The Dawn of the New World

He drifted closer to Hao Xuan stopping just an arm's length away.

"Thank you for giving us a resting place, senior brother. Who knows how long our souls would have wandered this plane if it wasn't for you. Those demons, they would not have let us go even in death."

Hao Xuan shook his head in dismay, "Wait a second, are you saying that all the people that didn't get a proper burial won't be able to move on?"

"Mhm, I only realized this after we died. There was no light at the end of the tunnel and no door to pass through. All I could do was haunt this world. Now-" he looked over his shoulder with a smile, "-I can see it. It's...beautiful, senior brother. I feel at ease just looking at it."

But when he thought about leaving his expression turned sour.

"Senior brother, I know I have no right to ask this of you but...can you maybe do me a little favor when you have time?"

"Of course, anything!" Hao Xuan agreed without hesitation.

"My mother. Even though she is a royal concubine, apart from me no one else cares for her. When you return to the Beast World, can you please tell her that I ran away to the Greater Worlds with Brina? Tell her I'm alive and well...and safe. Tell her we got married here and I was too much of a coward to come back and fight for the throne so I just ran away...she will understand eventually."

"I-Are you sure? She will wait for you to come back home one day."

From Hao Xuan's perspective, hiding their child's death was quite a cruel thing to do to a parent but Wern's explanation didn't leave much room for argument.

"Yes. That spark of hope will keep her alive. As long as she thinks I'm out there she won't give up. Tell her to be happy and finally live her life away from father's influence. She sacrificed everything for me and I....what a terrible son I was."

After a brief moment of silence Hao Xuan agreed, "If that's what you want me to tell her."

"Thank you, senior brother."

Wern was turning around to leave when then he remembered something important.

"Princess Ceni! She is still alive!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Princess Ceni thought you were captured by Dai Zhi and Tian Zheng during the fight in the valley. We tried to stop her but she went in alone and was taken prisoner."

"We all thought she would have died by now but I fought one of Dai Zhi's underlings a few hours ago and he told me she was still alive right as I struck the killing blow. You must save her, senior brother! When she heard the news of your capture she didn't even hesitate before running straight into Dai Zhi's camp to save you."

Hao Xuan let out an exasperated sigh, "I thought she would have changed but she is still the same as I remember. Why can't these girls be normal?"

"She must really care for you," Wern cheekily replied.

"Hmm, I'll go get her after getting back to the ruins. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Not much," Wern mumbled with a pondering expression before remembering another important little nugget of information, "Oh, about the demons! I almost forgot! They are trying to create more of them in those hell pits. That's why that soul-shifting demon was chasing us, we accidentally found one of their hatching grounds!"

Hao Xuan's interest was immediately piqued.

"Hatching grounds? What are they like?"

"Like giant recesses in the ground with a blazing red hole in the middle. They gather mortal corpses there and whenever a new demon crawls out they feed on them to get stronger. I was surveying one of them for the last day and saw it myself."

Hao Xuan realized what that area was that the Turtle Demon was protecting.

"I think I have seen what you're talking about. It was guarded by a very strong demon just behind the city."

But Wern's confused expression told another story.

"At the back of the city? The one I saw was to the west of the city deep into the forest. And there was only one demon there but it wasn't THAT strong. You could easily kill it with some help because it was alone."

"To the west?!"

Wern gave some more information before he could no longer stay within the physical realm.

"I must leave now. I can feel the pull getting stronger, it's calling me."

"Yea go go, even in death you had to help me out. I'm-"

Wern's figure trembled and disappeared before Hao Xuan could finish the sentence.

"-Sorry. I'm sorry that you had to go through all this..."