The Dawn of the New World

"Not for you? Then who? YOU have a master?!"

Hao Xuan knew better than to trust the words of a demon like Ba'al but suffice to say, his curiosity had been piqued.

Jax, or rather Ba'al stepped back and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath of fresh air that created a torrent of billowing wind around him.

It felt like all the heat, scents, and smells were sucked out of the world leaving a kind of emptiness that Hao Xuan had not felt in a very long time.

Then a second later all the sounds ceased to exist, forcing Hao Xuan to look around and notice that everything around him had stopped moving, including the clouds.

Every blade of grass was frozen in its place and every little creature from the smallest insect to the larger birds of prey were unable to move.

Hao Xuan's heart sunk. Thinking that this was a trap, he stepped back cautiously trying to put some distance between them but the next moment Jax opened his eyes and Hao Xuan saw Ba'al staring back at him.

And then he stopped moving too. Even with the Chaos energy and lycan bloodline Hao Xuan was utterly incapable of moving even a finger in front of him. All he could do was watch and listen.

Jax opened his mouth and a prepubescent voice came out, that of a child so young that he couldn't even make out the gender.

"I am Bael," it spoke before changing to the voice of a teenage boy, "The first of the Spirits."

"I am the one who hides in plain sight."

The sky turned red and fire and smoke erupted from all sides around them. The clouds moved back in the opposite direction as everything was set alight.

Then the voice changed to that of a young man, perhaps in his twenties.

"I am the King in the East, Lord of the Flyers, and keeper of knowledge."

The world began to shake as meteors started falling from the sky. The land shook and split, spilling out tides of lava.

His voice changed for the third time to that of an adult man, hoarse from the clear passage of time. But there was something else about it, there was a tinge of sovereignty in it now as if a king was speaking to his subjects.

The only thing Hao Xuan could move was his eyes which were mostly focused on Jax.

"I am Suffering and Despair, Ruler of Two Hundred and Fifty legions of the most vile Demons that are birthed in the pits of hell. But even I, mortal, even I serve someone, you will soon learn this the hard way...there are some beings that cannot be rivaled. And you stand here today because one of them wants YOU."

The force keeping Hao Xuan in place suddenly disappeared and he stumbled back burning himself in the ocean of lava that encompassed everything in existence apart from the small hill they were standing on.

And only now did he realize that he had been transported into hell. Fire rained from the sky as shadows of great winged creatures cast the world around him into darkness.

The lava was bubbling all around him and from each bubble came out a new wretched shape.

Finding himself lost in the circles of Hell Hao Xuan would have normally lost all hope but he remembered the trouble they went through just to see him.

If his master truly wished to meet then he could not hurt Hao Xuan in the slightest.

The temperature rising to a level that even he could not bare for much longer, Hao Xuan met Ba'als unflinching gaze.

"Take me to him then. That's why I came here in the first place."

He stared at him for a moment before his lips cracked into a smile. He turned around and took two steps, disappearing entirely.

And as soon as he did the lava began to rise at an unprecedented speed. It was like it was trying to catch Hao Xuan which made him run ahead without wasting any time.

When he reached the same spot he could feel a cool breeze coming through the other side. And with one step he was gone.

He had already prepared himself for the most horrific visual that his mind could possibly conjure after finding out what kind of entity he was about to meet but...what waited for him was the exact opposite.

Hao Xuan found himself standing in a field of white roses. The sun was sitting to the right and the moon could already be seen hovering overhead.

He took a look around but could only see the endless fields of white roses in all directions apart from the front where a gazebo waited for him on top of a small hill.

There was a stone path carved into the ground in front which led straight to it.

"I guess there is only one place to go."