The Dawn of the New World



"He mentioned that it was already in my possession so it can't be anything too inconspicuous. And after thinking it over there is only one thing that it really could be..."

Hao Xuan closed his eyes and appeared in the Mind Palace. He walked over to the podium and paused, glancing left and right with furrowed brows.

"It was right here..." he mumbled, "Where did it go? It's not like it could have been misplaced, there aren't any places to hide-"

The words got stuck in his throat when he remembered that there were exactly three places to hide in here. With bated breath, his gaze shifted to the three doors in the back, and lo and behold there it was.

A sigh of relief escaped from Hao Xuan's lips as he walked over to the door on the left. He had completely written it off which is why he didn't notice it initially but here it was, resting comfortably against it.

He quickly picked it up and walked back to the podium, away from the door that was now unshackled and unlocked.

"There you are," he smiled looking at the black 'egg' in his embrace.

He had picked it up back in the beast world a very long time ago, stolen it from two great Spirit Beasts thinking that it was one of their eggs.

But when he accidentally acquired the Hive Queen she chose to make the egg her home, calling it a world within a world. (First referenced around CH 547)

"It all makes sense if this was a seed of the world tree- No, it has to be. It couldn't be anything else, I'm sure of it. It can easily hold such a powerful entity inside of it and even after all this time it hasn't 'hatched' no matter how much spiritual energy I fed it. It always felt like a bottomless pit."

To Hao Xuan's untrained eyes the black egg was still just that, an egg of a powerful creature. It had pitch-black scales that did not change color or reflected even a speck of light back.

He placed it down near the podium and exited the Mind Palace.

*Beep*

"Everything in order?"

"Yes and no. Yes, it's still there and I'm about 99% sure that it is the seed of the world tree but...not a hundred percent just yet. And no because if it actually is the seed of the world tree, the Hive Queen is kind of living inside it. What happens when I need it? Do I force her out? Can I even? And where will she go after that?"

"But I guess..." he didn't even give Baracus enough time to respond before answering his own questions, "I will deal with it when the time comes, just like with everything else so far. What's more important is to figure out how each of these four is going to be used in whatever ritual they have planned...and how that will affect me."

"The seed of the World Tree is in my mind palace and the feather of an angel is in my body...somewhere. I can vaguely feel its presence still. The Emperor has the fire but water of the river Styx, that one I don't know about. The old witch should know more."

Baracus patiently waited for Hao Xuan to finish before inquiring about the meeting that had been in the works for so long.

"When will the host meet the Emperor?"

"Soon, very soon. As soon as I get back to the ruins I will ask Jin Wang to take me to him. Everything should become clear by then. Why do you ask? It's a little strange that you care about such a thing."

"On the contrary. The meeting should be a turning point for the host given the circumstances."

Hao Xuan's eyes narrowed, "What circumstances exactly?"

"All of them. The host is already aware of the influence the Emperor has had on their life so far, does that mean nothing? My records indicate that such primitive emotions are very important to humans-"

"I feel like you are trying to make a point so get to it!"

"According to the-"

Just as Baracus began his lengthy explanation Hao Xuan's ears perked up when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Shh!"

He quickly stood up and ran up the hill coming face to face with Princess Ceni. She was standing outside of the house looking at the moon with a vacant gaze.

She had torn off all the rags so now she was completely in the nude. Hao Xuan's first instinct was to look away but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the countless scars and burn marks decorating her form, they held his complete attention.

She had more scar tissue than normal skin left now.