She hated this place.
The water whizzed past so fast the fairy’s eyes struggled to adjust to the rapidly decreasing lighting in spite of their usual function.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here~?” A rich, masculine voice sounded, before her eyes finally caught up. She was face to face with some kind of sea serpent. It was dark dark blue and black in colour, with a deeper blue fin-like hood and green and purple eyes. Its long arms are its only limbs, possessing matchingly long webbed fingers and claws twirl daintily, clearly some kind of arcane component. “A lost little fairy all the way in the center of my ocean. You don't happen to have seen who killed my pet, did you?”
The sprite glared and rolled her eyes, unable to move otherwise and not dooming herself to drown that easily.
The serpent waited for an answer with an unamused squint, before realising his error. “Ah, yes of course! Your sky wings and long legs need air, don't they~?” he teased, clearly enjoying the amount of control he had. A quick nod of his head sent something - she hadn't bothered checking what - away into the darkness while the serpent dragged her and the corpse in a similar direction.
Not a moment too late, the something - it turned out to be an octopus of some kind - returned with a strange glass jar. The serpent then isolated the sprite from his restrictive waters and put her into a jar. In being placed into the container she was pushed past some kind of gooey liquid, which turned out to be a seal. The rest of the container was filled with air, to her relief.
“How's my little guest feeling now~?” the serpent asked.
Once she'd caught her breath, she sat down in the jar. “Wondering how much longer I'll go without suffocating,” she muttered quietly. There could only be so much air in this thing and she was going through it quickly.
“As long as I want you to~. It's magical.”
“... Oh.” She wasn't sure what else to say.
He grinned as he held her up. He was about four times her size from what she could see, so probably longer than that. Then he started swimming again. “Now, about my earlier question. What brought this Surface Stalker to its early demise? Did you happen to see it?”
She could lie. Say that it was already dead when she got there. “That depends on your answer,” she responded.
There was a soft chuckle. “I don't think you have enough bargaining power to set the conditions,” the serpent explained, claw poking the smallest holes into the magical seal at the top and letting the water drip in.
The fairy paused as she watched the droplets hit the bottom of the jar and splash her. “Stop it! Fine! I killed it,” she caved, begging the seal be closed.
He burst out laughing. Of course he didn't believe her.
Rising to her feet, she banged her fists against the glass. “Hey! I gave you your answer!”
The laughter died down when his attention was demanded, and he hesitantly closed the seal. “Alright, firecracker. Please enlighten me how you killed something that outweighs you one to a million~?” he asked, clearly still not convinced.
She huffed and crossed her arms, before wincing and groaning from the pain. The pure adrenaline that had been keeping her going was starting to wane and all the aches were fighting to be in the forefront of her mind. She had to put on a brave face. She couldn't look weak now. “It tried to eat me. I tore myself out of there before it could succeed at anything more than swallowing.” To prove her point, she drew her blades briefly.
Raising his eyebrow, the serpent moved the corpse to investigate, before barking something to the strange octopus, which went on to inspect more thoroughly with its tentacles. The two carried on a small conversation in a language she didn't understand, probably Tahlic.
When the serpent returned his attention to her, it was with a soft chuckle. “Well what do you know, it might actually be plausible. Sure explains why you look like you've stared Marduk in the eyes and yet refused to follow his crook. What a fierce little warrior we have here. Pray tell, give me your name.”
As she was about to speak, he interrupted her. “Actually why don't I introduce myself first? I am King Dagon the Slithering Shadow, ruler of the Silver-Echo Sea. We're right near my home: Castle Dynophrorion.”
As Dagon continued to swim, a structure did indeed become visible. It was huge, even for him, let alone her, seemingly made in the shape of a gem cluster, but made of a reflective metal instead.
She didn't want to tell this guy his name, but if he truly was the actual ruler of this domain she was absolutely screwed even more than she thought before. If she wanted to survive, she was gonna have to obey him, or at least not give him the cold shoulder. What a pest.
“You may know that my name is Étaoin” she started carefully, “but if you intend to take it from me you might as well drown me.”
Dagon hummed, genuinely considering the options as the castle doors parted for them to enter.
“Very well, then I will give you a new name, how about that~? Pet? You did kill my last one… or maybe… Bug! I'll have you made a little doll house to match! You'll have a cute home and we can play together, doesn't that sound fun~?”
The sprite dreaded being stuck at the whims of this creature. “Sure…” It wasn't like she had another choice.
“Splendid~!” The two entered what Étaoin could only assume to be the throne room, based on the massive bedded structure in the center. “Say, Bug, where do you want your little house? We could put it in the wall over on the left or the right? Or maybe I can put you right next to me like a desk! Nevermind, that's definitely the best way to do things. Though…” Dagon paused to think, “we should really patch you up, huh? You're not gonna be turning any heads looking all messed up like that. At least, not in the way I want to~.”
For being a fiend this thing certainly had the chatterbox of a fae. All he was missing was veiled tricks and promises, not that she wasn't keeping her ear out for that kind of stuff. “What do you suggest?” she asked cautiously. The idea of getting to look less beaten meant getting to recover from her injuries, and that almost sounded too good to be true.
There was a soft hum as the case was placed next to the cushioned throne, before Dagon revealed a small cabinet hidden behind the pillows. “What shouldn't I suggest? A fresh water tank for you to hydrate and clean all the salt out, some real food, clean clothes, and maybe the best thing to start with: this.” As he finished his sentence, he revealed a flask to her, filled with a red liquid.
Étaoin recognized a healing potion when she saw one.
“It does seem pretty big for you though, doesn't it?” Dagon asked, holding the flask next to the enclosure. It was like a barrel for her.
The sprite sighed, leaning against the glass and tensing up at the contact of her wing against the glass. There was no way to exist that wasn't extremely painful right now. “I wouldn't be able to finish it, no. I guess I'll just have to rest and heal naturally…”
“Oh my little Bug, we aren't waiting for that, that would take forever. Let me try and concentrate this, it shouldn't be too hard and would take a few hours, instead of a few weeks,” he said. The same octopus fiend came by again to take the potion away. “In the meantime, let's talk about what you want in your new home, and what kinda new clothes you want~.”