The Dawn of the New World

"Yes. It's your unique mana that allowed me to separate his soul core from the rest of the fragments. It will be much safer for everyone involved if you went in with them."

Xu Qing came closer to Ma Jing and gently brushed her fingers across her cheek.

"You are the canvas his world is painted on, it must be this way."

Ma Jiang wanted to push her away but there was something so familiar about her. As if she was meeting an old acquaintance once again.

Seeing the mix of confusion and hesitation in her eyes Xu Qing couldn't help but chuckle.

"You are so much like your mother. She will have been proud to see you now."

Hearing the sentence being spoken in past tense Ma Jiang's eyes instantly began to water.

"W-What do you mean? Do you know where she is?? I have been looking for her for so long. Is she...okay? She is okay right? Please tell me mama is okay!" she reached out trying to hold onto Xu Qing but her body fell through the white floor and vanished within the blinding lights.

Xu Qing directed her attention toward the unconscious Hao Xuan before looking towards the images around her.

The child was already 2-3 years old in them.

*Sigh*

"The last piece of the puzzle. I hope you weren't wrong about them."

She placed her hands around Hao Xuan's head and closed her eyes. At the same time Princess Ceni was pulled out from whichever fragment she was dreaming with and sent into this one.

Then she stepped back and watched as the images began to play out an entire lifetime's worth of memories from the beginning.

"One minute is equal to ten years in there. Her mana can not last longer than eight minutes. I pray you find the truth in time."

Time trickled by in defeaning silence as years passed one after another in quick succession.

Since this world they were living in was created from Hao Xuan's subconscious it reflected his thoughts and buried memories to a great degree. It was modern-day earth and unlike what happened in the past, the world did not end in 2012 but continued on.

Although it took a drastic turn and accurately reflected his own dark thoughts.

Hao Xuan lived a whole new life with different experiences, people and places he had never actually been to. Princess Ceni and Ma Jiang found him one by one after awakening their memories and worked together and sometimes even against one another to try and bring him back.

A little over four minutes passed before the images came to an abrupt stop. (Check the Authors notes)

Xu Qing who was so focused on them breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to see Hao Xuan standing behind her.

He was looking at his hands in an understandably muddled state.

"So it was true...none of it was real..."

"It was real for you. That's all that matters."

Hao Xuan looked up to meet her gaze and some semblance of insight could be seen in his eyes, "I remember you."

"You...do?"

"Yes. You looked different but now I can tell it was always you. You were there in some shape or form. One time as an orphan girl that gave me water when I was on dying of thirst and another as an old woman who let me stay in her home when I had nowhere else to go."

Xu Qing smiled softly, "You do remember."

He nodded before looking away, "Yes, I remember all of it..."

"I'm sorry. I never would have imagined it would be this painful for you."

"Can...you tell me? Why did this happen? Was I really such a bad person?"

"No, it's because you weren't."

"....Does that mean-"

"Don't come back, Hao Xuan."

"Huh?"

She came closer to hold his hand and whispered, "Don't come back to Mei. Don't listen to anything they tell you. Go live a normal life somewhere. Do not let them inside. They just want to use you. Take what they have given you and run to the edge of the known worlds. Do not become their pawn."

"What? Who do you mean?"

"You will see. They will reach out to you one by one once you wake up. Some will offer you immortality in the shape of eternal servitude and others will try to bring you in with well-dressed lies. Don't accept it, don't accept THEM, especially not the Em-"

*WHOOOSH*

Before she could finish Hao Xuan's soul was forcibly pulled out of his body.

***

Authors Notes:

So this last "dreamscape" that Hao Xuan had is actually quite significant for him personally and foreshadows a great many events.

I was planning on writing it all out but at the very least it would take around 50 more chapters to get everything right which does not fit in this schedule that's already stretched thin.

So once the first arc is over I will try and release a one-shot small story about what really happened in this dream, what kind of life Hao Xuan lived and how he met both Ceni and Ma Jiang and how their relationships unfolded.

BUT until then, you will have to make do with some vague references but understand that the dynamics of their relationships have changed because of it.

Some things will be quite clear but others will be left to your imagination, interpret them however you want.

😉