As the scene shifts, Hangfang is in a secret place thick with a too-much-of-everything blackness. The air is thick and heavy and oppressive. Shadows stretch in all directions, distorting directional readings, so that no one can tell where the space starts or what lies beyond it. The eerie quiet fills his ears and amplifies his heartthrob.
His instincts are screaming at him — this place is unnatural. A trap, perhaps.
Hangfang clutches the hilt of his sword, his muscles tensing for an offensive. He sharpens his senses, surveying the emptiness for movement. His footsteps resonate weirdly, as if the very spaces bend sound.
Then behind, the air changes — not a noise, a presence.
In a split second, Hangfang spins around, his blade cleaving the dark, the tip pointed straight at Yan Xiao, the figure that has suddenly appeared behind him.
But Yan Xiao is quick, absurdly quick. He evades effortlessly, his body bending away from the blade, his motions smooth as water. He puts his hands up in surrender.
"Come on, please! Not here, not now!" Yan Xiao implores, his voice low yet insistent. "And you honestly think I brought you here just to kill you?"
Hangfang does not lower his sword. His eyes glint cold as he scans Yan Xiao, looking for deception. Every word could be a trap.
"And why wouldn't I think that? Hangfang counters, tone tinged with skepticism. "You're my opponent. I know precisely what you are capable of."
Yan Xiao gives a sigh and runs a hand through his hair. "That's exactly why I brought you along."
Before Hangfang can so much as demand an explanation, Yan Xiao pivots away from him and strides-off, his footsteps unnaturally quiet against the nothingness. "Follow me," he says. "If you get lost here, you can't find the way back."
A flicker of hesitation crosses Hangfang's face. All his instincts tell him not to. But something in Yan Xiao's tone — the certainty of his voice — gives him pause.
He follows, exhaling reluctantly.
Through the Portal
They find themselves walking through an alien, choking void, the ebb and flow of the world around them changing with every footfall. Hangfang is beginning to notice that the further they go, the more warped reality itself appears to be. The air shimmers like heat coming off stone, except it's cold — disconcertingly so.
Then, suddenly—a portal.
Yan Xiao walks through first, unfazed, followed after a brief consideration by Hangfang.
On the other side looms a massive, barren mountain range. Jagged peaks stand out against a blood-red sky, their edges silhouetted against whorls of clouds. The air is thin, heavy with something metallic—the smell of ancient decay.
Before them, that entrance of a cave, set deep into the rocky terrain.
"Let's talk inside," Yan Xiao says, moving forward as if to cut off an answer.
Hangfang tightens his grip on his sword, but he trails.
Inside the Cave
An unseeable glow lights up the cave. Unearthly marks flickered under the lampers' lights, strange symbols that danced out of the view unless one was looking directly at them. The air here is thinner than outside, as if the cave itself keeps secrets too ancient to be uttered above ground.
Yan Xiao walks over to an old wooden chair and sits down slowly, deliberately. He motions to another chair across from him. "Sit down."
Hangfang stays up a moment longer, agonizing. Then he sits, with his sword nearby.
When Yan Xiao sits, he leans forward a bit. "Tell me, how long have you been in this world … in Hangfang's body?"
The question strikes like a thunderclap.
For a moment, Xiao Tian, who now speaks through Hangfang's body, forgets to breathe.
His fingers twitch slightly. His mind races. How does he know?
"What… what are you talking about?' Xiao Tian stutters, struggling to keep his quaking hands steady. "I've always been here!"
Yan Xiao laughs and shakes his head. "Relax. I'm just like you—the transmigrator. I've been in this body for four years."
l'Amour's heart beats in his throat. Four years?
He looks at Yan Xiao—no, Robert.
"You're lying," Xiao Tian finally says, voice low.
Robert smirks. "Am I?"
The silence hangs in the air between them.
Then Robert speaks again, his voice growing serious. "I entered this ancient space four years ago, and I've been unable to leave since." It only opens for competitions in this place."
Xiao Tian exhales slowly, his thoughts a minefield of questions.
"What's your real name?" he asks.
"Robert," the man says smoothly. "I was of a planet called Earth.
Xiao Tian feels a spark, like a piece of a puzzle locking into place.
"Earth? That's where I'm from too!"
Robert reclines, his face a blank slate. "We're from the same planet, so… But not exactly the same age… —"
Xiao Tian frowns. He had never considered that possibility before. Could they have originated in varying eras?
"I've been here for four months," Xiao Tian finally says.
Robert takes a breath, ruminates. "I see. If it is, then please tell me, did you find anything out about this place? Its origins? Why we're even here?"
Xiao Tian shakes his head. "I don't know nothing about that."
Robert's face darkens with a shadow. His eyes blacken as he exhales heavily.
"Then was Hangfang not telling you anything?"
The cave grows eerily silent. That question hangs heavy in the air, much heavier now.
Suddenly, Xiao Tian grasps — Hangfang might have known much more than he ever admitted.
And that meant … somebody had been hiding secrets.
Someone who may not want those secrets to come to light.
A chill runs down his spine.
The mysterie
— of this ancient space — and maybe the truth about his own existence — are far deeper than he ever wanted.
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