knows what exactly sets it off but most believe it starts when the numbers of hellspawn exceed the native inhabitants of a world. Others believe it is 'initiated' by some greater demons or powerful entities."

"But basically, it is the thinning of the veil between that world and Hell itself. When the veil gets too thin hell starts to leak into our world. The sky turns red, it rains blood with occasional bouts of fire and demons falling from the 'heavens'. And during this time minor demons and weaker lifeforms can easily walk across the veil and enter our world, but it's temporary and when the hell-tide recedes most of them are forced to return."

"Not all?"

"No, some demons can find a way to tether themself to the world so they aren't pulled back."

"So it is a recurring phenomenon?"

"Yea, but it comes in threes. After the first one, there will be two more without a doubt unless something changes."

"Understood. The event reoccurs in multiples of three. Six or nine times should also be possible?"

"Yea, but most of the time the planet doesn't survive long enough for it to get that far."

"Records updated. Query terminated."

"Great, now let me rest for a while."

Hao Xuan closed his eyes and drifted off within seconds. It was eerily peaceful and quiet without any more noises leaking in from the outside world after the howl. The moon continued to circle the night sky, its dim light illuminating the flower fields where he slept without a care in the world.

A gentle wind blew in from the side of the obsidian pillars, bringing with it a new scent every time.

An unknown amount of time passed and Hao Xuan opened his eyes again. He sat up and took a moment to gather his thoughts.

*beep*

"How are you feeling?" Baracus inquired in a very human tone.

"Not too bad," Hao Xuan grumbled, "Still a little tired but much better than before."

"You do not 'sound' very happy."

"Happy?" his brow went taut and his nose flared as a well of emotions erupted at once.

"Why would I be happy? Every time I close my eyes I see the faces of everyone that died because of me. I can still see Ma Jiang's defeated expression when she took her own life and Ryfon's voice asking me why I didn't help her. That kid's pleading voice is still replaying in my head on repeat asking me to save his sister...even though I know they are both dead."

"But I still see them...ALL of them, looking at me with hope and immeasurable disappointment. So why the FUCK...would I be happy?"

"...."

"Apologies. The system has trouble reading human emotions, corrections will be made for the future."

"Whatever, just don't ask me stupid questions."

Hao Xuan forced himself to sit upright with some effort, trying his best to bring his emotions under control.

'Patience...breathing...focus...'

After a few minutes of mediation he was mostly ready for the next step.

"The seed of the world tree, I think I know what it is."