The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan roughly remembered the direction he had come from and started backtracking.

Even after going through all that he did in the last hour or so, he was still back in peak condition after just a few minutes of rest. His speed did not dwindle throughout the journey back until he himself came to a stop.

With a barely audible thud he landed on a thick branch of an old tree that projected into the air for well over 20 meters.

It was the tallest one for hundreds of kilometers and provided a great vantage point.

To the right was the purple whirlpool in the sky that had almost doubled in size. From so faraway Hao Xuan was able to clearly see the difference from before. The minor spatial cracks that would show themselves here and there were now much bigger and spread over a vast area.

It looked like the sky was a mirror that was starting to break apart from inside out.

"That's not very good...is it?"

Then he noticed something else. There were strange shadows and dark figures appearing and disappearing from his vision.

"I saw those before, didn't I?"

Hao Xuan remembered running past them while coming over but he was barely holding onto his sanity at that time so didn't have much time to investigate.

But now that he tried to examine them in a little more detail the moment he squinted and tried to focus on them they would completely disappear just like an optical illusion. But when he looked away surreptitiously they would reappear in the corner of his eye.

They were all extremely hazy which made it next to impossible to determine what they actually looked like. Only a few of the larger shadows that were so big that not even mountains could hide them were relatively obvious.

Most of them were hexapod arthropods from the looks of it with various sizes ranging from a few dozen meters to hundreds. Long jointed legs moved back and forth below bulbous growths. But just like the others, when he looked at them directly they would disappear again.

"Baracus, can you see those big shadows in the distance?"

*Beep*

"Shadows? Of the trees?"

"No no, the huge creatures, the six-legged ones. There is one a few kilometers to my direct left."

"Negative. There is no such entity registering on the entire visible spectrum."

*Sigh*

"As I thought. Her blood did this...didn't it?"

That was probably the most obvious cause since he only started seeing these things after coming into contact with Ma Jiang's blood.

"But...what are they?"

Hao Xuan took out a paper and some pencils from Baracus's storage space and drew the rough shape of some of the shadows to maybe ask someone about later before continuing on.

Some 20 minutes later he was back in the Barbarian settlement. The entire group was standing in front of Princess Na'im's yurt waiting for him. Ma Jiang's tinny figure was the first one to rush over to him.

"Where did you go!? We have been waiting for you for over an- What? Why are you looking at me like that?" the speech she had prepared beforehand had just started when she noticed Hao Xuan's peculiar gaze.

She took a step back and Hao Xuan could see her little frame subtly tremble.

"W-What? What's with that look?" she asked stutteringly, backing away a few more steps.

Ma Jiang tried to put up a brave front but Hao Xuan could hear her heartbeat quickening by the second, not to mention her thoughts.

'He knows! He definitely knows something! I have to get out of here before he can-'

Before she could even blink Hao Xuan's hand shot out like a snake. All she could manage to do at that point was close her eyes and wait for the inevitable pain which technically did come.

*tap*

A light flick landed in the middle of her brow but it was enough to leave a pink mark on her pale skin.

"Oww...." she opened her eyes while rubbing her forehead, "W-What was that for?"

Hao Xuan shrugged, "I felt like it, you suspicious brat."

"WHA-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt but we are kind of low on time," Princess Helena hesitantly came forward to intervene before Ma Jiang could retaliate.

Hao Xuan looked at her, his gaze attracted to the pair of red canine ears on top of her head.

"Low on time for what?"

Princess Helena instantly flushed red upon noticing his gaze. The pair of canine ears limped while trying to hide within her red hair.

"The...elders. We have to go back to tell the elders and discuss the next steps."

"We will do the same," Princess Na'im stepped in swiftly, staring daggers at Hao Xuan.

Hao Xuan nodded, "Alright, I will go with you then," he said looking towards Princess Helena.