The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan mindlessly repeated, "A time where I do not exist...?"

"Yes. You came to the sanctum because of some unfortunate events you wish to change, correct? Say you prevent them, then wouldn't that mean you would never have come to Sanctum in the first place? You would not have struck a deal with the Nine and gone back into the past to change things because those events did not come to pass in this new timeline. You would, for the lack of a better word, become a paradox."

He let out a heavyhearted sigh, "Or in other words, a man 'out' of time. You will be living in a timeline where your existence is not only made redundant but unwanted. When the timelines converge and a new future comes to pass, you, as you are now, will cease to exist."

Hearing that last sentence suddenly silenced all the voices in Hao Xuan's head.

"I will be free...?"

"Free? Hardly so. You have promised eternal servitude to the Nine and that vow will be fulfilled no matter where or 'when' you are, my master will make sure of that. The only difference is whether you will be there yourself to see it to the end or will you unburden yourself and leave your problems for the naive, uninformed version of you from the new future. But then again, it could be that the universe ceases to exist altogether in which case you won't have to worry about any of that, hahaha."

'I didn't know that was even a possibility. But wouldn't that mean that I would have all the marks of the Nine but none of them would even know I exist apart from the King in Yellow? Would that even be possible?'

Hao Xuan felt like his feet were glued to the ground.

"A paradox...huh? I never even thought about it that way but...it makes sense."

"You have to think about it now because-" Lord Yami's voice fell to a mere whisper as he came closer, even though he had created a barrier around them to prevent eavesdropping, "-I believe Baba Jezda has a hidden agenda. I'm sure Lord Jyothi told you not to trust her and there is good reason for that. She is trying to do something else while hiding behind the excuse of repelling Maymun's armies."

Hao Xuan's brow began to furrow, "How do you mean?"

"There is little that escapes my master's gaze when it comes to the Sanctum but recently...he has not been able to keep track of her actions. They are obscured, hidden behind a wall of nonsensical movements that are pointless to an absurd degree. She is obviously trying to confuse him."

"And what would you have me do? I'm sure you are aware I can't-"

"I won't ask you to do anything you don't want to, only to second guess everything she asks of you. When you go back to the past, only my master and your mistress the 'Void Mother' would be able to know of your existence. But since the mistress is sealed in eternal slumber that leaves my master as the only being in existence save for Odin himself who would know that something had even transpired."

"...okay and? What can I do about that?"

"Nothing, but just because Baba Jezda doesn't know about you doesn't mean she can't manipulate your actions without your or even her knowledge. You must be careful not to fall for any obvious traps. According to her usual modus operandi, she will put you in a position where you won't have any other option but to knowingly trip it but...you must remember, you can always walk away. It might be the most difficult decision you will ever make but you MUST not fall for it!"

Despite Lord Yami's urging how could Hao Xuan possibly know what would be a trap and what was mere coincidence? But-

'It's better not to argue back.'

"I will. Apart from that is there anything else I should be wary of?"

"Not too much," he shrugged after a brief moment of deliberation, "Just make sure Baba Jezda of the past doesn't find out what transpired here and everything should be okay for the most part-" or so he said before remembering some of the other 'minor' things.

'-Oh right, you might be hunted by the denizens of the river but I'm sure you can handle that."

'???'

Hao Xuan felt like he had misheard, "...excuse me? Which river? What denizens?"

"The river of time," he responded as a matter-of-factly, "You will have to go back through its waters and since the ones that live in it rarely take kindly to strangers disturbing their domain I'm sure they won't let you pass quite so easily. Sometimes they even chase into the material realm but that's rare. What else? Oh about the..."

He kept mentioning one thing after another that could either go horribly wrong or would pose a great danger if not done correctly.