The Ocean Siege | Vol.2, The Eldenarian Artifacts ✓

28.

Heaving, Sebastian shot upward. His shoulder and chest felt like someone poured molten lava inside them. Wincing, he looked around frantically.

His vision hadn't fully come back yet. A few blurred faces stared back at him. He could tell they were confused. He was in the same boat. There was no way he should've been alive. The poison should've killed him.

It had sent him straight down to Nordor, but somehow, he had returned to the realm of the living.

Mauvorin's words echoed around him.

"The time for your death has not come yet."

What did that mean?

A pair of small hands pressing into his opening wound ripped him from his thoughts. A shooting pain rippled throughout his aching body. He released a loud scream and shied away from the person touching him.

The feeling was unbearable.

But that meant he was alive. And he couldn't be any happier.

Gritting his teeth, he glared up at the person prodding his shoulder. He resisted the urge to sob at the sight of the platinum-haired, bronze-skinned beauty. A determined expression consumed her face. His blood stained her fingers, but she didn't seem to mind—which surprised him. He hadn't pegged her to be someone who was comfortable around blood and gore. She was a princess straight out of a fairytale book. He assumed anything not involving fashion, relaxing, and being tended to disgust her. Obviously, that wasn't the case.

As he stared at her hands, he noticed a faint, blue aura emitting from her palms. Her mark pulsed with ethereal light.

Sweat formed above her brow. Her nose was scrunched up and her lips were drawn into a small, thin line. She noticed Sebastian staring and smiled weakly at him.

"Siren," he breathed out.

She nodded. "I'm here. Now, please be still. I'm almost done."

He figured she was the reason he'd been pulled out of Nordor. Somehow, she'd gotten the silverbane to stop attacking his heart.

"W-What are you d-doing?" he croaked.

Siren ignored him and lifted her hands above his shoulder. The blue glow in her hands grew brighter. As he studied the magic, he realized a coating of water swirling around her hands. It shaped around her fingers like a glove. Faint, black lines—like ink from a pen—lingered within the water.

"Remedios aquos." Siren chanted the charm under her breath repeatedly. The magic in her hand pulsed with each utterance of the incantation.

Sebastian immediately tensed. He tried his hardest to suppress the scream rising from the depths of his chest, though, he couldn't stop the whimpers from escaping his lips. Screwing his face, he attempted to ignore the pain.

He was failing miserably.

Imogen stomped up to Siren, concern on her face. "Stop! You're hurting him!"

The princess' sisters stepped in between the Ordinaire and Siren. They pushed Imogen back.

"She's healing him," Ariana told the girl.

"Please, do not interfere," Geneva finished.

Siren, unfazed, continued working on Sebastian. "I have to pull all the silverbane from his core. If we had the proper materials here, I could've made him a tea to flush it from his system but..." She shook her head. "This is the only way I know how to save him." She continued reciting her charm.

Sebastian watched as more traces of the toxin left his body. His arm still hurt, but the pain in his chest was beginning to subside. With his eyelids fluttering, he turned away from the sight of Siren extracting the poison and faced Imogen.