Survival is for those who sacrifice (interactable if you can justify it)
Agony is the first thing the commodity prince feels upon awaking a sharp shooting agony from the compound fractures on the right side of his body, bones jutting out from his chest, right arm and right leg as he sinks into the swampy ground. He was thrown from the crash making a hard bouncing impact upon the ground, But judging by the burning wreckage that probably at least saved him from burning alive.
Not that Ali was in a much better situation currently. The scent of burning fuel intermixing with his blood. Indicated that If the prince lied here he would die rather painfullySo the prince began to crawl, dragging himself slowly away from the burning wreckage towards a nearby tree, only making it a few feet before he passed out from the pain.
When next He woke up the burning fuel was almost to him This causes him to panic crawl more ignoring the agony as he is finally able to prop himself up with a tree and crudely bandage his wounds with hardened mud manipulated by geomancy. Before finally passing out again. Hours later Prince Ali drifts awake to the sound of airplane engines and a heavy fog. Unfortunately his burning aircraft had long since extinguished itself meaning there was likely no way for guild rescue craft to see him unless he made enough noise. He searches for his flare gun, finding it on the broken side of his body and retrieving it only to find its barrel bent and its cylinder crumpled.
“Help please”
Ali gargled out coughing out fluid that had filled one of his lungs.
“Please I right here…please just don't leave I'm down here”
He could barely move let alone scream no matter how much you wanted to send something, any signal, anything the planes would notice but no matter how hard he gurgles and whispers the planes draw closer and closer and eventually pass Right over him never noticing that he was there. He was too filled with despair to stay conscious.
Thirst was the thing that rose him had been a day since he had lied here unmoving he suspected help wasn't coming anymore but still He wasn't going to break his promise at least not without strangle so he crawls forward continuing pressing himself crawling to scoop the morning due into his mouth and keep him going at her just a little bit longer. He wasn't sure but he was going to do for for food. But he had an idea for rescue make his way back towards the clearing his aircraft crashed in. Or at least he tried to before the pain was so intense that he vomited. For 15 minutes lied there staring at it but he knew what he had to do. The solid chunks were food he couldn't afford to lose so the solid chunks his own vomit he ate.
The next day was the worst. That is when it started raining and the ground was already too moist. It began to flood and he couldn't even swim normally let alone in his current state so all he could do was desperately try to scramble away from the water which rose and rose and rose until he felt something splash and figures began to approach him.
“There he is”
“Woah he is definitely in a bad way”
“...he is kinda cute”
“Time and place Tamaya”
“He look I know we're supposed to keep hidden What are you sure we can't take this one”
Scaled legs, greenish skin flowers embedded in their hair with gills and webbed hands, they were like Amani's people if they had evolved to live in a swamp.
“I mean think of the wonders he could do to our gene pool”
“Gross”
“You saw the battle, you saw him go down, you even saw the search flyers, you know the rules, people are looking for him which means we can't risk exposure by keeping him. Which means”
One of the sirens pulls out a thin hooked blade and Ali thinks he is about to die right then and there unable to fight back or run away until
“Wait, look at his arm!”
“Is that a consort mark”
“I've never seen one like that before. It probably belongs to the ocean kin…. This complicates things. It is against our rules to harm the mate of another…and I suppose it would reply to foreign mates as well.’
“Well this discussion is going to be moot if he doesn't survive”
“Do you think the healer could save him”
“She could probably save anyone.. Let's bring him over”
“Okay Hey can you hear me we're not going to hurt you We just have to be protective around these par-
Ali passes out again.
Ali is carefully picked up by the sirens wrapped into up set of vines grown magically that is used as a makeshift stretcher as he is hauled away deeper into the swamp drifting in and out of consciousness from tall wizard Tower sized trees to fields of sugarcane to finally some form of floating village anchored to trees where he is deposited into a large hut as another siren rushes over to his side…
“Gods What happened to him” The strangely kasmir like siren exclaims quickly setting Ali on a bed and starting to address his injuries cleaning and with great care setting his wounds.
“Plane crash by the looks of it, part of that battle we were talking about” The strangely tan skinned siren with purple eyes and white hair. Begins applying a strange form of red healing magic to Ali.
“Jeez So much blood okay okay im going to Do something that may be a little disconcerting but it will help you get better are you okay with that bink twice if you can hear me”
“Who…wha”
Questions for a later time the Prince determines as He does what the strange siren asks.
“Okay open your mouth”
With that the leech siren unhinges her jaw revealing a secondary set of needle like teeth designed to latch on to pray as her lamprey eel like tongue extends out of her mouth and drops a large drop of spit into his. Leach siren spit has restorative properties mainly used to prevent their prey from dying It can be used to heal under different circumstances the healer only uses it in emergencies but this certainly counted, confused and disturbed but also too exhausted to protest Ali elects to lie there while the healers methods get to work.
…
Deep within the bowels of the Dawi zarr behemoth It's ship mistress Meridia slave breaker watches the magic of the warp course through the runes surrounding her blood pool It is part of a chaos sorcerer ritual to strengthen one physically and mentally usually done before an upcoming confrontation. Meridia does it regularly because for someone of her position confrontation is potentially always right around the corner. It also gives her time to think and strategize without interruption though she does find one part of the ritual quite annoying. The focus of the ritual is that the specially crafted tusk ornamentation barely fits on her enlarged lower canines even when she is using the smallest ones. But then again she is not fully of Dawi zarr blood.
She had accomplished things she managed to cripple a Dawi relic airship as well as ensure bana Kazanis airship would probably crash but she was unable to ensure the banas capture she knew that was a failure and failure was handled harshly if you're superiors Do not think you belong in your position.
“They will not make me into a Hadrian I won't let them”
She whispers to an empty room with far too many eyes and ears. She needed a compensation prize. Something to smooth the branding into a flogging intelligence might work as well as using her men to suppress the insurgents, maybe she could volunteer to escort a supply convoy. That might help or maybe..
She stands up out of the blood pool letting the ricor run down her skin as she makes her way to the shower next to the ritual room to wash herself off. She hated cleansing herself afterwards mainly due to it revealing the scar. A symbol of her rejection of her role is Dawi zarr society of an existence who's only purpose is to please and produce heirs. She tore out the only part they valued her for and charged her sabotage for the damage but she made her own value. She beat her charges with the same bare hands she beat her husband to death with in the trial by combat. No She was a warrior just like everyone else…but What should be a mark of pride only conjures painful memories. Meridia gets dressed, ornamenting her hair with charms that granted her limited protection from mental assaults, a magical barrier to augment her armor and finally an insurance policy. Ornamentation done Meridia gets dressed and dawns her rune armor. The minimum amount of protection she wears when walking about the ship.
An iron kin is waiting rune slate in hand which she takes and accepts there to the command throne…It was rather boring mostly supply reports, repair updates and the losses as well as the processing of the rust devils. Each line of failure increases her need for a win. It is there where the idea manifests itself. She may not be able to capture the queen but she can capture the prince, a maneuver with the potential to gain the Queen If she played her cards right if not It was nice to have someone to talk to…Even if they were a hostage
“Distribute my new orders to the crew. We are to prioritize repair to the hammer and recovery efforts of the prince. All other things are to be considered secondary for the next 3 days before we return back to the desert.”
Meridia orders before taking her place on the command throne. It was going to be a long day but a boring one.
Art for the art god credit for the credit throne: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimeDrawing/s/6aSGy1Ab5G