Welcome to Gaia! ::

When David woke up, he was plagued with a searing pain that had spread throughout his body.
Alarm coiled his every nerve, but as he attempted to move, the only response he felt was that of pain wracking his body. He’d been hurt badly.
As his senses settled into an alert state of awareness, he realized he was being carried by two other men. There was also a young woman with them, moving frantically to the left of the room they’d just entered.
David was placed on a bed as the two men removed, tore and cut their way around his uniform. He could hardly move, but he could see his blood on them, as well as on the strips of clothing they removed. Some of it was used to improvise bandages to help stop the bleeding.
“Can you hear me, son?” One of the men asked: a burly figure.
David opened his mouth briefly, uttering something indiscernible. Even a simple yes, was thwarted by the intensity of the pain he was suffering.
“The doctor is on his way.” The second man told him.
Another woman appeared, slightly older than the first. She’d ran in from the hallway with a white box that she quickly opened alongside him.
Noting the medical marker on the box, David took into account the rest of his surroundings. The room was well fashioned and furnished with high quality upholstery. The window to his right, depicted a wide open field outside. It was then he remembered. The place where he’d crashed was close to the Windsoar Estate.
Furthermore, he knew he wouldn’t survive. Regardless of his wounds. Even if he didn’t die here, once the local authorities reached him, he was as good as dead anyway.
The woman beside him injected a syringe into his arm. “This will help with the pain.”
The failure of his mission was at hand. In the face of that fact, the pain hardly mattered.
“Where are my things?” David asked.
“Your plane caught fire.” The woman replied. “You were the only survivor.”
David already knew that, though the loss of his friend hurt even still. He was also feeling extremely lightheaded, most likely from an excess loss of blood, amongst other things.
“Please don’t try to move.” The woman told him as she made her exit. “You’re hurt enough as it is.”
“We need another kit.” The larger man looked up. “He’s still bleeding, badly.”
“I don’t know where another one is!” said the second.
Then someone arrived. This was a young girl. By the look of her, she couldn‘t have been any older than nine. A blonde, her sky-blue eyes radiated with honest concern. Her attire was tomboyish, but otherwise she was very well kempt.
Suddenly, David’s eyes locked wide on the golden case she was carrying in her left hand. It was the same one he had carried in his vest.
“Marne,” the larger man beckoned her. “Watch him for a minute and call for help it he stops breathing.” Then he stood with his companion, the two rushing their way out. “We’ll be back as quick as we can.”
“Yes, sir.” Marne came closer as both men left.
David knew his time was short. And however unlikely, he considered this to be a sign; his only chance to amend his failure. “You have something very important there.”
Marne held up the casing. “What is it?”
“It’s a message for someone I love very much.”
Marne frowned. “Why didn’t you mail it?”
David smiled briefly, taken back by the pain. “It’s a little late for that.”
“I could mail it for you.”
“No.” David replied, weakly. “It has to be delivered in person, and only by someone that can be trusted.”
Marne was captivated by the look of solemn hope the man seemed to shed in front of her.
“But… maybe you can help.”
Marne blinked, still curious.
“Hide it for me. Hide it where no one but you can find it. Can you do that for me?”
Hesitant, Marne nodded.
“And you can’t tell anyone about it. There are some people, some very bad people that want to take it away from me. They want to hurt the people I love. You know the war, you know the enemy wants to hurt us, right?”
With even a basic comprehension of what the man was saying, Marne could agree. Although, she had no idea that by enemy, he meant their own people.
“The enemy knows I’m here, and if they find out where it is… they will take it and they will destroy it. People will die and my family will be killed.”
“Maybe my father could-”
“No.” David reached out, masking his pain in order to take her hand. “Marne, listen to me. I’m going to trust you to do this for me. If I don’t have someone to trust, my family will die.”
Marne nodded, swallowing on the seriousness of the situation. “Okay.”
“People I trust will come looking for it.” David added. “If they are good people, they will tell you about the Bansalar crocodile. Can you remember that?”
“Yes.”
“The Bansalar crocodile.” David repeated, dryly.
“The Bansalar crocodile,” Marne assured him.
“Hide it where no one but you can find it.”
Marne stepped back, eying the casing for a moment longer. As both men returned with an additional medical kit, they were quick to dismiss her.
David considered what he’d just done. He’d given his mission to a girl who couldn’t have even been ten years of age, someone he didn’t even know. But children were simple creatures, as well as he knew them. Those that knew right and wrong had the capacity to act as any decent human being should. Now as long as she hid the casing successfully and remembered the Bansalar crocodile, there was a chance it still might reach its destination.
The woman returned with a tall, noble and wealthy looking man who appeared somewhere in his forties. If he wasn’t mistaken, this was Gregory Windsoar.
“How is he?” Windsoar approached.
“I’m no doctor.” The larger man remarked. “But he’s hurt pretty bad.”
Gregory stood beside them. “What’s your name?”
“David… David Montgomery.”
“What you did was very brave.” Greg added.
David winced. Everything was becoming more surreal. “What I did?”
“It looked as though your plane was damaged before the crash. Your companion was also killed by gunshot; the rounds of which could only have come from another aircraft. And seeing as how the skies remain clear and our homes safe and sound, I owe you my thanks.”
“You don’t… owe me anything.”
Greg looked into the man’s eyes fervently. “I have no deeper respect than for a man who risks his life for his home and country.”
David found the remark at least semi-alleviating. “Good to hear.” He also felt like sleeping, dangerously close to unconsciousness. He could feel his heart rate slowing.
“He’s lost too much blood.” The woman announced.
David let go, closing his eyes. There was nothing else he could do.
“David.” Greg said closely.
The two men shook him. “Hey! Stay with us!”
But David didn’t move. A few moments later, the final beat of his heart spelt what they knew was inevitable.