The Primordial sea had been stowed away from the Keeper, the Pagans and all of the city before, with the completion of the Final Glyph all those years ago the waters of the Primordial Sea had not just been damned from flowing, they had been truly and completely run dry; The Second Sealing however was different.

The few precious shards of the original Primal Eye which were forsaken during the ceremony acted as splinters in the veil between the Primordial Sea and the world it sought to separate from.

While most of said fragments were in the Baron's possession, the small sliver of Primal Ice in Garrett's eye offered him a more direct link to the Primordial Sea and beyond.

Artemus insisted that he be the one to attempt to remove the shard of ice from Garrett's eye once word of the thief's condition finally reached High Keeper Orland. The council was called, the historians, scribes, researchers and even the few physicians of the Haven were called to asess and discuss what was to be done.

Orland of course 'suggested' removing the fragment from Garrett's eye, and Artemus of course fought the notion if only for his son's wellbeing. Desperate times however, called for desperate measures, and by near unanimous vote, it was decided that the thief would be put under the knife.

"You don't have to be here Pa." Garrett had said quietly as Keeper Alard prepared him for surgery, dutifully cleaning the thief's face to avoid infection, all done under the ever watchful eye of Artemus who merely scoffed at the suggestion.

"Forgive me for having little faith in Orland, or those who throw their lot in with him." The last bit was directed at Keeper Alard who took the slight in bitter stride with nothing more than a pursing of his lips.

"I was prepared to lose that eye Pa…" Garrett reminded his father gently as he was made to lay back on the table; "It would have sucked… But we would have made it, right?"

Gently and gingerly did the Keeper Alard attempt to pry the sliver of ice from Garrett's eye, Artemus wanted to be the one to attempt the surgery, just to be perfectly sure that he could do everything in his power to not damage the eye, his son's eye more than necessary… But alas, Keeper Artemus was no physician, no doctor, he could clean and bandage scraped knees and pull splinters from curious palms, soothe a flu and cure a cold. But for a prosedure so delicate, Artemus wouldn't know where to begin.

Garrett was stoic the entire time, holding still even as the scalpel gently peeled layer after layer of tissue back and away. The only indication of pain or discomfort was how tightly the thief held his father's hand.

The surgery took far less time than anyone was expecting, but that was solely because Keeper Alard found himself unable to progress. Artemus would have begun demanding answers the moment Keeper Alard finished undoing all the damage done to Garrett's eye, but being a father came first and foremost, and once again, Garrett found himself with a face covered in gauze, only one eye, and strict orders from Artemus to rest.

It was scantily a week later when the council was called once again. Keeper Alard held the floor for a long while, going over the surgery and everything he had discovered whilst scalpel deep in Garrett's skull.

What everyone initially hoped to be a simple removal of the Primal Splinter was in fact, far, far more… Complex.

It seemed that, like a seed pod nestled between cobbled stone, Keeper Alard found that the Primal Splinter had managed to root itself within the thief's head, spreading through his eye, creeping along the ocular nerves and blood vesels, reaching so deeply into the thief's head that Keeper Alard hazard only death would free the Primal from the thief, and the thief from the Primal.

Had the Haven managed to get Garrett onto the operating table within the first week of the splinter finding its home within his eyes then maybe there would have been a chance to retrieve the fragment, at the cost of the eye, of course.

But as things stood, not only was retrieving the Primal Splinter impossible without killing the thief, in all liklihood, the Primal Splinter likely wouldn't survive without the thief.

"The thief has been made a bed for this Primal Splinter." Keeper Alard explained as he offered the surrounding council members two rough sketches, the first being of what he saw within Garrett's ocular cavity.

The second, a hypothisised visualisation of what he could only assume was occurring within Garrett's very head.

"The Splinter has… Addapted to its new environment, strange as said, 'new environment', may seem." Keeper Alard carried on, his voice stoic and professional as his words delivered world-shattering blows to Artemus.

"I cannot know how far the Primal has spread within the thief. Nor can I be certain of the exact… Relationship the Primal has with the thief." Keeper Alard made a point to look anywhere but Artemus as he spoke.

"I can say with some clarity that, presently, the presence of the Primal does not seem to be having any detrimental impact on the thief. However, there is no guarantee that the relationship between host and Primal will remain as neutralistic as it currently appears."

Artemus left the hall at that. He couldn't bear to listen further.

Garrett may have been willing to lose an eye…

But Artemus was not willing to lose him.