The sky was covered with black clouds. The cold rain fell hard, threatening to drown out everything in existence.
Xinjiang, China. In a small private clinic, a baby boy was born between two of the most influential families of the area.
The surroundings were mostly vast open regions of dry deserts and mountains so having access to any kind of medical facilities was a huge deal.
He was given the name Kong Hao Xuan by his mother which had brave/heroic and dignified characteristics.
He didn't look particularly heroic though.
With dark hair and fair skin, his only noticeable feature was the color of his eyes, which were light green.
He was born at a very strange time.
The marriage between his parents was a political one and neither of them had any say in the matter. Soon after the marriage, they separated, which at the time, was considered very shameful so no news of this was leaked.
The marriage was scraped from the records as if it had never happened, leaving Hao Xuan without a place to belong.
Yet the heavens were not blind.
The boy was adopted by his mothers' eldest brother who couldn't have children of his own.
Theirs was a very conservative and old-school family. All the male siblings lived with their parents even after marriage and his birth mother also lived with them because she couldn't go to her 'husbands'.
So in one mansion, there lived about 15 people.
They weren't wealthy but were well enough off to not have to worry about much.
"Grandpa, can I have some ice cream, please?" the 6-year old Hao Xuan held onto his maternal grandfather's shirt as they walked past a shop.
The old man smiled gently, his many wrinkles proof of a long, fulfilling life.
"Of course, anything my little Hao wants, he can have," he said ruffling Hao Xuan's hair.
Hao Xuan was his maternal grandfathers favorite out of all the family members, even among his own sons. He spoiled him and gave him everything he could ever want, that is up until his age caught up to him and he couldn't move around much.
Hao Xuan ran into his grandfather's room with a pair of keys. His face red from excitement.
"Grandpa, can we go to the park?" he asked while jumping up and down in circles like a little rabbit.
The old man smiled seeing his animated self.
"Haha, of course, just let grandpa rest a little bit and then we will go. Is your dad back yet?"
*Plop*
All the excitement that had built up suddenly dissipated like a vapor. Hao Xuan lowered his head started playing with the car keys.
"I-I don't know. Can we go without him...?" he mumbled.
The old man saw the sudden change in Hao Xuan's behavior and sighed. There was nothing he could do here. Hao Xuan was too young to understand and his son was too stubborn and old fashioned to change his ways.
He got up and held Hao Xuan in his embrace.
"Alright, let's go before he comes back," he said with a wink and a grin.
Hao Xuan's face lit up like a lantern as he bobbed his little head up and down.
His adopted father was in the military, but soon after Hao Xuan was born he retired and went to the US in search of better opportunities. He visited every 2 years and every time he came back, Hao Xuan would feel like his world was coming to an end.
Because for some reason, he was hated by the person who claimed to be his father, who never even used his real name and instead called him "bastard" and yelled at him every chance he got.
"This isn't how my friend's dad is..." Hao Xuan used to think to himself whenever he was alone.
When Hao Xuan was 9 years old, his grandfather suddenly passed away. And soon after, the attitude of his entire family changed. This spoiled young master now became a nobody in mere days.
"Oi, pick up your stuff. Your cousin needs this room for his toys," his oldest uncle said to him 6 days after his own father's funeral.
"B-But this is my room...."
*Slap*
"Did I ask for your opinion? Pack up your shit and go to the back of the house. Your new room is there," the 30-something old man replied and walked out in a huff, not wanting to look at Hao Xuan's face for a second longer.
Holding back his tears, the 9-year-old grabbed a handful of clothes and some toys and went to the back of the mansion where a storage shed awaited him.
It was filled with junk. There were cockroaches and rats scurrying around under the single flickering light. There was no fan, no window, not even a bathroom.
"Good, you're here," a voice came from behind, startling him. He turned around and saw his favorite aunt standing there with a broom. She was the wife of the man that had just thrown him out of his room. His face still itching from the slap.
"First aunty! Uncle he sai-"
"Clean this place up. I'll come back to check in an hour," the woman cut in, "I better not see any dust then. And don't break anything, you can't afford it," she said while throwing him the broom.
She threw a disdainful glance towards the dazed Hao Xuan before leaving.
Hao Xuan stood there alone, holding his clothes and toys in one hand, and an old broom in the other.
"But...why?"
He would ask this question a lot. To himself, and to others, but never really got an answer, or one that satisfied him at least.
"No, it must be a mistake. I must have done something bad, that's why everyone is treating me like this," he said to himself and got to work.
"Aunty I cleaned the shed," an hour later he ran into the kitchen covered in dust from head to toe but still smiling.
His 4 cousins were sitting around the table having lunch. They glanced at him once before going back to eating the fried pieces of meat on their plates.
His stomach rumbled looking at the delicious food.
"Good, here, eat this and go to sleep," his aunt handed him a plate.
With a toothy grin he grabbed it with welcoming arms but froze upon seeing its contents.
There were some half-eaten pieces of stale bread, a couple of pieces of burnt meat that looked like charcoal and a jelly-like substance that smelled like rotten fish.
"But....the meat...." Hao Xuan looked over at the still sizzling pieces on his cousin's plate.
"Enough, get out of my sight. Let your cousins eat in peace, go!" she waved her hand like she was shooing away a stray dog.
Hao Xuan wasn't hurt by the lack of food on his plate but more by the sudden difference in treatment. With a lowered head he walked back to his 'room' and cried silently.
And just like that, it became his new reality.
Hao Xuan never understood why his own family treated him the way they did. He thought maybe it was his fault, maybe there was something wrong with him. So instead of ever fighting back, he just endured it all.
Trying to justify their actions, he didn't say a single word and cried himself to sleep for the next couple of years.
His only solace during this time was his third aunt, his birth mother, who treated him better than everyone else, but he didn't know why, and she couldn't tell him either.
So from the sidelines she saw how her own brothers treated her only child. She cried and begged them to let her leave with him, saying they wouldn't ever have to see either of them again, but they refused, saying "what will the people say?"
So she suffered, and he suffered.
But soon after, he became dull to the pain as it was a part of his daily life. That's how he spent his teenage years.
He went to a local public school where he aced every single subject without even studying much, but no one cared.
A few students even tried to bully him once when the news of his 'situation' got out.
"Hahaha, look at this retard trying to act normal. Oi, you don't belong here!"
*Kick*
"What? You gonna cry home to daddy? Oh, wait, you don't have one! Hahaha~"
"Still though, I can't believe this bastard was trying to be one of us."
Some of the older boys cornered Hao Xuan on his way back from school.
"What do you want from me?" Hao Xuan asked wiping away the blood from the side of his mouth.
"Nothing," one of the boys shook his head with a grin, "We just wanted to remind you of the truth. That no one wants you. Even you're own family threw you away, who else would dare love a thing like you?"
"I heard even his own father left the country because he didn't want to see his face."
"But....I never did anything to you guys, why...are you doing this?"
Hao Xuan couldn't wrap his mind around the current situation. He had never even talked to these guys so why were they bullying him?
"Honestly, because we're bored, hahaha~" replied the largest of them who seemed to be their leader as well.
Raising his right leg he kicked once again.
*Kick*
*Kick*
"You stupid...loser!
*Kick*
"How dare you look at me? Huh?"
*Kick*
When he raised his leg for the sixth time, he felt a tug on his trouser.
Looking down he saw a pair of bright green eyes staring back at him. For a couple of seconds, he got lost in them.
"W-What? You wanna fi-" he spoke dazedly but was pulled downward before he could finish.
Hao Xuan, who had picked up a broken brick from somewhere nearby, pulled his arm as far back as it would go before bringing it down on the boy's now lowered head.
*Thud*
*Squelch*
Blood splattered onto Hao Xuan's face and chest, dying his white shirt crimson. A heart-wrenching scream came out of the boy's mouth as he grabbed the side of his head and fell backwards.
"W-What did you do!?" he shouted mindlessly, still in shock.
"Why? Why me?" Hao Xuan mumbled with vacant eyes and raised the brick once again.
The boy's eyes narrowed as he raised his hand to protect his head. The others were frozen stiff, only able to watch as the scene unfolded in front of their eyes.
"S-Sto-"
*Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*
"Would you have stopped if I had asked?"
*Thud*
*Thud*
By the time Hao Xuan came to his senses, the boy had long passed out. He laid in a pool of his own blood and urine, looking more like a pig than a human being.
Hao Xuan didn't even remember what had happened, the only thing that stayed with him was the feeling of striking another person. The numb sensation of flesh being torn apart and bones breaking into pieces. The feeling was like electricity coursing through his body, awakening something deep inside of him.
It was....exhilarating!
The boy's parents found out but could do nothing more than complain to his uncles. For this was a faraway town and his family held a lot of power here.
That night when everyone else had gone to sleep, both of his uncles proceeded to beat him black and blue. They left him in a slightly better condition than he left the boy in. He wouldn't be getting any food for a week.
But he didn't need food. He laid in his tattered bed for an hour or so before passing out from the pain. But strangely enough, he slept like a king that night, feeling content for some strange reason.
***
His aunt would come to him in secret every other day after sunset with food and she would tell him stories of a better life. That's what he would dream about every night.
Hao Xuan wasn't really allowed to go outside much after the incident, other than when he was running errands for others. So his world was very small. He didn't have a TV so couldn't know about the outside world.
When he turned 15, his aunt gave him an old laptop with an internet connection that she had secretly set up with the neighbor's help. Every night before going to sleep he would browse different forums and posts and talk to people from all over the world. It was then that he found out that his situation wasn't normal.
Over the next two years, he learned English with the help of an American girl he had befriended and became fluent. Apparently, he had a knack for languages as he picked up a few others with little effort.
Life continued like this, and he was content.
You would think after being treated the way he was, one would develop some sort of a noble goal in life, like to get revenge on his uncles and their families or just move out and live freely, but no.
Hao Xuan just lived day to day, never made any plans, never really hated anyone or loved anyone. Even his aunt, who he later figured out was his mother, he never really loved her how a child would love his or her parents.
Everything just was. That is until the world ended.
****
A bit after his 19th birthday, on December 21st 2012, everything changed.
As usual, he was in his "room" on his old laptop chatting with his online friends.
They were looking at a live stream of some native Americans who had gathered together because they believed, like many others, that the world as they knew it would end on that very day, and they were waiting for it.
One of his American friends had brought this to his attention. And he thought it was pretty interesting and imagined what would happen if everything really did end. It turned out he didn't really care either way. There wasn't anything that could get his blood pumping anymore.
He might as well be dead inside.
Pretty soon Hao Xuan got sleepy and said goodbye to his friends and logged off as he had to get up early in the morning.
He laid down on his broken mattress and soon enough, dozed off. But it wasn't long until he was woken up by an extremely loud high-pitched sound, sounding right next to his ear.
Thinking that it was one of his cousins messing with him again, he got up slowly and opened the door but there was no one outside. He looked around but still found nothing. Yet the sound could be heard as clear as day, and it was blowing right next to his ear.
He ran out on to the street only to find the neighbors looking around as well.
He went up to one of them and asked "Do you know what's going on?", but no sound came out of his mouth.
He tried speaking again, but the result was the same. He looked at the neighbor who was as shocked as him. They both tried to talk several times but nothing happened.
Hao Xuan ran back into the house, picked up a pen and paper and as he was running out he saw all of his uncles and cousins finally coming out as well.
They naturally ignored him and went past. He found his mother and wrote down "Can you hear anything?" on the paper, she nodded while taking the pen and paper from his hands and wrote down "Horn?" on it.
They both looked at each other and slowly walked outside as well.
This went on for about 10 minutes, during which time no other sounds could be heard, be it the sound of a car engine or a gun, no other sound existed at that point other than the 'horn'. And then suddenly, it stopped.
Everyone started looking around. They tried to talk to each other and it seemed like all was well once again. But then they heard another voice, inside their heads this time, the voice of a man, sounding somewhat disappointed.
Almost like a father looking at his failed children.
"It has been 200,000 years since humanity was created. You have evolved greatly. From the bottom of the food chain, you have come to the very top. Colonizing everything from the deserts and mountains to the jungles, you have come far....far indeed" the voice said.
"But it is a shame to see that you have not learned "control". Instead of prospering and venturing outwards, you have killed each other by the millions, and with one intention or another, you have brought about your own destruction, and the destruction of the very planet that gave you shelter from the horrors of the abyss."
The ground started to vibrate slowly.
"We have watched, and we have sent you our apostles, to foretell the end if you continued on this course, but you have ignored all of the signs and warnings, and profited from the misery of each other and lived in ignorance. And now the end is nigh, and all is for naught."
Hao Xuan's heart was thumping like a drum, maybe for the first time since he was born, his blood was rushing through his veins in anticipation of what was to come. Unlike others, he didn't care much for this world, so even dying wouldn't bother him that much.
The voice continued.
"We made this little planet as a safe haven for you, with not much danger to your well being... at least not as much as compared to what is coming. We gave you a near perfect body, with limitless potential for evolution, but not a single one of you could reach even .0001% of it. Tis a shame indeed."
At this point, Hao Xuan couldn't focus on anything else. He was only listening to that voice in his head, waiting…
"Your time is up. Humanity was supposed to have reached the stars by now, but you barely reached your own moon. So we had to intervene. No longer will you be protected from the darkness, but all that you desire will be will have to be traded for your own sweat and blood."
"Humanity will be sent to one of the Seven Origin planets, where you will have to etch out a new life. This place is bigger than your current world by several hundred thousand times, filled with creatures and beings from the ancient era. Things that you have nightmares about are food to these beings. It is not unusual to see creatures bigger than this planet itself even."
It seemed like the owner of the voice was recalling some old memories as he spoke of what was to come.
"But everything must be balanced. So we will unlock your potential and awaken your long lost abilities, so as long as you work hard, any one of you can become strong enough to destroy your enemies with a single thought and leave that place for one of the other worlds."
"Remember, you are not special, you are not the apex predator, you are less than worm food as you are now. There are millions of races out there, and you are nothing in front of them."
"Stick together, support each other, fight for your very survival, for that is the only way."
"DEFY THE HEAVENS, AND ASCEND!"
*BOOOOOOM*
The ground cracked, sending them all down to on their knees.
"Little Hao!" his mother shouted from a few feet away, trying to reach out and hold on to him, but it was no good.
Before Hao Xuan could do anything else, everything went white.
There was no sound, there was nothing to see nor to touch. Hao Xuan's body started to expand and then suddenly shrunk out of existence.
****
Hao Xuan regained consciousness and slowly opened his eyes only to be met with a blinding light.
It took him a few minutes to get used to it. He looked around but didn't recognize any thing or any one.
He was surrounded by thousands of people, some waking up, some still laying unconscious.
There was greenery all around him but it was not from plant life, but the floor itself was green.
He was out in the open somewhere. As he looked up towards the sky, his vision was blocked by another large piece of green sheet right above him. He tried to take a step forward when he was met with extreme pain shooting through his body.
With a scream and a thud, he collapsed on to the ground.
*Argh!*
The pain was horrific, like hot needles being pierced into every single cell of his body. It was worse around his eyes which felt like they were burning up from inside out.
After a few minutes the pain subsided. He gathered his strength stood up once again. Moving through the crowd he reached the end of the area.
After about 20 minutes of walking, he finally got close to the edge and peered down, only to be met with nothing but whiteness. Pure white, as far as the eye could see. He squinted and looked upwards and was shocked!
There were Nine moons and Three suns shining brightly in the sky.
Hao Xuan stood there for several minutes, trying to take in everything he was seeing. The beauty and the majesty of whatever this place was.
There was a loud noise right below him. He looked down and saw a humongous wing coming out of the white ground, and then the "ground" moved like water, giving way. Hao Xuan then realized that it was not the ground, but a layer of clouds, and he was above them.
The wing was so immensely large that he couldn't even see as to what creature it was attached to, but at least the clouds had moved enough for him to see what was under them.
So he squinted and tried to catch a glimpse of this "New World", only to be met with nothing but darkness, where he could even see his own reflection.
Stupefied, he just stared at it and suddenly, his reflection started going further away until he realized that it was an eye of some creature. An eye so massive that it was like looking at an ocean.
Hao Xuan's legs went limp and he fell on his back. He started sweating like a pig, finally realizing that for better or worse, the world that he knew had come to an end.
****
Authors Notes:
Tree Reference image: https://i.imgur.com/5LbPmQD.jpg
