The Dawn of the New World

It was deathly silent for several minutes as Hao Xuan stood over the guard's corpse thinking of what could have been done differently but, he couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer.

"I should have been more careful...I'm sorry. Maybe if I was here I could have done something to stop it."

At least one innocent death rested on his conscious. If he wasn't out trying to get more demon cores he could have protected Wern if nothing else.

Hao Xuan dragged the guard's corpse to the side of the room and as he was going over to the bed something caught his eye. There was an indentation in the floor in the shape of a broken circle with some symbols on the side.

Hao Xuan knelt down to inspect it in more detail, using the sleeve of his shirt to move the blood, bone, and brain matter out of the way.

"This is a summoning circle..." and as he brushed his fingers along the recesses bits of nail and skin came up every few centimeters.

"The spirit had total control of his body. I can only imagine how painful it would have been for him to do this to himself."

Hao Xuan examined the summoning circle assiduously but could not understand what most of the characters meant. The only one he did recognize stood for "sacrifice" and it was also widely used in demon summoning.

*Sigh*

With a heavy heart and a deep sigh, Hao Xuan dragged both of them to the side of the room where he wrapped them up one by one in some sheets that he had laying around in the storage space.

As Hao Xuan was wrapping Wern's body he couldn't help but double-check for any signs of life. He was still warm to the touch and if one didn't look at the gaping hole in his abdomen you'd be hard-pressed to find anything else wrong with him.

"He looks like he is sleeping..." Hao Xuan muttered to himself before covering his face and walking out of the cave.

*beep*

Baracus's activation beep sounded, but he didn't speak up even after a few seconds so Hao Xuan asked instead.

"What? Just say it."

"What does the host plan to do with the remains?"

"Bury them. That's all I can do."

"Would host be open to a more rational proposal?"

Hao Xuan paused mid-stride knowing what was coming, "And what is that?"

"Absorb them for their nutritional value. Or if you would prefer, the system can deconstruct the remains into their base components and use them for-"

"Enough! Just...shut up," Hao Xuan ordered through gritted teeth, "What did I expect from a fucking computer program. Keep your mouth shut unless it's an emergency."

When he reached the exit Grey tried to stand up but Hao Xuan quickly stopped him.

"It's fine, I'm not going far."

He went down the side and started walking until the black mountain soil could not be seen any longer and then started looking for an appropriate spot to bury them. There was a lone tree at the very edge of the forest which seemed to be good enough.

Using the sharp end of the hammer Hao Xuan dug for several minutes while mumbling under his breath, "Absorb them...he says...have I fallen that fucking low...that I need...to do THIS?"

It wasn't particularly grueling work considering his physique but for some reason Hao Xuan had to stop several times to catch his breath and by the end, he was covered in sweat.

He only stopped when the hole was deep enough to cover him entirely.

Hao Xuan carried them one by one in his arms and jumped down to gently place them at the bottom before filling the hole back up.

And as he stood at the foot of their grave thinking of something to say two ethereal figures materialized on the other side.

It was them, Wern and the guard whose name he didn't even know. They were both beaming ear to ear.

"Is this...are you real?" Hao Xuan whispered in a daze.

This wasn't the first time he had seen souls that had yet to move on but there was something different about them.

The guard bowed from the waist and waved at him before turning around and disappearing into nothingness. Wern on the other hand stayed for a bit longer and even conversed with him.

"Thank you for coming back, senior brother."

Hao Xuan shook his head gloomily, too ashamed to even look him in the eye.

"What good did that even do? I'm sorry I couldn't save you, if I was there-"

"It's okay," but Wern swiftly cut him off, "You cannot change the past and...I think it's better this way. I was so tired from all the fighting but now I can be with 'her' in peace. I don't have to be alone anymore."