The Dawn of the New World

"The cradle of civilization!" Mr. Hyde said and Jin Wang would have to agree to a great degree.

Even for him who had lived so many lives, through so many different eras, and seen so much of history that had been long lost to the rivers of time, even he would have to agree that just maybe there was some truth to that.

For even Jin Wang had never seen a place so utterly magnificent in both scale and design.

"The sun never seemed to set on Solum," Mr. Hyde continued with some pride upon seeing Jin Wang's shocked reaction, "Ten thousand different races lived here in peace for countless millenniums, all under the watchful eye of the one true ruler of the galaxy, the Immortal Emperor."

"His armies were boundless and his legions eternal, stretching across the stars in every direction, as far as their ships could take them. From the great Lords of Solum to the Old Houses of the Lost Eras, all served the Imperium no matter how far they were from its ruler."

"Every fifteen years their offerings and contributions would arrive one by one, treasures that no mortal being had ever seen before would be presented to the Immortal Emperor as gifts. As much as I hate to admit it, this was a great time for the people of the Empire. An era of peace that they had never known."

Jin Wang listened intently and the more he heard the more confusing it became. There is no way he would not have known of a place like this, no matter what age it existed in.

Because in the greater worlds everything was quite segmented, it had to be. True power belonged only to the strong and the weak were nothing more than slaves. That had always been the case.

But to say there so many different races lived together in harmony, that had never been seen before.

Jin Wang let out a deep sigh.

'I would have never thought you had such a secret old friend. No wonder you fought so hard to protect it.'

But then he looked over Mr. Hyde with even more confusion.

"What is your relation to him? To the Emperor?"

Mr. Hyde chuckled because he had been waiting for such a question. He turned to face the center of the room, pointing at one of the chairs at the foot of the table.

"I was one of thirty-one individuals that were granted the title of 'Holy Son', a child of the Imperium that was trained since birth to be one of the many hands of the great Immortal Emperor. So technically, I was his son?" he finished with a dazzling smile while looking Jin Wang in the eye.

Inwardly Jin Wang was speechless, he had thought Mr. Hyde to be nothing more than a parasitic worm that had crawled its way into Hao Xuan's mind palace but that was obviously not the case.

"Can you...prove that?"

"That I'm his son? Hahaha, is there even a need?" he muttered amusingly but the moment he stopped speaking the scene changed slightly.

Each of the seats now held a blurry figure. Their words could not be made out but it was obvious from their actions that there was a very heated discussion going on since they slammed their fists on the table and pointed at each other threateningly.

Mr. Hyde pointed his wineglass towards the head of the table where a figure sat in silence watching everything unfold.

"There, is that the same man you know as the Emperor?"

Jin Wang followed his line of sight and even though he couldn't make out any details, one superficial glance was enough for him to identify the individual.

It was indeed the Emperor, the same man had called a friend for countless ages. But he didn't want to admit it at this moment. He didn't like where this was going.

"What happened to it? To this great empire? What changed?"

The figures became even more blurry before slowly the hall returned to its former quiet self.

Mr. Hyde walked to the foot of the table and sat at the second to the last chair.

"The Empire was built on a bed of lies. The people kept from the dark reality of its existence and when the truth finally came out everything started to fall apart from the inside out. Rebellion, insurrection, and the flames of war that were always pointed outwards began to sprout within the inner courts."

"Our worlds started to dry. The skies began to burn until nothing made sense. The very reality changed in a fortnight. We couldn't tell up from down. Plagues and diseases the likes of which we had never heard of wiped off entire regions of space. And those that remained were forever changed."