Thump thump thump.

The spiral slipped away, leaving Sebastian in the cold void once again. His mind started to fog up again. No, he tried to say. Don’t take me away. It’s beautiful here.

Thump thump thump.

The fog and darkness closed in. His mind was losing coherency. Sebastian tried in vain to move his legs, so that he might head back towards the escaping area of sensation.

Thump thump thump.

Paradise had slipped away. The abyss was taking him. His consciousness was slipping away. In the final moments, all Sebastian could think to do was scream, and his voice wouldn’t obey.

Thump thump thump.

Impact. Sebastian’s body lurched in the darkness. The reverberations of the noise ripped the numbness from him, and sensation deluged his form. The priest was cold and wet, but something weighty and warm was atop him. A human body. A living human body was with him, keeping him warm.

The warmth spread to his mouth, and he felt himself move in the void. The priest could hear a voice: a light, ringing tone, like bells. Happiness filled his heart as life was returned to it, and Sebastian did not resist. His savior had come; the Goddess herself had rescued him from the void.

For the first time, Sebastian opened his eyes. He could see her. The experience was almost too much; The Goddess was there, kissing life into him. He thought he was going to die again. All the years of fervent worship, preaching her name, believing in the face of mockery, and she had rewarded him with her love, her presence, his life. And touching him, now, of all things. The priest gazed upon his goddess with undying love and admiration, gazed upon her blazing red hair, gazed upon her soft, milky skin, gazed upon her rippling biceps.

Sebastian released a muffled scream. There was a sudden pain, and he broke away, coughing the last of the water out of his lungs and onto the sand. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, but the waterlogged suit only managed to make him damper. He peered up at Wally, who was still sitting over him, grinning with joy at having his friend back in the world of the living.

“Have you recovered?” Mortimer sat on a rock nearby, penning through the Christianson Papers while he waited.

Wally helped pull Sebastian to his feet. “Y-yeah,” he said, trying to clear his throat. “I think I’m fine.” Wally gave him a jovial pat on the back, nearly knocking him down once again.

“Good.” Mortimer jotted down something a margin on the papers. “When Ben returns, we can move on.”

“Where’s Ben?”

“He is bartering with the village nearby. I dared not enter the town, and Wally had preferred to see you live.”

Wally gave a “thumbs up.”

“Ben is attempting to acquire rations for us. Once we have them, we will depart for Rasfamein. There is a woman there that I must meet.”

Wally raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“No.” Mortimer replied.