The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan's ears perked up, "Redeem himself? Who are you talking about?" he walked over.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Baba Jezda coldly replied while her gaze remained fixated towards the bridge.

"And he did not come here for redemption," she clarified, "Not only does he not care but he would never ask for it, such is the ego of the prodigal son of heaven."

'Prodigal son?' Hao Xuan's eyes narrowed.

Lord Yami brushed the dust off his clothes while vocalizing some of his inner thoughts.

"Then...is it possible he deserted? Maybe he could even help us if we-"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Baba Jezda barked at the foolish question, "Why would Odin's firstborn ever take our side? Of his mortal enemies?!"

Hao Xuan's hearts skipped a beat, 'Odin's firstborn?!'

"Thor- mph?!" he unconsciously muttered aloud, but Lord Yami's quick acting allowed him to silence Hao Xuan before he could finish the word.

"?!?"

Hao Xuan looked at him in shock while Lord Yami and Baba Jezda exchanged glances, "Do you think-"

But he didn't even have to finish the question since the sky darkened the very next moment due to the sudden appearance of the sea of pitch-black clouds.

Deep, rumbling thunder rolled through the realm in waves, drowning out all other sounds.

Claudia fell to her knees at once while holding her ears shut. Max's ears began to bleed but he did not have much of a reaction to that apart from, "Ah- the domain of a True God really is something else, isn't it?"

Hao Xuan was shielded from the negative side effects thanks to Lord Yami's power but even then he could feel the air becoming denser by the second.

"What's...going on??"

Even a simple task such as breathing had become laborious all of a sudden.

Baba Jezda tapped her cane thrice on the ground to create a magic circle that greatly lessened the strength of some effects allowing Claudia to get back on her feet.

"He does not know where we are," Baba Jezda commented, "-yet. But since his name has been invoked he knows we are somewhere nearby and it is only a matter of time until he finds us."

"You cannot name a divine being such as that without pulling their attention," Lord Yami pulled his hand away while muttering in a low voice.

"I didn't know-" Hao Xuan tried to explain but Baba Jezda would not have it.

"But you should have!" she scolded while pulling him close to stare into his eyes, "Your soul was merged with the rest giving you knowledge from millions of different lifetimes but...it-" she seemed unsure whether or not what she was seeing was the real, "-seems the oath and its suppressive effects have brought about some unintended changes."

"What changes? I don't feel- too different..." Hao Xuan realized halfway through the sentence that something had indeed changed within him.

He still had a lot of knowledge of the other lifetimes but it wasn't bubbling at the surface like before. Now he had to dive deep into the depths of his soul to look for them and even still some places felt too far away.

"Do not resist," she warned before abruptly hitting him on the side of his head with the cane.

Hao Xuan felt like the rug had been pulled out from under his feet as he staggered back in shock. The whole world was spinning and he couldn't get any stable footing.

"Get him up, bring him to me!" Baba Jezda ordered and Lord Yami wordlessly obliged, carefully pulling Hao Xuan up so she could force open his eyes for an inspection.

Lord Yami also leaned forward to check, letting out a surprised gasp in response after seeing his pupils separated into three different colored pieces for a brief moment.

"Three souls in one body!? Does he have the-"

"He does not, this should not have happened. From millions to one, from one to three. The weight was too much for one soul to shoulder so it separated into three...this is not good."

*RUUUUUMBLE*

A defeating boom of thunder threatened to turn the world upside down. The magic circle rotated twice before cracking in half, on the verge of breaking apart with one more push.

Baba Jezda looked around before lightly tapping him with the cane in the same spot.

"We do not have the luxury nor the time to look into this further. Once you return I will find a way to fix it before things get worse but, until then, as long as you do not draw out too much power the other soul shards should not awaken. Do you understand?"

Having barely regained his senses Hao Xuan pushed her away while rubbing his eyes, "I...do. It's not like I have much of a choice, you made sure to restrict my power with the help of these chains before we left, remember?"