The Silver-Echo Sea was deathly quiet, as always. No ripple moved its dark waters, a damn near perfect reflection of the red sky above it. That didn't mean it was peaceful, for almost all of its activities took place underneath the warped mirror. It was part of Tahl'karrser after all. Creatures bustled, fought, plotted and schemed within the water, craving to one-up each other more than anything in the world.
When a speck fell from the sky towards the water, it was almost like the water reached out to catch it, swallowing it whole without being disturbed.
Things ending up in the Silver-Echo Sea wasn't unusual. Both those of the Gilded Peaks and Naraka tended to leave things on the beaches or cliffs to the Silver-Echo to be swallowed up by the sea, hoping they would end up lost and forgotten under its reflective surface. Even things falling from the sky wasn't the most unusual event.
People falling from the sky was a little less common, though. Those would only end up that way if they were cast there, banished with reckless abandon, or fell from grace. Few dared forget Demiurge's arrival. This wasn't an angel, though. While human shaped it was far too small, less than 2 feet tall with wings of a dragonfly, with blonde semi-long hair and a feminine frame.
The sprite, battered, bruised and barely breathing, was lucky that the Sea caught her, else she might've found herself splattered on the mountains' rock face or twirling trunks of the neighboring territory. Then again, it might be difficult to consider the fate of surviving a fall into Hell lucky, especially when the alternative to death was to disappear forever to a place rivaling the Abyss in degrees of imprisonment.
Fortunately her suffering would end soon anyway. Without air to breathe, she would perish regardless, her corpse soon to be a new souvenir, accessory or even snack to the true inhabitants of the sea.
It seemed however that suffocation was too kind of a fate for this soul too.
A clawed hand took hold of the tiny body, and upon finding it alive, poked said hand back out of the water to ensure her the breath she needed.
The sprite for her part regained some measure of consciousness upon being grabbed, though she was clearly weak. Green eyes squinted open, confused as to her surroundings or the water her lungs were lazily trying to expel from her body with weak coughs.
When her eyes managed to focus, she saw two bulging golden eyes, pupils slit horizontally, just barely poking out of the water, accompanied with a wide toothy maw. It vaguely resembled a toad. “What a lucky find. What brings such a cute little thing all the way over here?”
“Why do you care?”
The creature looked displeased. “Just curious, fragile little thing. You'd be best to make friends around here if you want a chance to make it to shore.”
Green hues darted back and forth. There was water as far as the eye could see in every direction, and she could barely move let alone fly past the horizon. She couldn't help but feel obligated to try. Maybe she'd be able to find some floating debris to rest and recover on.
“Will you be bringing me?” she asked, carefully reaching for her needle without being spotted.
"Not for free, and sorry princess, but the price keeps going up.”
As if she had anything of value on her in the first place, especially to this thing. All she had left were her single name and the clothes and weapons on her back.
Then she noticed something break through the water, liquid clinging to keep it under as long as it could before the object broke the water tension. A small pop sounded as the water smoothly slithered down the body. It was some other creature, black and with a long neck, somewhat eel-like in the shape of its head. It was yet bigger than the toad currently holding her.
“Should you be worried?” she asked as she nodded in the direction of the new arrival.
The toad huffed, before it halfway turned to look. It startled at seeing the eel-like monster, only to let out a pained cry when the sprite jammed her needle into the toad's hand. The larger monster locked eyes with it.
The sprite used the pain and diverted attention to flee the grasp she was stuck in. Yet the blasted toad still cared enough to swat at her and hit her, causing her to release a pained cry as she tried her damndest not to get tossed back into the water, nearly failing as she focused on distancing herself from the toad.
In the meantime, the largest creature had approached rapidly, head diving into the water as if bobbing for an apple. When the head pulled back up, it was with an arm in its maw, which gorged the appendage down quickly before returning for more.
The sprite watched as she struggled to stay in the air, thinking. She was entirely too small for this creature to care about her, right? Some of its teeth were longer than she was tall. She wasn't worth the energy it'd take to catch her.
Fluttering down to behind the creature, she found that it was more than just head and neck, a large flat body resting just under the surface, four fins and a tail allowing it to maneuver efficiently. She carefully landed on its back, and the water actually parted around her. She wasn't sure why, but wasn't complaining as she sat down to rest. She was so sore from head to toe, and that toad smacking her might've bruised her wing on top of that. She had to stay alert. Once the monster was done its meal it might've turned to her. Everything was so heavy, though…
Sitting quickly turned to lying, and eyes fell closed immediately after.