Paradise Lost (JSAB)

Termination of the Cascading Sevcon

1020 hours, Random island in the West, 7 kilometres away from Mount Clearwater and 4 kilometres away from Fresh

In the glass cage, a delirious Neptune stared down at the four humans. What were they doing? It's dangerous! The corruption will kill them!

Earlier on Caspian tried to haul himself onto the island, using his two arms to carry himself across the grass, desperate to save Neptune. He still clearly remembered seeing the rippling, strained muscles along Caspian's back, the lack of moisture on his skin, and the anguished, near-suicidal look in his eyes. Like he couldn't believe what the demon king had done to his best friend, not afraid to die if it meant saving Neptune from that horrible, horrible fate. First he permanently mutilates his eye, then he leaves him out for one of the slowest and most painful deaths a merman can face.

Just as he got too close, however, a large orb twice Caspian's size sprouted near him, purely pink.

Since he had no legs, and thus had very limited movement - Caspian was very quickly burned and injured by the corruption. Eventually more and more particles of pink hit him so much that he could barely move from the pain. His skin was a raw, throbbing shade of red that Neptune knew had to be agonising. A final blast from the Corruption kicked him back into the ocean - and he still hasn't resurfaced. His hat was blown off as well, and it floated on the surface before slowly sinking. Neptune prayed he was okay, since now he must be weak and slow and very very vulnerable to any Corrupted.

A/N: Worth mentioning at this point that Caspian was a gift to me from a friend. She wanted to make OCs for me so I asked her to make a Human Crescent Moon, an Angel Cloud, and a Merman Anchor. Not wanting them to go to waste I decide to include them in Paradise Lost, but sadly Crescent and Cloud couldn't make it in :(

Seeing that happen to his best friend, who was strong and fast and a great white shark, made him lose hope.

And how these humans have appeared, likely wanting to save him.

This is stupid! Mermaids were supposed to save humans, not the other way around! And besides, what were they going to do up against THIS? Punch it? Neptune wanted to cry, both from the despair and the stinging pain in his lungs. He needed water. He needed water now. He could feel himself spazzing uncontrollably due to the lack of it. Every single cell in his body was starting to break down from the dehydration. The fact that he could literally see the ocean before his eyes did NOT help.

Drying out for a Mermaid feels the same way as a human drowning, only for a much much longer period of time before they die. In Neptune's case - he'll last half an hour while an average human can survive for three minutes without air. So in a way - dying of thirst for a mermaid is worse than a human drowning due to the prolonged period of suffering, but also better at the same time due to the larger window of opportunity for them to be saved.

"Please..." He rasped, even though he knew that the humans wouldn't hear him. "Jus'... Run... I'm goin' t'die... Y'all goin' t'die..."

The merman intently watched the humans, praying that they would abandon their mission. It hurt Neptune more knowing that people were trying to save him only to fail to do so in time, than if nobody were to come and save him.

But as he watched them - something extraordinary happened.

One of the humans, the one with green hair, disappeared and reappeared three metres away, like he teleported. Trailing behind him were little green particles.