Deep in the sea and far from the surface, within the confines of a trench shrouded in darkness the remains of a ship, now rendered into nothing more than a husk of its former self, several bones in the shape of fish slowly searched through the rubble looking for a morsel to feast on.
But just as they were sifting through the rotten wood in hopes of feasting on the odd slug worm, the rubble shifted, causing the bone fish to immediately dart away as the wood moved away to reveal a face underneath.
A face that groaned in pain as its owner tried to move through the rubble to his little success much to his frustration.
"Ugh..."
Tristan felt an incredibly sporadic number of painful jolts shoot up his left arm as he tried to pry the wooden beam lodged onto his body.
And funnily or not so funnily enough, it seemed that the wooden beam had taken a liking to his left arm much to his dismay as it was now conjoined with it.
'Well if I don't die now I'm going to die of blood loss.'
Groaning as the wooden joint irritated his muscles and tickled his bone much to his abject gratitude from the ticklish sensations screaming in his mind.
"Nine Hells what the Fuck!"
Bubbles streaming out of his throat as Tristan finally dislodged the wooden beam, exposing an arm that had mostly bone and little meat on it left.
The Damage done to his left arm was so bad that it was a miracle that it was still attached to him as he saw a series of small cracks run along the exposed bone much to his dislike.
'You know, on second thought I should've kept it there, but hindsight is a bitch.'
Remembering from somewhere that he should knives in their wounds to stop the bleeding, it was to late now as he couldn't turn back time.
And he was rather keen on not stabbing himself again with the equivalent of a log to make sure that he stops bleeding.
And the chances were with his rather... 'adept' skills in moving in water he would miraculously somehow find a way to make another breathing hole.
And not the nice kind.
A voice interrupted his internal monologue as he slowly got up and surveyed his surroundings for something that would slow the bleeding although the chances were basically zero at this point since he didn't know where the hell he was and what had happened to get him here.
'But baby steps make... I forgot the rest of the quote but I should just start at the beginning.'
|Oof... Wha-a-at happ-e-ened?|
'I'm sorry, could you repeat that?' Frowning as he heard Era's voice that entered his mind, unlike the crystal clear voice from before that seemed as if she was just talking right besides him despite not actually being there.
But instead of that crystal clear voice that sounded like someone was purposely trying to get him to eargasm, the voice came out staticy and jittery, sounding as if someone had suddenly was putting interference in the air and cutting off most forms of contact.
In fact, it sounded like that one time some robbers tried emulating the greatest heist game of all time in the bank he was coincidentally at at the time.
Although they didn't have the 4 Dimensional chrysanthemum that allowed them to pull out weapons from their ass, they at the least were apprehended after a very interesting confrontation.
'I still don't understand how that cop managed to replace that robber.'
|Tr- Tr-Tristan? S-s-s-Top igno-r-r-ring m-e-e-e|
"Yeah sorry, I was just thinking." Waving away his chaotic flow of thoughts that had somehow derailed from the crux of the conversation already, Tristan turned to look around for the avatar of Era.
And only finding a floating spider that was roughly the size of a ping pong ball, the spider spoke.
|Trist-a-a-an? Y-y-you're no-t-t-t com-ing-ing-ng in cle-a-a-arly|
"Neither are you"
Watching the small spider attempt to climb up his body with rather janky movements, Tristan had to twist his head to get a full view on the small blue lined spider.
Now that he looked at it closely, was it headless?
|W-w-wait a-a-a-aa--a-a-a-a--a...|
And it cut off.
Staring at the spider that Tristan was doubtful even had a head, he slowly tried moving and felt the blood loss hit him like a truck.
'Oh god I'm anaemic.'
Stumbling in the water and nearly faceplanting into a spike of wood that jutted out next to him, Tristan made it a very clear that he didn't want to lose his eye and become one of those edgy teens that believed that there was something wrong with their eye.
The only thing was that, he might lose his if things continued the way things went.
Heck, maybe even his life if he didn't find a way to save his life although the chances of doing so were incredibly low in the first place.
"Roughly an entire day of being alive has got be a record somewhere."
Feeling his consciousness undulate like the sea, a voice, clearer than ever before poked into his head as he realized the spider was now on his head.
|Tristan, can you he-e-ear me clearly now?|
"Loud and somewhat clear."
|Good, before we talk about anything else, I suggest tha-a-a-a-at we get your arm fixed up before you die on me, Y-y-you ca-a-an only fulfil you-r-r end of the bargain i-i-if you survi-v-v-ve|
"Noted."
Completely forgetting that piece of knowledge as his brain started to receive less and less blood as it unsuccessfully pumped blood to his arm, Era had a... desperate voice he would call it? As she tried saying something to him.
|He-ey! Stay awake for me! There's a me-edicin-al plant bes-des you!|
That reminded Tristan of his Biology teacher that seemed a bit off of their rocker cultivating weed in their garden.
|Oy! Li-li-listen to me!|
Feeling a stinging sensation light up his rather dulled mind, reawakening him to all the sensations he was missing, Tristan absolutely hated it once his arm started to painfully scream in his mind.
And just when the blood loss had silenced the voices as well.
|There's some medicinal plants to your right! Just apply the damn thing to your arm before you die of further bloo-d-d loss!|
'Got it, harvest drugs, apply on arm, live, simple.'
Bonking his head on a wooden banister as he went, Tristan made his way through the wrecked ship as a glowing pot shaped plant surrounded by vines came into his vision.
|That's the plant you need!| Now sounding properly agitated as Tristan felt his eyes filter out colors, he swam towards the plant that seemed as gentle as a night light.
And as tasty as one as well.
|Oy!|
Another dose of pain flooded his system as he hurriedly moved towards the pot shaped plant that started to get bigger in his eyes.
Not as big as his little junior heh.
|Pay attention!|
Another jolt.
"Ack!"
Now ignoring the piercing pain flooding his system, the now fully semi awake Tristan quickly swam besides the plant.
"Uh... How do I drug myself?"
|Stick your left arm into it!|
"What?"
|Just do it!|
'Weird way to do things, but I've seen weirder.'
Cursing mentally despite being incredibly dubious about the pot shaped plant that glowed in the dark like some sort of poisonous fever dream causing mushroom, he immediately stuffed his arm into one of its many holes located all over its body.
Now that he thought about it, this would be the epitome of a Trypophobics nightmares.
Food for thought if he didn't die first.
'Now that I think about it, why am I so sure that I'll liv-?'
Thoughts abruptly as a pleasurable sensation replaced all of the pain in his arm, Tristan didn't understand exactly what was happening except for the fact that something just made him a masochist.
And it was most probably the pot plant or whatever it was called, so Tristan would make sure to burn it later once he stopped feeling like a druggie on a high.
Not that he knew exactly what it was since he made sure to stay 5 centimeters away at the minimum from the stuff... times 500 of course.
And Firefly could do a burning like those witch trials from the past since through an unknown magic it could manifest a weak flame underwater.
And he really doubted underwater sea biology adapted itself to live through fire in water.
Experiencing an unknown amount of time engulfed in pleasure that rivaled that of jumping into a volcano with a shark strapped to a rocket while carrying several pounds of explosives, soon enough, the pleasurable sensation ebbed away to allow Tristan to feel...
Nothing.
Quite literally nothing as Tristan blinked at the blinding yellow-purple pot plant that had wrapped several vines around his arm while squirming around it.
That was mildly concerning to say the least since it looked like the inside of a digestive system as the vines secreted a black gooey substance that clung to his arm.
Thankfully it seemed like it had solved his blood loss problem as he felt strangely energetic although he didn't understand the logic behind it.
|That'll be because it's making sure that you are completely fit for consumption while also making you serve as an energy store.|
"Excuse me?"
|Its the characteristic of the pot plant, like the Arania, the spider kin, they first attract small fish into their many holes with their glowing lights.|
|Then they secrete binding tar from their internal vines, trapping them within while also making them serve another purpose|
|That substance ... What are you doing?|
"Trying to escape being eaten alive? What else does it look like?"
Placing his legs on the hole in an attempt to dislodge his arm from the murder plant, Era hurriedly tried stopping him.
|If you would let me finish, the Pot Plant secretes a substance known as binding tar that has very beneficial medicinal properties that would promote blood flow, reinforce bones and accelerate healing all the while inducing a very weak narcotic to prevent any pain|
"I'm sensing a but...?"
|But, after all of that's done, the bound fish are packaged up and locked away by it's underwater leaves so that it could slowly consume it in the off chance that no more prey come to it.|
"Yeah see, that's why I hate the sea"
Feeling the leaves slowly start to close on his hand he recontinued his attempts to try to escape with a zeal that could only be matched by someone clutching a 1 V 5 and somehow succeeding.
That is until something pricked the back of his hand and started pumping an unknown fluid into it.
|You didn't let me finish, on the off chance that something to big to be taken in by it's many holes appears, like you|
Tristan felt his head spin.
|Then the pot plant stabs you with a unique drug that would cause the binding tar to become an addicting drug that would make you want to keep coming back for more at the price of protection and fish.|
'Ah this is Australia all over again'
Head spinning as dizziness flooded his flesh and blood simultaneously, Era continued speaking as if the future drug addiction wasn't a problem.
|Don't worry though, for humans and any other intelligent being capable of thought, the drug only causes extreme dizziness and nausea that only gets worse the more binding tar is applied on their body|
Which it wasn't apparently.
|This of course has the problem of it making you an easy target for other predators of the sea, so I suggest that you make your way to a safe space.|
But just as the problem of addiction swiftly disappeared, it seems the problem of life and death was now at hand.
Swiftly swimming away from the glowing pot plant in the darkness Tristan couldn't help but have a doubtful thought in his mind.
'How did I get here?'
+++
It's okay to forget where you came from, just make sure to know where your going.
Tree that is extremely tempted to add Magical drugs just for the hell of it.