From above, the drunken sailors’ eyes rolled to the back of their heads and glowed white. One by one they stood upon the railing of the rocking ship only to plummet into the sea, drowning themselves with no control over their own limbs. For years the wars between the two species built up and up sending a different group off to their death each time.

After finding out about Mercy’s death, Demia and Queen Minerva went on the next hunt with neither returning. Dark blue mixed with crimson red blood shadowed across the sea as less and less sirens trudged their way towards the surface for their never-ending vengeance. With his whole family either missing or confirmed being slaughtered, King Livida told his people to stop fighting back, that their blood was precious to him.

Tie passed with sirens still being picked off one by one. King Livida knew that if they stood still, everyone would be wiped out without leaving a single siren alive. He gathered what was left of his officials and commanders to talk about their last move in the fight. He stood tall on the same level as the dozens of remaining men and women around him as he announced, “we will be ending this genocide once and for all. I ask for volunteers to lay your lives down for the remaining few in this kingdom. We’ve all lost many loved ones to the human race for reasons we’re not completely sure of. We’ve decided to send some men to the dry land to talk to whoever is in charge of their sailors. At the same time as this meeting is taking place, we will need guardians to stay here and protect those who cannot accompany me to the dry land.” He spoke with a tremble hidden between his words.

While some sirens agreed to go to the higher land, others sobbed and whispered about how he was unfit to rule. Among the concerns, he addressed them swiftly, “I understand that while I have failed to protect the people you all love by leading them into battle. That’s why with my daughter Venus being the last to survive, she has become the crown princess and will succeed the crown after her marriage.”

From the corner of the room, Venus swam forward clasping hands with Vulcan as they both held determination and fire within their gazes. Hold up their clasped hands, Venus vouched, “in these hard times, we sometimes search for the right answer in hope and patience. But after patiently waiting for our God, Poseidon, to help us fight off the humans above us, we can see that he doesn’t care for us any more than he did to the humans when he wiped out their city to give to us. We have to fight for ourselves now more than ever if we wish to survive. Please, stand with us in our last fight.”

The last remaining sirens all lifted their fists and cheered as men and women filed up to the front to lead in the next and last attack. After the years of fighting, blood, and tears, Venus had learned not to beg her father to stay. She knew then that among all of her family members and friends that had disappeared in the past, her father was always the one to return. Whether it be in his mastery of fighting and spells or the dominance he wafted around with the swing of his black and white tail when he swam into battle, he always went and came back wanting more.

As the last battalion lined up for their final hurrah, Venus and Vulcan swam up to her father to say their, what looked like, curt goodbyes. King Livida nodded toward Vulcan as he bowed but stopped Venus before she could do the same. He encircled her in a hug and whispered for only her ears, “I will return to see you rule Baia. Whether it be tomorrow, next full moon, or even a solstice from now, we will see each other again.” He pulled back to see her smiling with knowing lavender eyes staring back at him. He ruffled her hair to get the childish carefree attitude he missed from her.

Her brown hair swiveled through the water as she giggled, “I know, I know. You always do.” She grabbed Vulcan’s hand again, “we’re looking forward to that day.”

Looking around, King Livida raised his fist into the air while the battalion followed in suit. As they swam from the city leaving behind a handful of sirens, they chanted spells and yelped for victory. With one last hopeful prayer to Poseidon, Venus swam back into the city and started making plans for her father’s return. Venus tried to tell her that they should wait a while just in case because he went all the way to the human’s kingdom but she wanted to make sure that the wedding could be held the second the battalion arrived.

With preparations in full swing, Venus barely realized that a week had passed since they left. Many of the other sirens that were left behind didn’t notice as well until one of the younger ones disappeared out of nowhere. The last remaining sirens flooded the hall where Venus floated on a coral throne. “They haven’t returned in so long! How do you expect us to keep our civilization alive?”

“You need to lead us! We can’t keep preparing for them to return when they’ve been gone for almost two full moons!”

Others joined in as Venus sat in silence listening to their concerns, “we need to cultivate more sirens! We can’t wait around any more. We should be building our people faster!”

“What?” One siren turned and shot back, “so that they humans can keep picking us off one by one? No! I want no part of that!”

As they bickered among themselves, Vulcan came up behind Venus as she lost herself within her own mind, “I think we should take into consideration that they may take longer to come back, Vee.” His deep violet tail swung behind the chair as his red scaley hands grabbed her shoulders as he whispered into her ear, “he’ll come back. But we both know that you can’t keep waiting for that day to come, you need to lead these people now.” She grasped his hand with her own and straightened out.

Lifting her green-scaled hand into the air and waited for the small school to quiet down before announcing, “the city is on a new lockdown. No siren will leave these walls and try their best to stay under a roof. Keep your lights low when the moon rises and only hunt at night as well. When the sun rises we’ll use the resources we have here to cultivate reborn sirens, one at a time of course. We will slowly rebuild this city to its former glory.” She looked back to Vulcan and finished, “if and when the battalion returns, we’ll hold an even grander celebration with our new and familiar faces during the coronation!” She held up their joined hands without wavering as the remaining sirens joined in. There were no hollers of protest nor screams of cheer, only a heavy silence hanging through the air.

Night after night, a new siren was taken from the tides to the surface to choke on the air they refused to breathe. And morning after morning, they attempted to cultivate new sirens but failed. The grief of knowing that they’d be picked off one by one, some sirens fled the city while others tried their best to continue cultivation only to be caught under the shining moonlight.

For a while, the city seemed to stand still. As if there was no life living there at all. The cracks stayed dark no matter if it were day or night and the marine life had learned to stay away. But back in the deepest darkest hall, Venus sat upon her coral thrown as Vulcan searched the palace grounds for any other survivors only to come back with none.

“He’s not coming back, is he?”

Vulcan didn’t answer. He only bowed to his fiancee and reported, “there are no other sirens in the whole city. We’re the only two to have waited.”

She scoffed as she shifted into a look-alike of her sister Mercy and mimicked, “we won’t let them get away from us this time!” Shifted into her other sister, Demia, she lit the castle up with one of her incantations. The light shined so brightly, the colors bounced off of the clouds and back into the water, lighting up the night. Her mouth curled with every note as she choked back tears. The golden tail she brandished faded away to her sea-blue one. Her scales flipped back to green from orange while her expression stayed the same. Vulcan pulled her close as he tried to console her but was only caught in the crossfire or her own thoughts. “Why didn’t you let me see it sooner? I could’ve stopped him from going!” She pushed him away and swam down the fading corridors without him.

He bowed to her once more before looking towards the surface to see a boat sailing through. The first one they’d seen in weeks and as he pushed his way through the currents he hoped it’d be the last one she’d see. Without a single word of salutations, Vulcan took his last gulp before crashing to the surface. Coming face to face with the captain aboard the ship, he allowed them to fish him out with a net, leaving Venus alone for the rest of her semi-immortal life.

That being the last she saw of him. An argument built out of grief and hatred for the world above them. After he swore to stay by her side, he ultimately gave himself up with no explanation to the woman he loved and that loved him back.

She’s thought day in and out of why he would do it without even saying goodbye but as time went on, all she could think of was where they’ve all gone. The fishermen, the sirens, and the boats that whisked nets through the waves, all disappeared within that day. Whatever he said or did once on that boat changed the course of their war for the rest of her days.

Venus Stared at the tails hanging in Captain Caspien’s closet as she thought of anything Vulcan did that her father couldn’t.