Princess Helena was petrified, frozen in place. She had been waiting for Hao Xuan but out came this green monster that although didn't attack her at first glance, in its suffocating aura she could barely even think properly.
It was only when Hao Xuan appeared that she regained some composure.
"L-Lord…Hao Xuan.." she pointed towards the Scorpion King with a trembling hand.
Hao Xuan's brow furrowed upon noticing his attacking stance and he promptly waved his hand, returning him back to the Mind Palace. But he didn't take into account how it would look to the princess whose mouth fell open.
"W-WHAT?!"
She jumped back. Her head swiveled back and forth looking for that green silhouette thinking it had become invisible until Hao Xuan said otherwise.
"You don't have to worry about him, he's my contracted beast."
She paused, still quite wary of her surroundings but still managed to politely inquire further.
"Contracted? What does that mean?"
"What do you mean? Like a normal contra- Oh," he realized halfway through that they probably didn't have contracted beasts in this world so it was no use explaining it.
"I mean he's like a pet, you know? Just…you don't have to worry about him anymore, he won't hurt you."
She kept looking around but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary which left her no choice but to accept Hao Xuan's words, as confusing as they might be.
"O-Oh, okay. Then please…follow me," she put a brave front despite her canine ears being at full mast, listening for any unusual sounds.
She turned around and disappeared on the other side of the doorway without even waiting for him to respond. Hao Xuan was a little surprised by her swiftness but didn't think much of it.
He turned around halfway and examined the wall he had just walked out of. But after not finding anything of note, he ran out the doorway chasing after princess Helena.
A few seconds after he left a black mark appeared on the wall. It looked like a star-shaped scar that within a minute grew to almost half a meter in size. But then it suddenly slowed down significantly and its progress could no longer be seen with the naked eye.
Yet black smoke had started seeping from the center of the crack, gathering on the ground in one spot as if it was bound by some unknown power.
**
Hao Xuan stepped out and finally saw this new area they had arrived in. It was an old stone hallway with various small plants growing in between crevices and bricks. It looked both abandoned and taken care of at the same time since the greenery hadn't completely taken over everything.
This hallway was connected to numerous rooms on either side, just like the one he had walked out of.
Princess Helena was waiting for him at the end along with the rest of the party.
As Hao Xuan got closer to them a few faraway noises reached his ears, even before he could see anything. Princess Helena and Inara moved to either side of the exit, allowing Hao Xuan to walk out.
"Woah, did not expect to see something like this here," he couldn't help but comment.
Princess Helena armed herself with her usual smile and gestured towards the front.
"Welcome to Argham, the City of Lights!" she couldn't help but be a little proud as she introduced her home.
And despite all that he had seen, Hao Xuan was still shocked by this 'City of Lights' because it was exactly as its name suggested.
The place he was standing on was at the very back of this 'cavity' within the earth. From afar it would look like a gigantic egg that had been cracked open to reveal just a sliver of the dark sky above.
But all along the inwardly arching sides were the hundreds or even thousands of small and large orbs of light, embedded within the rock walls that surrounding a small city in the center, endlessly illuminating it with their yellow and white colors.
It was bright as day inside this place with a small forest growing out from the sides. This kind of rock formation could never be found naturally but it was too big to have been created by a single person.
With his piercing gaze Hao Xuan was able to see numerous silhouettes within the city and as opposed to all the other places he had visited so far, it was brimming with life.
There were at least a few tens of thousands of people there.
The architecture was a mix between extremely old stone houses that were patched up and made suitable for living and relatively new single and double story wooden houses.
The tallest structure was the one they were at, located at the very back and to the left. There was an opening on the opposite end of where Hao Xuan was, more than a few hundred meters in length and width.
(I tried looking for a similar image to what I had in mind but there was nothing close but here is one that COULD be most alike)
***
Authors Notes:
All images are posted in the Official Discord.
Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ
___
Reference Image Link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/2a/c3/fa/2ac3fa131e82252a14680d2abca489b4.jpg
Shortened Image Link (case sensitive) : https://urlzs.com/rCTYP
