The Dawn of the New World

As they got closer to the city even more people came into view. Both sides of the road were packed with all kinds of individuals, perhaps numbering even in the thousands just from a first glance.

Most of them were families with several generations all camped out in one spot. Beast pulled carts converted into living quarters to protect from the cold night.

Jin Wang noticed that not all of them were demihumans. A great many were humans too and judging from the way they were dressed, they came from somewhere very far away.

"How far has the war spread? "

"Which war?"

"The one with the cultivators, the 'invader' army."

"Right now the news we are getting is all over the place. Some say they are attacking randomly but others say they are going from one village to another burning everything to the ground along the way. Even the ones that surrender are killed in the end. They are not taking any prisoners at all. At first we thought the humans would be safe but to them it doesn't matter."

"And no one is fighting against them?"

"No one is left to fight. The human elders have all disappeared at once but their families were spared when the invaders came down. In fact they came down right next to the human settlements. So it is a good guess that they are working for them, or have been working for them for a while."

"The only ones left are the barbarians and us, and we haven't heard anything from them since the news broke out."

A couple of minutes later they passed through the city gates and stepped inside. The situation did not get any better because there were even more people here. There was not an inch of land left unclaimed anywhere.

"How many people are here?" Jin Wang inquired curiously.

"Too many, more than we can feed or protect for an extended period of time."

"Oh, then why not turn them away?"

Jin Wang had asked the question without even realizing it but Princess Inara stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around and looked right into his eyes.

"I don't know how things work from where you come from but we do not turn away anyone in need. We all share the same future and as long as Argham stands our gates will remain open for everyone."

Taken aback by her sincerity he tried to explain himself.

"I just meant more people would have a higher chance of making it through if you-"

"I know what you meant," she cut him off coldly, "But they are my people. I am their princess and it is my duty to protect them, all of them."

After hearing what the Grand Priestess had to say about her Jin Wang was expecting a spoiled brat, not someone so sure and adamant about doing the morally right thing.

'Looks like she greatly misjudged her,' he thought to himself before swiftly apologizing.

"I'm sorry, you're right."

Only then did she turn Princess Inara looked away.

They navigated through the overpopulated city center and went all the way to the extreme right side of the cove. This was the only place without any refugees, in fact, other than a few guards no one else was here.

The ground turned to sand beneath their feet and palm trees started popping up all over the place until finally, they ended up in front of a long stone staircase leading up to the rock wall.

Princess Inara pointed to the right side of the stone stairs, "Some of your friends are over there. The one named Hao Xuan is up the stairs."

"Thank you," Jin Wang thanked her intending to take his leave when he saw the reluctance on her face.

"What? Is there something else?"

"There is something wrong with him..." she muttered in a low voice, unsure if her words even made sense.

"Wrong with who?"

"Hao Xuan. He doesn't 'feel' the same as before. Something is strange about him. I only saw him once after he was brought here and I couldn't be in the same room as him for more than a minute. It felt like...it felt like I was a young child again, and he was the thing staring at me from the darkness. He just feels...wrong."

'Feels...wrong? A strange choice of words.'

"Thank you, Princess. Where is your grandmother? I would like to visit her too."

Princess Inara pointed at the stairs, "Up there. She hasn't left that spot ever since we brought him here."

"Thank you," he thanked her again before walking up without bothering to greet the other cultivators camped out on the other side.

Just from the voices he could tell it was Henrik and his group.

The stairs led straight into the air for close to 15 meters before ending in a small ledge just outside the first room.. There was no one there so he went inside and saw the grand priestess sitting in an old chair in front of a stone table with a thick black liquid seething on top of it.