Tragedies weren’t always dramatic— sometimes, they started like any other day in the warm sea.
.
.
.
Hidden behind a cluster of coral pillars, Neria pressed a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. She watched as her older sister darted past with several young merfolk, her teal-green tail glimmering beneath the filtered sunlight as she searched the reef.
Today, her pod was migrating to the southern waters where the currents were usually gentler and the sea remained warmer around this time of year. Calypsos like them usually sought solace there before the cold reached this part of the ocean—a place untouched by the worst storms and, more importantly, far from the territories where the sirens roamed.
"Neria!" Nerissa called, her voice carrying through the water. "I know you’re hiding!"
Neria bit back another laugh and waited until her sister disappeared behind another coral arch before pushing herself away from her hiding place. Her sapphire tail shimmered as she glided downward, leaving the migration route behind. While the rest of the pod busied themselves preparing for the journey south, she had somewhere much more important to be.
A forgotten shipwreck rested at the bottom of the reef, its wooden hull buried beneath sand and green sea growth. Tiny damselfish darted through the broken windows while colorful coral claimed what little remained of the vessel.
No one came here. They usually avoided anything left behind by the landwalkers; Neria tried to do the same, heavens knew she did, but curiosity always got the better of her.
She slipped through the fractured deck with practiced ease until she reached an old sea chest tucked beneath a collapsed beam. She swam towards it, pushing away the skeleton that still clutched tightly to it.
Inside lay dozens of little treasures. There were round things that gleamed like tiny suns, strange stones that caught the light in brilliant colors, silver rings too large for her fingers, and delicate necklaces tangled together by years beneath the waves.
The landwalkers lost the prettiest things.
Her fingers had barely lifted the lid fully when a familiar voice echoed through the wreck.
"Seriously, Neria?"
She winced.
Slowly, she turned around to find Nerissa floating in the entrance with her arms folded across her chest. Even in her own space, her older sister somehow managed to look intimidating.
"The entire pod has been looking for you," Nerissa said, swimming closer. "Aunty is convinced you’ve wandered into siren territory."
"I was only gone for a little while," Neria protested, clutching a silver pendant behind her back.
Nerissa’s eyes narrowed immediately. "What did you take this time?"
"... Nothing," she answered almost immediately, avoiding her sister’s gaze.
"Neria."
"... Maybe one thing."
"Neria."
She sighed dramatically before holding up the pendant. "It was at the bottom of the ship. No one wanted it."
"Because it belongs to the landwalkers," Nerissa replied, swimming closer to her. "No one wants anything from them!"
"Their treasures aren’t ours." Nerissa added taking the pendant from her.
"They abandoned it." Neria tried to argue back.
"They sank with it."
"They’re practically the same thing."
Nerissa stared at her for a moment before shaking her head, unable to hide the small smile tugging at her lips.Neria always had something to say. Nerissa reached for Neria’s hand and began pulling her away from the shipwreck.
"Come on. The elders are choosing which current we’ll follow. If we’re late again, Aunty really will leave you behind one of these days."
"I don’t believe that for a second." She grumbled but allowed herself to be pulled away from the shipwreck.
"You shouldn’t test her."
Neria glanced back at the shipwreck as they swam away, already wondering if she would ever see it again.
She doubted it.
They hadn’t gone far before the water trembled. It was so faint that Neria almost thought she’d imagined it.
Then it came again.
A deep vibration rolled through the sea, disturbing the schools of fish around them. The damselfish vanished into cracks in the reef. Sea turtles changed direction, fleeing almost immediately.
Nerissa stopped swimming. "... Do you hear that?"
Neria listened. There was a sort of loud silence she couldn’t put her finger on but it didn’t last long when a muffled horn split through the water.
Every muscle in Neria’s body locked as screams rippled through the sea.
Within a beat Nerissa’s hand clamped tightly around hers. "We need to move." They shot forward together, racing toward the deeper trenches where the larger hunting vessels couldn’t follow. Around them, everything dissolved into chaos.
Nets unfurled like enormous webs, their enchanted threads glowing as they spread through the water. Harpoons tore through the reef. Armored landwalkers descended from the surface wearing enchanted diving gear, laughing as they chased fleeing Calypsos through the reef.
"Hunters..." Neria whispered, her voice barely audible.
Her heart hammered against her ribs as Nerissa dragged her onward. "We have to hide," Nerissa said, her voice shaking despite how tightly she held herself together. "Don’t look back."
Neria looked anyway.
She saw elders trying to shield the younger children. She saw tails caught in enchanted nets. She saw blood blooming through the blue water like crimson sea flowers, spreading farther with every passing current.
A harpoon shot past them, missing Nerissa by only inches before burying itself deep in a coral.
Neither of them slowed.
"Look there!" a man’s voice shouted behind them. "The blue-tailed one! Catch her alive!"
Neria turned instinctively—she was the blue-tailed one. A hunter floated only a short distance away, his spear already drawn back.
Everything happened so fast time seemed to slow when the spear left his hand.
"Neria!"
Strong hands shoved her sideways. She tumbled through the water just as the spear struck.
It missed her but buried itself deep in Nerissa’s chest.
For one endless moment, her sister simply stared at her. Then, despite the spear lodged in her chest, her sister reached out to her. The light in her eyes slowly began to falter.
"N-No..." Neria lunged toward her.
But before she could get closer, a heavy enchanted net dropped from above, wrapping around her tail and arms. She clawed at the ropes, screamed until her throat burned, and fought against the weights dragging her toward the surface.
"Nerissa!" she screamed. "No, please!"
Her sister’s body drifted farther and farther away, her teal-green tail disappearing into the darkening blue.
"Careful with that one," one of the hunters laughed as they hauled the net upward. "You know his Majesty likes the pretty ones."
Neria couldn’t hear the rest. Her eyes never left the trail of crimson disappearing into the endless sea below. She screamed louder and struggled harder against the enchanted net, clawing at the ropes more ferociously until they cut into her skin, but nothing worked. The more she fought, the tighter the net seemed to become.
"No! My sister!" It came desperate, "Nerissa!"
Her voice broke as she twisted around, desperately searching the darkness below for any sign of her sister. She couldn’t see her anymore. Only the faint red trail remained, slowly being swallowed by the currents.
"No... no, please... Please"
She pulled against the net again, refusing to believe what she was seeing. Nerissa couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t. Not like this.
They were supposed to migrate south together. They were supposed to reach the warmer waters, explore the new reef and they were supposed to find a new home together. Nerissa had promised —
Neria’s thoughts broke apart.
The net jerked violently, dragging her higher.
She looked down again.
For a brief moment, she thought she saw the familiar teal-green of Nerissa’s figure between the rocks below. But she wasn’t sure. Either way she still tried to reach out.
"Nerissa!"
The hunters continued hauling her toward the surface, their voices fading beneath the pounding of her heart in her ears. She could no longer feel the ropes cutting into her skin.
All she could see was the darkness below.
Her sister was gone...
The last thing she saw before the surface swallowed her was the final trace of crimson disappearing into the depths of the trench.