The Dawn of the New World



[But in return you will also do me a few favors whenever I ask. Do we have an accord?]

"We do," she smirked while standing up with a newfound vigor.

She motioned for him to follow behind as she made her way through the labyrinth of shelves and tables. Claudia tried to stand up but the chair she was sitting on came to life and pulled her back in.

"You stay, the place where he is going is not for the likes of you," the Old Witch's voice carried over.

Claudia looked at Hao Xuan for confirmation and he nodded, [Rest, all will be well] before going after the witch.

Candles and lanterns hanging by the sides began to light up by themselves as they made their way through the mess while most of the inanimate objects moved out of the way on their own.

And seeing as she wasn't going to bring it up Hao Xuan asked himself, [How will I come back?]

"Your new steed is bringing something that will make that much easier. But before that, we have to deal with the formalities."

Hao Xuan could feel her grinning without even looking at her face which made him more than a little uncomfortable.

[How so?]

"You will take your vow before the Old Ones and cement your servitude for all of eternity. Here," she came to a stop in front of a door that was sealed in a tapestry created by some kind of leather and being held together by a long chain of crescent-shaped bones.

The horrid smell it gave off was enough to make any sensible person run for the streets but he was too far enamored with its unique aura. Because of his extremely heightened spiritual powers Hao Xuan could sense things that not many others could.

And what caught his eye were the bones that the chain was made out of.

It didn't look sturdy by any stretch of the word but it was the shape and size of the bones that made Hao Xuan frown. Those were hyoid bones located in the throat of most humanoid species. And judging by their size, the victims they were taken from should have been around 5-10 years of age at most

He extended a hand to send out a few spiritual threads and the moment they came into contact with the bones he saw visions of their last moments.

Children tied to stone altars while hooded figures danced and chanted around them, burning and maiming their bodies to make them suffer as much as possible before finally cutting their throats open to take out the bones.

Hao Xuan withdrew his hand, listening to the screaming echoes of those hundreds of souls that were sacrificed to create this thing.

It was a stark reminder of this new reality he had found himself in. Just because they were on the same side temporarily did not mean they were allies. The Old Witch was an evil creature by nature and would not hesitate to do the same to him.

Hao Xuan had to close his eyes and take a few deep breaths to keep his emotions under control while the Old Witch casually watched from the side in amusement.

Her turbid eyes burned with a wicked light. She wanted Hao Xuan to see this, to experience what her countless victims had experienced. The more unstable his emotional state was the better it would be for her.

After a few seconds she simply mumbled a few words in an archaic language and the chain came apart on its own, unsealing the objects underneath. The tapestry was pulled down to reveal the true appearance of the door.

Unlike the horrors that surrounded it, the door itself was exceptionally ordinary. A stone frame with a simple wooden slab that needed to be pulled open.

The Old Witch extended one of her deformed fingers and tapped seven times in random places. Something clicked and the door creaked open.

"In here," she whispered in a raspy voice before stepping through.

Hao Xuan could see her old form begin to shake and unravel as she stepped into the darkness but it was held together at the end.

He took one last look around before following in her footsteps.

The moment Hao Xuan 'landed' on the other side the surroundings completely changed. He was back outside again. It was night, as it always had been in the abyss but somehow this place felt even dimmer.

There were no heavenly bodies in the sky but there was still some weak light illuminating the immediate surroundings.

"This way..." the Old Witch spoke up again.

Her voice didn't sound human at all anymore. It was a mixture of hisses, growls, and cries of newborns all being molded in a specific way to utter those words.

Hao Xuan looked in the direction she was walking in and finally saw the actual entrance of their intended destination.

There were hundreds of skeletons lining the sides of the path leading up to the staircase which was connected to a broken-down old castle. The front entrance was in the shape of a human skull. (Reference Image posted in Authors Notes and in Discord)

The witch looked over her shoulder, her head moving independently from the rest of her wretched form.

"Welcome...to the domain of the Old Ones..."

***

Author's Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

Link: / AHdSBFQ

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Reference Image Link: https:// i.pinimg .com /564x/ca/17/b3/ca17b38384f9daab28208227a237118a.jpg

Shortened Image Link (case sensitive) : https:// urlzs. com/ m1W6R