The Dawn of the New World

It was an ivory horn with intricate ritualistic carvings going along the outer edge. He twisted the top open and emptied its contents out in a nearby glass cup. Hao Xuan craned his neck to get a better look at the liquid.

It was clear for the most part, not looking any different from ordinary water when inspected from the side but his brow furrowed upon noticing a tinge of black on its surface.

"Do you see it?" Lord Jyothi questioned, getting a nod in response from Hao Xuan.

Impressed, he couldn't help but let out a smile, "Alas, if only you could have been there. It wasn't anything special, she cast a minor curse on the only watering hole we had access to. The curse itself was as simple as it gets and anyone with a high enough soul power would be able to sense something was off. But in a place with only one source of water that was a death sentence."

"Dispelling it was also straightforward, almost condescendingly so. A single drop of water from a foreign water source would remove the curse altogether," he proved the last part by pouring water from another cup into the first one, expelling the dark aura in its entirety.

"As for the people already affected by it, they could be slowly cured by boiling any medicinal herbs grown from the cursed water and feeding the liquid to them. Isn't that laughable?" he picked up the glass cup and slowly poured it on the floor.

"The answer to all our problems was right there at our feet, a stone throws away outside the city walls. That's her thing you know, she takes pleasure from torturing others over the simplest and smallest things."

Hao Xuan could only shake his head in response to the information. But strangely enough, even though he hadn't known the old witch that long, somehow it sounded like something she would most certainly enjoy doing.

'But now I know what to do. A city somewhere within the thirtieth layer of the abyss led by a man with bright red hair. I will find you in the past,' he said to himself, letting the atmosphere become heavy in their silence.

Thankfully the awkwardness didn't last too long since Lord Jyothi picked up the chains and placed them on the table in front of Hao Xuan, changing the topic for good.

He pointed at the metal blocks that would soon go around his wrists.

"There are over two dozen seals placed within these pieces that are all controlled by the runes within the collar. Whoever holds the corresponding runes will have full control over the apparatus."

Hao Xuan tried to sense the runes he was referring to but to his inexperienced eyes, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

'I assume she will be the only one who will have the 'key' to this. And if I'm not wrong she has already used this method in the past so when I go back, the past version of her will be able to pick me out of the crowd without any trouble by recognizing her handy work. Or maybe there is a tracking system built into it, that sounds more feasible.'

Lord Jyothi pointed towards the five notches on the collar, "I can't change much else but there is a method for me to alter some of the seals in such a way that will, temporarily, give you control without alerting her. You should be able to use your current strength for a few minutes to an hour at most before the rune gets triggered and locks it down again."

Hao Xuan's eyes narrowed, 'It all makes sense. She is purposefully trying to limit my power so I will have no choice but to go to the past and find her again to get them removed. But once she gets her hands on me there is no telling what she will do, I can't risk that.'

"Do you think it will be possible to not alert her? Or at least make it so that she can't find me?"

He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, "Truthfully...no. I can suppress it to a degree but if the restraints are taken off, destroyed, or forced open in any way she will know no matter where you are. This kind of magic is ancient. Even with all my knowledge I can barely change a few things but the core functions will be unaffected."

"I can try to add a few things but what holds and what doesn't will be all up to chance at this point."

Hao Xuan extended a hand, "Whatever you can do will be fine. I will take care of the other things as they become a problem."

Lord Jyothi hesitantly shook his hand, perplexed at the result. He thought for certain Hao Xuan would ask him to break the whole thing but...

'Why put your life in the hands of a horrid creature like that?' he couldn't help but wonder.

"My lord, if you don't mind me asking, why are you doing this? Surely you don't believe she means you well?"