The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan's mind was filled with questions, the answers to which he could not hope to understand by his own limited and immature experiences.

His mind, naturally, wandered towards some of the more terrifying possibilities. Even since he first arrived on the planet, he had come across a multitude of strange events and happenings. The more he had explored, the worse the overall situation became.

There were a number of different powers that were involved to some extent in the events that were currently unfolding on the planet, some he had already encountered and others he should never come across.

The first power that reached out through Ryfon's Demi-God master was the Academy itself, or perhaps he was working alone? He wanted Hao Xuan to find out more about the World Spirit of the planet and the origin of the Words of power.

Hao Xuan was actually quite close to figuring out the origin of the words of power, even if he himself did not realize that just yet. Although the matter pertaining to the World Spirit was more complicated than that.

The second power belonged to that strange person that claimed to be Meng's disciple, Njall. He handed Hao Xuan the Book of Chaos on the way over in exchange for Dai Zhi's death. (CH 428)

Hao Xuan still wasn't anywhere close to completing that task, not that he wanted to either as of this moment. Hao Xuan had killed before but that was only when they had crossed him or when there wasn't another choice, like with the Barbarian.

But doing so to someone that hadn't done anything to him, on an order of someone he knew nothing about, Hao Xuan didn't want to be doing their filthy work. Although whether or not he had the option to chose on the matter was a different topic altogether.

The third one, although not as obvious in their influence and reach, were the Formarchs. The insectoid species whose very presence here was a sign of everything that had gone wrong. (CH 543)

The fourth would probably be the local resistance that were fighting against the invaders. Their leader was shrouded in mystery and from what Gavril had told Hao Xuan, his power was nothing to scoff at.

Then there were the mermen he encountered within that lake. They were trying to open some kind of a portal between their realm and this planet, for whatever reason.

After that was...whatever happened in the pit. An ancient Demonic entity that could be one of the eight Kings of Hell had extended its wretched claws towards this place. Its motive was obviously unknown but it was a fact that it was trying to hatch some kind of an abominable plan on this poor world.

And now he had entered an old pyramid that looked identical to the ones found on earth but somehow, walking through it he ended up in a place where divine entities were fighting one another and destabilizing the natural laws.

Above ground, the existence of the pit that led him here was a huge red flag in and of itself. It was created with the help of two competing powers working together. Those that called themselves enemies had joined hands in the shadows to achieve their goals.

But what were these goals that turned enemies into friends? Did they want to find a faster way to reach the prison? Or maybe to this hidden world? Or was it something else entirely? The questions kept piling up but one thing was for certain, Hao Xuan was an insignificant pawn on the board, whose life and death would have very little effect on the overall situation.

'I need to find out more. More information about everything and everyone,' Hao Xuan told himself thinking of the many ways he could get screwed over by the end of this.

He had been trying to do everything alone without relying on anyone else or asking for their help, and maybe that was not as wise of a decision as he initially thought it to be.

Getting more information would give him a clearer image of the power struggle as a whole and maybe he could even figure out what was so great about this planet that so many varied powers were trying to reach out.

But either way, he wasn't going to find that here. Hao Xuan tapped on Burak's shoulder.

"Give me...the shield...I will go...get the...others," he extended his hand.

Burak knew Hao Xuan could see in that place so even though he didn't want to, there was no other choice now.

The miasma was getting thicker and soon there would be no one left worth bringing back.

Burak sat down on the side and flexed his arms. The words of power re-aligned and the turtle and diamond symbols appeared on his fists which he punched together, materializing the crystal shield once again.

*Rrrrr*

It vibrated with a low thrumming sound as Burak grabbed it and handed it over to Hao Xuan.

"Go. I can hold it for as long as it takes a jug of milk to cool down."

Hao Xuan had just turned around when he paused upon reading the translation.

'Huh?'

*Beep*

'20-30 minutes.. An unorthodox unit of measurement but it should be around that much,' Baracus swiftly explained.