Hao Xuan's legs went limp and he fell on his back, sweating like a pig on a midsummer's day, finally having realized that everything had changed.
As he was laying on the ground, he was both exhilarated and scared out of his mind. The reality of the situation set in and he understood that nothing would ever be the same. The security of his broken home, his old laptop, his friends, he will not get to see any of that ever again.
And while Hao Xuan was sitting there thinking to himself, a young man walked up to him with hurried steps. A bulky guy with short brown hair, white complexion, quite tall for someone of his age.
He ran up to Hao Xuan and bent down beside him, "Hey man, are you okay? Can you hear me? Just try to breathe dude, you're fine" he said worriedly.
Hao Xuan took his advice and started taking a few deep breaths, finally calming down. He looked at him with a slightly confused expression, "Do I know you?"
"Oh you're okay now, hahaha you had me worried there man, thought you were gonna have a heart attack or something, but now that I look at you, that's pretty unlikely eh?" he said with a big smile plastered all over his face.
"Hmm." was the best response Hao Xuan could think off. Barely having talked to anyone in real life in the last few years, his social etiquette was "lacking" to say the least.
"My name is Maaz, Maaz Khan, what's your name? You're Chinese right?" he said extending his hand to help Hao Xuan up.
Hao Xuan stared at his hand for a few seconds and then looked at his face thinking, 'Quite a wide face this guy has' and then grabbed his hand.
"Yes, I'm Chinese, are you American? You sound like a cowboy," Hao Xuan said looking at him. There was a hint of the infamous southern states in his accent.
"Haha, I should be the one saying that, haven't seen a lot of Asians speaking such fluent English," he said laughing.
"Um, thanks, I guess" Hao Xuan said in a low voicce, chalking up his ignorance to a lack of exposure. He started moving towards the edge once more and looked down but it was all white again. A sea of clouds, like it was never touched.
"Are you afraid of heights? I am. I get dizzy every time I look down" Maaz said as he walked up next to Hao Xuan. He inhaled deeply through his wide nostrils, asking, "Do you smell it?"
Hao Xuan frowned and then sniffed but couldn't smell anything strange, so he shook his head, "Smell what?"
"The air, it's so clean. It's like breathing in pure oxygen, I get a little buzz every time I take in a deep breath. God, I hope I don't get addicted to this, it's not gonna be easy when you're addicted to the damn atmosphere itself," he said giggling like a kid.
"You're right," Hao Xuan said as he also breathed deeply. They stood there for a few mins, just looking around and noticed that they there are a lot of similar platforms all around them, but quite far away.
Suddenly there was a noise behind them and they turned around to see a group of people coming towards them. An old couple, two little kids of about 7-8 years of age, a teenage boy and a girl of about the same age as Hao Xuan. The little kids were two very cute twin girls. One of them who was holding a teddy bear, ran up to Maaz and hid behind his leg, looking towards Hao Xuan with big brown eyes.
"Don't just wander off like that without even telling anyone," the lady said to Maaz in mock anger.
"Come on Ma, I'm right here, nothings gonna happen," Maaz said while fondling the little girls head who was basically attached to his knee.
"Oh, btw these are my parents, my younger brother Sam, my sister Kay and the youngest of us, Olivia and Emilie" Maaz introduced his family to Hao Xuan.
"Hello, nice to meet you, I am Hao Xuan," he said while slightly bowing.
"Oh what a nice young man, and where your parents? You shouldn't go too far from them right now. We are in a strange new place and have no idea what's going on, they must be worried sick about you," said Mr. Khan with a gentle smile.
Hao Xuan thought for a few seconds about his family members, his mother and uncles, and their children, and he didn't feel any emotions towards them at all. So he just replied with "I don't have any".
His wife hit him with her elbow and gave him an angry look while turning around towards Hao Xuan, "I'm sorry child, excuse this old man. He is getting crass in his old age, how about you stay with us for a little while? Just until we figure out what's going on?"
Hao Xuan was startled by the sudden invitation. He had just met these people and without even knowing anything about him they invite him to stay with them?
This act of kindness was his first such experience and left him quite confused. But he thought to himself "It's not like I have anything to lose, why not give it a try? Better than being alone all the time." So he looked towards her husband and other members of the family to make sure they were okay with, only to be met with smiles all around.
Hao Xuan nodded and gave another little bow with a barely audible "Thank you".
Maaz patted him on the shoulder while laughing loudly, his father and the little twin girls joined in on the laughter, creating quite a commotion.
A few people turned to look towards them with curious gazes. They had just gone through God knows what, in a land out of a fairy tale, with no idea of what was going on or what they were supposed to do, and these people were laughing like lunatics out in the open.
They talked for a few mins after that and introduced each other personally to Hao Xuan, the curious little twins were especially mesmerized by his green eyes and kept asking him if he could see how many fingers they were holding, making everyone laugh.
Suddenly there was a commotion up ahead, and people started getting up and moving. The Khan family looked at each other and decide to follow the crowd as well.
After walking for a good 30mins the ground started to get smaller and smaller, it was still a good 30-40 meters wide but much smaller as compared to before. In front of them was a wall with a massive door of about 12 meters in height and 20 meters in width.
Still following the huge crowd, they head inside to wherever it lead. There was a long hallway just after the entrance which divided into 3 after about 150 meters. People were going in every single entrance so they decide to go with the middle one and kept moving. A few more minutes of walking and they could see the end of the hallway.
It was a huge brightly lit hall with a massive circular desk in the middle. There were a few very pretty girls standing inside the desk smiling at them.
The family moved towards the desk and Mr. Khan went to the front of the crowd and asks the young woman "Hello, do you know what's going? We need some help here."
The lady smiled and points towards her left, where there was a group of identical doors and said, "Please head towards the left and enter any door to start your inauguration. Everything will be explained to you there."
He nodded and led the family towards the first door. He slowly opened it and looked inside but it was pitch black. So he told everyone to hold hands and follow him inside in a line.
Emilie which was the shyer of the twins, looked at her eldest brother Maaz and said "Up" with one hand holding the teddy bear and other extended outwards. He smiled and picked her up while extending his other hand in front of him towards Sam, who did the same forming a chain. Until Maaz suddenly remembered Hao Xuan and turned around and awkwardly looked at him.
Hao Xuan had no idea why he was looking at him so he just stared back in silence, making the situation even more awkward. "Hao, how about you stand in front of me? Since one of my hands is tied up with Emilie, I can't hold your hand."
Hao Xuan looked at the cute little girl who hid her now bright red face in her brothers embrace, and said, "No it's okay, I'll stay at the back, don't need to hold anyone's hand".
Maaz chuckled awkwardly once again, nodded at him with an apologetic smile and started moving forward.
As they entered, there was nothing but darkness when suddenly, a very bright light turned on illuminating the surroundings.
There was a crystal ball in front of them, with nothing around it. It was about the same size as a basketball and completely see-through.
Just as everyone finished looking around, a robotic voice was heard in the room, "Please put your hands on the ball to initiate memory transfer".
The Khan family looked at each other with doubtful gazes and surrounded the crystal ball, but no one touched it.
Hao Xuan's interest was piqued so instead of waiting for someone else to do it, he stepped forward and put his own hand on the ball, when he heard Mr. Khan yell, "No, wait-" and all of a sudden his surrounding changed.
Hao Xuan was in another space, looking at a huge screen in front of him. He heard that same robotic voice again, "Hello traveler. Welcome to your inauguration. Currently, you are at Bestia Orbis Terrarum, or lovingly referred to by the locals as the Beast world."
"As you may or may not know already, there are millions of different species in the universe. Some are very similar to your human physical structures, whereas some are very different."
As the voice finished, the large screen in front of Hao Xuan lit up with different images and videos of strange creatures. They included some people with horns, some with wings like those of a bat and a bird, some with tails, some with several arms.
"The variations are endless. The Human form of two legs, arms, eyes, ears etc, is the most basic one. Anything else on top of it is considered an improvement that gives a boost to another ability or power.
Although most of these creatures are born with them, but many bloodlines can be acquired from either here, the Saint city, through trade with one of the more powerful beings, or from out in the world if you're lucky enough."
"The Beast world is, for the lack of a better word, endless. It is filled with the purest form of spirit energy, which makes cultivating here extremely easy. But because of that, the native creatures of this world mature at an exponentially higher rate. They mutate and grow strong day by day, and are a great threat to yours and your loved ones well being."
"Your only option is to get stronger by any means necessary. There is no good or bad way of gaining strength."
"The Dao is neither evil nor virtuous, it only depends on the person seeking it."
Hao Xuan's heart was beating so fast that he thought it might explode.
At this moment, his excitement knew no bounds. Just the thought of exploring these wondrous lands, fighting against mythical creatures like Dragons and Phoenixes and whatever else there was, plundering their treasures seemed something out of a movie or a novel. Not to mention the robotic voice that made everything sound like almost a dream.
"But be warned, your journey will not be easy. You are far too weak as you are now. You must not venture out alone. Seek stronger warriors, learn from them, you are a stranger to this world so its laws will not be in your favor.. Learn the Dao, only then can you protect yourself."
