Chapter 3: Incarceration.
Xerath returned from his mind only to find his body had been imprisoned in chains of both physical and magical origin.
He saw the Great Seers of Shurima standing over him, each with hard faces and cold eyes. There were others with the same faces but with eyes that burned with sheer hatred. He then realized that they were all focused on him. He could hear screams of hatred from outside of the sandstone hall in which he was housed, those screams laden with sadness and even greater hate. One of the Great Seers lifted and dropped his staff, silencing every scream with the resounding clink of the metal on stone.
"XERATH!" The Great Seer roared,
"I knew that you always were ambitious, but the horror you have unleashed upon this land is greater than any abomination that even the most ancient of Seers would ever have witnessed! You then decided to create another disgusting horror in the very same day! If you have any iota of intelligence left inside that crystal body, then I hope you realize that there is no punishment that has ever been conceived to be able to equal these crimes!"
"But there is one that comes close, or two if you will." The Seer's face changed from a barking dog to a cat's smirk so fluidly that it would send a shiver down Xerath's old spine.
"The Magus Catenas and the Archa Temporem!" The Seer roared triumphantly.
Xerath's old eye's would have widened ten-fold at this declaration. The Time Coffin was one of the most devastating sentences a Mage could be given, as it was similar to being buried alive for the rest of one's days. The legends of the Magus Catenas were also true it seemed, but why had the Great Seers declared that the artifact had existed and was not simply legend?
The crowd roared with excitement at this declaration. The horror would be sentenced to death with no chance of escape, with his mind wide awake for the entirety of his remaining lifespan all the while having his magic contained to the point where he could not even move a dust particle with his magic.
As the Chains were placed on him, Xerath could feel his magic being drained into the central core of heavy orichalcum. Each of the four chains of the circuit would harbor the magic, and deny any hope of Xerath generating and storing any additional magic. As soon as the first chain was placed and the activation chant done, Xerath's body was paralyzed. The next chain was placed and the plasma conduits connecting the crystal pieces and his eyes dimmed. The third chain slowed Xerath's thoughts to a pace of a tortoise. As the final chain was activated, the remainder of the cerulean lightning faded and the white blue flame of his eye sockets faded.
Xerath could no longer sense anything coming from outside.
He would be trapped in his own mind for the remainder of his life.
But his life was far, far longer than the most ancient of Great Seers could even imagine as well.