The Dawn of the New World

Burak walked up from behind, running his fingers through the three giant claw marks in the dead center of the door.

"Are you ready, human?" Burak asked while his own mind wandered through the past memories.

Hao Xuan shrugged, "Ready for...what? You...didn't tell me....what was...in...here..."

He was still having Baracus translate for him in real-time so it always took a little while to respond.

The only source of light in this place were the weird looking torches the barbarians brought with them. They had some type of spotted leather covering the top which burned with a bright yellow flame that didn't get put out no matter how fast their movements were.

Burak raised his torch into the air and with his chin gestured towards the claw marks in the door.

"Can you feel it?" he asked while taking a step back.

Hao Xuan frowned slightly before moving closer to inspect them in a little more detail. These three marks were approximately 80 centimeters long and 10 centimeters deep. They were sharp enough to cut into the metal door without much effort judging from the smoothness of the marks.

*Beep*

A notification popped up from Baracus.

'Anomalous object found.'

'Would you like to see a reverse-engineered 3D model?'

'Huh?' Hao Xuan was about to say yes but his right hand had already reached out and was about to touch the marks.

Burak who was watching from the side narrowed his eyes as if he was about to see something interesting, and for good reason.

The moment Hao Xuan's hand came into contact with the marks his vision went blank.

"What the fuck!"

He jumped back from the shock but the world around him was already thrown into darkness. He moved his hands left and right and felt a grip around his arm followed by a voice in his head, it belonged to Burak.

'Calm!' he heard even though Hao Xuan couldn't see Burak at all. His body was still there but his mind was somewhere else.

*Rueuuuuuuk*

A strange noise came from where his mouth should have been. Hao Xuan's heart jumped as he looked down but could only see two long white forelimbs. It looked like they belonged to him, as did the previous voice.

The limbs moved forward, passing through the open gate. Somewhere ahead in the distance two light orbs could be seen coming towards it. One was dark blue and the other golden.

'What the hell is going on? Am I...seeing a memory?' his mind quickly connected the dots. This was the most probable explanation.

Soon as the creature stepped through the door it closed behind it with a loud thud.

*RUUUUUUUUU*

It turned around and swung its three-pronged tail, creating the marks in the middle of the door. It came closer and Hao Xuan finally saw its hideous black and white image being reflected in the chrome metal door.

Its eye-less serpentine face with two rows of needle-like teeth stared back at him, a blue liquid dripping down its open maw that was at least half a meter wide.

It hissed at the door not being to understand why this happened. Hao Xuan realized that he was seeing things from its perspective and from the looks of it, it was basically blind.

Vibrations carried over through the ground, getting its attention. It turned around to see that the two light orbs were almost on it. With no other choice, its rubbery skin shook a few times and it completely disappeared from view.

*Bzzt*

A sharp pain went down Hao Xuan's spine as he returned to his body. He saw Burak holding his arm and many of the other barbarians staring in his direction, trying to suppress their contemptuous laughter.

"Let...go," Hao Xuan pulled his arm away from Burak's grasp who didn't mind in the least. Instead, he lowered his head and stared into Hao Xuan's eyes curiously.

"Did you see it? The demon?" he asked in a low whisper that only Hao Xuan was able to hear.

Upon hearing the certainty in his voice Hao Xuan could not help but get a little angry.

"You...knew? This would...happen?"

Burak did it on purpose. But why? To test him?

Satisfied by Hao Xuan's expression, Burak straightened his back. He moved the torch to another spot on the door. There was a 5-6 inch thick bulge on this section that looked like something had punched or kicked the door from the other side, more than once.

He looked at Hao Xuan with a sheepish smile, "Touch?"

***

Authors Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ

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