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Chapter 735: The Dawn

"Son, can you hear me? I'm here!" the voice called out again from somewhere in the fog, sounding a little relieved.

Niko jumped to his feet so quickly that he almost dropped the hatchets. He definitely recognized that voice, it jogged his memory with flashes of his late father.

The man had gone missing along with a few others during one of the missions when Niko was just a young boy. That was almost 17 standard years ago and they were all presumed dead, for obvious reasons.

"Father...is that really you?"

"Of course it is me, little oak. Who else could it be?"

Niko's eyes widened from disbelief. "Little Oak" was the nickname his father had for him because of his sturdy physique. No one other than his mother knew, no one else.

"But how....are you here?"

"I don't know. My memory is a little hazy and I can't remember much. The last thing I remember is leaving for that mission to the ancestor's resting place..."

The Ancestor's resting place was referring to one of the four pyramids that were scattered across their world.

"But..."

"I need your help son, I'm stuck here. Help me get back to your mother, your old man is tired..."

Niko didn't even realize that he had already left his post and was moving towards the voice. It didn't consider to him how outrageous the situation was and how nonsensical it sounded. It was like he was a naive little kid again that just wanted to see his father.

He picked up the pace and was soon sprinting at full speed through the foggy forest.

"Father, where are you?" he called out over and over but there was no response anymore. Niko looked behind him and couldn't even see the fires around the camp anymore, and it was at this point that he suddenly 'woke up'.

"Eh? Where am I?" he looked around frantically. It was as if a veil had been lifted off of his eyes and he could see and think clearly again.

"Son, tell me..." his father's voice came again, this time from somewhere closeby, "Are you...still afraid of the dark?"

Niko tightened his grasp around the hatchets as he surveyed the surroundings. For the first time in a long time, he felt afraid again. He recalled moments of his childhood when he couldn't sleep alone because of that thing that slept under his bed.

"Who...no, WHAT are you?"

"Do you not even recognize me anymore, little oak? Do you really hate me? Is that why you didn't even look for me?"

The direction of the voice kept changing, one second it was coming from the left and the other from right below him.

Enraged by the line of questioning, he refused to even respond.

"You don't scare me, spirit!" he shouted hatefully.

"I know your tricks, your games, creature! You're nothing more than a shadow, a remnant of a long-forgotten past. You hide in the darkness because you are afraid of the light. Your tricks mean nothing to me. You, just like all your kin, hold no power over us!" he barked at the churning fog hoping to get a reaction out of it, and a reaction he got.

It was complete silence for a few seconds when without a warning, the entire forest came alive.

"HAHAHAHA!" a peal of roaring laughter sounded in every single direction. From the lush green trees to the old fallen leaves, they were all laughing at him. It continued for a little over five seconds before coming to an abrupt stop.

A stillness fell over the forest again.

"You are still all the same," the voice came again. This time it didn't belong to his father. It was completely neutral and Niko could distinguish neither its age nor gender. The hoarse voice continued.

"A shadow...you say?" it sounded intrigued, almost as if reminiscing about the past, "You are not wrong. We were in the shadows once but only because we were told to be. We lied low just long enough until your knowledge dissipated. Until the ones that led you towards the "righteous" path slowly passed into the ether and with them, all your knowledge was lost."

The air became heavy with trepidation.

"And with time, our very existence faded into the noisy little worlds you make. We became spirits, shadows, whispers, and myths, whatever we needed to be. But that time has long since passed."

*Thump*

Niko swiveled around to face the source of the noise. The fog churned again before parting, giving way to a dark figure. It was just a head floating at the same height as him. But he recognized the face, it belonged to the last barbarian that had gone missing.

Its eyes were pitch black as it gazed into his own. Its dry lips arched into such a wide smile that it drew blood that trickled down its chin and dripped onto the ground. Its voice became raspy and low-pitched.

"One by one we have awakened, answering the old call as our Grand Princes come of age. The fight is due, and when the winner is decided, we will have the final war. It is only then you will truly know what hides just beyond the limit of your comprehension. Because they too will reach out to you, wherever you may be."

The head started to rise into the air until it towered over Niko who couldn't even move a single muscle anymore. It looked down on him with both pity and sorrow in its empty eyes as its mouth continued to widen with every word it uttered.

Niko watched in horror as its four-meter wide maw came ever so close. He couldn't even pay attention to its words anymore but that did little to dishearten the djinn. It was then that he realized that the voice was actually coming from somewhere behind the head.

"The age of man must now come to its intended end. With my arrival and those of my kin, the last bell has already been wrung. The light dims on your empires as the new dawn approaches. One that will usher in an era of bloody darkness worthy of the final hour."

"It is the Dawn of the New World!"

*Chomp*

And all the light vanished from his world.