The Dawn of the New World

"He said not to disturb him unless it is time to move again," Isak said while moving past him.

Tasgall nodded and entered the cave. He made three different hand gestures and the rock and earth on the ground moved back to where it was before, closing the entrance.

He turned around and walked deeper into the cave. After just a few seconds of walking through the rocky tunnel he came out in front of a bigger space, one that was around 4-5 meters in diameter.

On the left side was a stretch of smooth wall that looked like it was cut with a sword. Right in front of the entrance was a torch that burned with a smokeless vermillion flame. In the middle of the room was a man sitting with his eyes closed. He was surrounded by a ring of black clouds.

The area around him had turned to white dust and more of it was falling from the cloud ring continuously. At the very bottom of the ring was a thin stream of blue and white flame, at the top was a ring of electricity.

And within the cloud itself were a myriad of different scenes playing out. Sometimes water and ice would suddenly materialize, sometimes pieces of dirt and rock. Sometimes other things and elements from lava to various colors and shapes.

The area within half a meter of him was engulfed with these peculiar scenes, playing out in no particular order. But because of that, no one could get close to him either.

Tasgall watched in complete silence, watching the scene with a hint of awe and reverence.

After half an hour the black cloud ring convulsed and all the anomalous phenomena were suddenly sucked into it while it continued started to shrink before finally entering the man's body.

His face became visible for the first time. Long hair, beard but an otherwise clean appearance. He opened his eyes, the bright green pupils of his even dimming all the light within the cave for just an instant.

Hao Xuan smiled seeing Tasgall standing at the entrance.

"When did you get here?" he asked in the Beast World's language.

Tasgall made a few hand gestures from the sign language he had learned during their time here. Saying with a respectful bow, "Just a few minutes."

Hao Xuan stood up, nodding absentmindedly.

"Good good. Since you're here, stay for a bit. I need to go talk to someone."

Tasgall's brow lightly furrowed, 'See who?' he wanted to ask but Hao Xuan didn't give him the opportunity.

He walked over to where the smooth section of the wall was and rested against it. Closing his eyes once again, Hao Xuan's consciousness appeared in the Mind Palace.

Everything was still the same, the only difference being just outside the mind palace itself. Previously there was one wooden frame here that resembled a torii gate but now there were seven of them.

Each one numbered, each one a little bigger than the one before. They were all hovering in the opposite direction to the three doors that were within the mind palace.

Hao Xuan inspected them for a few seconds before walking up to the left-most door. He was about to push it but it opened by itself before he could even come into contact with it.

Hao Xuan's lips arched into a little smirk before he took a step inward, vanishing within his own mind palace.

*crackle*

The sound of crackling flame in the fireplace reached his ears first and foremost before the world stabilized and the same old victorian era room materialized in front of his eyes.

The soft snow fell endlessly outside the window on the right. Two large brown leather sofas sat facing the fireplace, the right one occupied by Mr. Hyde, as usual.

Hao Xuan walked to the other one and sat down.

"I'm done."

Mr. Hyde who always reading that same newspaper that hid his entire upper body behind it moved it down just a little to glance towards him.

"So it seems."

"You said you had questions. You have held up your side of the bargain, and I am dying to fulfill mine," Hao Xuan said trying to tear apart that newspaper with a sharp glare.

It was always so intrusive. He could never tell how Mr. Hyde was feeling since he couldn't see his face most of the time. A few seconds passed before Mr. Hyde spoke again.

"How long now?"

"How...long what?"

"Since you've been stuck in this wretched world. How long has it been?"

Hao Xuan hesitated a little, his previously merry spirits dampened significantly by the unexpected query.

"A...little over...ten months..." he replied dejectedly, his eyes mirthlessly swaying back and forth.

"Hmmm. And have you made any progress? If you tell me what type of ability you have, I can help you figure it out," Mr. Hyde offered his help again, just like the numerous other times he had tried to pry away the information from Hao Xuan's lips.

**

Authors Notes:

The next handful of chapters are wordy but important for the story so pay attention!