The night erupted into chaos as the creatures lunged toward them, their grotesque, malformed limbs moving with unnatural speed.
Nam could feel the cold sweat on his brow, even under the freezing temperature. His rifle bucked in his hands, spitting rounds into the closest creature, but the bullets seemed to do little to slow them down. Each shot barely left a dent in their skin, which shimmered with an unnatural, otherworldly glow.
"Cover the flank!" Nam shouted, pushing forward.
Bao, ever the sharpshooter, fired a series of precise shots, his bullets hitting the creatures square in the eyes. One creature dropped, twitching violently before it disintegrated into dust, but there were more of them—too many.
"These things are tougher than we thought!" Minh yelled, his face twisted in frustration as he fired his assault rifle.
Lan had already moved into position, using the environment to her advantage. She disappeared into the mist, her form blending perfectly with the fog. A moment later, the sound of a knife cutting through air followed by a strangled scream echoed.
But just as Nam thought they might gain the upper hand, the air grew heavier, darker. The ground trembled beneath their feet, and then—the mask.
The cloaked figure appeared once more, standing in the midst of the chaos, eyes glowing ominously.
"You are nothing but pawns in a game you cannot understand," the figure said, their voice piercing through the battlefield, not loud but in their minds, invasive and unsettling.
The moment the figure spoke, the creatures faltered, their movements halting, and they turned toward the masked one with unsettling obedience.
It was as if they were waiting for some command.
Nam's mind raced. This wasn't just an enemy force—it was something more. Something… controlled.
"Move!" Nam barked.
They couldn't afford to waste time trying to decipher their adversary. Every second spent thinking was another second wasted, another creature getting closer.
The team engaged in a flurry of motion, pushing through the creatures as they fought to break the hold the masked figure had on them.
Bao laid down suppressive fire, but the creatures were already closing in again.
Lan appeared from the mist like a shadow, cutting down one of the abominations with brutal efficiency, her knives flashing in the dim light.
Minh ran forward, using a grenade to clear a path, the blast ripping apart the creatures in a fiery explosion.
But the masked figure—the one pulling the strings—was still there. Unmoving. Unaffected.
"Focus on the figure!" Nam shouted. "We take it down, everything else falls apart!"
But the moment they locked their focus on the masked figure, it was too late.
A sudden, violent surge of energy erupted from the figure's hand. A wave of force hit them all, sending the entire team tumbling back.
Nam felt his body slam against the frozen ground with brutal force, the air knocked from his lungs.
For a moment, everything was still.
Then, the voice again. The voice that didn't come through their comms but in their minds.
"Foolish humans," it whispered. "You think you can fight an ancient force with your primitive weapons? You are nothing but a flash in the pan, a flicker in the dark."
Nam's body ached, his head spinning. He could barely focus as his vision blurred.
But then, through the haze, something caught his attention.
A figure—his figure—appeared on the outskirts of the battlefield.
It was him. Nam. But… older. More seasoned. With an aura of power that emanated from his very being. A warrior unlike any he had ever seen before.
Nam's heart skipped a beat as the figure spoke, not to him, but to the masked one.
"You are not alone in this fight."
The figure lifted a hand, and the ground shook again. This time, not with fear or malice, but with the pulse of something ancient, something connected to the land itself.
The masked figure froze.
"Impossible…" it hissed.
With a roar, the ancient version of Nam summoned the very elements around them, controlling the environment with sheer willpower. Ice cracked beneath the creatures' feet, and the very air seemed to ignite with energy.
In one swift motion, he raised his weapon—a strange, glowing artifact—and fired. The blast was unlike anything Nam had ever seen, ripping through the masked figure's defenses like paper.
The figure screamed in agony, and with a final, desperate act, it vanished, leaving only the swirling mist in its wake.
The creatures, suddenly without direction, halted. They began to collapse, their forms disintegrating into ash.
The battlefield was silent.
Nam barely had the energy to stand, but his instincts told him this wasn't over.
He looked to the figure that had helped them—the older version of himself. But just as quickly as he had appeared, the figure was gone.
The only trace left was a strange, glowing symbol burned into the ground.
"Get up," Lan's voice broke through the quiet, her hand reaching for him. "We've got work to do."
Nam nodded, feeling the weight of the moment settle over him. The real battle was just beginning.