The Dawn of the New World

The second Hao Xuan's hand came into contact with the panel it lit up with a row of three-dimensional characters. It only took him a second to realize that it was a completely foreign language so he 'woke' Baracus up.

'I'm at the panel, what should I do?'

*Beep*

'The same as usual. Place your left hand on the surface.'

Just like the many hundreds of times before, Hao Xuan did as instructed and Baracus directed the nanites to make a connection through his limb.

There were only 9 basic characters but they changed positions, rotating at different angles and realigning themselves to make new 'letters' and words so to speak, obviously none of which Hao Xuan understood.

'You should sit down, this will take a few minutes,' Baracus informed Hao Xuan who pulled the chair back with the other hand and sat down obediently.

All he could do was wait for Baracus to do his thing and then give Hao Xuan the simplest version of the events because whatever language this was, he was not ashamed to admit that it was far too complicated for him.

It had taken them close to 35 minutes to reach this chamber, including the time it took to open the door. So from start to finish, it hadn't really been that long. It had only been a handful of hours since they first entered the pyramid but so much had happened since then that it felt like a lifetime ago.

The rest of the barbarians including Isak were still sitting at the entrance of the chamber near the door trying to unsuccessfully recover their energies.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

The aimless thudding turned into sharper, clearer sounds of concentrated determined strikes that not only got louder with time but also more frequent. It had come to a point that the several meter thick door was starting to shake with every other strike.

From the sound alone it was clear that the creatures had started to work together to break down the door as quickly as possible instead of thoughtlessly ramming their bodies into the doorway. Why it was so, was a question they would not find the answers to without risking their very lives.

Everyone including Hao Xuan could hear it, and how could they not? With nowhere to go the sound was echoing in the empty chamber, rebounding off of the surfaces and getting louder every time.

They were all trying their best to ignore it but every thump, knock and blow landed directly on their hearts. It was an unavoidable countdown to their most likely demise.

Even Hao Xuan couldn't help himself from feeling a hint of wretched gloom crawl into his heart with every passing second.

He closed his eyes and tried to summon the Scorpion King but it was to no avail. He could feel the restrictions weakening around the Mind Palace but there was still some time left before he would be able to call out his summons once again.

From a rough estimate, it should be within a couple of hours but even that was too much to ask for at this moment in time.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

The noise continued in the background, disrupting their focus. In a way, this was actually worse than fighting them head-on. The uncertainty hovered above their hearts and minds like a constantly dropping pendulum or perhaps a ticking time bomb in this case.

Hao Xuan's mind naturally wandered to darker places.

'What if we had taken the other route? Would we be in a better situation?' he thought feeling guilty for making the decision by himself.

His heart rate slowly rose and even though he tried his best to concentrate on recovering the Qi, well, it was easier said than done. Thankfully Baracus spoke up after 15 to 20 minutes, distracting him from the misery and hopelessness of their current situation.

'I have finished the data analysis.'

And it was only then that Hao Xuan realized that the entire upper left side of his body was drenched in sweat. It felt like he had laid his arm in a furnace.

'What's going on?'

'There was...a lot of information. I only managed to decipher just over a quarter of it.'

Baracus's response helped Hao Xuan hold onto a sliver of hope.

'And? Is there a way out of here? Can you redirect power or whatever it was and open a path to the surface?' he asked expectantly.

'.....'

But a lack of response immediately doused the spark of hope before it could even take root.

'Is there...no way?'

'Not how you're imagining it. There is no path leading to the surface, that is for certain. But...'

'But what?! Don't just fucking stop talking you piece of shit!' Hao Xuan cursed his heart out thinking that he was doing it on purpose but Baracus was simply at a loss for words, which in and of itself was quite an achievement.

There weren't many things that could leave such an advanced intelligence speechless.

'There is a kind of a spatial gateway here, in a manner of speaking.. That is the only way out of the facility, at least for now.'