- Messages
- 53
- Character Biography
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The ship's captain was content with the haul they had managed to salvage from the small merchants vessel that they had run ashore. Having managed to convince the poor fool to part with his goods instead of his life, Dumont was not kind enough to leave the small boat intact however. Dragging the small vessel out into the open water and setting it ablaze, they left the crew to fend for themselves on the land.
It has become a trademark of Dumont to burn the boats of those he had plundered. Proclaiming loudly that he was the master of the waters between Elbion and Alliria, even if they made sure to avoid the naval boats of both places.
“Hit the shoreline on the other side of the bay and we'll settle in to divide what we have.” the man bellowed. The excited roar of his crew made him laugh as they set about their task as he stared off to watch the flames of the scuttled boat. A small chuckle of satisfaction was cut short by an odd set of swells that lapped at his boat, and seemed to come from the direction of the burning ship.
He tried to focus his eyes in the failing light of day to see what was happening before his attention was drawn to the deck.
“Eleanor!?” One of his men shouted suddenly, his body half over the railing of the boat and looking into the waters below.
“Come Heath! I have missed you so! Why have you been away so long?” A sweet voice called from the side as most everyone in sight looked to one another in alarm and confusion. Even Dumont could not help but be curious as to what had called to the man, now so visibly torn between jumping into the water after the voice and staying on the ship.
“Stay on deck you idiot!” Dumont roared as he strode to see what was happening, cut short in his movements by more men swiftly moving to the edge and calling names. His crew had suddenly gone mad it had seemed. They had been home mere months ago to sell off their latest plunder and here they were, calling to loved ones already.
“I said get back you lo-!” Dumont demanded as a voice called for him.
“My sweet Dumont. Why did you leave me alone?” A singsong voice called to him. He stormed to the side away from the burning vessel and saw something his rational mind knew to be impossible. In the water a mere few feet from him was Sandra, his late wife. He rubbed his eyes as her slender hand reached up towards him, her face full of sorrow as he gazed upon her once more. Her bare skin shone in the little light that was cast from the horizon as he leaned closer.
“Come to me darling, please.” she called for him. His mouth opened to speak as fire erupted down the side of the boat, sending all of the gathered forms back into the water. The men reeled back as Walton huffed from effort.
“You idiots! Don't be fooled! They’re siren's!” the mage yelled hopelessly as the female voices called again. A few of the men could not resist the temptation as Walton yelled once more at them. Dumont was left floundering as the mage again launched fire at the figures. Twin screams were his reward as the floundered for a moment on the surface before dipping into the water and out of sight.
The captain blinked a few times in disbelief before turning away, unable to shake the image of his wife's face from his mind. If they were truly sirens, he now had a deathly clear understanding of the legends he had heard about the men that fell victim to them.
His gaze fell upon the boat in the distance once more, trying to shake the grip the voice had on him when he noticed something. Or rather the lack of something. The fire in the distance was no longer roaring, as if it had been doused. His eyes squinted, the sudden bulge in the water made the fine hairs on his neck stand. A pair of orange eyes glared through the water at him as the sudden surge of water sank and the glowing orbs that held his gaze went with it.
“Walton! Something bigger is comin!” Dumont yelled. When Walton stood next to him, it took them too long to realize the utter silence that had crept upon them. A few of the men looked about, unsure as to what the captain had been speaking about a moment before.
“I thought-” Walton began before the water next to the boat erupted in a torrentus spray. The ship rocked from the proximity and the air filled with the rushing of wind as a figure spun up next to them.
The last tendrils of light began to blink out on the horizon as the orange eyes began to become the only light visible. Dumont violently shook as Walton stared in awe struck horror at the behemoth that gazed back at them. A low rumble vibrated the boat as the men began to scramble for something, anything to launch or throw at the thing that had presented itself.
Dumont could not break away from orbs that locked eyes with him as the mage shook his arm.
“Captain!” Walton called as one final shudder forced him to turn.
The roar of the creature before them dropped everyone to the deck in an attempt to cover their ears to block out the painful shock of it’s call. Bedlam took the ship as some dove off the side, snatched quickly by the waiting siren’s with a fervor that did little to show how spiteful they had become with the maiming of their sisters.
The orange globes watched for a moment before easing it’s mass back into the water silently and taking to the stern of the boat. It was none to gentle about pushing the ship along as it moved the boat towards a formation of land that would catch the hull and beach the thing.
Those that had stood since the creature had gone below water were thrown to the deck once more when the ship began to change course. The sails did nothing to stop the movement as they caught the wind on their face. Once accustomed to the movement, those that could stood and tried to shake off the disorienting ring that held their hearing.
“Walton! Get that thing off us!” Dumont wailed as he helped another crew member to their feet. Walton scurried to the cabin before headed to the helm. He stared at the amount of water being moved behind them with ease, mute horror taking him for a brief second as he pulled out a scroll and began pouring magic into the item. The scroll crackled for a moment as a bolt only seen made by nature arced from the mage’s hands and struck out at the water behind them.
Electricity danced along the surface as the creature writhed for a time, the sudden lurch of the boat fighting the forward momentum throwing the mage against the rail. The scroll burned as it fell over into the water and as he watched it go, noticed siren’s staring up at him.
“By the gods.” He muttered to himself, looking back up in time as the orange globes rose out of the water and a mouth opened. He did not see the siren’s part, gaze fixed on the two sets of teeth greeted him as the lower jaw stayed in the water. The boat lurched backwards as the water behind them was quickly drawn away, the back of the creature surfacing. Blood gushed from the things back as it’s mouth snapped shut, launching the boat forward as a jet of water punched through the back of the boat.
Pushed forward once more, the men being thrown off at times while those that could held onto what gave their hands purchase. The deck was a mess of water, crying men, and the happy cackles of siren’s no longer hiding their true voices. The sounds were similar to undoing the wrapping of packages with a fervor.
The hull groaned as it caught on the rocks hidden below the surface, a small ring shaped crop of rocks jutting from the surface the only warning of what lay below.
“Abandon ship!” Dumont called to those that remained. He went for his cabin as men began to look over the edge and weigh their options. Eyes glinted in the darkening waters below them, watching and waiting for them.
The captain and mage met in the cabin, the back wall opening as they both pushed the small raft out and into the water below. A few of the eyes shifted from the gunwhale towards the stern, and some of the glints faded out as men began to jump.
Gytera watched from below the water as the boat flopped into the water, waiting for their quarry to follow behind it. Two of their sisters wailed in the depths, the burns across their bodies nearly killing them before they had fallen back into the water. Her sisters surrounded the boat, hoping to catch the majority of the men still aboard.
Those that had already broke the water were dealt with, the plants in the deeper water being fashioned into makeshift lashings that held the floating weights down. All of them had struggled, but to no avail in the waters that the siren’s called home.
A handful of them broke away as the large figure of their protector slowly sank into the depths. They couldn’t feel it breath, water’s still as the occasional shudder being the only sign of their champion being awake.
“Falerumasa! Shift so we may aid you!” Yvren cried in faerie tongue as the dragons head swung about slowly to look to the siren. They were shrimp compared to the leviathan that slowly sank below, the waters stained with it’s blood. They could see a large swath of the water full of the life giving liquid, and were terrified at the prospect of a lowly human cutting down such a great being. A heaving sigh came from the being before water swirled around it. The water vanished to reveal it’s smaller form, the siren’s straying away before closing in on the similarly sized body the dragon had shifted to.
Dragging the body to the surface of the water, their sisters busy with the men did not deviate from their task. Those tending to the dragon worked quickly, some diving to the depths in similar fashion to those bringing men with them as they ripped free the plants from the ocean floor.
Yvren worked hurriedly, her magick weaving into the gray skin on the female body before her in an attempt to sow up the gash that claimed territory from shoulder to lower back. It may have been a trick of the eye, but it hadn't seemed so large a wound on the dragon. The right side of her back now though was split open from spine to nearly halfway to her front.
Her magick was not enough as a few of her sisters returned with the plants. They soaked the slimy green tendrils in magick as they carefully placed them over the spots Yvren had managed to pull together.
Blood poured over their webbed hands, the arms of their protector placed on the rocks to hold them in place while the siren’s worked. Siren’s had changed places in order to continue bringing fresh magick to their protector, the flurry of workers never fumbling to move out of the way or continue the weaving of wounds. Their panic was nearly rightful as the dragon’s breathing ceased when the last few spots of open wound changed to a soft pink and closed skin. The sighing breath brought them immense relief that fed into their rage as they looked to Gytera for direction.
She and another sister had waited for the two humans to be nearly halfway to shore before springing up the sides of the tiny boat. To their displeasure, the captain seemed almost aware of them as he swung something at them. It sizzled as it came close to them, their shiny eyes wide with alarm at the presence of iron. The other siren found purchase though as she drug the mage into the waters below.
He proved a far more worthy fighter than the other men as Gytera had to assist her sister in dragging him down. She warned the others from attempting to grab the captain and instead pointed them to the boat.
The plan Falerumasa formulated had very nearly worked. Unexpected things such as the mage along with the iron had been the only oversights that none of them could have planned for. They had stalked their prey for almost two months now, listening, waiting, and planning. They had gathered names, memorized the faces and habits.
All of that had come to this night and their attempt to remove the human that had been littering their waters with corpses and burned out hulls. Humans only tread the surface, and once something was out of sight, they were quick to forget it ever existed. The same could not be said for those that called the water below home.
Wreckage ruined seaweed beds and disturbed the fish that lived around them. Some would make use of the wooden corpses. The other beings however found the sights distasteful. Especially when the perpetrator claimed to own the waters.
The small boat hit beach as the sirens hissed in warning towards the shore. A few others had swam to saftey successfully, the time between the sisters diving and returning to the surface long enough to allow a few to flee.
Gytera and Yvren kept watchful eyes upon Falerumasa all the night as day began to break. The others that had gathered dispersed back to where they called home, leaving these three Carefully bathing the exposed dragon in water to keep her skin from drying out. Being this small made it easier to heal, but being asleep made it impossible for her to shift from breathing above water to below water.
They wouldn’t rouse her to shift back though, as the healing skin was still fresh and tender. Shifting the first time had opened the wound worse than what she had first received. Changing forms would have undone their work, and they all were far too exhausted to attempt another rescue of that scale once more.
Ithyk was tasked with keeping watch of the dragon while the other two slept and ate their fill. The ship hadn’t moved from the rock, even after the stern had been blown nearly completely out and filled with water. Debris filled the space between the beached ship and the smaller burned boat that was floating freely now.
Ithyk swam about the dragon’s weakened form, keeping curious fish at bay as the large swath of bloody water came into plain view with the light of day. Time slowly crept by and the siren could not help but hope that Falerumasa would wake soon. Boredom was chipping away at the siren’s young sense of self control. Her mother had tasked her with this, but she too was hungry and becoming tired.
She looked about the waters below them and was confident she could sneak away for a time to get her fill and return before either noticed. She checked the dragon once more, her gray form a stark contrast to the nearly white rocks that they had placed her on. The plants were aiding the skin, but the magick imbued into them had nearly been spent.
Once more shooing away curious fish and giving the protector a final bathing in water, the young siren swam below into the depths. Sunlight was unable to reach this deep so fresh in the morning, a boon to Ithyk’s sneaking away. A bane though as the siren was unable to watch for anything passing by, even with her excellent vision.
It has become a trademark of Dumont to burn the boats of those he had plundered. Proclaiming loudly that he was the master of the waters between Elbion and Alliria, even if they made sure to avoid the naval boats of both places.
“Hit the shoreline on the other side of the bay and we'll settle in to divide what we have.” the man bellowed. The excited roar of his crew made him laugh as they set about their task as he stared off to watch the flames of the scuttled boat. A small chuckle of satisfaction was cut short by an odd set of swells that lapped at his boat, and seemed to come from the direction of the burning ship.
He tried to focus his eyes in the failing light of day to see what was happening before his attention was drawn to the deck.
“Eleanor!?” One of his men shouted suddenly, his body half over the railing of the boat and looking into the waters below.
“Come Heath! I have missed you so! Why have you been away so long?” A sweet voice called from the side as most everyone in sight looked to one another in alarm and confusion. Even Dumont could not help but be curious as to what had called to the man, now so visibly torn between jumping into the water after the voice and staying on the ship.
“Stay on deck you idiot!” Dumont roared as he strode to see what was happening, cut short in his movements by more men swiftly moving to the edge and calling names. His crew had suddenly gone mad it had seemed. They had been home mere months ago to sell off their latest plunder and here they were, calling to loved ones already.
“I said get back you lo-!” Dumont demanded as a voice called for him.
“My sweet Dumont. Why did you leave me alone?” A singsong voice called to him. He stormed to the side away from the burning vessel and saw something his rational mind knew to be impossible. In the water a mere few feet from him was Sandra, his late wife. He rubbed his eyes as her slender hand reached up towards him, her face full of sorrow as he gazed upon her once more. Her bare skin shone in the little light that was cast from the horizon as he leaned closer.
“Come to me darling, please.” she called for him. His mouth opened to speak as fire erupted down the side of the boat, sending all of the gathered forms back into the water. The men reeled back as Walton huffed from effort.
“You idiots! Don't be fooled! They’re siren's!” the mage yelled hopelessly as the female voices called again. A few of the men could not resist the temptation as Walton yelled once more at them. Dumont was left floundering as the mage again launched fire at the figures. Twin screams were his reward as the floundered for a moment on the surface before dipping into the water and out of sight.
The captain blinked a few times in disbelief before turning away, unable to shake the image of his wife's face from his mind. If they were truly sirens, he now had a deathly clear understanding of the legends he had heard about the men that fell victim to them.
His gaze fell upon the boat in the distance once more, trying to shake the grip the voice had on him when he noticed something. Or rather the lack of something. The fire in the distance was no longer roaring, as if it had been doused. His eyes squinted, the sudden bulge in the water made the fine hairs on his neck stand. A pair of orange eyes glared through the water at him as the sudden surge of water sank and the glowing orbs that held his gaze went with it.
“Walton! Something bigger is comin!” Dumont yelled. When Walton stood next to him, it took them too long to realize the utter silence that had crept upon them. A few of the men looked about, unsure as to what the captain had been speaking about a moment before.
“I thought-” Walton began before the water next to the boat erupted in a torrentus spray. The ship rocked from the proximity and the air filled with the rushing of wind as a figure spun up next to them.
The last tendrils of light began to blink out on the horizon as the orange eyes began to become the only light visible. Dumont violently shook as Walton stared in awe struck horror at the behemoth that gazed back at them. A low rumble vibrated the boat as the men began to scramble for something, anything to launch or throw at the thing that had presented itself.
Dumont could not break away from orbs that locked eyes with him as the mage shook his arm.
“Captain!” Walton called as one final shudder forced him to turn.
The roar of the creature before them dropped everyone to the deck in an attempt to cover their ears to block out the painful shock of it’s call. Bedlam took the ship as some dove off the side, snatched quickly by the waiting siren’s with a fervor that did little to show how spiteful they had become with the maiming of their sisters.
The orange globes watched for a moment before easing it’s mass back into the water silently and taking to the stern of the boat. It was none to gentle about pushing the ship along as it moved the boat towards a formation of land that would catch the hull and beach the thing.
Those that had stood since the creature had gone below water were thrown to the deck once more when the ship began to change course. The sails did nothing to stop the movement as they caught the wind on their face. Once accustomed to the movement, those that could stood and tried to shake off the disorienting ring that held their hearing.
“Walton! Get that thing off us!” Dumont wailed as he helped another crew member to their feet. Walton scurried to the cabin before headed to the helm. He stared at the amount of water being moved behind them with ease, mute horror taking him for a brief second as he pulled out a scroll and began pouring magic into the item. The scroll crackled for a moment as a bolt only seen made by nature arced from the mage’s hands and struck out at the water behind them.
Electricity danced along the surface as the creature writhed for a time, the sudden lurch of the boat fighting the forward momentum throwing the mage against the rail. The scroll burned as it fell over into the water and as he watched it go, noticed siren’s staring up at him.
“By the gods.” He muttered to himself, looking back up in time as the orange globes rose out of the water and a mouth opened. He did not see the siren’s part, gaze fixed on the two sets of teeth greeted him as the lower jaw stayed in the water. The boat lurched backwards as the water behind them was quickly drawn away, the back of the creature surfacing. Blood gushed from the things back as it’s mouth snapped shut, launching the boat forward as a jet of water punched through the back of the boat.
Pushed forward once more, the men being thrown off at times while those that could held onto what gave their hands purchase. The deck was a mess of water, crying men, and the happy cackles of siren’s no longer hiding their true voices. The sounds were similar to undoing the wrapping of packages with a fervor.
The hull groaned as it caught on the rocks hidden below the surface, a small ring shaped crop of rocks jutting from the surface the only warning of what lay below.
“Abandon ship!” Dumont called to those that remained. He went for his cabin as men began to look over the edge and weigh their options. Eyes glinted in the darkening waters below them, watching and waiting for them.
The captain and mage met in the cabin, the back wall opening as they both pushed the small raft out and into the water below. A few of the eyes shifted from the gunwhale towards the stern, and some of the glints faded out as men began to jump.
Gytera watched from below the water as the boat flopped into the water, waiting for their quarry to follow behind it. Two of their sisters wailed in the depths, the burns across their bodies nearly killing them before they had fallen back into the water. Her sisters surrounded the boat, hoping to catch the majority of the men still aboard.
Those that had already broke the water were dealt with, the plants in the deeper water being fashioned into makeshift lashings that held the floating weights down. All of them had struggled, but to no avail in the waters that the siren’s called home.
A handful of them broke away as the large figure of their protector slowly sank into the depths. They couldn’t feel it breath, water’s still as the occasional shudder being the only sign of their champion being awake.
“Falerumasa! Shift so we may aid you!” Yvren cried in faerie tongue as the dragons head swung about slowly to look to the siren. They were shrimp compared to the leviathan that slowly sank below, the waters stained with it’s blood. They could see a large swath of the water full of the life giving liquid, and were terrified at the prospect of a lowly human cutting down such a great being. A heaving sigh came from the being before water swirled around it. The water vanished to reveal it’s smaller form, the siren’s straying away before closing in on the similarly sized body the dragon had shifted to.
Dragging the body to the surface of the water, their sisters busy with the men did not deviate from their task. Those tending to the dragon worked quickly, some diving to the depths in similar fashion to those bringing men with them as they ripped free the plants from the ocean floor.
Yvren worked hurriedly, her magick weaving into the gray skin on the female body before her in an attempt to sow up the gash that claimed territory from shoulder to lower back. It may have been a trick of the eye, but it hadn't seemed so large a wound on the dragon. The right side of her back now though was split open from spine to nearly halfway to her front.
Her magick was not enough as a few of her sisters returned with the plants. They soaked the slimy green tendrils in magick as they carefully placed them over the spots Yvren had managed to pull together.
Blood poured over their webbed hands, the arms of their protector placed on the rocks to hold them in place while the siren’s worked. Siren’s had changed places in order to continue bringing fresh magick to their protector, the flurry of workers never fumbling to move out of the way or continue the weaving of wounds. Their panic was nearly rightful as the dragon’s breathing ceased when the last few spots of open wound changed to a soft pink and closed skin. The sighing breath brought them immense relief that fed into their rage as they looked to Gytera for direction.
She and another sister had waited for the two humans to be nearly halfway to shore before springing up the sides of the tiny boat. To their displeasure, the captain seemed almost aware of them as he swung something at them. It sizzled as it came close to them, their shiny eyes wide with alarm at the presence of iron. The other siren found purchase though as she drug the mage into the waters below.
He proved a far more worthy fighter than the other men as Gytera had to assist her sister in dragging him down. She warned the others from attempting to grab the captain and instead pointed them to the boat.
The plan Falerumasa formulated had very nearly worked. Unexpected things such as the mage along with the iron had been the only oversights that none of them could have planned for. They had stalked their prey for almost two months now, listening, waiting, and planning. They had gathered names, memorized the faces and habits.
All of that had come to this night and their attempt to remove the human that had been littering their waters with corpses and burned out hulls. Humans only tread the surface, and once something was out of sight, they were quick to forget it ever existed. The same could not be said for those that called the water below home.
Wreckage ruined seaweed beds and disturbed the fish that lived around them. Some would make use of the wooden corpses. The other beings however found the sights distasteful. Especially when the perpetrator claimed to own the waters.
The small boat hit beach as the sirens hissed in warning towards the shore. A few others had swam to saftey successfully, the time between the sisters diving and returning to the surface long enough to allow a few to flee.
Gytera and Yvren kept watchful eyes upon Falerumasa all the night as day began to break. The others that had gathered dispersed back to where they called home, leaving these three Carefully bathing the exposed dragon in water to keep her skin from drying out. Being this small made it easier to heal, but being asleep made it impossible for her to shift from breathing above water to below water.
They wouldn’t rouse her to shift back though, as the healing skin was still fresh and tender. Shifting the first time had opened the wound worse than what she had first received. Changing forms would have undone their work, and they all were far too exhausted to attempt another rescue of that scale once more.
Ithyk was tasked with keeping watch of the dragon while the other two slept and ate their fill. The ship hadn’t moved from the rock, even after the stern had been blown nearly completely out and filled with water. Debris filled the space between the beached ship and the smaller burned boat that was floating freely now.
Ithyk swam about the dragon’s weakened form, keeping curious fish at bay as the large swath of bloody water came into plain view with the light of day. Time slowly crept by and the siren could not help but hope that Falerumasa would wake soon. Boredom was chipping away at the siren’s young sense of self control. Her mother had tasked her with this, but she too was hungry and becoming tired.
She looked about the waters below them and was confident she could sneak away for a time to get her fill and return before either noticed. She checked the dragon once more, her gray form a stark contrast to the nearly white rocks that they had placed her on. The plants were aiding the skin, but the magick imbued into them had nearly been spent.
Once more shooing away curious fish and giving the protector a final bathing in water, the young siren swam below into the depths. Sunlight was unable to reach this deep so fresh in the morning, a boon to Ithyk’s sneaking away. A bane though as the siren was unable to watch for anything passing by, even with her excellent vision.