The Dawn of the New World

The water began to slash and bubble in the distance scaring several of the youngins but piquing the interest of the older generation that went even closer to see it first hand.

And right in front of everyone's eyes a gigantic seashell slowly emerged from the depths of the ocean. It was at least 300 meters in size from what they could see, probably even more if the submerged part was taken into account.

The upper portion of the shell raised just a smidgen and the merman walked out of it. He actually walked out on the water as if it was solid ground stopping just a couple of meters away.

"Now then, everyone! Please form a line and follow in my footsteps."

People were hesitant at first until an old man with a long flowing white beard jumped into the water ended up standing on top of it.

"Hahaha, you must teach me your water magic friend!"

"That will be extra sir," the merman responded without turning back.

Having seen one of them do it the others didn't hesitate either and followed the path to the seashell one by one until only a teenager and a middle-aged man were left standing other than Princess Ceni and the vice-caption.

The middle-aged man forcefully patted the teen on the shoulder, "Safe travels nephew!"

The teen nodded while staring at the seashell, tightly clutching the cloth bag hanging over his shoulder.

"Un, I will not let you down, uncle! I will return with the family heirlooms in five years' time at most, I promise you this!"

"Haha, of course you will. Go now, you needn't dawdle any longer. Take your time and enjoy this journey. Make plenty of 'friends' along the way," he winked and gestured towards Princess Ceni when mentioning making friends, making the teen blush.

"S-Stop! What if she hears you!"

She did, in fact, hear both of them loud and clear but couldn't even muster up the energy to roll her eyes at them, the idea was that preposterous.

'Wait, it could be him!'

As expected the teen walked up to her on his uncle's assistance and bowed from the waist, "Hello! My name is Lin Wang, nice to meet you. Please be my friend!" he threw out the words at the speed of light with a beet-red face without even meeting looking her in the eye.

Princess Ceni frowned, "Lin Wang? Your name isn't Hao Xuan?"

He looked up in confusion, "Eh? H-Hao Xuan? That's not me, right?" he looked back at his uncle for confirmation of his own name who shrugged innocently before quickly waving his hand.

A 3-meter tall ethereal gate materialized out of nowhere and he stepped inside, disappearing along with it the very next moment.

"T-Then I will see you inside," the teen gave a weird salute and ran towards the seashell, leaving Princess Ceni ceni speechless.

'Did they practice that? That looked like a comedy routine,' she mused inwardly until the sound of footsteps brought her back to reality.

She turned around and saw the vice-captain standing just a couple of feet away. Startled, she fumbled back.

"W-What?"

He paused for a moment before asking, "That name, where did you hear it?"

Her eyes light up at the realization, "Do you know him?! Do you know Hao Xuan?!"

Another short bout of silence followed before he shook his head and distanced himself from her.

"I don't know where or even how you heard about it but it's best you forget everything. No one by that name exists..." his voice fell to a whisper but since he was so close to her Princess Ceni heard it too, "It was only a dream anyway."

Her eyes widened from the shock, "That wa-It's you?!"

"It's time for her highness to leave."

"No please, listen to me, it's not a dream I swear!" she ran towards him, "It's all real and I can prove it if you just-"

*ZOOOOOP*

A low-pitched defeaning noise reverberated in the space followed by a sudden darkness.

It was so abrupt and loud that Princess Ceni was shellshocked for a moment as blood poured out of her left ear.

She stumbled and fell but was caught by Hao Xuan before she could hit the ground. He held her in one hand and his blade in the other while looking up. She followed his line of sight and looked up in confusion to see the source of the sudden commotion.

The sun was blotted out by a foreign body. It held the shape of a five-sided star which was slowly rotating clockwise.

She couldn't tell how far it was but none of the details could be made it since it was hovering above the atmosphere throwing a vague shape in front of the sun.

"They...are already here. I didn't expect it to be this quick," Hao Xuan mumbled absentmindedly.

Just then the merman ran out of the shell screaming, "SIR! WE CAN'T MOVE! ALL THE SPACE IS LOCKED DOWN AND NUMEROUS LAWS ARE KEEPING US IN PLACE!"