Seven opened his eyes, or at least he thought he had.
Because all that he could see was a pitch black darkness that rendered him unable to distinguish any kind of shapes.
'H-huh? Where am I…?'
Those words refused to come out his mouth, as if his voice was also swallowed by the darkness.
More than that, he frowned, realizing he had just opened his eyes and broke his pinky promise.
But the truth is, he could not even tell whether his eyes were open or closed. The darkness was absolute, he might believe an eclipse blocked every light there is.
Seven slowly traced his memory.
'I remember... I was drinking my oldest sister's blood like a man dying of thirst in a desert. In that case, why am I in this place?'
He had initially thought the more means the merrier.
To put it simply, the more blood he drank from his oldest sister, Eden Hart, the more protection he would receive from the deities in the heavens.
Perhaps that was the reason he was in this place, that he died.
But that was only if a deity of his birthmonth, Boreas, had not answered the call of a transcendent thus not granting his body a protection.
'Have the deities finally figured out that I am not from this world? No way. This body was definitely born here, and only my soul is foreign.'
There was no reason for a deity to abandon their child, even if they had committed grave crimes if judged according to the laws of mankind.
Besides, in the novel, a deity would refuse only if the child had not been born under the month they governed.
Then again, there was no transmigrator in the novel!
Boreas must have sensed that something felt off about this child Eden wished to protect.
'Damn it all.'
Seven tried to move, but his limbs refused to obey. Even so, he could feel the strain of restraints biting into his body, as if chains held him spread out.
He could also hear the thumping of his heart, the rushing of blood in his ears, and the sound of his breathing.
His tongue tasted like sandpaper, and his nose was filled with the smell of a rotten pomegranate like it was trapped in a tomb for a millennium.
In short, he was a prisoner of his five senses, trapped in a body that felt everything but could do nothing— or perhaps not entirely nothing.
He could still move his eyelids.
'Both of my ankles, and my wrists…'
Again, he did not need sight to know he was stretched out like a specimen.
Through proprioception (a/n sixth sense), his brain was able to understand where his limbs are located, as well as where the chains binding his body are.
'Solar plexus, neck, and… my forehead. So there are 7 chains in total.'
All of them held him in place, in a place without light.
Seven closed his eyes.
It made no difference. Darkness remained darkness.
His mind became a total mess, and time became meaningless. He tried counting seconds in his head, but he lost track before long.
Until.
Thump!
His heart slammed hard against his chest, followed by a sharp pain that shot through his head like someone had shoved a finger into his brain and swirled it around.
'Uguah—!'
At the same time, a faint blue light emanated from his chest.
In the middle of that darkness, it was the only color he could see.
Thump, thump!
The light stayed for what felt like forever. He forced himself to count, clinging to the rhythm of his own heart so he would not lose his mind.
'27, 000 heartbeats in total, and that means roughly 7 hours had passed in this void.'
Slowly, more slower than a snail's pace, the faint blue glow began to brighten, accompanied by the burning sensation where the chains touched him.
Time passed, eight hours in total now.
Nine hours.
Ten.
He endured that burning pain for that long, biting his lips hard, using pain to distract himself from pain.
Soon, the blue light grew strong enough for him to see the outline of a rectangle in the distance, floating in the void.
'A door…?'
He was not sure, but it certainly looked like one.
Thump, thump, thump!
His heart continued to thump.
Aside from his eyes, mouth, and fingers, he still could not move anything— he still could not turn his head! Thus despite the light, he could not tell whether the restraints were truly chains or something else.
But the stinging from them began to ease little by little, as if something was drawing the pain out of his body.
Then.
The blue light suddenly dimmed again, shrinking until it focused only on his chest.
He couldn't see what was happening even when he moved his eyelids down, but he was certain of one thing, recognizing the familiar sensation.
That is:
'Ah. This must be the oldest sister's doing, then I may be still alive.'
He heard the rush of blood coming from all over his body and rushing back to his heart.
For a moment, he had feared his body had been torn apart, since Boreas had not seemed to strengthen his mortal form.
But somehow, he had survived, and Eden was now helping him again, this time with a zi ring.
'I wonder what she did this time to keep my body intact. Back then, I suddenly gained strength after she saved me too.'
Seven could not help but smirk.
'Heh. I really do have a cheat sheet. A dependable oldest sister.'
He had always disliked plot armor in the stories he had read, but this was beginning to look like a damn plot armor in every possible way.
'Still... what about the curse? If this fails, the price may not be as cheap as the last time.'
That smirk of him turned into a frown.
'Fudge. We might really lose our lives thi—'
Cracka!
As if to confirm his fear, the blue light was swallowed by darkness, and pain exploded through him, and it was not the pain he could endure like earlier.
After, the loud metallic sounds echoed in the void as the chains tightened in his body, one by one, pressing cruelly into his skin.
'...H-huh? Hands…?!'
Cold hands seemed to rise from each place where he was bound, crawling over his body and reaching for his chest, as though they were trying to tear something free.
'These are the hands from before…'
Indeed.
They were the same hands that had torn apart his nearly completed first zi ring back then, now they were trying to rip apart the ring Eden was forming.
The pain intensified.
It felt as though they might succeed any moment as the blue glow dimmed even further.
Thus, Seven gathered every ounce of strength he had left and opened his mouth and bit the hand reaching from his forehead.
'Like hell I would let you!'
That hand from his forehead jerked back, writhing, as if in an intense pain.
At the same time, the dim blue light flared bright again and the darkness vanished.
Seven opened his eyes, finally this time.
In the place of darkness were Eden's ocean-blue eyes, looking down at him.
"Oldest sister…"
Seven was back in the real world, and he had found himself lying once again on her lap.
Eden blinked, then leaned closer, her face only an inch away.
"Youngest, you are finally awake."
"..."
A dozen thoughts raced through his mind, and what those hands were, where that place had been, what the chains meant, and far more.
A lot of questions!
But for now, he only swallowed and smiled.
"Thank you, oldest sister. I truly appreciate this gift you have given me, even if it is early."