Hao Xuan was already halfway into the teleportation formation by the time he heard Ryfon's warning so there was no time for him to ask anything. The white light surrounded Hao Xuan and his vision went dark.
An intense feeling of vertigo was felt before he once again felt the solid ground beneath his feet. The feeling didn't even last a full five seconds when he found himself standing in a desolate land.
There was no sun, moon or stars in the sky. Instead, it looked like a glass ceiling was obstructing the view. It was pitch black and so were his surroundings. He could only see up to 10 meters ahead of him and it was all a brown, barren patch of scorched earth.
He looked around but could not see anyone else other than him. After taking in a deep breath he lightly called out, "Baracus."
*Beep*
"Yes?" Baracus instantly replied in his usual cold, emotionless voice.
"Did you hear what Ryfon said?"
"Negative. To give you some privacy, unless the situation calls for it I turn of all exterior sensors."
"Oh…" Hao Xuan was taken aback hearing something so 'human' from Baracus.
"Is that by your own choice or a rule or something left behind by Poriverse?"
"After analyzing whatever I could about human nature, I have found your species cares a lot about privacy. So I took it upon myself to change a few things accordingly."
"Not bad," Hao Xuan nodded, somewhat impressed that he was learning such things without him having to say them. But he quickly put the thought aside and got to the matter at hand.
"Can you scan the surroundings without giving yourself away?"
There was absolutely not a single person nearby, none that he could pick up by his own senses at least. And coupled with the fact that Hao Xuan had no idea where he was, it was better to get some information first.
"I can do a short-range scan which will look like your own power rather than me, but anything stronger and I will have to mobilize the nanotech which will not go unnoticed if anyone is looking."
"Alright, what's the range on the short-range scan then?"
"About 300 meters."
"Damn!" Hao Xuan was expecting something in single digits so this was definitely a good thing.
"Do it then."
As soon as Hao Xuan gave the order, Baracus went silent. Hao Xuan stood in place until he heard his voice again.
"Movement 170 meters NE of you."
"Nice," Hao Xuan grinned and waved his hand. A set of black clothes appeared and he changed into them quickly. He was wearing black pants, a white shirt, and a black long coat. This was going to be the "Second Guardian's" appearance from now on.
Hao Xuan then snapped his fingers and the mask appeared on his face. He was probably going to do a few… 'questionable' things during this little trip and did not want them getting back to him.
He had asked Ryfon about this earlier and only a few people he had interacted with personally and Ryfon's Master had seen his face.
And when he went to the Ball he was wearing the mask so everyone there associated it with the Second Guardian.
"Wait a second…" when Hao Xuan's thoughts reached this juncture, he realized something. His brows quickly locked in a tight furrow.
''Back then, how did Ceni know who I was? With just one look she was able to tell it was me under the mask.'
Hao Xuan completely overlooked this little fact. The mask was an artifact given to him by First. It had no presence and when he had it own, he couldn't even feel it. That's why he couldn't usually tell whether the person was talking to the real him or whatever identity the mask had at the time.
"Something's not right about that girl. And apparently she knows I'm the second guardian as well, great…"
With steady footsteps, he walked for a couple of minutes before seeing a light in the distance. Hao Xuan tensed up a little and started circulating his Qi until he remembered there was no fighting in this place.
Step by step he approached the light until he saw its source. It was a fire that was illuminating the surroundings, but it wasn't a wildfire. It looked more like a campfire and there was even a person sitting next to it with his back towards Hao Xuan. He could tell it was a man because of the way he was sitting and his stature.
When Hao Xuan was within 30 meters, he heard the man's voice.
"Hey, finally! Come sit, I've been waiting for another person to arrive," he said while pointing at the spot across from him.
Hao Xuan frowned. Why was there a fire here? Where the hell did he get the wood from? And wasn't the journey supposed to last 30 minutes? Why was this guy waiting for another person?
Still, he kept the questions to himself for the time being and sat down calmly. It was only then he saw his face.
The guy didn't look older than 25 but his rough appearance made him seem much older. He had a teardrop-shaped earring hanging from on his left ear lob. Short black hair, a small scar near his eyes right eyes and an unkempt beard that was just starting to come in.
He smiled back at Hao Xuan, letting him look without interruptions.
"My name is Njall, nice to meet you," he gestured with his head.
"Deimos," Hao Xuan replied plainly. He pointed at the fire, "Why th-" but before he could ask anything, a tremor passed through the ground. It lasted for a couple of seconds and suddenly the glass ceiling above cleared up.
There still wasn't a sun or moon in sight but he could see many stars passing quickly by. No, it would be more accurate to say that this 'pocket space' was whizzing by these stars with such speed that they looked like reflections in the mirror.
"What is going o-"
*Crrrr*
Once again he was interrupted, this time by a deep, soul-wrenching sound. It sounded like the call of a whale and the howling of a wolf, if that made any sense.
Suddenly, the stars became clear as the pocket space came to a halt. But there was no planetary body nearby. Instead, it was a gargantuan creature that was blocking their path.
If Hao Xuan wasn't already sitting down he probably would have fallen to his knees looking at that monstrous creature.
"My…god…."
