Everything hurts

Now you would think that would be a good thing for what had been a head resting on a severed spinal cord to feel. However whilst everything hurt, that everything could not actually be assigned to a body part. It was the sort of universal pain reserved for the extraordinarily hungover, or the exceptionally unhealthy. A hopefully near **** hurt. That seemed the best way to put. You hoped you were about to die, because if you weren't your magic wasn't able heal you.

Flashes of the fight made parts of your body twitch, you didn't control any twitching but you did feel it. It hurt slightly more than the otherwise all consuming pain.

The fight.

You opened your eyes, staring down at you were tiny lights. It took you a moment to recognise they were stars. It was still night. Made sense, the fight felt long but with how fast you were moving it probably only lasted a minute at most. Where was Delilah?

You rolled off your back onto your side. You put your right elbow on the ground, sand. You blinked at the sand for a moment. The sand itself wasn't what you were looking at, it was the lack of the thing that should have been on the sand. Shifting your gaze to your elbow you saw the stump just below it. Where was your hand?

Delilah.

You looked around. You can deal with your hand or lack of later you have to find them. "Delilah?" You called out. Just the effort to do that made you dizzy. You didn't hear a response, your ear drums had healed, unless you were imagining the sound of waves. "Delilah?"

The second call knocked you out. When you came back to your face was buried in the sand and you felt it your mouth and nose. Coughing and sneezing knocked you out again but you managed to roll onto your side so when you came too again you wouldn't get stuck in a loop.

Coming to once more you felt slightly less **** inclined. "Delilah?" You called out managing to sit up and look around. The waves lapping at the sand were not lapping at you, so either you'd failed to get Delilah over the ocean and fallen just short, or you'd been dragged out of the water. To your left and right was more sand, behind you was a lush green. Hardly a forest but enough to prevent you from seeing too deep. No sign of Delilah.

You had to find them.

Getting onto your feet wasn't going to happen but you didn't to walk. You just had to crawl. Away from the water in case you passed out once more and the sea level rose above your head. Moving towards the green seemed smart, it was green so the salt water hadn't reached it.

The feel of the grass under you was a relief. It was cool and soft. Crawling a bit further you collapsed again. "Delilah?" You called out once more while your eyes grew heavy.

When you woke up the night had passed. You felt marginally better, now only your skin hurt instead of every atom or it and beneath it. Crawling over to a tree you rested your back against it. You were looking out over the ocean, which was strange, because the sun wasn't over it. Leaning to looked behind the tree you saw the sun shining through the canopy. You'd slept for the entire day. Might as well go back to sleep then, you'd already wasted the whole day.

"Delilah." The word came from your mouth and woke you up. You went to wipe your mouth but there was no hand to wipe with. Examining the remains of your right arm you tried to heal it. Touching your magic made you pass out.

When you came too you decided to not look at your right arm for a while. You were hungry and thirsty and since you still hurt that meant your magic wasn't done healing you. With how long it takes you to recover from magical exhaustion you might die from dehydration before you had enough magic to save you.

You leaned off the tree. Still hurt but you didn't pass out. Getting up onto your feet you leaned against the tree breathing slowly. "Delilah?" You called out. Upright you could see more. The beach curved on both sides into a natural bay. You didn't recognise this from your aerial trips around the Capital. You weren't alone at least. Looking at the sand you saw no crater as evidence of your impact, so your first thought that someone had pulled you out of the water was sound. "Hello?"

There was no response. Why would pull you out of the water and leave you here. You were also still naked. Who would pull you out of the water without leaving you anything to cover yourself. Without magic you were in danger of cuts and scrapes so you needed something to protect yourself.

There was leaves on the ground around you. Long wide green stalks the were slightly soft to the touch. You were about as far from a survivalist as it got but you knew how to wrap and fold. It did take you a few tries but eventually you had a make shift shoe. Your attempt at a loin cloth was worse and you ran out of malleable leaves quickly. Climbing a tree for more seemed dangerous.

You looked at the greenery then at the beach. If this was a bay and there was someone here they would be in one of three places. Either of the points or in the centre of crescent. From your guess you were on the right limb so if you checked the right point first you might get enough of a view to identify signs of life.

You only walked for ten minutes before you had to sit down. You needed water. There were plants so there must be fresh water. The plants might be living off rain but you doubted it. The tree were too numerous and large to just support themselves of rain water. You probably couldn't dig for fresh water but moving towards a lusher area would get results.

You looked at where you were moving towards. Water first. Moving towards the greenery you closed your eyes and listened. The sound of the waves was loud but the slower you breathed the more you heard. Eventually you heard something, a dripping. Moving towards it the sound became clearer and soon enough you found a small pool of water on some rocks. The water dripping into it coming from a basket plant growing out of a rocky outcrop. The rock had a dozen other planets and they were all leaking, from the rivulets in the rock face they had been doing so for a long time.

Kneeling down you smelled the water. It didn't have a smell you could detect as dangerous. Not sweet or sour, no burning or sulfur. Now it was just a toss up, if there was something nasty in the water would it kill you before your magic recovered enough to save you, or after your magic recovered and not be an issue. You could wait for a bit longer. The longer you waited the more time you'd give your magic to recover. But the longer you waited the worse shape you'll be in and the harder it will be to find Delilah.

Scooping a small handful of water to your lips you tasted it carefully. No taste. You looked at the basket plants and thought about how they'd work. They were all leaking so they weren't storing the water to drink. They could be carnivorous, filtering microbes, insects and whatever else from the water that passed through. It would make the water safer to drink from directly below the baskets than from the pool.

After a bit more thinking you cupped your hands below the basket washing your hand with the water before pooling water to drink.

It took time, the baskets weren't leaking very quickly but they were consistent. As the sun finished going down the dripping stopped and the basket top leaned against the rock closing it. You were still a bit thirsty but looking at the still water in the pools at your feet, you turned away. Right decision, stagnate water could be far more dangerous.

You felt better. You were hungry but unlike water hunger would be a lot more dangerous to satisfy, and something you could wait out. You had muscles your body could consume if it came to it, and without magic a single berry could kill you.

With the light gone you headed back to the bay. If there was a fire you'd be able to see if from there. "DELILAH?" You shouted over the water. It should be audible from anywhere on the bay with how still the water inside it was.

No response. If they wasn't here they might still be in the water. You had to find them. You couldn't fly yet but tomorrow you'll have to push yourself. Even exhausted you won't leave them to drown. First you need to get higher. Looking to your right the edge of the bay was a raised outcrop. You felt up to climbing now so you kept moving.