Two weeks. It felt like an eternity, yet the passage of time was marked only by the slow, steady return of Stephen's warmth and the disappearance of the sickly, obsidian-veined corruption that had nearly claimed him.
He was, finally, cured. It was all thanks to the coordination between the healer mages and the expertise of Miss Kagame, the renowned alchemist. It was Miss Kagame who had performed a minor miracle in a vial, a potent, shimmering medicine painstakingly formulated to neutralize the dark magic at a cellular level, halting its ravenous spread throughout Stephen's body. While the medicine battled the poison, the healer mages focused their energies on sealing his wounds and mending the very fabric of his damaged soul.
