The Enmity of Sirens

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Corrin's grasp around Esme's shoulder made her grit her teeth in pain. What the hell was going on?

She didn't understand how on earth she had gotten to this place, only that when she opened her eyes after the noises stopped, she found herself standing on a red marble floor inside an enormous castle. And that strange man in raggy clothes was standing, red-faced infront of her, screaming in fear.
Now, the young man with the lemon-blonde hair was dragging her somewhere in the commodious hallway, their footsteps creating echoes throughout the whole castle.

"Where are you taking me?" Esme managed to say as she could finally catch her breath.

"To the queen, of course! There's a witch in her castle," he replied, dragging her to the left so she turned around the corner to enter yet another long hall. Esme came to realization that this strange man spoke with a rather foreign accent.

"I'm not a witch! Why do you think I'm a witch?" she exclaimed, trying to free herself. Suddenly, he clasped his large hand on Esme's mouth.

"Be quiet. I do not like it when witches talk," he said fiercely, looking right into Esme's eyes.

After that, she kept her mouth shut and watched as he lead her inside a gigantic room with a red carpet surrounded by pillars that to a glass throne on a pedestal at the top of the room. As she gazed up to the ceiling, she found it was so high up that no one could ever reach it. It was glass, too, making the sun rays peek right into the throne room.

Although none of it made logical sense, she acknlowedged the fact that she was in some sort of castle. And from her History lessons in school, the Queen of this castle had alot of servants and soldiers. Making her powerful.

Speaking of the Queen, she was now standing up from her throne, looking at Esme with a potent rise of her left eyebrow.

"She certainly looks suspicous," she looked her up and down as Corrin dropped her down to the ground, making her fall to her knees.

"Aye, My Queen. Rather talkative, too. She wouldn't shut her witch mouth on the way here," Corrin said to Queen Apitus, giving her a bow. "What do you wish to do with her?"

Clutching tightly on his sword, the words that Corrin heard surprised him.

"I was going to banish her to No Man's Land," she spoke, sitting back down on her trone and sighing as if bored. "I had a better idea."

"And what would that be, My Queen?"

"Sent her back to her lair, of course. I'm sure her witches miss her."

Another man, who stood beside the throne guarding his queen, took a step forward. "Is that wise, Your Grace?"

"Do not question my choices, Madoc. I am feeling rather merciful today, so let her go," she looked at Esme with a tentative smile.

The sudden change in choices surprised Madoc, but he nodded anyhow.
"You and Madoc can escort her. Make sure she gets home....safely"

This was followed by a twisted smirk from the Queen. As Corrin picked Esme up from the ground, the Queen beckoned him forward.

"I want you two to find the lair, and report back the location. Then, we shall burn them all," she whispered.

Now, they knew what she meant.

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The sun peeked out from the grey clouds at the coastline of the Tundrian lands. Three ships sailed on the freezing waters, the heads of their bowstrips carved into the ancient sea serpents that rarely came out to the sea surface. The sea was still, with only gentle waves that hit off their wooden ships. There was so much water vapour in the air that it created an immense, white fog around them, causing them to only see a handful of meters in front of them. On the biggest ship, which was infront of the other two, stood a man , heavily built, with strawberry-blonde hair that was bursting with grey. The fierce look on his face suggested that he was everything but happy, and the way his hands were folded he looked as if he was waiting for something.

There was a sudden piercing scream that enter the crew's ears, causing some to collapse onto the ground and cover their ears. But strangely Earl Valdemar stood firmly on his feet, not agitated by the screams at all.

"So it is true, then," he smiled rancorously. "The ice has melted."

"Aye, Earl Valdemar. Their screams prove it for us," one of his soldiers walked over to him, one that wasn't so much affected by the screams. They were not hearable to the human's ears before, as the thick ice wall consumed all the sounds from the outside and from the inside. Their screams affected people all in different ways, depending what they have experienced in their life. They would mostly choose their victims if they have never suffered a loss of their loved ones or are generally happy people, so then the sirens make them experience it all by their screams . Some say they see their biggest fear, others have to watch and hear the cries of their family as they are stabbed to death.

But those who don't get affected by it, have seen it all before.

"Prepare the anchors, looks like we are here!" yelled out the captain. The less-struggling men obliged and together the anchors dived deep into the water, and the sirens all heard the loud bangs as the metal objects mingled with the sand.

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And, in the deep, dark areas of the oceans, in hidden caves and old ship wrecks, the creatures, with ghost-like hair and white skin peeked out from their hiding places. Under the sea was in utter chaos, to say the least, every fish was moving in the same direction, as if they were hypnotized. Each strange sea creature and monster, ones that were still to be seen by humans, were swimming, swimming to the biggest lair of the mermaids.

It as like a massive boulder with intermittent holes, and inside were rooms slightly similar to that of a castle. There was bedchambers, kitchens, although no beds or burning fires.  The large shoal of fish suddenly stopped, as if commanded. Then, the Queen, along with her two most trusted servants, came out from the castle, her pearl-white tail shimmering.

"I must thank you all for coming to my aid," Queen Scylla spoke, her chin high with superiority.

The fish opened and closed their tiny mouths,and the bubbles made faint sounds that only a few mermaids could understand. Their language was hard to learn; it was quiet, and many of their patterns sounded the same.  Queen Scylla nodded, as she knew they were saying that there is no need to be thankful, as they are the servants of sea, and Queen Scylla rules the sea.

"Piranhas, come forth," she lifted her hand gently, and a large school of piranhas all bundled together forming a ball, appeared from the crowd. "I want you all to eat through the ropes of the men, then, start making holes in their ships. Do make haste, we have a lot of men to kill." 

Obliging, the piranhas disappeared into the darkness.

Then, when everything seemed almost too quiet, Scylla heard a familiar voice singing. It was a man's voice, a voice she knew quite well a long time ago. It's been so long she didn't believe it at first, for she froze in time for a moment before she acted. And when she did, when she rose up to the sea-surface, the face was not of the man she wanted to see.

But worse.

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