The Dawn of the New World

Having accepted the reality of his situation Hao Xuan felt a great deal of unease.

'Why me?' he couldn't help but wonder, an answer he hoped to receive very soon as Jin Wang explained.

"This gate can only be opened by one person and...I think that's you."

Hao Xuan couldn't deny it. He felt a strange force pulling him towards it, something deep inside of him telling him to reach out.

"And I'm guessing you still can't tell me why?" he met Jin Wang's gaze.

Jin Wang nodded once, "I'm sorry, not yet. When I have more of a complete picture of all this I promise to tell you but right now, it will do you no good. Just...trust me, okay?"

*Sigh*

"Fine, two days. Do what you have to but after that you gotta tell me everything."

"Alright, that's fine. Come here and stand in front of it."

Hao Xuan followed Jin Wang's instructions and stood at a distance of 3.33 meters exactly. He looked up at the imposing metal frame that towered over him with awe.

He couldn't see anything out of place even with the help of the Lycan bloodline but for some reason, it didn't feel like an inanimate object at all. It felt alive as if he was standing in front of a living person.

He partially held his breath waiting for something to happen but after a couple of minutes nothing did.

"Now what?"

"Um...I'm not sure. I thought it would activate by itself," Jin Wang muttered while hovering around the gate trying to push various protruding parts like they were switches.

"Maybe I should use my internal energy?" Hao Xuan went with the most obvious answer but was swiftly shot down.

"No, internal energy won't work. It's too specific and keeps changing as you learn and grow, it would be like a key that keeps changing forms."

Although he understood what Jin Wang meant to say Hao Xuan still wanted to try for himself.

"You never know till you try it," he mumbled while extending his hand.

Jin Wang felt the disturbance and took a couple of steps back just in case. He watched as wisps of obsidian-colored energy gathered over the palm of his hand and began to take the shape.

"You can materialize and solidify internal energy outside of your body already, that's pretty advanced!"

Jin Wang was impressed, especially since he knew Hao Xuan did not have a formal teacher.

"How did you figure it out? It can't have been easy."

Hao Xuan chuckled, "Yeah well, it's not my first time doing this. The memories from those other lives, remember? I just use a simple visualization technique that was taught to me by someone."

It just occurred to Jin Wang that there could actually be some serious advantages to that. With the life experience of so many who was to say he didn't have a teacher? Maybe he had a hundred.

"Hmm, you're right. But you should be careful with tapping into those memories haphazardly. It is vital to keep them separate from your own. Draw a clear line between them and yourself so they never overlap."

Hearing his warning Hao Xuan couldn't help but pause for a moment.

"Why? Won't it be a good thing to absorb them to learn and grow from there?"

"Of course not! It is a person's life experiences that shape their ideals and general outlook on life. Two identical people could go through the same experiences and come out completely different from before."

"Those aren't your memories. They belong to other people and it was their choice and circumstances that shaped them. Absorb all of that and it could be detrimental to YOU, to Hao Xuan. You would completely lose yourself in them and become someone else entirely-"

Jin Wang froze mid-sentence as if coming to a sudden realization and his face accurately reflected the shock he had just gotten from it.

"What?"

"N-No nothing. Just...don't absorb them," it looked like he had eaten some feces because his expression kept getting uglier by the second.

"Don't think of them as mere memories but as the essence of a living person. Keep it separate from yourself no matter what, understand?!"

"Yeah...sure. No need to get so worked up."

Jin Wang turned away and Hao Xuan continued materializing his internal energy, unaware of the trap he had fallen into.

'Don't tell me this was your plan, old friend. How could you make me a part of this after everything?!'

While Jin Wang was lost in thought talking to himself, Hao Xuan had created a full arm made purely of internal energy. He reached out with it and came into contact with the gate.

And lo and behold the entire outer lining of symbols lit up in an instant.

"IT WORKED!" he yelled but when he looked for Jin Wang there was no one there.

"YO! Where did you go?!" he moved to the side to look behind the frame but the moment his feet left the spot Jin Wang had marked a bright light flashed in front of his eyes.

Hao Xuan closed his eyes instinctively and when he opened them again he was outside the ruins, alone.

😉