The Dawn of the New World

The yurts were placed in a circular pattern. The one Princess Na'im entered was in the first row surrounding the largest yurt that was in the center.

From the outside it was only three meters in diameter but Hao Xuan realized that was just for show. The insides were 5 to 8 times bigger.

There weren't a lot of furnishings either, constituting mainly of one large bed covered in various colorful animal hides, a single desk beside it with a few scrolls and papers littered across its surface and two chairs facing each other, one giant square cauldron with a fire burning underneath it and one cage with some kind of animal inside it.

As soon as she entered the animal woke up and ran towards her in a flurry. Hao Xuan heard some growling noises but couldn't see where it was coming from. Princess Na'im walked up to the bed and threw Hao Xuan on it like a ragdoll, bending down to pick up the animal.

Its noises sounded like excited yaps and squeaks mixed in with loud wheezing. Hao Xuan looked up and saw its physical appearance, leaving him stunned.

It was a half a meter in size grey colored creature. Six legs supported a slightly obese, spiked body ending in a small tail on one side and two short heads on the other. Its face looked like it had run into one too many walls, getting squished as a result.

If Hao Xuan had to compare it to anything then a pug from earth would be its closest relative, only this thing was somehow uglier, if that was even possible. It 'barked' loudly, licking Princess Na'im's face in excitement.

After letting it do its thing for a few seconds she put it down and completely ignored its existence afterward. The pug seemed to be all too used to this and didn't bother her too much either, simply running around in circles in front of the bed was enough to keep it entertained until it noticed Hao Xuan at which point it suddenly froze.

As if looking at an alien sight, it slowly turned around and peered towards him. Its eyes opened wide, allowing Hao Xuan to clearly see the disbelief and astonishment that he would not have thought was possible to come from such a creature.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Hao Xuan couldn't help but grumble back at its intrusive gaze.

It did not react, just staring at him in complete shock without even blinking.

Princess Na'im on the other hand had already taken off most of her armor, placing it on one of the chairs. She walked over to Hao Xuan who was on the losing end of a war of nerves with the 'pug'.

"You ugly bastard! Blink, motherfucker, what is wrong with you?!" Hao Xuan shouted through furrowed brows, unnerved at its behavior.

Upon noticing the half-naked towering figure of the princess coming closer he reeled back. She was already in her underwear, not even registering his presence as a male.

"W-What? What's with that look?" Hao Xuan stuttered, his cheeks turning a shade of red.

"Take of your clothes," she ordered plainly.

"Um...no...?" Hao Xuan wanted to deny it but her incontestable gaze turned it into a question, one that was answered a moment later.

Seeing as Hao Xuan was not willing to cooperate, Princess Na'im had to take things into her own hands, quite literally. She held him down against the bed with one hand and pulled at his robe with the other before he could even blink.

"YOU! WHA-" Hao Xuan tried to shout but she turned him around like a toddler and stuffed his face into the mattress that was a little too soft for something like this.

"WAIT WAIT, WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS!!" Hao Xuan shouted as loudly as he could, swallowing a mouthful of fur in the process.

Princess Na'im's hand that was already halfway down his body slowly came to a stop.

"Will you listen to me then?" she asked calmly, getting a laborious nod in return.

She loosened her grip and took a couple of steps back, sitting down on the chair like a gangster.

"Do it," she ordered again.

Hao Xuan got back up, his already weakened body harboring a handful of new scratches that were caused by his own resistance laid weakly on the bed.

Holding back the waves of curses that were on the tip of his tongue Hao Xuan took a deep breath and looked towards her placidly.

"I will do whatever you want, but you have to explain why first."

Princess Na'im stared into his eyes for a short moment and realized that this would be the faster way, so she accepted his offer.

"I...need to see if you have the markings."

"What markings?"

"The ones received when the power of the Great Ancestor enters your body..."

Hao Xuan listened to her explanation and realized she was referring to the words of power. Her choice of words was confusing at first but the more he listened, the clearer it became apart from a few things.

Words of power existed here too albeit in a slightly different form. In the surface world, the words of power first appeared in beasts and plants and were then taken by humans, or at least that's what Hao Xuan understood so far. But down here every so often someone would appear that was chosen by the words of power.

"They come down from the sky in a rain of white light," is what she said, which jogged Hao Xuan's memory about the thousands of glyphs he had seen on the way down.

Those glyphs that were so casually floating in the space above were actually a type of the 'words of power', and he even had one himself.

Hao Xuan paused, "Wait, I should have one then..." he mumbled to himself referring to the marking.

Princess Na'im heard him and suddenly sat upright, "Show me!"