- il y a 9 minutes
Catégorie
🦄
Art et designTranscription
00:00I taught a merman how to flirt, but he grounded me because he thought I was proposing.
00:04My professor did warn me, but by then, I'd already done something very stupid.
00:08How could I watch the strongest, most beautiful male on Emerald Atoll fail to find a mate?
00:14He could take down prey that weighed hundreds of pounds, but he'd never once shown up to a courtship dance.
00:19Poor thing grew up alone, no one ever taught him, so I played him courtship songs on a speaker,
00:24put on a prosthetic tail and showed him the dance myself.
00:27He learned fast and performed it right back to me.
00:31Thrilled, I shot the whole thing and sent it to my professor to brag.
00:35He called me back screaming.
00:37You idiot, didn't you notice the razor-sharp teeth?
00:39The long claws? The powerful tail? That's not a merge.
00:43It's more like a siren out of mythology.
00:46It could slice you open and rip your heart out without breaking a sweat.
00:49The only way a creature like that courts a mate is by hunting them down,
00:53dragging them somewhere no one will find them,
00:55and keeping them there until they're pregnant.
00:57Get out of there!
00:59Get out! Get out!
01:02But it was already too late.
01:04He was already swimming toward me.
01:06Ah!
01:09Two months earlier, a new male had arrived at Emerald Atoll,
01:13settling alone on the far side of the island.
01:15Merfolk live in family groups,
01:17but young males often leave the pod they grew up in to seek mates and join new colonies.
01:21It promotes genetic diversity, a smart evolutionary strategy.
01:25The merfolk were soft-featured, almost doll-like.
01:28This one was all edges, looked like a fallen angel.
01:31His teeth were pointed, his claws significantly longer than any shallow water mer's.
01:35Black hair, green eyes, a black gold tail roughly eight feet long.
01:39This was clearly a powerful, deep-sea mer who had left his pod and come to Emerald Atoll seeking a
01:44mate.
01:45I usually observed the merfolk through underwater cameras stationed around the island.
01:49But once, while boating near the atoll, I spotted him.
01:53I sent my drone after him and watched him cut through the waves,
01:56chasing down a marlin doing nearly 70 miles an hour.
01:59He caught it effortlessly, slicing the fish open with his claws.
02:03The blood drew sharks and orcas from the surrounding waters,
02:06but none of them dare to poach him.
02:08Deep-sea mer were clearly the unchallenged apex predators of the ocean.
02:12When he drifted past my boat, I couldn't help staring.
02:14You're amazing!
02:16Of course, he couldn't understand me.
02:18After humans discovered this planet,
02:19there had been a brief surge of interest in merfolk research,
02:22but the excitement died down fast.
02:27Merfish intelligence was only slightly above orcas.
02:30They were omnivores, living mostly on kelp and seaweed,
02:34occasionally supplemented with crabs, oysters, and small fish.
02:38And there was zero chance of crossbreeding with humans.
02:41Most researchers moved on to studying beast folk.
02:44As for me, I'd originally studied beast folk, too.
02:48Isla. Isla. Isla!
02:52I have to attend a university conference and we'll probably be away for a week.
02:56Again?
02:56Yep.
02:57You're running out of time, Isla.
02:59Your graduate thesis deadline is fast approaching.
03:01But...
03:01You better have your topic settled by the time I get back.
03:04I believe you can do it.
03:06I'd been alone on Emerald Atoll for three months.
03:09If not for my cleaning drone and internet access,
03:12I'd have dropped out long ago.
03:14But after hearing me speak, the mer stopped.
03:17Those cold, piercing eyes locked onto me.
03:19A chill crawled up my spine,
03:21even though I was perfectly safe on the boat.
03:23He sliced off the choiceless cut from the marlin's back
03:26with one precise sweep of his claws
03:27and tossed it onto my deck.
03:29I'd just been fed by a mer.
03:31He was different from the others.
03:32He's smart and powerful.
03:34I could see my thesis writing itself.
03:36I might graduate early.
03:38If this mer could find a mate during mating season,
03:40he'd stay with the Emerald Atoll colony.
03:42By next spring,
03:44there could be two or three intelligent,
03:46powerful mer pups born,
03:47and I could study hybridization traits
03:49between different mer subspecies.
03:52I named the deep sea mer Opal.
03:54His black gold tail shimmered like a black opal
03:57under moonlight,
03:58flashing with iridescent fire.
03:59Mating season lasted three months,
04:01but two months in,
04:03Opal still hadn't found a mate.
04:04He hunted massive prey every day,
04:06often tossing the best cuts onto the dock,
04:09giving me a meal of fresh sashimi or pan-seared fish.
04:12He only ate the belly meat himself,
04:14discarding the rest.
04:15Before long,
04:16young males from the colony would slink over
04:18and drag away the leftovers
04:19to present to the females they were courting.
04:21He'd inadvertently helped several pairs get together.
04:24Merfolk were drawn to strength.
04:26A male who could bring down enormous prey
04:27easily won female attention.
04:29But this idiot fish had never once attended
04:31the underwater courtship dances.
04:33I consulted my professor,
04:35who said merfolk were social animals.
04:37Males typically left in groups
04:39of two or three brothers.
04:40A solitary mer had likely been separated by accident
04:43or abandoned,
04:45forced to grow up alone.
04:46That would explain why this one
04:48was such an exceptional hunter.
04:50Without a family's protection,
04:51he'd had to become powerful
04:53to survive the ocean's dangers.
04:57It also meant he probably didn't know
04:59the courtship song or dance.
05:01Without performing the courtship ritual,
05:03none of the young females would even know
05:05he was available.
05:06Of course he didn't have a mate.
05:08Once mating season ended,
05:10Opal would leave Emerald Atoll
05:11with nothing to show for it.
05:13I could feel my thesis slipping away.
05:15I had to do something.
05:17It was just a song and a dance.
05:19I'd teach him myself.
05:20I pulled up recordings of merfolk courtship songs
05:23and waited at the dock.
05:24Opal arrived,
05:25dragging another massive tumor.
05:27The warm light softened his cold features.
05:29I knew he was dangerous,
05:31but merfolk had no recorded history
05:33of harming humans.
05:34I approached him slowly.
05:35Opal.
05:39Opal.
05:40That's the name I gave you.
05:41Merfolk could only produce simple tones.
05:43They had a basic language,
05:45but communicated through ultrasound.
05:47Their vocal anatomy didn't support complex human speech.
05:50Neither did their intelligence,
05:52for that matter.
05:53He opened his mouth.
05:54Opal.
05:55Clear, precise, perfectly pronounced.
05:57He could speak.
05:59Research on deep-sea mer was scarce.
06:01Perhaps some subspecies had this ability.
06:03My thesis was going to shake the entire field.
06:07Opal.
06:07I pointed at him,
06:09then pointed at myself.
06:11Isla.
06:11He immediately understood that Opal referred to him,
06:14Opal.
06:14And Isla, to me,
06:16Isla.
06:16Remarkably intelligent.
06:18I turned on the speaker I'd compared.
06:20I'm going to teach you the courtship song.
06:22Once you learn it,
06:23you sing it for whichever mate you choose.
06:25He seemed confused,
06:26but I knew he wouldn't hurt me.
06:28Soon, the lilting melody of a merfolk courtship song
06:31floated from the speaker.
06:32I had to admit,
06:33merfolk singing was beautiful.
06:35The next instant,
06:36Opal's expression changed.
06:38He drove his claws through the speaker
06:40in one violent strike,
06:41shredding it until the song went silent.
06:45I jumped back in terror and ran.
06:47Those claws would crack my skull just as easily.
06:50He saw me fleeing and lunged.
06:52I glanced back mid-sprint
06:53and saw he'd hauled himself onto the shore,
06:56floundering forward,
06:57trying to chase me.
06:58But on land, he was slow,
07:00nowhere near fast enough.
07:01Isla.
07:02Isla.
07:03His voice was plaintive,
07:04almost begging.
07:05Isla.
07:05No wonder,
07:06said merfolk lured humans to their death.
07:08That's exactly what he sounded like now,
07:11luring me back so he could eat me.
07:13The next day,
07:14I found a grouper on the dock,
07:15alongside a speaker
07:16that had been painstakingly pieced back together.
07:20Opal hovered a hundred meters out,
07:22neither approaching nor leaving,
07:24just watching me.
07:25I might have overreacted yesterday.
07:27Research consistently showed merfolk
07:29were among the friendliest species known.
07:31He'd probably just been startled
07:33that the speaker could produce mersong.
07:34I waved him over.
07:36He drifted ten meters closer,
07:38waited,
07:38and when I didn't run,
07:40cautiously closed another ten meters.
07:42Several minutes passed
07:43before he was just a few meters away.
07:45You don't like the speaker?
07:47What if I teach you myself?
07:52Could he actually understand human speech?
07:54I'd been listening to the colony's courtship songs
07:56through underwater equipment for weeks.
07:58I knew them by heart.
07:59I sang the first line,
08:01ready to sprint the instant his claws
08:02came from my head
08:03the way they'd come for the speaker.
08:05When Opal heard me sing,
08:06his eyes lit up,
08:07he repeated the line back.
08:08I sang the full courtship song,
08:10and he echoed it perfectly.
08:11I'd expected to need a dozen repetitions,
08:13but he reproduced the entire song
08:15flawlessly on the first try.
08:16His eyes never left me.
08:18He didn't even blink.
08:19It made me uneasy.
08:20Opal, you're incredibly smart.
08:21When you meet a merm you fancy someday,
08:23you may sing this tune for her.
08:26Consider it tuition.
08:28That night, deep in sleep,
08:29I was jolted awake by a familiar melody.
08:31Furious, I threw open the window
08:32and locked eyes with Opal.
08:35Shut up!
08:36I snapped at him.
08:37The singing stopped.
08:38I finally got a good night's sleep.
08:40But days later,
08:42Opal still hadn't found a mate
08:43despite knowing the courtship song.
08:45Was I really going to have to teach him the dance too?
08:49I was a strong swimmer
08:50and certified diver.
08:52When I was a child,
08:53trips to Thalassa were all the rage.
08:55My parents brought me here on vacation.
08:56After visiting the shallow water merfolk,
08:59the next day,
08:59we boarded a cruise ship
09:00to search for deep sea mer.
09:02But the waves were particularly rough that day
09:04and I fell overboard.
09:07Over 10 days later,
09:08my parents found me unconscious on the shore,
09:10burning with fever.
09:11The fever wiped my memory of that entire period.
09:14The assumption was that
09:14a shallow water merfolk pod had rescued me.
09:17After that ordeal,
09:18once we returned to our home world,
09:19my parents enrolled me in swimming and diving lessons.
09:22I never imagined that years later
09:23I'd end up back on Thalassa
09:24and that those skills would actually prove useful.
09:27When you see a female you like,
09:28have you tried singing the courtship song for her?
09:30He nodded.
09:31I was furious.
09:32He'd already sung the courtship song
09:33and still got rejected.
09:35These females had no taste.
09:36Opal was the most stunning myrrh on Emerald Atoll.
09:39Do you know the courtship dance?
09:42He shook his head.
09:43Fine.
09:44For the sake of my thesis,
09:45I'd go all in.
09:45I turned,
09:46walked into the room,
09:48slipped on the silver imitation fishtail,
09:50and then dove into the sea.
09:51I mimicked the courtship dance movements,
09:53twirling through the sea.
09:54Opal's eyes grew brighter and brighter,
09:56unblinking,
09:57fixed on every movement.
09:59Like.
09:59That was the first word he'd said to me besides my name.
10:02Idiot.
10:02If he liked it,
10:03then he'd better learn it.
10:04I was counting on those merpups next year.
10:06When the dance ended,
10:06he retracted his claws.
10:08Opal pulled me into a full embrace,
10:10carefully circling my waist,
10:12resting his head on my shoulder,
10:13his tail pressing close against mine.
10:17Like Isla.
10:18Compared to my clumsy,
10:19slightly ridiculous imitation of a merr dance,
10:21Opal's was effortless and powerful,
10:23devastatingly beautiful.
10:24He sang something similar to the merrfolk courtship song,
10:27but more ethereal,
10:28more haunting.
10:29Those impossible eyes held nothing but my reflection the entire time.
10:32Like a sailor bewitched by a siren,
10:34I found myself swimming toward him,
10:36wanting to dance with him.
10:37The moment my hand touched his,
10:38I snapped out of it.
10:39Dancing with a fish,
10:40I'd lost my mind.
10:41I turned and swam hard for shore,
10:43behind me,
10:44Opal slowly lowered his hand,
10:45watching me leave and spin.
10:52I'd barely peeled off the wet tail when my professor called,
10:56and his furious voice erupted from my comm device.
10:59You idiot!
10:59You told me you found a deep sea merr.
11:01Didn't you notice the razor sharp teeth?
11:03The long claws?
11:04The powerful tail?
11:06That's not a merr.
11:07It's more like a siren out of mythology.
11:09It could slice you open and rip your heart out without breaking a sweat.
11:13The only way a creature like that courts a mate is by hunting them down,
11:17dragging them somewhere no one will find them,
11:19and keeping them there until they're pregnant.
11:21Get out of there!
11:23Get out!
11:24Get out!
11:24So my gut had been right all along.
11:26I'd always known Opal looked different from the merr folk.
11:29He wasn't a deep sea merr at all.
11:31He was a new species.
11:32An extremely dangerous new species.
11:34Which meant the Emerald Atoll research station,
11:36with zero physical barriers,
11:38was a death trap.
11:39Until my professor secured funding and the station was reinforced,
11:43I had to leave immediately.
11:44I grabbed the essentials and launched my yacht.
11:47As the island shrank behind me,
11:49I let myself breathe.
11:50I hadn't said goodbye.
11:52That thought sat heavy in my chest.
11:54Whatever he was,
11:55he'd never actually hurt me.
11:58My professor called to make sure I'd gotten out.
12:00I'm well clear of the atroy!
12:02Thank God.
12:03I thought the worst you'd cost me was my academic reputation.
12:06I didn't expect I'd nearly have to attend your funeral.
12:09But I had no appetite for his jokes.
12:10My voice was shaking.
12:13It's here.
12:16Opal's black hair billows in the wind,
12:18his sleek tail cutting through the water like an arrow.
12:20He caught up in seconds.
12:21His expression was colder than anything I'd ever seen.
12:24I told myself it was fine.
12:26The hull was metal.
12:27I was safe.
12:28Then five pointed claws hunched through the cabin wall.
12:31The metal tore apart like paper.
12:33I fell backward.
12:34The clumsiness on the dock had been an act.
12:37The moment he boarded,
12:38his tail split slowly into two human legs.
12:41He walked toward me step by step,
12:42like something out of a nightmare.
12:44Don't run.
12:45All that friendliness had been an act.
12:47From the day he appeared,
12:48he could have slaughtered me and the entire colony anytime he wanted.
12:52But he hadn't.
12:53Had it all been a game to him,
12:55the moment his prey tried to run,
12:56the mask came off.
12:58Don't leave.
13:00My Isla.
13:01And then his lips pressed against mine.
13:03He was kissing me.
13:04Why?
13:04He pushed a smooth,
13:06hard pearl from his mouth into mine,
13:08his tongue forcing it to the back of my throat until I swallowed.
13:11Only then did he pull back,
13:13a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
13:15You can't escape now.
13:17My mate.
13:20The instant I swallowed the pearl,
13:22everything went black.
13:24Opal took me like prey.
13:25His tail reformed,
13:27and he held me against his chest as he shot through the ocean,
13:30heading somewhere unknown.
13:31My comm device lay abandoned on the deck,
13:33my professor's voice still coming through.
13:35What do you mean it's here?
13:36Isla, talk to me.
13:38A long silence.
13:39Then a sigh,
13:40and the sound of another call going out.
13:41Hello, is this planetary security?
13:44I woke up in iron shackles.
13:46I was inside a cave on some island.
13:47The only exit was submerged.
13:49Even if I could somehow dive through it,
13:51I'd face nothing but open ocean on the other side.
13:54A few meters away,
13:55he was slicing a massive fish into fillets with a poker face.
13:58Blood ran into the water.
13:59The metallic smell was everywhere.
14:01It looked like a scene from a slasher film.
14:03Was I next?
14:06He looked up.
14:07That cold expression was even more terrifying than before.
14:10Liar!
14:11You can't escape.
14:13Before, he'd only ever said a word or two at a time.
14:15Now he was speaking in full sentences.
14:17Fluent, precise.
14:19Like he'd know how to talk all along,
14:21and had simply chosen not to.
14:22An animal would just kill you.
14:24But something intelligent enough to take hostages
14:26was something you could reason with.
14:28What exactly did I lie about?
14:29His expression grew angrier.
14:32You courted me first.
14:34Me?
14:34I accepted, and you ran!
14:37You always lied to me!
14:39I'd sung the courtship song to him.
14:41Danced the courtship dance.
14:43From his perspective, I'd been proposing,
14:45and he had accepted.
14:48I softened my voice.
14:50This was all a misunderstanding.
14:52I'm a merfish researcher.
14:54I thought you were a male mer who'd come to join the Emerald Attor colony,
14:58but didn't know how to court.
14:59I was teaching you.
15:01His fist slammed into the cave wall,
15:02punching out a chunk of solid rock.
15:04I didn't want to imagine what would happen if that had been my skull.
15:07I should never have accepted that reassignment.
15:11Shut up.
15:13You wanted me to court those stupid, weak merfish.
15:16It took a long time for the rage to subside before he spoke again.
15:19His voice was calm, but with something unhinged underneath.
15:22It doesn't matter.
15:23Only stupid merfish court that way.
15:25My inherited instinct tells me this is how we do it.
15:29We take our mate and hide them away.
15:33Everything my professor said had been true.
15:35Why couldn't he have told me sooner?
15:37He pushed the raw fillets toward me.
15:39Eat.
15:40I was about to refuse,
15:41when hunger slammed into me like a wall.
15:43I wanted that fish more than I'd ever wanted anything in my life.
15:46I devoured every last piece.
15:49He watched with a look of satisfaction,
15:51entirely unsurprised,
15:53as if he had known this would happen.
15:55After eating,
15:56an overwhelming drowsiness hit.
15:58I slept again.
15:59When I woke,
16:00he was slicing fish.
16:01I ate again.
16:03Days passed before the hunger and exhaustion finally faded.
16:06I demanded answers.
16:08What did you do to me?
16:09He took my hand and guided my fingers behind my ears.
16:12On each side,
16:13I felt openings,
16:14developing gills.
16:15My skin had changed too,
16:17smoother and slicker,
16:18like it was no longer meant for land.
16:20I could probably stay underwater for hours now.
16:23The pearl.
16:24Am I going to turn into a creature like you?
16:28Yes.
16:30You'll become a siren like me.
16:33You'll never go back to the human world.
16:35I was going to turn into one of them.
16:37Never see my family again.
16:39Trapped with this monster for the rest of my life.
16:41Monster,
16:42even if I'm not human anymore,
16:44I'll never be with you.
16:45I hate you.
16:46I'd rather spend my life with a pot of murphine.
16:49His jaw clenched,
16:50eyes went bright with fury.
16:52But underneath it,
16:53just for a second,
16:55I saw something great.
16:56Then I'll keep you chained here forever.
16:58You won't see another human.
17:00You won't even see a murr.
17:01From that day on,
17:02my body kept changing,
17:04more and more like a fish.
17:05The openings behind my ears
17:07grew from two to six within two weeks.
17:09I didn't say a single word to him.
17:11The chains were long enough
17:13that I could reach the cave entrance.
17:14I'd tried submerging my head,
17:16and I could last hours now
17:17before I heard him coming back.
17:19If I could just get the shackles off,
17:20I could escape.
17:21Today he returned dragging only a small grouper,
17:24but his black gold tail bore a long gash.
17:26Iridescent scales fell away with every movement.
17:29He was injured.
17:29He didn't even have the strength to shift into legs.
17:34He just lay down and closed his eyes.
17:37I walked over and checked his breathing.
17:41Too bad I didn't die.
17:43You must be so disappointed.
17:46Obviously.
17:47I wish you'd drop dead.
17:48What happened to you?
17:50A pot of orcas.
17:53About thirty of them.
17:55Tried to take my territory.
17:57I won, of course.
17:58Just a scratch.
18:02Orcas.
18:03The ocean's roaming thugs.
18:04Thirty of them.
18:05And he won.
18:06I died a little inside.
18:08I truly provoked something terrifying.
18:10I kicked the grouper he brought into the water.
18:13I don't want grouper.
18:14I want salmon.
18:17Tomorrow?
18:18I want it today,
18:19you useless fish who can't even land a mate.
18:22Either let me go,
18:23or go catch some right now.
18:33He hauled himself up and swam back out through the entrance.
18:36After a long while,
18:37he returned with several salmon.
18:39The wound on his tail had turned white
18:40and waterlogged from the salt.
18:42Actually, I don't want salmon anymore.
18:44Too rich.
18:45I want something lighter.
18:47Sea bream.
18:48He dragged himself back out to catch sea bream.
18:50He brought the bream back.
18:52Before I could say another word,
18:53he collapsed.
18:54With his eyes closed,
18:56he looked completely harmless.
18:58The wound had gone raw from the seawater.
19:00I cleaned it.
19:01I sat beside him and closed my own eyes.
19:04I should hate him.
19:08I was floating in the ocean,
19:09but I knew I was dreaming.
19:10I turned back into a child.
19:12I saw another child about my age.
19:14Was I dreaming?
19:15I reached out to him.
19:17Please, help me.
19:18He swam toward me,
19:19and I saw that his lower half was a slender tail,
19:22a mare.
19:22He rescued me,
19:23set me on a reef,
19:24and caught food for me.
19:25A good myrrh.
19:26I wanted him to take me somewhere with people.
19:28I want to go home.
19:29My parents would be worried.
19:30But he couldn't understand me,
19:32so I taught him to speak,
19:33word by word.
19:34He was smart.
19:35In just over ten days,
19:37we could communicate.
19:38I learned he wasn't a myrrh.
19:39He was a siren.
19:41Sirens were solitary,
19:42the unchallenged apex predators of the deep.
19:44Sirens never raise their young.
19:46From the moment a hatchling broke free of its egg,
19:48it faced the dangerous ocean alone.
19:50Only those who survived earned the name siren.
19:52I was very innocent as a child.
19:54Innocent in that way only children can be.
19:56The kind that cuts.
19:58So you don't have family or friends?
20:00You've always been alone?
20:01Not even a fish friend?
20:03Don't you get lonely?
20:06What's lonely?
20:09Lonely is when there's no one to play with you,
20:11no one to talk to,
20:13no one who misses you.
20:14I didn't know what lonely was before,
20:17so I wasn't lonely.
20:20Now I will be.
20:22I'm sorry.
20:23After I go home-
20:24I'll come back every summer to play with you.
20:26I'll talk to you.
20:28And I'll miss you.
20:29Let's make a pinky promise.
20:30I swear.
20:31He copied my gesture solemnly,
20:33extending his little finger,
20:35careful not to nick me with his sharp eyes,
20:36and hooked it around mine.
20:37Cross your heart.
20:39We're best friends.
20:40I'll never forget you.
20:42Best friends.
20:43I'd planned to stay a few more days
20:44before having him take me home,
20:46but the sea wind and the monotonous diet made me sick.
20:49A fever set in.
20:50Everything blurred.
20:51His face went white.
20:53It's my fault.
20:54You don't belong in the sea.
20:55I'll take you somewhere with humans.
20:57They'll help you.
20:58He carried me on his thin back,
21:00racing through the ocean,
21:01trying to keep the waves from soaking my hair.
21:04When I'm better,
21:06I'll come back for you.
21:08Isla.
21:10I'll wait.
21:11He slipped back into the water,
21:12and only after people found me and carried me away
21:15did that small shape in the distance finally disappear.
21:18But I never kept my promise.
21:20I forgot all of it.
21:23If I hadn't been reassigned to my professor years later,
21:26I might never have returned to Thalassa in my life.
21:29An opal had come to Emerald Atoll not for the merfolk.
21:32For me.
21:33And what had I done?
21:35I'd made him think I was courting him.
21:37He accepted.
21:38I ran.
21:39He thought I'd betrayed him twice.
21:41In his fury, he took me.
21:45Liar.
21:47I hated you.
21:48You are a monster.
21:50I'd never be with you.
21:51Sirens heal with terrifying speed.
21:53Within hours, the vicious wound had closed.
21:55Opal opened his eyes and saw me still obediently shackled.
21:58Only then did he relax.
22:00Opal, you're awake.
22:01Does anything still hurt?
22:03Even if you've changed tactics and you're trying to soft me up,
22:05I won't let you go.
22:07Opal, you're awake.
22:09Does anything still hurt?
22:11Even if you've changed tactics and you're trying to soft me up,
22:13I won't let you go.
22:14I'd forgotten our promise.
22:17Everything on Emerald Atoll had been a misunderstanding.
22:20Liar.
22:21Don't think saying that will make me release you.
22:23My goal now wasn't escape.
22:24It was to comfort this poor fish who'd been let down for over a decade.
22:27I don't want to leave anymore.
22:29I'll stay here with you.
22:32Then you'll be my mate.
22:34Soon, here, we'll be growing an egg.
22:37Didn't you want to study my offspring?
22:39Isla, why not carry them yourself?
22:42I'm a human, you know.
22:43You swallowed my pearl.
22:45Your body has already been altered to carry Siren Young.
22:50Honestly, I wasn't entirely opposed to him.
22:52Interspecies marriage laws between beast folk and humans had already passed.
22:56Plenty of humans were into it.
22:57But carrying an egg was beyond anything I'd mentally prepared for.
23:00Can we just date first?
23:03A purely platonic relationship?
23:05I explained what platonic meant.
23:07He got angrier.
23:09You're lying again.
23:11I'll never believe you.
23:12But when I asked him to unlock the chains so I could swim, he agreed.
23:16Just as I thought.
23:17All bark, no bite.
23:18But impossible to convince.
23:20While Opal was out hunting, I dove into the water at the cave entrance and discovered small bioluminescent fish.
23:27I caught a few and snacked on them.
23:29When I surfaced, my body was burning.
23:32Especially there.
23:33I tried to deal with it for a long time, but the relief wouldn't come.
23:36Opal returned and saw the remaining bioluminescent fish.
23:41Merfish eat those during mating.
23:43You ate them?
23:43How was there something like that just swimming around?
23:46Humans really had studied this planet nowhere near enough.
23:48It kept getting worse.
23:49My face was burning.
23:50And not just from the effect.
23:52I couldn't believe I was about to say this.
23:54I reached out to Opal.
23:55Can you help me, Opal, please?
24:00He just stood there, looking like a kicked puppy despite being a creature that could kill 30 orcas.
24:05You always do this.
24:06You asked me first, then you took it back.
24:08Every single time.
24:10I pulled him closer by the wrist.
24:11I like you.
24:12I want you.
24:13Now, you really have to help me.
24:15I need you.
24:16He didn't move.
24:18His eyes were fixed on me, wounded and wary.
24:20You're begging me now.
24:22But tomorrow you'll hate me again.
24:24I don't believe you.
24:25Those green eyes looked so lost, like he was already bracing for me to disappear.
24:29So I kissed him first.
24:30He froze.
24:31Then his arms came around me so tight I thought my ribs would crack.
24:34He was gentle at first, trembling even.
24:37Then, like he was afraid I'd break.
24:39Then not.
24:40By the end I was breathless, clinging to him, telling him that was enough.
24:44I couldn't take any more.
24:46He didn't stop until my body gave out completely.
24:50Next morning, clear-headed, I processed the fact that I'd slept with a fish.
24:54It had actually felt pretty good.
24:55I might genuinely be in love with Opal.
24:57When Opal saw me awake, he handed me a knife made from shell.
25:01You hate me even more now, don't you?
25:03I forced you last night.
25:04I'd been on the bottom, but I knew full well who'd been forcing whom.
25:07You must despise me.
25:09I've unlocked your chains.
25:10You can use this knife to fierce my heart, then leave this place forever.
25:14Go back to the human world.
25:15And then what?
25:16He'd dissolve into sea foam?
25:17He was pure-hearted and soft underneath it all, playing at being a captor when he didn't
25:21have the constitution for it.
25:23I really like you.
25:24If you don't believe me, let's do it again.
25:27So we did.
25:29Many, many times.
25:29In the cave at the bottom of the sea.
25:31But he still didn't believe me.
25:35He was convinced I was trying to lull him into dropping his guard so I could escape.
25:39I could only keep repeating that I loved him.
25:40That I'd take him to meet my parents.
25:42That I'd marry him.
25:43He just looked at me with sadness.
25:45You'd even lure me to the human world so they can capture me for research?
25:48Your thesis means that much to you?
25:50Enough to endure all this and seduce me?
25:52I had no way to defend myself.
25:54So I seduced him again, easier than arguing.
25:56Until one day, I couldn't stop vomiting.
25:58The color drained from my face.
25:59Opal panicked completely, remembering the night over a decade ago when I'd nearly died
26:03of fever.
26:04I'll take you back to the humans right now.
26:05After this, you'll never see me again.
26:08Didn't you say I'd become a siren like you?
26:10He kissed me with desperation.
26:11I lied.
26:12The pearl only changes a mate's body a little.
26:15Enough to adapt to prolonged life at sea.
26:17Enough for your body to handle me and to carry my egg.
26:20But you're still fundamentally human.
26:22I know you've wanted to leave this whole time.
26:24I imprisoned you.
26:26You hate me.
26:28Just like ten years ago, Opal carried me on his back and tore through the ocean until
26:32I spotted Emerald Atoll's research station in the distance.
26:35The station had been renovated.
26:37It looked completely different from before.
26:39He set me down on the dock, took one last long look at me, and turned to leave.
26:42I called out to him.
26:43The next instant, a metal trap crashed down from above, caging a powerful siren inside.
26:47Who said you could leave my test subject?
26:51So this was your plan all along?
26:53For your research and your thesis?
26:54You go as far as seducing me?
26:56All to capture me alive.
26:58You win.
27:00That's right.
27:01I was exactly the kind of person who'd do anything to graduate.
27:04After I discovered a new species, my professor secured a massive research grant.
27:08The Emerald Atoll Station was expanded to several times its original size.
27:11Additional researchers were brought in, and my professor took up permanent residence as
27:15project lead.
27:16He chewed me out beyond all recognition, but had no choice except to clean up my mess.
27:20But the siren refused to cooperate with any experiments.
27:23He wouldn't eat.
27:24Wouldn't drink.
27:25Wouldn't speak.
27:25His aggression was extreme, so researchers couldn't collect so much as a blood sample
27:29or a strand of hair.
27:31Finally, I went alone to the cage holding the siren.
27:35You'll die if you don't eat or drink.
27:37What a shame.
27:39You'll only have a siren corpse to study.
27:41In a few months, we'll have a living siren.
27:44Right here.
27:47You're carrying my egg.
27:48It's your child, too.
27:50Do you really hate sirens that much?
27:52Aren't sirens supposed to just dump their young in the ocean any, don't we?
27:56Pretend you don't know.
27:59My blood, my hair, even my tail.
28:02Take whatever you want.
28:04But you cannot harm our child.
28:06Opal abandoned his hunger strike and cooperated fully with the research team.
28:09Intelligence tests, language assessments, blood samples, everything.
28:14Three months later, a paper emerged that shook the field.
28:17A new intelligent species had been discovered on Thalassa, the siren.
28:21A species with a humanoid upper body and a fish-like tail.
28:24Intelligence comparable to humans.
28:26Capable of understanding and speaking human language.
28:28With extraordinary physical resilience and immense strength.
28:31Everyone left Emerald Atoll to celebrate.
28:33Only I walked alone to the lab.
28:35The caged siren opened his eyes.
28:37No grief.
28:38No joy.
28:39You imprisoned me once.
28:40I imprisoned you once.
28:41We're even.
28:41So, debt paid.
28:43Can I go?
28:44Of course.
28:45Sirens are now recognized by the Interstellar Alliance as an intelligent species.
28:48You qualify for full legal personship, same as humans.
28:51You can marry anyone you want.
28:53Mr. Opal, you've never believed that I love you.
28:56But I'm going to propose anyway.
28:58I used some extreme meths to keep you here, but I learned them from you.
29:01Will you marry me?
29:02You don't want our child to be born out of wedlock, do you?
29:06Isla.
29:07You're proposing to me.
29:10When you said you liked me before, it was real.
29:15If I didn't love you, why would I sleep with you?
29:18Why would I carry your egg and actually want to keep it?
29:20We took your blood exactly once.
29:23The only purpose was to test which medications would work on you.
29:27Nobody's doing illegal research with it.
29:30If you hadn't gone and written yourself into some tragic drama, you convinced I hated you,
29:34ready to swim off and never come back, I would have taken you to meet my parents the next day.
29:38You'd apply for personhood yourself, and we'd be married within a month.
29:41You idiot.
29:42You forced me to lock you up so you wouldn't leave.
29:46I'm an idiot, too.
29:47I literally taught you courtship rituals and told you to use them on Murphic.
29:51When he just stood there frozen.
29:53Of course, if you don't like me anymore, if you still hate me,
29:57if you're going to press charges, can you only press them against me?
30:00The next instant, Opal sealed my lips with his.
30:03I closed my eyes and kissed him back.
30:04A long time passed before he spoke.
30:06Isla, from the moment I met you, there hasn't been a single second I didn't love you.
30:11That flimsy cage could never have held me.
30:13If I'd wanted to leave, I would have left any time.
30:15The only reason I stayed was you.
30:16Even Beliem, you hated me.
30:18Even thinking I was nothing but your test subject, I loved you.
30:20The hunger strike was just to see you.
30:23You threatened me with our child, and I still couldn't hate you.
30:27The egg hatched into a human child.
30:29Dark hair, round ears.
30:31He had Opal's green eyes, but aside from that, he looked nothing like a siren.
30:40Is this really our child?
30:42Did someone swap him out?
30:44The next instant, Opal casually tossed him into the bathtub.
30:47I wanted to murder him.
30:49What are you doing?
30:51What kind of father are you?
30:53But Finn rolled happily in the water.
30:54His legs fused into a golden tail, and his ears shifted into pointed siren ears.
31:00Definitely our little fish after all.
31:03Good.
31:04We can throw him in the ocean to fend for himself now.
31:07My baby is going to be the happiest child in the world.
31:10He has loving parents and grandparents, and he'll go to preschool and make tons of friends.
31:15You want me to throw him in the ocean?
31:16Do you have a death wish?
31:18We can throw him in the ocean to fend for himself now.
31:21My baby is going to be the happiest child in the world.
31:24He has loving parents and grandparents, and he'll go to preschool and make tons of friends.
31:28You want me to throw him in the ocean?
31:30Do you have a death wish?
31:31Mais c'est comme je m'éloine. Je ne met mes parents, même mes grands-parents.
31:36Mon ami était toi. Et puis tu n'est jamais revenu.
31:39Je waits pour nous pour qu'on a dit un peu plus de la década.
31:42Tu as moi maintenant. Tu as tout mon amour.
31:46Tu es déjà le plus heureux de la sire dans le monde.
31:48Alors aujourd'hui, nous allons laisser Fin avec tes parents.
31:51Ça fait trop longtemps que nous étions close.
31:53Je suis dit. Le jour, mon corps a été presque allé.
31:57C'est un créateur de supernatur, me dérouillant.
32:02The changes of my body didn't stop after Finn was born.
32:06I noticed it in the shower.
32:08Faint iridescent lines running along my forearms,
32:11barely visible unless the light hit them just right, scales.
32:15Or the ghost of scales.
32:17I could hold my breath underwater for 40 minutes now.
32:21My night vision had sharpened.
32:23Food tasted different.
32:24Blander on land, richer in the sea.
32:27Opal, you said the pearl would only change me a little.
32:35I said it would change you enough.
32:37Enough for what?
32:38I'm growing scales.
32:41They suit you.
32:42That's not the point.
32:43The pearl bonds us.
32:45Your body adapts to live where I live.
32:47It won't stop.
32:48So what's the endgame?
32:49Will I grow a tail?
32:50No.
32:51You'll never be a siren.
32:53But you won't be entirely human either.
32:55Something in between.
32:57Something new.
33:00Something new.
33:02Like Finn.
33:03Will it shorten my lifespan?
33:04No.
33:06It will lengthen it.
33:08How much?
33:11Enough to stay with me.
33:13I didn't ask how long Sirens lived.
33:15I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
33:17My parents arrived on the weekly supply shuttle.
33:20Mom burst into tears the moment she saw Finn.
33:24He's beautiful.
33:25He looks just like you, Isla.
33:27Wait till you see his other form.
33:29As if on cue, Finn's fada got fussy.
33:32Golden scales rippled across his lower half.
33:36A tail emerged, thrashing.
33:38Mom screamed.
33:39Dad caught Finn before he hit the floor.
33:42Held him awkwardly.
33:44Examined the tail with the calm of a retired engineer.
33:47Huh.
33:47Flexible.
33:48Good muscle tone.
33:51You were like this as a baby?
33:54I don't know.
33:55No one was there.
33:57The room went quiet.
33:58Set Finn in the water basin I kept nearby for exactly these situations.
34:02Well, he won't be alone.
34:05Finn splashed happily, tail glinting gold.
34:08That night, Isla.
34:11Hmm?
34:12He must love you so much.
34:13I've never seen anyone so terrified of losing someone.
34:16He's dramatic.
34:17No.
34:17He's terrified you'll disappear.
34:19I won't.
34:20I know, sweetheart.
34:21Make sure he knows too.
34:23The research station expanded again after Opal Species was formally classified.
34:29My professor brought in a whole team of specialists.
34:32Marine biologists, linguists, geneticists.
34:35One of them caught my attention.
34:37Or Dr. Lina Hsu, a 28-year-old ocean acoustics researcher who'd graduated top of her class.
34:42She was specifically interested in siren vocalization.
34:45The frequencies Opal could produce that no mer could.
34:49The range is extraordinary in love.
34:53He can generate infrafound that affects the nervous system.
34:56That's likely the basis of the mythological siren song.
34:59It isn't magic.
35:01It's targeted neurological manipulateate through sound waves.
35:04Comforting.
35:05Can I get a few more recording sessions with him?
35:10Can I get a few more recording sessions with him?
35:13Opal agreed easily.
35:14He'd been cooperative with the team since the day I proposed.
35:17But I noticed something.
35:19Every time Lina entered the room, Opal shifted his body between her and me.
35:22Subtle.
35:24Unconscious.
35:24Maybe.
35:25His nostrils flared slightly when she passed.
35:28One day, after Finn was asleep, Opal spoke.
35:31That woman.
35:32Lina?
35:33She smells wrong.
35:34Wrong how?
35:34She has siren scent on her.
35:36Old, faded, but there.
35:38You're sure?
35:38I know what my own kind smells like, Isla.
35:40She touched a siren, and it wasn't me.
35:44I ran a background check the next morning.
35:46Lina Shu, born on Colony 7, PhD from Central University.
35:51Published 12 papers on cetacean communication.
35:54Joined a deep sea expedition to Thalassa's southern hemisphere two years ago.
35:58Everything checked out.
35:59Spotless record.
36:00I pulled the expedition report, a routine survey mission.
36:04No incidents logged.
36:06No contact with unknown species.
36:08But the mission had lasted six months, and Lina had spent three weeks separated from the
36:12main team after a submersible malfunction.
36:15The official report said she survived on emergency rations until rescue arrived.
36:20Three weeks alone in the deep ocean.
36:23I brought this to Opal.
36:25That's when it happened.
36:26Can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, and she came back alive?
36:29Something kept her alive.
37:00That's when it happened.
37:01And far below the surface, captured by the underwater sensors, a shape moved.
37:06Massive.
37:07Larger than Opal.
37:09Dark red.
37:11I showed Opal the footage at dawn.
37:13That's a siren.
37:14Male.
37:15Mature.
37:15Bigger than me.
37:16Bigger than you?
37:17I thought you were-
37:17I'm young.
37:18Sirens don't stop growing.
37:20That one is old.
37:20Maybe centuries.
37:21Centuries?
37:22Is he dangerous?
37:23Every siren is dangerous.
37:25But this one-
37:26He replayed the footage.
37:27He's not hunting.
37:29He's searching.
37:30For Lena?
37:31For his mate.
37:32She didn't stay with him.
37:34She left.
37:35Do you know what happens to a siren whose mate leaves?
37:38I remembered his words from long ago.
37:40The pearl was part of his life force.
37:42Given freely.
37:43Irreversible.
37:44You said it's worse than death.
37:45The bond screams.
37:47Every moment apart is agony.
37:48The instinct to find your mate overweighs everything else.
37:51Rational thought.
37:52Self-preservation.
37:53Eventually, even recognition of the mate themselves.
37:57They go feral.
37:58Hmm.
37:59How long does it take?
38:00Depends on the siren.
38:01Weeks.
38:02Months.
38:02For one that old and powerful.
38:04He's held on longer than any siren should be able to.
38:06But he's close to the edge.
38:08The next night, the underwater cameras caught him again.
38:11Closer this time.
38:12Close enough to see details.
38:13A massive siren.
38:14Easily ten feet of dark crimson tail.
38:17One eye clouded over.
38:18His claws were extended gouging trenches in the sea floor.
38:21But when Lena's melody drifted down from above,
38:23he went still, pressed his palm flat against the ocean floor,
38:26and stayed there, listening.
38:28Until the song ended, then the dark shape sank back into the abyss.
Commentaires