The Dawn of the New World

It had been close to two hours since Hao Xuan had continued moving through the Endless forest once again. The darkness didn't look like it would let up anytime soon so he had no choice but to keep moving rather than waste time sitting idly by while waiting for daybreak.

He had journeyed quite far into the forest by now and by following the whispers, he was able to avoid quite a few dangerous encounters.

There were a few spots that especially stood out for one reason or another that Baracus marked the locations of, incase Hao Xuan wanted to ever revisit them for some reason.

Two such areas that left both Hao Xuan and Baracus confused and scared to an extent were located near the strange 'flower' creature.

One of them was a field of standing rock pillars. It looked like someone had placed them there on purpose. They were upside down with the smaller 'pointy end' balancing the entire length of the pillar on the ground below.

It looked like the gravity was not working in that place, or maybe it was just messed up. Hao Xuan spent a good fifteen minutes observing this rocky forest from afar until he saw a shadowy profile floating somewhere in the distance.

It looked like a humanoid figure, about 3 times the size of a normal human being. It was covered in a black hood, floating above ground at a distance of 1-1.5 meters. And although the top half was human, the bottom half was made of numerous sword-like projections that moved about independently, making it look like it was wearing a 'dress'.

Its hands were replaced with sharp curved blades that glowed bright purple even without any light to illuminate them.

Hao Xuan was more than 500 meters away from it when he first saw it by accident and that one look was enough to leave him concerned for his life. Whatever 'being' that was, it also 'felt' Hao Xuan's presence the moment he laid his eyes upon it.

It did attempt to pursue him but for some reason, either it did not or could not leave that rocky area to give chase which was a huge relief. The energy that it was giving off was nothing like Hao Xuan had ever experienced.

But it was the second area that almost had him. At first glance it didn't look 'as' peculiar as the other spots. It looked like a forest populated by some type of black trees. Their trunks and branches were as black as coals while the leaves were dark red and orange, making it look like autumn.

There was a fair bit of distance between each tree which allowed Hao Xuan to finally have some extra room to walk normally. It was only after a couple of minutes after he entered this area that he realized its 'unusualness'.

There was nothing alive here. No bugs, insects, no wildlife of any sort. It was deathly silent. Not even the whispers could be heard here. At first, Hao Xuan enjoyed the peace and quiet very much until he saw a silhouette on the horizon.

It was big, far too big for even the dead trees to hide it. Hao Xuan could see its shape from more than a kilometer away. Another humanoid figure with two arms and two legs. The only difference being that even though it was sitting down, it was well over a thousand meters tall.

It sat cross-legged, hovering above the ground at a height of 50 meters.

There was a massive hole in its chest that was filled in by the same black tree roots that could be found all around this area. Its face resembled a crescent moon with two horns at the top while the bone-like growths on its shoulders jetted upwards. Its left arm was reaching for something in the layer of clouds above. (Reference image in authors notes)

Some distance behind it was a MUCH smaller coffin that was opened halfway. Hao Xuan could feel and even physically see copious amounts of spiritual energy exuding from whatever object was placed inside it.

Hao Xuan had no idea what this creature was but judging from its outward appearance alone, the only words that could describe it with some accuracy were either a God, a demon, or maybe both.

Thankfully it either didn't notice him or didn't care enough to do anything about it. It might have been friendly but Hao Xuan was not planning on taking any chances and going up to check what was in the coffin.

Simply seeing it from so far away was enough to leave him rooted to the ground for a good little while.

After that Hao Xuan decided not to enter any more strange places like these. This place, the 'Endless Forest' held far more secrets than Hao Xuan ever thought possible. Each encounter left him unsure and guessing about what this place actually was.

What were all these bizarre phenomenons and places?

Hao Xuan tried his very best to avoid any and all odd encounters and go around them completely if at all possible. The whispers of the ancient ruins had gotten much louder and increased in frequency to the point that almost every whisper was related to them in one way or another.

Hao Xuan jumped across a gulley and landed softly on the other side. His forehead was caked in sweat from overexertion of both mental and physical faculties.

He didn't even have time to take a deep breath before the sound of metal striking metal came into his ears along with some shouting and yelling from the front.

***

Authors Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ

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Reference image link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/35/f1/69/35f169af038230177edb1a58973f4fca.jpg

Shortened Image Link (case sensitive): https://urlzs.com/HZvUM

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Sorry for the late chapter.

I was away for the last 4 days and only got back early yesterday morning but then ended up sleeping for like 19 hours straight. Back on schedule now and this chapter is a little bigger and a bit earlier.

Happy reading!