Chapter 162 - WHO?
*Tremble*
The entire room shook as if a minor earthquake had just hit.
Hyde's eyes glistened as he looked at Hao Xuan and spoke slowly, enunciating every single word, "Who.am.I?"
Hao Xuan ignored the shaking furniture despite the nervousness building in his heart and simply nodded.
"I've been meaning to ask this for a while. Who are you? Or maybe WHAT are you would be a better question?"
Hyde smiled. And as he smiled, only for an instant, his body seemed to split apart and two pairs of black eyes that stared at him from the dark.
Hao Xuan tensed up. His grip on the chair tightened but he still kept a nonchalant expression, trying to act calm.
"Whatever do you mean? I am you," Hyde replied gently.
"Stop. Just, stop. Enough games. I don't care who you are as long as you don't mean me any harm. But you need to tell me the truth," Hao Xuan wiped a droplet of sweat that was going down the side of his face.
Who would have thought that one could sweat in their own mind?
"Haha. If you don't care, why do you need to know?" Hyde chuckled.
Hao Xuan raised his tone, "Because you are in my damn head. I've never asked you anything in hopes that you would come to me yourself, but that didn't happen. Now you must give me an answer. Who? What? And most importantly, Why?"
The smile on Hyde's face slowly vanished as he met Hao Xuan's gaze. And in that moment he knew, the truth, or a part of it would have to be revealed today.
"Child," Hyde started talking, the tone of his voice changed and it sounded like a number of different people were talking at the same time, "If thou gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. You woke me from my slumber, yet you ask who I am?"
Hao Xuan's throat went dry as he stared at Hyde without even blinking an eye.
"Who I am matters not, for I mean you no harm. Rather, you are not worthy enough for me to make a move against you. In the Great Game, you are nothing but a pawn. "
"But if you must, know that,"
The pitch of his voice kept increasing as he talked and Hao Xuan's ears started bleeding in real life. It felt like he was about to hear something not meant for someone in his position and it was his body's natural reaction to deafen itself to avoid hearing those words.
"I am the one who fell,"
The glass on the window shattered into pieces.
"I am the Warden of the bottomless pit,"
The flame in the fireplace that had not stopped once, put itself out.
"I am the Arch-Fiend,"
"The Whisperer,"
All the furniture other than the chairs they were sitting on exploded without making a sound.
"The Serpent of Old,"
"The Father of Lies,"
The four walls of the room collapsed as an empty blackness surrounded them. Right now Hyde and Hao Xuan were sitting on the two chairs with nothing but the darkest darkness around them.
"I am the who tempts,"
Hyde's lips moved but all Hao Xuan could hear was a high pitched noise that drowned out everything else in existence.
"I have as many names as there are stars, as many titles as there are ways to die,"
"I am _____"
The scene before Hao Xuan's eyes suddenly changed as the smell of blood, burnt flesh, and hair hit him head-on.
Shouts of the elderly begging for mercy for their young, praying of women from gods that never answered, the cursing of strong-willed warriors, and screams of children crawled into his ears.
He couldn't actually 'see' anything but it wasn't hard to imagine upon hearing their voices. A vivid image appeared in his brain and a single word embedded itself in his mind.
His lips moved and he muttered the word in real life.
"_____"
The fire in the stove extinguished and all the formations of the portable camp stopped for a few seconds.
Jin Wang's eyes contracted as he spun around and stared at him with wide eyes.
There was black blood leaking from Hao Xuan's eyes, nose, and ears. Jin Wang broke out in a smile.
"I knew it wouldn't be boring with you," he said gleefully.
*Wooosh*
Hao Xuan woke up from his daze. He looked around the room and everything was still the same. Nothing had moved an inch. He looked at Hyde who was sitting on the opposite chair looking at him with half a smile.
"Or I am just 'Hyde', a figment of your imagination," his voice went back to normal.
"Why.....are you....here?" Hao Xuan asked in a voice so light that it was barely audible.
"No real reason. I felt something interesting so I came over to check. Don't worry about it too much. What you need to know is that I don't really want to hurt you. You have so much to do, such a long journey ahead of you. It would be such a shame if something happened before you played your part," he replied in his usual gentle tone which was such a contrast to the one from before.
"Then....what did you do my other personality?"
"Hm? What personality?" he asked, confused.
"T-The good...or whatever that was supposed to be here....you said that-"
"Oh? Did I say something like that?" Hyde scratched his chin with a pondering expression.
"When I came here, this place was empty. There was nothing left," he mumbled.
"....."
"What about the other one? The one in the left door? Can you....kill it?"
"Kill!? Hahaha," Hyde roared with laughter to the point of becoming teary-eyed.
It was a good minute or so before he gradually came to a stop.
"Well, I could probably, but it would be counterproductive. Anyways, enough talk. I need to rest," Hyde waved his hand and Hao Xuan was pushed out of the room.
With a loud bang, the door closed on its own.. Hao Xuan sat there in deep thought for over 20 minutes until he felt something move his physical body.