The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan couldn't decipher the language but he recognized it from somewhere.

When Tomas reached out and gripped the door's handle to open it, the video skipped ahead for an instant, just a few frames that no normal person would be able to notice.

Only someone like Hao Xuan that had heightened senses MIGHT pick it up if they were paying attention. Unfortunately, Hao Xuan missed it as well.

Tomas opened the door and immediately covered his face, coughing a few times.

'Pause' Hao Xuan commanded and looked towards the still kneeling Tomas.

"Why did you cover your mouth?"

"The smell was too strong," Tomas answered, squirming on the spot. Hao Xuan noticed his now white feet and felt bad.

Tomas was not even a cultivator so sitting in that position for such a long period would definitely have been painful. He put on his mask and tapped the bedframe with the sword.

"Sit here, facing the wall."

Tomas was taken aback by the sudden act of kindness but he did not decline it.

"Thank you, stranger," he nodded with that same smile and swiftly changed spots.

"Now, tell me more. What kind of smell was it?" Hao Xuan inquired further.

*Ruuumble*

From the window came a low and deep rumbling sound. The sound of thunder somewhere far away.

"Hmm?"

Hao Xuan leaned towards the window and took a look at the sky above that was now covered with black clouds pregnant with lightning and thunder.

He frowned once again. When he came down less than an hour ago there was not a single cloud in the sky and now he couldn't see anything but.

Tomas glanced towards the window from the side with a look of concern, "That's been happening a lot. The weather changes randomly out of nowhere. It was the same that day as well, when she died."

His voice trailed off near the end but Hao Xuan heard it clearly.

"The smell, continue," he reminded Tomas while clearing his throat.

Tomas recalled the events of that night for a moment before answering, "It was faint at first but the more I smelled it, the worse it got. It was extremely sharp and pungent, like rotting eggs and decaying body parts mixed together. And it permeated everywhere all at once to such a degree that it was hard to tell where it was coming from."

Hao Xuan played the video again.

Tomas covered his face and entered the cabin.

Inside there were five individuals present. Three were strong bulky men surrounding the bed on which a twisted, writhing figure laid. Two of them were holding one arm each and the last one was holding both of her legs as she struggled to break free.

The fifth person was a woman standing beside the bed crying her eyes out, presumably the child's mother.

Tomas walked in and the screaming suddenly stopped, as did the struggle the child was putting up. She turned towards the door and looked right into Tomas's eyes. Her face was covered with dried blood which made it hard to see her expression clearly.

Her lips were bloody and dried, sticking to one another like glue. But seeing Tomas a distorted smile crept upon the girl's face and her lips parted, mouthing something silently.

At this point Tomas could be heard mumbling something under his breath.

"What were you saying here? Right after entering?" Hao Xuan asked.

"A prayer. Just a normal prayer. I felt...afraid so I was repeating that over and over again," Tomas answered.

The video continued and the sound of thunder boomed in both of Hao Xuan's ears. One was coming from the video while the other came from outside. Coincidently, the thunder in the video had synced perfectly with the thunder outside.

A little strange but it can happen so Hao Xuan paid it no heed.

The video started to cut out at this point. It looked like there was a lot of static with the image being constantly disrupted but the sound was still very clean.

The child let out a high-pitched shriek and her voice changed completely. Now she actually sounded like herself. She was screaming in the native language of the planet, calling for her father.

"Abba, help me! Please help me!" she cried.

The sound of footsteps came right after followed by another female voice, the child's mother guessing from the conversation.

"Mama is here baby, what's wrong? I'm right here!" she shouted, sobbing loudly.

"He will get in, mama, please help me! He will take me, please make it stop! Make the knocking stop," the girl cried.

But Hao Xuan couldn't hear any knocking in the clip so he asked Tomas.

"What is this knocking she was talking about?"

Tomas shrugged, "We have no idea. Her father said she had been saying that for a few days now. Sometimes she would make up in the middle of the night shouting that someone was trying to get in. That 'he' was knocking on the door, trying to break it down."

"And you never heard anything?"

Tomas shook his head despondently, "No one did. Not her parents, not me or the guards."

The video continued.

The mother could be heard wailing helplessly, still managing to say a few words of comfort to the child.

"Its okay baby, mama is right here, don't worry, I will be right here."

That's where the video stopped.

"Is this it? It doesn't look complete," Hao Xuan asked.

"I don't know what to say. It was recording fine but somehow the rest of it got corrupted or erased."

"What happened after this?"

"She screamed like that for a while before exhausting herself and falling asleep. We thought she was doing better so I called for the guards to be changed but as soon as they left, she woke up. The first victim was her mother, she snapped her neck clean off her body without so much as a sound."

"Then she came for me but one of the guards who was still close by came running in and grabbed her. They struggled for a moment but it didn't look he would be able to keep her contained so I ran out and called for the others."

"There was a brief fight and I don't know what happened in there but the child died in the process. The guard that was with her alone, half of his shoulder was missing, bone and all. Not long after that he also killed himself. Gouged out his own eyes and ears with a rusted blade, bleeding to death."

*Crackle*Crackle*

With another burst of lightning in the sky it started raining, heavily.

The raindrops knocked against the window quite loudly, filling the silence that had overtaken the room.

"This was the last thing that happened?" Hao Xuan asked before standing up.

Tomas nodded, "So far, yes."

"What is your role here? You are not a cultivator so why do they listen to you?"

"I am a low-level priest in the Church of the Sacred Light. Lord Dai Zhi appointed me as the leader of this place in his absence," Tomas answered humbly.

"Is Dai Zhi coming back anytime soon?" Hao Xuan asked. If this was a place he regularly visited, maybe Hao Xuan could use of it somehow.

But Tomas shook his head, "No idea. He comes whenever he wishes. I do not have the authority to ask him anything."

"Alright," he nodded and before Tomas could react, Hao Xuan hit him at the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

He tied Tomas up with a piece of fabric torn off from the bedsheet, loose enough that he would be able to get out of it with a little bit of time when he woke up. Covered him up to make it look like he was sleeping and silently slipped out of the cabin.

***

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