The Dawn of the New World

The faces of all the men were covered, revealing only the eyes that were staring daggers at Hao Xuan. Each one held some kind of a bladed weapon, unsheathed and ready to strike.

Jin Wang turned to face Hao Xuan and was surprised to see his condition. He was wearing old rancid clothes and holding a broken longsword. Most of his body was already covered in wounds.

"Hao....Xuan," he called out but there was no reaction, neither from Hao Xuan nor from any of the other people.

Jin Wang extended his hand to try and get his attention but when he came into contact with Hao Xuan's body the world started spinning.

It felt like his very soul was twisted into a cone and being pulled apart into a million different directions. His eyes started to glow with a blinding white light as he tried to fight against the overpowering force with the strength of his own spells.

"Artyum Kulara Andyna Demire!"

A bubble of white light popped up around him and Hao Xuan as the scenes around them started to slow down considerably.

"Argh!" he flinched from the pain and looked around.

Both he and Hao Xuan were standing in an empty void with countless images spinning around them. Each image represented a different future, one that Hao Xuan was living in currently.

Jin Wang's mouth fell open. Just from a single glance he could see that there were millions upon millions of images stacked on top and behind each other, surrounding them from every possible direction.

"So many...I didn't think it would be this many..." he mumbled in a mix of bewilderment, confusion, and concern, "This isn't natural, someone is doing it on purpose. This many branches, even from other timelines is not possible."

He quickly raised his other hand, placing both of them on each of Hao Xuan's shoulders. The void flickered and he was standing in a different place now.

This one was at a strange place. It was relatively dark and there was no sun or moon in the sky. In fact the sky itself was missing, replaced by a bronze-colored heigh ceiling.

There were hundreds of people moving about in a street just in front of him. Both he and Hao Xuan were sitting on the roof of a double-story building peering down at the crowd packed together like sheep.

Street vendors from all kinds of alien races lined the sides, shouting their strange wares and discounted prices "just" for certain individuals.

"Is this...?"

In a moment of shock Jin Wang spoke out loud which actually got a response from someone.

"You look like you're new here."

Awoken from his daze Jin Wang turned around to face the speaker, which was of course Hao Xuan.

This time he was in his mid-thirties perhaps, missing an eye but otherwise healthy. He was sitting with his back against a wall and a sword in his lap.

Elated at first that he could be seen Jin Wang asked to confirm, "Can you see me?"

"Of course I can, kid. What kind of stupid question is that?" Hao Xuan answered in a gruff voice, already annoyed at him.

"Kid? You don't...remember me?"

Hao Xuan's brow arched up for a moment before turning into a frown.

"Why? Did we meet somewhere before? Don't tell me I killed one of your family members or something and you're here for revenge? I don't do duels on Tuesdays so come back tomorrow if that's the case," he said waving his hand trying to shoo him away.

Jin Wang walked up to Hao Xuan with hurried steps and knelt down in front of him.

"Look carefully, don't I seem familiar?"

Hao Xuan slowly grabbed the hilt of his sword while cautiously pulling himself away.

"Hey, keep your distance unless you want to lose an arm or tw-" he warned but suddenly froze mid-sentence.

"Y-You're Jin?! Jin Wang?!" he shouted with a look of utter shock.

Jin Wang nodded, "That's me, you remembered!"

"No, you can't be real. That was just a dream, a strange and long dream," he mumbled absentmindedly while shaking his head, "Did I fall asleep again? Or am I dead? You can't be here otherwise...you're not real..."

That look of confusion on his face spoke volumes of what was going through his mind and Jin Wang instantly connected the dots.

To these iterations of Hao Xuan, the reality only presented itself as a dream. Jin Wang sighed inwardly realizing this would be much harder than he expected.

Jin Wang grabbed his hand tightly, letting him feel his warmth.

"I am real, more real than this place. This life, these experiences that you have accumulated they are the ones that are not real. That dream is your actual life, your true reality.. This is nothing but a meager attempt from some 'Godly' bastard trying to make you lose yourself."