The Dawn of the New World

Princess Inara and the female guards led the way back while Jin Wang stayed back. He was looking up at the night sky with a somewhat confused expression.

"So what happened to your grandmother? She wouldn't have sent you if she herself could come."

Princess Inara paused mid-stride momentarily before continuing. She was told not to hide anything from him but she didn't know him personally so naturally her guard was up.

"The Grand Priestess is busy dealing with the situation at the city. New refugees keep arriving every single hour and we have already run out of space in the city. Plus the demons..."

"The demons?" Jin Wang's brow locked in a tight furrow, "What demons?"

She pointed at the sky, "The ones falling from heavens and the ones coming from the depths of all. All kinds."

Her cryptic wording only added to his confusion, annoying him more than a little.

"What are you talking about girl? Speak plainly! Why are there so many refugees coming to the city? What are these demons?"

Princess Inara's expression turned ugly and she was about to turn around on the spot and chew him out for his use of such crass language but the words of her older sister (Princess Helena) echoed in her ears.

[I'm trusting you with this task, do not do anything rash. Just bring him here as fast as possible and answer any questions he might have, that's it.]

"Tsk. The demons are the monsters that either fall from the sky or come up from underneath our very feet. We don't know their true origin. The refugees are coming because of several reasons. Some because of the demon attacks and the rest because your 'friends' started attacking the towns and villages."

"Last I heard their armies are almost completely through."

'Demons? Above and below...' Jin Wang's mind raced with numerous thoughts trying to make sense of things.

"Are the demons falling from the sky and the ones coming from below the same?"

"No. The ones falling from the sky look like us and other beasts but somehow changed...twisted beyond recognition. While the ones coming from below are...I don't know how to describe them. They feel like actual demons, horrible monsters that no one has ever seen before."

Jin Wang connected the dots and knew exactly what she was talking about. The ones falling from the sky were the ones infected by the plague, the corruption. There was a large portion of the prison resting right on top of this inner world so they could 'fall' through if the seal was not working properly.

As to why the seal was not working, well, the Abysswalker must have had something to do with it. He was the only one capable of damaging it to such a degree. Probably at the request of one of the participants like Dai Zhi.

And for the ones coming from below, they might ACTUALLY be demons. Hao Xuan had told him about meeting 'Beelzebub' or one of his Apostles and this could very well be their doing.

"Looks like they are all moving at once. And we still don't have any contact with the ship," Jin Wang mumbled to himself before looking towards Princess Inara.

Even with all of it happening at once it was still within his calculations. After finding out about Hao Xuan's visit to the other timelines he was expecting this from the beginning.

"Is that it? Nothing else worth knowing happened?"

Both the female guards exchanged glances with one another while Princess Inara only gritted her teeth in silence.

"What?"

When Inara didn't speak up for several seconds one of the feline guards stepped in to explain.

"There was an 'accident' with one of your people. With the boy named Hao Xuan."

Jin Wang's pupils constricted, "What surprise?" he inquired urgently.

"We...don't know. Only the Grand Priestess was there and she didn't say anything to us. We only saw a pillar of light for a moment and when it disappeared half the forest was gone. The old magic shielding the city of Argham was also destroyed because of it. We only know it had something to do with him."

"Is he okay? Hao Xuan?"

"Well...he is alive for now but that's all we know. None of us are allowed to go near him."

"And for good reason! Should have never let him into the city," Princess Inara chimed in, "We might still have been safe from the demons if it wasn't for him. It all started after that light appeared."

Jin Wang kept silent simply because he didn't think it was worth arguing with a kid like her. She was so in the dark about everything that he might as well be conversing with a tree.

"Let's speed up," he urged.

After moving through the forest for close to 10 more minutes they finally arrived back at the city of lights, Argham.

"Holy shit, you weren't kidding about the refugees, huh?"

There were hundreds of people camped out on both sides of the road leading up to the entrance of the city which was in a natural cove and protected from all other sides but one.