The Dawn of the New World

Its skin was translucent for the most part with different shades of black, dark blue and purple visible underneath its carapace.

It's body language was remarkably similar to that of a human child of 7-8 years of age but that's where the similarities ended. There were the obvious differences in the physical features but when Hao Xuan stared into its eyes it felt like he was looking at himself but through someone else's eyes. ​​

It had been almost a year since he picked up the formachians and made the deal with the Hive Queen.

Hao Xuan was well aware that when he had tried to sever the Prince it was the Queen that had actually been severed. She was taking refuge within the body of the Prince and was the one in charge of him.

And considering the prince's otherworldly combat abilities, it would not be a good idea to anger him since Hao Xuan couldn't control him directly. If he started 'acting out' and the queen wasn't here to stop him, there was probably no one else that could either.

Even though the prince wouldn't know what the expression entailed, he put on a fake smile and spoke in a much lower voice.

"Can you let me talk to the queen?"

The prince stared at him, unblinking and unmoving. Just looking at him gave Hao Xuan a creepy feeling but he didn't let it show.

"The Queen, do you understand? Your m.i.s.t.r.e.s.s. Where is she?" he slowly enunciated hoping that it would make the prince understand him more easily and surprisingly, it had some effect.

The prince moved aside and pointed towards the podium.

"Hmm?"

Hao Xuan walked over but couldn't see anything out of ordinary. Only that black scally egg that had been there for so long.

"Where?" he looked towards the prince for clarification and found him standing right behind him, in a blind spot he didn't even know he had.

He walked over to the egg and pointed at it, "Queen."

".....what?"

Hao Xuan was dumbfounded. How was the egg the queen? Or...was she INSIDE it?!

"You mean she is IN it? Is SHE the egg? When did tha- HOW did that happen?!"

But as soon as he asked the question his brain started throbbing and a sharp pain spread out to the rest of the body. A series of memories popped into his head that showed him having the same conversation before.

He suddenly remembered talking in detail with the queen and her asking for his help to create a new body for her. It felt like deja vu but he knew he had never had this conversation, yet here he was reliving those memories.

The throbbing stopped a moment later along with the pain.

'Memories...from another timeline? Or this one? Did she make me forget we had the conversation or we never had it?'

Hao Xuan looked behind him and saw the Orc Warders standing a few meters away facing the tiny formachian Prince. Their ethereal Great Axes perfectly reflected Prince's image as they got ready to attack at any moment.

It was 4v1 yet it was the Orc warriors that were on the losing side. The contrast between their humongous bodies and the prince's tiny figure was almost comedic but they were the tense ones and he was...just standing there.

"It's fine, I'm fine. Don't worry," Hao Xuan reassured the Orc warriors that were tasked with his protection and made them finally stand down.

But they did not take their leave and continued standing in the same spots like guardian statues, their gazes fixated on the Prince.

'This is not good. I can't have something like that walking around my own Mind Palace when I can't even control it properly,' he thought inwardly.

The Prince's power was far too great to be ignored.

Hao Xuan directed his attention back towards the scally egg. He sent for a soul connection and found it within. The Queen was indeed inside it.

As of yet still apprehensive, he reached out and carefully placed his right hand over the egg but...nothing happened. Confused, he was about to pull back when a light blue light escaped from in between the scales and it was set alight with an azure flame.

It was too quick for Hao Xuan to react so he grit his teeth and waited for the pain but it never came. The flame surrounded his hand and gently moved in between his fingers as if it was alive but other than a very moderate amount of heat nothing else could be felt.

The flames congregated towards the top and formed a small hand that reached out and grabbed Hao Xuan's, intertwining its fingers with his. Suddenly Hao Xuan's vision went dark as he was forcefully pulled inside the egg.