Darius felt a warmth flow around his body. His mind was alert, as it had been for the past 71 hours since Darius ad regained consciousness. 'Where am I? What is this warm liquid that I am submerged in? How did I get here?' Darius' questions were many, but there was no one to answer them. He could only wait and keep on counting the passing seconds to make sure he did not lose his mind. In fact, one could argue that he was already gradually losing his mind.

Time ticked by, and as the seventy second hour ticked by, Darius felt a sudden shift in the warm liquid that enveloped him.

Pop!

A barely audible pop resounded through Darius' ears as he felt his body drop. The warm liquid that surrounded him gave way, exposing Darius to the warm and humid air that rushed against him.

Thud!

Darius' body collided with the hard ground but he did not feel any pain. No, it felt as if he had just been hit by a mattress. It was a bit hard and uncomfortable, but there was no pain.

'But how? Last thing I remember was being shot...' Darius was confused. He tried to pry open his eyes, and his eyelids slowly parted, allowing bright, but not blinding light to filter into his eyes.

'What?'

At first, the light was bleak and unclear, but after a moment, Darius could swear that his vision had never been as clear as this before. Then before he could ponder about it any more, a strange occurrence happened.

A face that he had never before seen in his life, except in movies and animations, entered his line of sight. The elongated face that was covered in scales and the sharp reptilian eyes, along with the head crowned with a pair of short black horns.

'What the heck is happening???'

"@##$**~!"

Darius was surprised when a string of incoherent words came out of the open mouth of the reptilian face in his line of sight. A moment later, several more faces that looked different, but still similar to the first appeared over Darius.

'Impossible... Did I die and reincarnate?!' Darius' jaw was slacked as he pondered the possible reasons for this happening. 'Or maybe I'm being pranked? Am I in a coma and thinking all these things up?!'

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The strange, monstrous faces continued to speak amongst themselves happily for the next minute. They all gathered around the one that had picked Darius up, and after some time, they left to do whatever it was that they did.

Meanwhile, the one that picked up Darius proceeded to wipe the gunk and gel that covered his body with a cloth before picking him up and turning to leave.

As he was lifted up, Darius gained a much greater view of his surroundings. He was taken aback when he saw dozens of large, broken eggs that were around half a meter tall. They were an opaque white and had holes in them. Around them was a large number of squirming... things. They were reptilian and looked like the offspring of the reptiles that had been huddling around him moments ago.

'Are these... some sort of lizardmen?' Unconsciously, Darius let out a strange gurgling sound, drawing the attention of the reptile holding him.

"##@!?... little one." A string of gibberish that Darius could not understand came out of his caretaker's mouth, but at the end of the sentence, he actually understood what it said! And it seemed his caretaker was female, if the feminine tone of its voice was any clue!

Darius stared, wide-eyed, as the strange reptile female continued to speak. With each sentence, he understood more and more of the strange language that she spoke in.

The female caretaker eventually brought him out of the place where Darius had supposedly been born. Bright light bloomed all around him. A strange sight unfolded before Darius, his well developed eyes blinked rapidly as he took in the sight of the village that was around him. Many reptilian figures turned to look at him and his caretaker.

"Mirani!" A deep and powerful voice called out and arrived in front of Darius' caretaker. She bloomed with a great smile that showed off sharp and intimidating teeth.

"I have brought our child, Zafar." Darius' caretaker, which he assumed was called Mirani, said and handed Darius over to the male. "What shall we name him?"

Zafar looked down at Darius with a serious expression, as if deep in thought. He eventually spoke, "Look at his two tiny horn stubs. I can see it already, he will be a powerful one in the future. He shall be known as Falkor, the People's Guardian." Zafar grinned widely as e came to this decision. He felt a burst of pride in his heart as he stared down at Darius. Or well, Falkor now, as it would seem.

"Falkor... A wonderful name for our child." Mirani replied lovingly and Darius slowly understood wat was going on here. It seemed these two were his parents!

"Let us take him to the village chief. I am sure he will want to know that another powerful warrior has been born into our clan." Zafar said and took Mirani's hand while holding Falkor with the other. Behind them, many others emerged from the place where the newly born ones had hatched. They all carried babies of varying sizes and features. Some had horn stumps while others didn't. Some were rather active in their squirming, while others were calm.

Following Zafar and Mirani, the procession of strange, reptilian beings walked through the village. Many people like them stepped out of the many homes in the village, cheering and celebrating. They were celebrating the birth of a new generation of their kind, the future of their clan.

Before long, they arrived before a large and well built stone palace. It was adorned with a number of beautiful and elaborate paintings and sculptures.