Hao Xuan gave the others some time to get ready.

He went inside the giant tree trunk and inspected the living spaces of each barbarian just to make sure none of them had been affected by the creature already. That was how it operated, it could get into people's heads and make them do things they would normally never do.

And more often than not, the infected individuals would start to make symbols and write strange things before walking off into the night and never coming back.

Even though Hao Xuan did not have a name for it himself, the barbarians were more than willing to give it one.

They called it a "Djinn".

Hao Xuan was quite surprised to hear that name, and understandably so. He had come across the name back on earth more than a few times during one of the random google searches.

After inquiring about it in detail from Isak and Burak, he found quite a lot of similarities between the entities they were referring to and the ones he knew as such.

Back on earth, it was believed by Arab nomad tribs that the Djinn were another race of beings that dwelled alongside them in abandoned places, in the forests, deserts, and the mountains where no one else lived.

They could not be seen or heard under normal circumstances unless they 'chose' to show themselves, and were hence referred to as the "Unseen Ones".

It was said that they used to walk among us but something happened in the past that separated their and our worlds into two.

If it was to be believed that humans were created from clay, then the Djinn were created from smoke and fire. They had otherworldly powers that could sometimes even encroach on the level of the divine.

Most of them could shapeshift and travel vast expanses in the blink of an eye. They could foretell the future and have knowledge that was all but lost in the river of time. Their lifespans were much longer and the scope of their abilities had no real limit.

They were intelligent, even more so than humans. Had their own tribes, religions, world orders and normally would not interact with the world of humans.

They were referenced in many other cultures and religions under a plethora of different names that were essentially referring to the same entities. Spirits, Demons, Genies, Ghosts, etc.

The Arabs believed that just like all other beings, there were good ones among their ranks and bad ones.

The good ones would go out of their way to help humans but the bad ones would also do the same. It was widely accepted that the "Demons" were actually Djinn's that had become corrupted by following the Devil.

The bad Djinns, like the good ones, had different ranks and levels of power.

Some minor, mischievous ones just liked to mess with humans in small ways like, moving where they had placed everyday objects for example, or making some not-so-strange sounds that could both scare and confuse people, opening and closing doors and windows that could be attributed to the wind or something natural.

They thrived in obscurity and liked it when humans were uncertain of their existence.

'Is it the wind or...is someone in the other room banging on the door?'

But the truly evil ones could do so much more. They wanted to inflict pain and instill fear into their victims. Without any rhyme or reason, they tortured anyone unlucky enough to cross their sights.

Possession, curses, showing their victims terrible things to make them lose their sanity and go mad. These were just some of the tricks they enjoyed pulling.

The Barbarians believed many of the same things about them, that the 'Djinn' were spiritual beings that lived in the darkness and uninhabited lands.

Burak thought that by going into the mine they had trespassed on its land and angered the djinn that was living there. It was now seeking revenge on them because of that but Hao Xuan knew that was not the case.

The records he found were at least a few hundred years old if not more and the people living then had gone through the same thing. But it was better that the barbarians believed their version of the events because otherwise, they might lose the fight before it even began.

Hao Xuan did warn them though that whatever this thing was, Djinn or otherwise, it was very powerful.

After making sure nothing was out of order, Hao Xuan sat down cross-legged in the middle of the hollow tree trunk.

"Baracus, is it ready?"

*Beep*

'Affirmative. The last rune was 'engraved' just a few hours ago.'

"Alright, I'll do the first test run now and if everything is good, proceed with the plan like we talked about without coming out."

'That would be the optimal method, yes.'

Hao Xuan closed his eyes as his conscious entered his body. The sights kept changing until he could see the bones of his left arm. There were markings all along the length of the bones, going up to the shoulder blades and connecting to the right arm.. In total there were 24 such markings.

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