The Dawn of the New World



"I know and...now I accept it too. But I can't change the past. All of their deaths will weigh heavily on my conscience for as long as I am alive, but all I can do now is move on and be better prepared the next time."

Despite the grave situation he had found himself in, Hao Xuan still wanted to come to an amicable conclusion with Baracus if it was at all possible.

"Please...just tell me the truth. Why are these shadows trying to get to the control room? Why did you lie to me?"

There was a brief moment of silence between them and just when Hao Xuan was about to snap, Baracus spoke up.

"The system reviewed the logfiles and deemed the events of this world too extreme for the host's mental state. For that reason, an alternate timeline was created."

"That's fine, just tell me what really happened," Hao Xuan mumbled with a lowered head. He was prepared for the worst.

Within Baracus's internal mainframe, two more lines of red code flashed by that were not revealed to Hao Xuan.

[Focul Point Reached]

[Implementing Paradigm Shift Measures]

Following the hidden code, a new series of short videos were quickly disclosed to Hao Xuan. Most of these were surveillance camera recordings while a few others were one-on-one interview-styled videos where the speaker was talking directly to the camera.

It started from the date when the last of the humans from the other world were brought over and the gateway was closed for good.

There were dozens of human leaders sitting across from Arthur and Malina having a heated discussion.

There was no audio so Baracus took it upon himself to explain what was going on.

"The humans banded together demanding to meet the host because the vast majority of them were told that the host was also a human and the Orcs were his servants."

"They had doubts when told that their world was about to be destroyed and when the host did not appear at the scheduled time those doubts turned into the truth and things began to take a turn for the worse."

The next video showed the exact date when Hao Xuan was initially supposed to arrive. There were tens of thousands of people all gathered in various places to watch the welcome "ceremony".

But obviously, Hao Xuan could not make it.

"After that, most of the humans began harboring a general dislike for the Orcs and the rift between the two races grew. They thought the Orcs wanted to control them, to use them in their various nefarious rituals and the host was a figurehead that was manufactured to keep them under control."

"Approximately 7 years after those events the gateway had to be closed because of the stark disparity within the flow of time as compared to the outside world. There were some problems with the workings of the gateway that could not be solved by anyone other than the host. That was the 'final straw' that completely divided the races."

"After the gateway was closed there was no way to bring in new resources while the populations continued to grow exponentially. The human leaders wanted to return to their world and they did not believe that the gateway could not be reopened."

"The Orcs persevered and even when greatly outnumbered they did not give in to the demands of the humans. This instigated the war that led to the complete devastation of this world shard."

The videos continued to play in the background proving that everything Baracus was saying was more or less real.

"The system had already implemented contingency plans for such an event and when the damages from the war surpassed the allowed limits, all insurgents needed to be neutralized."

The video showed an army of droids laying waste to everything in their path. Cultivators, mortals, women, children, anything and anyone that did not look like an Orc was killed on sight.

This particular video had no audio like all the rest but somehow Hao Xuan could hear their screams echoing in his mind. He saw himself in place of those droids, burning and tearing through entire families without a second thought.

Baracus continued, "But the damage was already done. The entity called 'Nidhora' was unable to contain its power effectively and upon its demise the world was shrouded in darkness forevermore. Nothing grew since all the land was tainted."

"With the resources dwindling the Orcs had to make some tough decisions. By sacrificing their own kind they limited the number of mouths to feed in hopes that the host would return before it was too late."

"But even with that, they could only extend their lives for so long. After 75 standard years only the original 200 Orcs managed to survive but their natural lifespans were also coming to an end. During their last days they chose to venture towards the grave site of 'Nidhora' and met their end in the hands of the shadow beasts."

"The system had deemed their deaths unworthy of the host's attention since it would only bring adverse side effects to the host's mental state. That is why the heroic tale was created."