The Dawn of the New World

"Not to mention those weird rituals..."

Even though no one was around, Amin's voice was so low that it was barely audible. His eyes shifted left and right saccadically as if searching for something in the rainy night.

It was pretty clear that he was genuinely afraid, even though he tried his best to deceive others using the guise of anger but in front of the perceptive eyes of Hao Xuan, he might as well have written it on his forehead.

Hao Xuan imitated Amin, looking left and right before leaning in closer.

"What type of rituals?" he asked in a hushed whisper that barely reached Amin's ears.

Amin picked up a cup and drank a mouthful, wetting his dry throat before continuing in much the same manner, as if he was about to reveal a huge secret.

"Every now and then when the weather was bad like today, raining so heavily that you couldn't even see who was walking in front of you, he would leave his cabin and go somewhere alone. At first no one really bothered about it. We thought he was just doing something embarrassing that he didn't want anyone else to know."

"So one day, we made a bet to see what it was. We made one of the locals follow him in secret. None of us wanted to risk going ourselves and since he was so kind to the natives, we thought why not. Even if he got caught it wouldn't be a big deal."

"And the next night when it started raining as usual, he followed after Tomas. We didn't know what happened exactly but after about an hour he was found trying to climb out of the pit with his bare hands, screaming like a mad man. He didn't make any sense, mumbling random things about some guy named Baʽal."

'Baʽal? Where have I heard that before?' Hao Xuan frowned, thinking inwardly.

Amin paused to meet Hao Xuan's gaze, "And do you know what happened to that native?"

Hao Xuan shook his head innocently, now actually engrossed in the story.

An eerie smile formed on Amin's lips, "That same night, he killed his entire family before slitting his own throat. But before he died, he used his blood to write a message on the front door of his house."

Amin reached out into his inner shirt pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He opened it and handed it to Hao Xuan.

"None of us can read their language so we don't know what exactly it says, can you read it?" he looked towards Hao Xuan with hope, getting an absentminded nod in response before Hao Xuan quickly snatched the paper out of his hand.

He held it over the burning coals, letting the dim light fall on the jagged words. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed in the sky, illuminating it further.

"Ba`al praeveho venit," Hao Xuan vocalized the words and just at that instant, a bolt of lightning fell just a few dozen meters away, startling them.

Both the old man and Amin fell from their stools, covering their heads protectively. Hao Xuan remained seated, simply bending down to avoid any debris coming his way.

He was distracted by Baracus's voice in his ears with whom he was currently having a conversation.

'Translate, what does it mean?' Hao Xuan had asked, to which Baracus replied the following.

'It is a combination of three different languages. The first word Ba`al is a title meaning Owner, Lord, King, or God depending on the context. It included with the other two words are all from the various lost languages of the era of antiquity. They are dead languages of civilizations long forgotten.'

'What? Then how did a mortal of this primitive world know them?'

'....Unable to answer.'

'Forget it. Can you translate it? I don't need a word by word translation, just enough to give a rough idea will be sufficient.'

Baracus went quiet for a moment before speaking up again.

'Two possible translations. 1: The Lord is flying to us, 2: The Lord of the Flyers approaches. Both translations speak of an entity's arrival. The usage of the term 'Ba`al' indicates that it is something ancient.'

Hao Xuan suddenly shot up from his seat, scaring the already frightened guards.

"W-What? What's wrong? Do you know what it means?" Amin asked, trying to get back on his feet. But Hao Xuan threw the paper at his face and ran out, leaving them with a warning.

"Leave this place at once!"

Hao Xuan retraced his steps, running back to the living quarters where Tomas resided at full speed.

"The gate is in the opposite direction," Baracus reminded seeing as Hao Xuan was heading the wrong way.

"I know."

"Then....?"

"I know what she said, the girl," Hao Xuan mumbled through heavy breaths, sludging through the mud that was coming up to his knees, "I couldn't understand her before because she was speaking another language but...I get it now. She said the same thing but used another word...a word I recognized. Ba`al followed by Zebub, she was welcoming him."

"Welcome Ba`al Zebub, or 'Beelzebub'. Lord of Flyers, one of the Eight Kings of Hell!"

***

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