The Dawn of the New World

The same shattered battlegrounds covered in Stasa's and his blood reflected off of the screens. The gates on all four sides were open and more and more people were being herded in by men dressed in white.

Hao Xuan pushed Henrik off his chair and sat down, taking out his own identity token. It shook and projected a screen despite him not inserting any spiritual energy.

"How is he doing that? Was this own the whole time?" he looked at Henrik who seemed to be tongue-tied for some reason.

"What?"

Just then the trees shifted lightly as another figure dropped from the canopy.

"I can't find him anywhere-" Ma Jiang started speaking but stopped the moment her eyes fell on Hao Xuan.

Hao Xuan gave half a smile and waved at her, "Hey, look who's back. Can't find who? Is someone missing?"

She looked at Henrik who didn't know what to say either. Hao Xuan got a bad feeling from their weird attitude. Everyone was avoiding meeting his gaze.

He looked around and found two people that were not there.

Salome and Jin Wang. Hao Xuan firmly grabbed Henrik by the shoulder, his grip getting tighter by the second.

"Who?" he asked in a low voice.

Henrik sighed deeply before reaching out and tapping a few times on Hao Xuan's identity token to shift through the camera angles. It zoomed in and was now showing the faces of the people being sent into the grounds.

There was a confused bulky figure that stood out among them, taller than any of the others around him. There was a small boy sitting on his shoulders looking around.

Hao Xuan's eyes widened from shock and his body moved on its own as he jumped to his feet. It was Salome.

"What is...he doing there?" he whispered, unable to gather enough strength to even scream.

Henrik shook his head despairingly unable to even meet Hao Xuan's gaze, "I don't know. We thought he was in your camp still asleep. But the next thing we know our identity tokens 'turn on' out of nowhere and he shows up moments later."

Hao Xuan remembered 'the event' Dai Zhi and others had referenced several times and realized what they meant.

"No, maybe they don't know who he is. It could just be a coincidence," he told himself but deep down he knew the chances for that were almost non-existent.

When he left Salome was still here in the camp which means they would have sent someone to kidnap him afterwards, and they would have had to use a teleportation array which is a disposable object custom-designed for people depending on their mass and cultivation levels.

And he was right. Hao Xuan's personal identity token opened up out of nowhere and Dai Zhi's voice came through.

"I see you finally tuned in. Alas, I wanted you to see this in person, a real pity you left so early. There isn't much that can quite replace that stench of blood and desperation in person. Still, I hope you enjoy the show. It was prepared by Lord Inquisitor and brother Tian Zheng just for you."

The images on Hao Xuan's identity token were clearer than any of the others and were being manually controlled by someone from the back, most probably Dai Zhi himself.

It zoomed in on Salome again. He was looking around in confusion talking to the 6-7-year-old sitting on his shoulder.

"Wah, so many people. Do you think the village chief is here too?"

The boy had deep scars on his arms and face and the rest of him was covered in bandages. He was resting on Salome's head while sluggishly looking around.

"What does he look like? I will find him for you, mister! Maybe he is with my dad."

Hao Xuan threw down the token and moved back several steps. He closed his eyes and tried to create another portal back to the colosseum, even just one way would be fine but to his dismay, there was not enough mental energy to even open a one-way portal.

"Fuck FUCK! Henrik, you must have something right? Help me get there," he looked to him for help.

Henrik was actually about to reach into his pocket when he saw Ceni's signal from behind, gesturing for him not to. He did indeed have a single teleportation disc but it could only be used once.

Hao Xuan could be sent there but not brought back, and in his current state that would be suicide.

"No I'm sorry, I wish there was something I could do but..."

"ANYONE?! DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE ONE?!" he shouted at the rest of the ten-person group but got no answers.

Hao Xuan's insides felt like they were on fire. His blood was boiling to the point that he couldn't even keep his emotions under check. And when he spoke his voice turned guttural.

"YOU USELESS FUCKS!" he roared with an ugly expression.

None of them dared to even meet his seething aze. Despite not being at fault they didn't try and fight him at this moment. His reaction was understandable.

"All of you...useless..." his breathing became unsteady and footing unstable but upon remembering the Grand Priestess he became hopeful. She might have some magic that could help.

Gathering what little strength he had left Hao Xuan ran off in the direction he had last met her, near that white waterfall.

Henrik stood up to give chase but Princess Ceni stopped him again.

"I will go," she said before running after him with his identity token in tow.

Henrik looked at her back vanish from view and glanced towards Ma Jiang, "Can you follow them and make sure everything is okay?"

Ma Jiang was surprised he had chosen her but she didn't ask why and using her magics floated away into the canopy above.