The Dawn of the New World

"Are you happy now? Let me rest for a bit before it starts."

It was a strange feeling of extrication. Part of him felt like it was drowning while the other half, the one in control, was jovial at the very thought. By all means he should be feeling sick to his stomach after seeing her cry to the point of losing her mind but at this very moment, he could not care less about her.

He wasn't able to feel any empathy.

Hao Xuan gladly went through the door despite what he had just had to do. But the ordinary old scene he was expecting to see was not what he got.

On the other side of the door was a whole other world. Hao Xuan felt the softness of the soil and the cold wind gently brush past his face through the thick foliage just as his expression turned ugly.

"Dai Zhi! We had a deal! I've already done everything you asked of me!" he shouted in a tempestuously sour mood but got no response.

"DAI ZHI!" he called out once more, even louder this time but nothing.

*Sigh*

Hao Xuan had no other choice than to go along with whatever he was planning. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and took out a cigarette to stave off the headache. A couple of deep puffs and he was already seeing some progress.

Pushing the leafy greens aside he moved through the thicket until it started to clear up and an old dirt road came into view.

Hao Xuan jumped and landed heavily on a puddle of mud, splashing brown water everywhere.

"God damnit," he cursed resentfully, his hate for Dai Zhi increasing with every passing second.

But then he suddenly froze.

*Sniff*Sniff*

The smell of roasting beef wafted towards him from somewhere nearby. Hao Xuan focused his senses and picked up the loud clamor of a crowd from a little ways down the road.

It sounded like another party with lots of happy voices nonchalantly singing and chatting along with almost the identical music from before.

"This motherfucker!"

Hao Xuan moved forward with large strides, cutting through a small hill to arrive at a clearing from where he could see the source of the commotion. But his frown only got deeper and deeper the longer he peered at the 'spectacle'.

It looked like a large caravan was resting in a small valley for the night. Hao Xuan could see close to a hundred people moving about, each one doing their own thing in groups of 5-10.

They were outfitted with never-before-seen armors but each one of them was unique and eye-catching in its own way. It hey looked like they were created from beast parts rather than metals with white bones, teeth, reptilian hide, and feathers casually hanging from each one.

Each group looked a little different from the next and it was pretty obvious to see they weren't all from the same place. The differences in attire, physiques, and features were far too diverse for that.

"This is...new..." Hao Xuan mumbled under his breath.

"WHO GOES THERE!?"

As soon as the words left his mouth a loud voice called out, startling him. He hadn't felt any presence.

But before he could answer the bushes shifted and a slender man with one working eye walked out from behind him. There was a white gourd in his grasp and his face was red from the strong liquor.

"Oh, it is you. You almost scared me Ada. Why are you out here? Did you need to relieve yourself? Meeh, no matter. Return to the others when you are done, I will be on duty tonight."

The one-eyed man asked a bunch of questions and then answered them himself before quickly going back through the same way he came from.

"Ada? Who is that?"

The man looked like he knew Hao Xuan but the name he called him with was different.

The more Hao Xuan thought about it the stranger he felt. He slowly waved his hand trying to summon a small dagger from the storage space but nothing happened.

His face drained of all color.

"Another timeline?" Hao Xuan whispered looking around and when his gaze moved towards the sky his mouth fell open.

The sky looked like it had been shattered into a million pieces. Tens of giant landmasses floated overhead, seemingly fragmented pieces with one biome or another.

Each shard of the sky had a slightly different color to set it aside from the rest.

"Where....is this?"

This was not a place he had ever visited before nor did he recognized any of the landmasses. A small pop sounded and without a warning a blood vessel around his left eye burst.

With the feeling of intense pain came the realization of something unnatural.

"Argh!"

Hao Xuan felt his mind being pulled towards the camp. A magnetic force of some kind was calling out to him.

Afraid and oh-so-lost, he jumped down and made his way towards camp. When he got close several people looked towards him, cheering and raising their glances while shouting one thing or another.

One side of his face was covered in blood but none of them even reacted to it. They still called him 'Ada'.

The closer Hao Xuan got the more he understood where that force was coming from. It was the music, a lively tune by a flute.

Hao Xuan navigated through the various small and large parties until he found himself standing face to face with the musician responsible for the tune. And at that moment he realized that he had heard that tune before, and seen that musician.

"Welcome, little one."