The High Seas Queen

Chapter Two: The Black Siren

When merfolk go mad and turn into sirens, they become “dull” creatures. The color drains from their scales, and they normally end up with a sickly gray or brown coloring to them. Life drains from their eyes as the madness sets into the bones of the merfolk and corrupts their hearts.

A couple of years before my coronation there had been rumors and whispers of a Monarch going mad, but when he turned, it wasn't as usual. The way the story is told is that the merfolk became deranged, all because of the injustice that he had witnessed being done to the water and creatures he watched over and loved. The Order of Octopoda Ruler, was an eclectic Monarch and didn't like to be around the Deep Sea City. A hermit of sorts, once he was older and was made said ruler, he kept to himself and often swam with a small group of merfolk who resided outside Oki with him or in his animal aura with his consortium, a group of octopus. It’s said that one day he had left the water to travel above the waves for a couple of days, breathe in the air and take in an unfiltered sunrise, but when he did, he saw just how the land-dwellers were treating the oceans and animals that he protected. It is understood that humans hunt and eat fish, but living outside the main city created a disconnect between the water side of him and the land side.

Upon his return to the sea, the madness sank deep into his bones, but instead of the sickly grays and browns that should have adorned his scales, they turned black like a starless night. The green in his eyes started to glow as his aura transformed into a heavy and toxic sludge, causing all the merfolk in his pod to change as well.

I never believe these rumors, since there has never been a precedent where a Monarch has gone mad. That's what makes us so strong and capable of caring for this city, the ocean and the animals. In any case, that was the last thing on my mind as the connection I now had to the outskirts of Oki rippled across my skin as a warning. Taking a look at the four other monarchs, my hand-picked generals who had attended the coronation, I could see that they too felt the same unease as I did. I wondered if grandmother still felt the sensation of the perimeter. Looking at her, I saw how soft she looked as she peered out towards the edge of her long time home, but it was a softness like that of snow on top of an icy lake. It may look like you could fall down on it and be okay, but you would get hurt if you even tried.

She must have felt my dark eyes on her because she turned gracefully towards me and nodded her head and said, "This is yours now." She could see it, the unease and fear I felt, knew that even though I was doing my best to feel and look calm, my hackles were raised, and my spine was rigid. When she gave me that nod and looked away, that’s all I needed to move.

“We all felt that. Let’s check it out,” I nodded back at my grandmother as I spoke to the trusted advisors, hopefully strengthening the faith they had in me as her successor. I swam along with the four fellow Monarchs, two on each side of me. To the right we have the top strategists, Generals Gale and Sebastian. As rulers of the Testudine order and the Decapoda order respectively, they were strong, resilient and happened to be my childhood friends from school. On my left were the merfolk's top warriors, Generals Leon and Korrin. They were the ones who watched over the order of Carangiformes and the order of Myliobatiformes. They are from neighboring merfolk cities but are loyal to the protection of the water and the creatures that reside here.

“What or who do we think might be trying to get in?” I questioned them, looking from my right to my left and hoping someone had an answer.

It was Korrin who first spoke, stating strongly “Whoever has dared try to cross when not welcomed is a damn fool and shall soon see why.” Her voice, although strong, was soft as she became blurry and thrashed about as she shifted and grew almost 12 feet, becoming her aura animal, a giant manta ray. Even after seeing it many times, I loved the aura, so powerful and beautiful. Looking to my left, I saw that Gale and Sebastian were in a heated discussion while all that was happening.

“And you two,” I addressed them. They faltered a bit but kept swimming as they looked up at me. “Do you have something you'd like to add?” A full heart beat before Sebastian finally looked up at me and Gale swam closer.

“Black Siren my Queen. The way the ripple gave me a sick feeling reminds me of the rumors.” That was his thought, a rumor was at the border trying to get in on the day of my coronation. I looked at him hard, watching as he turned to look forward, his red tail following behind in quick motions. “Maybe it’s not a rumor at all.” I was sure I wasn't meant to hear that, but all the same, I did, and it sent a cold wave down my spine. Even the orca in me was uncomfortable at the thought. Could it be him, the Monarch who disappeared all those years ago? I closed my eyes trying to push the thought of him out of my mind and the memories that followed.

We were closing in on the border when we decided to stop and strategize some sort of game plan. I wanted ideas for different scenarios, how we were going to react as a group to different intruders. First, we decided that Korrin and Leon would approach in their aura animal form, a manta ray for Korrin and a large black marlin for Leon, scales shining and winking at us. The other two and I would approach as is. Coming up with a loose idea of what could possibly happen and how we could possibly react wasn't too hard with all the training we had between us. Actually, approaching and completing said task would literally be easier said than done.

The border is right in front of me, there is a black hole where the cliff that the city is built on drops off to nothing. It's almost a comforting sight when it looks like nobody's around, but today there was someone there waiting for us, for me. There on the edge of the cliff is a large underwater warship, odd since this place is protected by the ocean and the waters usually steer human explorers around and weird because merfolk don't need to drive such contraptions. The warship continued to ram its ugly metal head into the barrier, causing a groan to shudder through the water.

“It’s failing. Why is this ship here?” More confused than fearful, I looked over to my friend Gale, who shook her head in disbelief and continued to gape at the scene in front of her.

“I don’t understand. It has to be run by merfolk in order to have made it this far. Who would want to approach the city this way? We have to get closer and try to discuss the matter with them.” I heard a slight tremble in Gales' voice, fear mixed with curiosity has her and the other generals stuck in place, and it looks like it is up to me. In order to get my group moving, I cleared my throat and started to approach the ship with my arms out and shouting.

“Excuse me, I am Ashera, Queen of the rulers and known to many as the Warrior Orca. Please stop this and show yourself.” The ship did stop, creating a deafening silence and an impregnated pause that felt bigger than the chasm at the bottom of the cliff. Suddenly there was a whir and the door on the side of the ship opened, out poured merfolk and sirens, a hundred maybe more all lined up in rows on the other side of the barrier before they parted. There in between the parted rows was a siren, one I’ve only heard about, only dreamed about.

“Hello Princess, have you missed me?” A black siren stood in front of me now smiling, showing a row of sharp teeth as he continued to speak. “What's wrong, Ash? Did a cephalopod capture your voice?”

“Wren?”