The Dawn of the New World



There had been many second-hand accounts circulating about people who visited just such a place but it was difficult to say which were authentic since there was no way to verify them and the 'place' in question changed for every person.

For some it was an abandoned village, for others a city or even a school. But for Hao Xuan it was this long-forgotten castle in the middle of nowhere.

[If there was any truth to those rumors then it shouldn't be dangerous from the get-go. Each area of the castle should belong to one specific entity and as long as I don't enter into their 'domain' I will be fine. The only problem is-] he turned back in the original direction he had picked.

Nothing particularly stood out other than the neverending rows of locked doors on the right side.

[-That there are countless minor 'Old Gods' and 'Great Old Ones' that should exist within this castle. I have to make sure that the one I choose suits my goals and intentions and doesn't require too much of a sacrifice in return for receiving their blessing]

Now that he had a little more information about his current situation it didn't seem all that bad.

The 'Old Ones' was quite a broad title that could be used to refer to an obscenely large amount of entities. The vast majority of them were called the 'Old Gods' and as their title suggested, they were the gods that existed before the current ones took over.

Many of the current gods actually descended from them in some shape or form.

The only similarity between them was on the grounds of their most basic nature. The source of power of the 'Old Gods' came from the chaos and the darkness that subsists between realities and other worlds and as such, they existed on an entirely different dimension that no mortal could perceive.

When they did choose to reveal themselves and enter into the minds and realities of mortal species, they could only be perceived as great cosmic horrors with strange and unimaginable powers.

And among these countless such entities, there were a few that set themselves apart either on the basis of the strength of their abilities or their unique nature.

[As far as I know, there are only 187 beings that fall into the category of 'Great Old Ones'. They were supremely powerful but even more dangerous. Almost each of their followers was hailed as an 'Abyss God' back in the Age of Strife...I cannot risk running into any of them. There should be some kind of a mark that sets them apart from the rest]

With a deep breath Hao Xuan began walking through the never-ending halls of this abandoned castle. Nearly every other door he passed by was locked but the rest were the exact opposite and welcomed him with open arms by unlocking the doors by themselves to let him in.

Obviously he did not enter and observed from the safety of the hall.

To Hao Xuan's senses most of the 'Old Ones' appeared as inexplicable shapes or colors that he had never seen before. There were even a few that had no physical form whatsoever and only gave him a strange feeling when he peered into their domains.

He walked for what felt like either days or minutes since it was difficult to tell how much time had passed in here but shortly after crossing the three thousand mark he came across the first 'Great Old One'.

The door leading to its domain was identical to the others and the only way Hao Xuan could tell it apart was because of the symbols etched above the doorframe.

They made no sense to him at first but the longer he looked at them the clearer a few words became in his mind. He had never come across these words in any shape or form but now they were in his head ready to be spoken out loud.

After almost a dozen attempts he managed to create a noise that made "some" sense.

[Ymnaar]

*Click*

The door clicked and pulled back. It was being opened from the inside.

Hao Xuan held his breath. He was both apprehensive and a little excited to see what strange new horror existed behind this door but when he saw his own face staring back at him his brow began to furrow.

The 'him' on the other side of the door smiled back and stepped aside, gesturing for Hao Xuan to enter. His body began to move before his mind even had time to process it but thanks to his elevated spiritual powers Hao Xuan was able to regain control of his body before it was too late.

He quickly stepped back, just in time to dodge 'his' hand that even managed to momentarily leave the boundary of its domain to pursue him into the hall.