The Dawn of the New World

The flies went silent momentarily. There were obviously some doubts in his mind.

"It will be much harder for the Son of Chaos. His mind will break and we will only push him closer to the Spark, doing exactly as the witch wants."

Light nodded with a heavy heart, "That is his fate. It is best he falls to her than the human or Maymun. At least she has enough tricks up her sleeve to keep him under control."

"...And what if he breaks free? The human had enough foresight to even take your arrival into account and even after millenniums Maymun could not destroy him without outside help, what if this was all a part of his plan?"

Light's expression softened immediately as he nonchalantly replied, "Then we will all be in trouble. If he can truly manage to control the Spark of Creation then there is very little that can be done to stop him. Fortunately, he is still a human. And as long as he does not discard his humanity it can be manipulated."

"Then should I-"

"I have already taken care of it, the pieces are in play. Meanwhile, the 'feather' will continue to burden his mind and when he completes the ritual and breaks it, the dye will have been cast...."

The flies buzzed about briefly in contemplation before finally asking the burning question.

"Was that the same one from....him?" he was careful not to even mention a name.

Light's innocent smile turned vicious, "Yes. It was the last present my dearest brother bestowed upon me before throwing me out of the Heavenly Kingdom. But now that he has willingly accepted it the curse will carry on, whether the Son of Chaos can bear it or not all depends on him now."

He leaned over the edge, whispering the last sentence to himself.

"It will not be easy hearing all the vile and wicked thoughts that the minds of mortals can conjure, let alone seeing the truth of all things....hahaha."

***

Hao Xuan returned to the same spot on the rolling hills he had first entered from. Only the difference was that now there was not a soul in sight.

He was not mad despite Eurig disobeying his orders to stay and wait for him. In fact, it was quite the opposite now.

He closed his eyes and took in a breath of fresh air. The cold wind gently kissed his skin, a most welcome sensation after the piercing heat of hellfire.

The only sound was coming from the undulating air currents combing through the landscape and brushing the endless grass fields. The sounds of nature were so peaceful that when combined with the rush of relief washing over him because of the angelic feather he could feel himself dozing off.

Despite having many important things waiting for him Hao Xuan laid down and within seconds he was off to the land of dreams.

And then out of nowhere a white rose petal, the same as the one he had seen in Light's garden, appeared out of thin air and landed on his forehead. It melted upon coming into contact with his skin and disappeared instantly.

A barrier of the purest white light sprung up from all sides keeping him safe and secluded from everything around him. The clouds passed overhead like the waves of the ocean until sometime later Hao Xuan opened his misty eyes again.

He sat up with some effort, pushing down the overwhelming weariness that had still not gone away.

With a deep yawn Hao Xuan stretched while getting back on his feet. It was a nice nap and it barely felt like any time had gone by but he asked just in case, "Baracus...how long was I asleep for?"

*Beep*

"Fifty-Seven standard hours."

"....."

"WHAT?! Are you sure??"

"Affirmative."

He was dumbstruck.

"How...is that possible?! I-It barely feels like an hour has gone by! Fuck FUCK!"

Hao Xuan quickly fished for the beast token to call out Grey but in his panicked state, he put in a little too much strength and crushed it to smithereens by accident.

"AAH FUCK! Shit, motherfucking shit!"

*Neigh*Neigh*

Grey appeared in front of him in his usual manner but now there was no way to store him again since the only beast token was gone and his Mind Palace was still locked.

"Back to the city," he pointed towards Argham while jumping on his back.

Grey kicked the ground and sprinted off.

"Damnit, how could I sleep for so long?! Why didn't you wake me up Baracus?!"

*Beep*

"Sleep is a natural human process. Even one such as yourself eventually needs it."

"There is a time and place for it!" Hao Xuan screamed back, "I had so much shit to do. Fucking hell man..."

After spending a couple of minutes cursing Baracus out to make himself feel better Hao Xuan calmed down a little and recounted the events so far and then what needed to be done.

"Okay, I have the feather and the seed of the world tree...somewhere on me, I guess. I need to get the location of Cerebrus from the Emperor and then find a way to get the water from the river Styx. It's easy, I can do it no problem."

"Then I can claim the physique, find a divine weapon and fight the physique demon. Once I reach the second physique realm I can just absorb the poison from Henrik and...what about the Grand Priestess? And shit, I almost forgot about him!!"