The Dawn of the New World

'Are you the one giving her the energy needed to maintain the barrier?'

Zhurong gave a weak nod without opening his eyes. Hao Xuan reached down to pet him but his hand went through.

'Do you know where you are? I can't find your locati- Hey, wake up! Keep your eyes open!'

He could feel Zhurong drifting further out of his reach and not a second later the connection was cut off.

Hao Xuan opened his eyes back in his body, fuming at the very thought of what was happening to both Zhurong and Ma Jiang, how they had been at battle for some time and would continue to be unless he stepped in.

"Feng Huang!"

That name sent waves rampaging throughout his body. The blood boiling and heart racing at the mere mention of it.

*GRRRR*

A beastly growl clawed its way from his gullet as Hao Xuan felt himself losing control.

Even Grey was startled by the wisps of feral killing intent escaping from Hao Xuan's body and he quickly distanced himself.

"No!"

Hao Xuan keeled over from the pain of the transformation that kept coming in unceasing waves. His stomach felt like it was being turned inside out and there was nothing he could do to stop it other than either give in or push it back down.

He sat down cross-legged on the spot and began repeating the mantra from the book of the first Chaos Lord.

"Patience...Breathing...Focus."

"Patience...Breathing. Focus."

After a few minutes, his heart rate began to fall and the physical transformations reverted. When the killing intent receded Grey came up from behind and gently nudged him awake.

"I'm okay...it's okay. Sorry to scare you," he flashed a smile at Grey and stood up, "Rest as much as you can, we will have to go soon," before entering the cave again.

He went straight towards the side room but paused momentarily to look at the stone doorway. His brow furrowed for a second but because he was so pressed for time he didn't look at it too closely. Because if he had, he would not have missed the thin cracks that had spread out throughout the entire length of the stone columns.

Upon entering the side room Hao Xuan reached into the storage space and pulled out a stone token.

It was approximately 3.5 cm in diameter with various characters from the Prime Letters inscribed on its surface. He stared at it for a few seconds while whispering- almost praying.

"I should have called you guys out way earlier so I hope you are even stronger now. I NEED an army to fight against these assholes."

Upon channeling a few strands of Chaos Qi into the stone token the characters began to light up one by one. When the last character came to life Hao Xuan crushed the token into smithereens and the characters floated off its surface.

They expanded in size while rotating clockwise in a circle. When the circle was 2 meters in diameter the characters froze in mid-air and started to connect to one another with the help of the Chaos Qi.

A whirlpool of light spun into existence stabilizing within seconds.

Hao Xuan could see through it to the other side but the scene was an unfamiliar one. He took in a deep breath and stepped through the portal, his foot landing on a cold deserted street on the other side.

He was standing in what appeared to be an alley, surrounded by tall brick walls on all sides but one.

He had only taken a single step into this world after so long but Hao Xuan's heart sank because he could not hear any sounds.

When he had left the Orcs, although the settlement was small it was still full of signs of life but now it was deathly silent.

With measured steps Hao Xuan walked out of the alley and into a wide street. In front of him was a ten-meter-tall statue of...him. It was full of washed-out graffiti and covered in moss.

Hao Xuan walked closer and saw two words that were engraved into the metal base.

[FALSE GOD] they read.

Pieces of rust fell onto his shoes as he ran his fingers through the engravings. When he put slightly more pressure the whole thing gave in and his hand went through the metal base.

It creaked and groaned before slowly falling towards him. Hao Xuan quickly moved to the side, watching as the likeness of his own face smashed into the concrete floor and shatter into a thousand pieces.

The sounds echoed back and forth through the rows of tall buildings on all sides before slowly dying down.

Hao Xuan felt the cool night wind brush against his face, whispering the countless fables that were born from his absence.

He was alone here. In this city that should have been full of humans and Orcs alike, there was only him.