The Dawn of the New World



One voice belonged to a teenager from the sound of it, while the other belonged to someone much older...and Hao Xuan knew both of them.

He began walking towards the source.

"I thought you were dead or gone somewhere far away. I couldn't sense your presence earlier."

The fog began to clear up just as he finished speaking and a grey-robed figure came into view. He was standing on the edge of a cliff peering down.

Hao Xuan stopped a couple of meters behind him, cautious even now.

"I sense you no longer trust me," the figure muttered weakly to which Hao Xuan nodded.

"A lot has happened recently. Why are you hiding your face? And what's with the voices, Gavril?" (The Orc that got the legacy of the Old King)

Gavril turned around with some hesitation and slowly pulled back his hood to reveal a grossly disfigured face.

It looked like someone had tried to unsuccessfully squeeze two different people into one and the result was this. The top left side of his face was that of an Orc while the middle area belonged to a teenage human followed again by traditional Orc features.

Hao Xuan's eyes widened from shock, "What the hell happened?!"

"A spell gone wrong, terribly wrong. It was supposed to meld two forms into one but the result was...well you can see for yourself," he gestured towards his general self.

"That...looks painful."

"It was, for the first day or so at least. Now the pain comes and goes, feels like my skin is on fire."

"....Why? Why even risk it?"

"I had no other choice. You were gone, the Blood Prince and his armies were almost on us. Lord Gi-An wanted to wait for you as the world spirit had instructed but his followers could not sit idly by and watch the last city fall."

"Gi-An, I saw him in the dungeon."

"Yes, he was captured but by then his mind was already long gone. I used him to curry favor with Dai Zhi and get close to him."

"This spell...what was it supposed to do?"

"If it worked as it should have, then my power would have increased by at least two full realms. But now it's barely half a realm higher and stuck that way permanently unless I can find a way to undo the spell."

Hao Xuan walked up beside him, peering down from the cliff at a completely foreign view. There were all kinds of strange creatures flying around, some that even he had seen in a dream or two.

"I never realized this many people would be affected by my absence, even you. Thank you for-"

"Don't," Gavril cut him off with a wave of his hand, "Don't thank me just yet, you won't like what I have to say next."

Hao Xuan turned to face him, the atmosphere becoming more somber by the second, "What is it?"

"I have to go somewhere far away so...I can't help you anymore."

"And what, you came here to get my permission?"

"No, to tell you in person. I thought you deserved at least that much."

Hao Xuan's face began to contort in anger, "The fight isn't over yet, I won't allow it. You will not abandon them!"

And Gavril seemed just as incensed by the insinuation as he retorted in the same manner, "Fight?! What fight?? There is no one left to fight for! Everyone is either dead or well on their way, you...already lost. Just accept it and move on, go back to the beast world. Dai Zhi won't stop hunting you."

"ITS OVER WHEN I SAY IT'S OVER!" Hao Xuan roared, unknowingly releasing a wave of Chaos Qi that threw Gavril to the ground.

*Cough*

He threw up blood trying to get back up but Hao Xuan again pushed him down with his foot.

He stood over Gavril, looking down at him with an unsightly expression, "Dream or no dream, I can erase you with a snap of my fingers, you know that right?! Or have you forgotten who gave you this life?"

Gavril saw the poisonous look in his eyes and gave up on the idea of trying to fight back.

"You have changed. You are not the same person that came to this world."

"We all change, that's the way of life...and sometimes it's the only way."

"Not all change is for the best," Gavril closed his eyes, "Do it then."

Even Hao Xuan was taken aback by his words which somehow made him even angrier, "You would rather die than continue to fight alongside me?!"

"I would rather die than be a witness to more pointless suffering. I have done everything you asked for, risked my mind and body trying to find a way out of this mess but there isn't one. Accept it."