The Changing World

Xin Fan walked down through the darkness between the pillars. Following close behind was Chilong and Tianfei, each wielding their respective weapons. Every step resounded throughout the void that was the abyss. There was nothing there except for the marble pillars. Xin Fan rested his scythe along the back of his neck and moved in a somewhat carefree manner.

'What is the cooldown for Harvest Slash II S?'

'It's 2 days, 18 hours, 14 Minutes and 33 seconds.'

'So in other words, 3 days.'

'Indeed.'

"What do you reckon will be at the end?"

Chilong shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know."

Xin Fan played around with the orb with his right hand. He spun it around his fingers and tossed it from hand to hand. He passed it to Chilong who caught it with both hands.

"My guess is probably something to do with that."

"Well, that is a given. It was what led us here."

Chilong threw the orb back to Xin Fan who caught it with a single hand. Xin Fan squinted his eyes as he saw something in the distance. It was a block was made of black marble and slowly became more clear as he approached.

'Is this an altar?'

Xin Fan placed his hands on the stone cold marble altar. For now, it seemed simply part of the decoration. There was a hole shaped similar to the orb that was now resting on his right hand. Xin Fan observed the intricate detail that was faintly engraved into the marble. Small text could be seen however it was written in a way that he was unable to read it.

"There seems to be some ancient language."

Xin Fan looked over to Chilong who bent down to observe the carvings a lot more closely. He looked at it from many different angle and shook his head.

"It's like nothing I have seen before. I guess there is only one thing we can do. It is what we came here for after all."

Xin Fan looked at the orb in his hand and at the small indent on the altar. It was quite obvious that the orb was intended to fill in this slot. Xin Fan slowly edged the orb towards the slot intending to fill it in. He didn't know why but he felt something trying to hold him back.

"Stop!"

Before he could put it in, Tianfei called out behind him. Xin Fan turned around in surprise. Tianfei seemed quite nervous however recomposed herself.

"S...Sorry. That just came out. It's nothing just continue."

"Hmm? At least give a proper reason why you said that. We aren't in a rush after all."

Xin Fan looked at her slightly in intrigue. She seemed quite shaken be even herself.

"It's nothing really. I just had a really bad feeling about this."

Xin Fan tilted his head. After all, he too had felt the same sensation.

'Is it just a coincidence?'

Xin Fan turned around to look at Chilong who was still observing the rune markings on the altar. He seemed very interested in the ancient language behind each symbol.

"What are you looking at me for? I didn't feel anything."

"Hmm...must be my imagination."

Xin Fan still felt the unease as he slowly inserted the orb into the slot in the altar. This was of course after careful deliberation. While his instinct was to throw away the orb as far as he could, they were trapped. They had no way back and this was practically their only hope. There really wasn't anything else they could do. The orb started to glow a bright white as engravings along the sides of the alter started to glow. Startled, Xin Fan stepped back brandishing his scythe at the altar. Amongst the engravings, there was an image of a bar. It started at around four fifths full and slowly began to fill up. As it did, the light shining from the orb started to dim as if it was getting absorbed.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Xin Fan felt his stomach drop as he felt something brush along his feet. It was a small rat however it soon scampered away into the darkness. There were many things that came and went as the bar started to get filled. Snakes, walking corpses and even ghosts. They each came at certain points in time and bowed slightly before going back to where they came from. Xin Fan felt a gut wrenching sensation as he watched the bar slowly fill up. He didn't know why but he felt a primal urge to destroy the altar. Energy started to channel to the tip of his finger as he slashed outwards. A beam of energy shot forwards attacking the altar only to crumble away upon impact.

"Grrrr"

Tianfei started to growl. Xin Fan has never seen her act like this before. She pulled out her rifle and charged up for a large attack and pulled the trigger. A beam of intense white and black light shot forwards striking the altar however there was not a single change.

"Break!"

Of all people, Chilong was surprisingly the most composed one of the bunch. He was the only one that maintained a clear vision and shook his companions.

"Hey...Are you guys alright."

As Xin Fan was being shaken, clarity returned to his eyes as did for Tianfei. Xin Fan rubbed his head as he looked at the final bit of the bar slowly becoming filled in.

"I...I'm alright..."

A crack started to line along the sides of the altar. Although it was an insignificant hairline crack, it was still a crack nonetheless. The crack started to grow larger and larger as if something was being unleashed. A beam of light shot through the skies. Xin Fan watched as the sky started to shatter revealing a much more familiar sky behind. From the distance, there were 4 similar lights that each shone an equally bright radiance. As the fragments of the sky fell, the fragments started to congeal and form a solid being. Xin Fan watched as something started to form. The figure was similar to that of the abyss knights. It had a featureless face and donned a pitch black Armour. On it's head was a helmet, equally black topped with five horns.

"Looks like some ants have snuck in..."

Xin Fan felt his body freeze at the words. The voice while similar to the abyss knights, was more complete. It had a bone chilling iciness behind it as if it didn't care about anything. Xin Fan was frozen in place as the being walked past him. The being lifted up a rock and brought it to it's face. On it was some sort of insignificant insect that seemed to struggle to move.

"You dare to blemish our sight upon our resurrection."

A small void appeared on the other hand to the being as it slowly brought it closer to the rock. Xin Fan's heart tightened as he saw the darkness devour the rock in it's entirety and vanish to dust. The being stared at the 5 moons that loomed over him on that day.

"This shall be my first post."

Wings started to extend out of the being's back as it hovered gently in the air. A spear of emptiness hovered lightly over it's right hand. It stared at the altar that is still only partially damaged and threw it at it. Upon contact, the altar shattered releasing whatever was underneath. A burst of energy was released covering the entire area. Xin Fan felt his throat starting to contract as his veins started to bulge. Xin Fan clutched his chest as he felt as if his body was exploding.

*Cough*

Xin Fan stared at the puddle of blood that slowly started to form on the ground.