Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a beautiful princess. The beautiful princess was charming and kind, and when she was 15, her family sent her away to a temple to learn, as all young princesses do. The temple was beautiful, and the princess loved to walk along the beautiful beach just a stones' throw away.

One day, on her daily walk along the shore, she came across a handsome young man, lying unconscious in the sand. She stayed with him as her maids went to fetch help, and once he was safely within the temple walls, she tirelessly nursed him back to health.

The princess fell in love with the young man, but she was called back to her home. As a woman, she was heartbroken, but as a princess, she knew her duty, so she returned. She was heartbroken and dismayed when she learned that she was called back to be wed. In a year's time, she would be forced to leave her home behind and marry someone she'd never met. She wept for her lost love and spent all of her time cherishing every moment spent in her kingdom.

When the time came, she went with a heavy heart, but joyous occasion, her young man from the temple's shore was the prince she was to marry! They both boarded the wedding ship flushed with love and promised eternity to each other before God. All seemed well, but alas, tragedy struck that very night.

The princess awoke to her prince dead in their wedding bed, his throat slit and the sheets soaked in blood. Her screams awoke the whole ship, but fear for the princess quickly became rage. She was accused, slandered as a siren who enticed and murdered her husband in cold blood for the sake of her kingdom. Others sympathized, she was but a sacrificial lamb, naught but a tool to further her kingdom's power.

In the end, war broke out between the two countries. A senseless war that produced countless dead. A war that raged until at last, the family of the murdered prince conquered their neighbor and quenched their thirst for vengeance with blood.

No one ever realized that the last they had seen of the prince's beautiful and silent companion had been on his wedding day.

~Under the Ocean~
It was a month after that fated, wonderful, terrible day, the sisters welcomed me the lost mermaid with open arms, her garden still shining, BOOM another failed cannonball, The castle has lost another turrent, the fish swimming out.

~The daughters of the air~
We cry more and more each day, the fathers are away and the children are misbehaving and there's nothing we can do. Our days prolonged further each moment, hope seems to be fading. We must stay positive in this purgatory. Most of us heal the wounded in this senseless war, the mermaids with no soul and the humans are more alike than we thought.

~A kingdom soldier~
This nonsensical war with the sea has started, yeah sure the party boy prince and his cushion warmer have left, why must I get involved. The mandatory army signups bringing literal children to the war, the pristine palace pretending to be innocent. Black funeral banners everywhere you look, this is all unnecessary, my brother in the navy lost out at sea, possibly carried away with what we refer to as sirens, all light is lost with one singular life.

~The seawitch~
Alas, the blade was thrown, the prince fallen, all goes well, aside from the reckless ruckus outside my walls, praise the caverns of the land, for they contain solitude, curse the noise this brings.

~The navy survivor~
CRASH our ship goes down, all hands on deck, attempts to salvage this now scuttled wreck lessening in frequency, all goes down into the depths. The air and sea, freezing, we fall, I struggle for safety and find my way onto the shores of a neighbouring kingdom. Praising the lord I hope they take kindly to me and allow my weary soul to rest. Maybe I could find some carrier pidgeon to send a message to the army defending the castle on seige.

~The child~
Father and brother have left for war, everything is scary, my mother weeps nightly, I attempt to comfort her to no avail, could it possibly be the letter she recieved a fortnight ago? I dearly hope my father and eldest brother return together soon and tell me those delightful tales of adventure once more!

Above the ocean, walking alongside Eric, she'd wondered at the clarity and the color of the cities sprawling around them. More than ever, she'd damned the ocean for its dark blue, the way the water only reluctantly bared its contents, piece by piece, as you swam farther and deeper.

She'd been a fool for it. More foolish, even, than killing Eric. She ached for her dark blue oceans, now. The weapons of war threw the sea creatures and sand so that everything was lost to the murk. They huddled in their rock castles that, for so long, had stood strong against firm currents, coming undone as technology out of the grasp of their understanding plummeted beneath the waves.

Her sisters and her father listened to her pleading for their forgiveness and granted it. She could not be sure that they were honest during the onslaught. She could not see their faces, and their voices were lost among the impact of the humans' attacks. The castle stone fractured and fell. The water gradually found itself again, dark blue and secretive, coral thriving on a pile of strangely shaped rock.

“Did you seriously have to kill the fucking prince to prevent the curse from killing you?!” “Yes! What, do you not want your daughter to live?!” “Of course I do! But it’s a different thing when you kill someone else & it causes a fuckin war between land & sea!” “Well to be fair, he was a creep.” “What?” “And not the normal kind of creep either, he was even creepier than a Pearlfish.” “Oh my god.” “Yeah.” “I can see why you killed him, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” “Eh, it’s alright, he got what was coming to him. Plus I at least got to live by doing so.” “Alright, I let you off the hook. Just make sure whenever you kill someone you have a good reason.” “Noted.”

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