Siren.

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Eteleds pov

The night was cold. The chilly nighttime air whispered and danced in unison. The only things I could see were the dim reflections of trees in the distance against the pale moonlight glistening elegantly along the landscape.

I shivered quietly. It was cold, and I was wearing a shirt and a severely oversized zip up hoodie. I'd gotten lost a while ago. I wondered the forest endlessly, in a desperate attempt to find civilisation of some kind.

As I approached, I realised there was an end to what I assumed were endless trees. I walked closer, the warm embrace of the moon finally caressing my skin. A beach.

In the sand, quietly sat.. A FUCKING SIREN-?!

I took a step back, a twig snapping underneath the weight of my foot.
Just my luck.
Its head snapped back to look at me, immediately scurrying back. It used its arms as legs to pull itself away from me.
"GET BACK." It scowled.

I couldn't move. I'd read all the folklore about these things. It could kill me in an instant with merely a sweet melody. I couldn't risk this, on land or not.

The closer I looked, the more I noticed about it. It was wearing nothing but a grey "bra", and was shivering quite a lot. It had a deep horizontal cut along its wet, scaly tail; it was at least 1/4'th of the length of it.

The sand stuck to its skin like a disease, water brushing up against its hands now that it was turned around to face me.

"S-Stay back, human." Its tone was demanding. The closer I looked, the more I noticed about it. I noticed how it shuffled away from me. I noticed that hint of fear in its eyes. I noticed its apprehension. I took a step closer. It instantly tensed up.

"I SAID GET. BACK." It growled, flashing its sharp claws at me in a way to say 'piss off'. The cool breeze passed by, and we both shivered; almost in unison.

I slowly raised my arms to the sides of my head, trying to show I meant no harm.
"Easy.. I'm not gonna hurt you as long as you don't hurt me." I tried to make my voice sound soft, in an attempt to soothe it.

"That's bullshit." It shuffled back. "That's all your kind ever wants to do to us."
"M-my kind.?"
"You humans! You're all violent, self centred pricks!" It yelled.

"That's a pretty bold assumption to make." I slanted an eyebrow.
"Yeah, well it's not my fault all your people invade our oceans and then kill us when we fight back." It barked back.

"Okay, okay. That's fair. But.. I'm not like that. I don't wanna hurt you, honestly." I tried to assure, taking a small step closer. It flinched back again.
"As if I'd trust you." It scoffed. "Do you honestly think I'd believe a human would want to help me?"

"Because I do. Is there anything can do to prove that to you?" I asked. It thought for a moment.
"Prove to me you have no weapons." It stated. At this command, I inverted all my pockets.

"Lift up your shirt." It commanded.
"W-what-?"
"Some humans hide knives or guns in their waste band. Show me."

I lifted up my shirt to show my waist band. I had no weapons.
"Okay.." It mumbled. "You can.. come closer. But don't try any stupid shit. One wrong move and I'll slit your throat."

"Yeah, I kinda figured." I slowly walked closer, crouching down beside its tail. "What happened.?"
"You humans happened. Harpoon just barely missed." I almost wince at the thought.

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