The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan felt his barely beating heart skip a beat. He reached out and tried to grab Altair but remembered he didn't have any arms left anymore. All he could do was hatefully glare at him, a malignant stare that would accurately impart his true emotions.

Altair felt Hao Xuan's body jerk and moved back just enough to see his face. His lips slowly arched into a captivated grin as he stared right into Hao Xuan's eyes.

"Yes~! Those eyes! That's what I wanted to see! Hahaha!" he threw back his head and let out another hysterical laugh.

Hao Xuan's body was completely covered in moving tattoos of black chains so he couldn't even move a single inch.

When he finally couldn't laugh anymore, Altair looked back to catch a glimpse of Hao Xuan's face.

His hand ran through Hao Xuan's hair, almost lovingly, as he gazed at him with neither malice nor resentment.

*Sigh*

"You shouldn't have come here, old friend. It was a very stupid move. Now I will have to go hand your body back to that 'wretched thing' according to the agreement. That marrow couldn't have been easy to come by."

"And then he will finally do what we couldn't for so many eons. The last of your children will be devoured and everything you worked so hard to protect will be destroyed in a single night. Your people will know what real pain is in life AND death. But unlike yours, their torment will truly be ETERNAL! Do you know why?"

"Because the heavens have shut their doors to their suffering. Every soul born into that world of yours will be gifted to the Lords of Hell as a sacrifice."

"Even as I speak their legions break through the curtain and spill into your world. Burning, maiming, SLAUGHTERING until no one and no thing is left standing. Tell me, can you still hear their screams? Their pleas and prayers? Huh?"

"Tell me! Does it still feel as bad as the first time you heard their cries? How does it feel knowing that they will forever be in anguish, calling out for their precious savior, hoping with all their hearts but no one will come?"

Altair floated away, looking down at Hao Xuan languidly.

Hao Xuan raised his head, his body wracked with so much pain that he could barely stay conscious. But when his gaze met Altair's he saw a tinge of genuine emotion in his eyes for the first time. Sorrow.

"Ha..ha. You should have just given in from the start, oh brother of mine. What was the point of all this? Protecting them for so long, all alone in the shadows."

But then his expression suddenly turned vicious, his gaze dripping with disgust.

"We could have been equals! Standing at the apex of all creation! But you, like all those times, had to make things harder than they needed to be."

His voice lowered as if he was talking to himself, "All...pointless, and for what?"

He met Hao Xuan's gaze obstinately, "Your sons are dead. The last one has already been marked and when he finally gives in, the prophecy will come to pass just like it was meant to. You cannot overturn fate, not even you, brother."

He raised his hand which held a lock of hair he had cut off from Hao Xuan at some point and brought it up to his nose, sniffing it like an animal, cherishing Hao Xuan's scent. His eyes almost glazed over as a pang of hunger took root in his eyes.

"I'm sure...they wouldn't mind if I took a piece, right? Because in the end, it was ME that took you down. Worry not brother, from one immortal another, a part of you will forever live on inside of me."

When he finished speaking Altair's body started to expand. His face, arms, legs, every part in fact began to take a beastly form. Only his eyes remained the same. A beastly snout lined with needle-like teeth protruded from his face, opening wide before lunging at him.

Hao Xuan felt a pain in his shoulder and woke back in the room with Altair standing above him, his piercing white pupils observing every little movement he made.

A well of emotions was bubbling inside Hao Xuan.

"How...peculiar, you are. It calls to me, your blood," Altair mumbled while reaching out in almost the exact same manner that Hao Xuan had seen just now.

He shuddered instinctively which only widened Altair's smile.

"I really like your orbs, boy," he said referring to Hao Xuan's eyes, "Why not give them to me?"

"N-NO!" Hao Xuan looked away at once, making Altair hesitantly back off.

"Hmm. Alright then, keep them for now. I will ask again when you are in a more 'agreeable mood', haha."