Swimming through the oceans now was more interesting than ever.
Recently, there's been lots of strange objects and trinkets that aren't from my world that were floating around. I used to pick at them one by one, inspecting them, trying to understand what they were, and what they were used for.
Until I realized where they came from.
Across the body of water, I heard loud, deep vibrations that echoed through my body, encapsulating the blue I found my home in. I knew it didn't come from the water, it came from something else. Perhaps, someone else.
I swam to the surface, peeking my head out to see two giant objects afloat, one of them emanating a bright, orange light, with an even more suffocating heat. Black clouds came from the ship that made the air wretched to be in.
These were human ships; and the humans were in another squabble.
It wasn't uncommon. After all, I've been told that humans are competitive, jealous, power hungry, and greedy creatures. And from what I've seen, they weren't wrong.
Perhaps it's the difference in our worlds. But a human in their homeland is the scariest. They're almost all powerful on land.
But they'll never encroach upon the ocean that they so desperately know little about. Perhaps thats why they use ships. They may not be able to swim as well as we can, after all they don't have the fins, or flippers that mermaids have.
But the fact that they're comfortable enough to go offshore into a territory they know nothing about, that stretches for as long as the eye can see. Humans are brave creatures.
Perhaps they're adventurous. They have an insatiable curiosity that causes them to travel unknown measures of distance.
But I'm starting to sound like a human. I hope it doesn't come off that way, I'm not too fond of humans, very much. Well. I don't hate them. They're not all bad. I guess my kind is just... indifferent towards them. I wouldn't go out of my way to kill a human. But I wouldn't go out of my way to save one.
I like to think we have a mutual understanding of one another. We don't encroach upon their land, and they don't dare to ever come to ours. The fact they have to create ships and such, is proof of that. Even if they just barely tread on that barrier.
After these squabbles, anyway, I often find humans that breach the surface, though. But they don't seem conscious. They seem... Asleep? Perhaps dead? Humans do bleed. It's a deep, crimson red that stands out in the water. It's as if a human dying here is an indicator.
I also found interest in inspecting these humans that ended up beneath the waves. A lot of how their bodies are made are very similar to ours. It's quite fascinating how similar our bodies are, yet how different they seem to be.
I wanted to know more. I knew enough about humans to warrant my indifference. But do they even know of our existence?
Perhaps we mermaids just come and go as folktale and sea legend to them. But the waves carry more nuance than that. The waves don't just carry ships, but they can transfer information, too. Listen to the waves long enough, and they might tell of the secrets beneath.
I peeked my head above the waves once more, and the ship that was glowing orange had started to sink. I was in awe, if not a little. Humans, even in territory that's not theirs, still hold an awful amount of power.
That's when I looked towards the ship that had still been afloat.
There was a human, standing on the edge of the ship. Staring right at me. Upon closer look, his left eye is scarred, and closed shut. Yet he glared at me like I've sinned wrongly against him. My head felt cold above the water, even with the heat coming from the other sinking ship, I couldn't stand but be under his gaze for too long. He had dark hair, and on his body were blue strips of material that I couldn't quite place.
