The Dawn of the New World

He stopped a meter away from Burak and extended his right hand. The worm-like veins surrounding it straightened and started becoming thinner.

It looked like each individual vein was alive, uniquely separate beings from one another rather than a part of something bigger. They moved closer to Burak's face inch by inch who was completely unaware.

His mind was focused entirely on maintaining the shield and powering it which left him wide open to attacks, not that he was expecting to meet a foe when surrounded by his fellow clansmen.

The longest and the thickest of the veins reached around his head and connected towards the back of his neck. But he didn't notice it even when it had pierced his skin. It tried to burrow deeper into his body but could not go any further than the first layer of the skin.

His muscles were like steel and the vein could not go through them that easily, at least not without waking him up.

Jarek's eyes rolled back into their sockets as three more veins did the same, attaching themselves along the back of Burak's neck. An extremely faint bubbling sound came from Jarek's body as the veins started expanding and a stream of black liquid flowed through them, gushing towards Burak's body.

The liquid from the first vein reached Burak and diffused to other parts of his body beneath his skin since the path to his brain was blocked. But just when the other three veins were about to pump the liquid into him, an ear-splitting explosion came from the outside, and a white light charged towards the entrance.

*BOOOOOM*

Jarek, or whatever creature was inhabiting his physical form at that moment, was the only one still standing was sent rolling down to his back from the earthquake that followed after.

Burak abruptly opened his eyes and stood up, holding onto the sidewall for support. He looked towards the entrance to his right where the white light stabilized before flickering out of existence, revealing a couple of worn out and bloody silhouettes that belonged to Hao Xuan and Isak.

Isak's limp body that was hanging loosely from Hao Xuan's back slipped and he fell to the ground face first. His forearms were covered in a strange spiraling black pattern that was slowly spreading to the rest of his body.

Hao Xuan was covered in numerous small cuts and bruises that leaked blood non-stop. His chest was heaving up and down. He looked right into Burak's eyes saying, "We...have...to go...NOW" through labored breaths.

Behind them, the miasma had covered almost everything in sight revealing some vague images every other second of tall silhouettes covered in a black flame.

"GET UP! We are leaving!" Burak shouted towards the other barbarians and ran towards Isak while they gathered themselves. With a solemn expression, he carefully lifted his arms to see how far the pattern had spread.

Hao Xuan peered towards the unknown pattern as well. It looked like some kind of a tattoo. It had appeared out of nowhere right after Isak attacked.

"What is....wrong with..him?" he asked Burak who was tapping certain spots on the pattern, visibly slowing its advance.

This was the first time Hao Xuan had seen Burak so serious. Not even when he thought he was going to die did he panic this much. The pattern kept slowing and soon came to a stop.

Burak wiped his forehead that was covered in sweat and let out a breath of turbid air before standing up.

"A wicked old curse," he threw out the words before picking up the unconscious Isak in his arms.

It didn't look like he wanted to expand on the topic any further so Hao Xuan didn't bother asking. He turned around to look behind him.

Even through the thick miasma he was able to see that the wretched white silhouettes belonging to the tree creatures moving towards them once again.

Just then Burak's loud voice came into his ears.

"Let's go!"

Burak led the party this time as they backtracked and rushed out as quickly as the circumstance would allow. Hao Xuan followed after them even though no one had the time or the desire to keep an eye on him, well, no one other than Jarek, who eyed him from afar.

If not for Hao Xuan interrupting him, he could have probably infected Burak to a much larger degree.

Barely a minute after they had departed, high-pitched noises that sounded like an infant's cries echoed in the cavernous hallway and one after another multiple tree creatures crawled in.

The roots acted as forelimbs and the branches as hindlimbs as they charged into the tunnel following after Hao Xuan and the barbarians. Their speed was much faster than them and there was no doubt they would catch up before they will be able to leave the pyramid.

***

Outside the pyramid, six new silhouettes were engaged in combat with more thread-like creatures.. But unlike the battle with the barbarians, this one was much less tense as the sound of magic filled the air.