The Dawn of the New World

1415  Some noise

He tied the amulet around his neck using the simple twine it had come with.

Looking at his reflection in the copper gate Hao Xuan was amazed at how perfectly it suited his current impoverished 'slave look', really tying the whole thing together.

Hao Xuan wanted to thank him but when he turned around Lord Jyothi was just a foot away from him. He reached out with his other hand and tapped on the amulet before Hao Xuan could even react.

A blue light blinded him momentarily and by the time it receded, he was gone.

Hao Xuan looked down at the amulet to notice another filled spot. Just then Lord Jyothi's voice echoed in the surroundings, 'I hope it will help you more than I could.'

Wearily shaking his head, Hao Xuan took a deep breath and walked through the copper gates.

The world spun around him twice before the surroundings began to stabilize. Hao Xuan staggered to regain control of his motor functions and barely managed to stand upright.

'It feels like I got hit by a truck...' he thought and it became obvious why when he looked around.

They were in a completely different place now.

It was a barren mountainous region. They were standing on a small hill that overlooked much of the area. On either side, the snow-capped mountains stretched as far as the eye could see.

The flatlands in between had a bed of algae covering it at first sight but if inspected closely one would notice it was just a sea of rotting corpses covered in countless bugs that mimicked small plants.

A river of blood cut through the area, gushing and splashing as it went but strangely enough there was no smell of any kind present. (Reference Image posted in Discord)

Hao Xuan turned around to see Baba Jezda talking to the six elders. She was handing out large runestones while giving instructions.

"These are some of their most important worlds. The noisier the better," she said.

Four of the elders took the runestones and began to take their leave, but not before giving Hao Xuan a good once over.

It only lasted an instant but he felt like every inch of his being was thoroughly inspected inside and out, filling him with disgust.

Once their curiosity was satisfied each one of them vanished in different but equally strange ways.

The ground opened and swallowed one of them whole. The second began to visibly shrink until there was nothing left of him.

The third, he lightly pushed against the ground and floated up into the air before his silhouette was washed away by a gust of wind. The fourth one began to burn, turning into blue flames that shot up into the sky and vanished.

Now only two of the Elders were left behind. Hao Xuan could clearly see their appearances since no strange energies obscured them.

The first one was aged even by their standards. He looked like a completely normal old man who would barely be able to see because of his age. He was staring into space in a random direction, using his walking stick to repeatedly tap small holes in the ground while mumbling to himself.

If Hao Xuan didn't know any better he would be asking if he was lost and needed some help.

The second elder was actually the youngest of the whole lot. He looked to be around 70 years old and was standing upright with his chest puffed out and hands clasped behind his back. His brow was knitted in a perpetual furrow which gave him a strict appearance.

He was staring directly at Hao Xuan unabashed.

Baba Jezda walked up to the edge and stood next to Hao Xuan while taking out a ten-inch wide ivory dial from her robe.

It was filled with over two dozen smaller pins and needles that all pointed in different directions. She began tinkering with it while throwing side glances at him.

"I see he did not skimp on the materials, even gave you a little parting gift, huh? Tell me, did he give you his life story? Blaming me for all his mistakes?" she asked with a grin upon seeing the amulet around his neck.

Hao Xuan quickly hid it under his shirt and changed the topic, "Where did the other four go? And where are we? Shouldn't we be heading back?"

"This is the first layer of the Abyss," she replied with a hint of melancholy, "But it used to look much better back in the day, you'll see."

"As for the other four, well, since you took so long in there, a few Heavenly agents managed to track you down. Those four went to some of the more important paradise worlds to create some distractions and keep the others from coming. It is much easier to fool them with more noise in the mix, hehehe..."

Hao Xuan's fist tightened because he knew exactly what she meant.

The noise she was referring to earlier was of the void.