I Taught a Siren to Court... Then Became His Mate drama - full video - English subtitle - video Dailymotion

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00:00:00Two months earlier, a new male had arrived at Emerald Atoll, settling alone on the far side of the island.

00:00:05Merfolk live in family groups, but young males often leave the pod they grew up in to seek mates and

00:00:10join new colonies.

00:00:11It promotes genetic diversity, a smart evolutionary strategy.

00:00:15The merfolk were soft-featured, almost doll-like.

00:00:18This one was all edges, looked like a fallen angel.

00:00:21His teeth were pointed, his claws significantly longer than any shallow-water mer's.

00:00:25Black hair, green eyes, a black gold tail roughly 8 feet long.

00:00:30This was clearly a powerful deep-sea mer who had left his pod and come to Emerald Atoll seeking a

00:00:34mate.

00:00:35I usually observed the merfolk through underwater cameras stationed around the island.

00:00:39But once, while boating near the atoll, I spotted him.

00:00:43I sent my drone after him and watched him cut through the waves, chasing down a marlin doing nearly 70

00:00:48miles an hour.

00:00:49He caught it effortlessly, slicing the fish open in his claws.

00:00:53The blood drew sharks and orcas from the surrounding waters, but none of them dared approach him.

00:00:57Deep-sea mer were clearly the unchallenged apex predators of the ocean.

00:01:01When he drifted past my boat, I couldn't help staring.

00:01:04You're amazing!

00:01:05Of course, he couldn't understand me.

00:01:08After humans discovered this planet, there had been a brief surge of interest in merfolk research.

00:01:13But the excitement died down fast.

00:01:17Merfish intelligence was only slightly above orcas.

00:01:20They were omnivores, living mostly on kelp and seaweed, occasionally supplemented with crabs, oysters, and small fish.

00:01:27And there was zero chance of crossbreeding with humans.

00:01:31Most researchers moved on to studying beast folk.

00:01:34As for me, I'd originally studied beast folk, too.

00:01:38Isla.

00:01:39Isla!

00:01:41I have to attend a university conference and we'll probably be away for a week.

00:01:46Again?

00:01:46Yep.

00:01:47You're running out of time, Isla.

00:01:49Your graduate thesis deadline is fast approaching.

00:01:51But...

00:01:51You better have your topics settled by the time I get back.

00:01:53I believe you can do it.

00:01:56I'd been alone on Emerald Atoll for three months.

00:01:59If not for my cleaning drone and internet access, I'd have dropped out long ago.

00:02:04But after hearing me speak, the mer stopped.

00:02:06Those cold, piercing eyes locked onto me.

00:02:09A chill crawled up my spine, even though I was perfectly safe on the boat.

00:02:13He sliced off the choiceless cut from the marlin's back with one precise sweep of his claws and tossed it

00:02:18onto my deck.

00:02:19I'd just been fed by a mer.

00:02:21He was different from the others.

00:02:22He's smart and powerful.

00:02:24I could see my thesis writing at home.

00:02:26I might graduate early.

00:02:27If this mer could find a mate during mating season, he'd stay with the Emerald Atoll colony.

00:02:32By next spring, there could be two or three intelligent, powerful mer pups born.

00:02:37And I could study hybridization traits between different mer subspecies.

00:02:42I named the deep sea mer opal.

00:02:44His black gold tail shimmered like a black opal under moonlight, flashing with iridescent fire.

00:02:49Mating season lasted three months.

00:02:51But two months in, opal still hadn't found a mate.

00:02:54He hunted massive prey every day, often tossing the best cuts onto the dock,

00:02:59giving me a meal of fresh sashimi or pan-seared fish.

00:03:02He only ate the belly meat himself, discarding the rest.

00:03:05Before long, young males from the colony would slink over and drag away the leftovers to present to the females

00:03:10they were courting.

00:03:11He'd inadvertently helped several pairs get together.

00:03:14Merfolk were drawn to strength.

00:03:16A male who could bring down enormous prey easily won female attention.

00:03:19But this idiot fish had never once attended the underwater courtship dances.

00:03:23I consulted my professor, who said merfolk were social animals.

00:03:27Males typically left in groups of two or three brothers.

00:03:30A solitary mer had likely been separated by accident, or abandoned, forced to grow up alone.

00:03:36That would explain why this one was such an exceptional hunter.

00:03:40Without a family's protection, he'd had to become powerful to survive the ocean's dangers.

00:03:47It also meant he probably didn't know the courtship song or dance.

00:03:51Without performing the courtship ritual, none of the young females would even know he was available.

00:03:56Of course he didn't have a mate.

00:03:58Once mating season ended, Opal would leave Emerald Atoll with nothing to show for it.

00:04:02I could feel my thesis slipping away.

00:04:05I had to do something.

00:04:06It was just a song and a dance.

00:04:09I'd teach him myself.

00:04:10I pulled up recordings of merfolk courtship songs and waited at the dock.

00:04:14Opal arrived, dragging another massive tuner.

00:04:17The warm light softened his cold features.

00:04:19I knew he was dangerous, but merfolk had no recorded history of harming humans.

00:04:24I approached him slowly.

00:04:25Opal.

00:04:29Opal, that's the name I gave you.

00:04:31Merfolk could only produce simple tones.

00:04:33They had a basic language, but communicated through ultrasound.

00:04:37Their vocal anatomy didn't support complex human speech.

00:04:40Neither did their intelligence, for that matter.

00:04:43He opened his mouth.

00:04:44Opal.

00:04:45Clear, precise, perfectly pronounced.

00:04:47He could speak.

00:04:49Research on deep-sea mer was scarce.

00:04:51Perhaps some subspecies had this ability.

00:04:53My thesis was going to shake the entire field.

00:04:56Opal.

00:04:57I pointed at him, then pointed at myself.

00:05:01Isla.

00:05:01He immediately understood that Opal referred to him.

00:05:04Opal.

00:05:04And Ila, to me.

00:05:06Isla.

00:05:06Remarkably intelligent.

00:05:07I turned on the speaker I'd compared.

00:05:10I'm going to teach you the courtship song.

00:05:12Once you learn it, you sing it for whichever mate you choose.

00:05:15He seemed confused, but I knew he wouldn't hurt me.

00:05:18Soon, the lilting melody of a merfolk courtship song floated from the speaker.

00:05:22I had to admit, merfolk singing was beautiful.

00:05:25The next instant, Opal's expression changed.

00:05:28He drove his claws through the speaker in one violent strike, threading it until the song went silent.

00:05:35I jumped back in terror and ran.

00:05:37Those claws would crack my skull just as easily.

00:05:40He saw me fleeing and lunged.

00:05:42I glanced back mid-sprint and saw he'd hauled himself onto the shore, floundering forward, trying to chase me.

00:05:48But on land, he was slow, nowhere near fast enough.

00:05:51Isla.

00:05:52Isla.

00:05:52His voice was plaintive, almost begging.

00:05:55No wonder, Nick, said merfolk lured humans to their death.

00:05:58That's exactly what he sounded like now, luring me back so he could eat me.

00:06:03The next day, I found a grouper on the dock, alongside a speaker that had been painstakingly pieced back together.

00:06:10Opal hovered a hundred meters out, neither approaching nor leaving, just watching me.

00:06:15I might have overreacted yesterday.

00:06:17Research consistently showed merfolk were among the friendliest species known.

00:06:21He'd probably just been startled that the speaker could produce mer song.

00:06:25I waved him over.

00:06:26He drifted ten meters closer, waited, and when I didn't run, cautiously closed another ten meters.

00:06:32Several minutes passed before he was just a few meters away.

00:06:35You don't like the speaker?

00:06:37What if I teach you myself?

00:06:42Could he actually understand human speech?

00:06:44I'd been listening to the colony's courtship songs through underwater equipment for weeks.

00:06:48I knew them by heart.

00:06:49I sang the first line, ready to sprint the instant his claws came from my head the way they'd come

00:06:54for the speaker.

00:06:55When Opal heard me sing, his eyes lit up.

00:06:57He repeated the line back.

00:06:58I sang the full courtship song, and he echoed it perfectly.

00:07:01I'd expected to need a dozen repetitions, but he reproduced the entire song flawlessly on the first try.

00:07:06His eyes never left me.

00:07:08He didn't even blink.

00:07:09It made me uneasy.

00:07:10Opal, you're incredibly smart.

00:07:12When you meet a merm you fancy someday, you may sing this tune for her.

00:07:17Consider it tuition.

00:07:18That night, deep in sleep, I was jolted awake by a familiar melody.

00:07:21Furious, I threw open the window and locked eyes with Opal.

00:07:25Shut up!

00:07:26I snapped at him.

00:07:27The singing stopped.

00:07:28I finally got a good night's sleep.

00:07:30But days later, Opal still hadn't found a mate despite knowing the courtship song.

00:07:34Was I really going to have to teach him the dance tune?

00:07:39I was a strong swimmer and certified diver.

00:07:42When I was a child, trips to Thalassa were all the rage.

00:07:45My parents brought me here on vacation.

00:07:47After visiting the shallow water merfolk, the next day we boarded a cruise ship to search for deep sea mer.

00:07:52But the waves were particularly rough that day, and I fell overboard.

00:07:57Over ten days later, my parents found me unconscious on the shore, burning with fever.

00:08:01The fever wiped my memory of that entire period.

00:08:04The assumption was that a shallow water merfolk pod had rescued me.

00:08:07After that ordeal, once we returned to our home world, my parents enrolled me in swimming and diving lessons.

00:08:12I never imagined that years later I'd end up back on Thalassa, and that those skills would actually prove useful.

00:08:17When you see a female you like, have you tried singing the courtship song for her?

00:08:20He nodded.

00:08:21I was furious.

00:08:22He'd already sung the courtship song and still got rejected.

00:08:25These females had no taste.

00:08:26Opal was the most stunning mer on Emerald Atoll.

00:08:29Do you know the courtship dance?

00:08:32He shook his head.

00:08:33Fine.

00:08:34For the sake of my thesis, I'd go all in.

00:08:36I turned, walked into the room, slipped on the silver imitation fishtail, and then dove into the sea.

00:08:41I mimicked the courtship dance movements, twirling through the sea.

00:08:45Opal's eyes grew brighter and brighter, unblinking, fixed on every movement.

00:08:49Mike.

00:08:49That was the first word he'd said to me besides my name.

00:08:52Idiot.

00:08:52If he liked it, then he'd better learn it.

00:08:54I was counting on those mer pups next year.

00:08:56When the dance ended, he retracted his claws.

00:08:58Opal pulled me into a full embrace, carefully circling my waist, resting his head on my shoulder, his tail pressing

00:09:04close against mine.

00:09:07Like Isla.

00:09:08Compared to my clumsy, slightly ridiculous imitation of a mer dance, Opal's was effortless and powerful, devastatingly beautiful.

00:09:15He sang something similar to the merfolk courtship song, but more ethereal, more haunting.

00:09:19Those impossible eyes held nothing but my reflection the entire time.

00:09:22Like a sailor bewitched by a siren, I found myself swimming toward him, wanting to dance with him.

00:09:27The moment my hand touched his, I snapped out of it.

00:09:29Dancing with a fish, I'd lost my mind.

00:09:31I turned and swam hard for shore.

00:09:33Behind me, Opal slowly lowered his hand, watching me leave in silence.

00:09:43I'd barely peeled off the wet tail when my professor called, and his furious voice erupted from my comm device.

00:09:49You idiot!

00:09:50You told me you found a deep sea mer.

00:09:51Didn't you notice the razor sharp teeth, the long claws, the powerful tail?

00:09:56That's not a mer.

00:09:57It's more like a siren out of mythology.

00:10:00It could slice you open and rip your heart out without breaking a sweat.

00:10:03The only way a creature like that courts a mate is by hunting them down, dragging them somewhere no one

00:10:09will find them, and keeping them there until they're pregnant.

00:10:12Get out of there!

00:10:13Get out! Get out!

00:10:15So my gut had been right all along.

00:10:17I'd always known Opal looked different from the merfolk.

00:10:19He wasn't a deep sea mer at all.

00:10:21He was a new species, an extremely dangerous new species, which meant the Emerald Atoll research station, with zero physical

00:10:28barriers, was a death trap.

00:10:29Until my professor secured funding and the station was reinforced, I had to leave immediately.

00:10:35I grabbed the essentials and launched my yacht.

00:10:37As the island shrank behind me, I let myself breathe.

00:10:41I hadn't said goodbye.

00:10:42That thought sat heavy in my chest.

00:10:44Whatever he was, he'd never actually hurt me.

00:10:48My professor called to make sure I'd gotten out.

00:10:50I'm well clear of the atroy!

00:10:52Thank God.

00:10:53I thought the worst you'd cost me was my academic reputation.

00:10:56I didn't expect I'd nearly have to attend your funeral.

00:10:59But I had no appetite for his jokes.

00:11:01My voice was shaking.

00:11:03It's here.

00:11:06Opal's black hair billows in the wind, his sleek tail cutting through the water like an arrow.

00:11:11He caught up in seconds.

00:11:12His expression was colder than anything I'd ever seen.

00:11:15I told myself it was fine.

00:11:16The hull was metal.

00:11:17I was safe.

00:11:19Then five-pointed claws punched through the cabin wall.

00:11:22The metal tore apart like paper.

00:11:23I fell backward.

00:11:25The clumsiness on the dock had been an act.

00:11:27The moment he boarded, his tail split slowly into two human legs.

00:11:31He walked toward me step by step, like something out of a nightmare.

00:11:34Don't run.

00:11:35All that friendliness had been an act.

00:11:37From the day he appeared, he could have slaughtered me and the entire colony any time he wanted.

00:11:42But he hadn't.

00:11:44Had it all been a game to him?

00:11:45The moment his prey tried to run, the mask came off.

00:11:48Don't leave.

00:11:50My Isla.

00:11:51And then his lips pressed against mine.

00:11:53He was kissing me.

00:11:54Why?

00:11:55He pushed a smooth, hard pearl from his mouth into mine.

00:11:58His tongue forcing it to the back of my throat until I swallowed.

00:12:02Only then did he pull back.

00:12:03A satisfied smile spreading across his face.

00:12:06You can't escape now.

00:12:08My mate.

00:12:11The instant I swallowed the pearl, everything went black.

00:12:14Opal took me like prey.

00:12:16His tail reformed, and he held me against his chest as he shot through the ocean, heading somewhere unknown.

00:12:22My comm device lay abandoned on the deck.

00:12:23My professor's voice still coming through.

00:12:26What do you mean it's here?

00:12:27Isla, talk to me.

00:12:28A long silence.

00:12:29Then a sigh, and the sound of another call going out.

00:12:32Hello, is this planetary security?

00:12:34I woke up in iron shackles.

00:12:36I was inside a cave on some island.

00:12:38The only exit was submerged.

00:12:40Even if I could somehow dive through it, I'd face nothing but open ocean on the other side.

00:12:44A few meters away, he was slicing a massive fish into fillets with a poker face.

00:12:49Blood ran into the water.

00:12:50The metallic smell was everywhere.

00:12:52It looked like a scene from a slasher film.

00:12:54Was I next?

00:12:56He looked up.

00:12:58That cold expression was even more terrifying than before.

00:13:01Liar!

00:13:02You can't escape.

00:13:03Before, he'd only ever said a word or two at a time.

00:13:06Now he was speaking in full sentences.

00:13:08Fluent, precise.

00:13:09Like he'd know how to talk all along and had simply chosen not to.

00:13:13An animal would just kill you.

00:13:15But something intelligent enough to take hostages was something you could reason with.

00:13:18What exactly did I lie about?

00:13:20His expression grew angrier.

00:13:21You courted me first.

00:13:24Me?

00:13:25I accepted.

00:13:26And you ran.

00:13:27You always lied to me.

00:13:30I'd sung the courtship song to him.

00:13:32Danced the courtship dance.

00:13:34From his perspective, I'd been proposing.

00:13:36And he had accepted.

00:13:38I softened my voice.

00:13:41This was all a misunderstanding.

00:13:43I'm a merfish researcher.

00:13:45I thought you were a male mer who'd come to join the Emerald Ator colony but didn't know how to

00:13:49court.

00:13:50I was teaching you.

00:13:51His fist slammed into the cave wall, punching out a chunk of solid rock.

00:13:55I didn't want to imagine what would happen if that had been my skull.

00:13:58I should never have accepted that reassignment.

00:14:01Shut up.

00:14:04You wanted me to court those stupid, weak merfish.

00:14:07It took a long time for the rage to subside before he spoke again.

00:14:10His voice was calm, but with something unhinged underneath.

00:14:12It doesn't matter.

00:14:14Only stupid merfish court that way.

00:14:16My inherited instinct tells me this is how we do it.

00:14:19We take our mate and hide them away.

00:14:23Everything my professor said had been true.

00:14:26Why couldn't he have told me sooner?

00:14:28He pushed the raw fillets toward me.

00:14:30Eat.

00:14:31I was about to refuse, when hunger slammed into me like a wall.

00:14:34I wanted that fish more than I'd ever wanted anything in my life.

00:14:37I devoured every last piece.

00:14:40He watched with a look of satisfaction, entirely unsurprised.

00:14:43As if he had known this would happen.

00:14:46After eating, an overwhelming drowsiness hit.

00:14:49I slept again.

00:14:50When I woke, he was slicing fish.

00:14:52I ate again.

00:14:54Days passed before the hunger and exhaustion finally faded.

00:14:57I demanded answers.

00:14:59What did you do to me?

00:15:00He took my hand and guided my fingers behind my ears.

00:15:03On each side, I felt openings, developing gills.

00:15:06My skin had changed too, smoother and slicker, like it was no longer meant for land.

00:15:11I could probably stay underwater for hours now.

00:15:14The pearl.

00:15:15Am I going to turn into a creature like you?

00:15:19Yes.

00:15:21You'll become a siren like me.

00:15:24You'll never go back to the human world.

00:15:26I was going to turn into one of them.

00:15:28Never see my family again.

00:15:30Trapped with this monster for the rest of my life.

00:15:32Monster, even if I'm not human anymore, I'll never be with you.

00:15:36I hate you.

00:15:37I'd rather spend my life with a pot of murphine.

00:15:40His jaw clenched, eyes went bright with fury.

00:15:43But underneath it, just for a second, I saw something great.

00:15:47Then I'll keep you chained here forever.

00:15:49You won't see another human.

00:15:50You won't even see a mur.

00:15:52From that day on, my body kept changing.

00:15:55More and more like a fish.

00:15:56The openings behind my ears grew from two to six within two weeks.

00:16:00I didn't say a single word to him.

00:16:02The chains were long enough that I could reach the cave entrance.

00:16:05I'd tried submerging my head, and I could last hours now before I heard him coming back.

00:16:10If I could just get the shackles off, I could escape.

00:16:12Today he returned dragging only a small grouper.

00:16:15But his black gold tail bore a long gash.

00:16:17Iridescent scales fell away with every movement.

00:16:20He was injured.

00:16:20He didn't even have the strength to shift into legs.

00:16:25He just lay down and closed his eyes.

00:16:28I walked over and checked his breathing.

00:16:32Too bad I didn't die.

00:16:34You must be so disappointed.

00:16:37Obviously.

00:16:37I wish you'd drop dead.

00:16:39What happened to you?

00:16:41A pot of orcas.

00:16:44About thirty of them.

00:16:46Tried to take my territory.

00:16:48I won, of course.

00:16:49Just a scratch.

00:16:53Orcas.

00:16:54Orcas.

00:16:54The ocean's roaming bugs.

00:16:55Thirty of them.

00:16:56And he won.

00:16:57I died a little inside.

00:16:59I truly provoked something terrifying.

00:17:01I kicked the grouper he brought into the water.

00:17:04I don't want grouper.

00:17:05I want salmon.

00:17:08Tomorrow?

00:17:09I want it today, you useless fish who can't even land a mate.

00:17:13Either let me go or go catch some right now.

00:17:17Tomorrow?

00:17:18I want it today, you useless fish who can't even land a mate.

00:17:22Either let me go or go catch some right now.

00:17:24He hauled himself up and swam back out through the entrance.

00:17:27After a long while, he returned with several salmon.

00:17:30The wound on his tail had turned white and waterlogged from the salt.

00:17:33Actually, I don't want salmon anymore.

00:17:35Too rich.

00:17:36I want something lighter.

00:17:38Sea bream.

00:17:39He dragged himself back out to catch sea bream.

00:17:41He brought the bream back.

00:17:43Before I could say another word, he collapsed.

00:17:45With his eyes closed, he looked completely harmless.

00:17:49The wound had gone raw from the seawater.

00:17:51I cleaned it.

00:17:52I sat beside him and closed my own eyes.

00:17:55I should hate him.

00:17:59I was floating in the ocean, but I knew I was dreaming.

00:18:01I turned back into a child.

00:18:03I saw another child about my age.

00:18:05Was I dreaming?

00:18:06I reached out to him.

00:18:08Please, help me.

00:18:09He swam toward me, and I saw that his lower half was a slender tail.

00:18:13A mare.

00:18:13He rescued me, set me on a reef, and caught food for me.

00:18:16A good myrrh.

00:18:17I wanted him to take me somewhere with people.

00:18:19I want to go home.

00:18:20My parents would be worried.

00:18:21But he couldn't understand me, so I taught him to speak, word by word.

00:18:25He was smart.

00:18:27In just over ten days, we could communicate.

00:18:29I learned he wasn't a myrrh.

00:18:30He was a siren.

00:18:32Sirens were solitary.

00:18:33The unchallenged apex predators of the deep.

00:18:35Sirens never raised their young.

00:18:37From the moment a hatchling broke free of its egg, it faced the dangerous ocean alone.

00:18:41Only those who survived earned the name siren.

00:18:43I was very innocent as a child.

00:18:45Innocent in that way only children can be.

00:18:47The kind that cuts.

00:18:49So you don't have family or friends?

00:18:51You've always been alone?

00:18:53Not even a fish friend?

00:18:54Don't you get lonely?

00:18:57What's lonely?

00:19:00Lonely is when there's no one to play with you.

00:19:03No one to talk to.

00:19:04No one who misses you.

00:19:06I didn't know what lonely was before.

00:19:08So I wasn't lonely.

00:19:12Now I will be.

00:19:13I'm sorry.

00:19:15After I go home-

00:19:16I'll come back every summer to play with you.

00:19:17I'll talk to you.

00:19:19And I'll miss you.

00:19:20Let's make a pinky promise.

00:19:22I swear.

00:19:23He copied my gesture solemnly, extending his little finger, careful not to nick me with

00:19:27his sharp eyes and hooked it around mine.

00:19:29Cross your heart.

00:19:30We're best friends.

00:19:31I'll never forget you.

00:19:33Best friends.

00:19:34I'd planned to stay a few more days before having him take me home.

00:19:37But the sea wind and the monotonous diet made me sick.

00:19:40A fever set in.

00:19:42Everything blurred.

00:19:43His face went white.

00:19:44It's my fault.

00:19:45You don't belong in the sea.

00:19:46I'll take you somewhere with humans.

00:19:48They'll help you.

00:19:49He carried me on his thin back, racing through the ocean, trying to keep the waves from soaking

00:19:53my hair.

00:19:56When I'm better, I'll come back for you.

00:20:00Isla.

00:20:01I'll wait.

00:20:02He slipped back into the water.

00:20:04And only after people found me and carried me away did that small shape in the distance

00:20:08finally disappear.

00:20:09But I never kept my promise.

00:20:11I forgot all of it.

00:20:15If I hadn't been reassigned to my professor years later, I might never have returned to

00:20:19Thalassa in my life.

00:20:21And Opal had come to Emerald Atoll not for the merfolk.

00:20:24For me.

00:20:25And what had I done?

00:20:26I'd made him think I was courting him.

00:20:28He accepted.

00:20:30I ran.

00:20:31He thought I'd betrayed him twice.

00:20:33In his fury, he took me.

00:20:37Liar.

00:20:38I hated you.

00:20:40You are a monster.

00:20:41I'd never be with you.

00:20:43Sirens heal with terrifying speed.

00:20:44Within hours, the vicious wound had closed.

00:20:47Opal opened his eyes and saw me still obediently shackled.

00:20:50Only then did he relax.

00:20:51Opal, you're awake.

00:20:53Does anything still hurt?

00:20:54Even if you've changed tactics and you're trying to soft me up, I won't let you go.

00:20:59Opal, you're awake.

00:21:01Does anything still hurt?

00:21:02Even if you've changed tactics and you're trying to soft me up, I won't let you go.

00:21:06I'd forgotten our promise.

00:21:08Everything on Emerald Atoll had been a misunderstanding.

00:21:11Liar.

00:21:12Don't think saying that will make me release you.

00:21:15My goal now wasn't escape.

00:21:16It was to comfort this poor fish who'd been let down for over a decade.

00:21:19I don't want to leave anymore.

00:21:21I'll stay here with you.

00:21:23Then you'll be my mate.

00:21:26Soon, here, we'll be growing an egg.

00:21:29Didn't you want to study my offspring?

00:21:31Isla, why not carry them yourself?

00:21:33I'm a human, you know.

00:21:35You swallowed my pearl.

00:21:37Your body has already been altered to carry Siren Young.

00:21:42Honestly, I wasn't entirely opposed to him.

00:21:44Interspecies marriage laws between beast folk and humans had already passed.

00:21:48Plenty of humans were into it.

00:21:49But carrying an egg was beyond anything I'd mentally prepared for.

00:21:52Can we just date first?

00:21:54A purely platonic relationship?

00:21:57I explained what platonic meant.

00:21:58He got angrier.

00:22:01You're lying again.

00:22:02I'll never believe you.

00:22:03But when I asked him to unlock the chains so I could swim, he agreed.

00:22:07Just as I thought.

00:22:08All bark, no bite.

00:22:10But impossible to convince.

00:22:12While Opal was out hunting, I dove into the water at the cave entrance and discovered small bioluminescent fish.

00:22:18I caught a few and snacked on them.

00:22:20When I surfaced, my body was burning.

00:22:23Especially there.

00:22:24I tried to deal with it for a long time, but the relief wouldn't come.

00:22:27Opal returned and saw the remaining bioluminescent fish.

00:22:33Merfish eat those during mating.

00:22:34You ate them?

00:22:35How was there something like that just swimming around?

00:22:37Humans really had studied this planet nowhere near enough.

00:22:40It kept getting worse.

00:22:41My face was burning.

00:22:42And not just from the effect.

00:22:43I couldn't believe I was about to say this.

00:22:45I reached out to Opal.

00:22:47Can you help me, Opal, please?

00:22:51He just stood there, looking like a kicked puppy despite being a creature that could kill 30 orcas.

00:22:56You always do this.

00:22:57You asked me first, then you took it back.

00:23:00Every single time.

00:23:01I pulled him closer by the wrist.

00:23:03I like you.

00:23:04I want you.

00:23:05Now, you really have to help me.

00:23:07I need you.

00:23:08He didn't move.

00:23:09His eyes were fixed on me, wounded and wary.

00:23:12You're begging me now.

00:23:14But tomorrow you'll hate me again.

00:23:15I don't believe you.

00:23:17Those green eyes looked so lost, like he was already bracing for me to disappear.

00:23:20So I kissed him first.

00:23:22He froze.

00:23:22Then his arms came around me so tight I thought my ribs would crack.

00:23:26He was gentle at first, trembling even.

00:23:29Like he was afraid I'd break.

00:23:31Then not.

00:23:32By the end I was breathless, clinging to him, telling him that was enough.

00:23:36I couldn't take any more.

00:23:37He didn't stop until my body gave out completely.

00:23:41The next morning, clear-headed, I processed the fact that I'd slept with a fish.

00:23:45It had actually felt pretty good.

00:23:47I might genuinely be in love with Opal.

00:23:49When Opal saw me awake, he handed me a knife made from shell.

00:23:52You hate me even more now, don't you?

00:23:54I forced you last night.

00:23:56I'd been on the bottom, but I knew full well who'd been forcing whom.

00:23:59You must despise me.

00:24:01I've unlocked your chains.

00:24:02You can use this knife to fierce my heart.

00:24:04Then leave this place forever.

00:24:06Go back to the human world.

00:24:07And then what?

00:24:08He'd dissolve into sea foam?

00:24:09He was pure-hearted and soft underneath it all.

00:24:11Playing at being a captor when he didn't have the constitution for it.

00:24:14I really like you.

00:24:16If you don't believe me, let's do it again.

00:24:19So we did.

00:24:20Many, many times.

00:24:21In the cave at the bottom of the sea.

00:24:23But he still didn't believe me.

00:24:26He was convinced I was trying to lull him into dropping his guard so I could escape.

00:24:30I could only keep repeating that I loved him.

00:24:32That I'd take him to meet my parents.

00:24:34That I'd marry him.

00:24:35He just looked at me with sadness.

00:24:37You'd even lure me to the human world so they can capture me for research?

00:24:40Your thesis means that much to you?

00:24:42Enough to endure all this and seduce me?

00:24:44I had no way to defend myself.

00:24:45So I seduced him again.

00:24:47Easier than arguing.

00:24:48Until one day, I couldn't stop vomiting.

00:24:49The color drained from my face.

00:24:51Opal panicked completely.

00:24:52Remembering the night over a decade ago when I'd nearly died of fever.

00:24:55I'll take you back to the humans right now.

00:24:57After this, you'll never see me again.

00:25:00Didn't you say I'd become a siren like you?

00:25:02He kissed me with desperation.

00:25:03I lied.

00:25:04The pearl only changes a mate's body a little.

00:25:07Enough to adapt to prolonged life at sea.

00:25:09Enough for your body to handle me and to carry my egg.

00:25:12But you're still fundamentally human.

00:25:14I know you've wanted to leave this whole time.

00:25:16I imprisoned you.

00:25:17You hate me.

00:25:20Just like ten years ago, Opal carried me on his back and tore through the ocean until I spotted Emerald

00:25:25Atoll's research station in the distance.

00:25:27The station had been renovated.

00:25:29It looked completely different from before.

00:25:31He set me down on the dock, took one last long look at me, and turned to leave.

00:25:34I called out to him.

00:25:35The next instant, a metal trap crashed down from above, caging a powerful siren inside.

00:25:40Who said you could leave my test subject?

00:25:42So this was your plan all along.

00:25:44For your research and your thesis.

00:25:46You go as far as seducing me?

00:25:48All to capture me alive.

00:25:50You win.

00:25:52That's right.

00:25:53I was exactly the kind of person who'd do anything to graduate.

00:25:56After I discovered a new species, my professor secured a massive research grant.

00:26:00The Emerald Atoll Station was expanded to several times its original size.

00:26:04Additional researchers were brought in, and my professor took up permanent residence as project lead.

00:26:08He chewed me out beyond all recognition, but had no choice except to clean up my mess.

00:26:12But the siren refused to cooperate with any experiments.

00:26:15He wouldn't eat.

00:26:16Wouldn't drink.

00:26:17Wouldn't speak.

00:26:18His aggression was extreme.

00:26:19The researchers couldn't collect so much as a blood sample, or a strand of hair.

00:26:23Finally, I went alone to the cage holding the siren.

00:26:27You'll die if you don't eat or drink.

00:26:29What a shame.

00:26:31You'll only have a siren corpse to study.

00:26:33In a few months, we'll have a living siren.

00:26:36Right here.

00:26:39You're carrying my egg.

00:26:40It's your child, too.

00:26:42Do you really hate sirens that much?

00:26:44Aren't sirens supposed to just dump their young in the ocean any don't way?

00:26:48Pretend you don't know.

00:26:51My blood, my hair, even my tail.

00:26:54Take whatever you want.

00:26:56But you cannot harm our child.

00:26:58Opal abandoned his hunger strike and cooperated fully with the research team.

00:27:01Intelligence tests, language assessments, blood samples, everything.

00:27:06Three months later, a paper emerged that shook the field.

00:27:09A new intelligent species had been discovered on Thalassa, the siren.

00:27:13A species with a humanoid upper body and a fish-like tail.

00:27:16Intelligence comparable to humans.

00:27:18Capable of understanding and speaking human language.

00:27:21With extraordinary physical resilience and immense strength.

00:27:24Everyone left Emerald Atoll to celebrate.

00:27:26Only I walked alone to the lab.

00:27:27The caged siren opened his eyes.

00:27:29No grief.

00:27:30No joy.

00:27:31You imprisoned me once.

00:27:32I imprisoned you once.

00:27:33We're even.

00:27:33So, debt paid.

00:27:35Can I go?

00:27:36Of course.

00:27:37Sirens are now recognized by the Interstellar Alliance as an intelligent species.

00:27:40You qualify for full legal personship, same as humans.

00:27:43You can marry anyone you want.

00:27:45Mr. Opal, you've never believed that I love you.

00:27:48But I'm going to propose anyway.

00:27:50I used some extreme meths to keep you here, but I learned them from you.

00:27:53Will you marry me?

00:27:54You don't want our child to be born out of wedlock, do you?

00:27:58Isla.

00:27:59You're proposing to me.

00:28:02When you said you liked me before, it was real.

00:28:07If I didn't love you, why would I sleep with you?

00:28:10Why would I carry your egg and actually want to keep it?

00:28:13We took your blood exactly once.

00:28:15The only purpose was to test which medications would work on you.

00:28:20Nobody's doing illegal research with it.

00:28:23If you hadn't gone and written yourself into some tragic drama,

00:28:25you convinced I hated you, ready to swim off and never come back,

00:28:28I would have taken you to meet my parents the next day.

00:28:30You'd apply for personhood yourself, and we'd be married within a month.

00:28:33You idiot.

00:28:34You forced me to lock you up so you wouldn't leave.

00:28:38I'm an idiot too.

00:28:39I literally taught you courtship rituals and told you to use them on Murphic.

00:28:43When he just stood there frozen.

00:28:45Of course, if you don't like me anymore, if you still hate me...

00:28:50If you're going to press charges, can you only press them against me?

00:28:52The next instant, Opal sealed my lips with his.

00:28:55I closed my eyes and kissed him back.

00:28:57A long time passed before he spoke.

00:28:58Isla, from the moment I met you, there hasn't been a single second I didn't love you.

00:29:04That flimsy cage could never have held me.

00:29:05If I'd wanted to leave, I would have left any time.

00:29:07The only reason I stayed was you.

00:29:09Even believing you hated me, even thinking I was nothing but your test subject, I loved you.

00:29:12The hunger strike was just to see you.

00:29:15You threatened me with our child and I still couldn't hate you.

00:29:19The egg hatched into a human child.

00:29:21Dark hair, round ears.

00:29:23He had Opal's green eyes, but aside from that, he looked nothing like a siren.

00:29:32Is this really our child?

00:29:34Did someone swap him out?

00:29:36The next instant, Opal casually tossed him into the bathtub.

00:29:40I wanted to murder him.

00:29:41What are you doing?

00:29:43What kind of father are you?

00:29:45But Finn rolled happily in the water.

00:29:47His legs fused into a golden tail.

00:29:49And his ears shifted into pointed siren ears.

00:29:52Definitely our little fish after all.

00:29:55Good.

00:29:57We can throw him in the ocean to fend for himself now.

00:29:59My baby is going to be the happiest child in the world.

00:30:03He has loving parents and grandparents and he'll go to preschool and make tons of friends.

00:30:07You want me to throw him in the ocean?

00:30:09Do you have a death wish?

00:30:11We can throw him in the ocean to fend for himself now.

00:30:13My baby is going to be the happiest child in the world.

00:30:17He has loving parents and grandparents and he'll go to preschool and make tons of friends.

00:30:21You want me to throw him in the ocean?

00:30:23Do you have a death wish?

00:30:24But that's how I grew up.

00:30:25Never met my parents.

00:30:27Let alone grandparents.

00:30:28My only friend was you.

00:30:30And then you never came back.

00:30:31I waited where we said goodbye for over a decade.

00:30:34You have me now.

00:30:36You have all my love.

00:30:38You're already the happiest siren in the world.

00:30:41Then tonight let's leave Finn with your parents.

00:30:44It's been too long since we were close.

00:30:46I agreed.

00:30:47The next day my body nearly fell apart.

00:30:49Definitely a supernatural creature.

00:30:51Draining me dry.

00:30:54The changes of my body didn't stop after Finn was born.

00:30:58I noticed it in the shower.

00:31:00Faint iridescent lines running along my forearms.

00:31:04Barely visible unless the light hit them just right.

00:31:07Scales.

00:31:08Or the ghost of scales.

00:31:09I could hold my breath underwater for 40 minutes now.

00:31:13My night vision had sharpened.

00:31:15Food tasted different.

00:31:17Blander on land.

00:31:18Richer in the sea.

00:31:20Opal.

00:31:21You said the pearl would only change me a little.

00:31:28I said it would change you enough.

00:31:29Enough for what?

00:31:31I'm growing scales.

00:31:34They suit you.

00:31:35That's not the point.

00:31:36The pearl bonds us.

00:31:37Your body adapts to live where I live.

00:31:39It won't stop.

00:31:40So what's the end game?

00:31:41Will I grow a tail?

00:31:42No.

00:31:43You'll never be a siren.

00:31:45But you won't be entirely human either.

00:31:48Something in between.

00:31:49Something new.

00:31:53Something new.

00:31:54Like Finn.

00:31:55Will it short my lifespan?

00:31:57No.

00:31:58It will lengthen it.

00:32:00How much?

00:32:04Enough to stay with me.

00:32:06I didn't ask how long sirens lived.

00:32:08I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

00:32:10My parents arrived on the weekly supply shuttle.

00:32:13Mom burst into tears the moment she saw Finn.

00:32:17He's beautiful.

00:32:18He looks just like you, Isla.

00:32:20Wait till you see his other form.

00:32:22As if on cue, Finn's spada got fussy.

00:32:25Golden scales rippled across his lower half.

00:32:28A tail emerged, thrashing.

00:32:31Mom screamed.

00:32:32Dad caught Finn before he hit the floor.

00:32:35Held him awkwardly.

00:32:36Examined the tail with the calm of a retired engineer.

00:32:39Huh.

00:32:40Flexible.

00:32:41Good muscle tone.

00:32:43You were like this as a baby?

00:32:46I don't know.

00:32:48No one was there.

00:32:49The room went quiet.

00:32:51Set Finn in the water basin I kept nearby for exactly these situations.

00:32:55Well, he won't be alone.

00:32:58Finn splashed happily, tail glinting gold.

00:33:01That night...

00:33:03Isla.

00:33:04Hmm?

00:33:04He must love you so much.

00:33:06I've never seen anyone so terrified of losing someone.

00:33:08He's dramatic.

00:33:09No, he's terrified you'll disappear.

00:33:12I won't.

00:33:13I know, sweetheart.

00:33:14Make sure he knows too.

00:33:16The research station expanded again after opal species was formally classified.

00:33:22My professor brought in a whole team of specialists.

00:33:25Marine biologists, linguists, geneticists.

00:33:28One of them caught my attention.

00:33:30Or Dr. Lina Hsu, a 28-year-old ocean acoustics researcher who'd graduated top of her class.

00:33:35She was specifically interested in siren vocalization.

00:33:38The frequencies opal could produce that no mer could.

00:33:43The range is extraordinary in love.

00:33:46He can generate infrafound that affects the nervous system.

00:33:49That's likely the basis of the mythological siren song.

00:33:52It isn't magic.

00:33:53It's targeted neurological manipulateate through sound waves.

00:33:57Comforting.

00:33:58Can I get a few more recording sessions with him?

00:34:03Can I get a few more recording sessions with him?

00:34:06Opal agreed easily.

00:34:07He'd been cooperative with the team since the day I proposed.

00:34:10But I noticed something.

00:34:11Every time Lina entered the room, Opal shifted his body between her and me.

00:34:15Subtle.

00:34:16Unconscious.

00:34:17Maybe.

00:34:18His nostrils flared slightly when she passed.

00:34:20One day, after Finn was asleep, Opal spoke.

00:34:24That woman.

00:34:25Lina?

00:34:26She smells wrong.

00:34:27Wrong how?

00:34:27She has siren scent on her.

00:34:29Old, faded, but there.

00:34:31You're sure?

00:34:31I know what my own kind smells like, Isla.

00:34:33She touched a siren, and it wasn't me.

00:34:37I ran a background check the next morning.

00:34:39Lina Shu, born on Colony 7, PhD from Central University, published 12 papers on cetacean

00:34:45communication, joined a deep sea expedition to Thalassa's southern hemisphere two years

00:34:50ago.

00:34:51Everything checked out.

00:34:52Spotless record.

00:34:54I pulled the expedition report, a routine survey mission.

00:34:57No incidents logged.

00:34:59No contact with unknown species.

00:35:00But the mission had lasted six months, and Lina had spent three weeks separated from the

00:35:05main team after a submersible malfunction.

00:35:08The official report said she survived on emergency rations until rescue arrived.

00:35:13Three weeks alone in the deep ocean.

00:35:16I brought this to Opal.

00:35:18That's when it happened.

00:35:19Can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, and she came back alive?

00:35:23Something kept her alive.

00:35:26That's when it happened.

00:35:27You can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, and she came back alive?

00:35:31Something kept her alive.

00:35:32That night, I couldn't sleep.

00:35:34I activated the dock cameras on a hunch.

00:35:372.47 AM.

00:35:38Lina walked to the end of the dock, alone.

00:35:41She stood at the edge, looking out at the black water.

00:35:43Then she raised her hands to her lips and blew a sequence of notes.

00:35:47Low.

00:35:47Haunting.

00:35:48Not more folk song.

00:35:49Something answered from the deep.

00:35:51A sound that made my bones ache, even through the camera's audio feed.

00:35:54And far below the surface, captured by the underwater sensors, a shape moved.

00:36:00Massive.

00:36:01Larger than Opal.

00:36:02Dark red.

00:36:04I showed Opal the footage at dawn.

00:36:06That's a siren.

00:36:07Male.

00:36:08Mature.

00:36:08Bigger than me.

00:36:09Bigger than you?

00:36:10I thought you were-

00:36:11I'm young.

00:36:11Sirens don't stop growing.

00:36:13That one is old.

00:36:14Maybe centuries.

00:36:15Centuries?

00:36:15Is he dangerous?

00:36:16Every siren is dangerous.

00:36:18But this one-

00:36:19He replayed the footage.

00:36:20He's not hunting.

00:36:22He's searching.

00:36:23For Lina?

00:36:24For his mate.

00:36:25She didn't stay with him.

00:36:27She left.

00:36:28Do you know what happens to a siren whose mate leaves?

00:36:31I remembered his words from long ago.

00:36:33The pearl was part of his life force.

00:36:35Given freely.

00:36:36Irreversible.

00:36:37You said it's worse than death.

00:36:38The bond screams.

00:36:40Every moment apart is agony.

00:36:42The instinct to find your mate overweighs everything else.

00:36:44Rational thought.

00:36:45Self-preservation.

00:36:46Eventually, even recognition of the mate themselves.

00:36:50They go feral.

00:36:52Hmm.

00:36:52How long does it take?

00:36:53Depends on the siren.

00:36:54Weeks.

00:36:55Months.

00:36:56For one that old and powerful.

00:36:57He's held on longer than any siren should be able to.

00:37:00But he's close to the edge.

00:37:01The next night, the underwater cameras caught him again.

00:37:04Closer this time.

00:37:05Close enough to see details.

00:37:06A massive siren.

00:37:08Easily ten feet of dark crimson tail.

00:37:10One eye clouded over.

00:37:11His claws were extended gouging trenches in the seafloor.

00:37:14But when Lina's melody drifted down from above,

00:37:16he went still, pressed his palm flat against the ocean floor,

00:37:20and stayed there, listening.

00:37:21Until the song ended.

00:37:23Then the dark shape sank back into the abyss.

00:37:27I confronted Lina in her lab the next morning.

00:37:29She was analyzing frequency charts when I walked in.

00:37:32You know why I'm here.

00:37:34Her hand stopped a long silence.

00:37:37How much do you know?

00:37:39Enough.

00:37:40The siren in the deep.

00:37:43You've met him before.

00:37:45During your expedition.

00:37:47His name.

00:37:48The sound he makes when he refers to himself.

00:37:51I can't reproduce it.

00:37:52I call him Red.

00:37:55Original.

00:37:56She almost smiled.

00:37:57I was trapped in a damaged submersible at 4,000 meters.

00:38:01Oxygen running out.

00:38:03He tore the hull open like tinfoil.

00:38:06And carried me to an air pocket in a seamount cave.

00:38:10He fed me.

00:38:12Kept me warm.

00:38:14Three weeks.

00:38:17He gave me a pearl.

00:38:19Did you swallow it?

00:38:21No.

00:38:24I didn't know what it was.

00:38:25I kept it.

00:38:27When the rescue team found me,

00:38:29I hid it.

00:38:30Told no one.

00:38:31She opened a drawer and pulled out a small case.

00:38:34Inside, resting on velvet, was a pearl the color of dark blood.

00:38:37Almost black in certain light.

00:38:40I still have it.

00:38:41I couldn't throw it away.

00:38:42It felt wrong to throw it away.

00:38:44But you left him.

00:38:46I was scared.

00:38:46I didn't know what he was.

00:38:49I woke up one morning and the rescue submersible was there and I just...

00:38:53I ran.

00:38:55Tears spilled.

00:38:56And then I read your paper about Opal.

00:38:59About what sirens are.

00:39:01What the pearl means.

00:39:02I came here to find him.

00:39:05To tell him I'm sorry.

00:39:06He's losing his mind.

00:39:08I finished.

00:39:09He pressed her hands over her mouth.

00:39:11It's my fault.

00:39:12He's like that because of me.

00:39:14I took the pearl from the case.

00:39:16It was warm.

00:39:17Almost alive.

00:39:19Opal says he can still be saved.

00:39:21But Lena...

00:39:22I set the pearl back down.

00:39:24If you go to him, you can't leave again.

00:39:26Ever.

00:39:27You understand that?

00:39:28She wiped her face.

00:39:29Straightened her spine.

00:39:30I know.

00:39:31I'm not leaving.

00:39:34I brought Lena to Opal.

00:39:36He didn't look at her with warmth.

00:39:37He looked at her the way he looked at threats.

00:39:40You abandoned your siren.

00:39:42I did.

00:39:42And now he's feral.

00:39:44Barely holding on.

00:39:45If he breaks completely, he'll kill everything in this ocean.

00:39:48Starting with the Merphos colony.

00:39:49Opal.

00:39:50She wants to go back to him.

00:39:52Wanting isn't enough.

00:39:53She needs to understand.

00:39:55If she swallows that pearl and goes to him, there is no coming back.

00:40:00No changing her mind.

00:40:02No second escape.

00:40:04I understand.

00:40:05Opal studied her for a long time, then turned to me.

00:40:09You want to know what I was like after you left me?

00:40:12It wasn't a question.

00:40:13When you ran from the cav took the yacht and I chased you,

00:40:16that was three weeks after you swallowed my pearl.

00:40:18If I hadn't caught you that day.

00:40:20Two more weeks, maybe less, and I would have been what he is now.

00:40:24The thought turned my stomach.

00:40:26You never told me it was that close.

00:40:27You didn't need to know.

00:40:29I caught my mate in time.

00:40:31Yours has waited two years.

00:40:33Two years of the Bond screaming with no answer.

00:40:35He'll be violent.

00:40:36He won't recognize you immediately.

00:40:37The feral state overroads everything.

00:40:39What do I do?

00:40:40Swallow the pearl.

00:40:41Get in the water.

00:40:42And don't run.

00:40:43No matter what he does, if you run, he'll never come back.

00:40:48The merfolk felt it before we did.

00:40:50I checked the underwater cameras that morning and found the colony huddled in the shallows.

00:40:54Every female, every pup, every elderly mer pressed together in the reef closest to shore.

00:40:59The young males formed a defensive perimeter.

00:41:01Teeth bared, tails thrashing.

00:41:03They were terrified opal surfaced beside the dock and cleaning to his back.

00:41:07He's closer.

00:41:08I can feel him.

00:41:09How close?

00:41:09The outer reef.

00:41:11Maybe less.

00:41:11He handed Finn to me.

00:41:13Our son squirmed whimpering.

00:41:14Finn can sense him too?

00:41:16All sirens can feel each other.

00:41:17It's how we avoid territory conflicts.

00:41:19A feral siren broadcasts nothing but killing in Tult.

00:41:22Finn is scared.

00:41:22I held our son tight.

00:41:23If he enters the shallows, the mermich can't fight him.

00:41:27I can't protect them all and protect you at the same time.

00:41:32A feral siren broadcasts nothing but killing in Tult.

00:41:35Finn is scared.

00:41:36I held our son tight.

00:41:37If he enters the shallows, the mermich can't fight him.

00:41:40I can't protect them all and protect you at the same time.

00:41:43Then what?

00:41:45All personnel to the safe room immediately!

00:41:49Unknown large marine creature approaching the eastern reef at high speed!

00:41:52I looked at Opal.

00:41:53He was already shifting, his legs fusing back into that powerful black gold tail.

00:41:57Keep Finn inside.

00:41:58Don't come to the water.

00:41:59Opal!

00:42:00He dove without looking back.

00:42:01I held our crying sun and watched the sea turn dark on the horizon, like something enormous

00:42:06was rising from below.

00:42:10I put Finn in his crib and ran to the monitoring room.

00:42:13Professor Wei was already there, pale-faced, watching six screens simultaneously.

00:42:18What the hell is that?

00:42:19The underwater cameras showed it clearly now.

00:42:22A siren, easily half-again Opal's size.

00:42:24Dark crimson tail, thick with old scars.

00:42:27Claws extended to their full length, almost a foot long.

00:42:30His hair was black, matted, streaming behind him like ink and water.

00:42:33His eyes were open but empty.

00:42:35A predator running on pure instinct.

00:42:37That's him.

00:42:38On another screen, Opal intercepted.

00:42:40Black gold meeting dark red in the open water beyond the reef.

00:42:43The collision was violent.

00:42:44Sound exploded through the underwater microphones.

00:42:46Frequencies so low the equipment couldn't fully capture them.

00:42:50I felt it in my chest.

00:42:51A pressure, like my heart was being squeezed.

00:42:53Opal was fast, devastatingly fast.

00:42:55He struck and retreated, struck and retreated, keeping the larger siren away from the reef.

00:43:00Opal was fast, devastatingly fast.

00:43:02He struck and retreated, struck and retreated, keeping the larger siren away from the reef.

00:43:06But Red was relentless.

00:43:07Every wound Opal inflicted closed within seconds.

00:43:10He didn't feel pain anymore.

00:43:11That was the feral state.

00:43:13No pain, no fear, no thought.

00:43:15Just the drive to find his mate.

00:43:16Opal slammed him into a rock formation.

00:43:18The seafloor cracked.

00:43:20Red threw him off and kept swimming toward the island, toward Lena.

00:43:25He can smell the pearl.

00:43:27He knows she's here.

00:43:28Opal caught him again.

00:43:29This time, Red's claws found him much.

00:43:31A deep slash across Opal's side.

00:43:33Blood clouded the water.

00:43:34That's my husband.

00:43:35Lena was already moving.

00:43:36She pulled the dark pearl from her pocket.

00:43:38I'm going.

00:43:40Lena, wait.

00:43:41She swallowed the pearl.

00:43:42Her eyes went wide.

00:43:42Then she ran for the dock.

00:43:46Professor Wei shouted after her.

00:43:48I shouted after her.

00:43:49She didn't stop.

00:43:50By the time I reached the dock, she was already in the water, swimming toward the open ocean

00:43:54with strength that shouldn't have been possible for a human who'd swallowed a pearl 30 seconds

00:43:59ago.

00:43:59But the pearl was already working.

00:44:00I could see it.

00:44:01The way her movement smoothed.

00:44:03The way her body cut through the waves like something built for it.

00:44:06On the monitoring feed piped to my earpiece, I heard the researchers panicking.

00:44:10The large siren has changed direction.

00:44:12He's heading for the surface.

00:44:13Dr. Shun is directly in his path.

00:44:15Opal surfaced 50 meters from Lena, blood streaming from the side.

00:44:18He saw her in the water and his face contorted.

00:44:23She didn't.

00:44:24She treaded water and raised her hands to her lips.

00:44:27That melody.

00:44:27The same one she'd played on the dock at night.

00:44:29Low aching, full of an apology words couldn't carry.

00:44:32The ocean went still.

00:44:33Even the waves seemed to quiet.

00:44:35Below Lena, the massive red shape was rising.

00:44:3750 meters.

00:44:3830.

00:44:3810.

00:44:39I could see him through the clear water.

00:44:40Those empty, feral eyes locked onto the small figure above him.

00:44:44Opal tensed.

00:44:44Ready strike hit the creature so much as extended a claw.

00:44:47Red broke the surface.

00:44:48He was enormous.

00:44:49Terrifying.

00:44:50Lena didn't flinch.

00:44:51She kept singing.

00:44:52His claws were out.

00:44:53His mouth was open.

00:44:54Rows of teeth that could bite through steel.

00:44:55He drifted closer, closer.

00:44:57His claw rose.

00:44:58Opal lunged.

00:44:59But the claw didn't strike.

00:45:00It touched Lena's cheek gently.

00:45:01Barely a graze.

00:45:02And the emptiness in those eyes were heard.

00:45:06His mouth moved.

00:45:07No sound came out at first.

00:45:08Then a rast broken.

00:45:09Like vocal cords that hadn't been used for anything but screaming in two years.

00:45:13A single sound.

00:45:14A sound Lena said he used for himself.

00:45:15Then another sound.

00:45:16One I'd never heard, but Lena had.

00:45:18That's his name for me.

00:45:19Her face crumpled.

00:45:20She choked out.

00:45:20His claw retracted.

00:45:21Slowly.

00:45:22Like it cost him everything.

00:45:23His massive frame was shaking.

00:45:24The scars.

00:45:25The clouded eye.

00:45:26The emaciated patches between his ribs.

00:45:28Two years of madness written on his body.

00:45:29Lena reached out and put both hands on his face.

00:45:32I'm here.

00:45:33I'm not leaving.

00:45:35I'm sorry.

00:45:35I'm so sorry.

00:45:36He made that sound again.

00:45:37Her name.

00:45:38And then his arms closed around her, engulfing her entirely.

00:45:41His head dropped to her shoulder.

00:45:42A sound came from him that I'd never heard any creature make.

00:45:45Not a roar.

00:45:46Not a growl.

00:45:46A keen, low, shuddering broken.

00:45:48Lena.

00:45:49He was crying.

00:45:50The way a creature that doesn't have tears came.

00:45:54Opal floated 20 meters away.

00:45:55Blood still trailing from his wound.

00:45:57He'd retracted his claws.

00:45:59He watched for a long moment.

00:46:00Then turned and swam back to me.

00:46:02I pulled him onto the dock.

00:46:04He was heavy.

00:46:05The wound was deep.

00:46:07You're hurt.

00:46:08It's fine.

00:46:09Let me fuss.

00:46:10His eyes were still on the two figures in the water.

00:46:13Wrapped around each other.

00:46:15He came back.

00:46:16Opal said quietly.

00:46:17I understood what he didn't say.

00:46:18I pressed my forehead to his.

00:46:19I'm here.

00:46:20I'm not going anywhere.

00:46:21His hand found mine.

00:46:22I know.

00:46:23But say it again.

00:46:25I'm here.

00:46:25Again!

00:46:26I'm here, Opal.

00:46:27Always.

00:46:28He finally closed his eyes.

00:46:31Within three days, Red was unrecognizable.

00:46:33Not physically, he was still massive.

00:46:35But the emptiness was gone.

00:46:36Not like Opal.

00:46:37Whether he couldn't or chose not to, I didn't know.

00:46:39When she was in the lab, he waited in the water outside the window.

00:46:42He'll be like that for a while.

00:46:44Possibly forever.

00:46:47You mean clingy?

00:46:50I mean bonded.

00:46:52A siren who nearly went feral.

00:46:54Never fully recovers the ability to tolerate separation.

00:46:57I glanced at him.

00:46:59You nearly went feral.

00:47:00Yes.

00:47:02Is that why you still wake up when I leave the bed at night?

00:47:07I wrote it in my research notes that evening.

00:47:09Siren pair bonding observations.

00:47:11The bond, once formed, appears absolute and permanent.

00:47:15Post-crisis sirens display heightened mate guarding behavior.

00:47:18No evidence of bond dissolution under any documented circumstances.

00:47:21Personal note.

00:47:22He checks my breathing four times a night.

00:47:24He thinks I don't notice.

00:47:26Opal red over my shoulder.

00:47:27You notice?

00:47:28He turned me around in my chair and kissed me slow.

00:47:30I've always noticed.

00:47:38Unhurried.

00:47:40Stop writing about me.

00:47:41It's literally my job.

00:47:43Then write that I'm the most handsome.

00:47:45Absolutely not.

00:47:46I'll withhold salmon.

00:47:48I'll consider a foot knelt.

00:47:52He said it, staring at Opal's tail, slapping it with both hands, shrieking with delight.

00:47:57Fish!

00:47:58Fish!

00:47:59He recognizes quality.

00:48:01He thinks you're dinner.

00:48:03He thinks I'm magnificent.

00:48:05Finn then proceeded to bite Opal's tail with his four tiny fangs.

00:48:08Opal didn't flinch.

00:48:09Strong jaw.

00:48:10Good survival instinct.

00:48:12He's biting you.

00:48:14Affectionately.

00:48:15At eight months, Finn could shift between forms at will.

00:48:17In human form, he toddled.

00:48:19In siren form, he outswam the research drones.

00:48:21Professor Wei was losing his mind with excitement.

00:48:24His neural development is off the charts.

00:48:27Pattern recognition at eight months that human children don't achieve until age three.

00:48:34And his aquatic abilities far excide what we'd expect even from a pure siren juvenile.

00:48:55Isla, your theological changes from the pearl may have created a sinernistic effect.

00:48:59Finn isn't just a siren.

00:49:00He's a hybrid with the best traits of both species.

00:49:03He could be the bridge between our worlds.

00:49:06Let's maybe wait until he stops putting everything in his mouth.

00:49:09That night, Finn said his second word.

00:49:12He looked at me, reached up with chubby arms.

00:49:14I cried, Opal held us both.

00:49:15He said my word second.

00:49:16He hasn't said yours at all.

00:49:18Fish counts.

00:49:19Fish does not count.

00:49:22The Interstellar Alliance delegation arrived without warning.

00:49:25Three officials.

00:49:26Two guards.

00:49:27What was specialist in non-human sapient species integration?

00:49:31They wanted to assess the sirens.

00:49:32Both of them.

00:49:33Standard procedure for newly classified intelligent species.

00:49:36The lead official explained.

00:49:38Paul, gray-haired.

00:49:39Population survey, capability assessment, and determination of appropriate protections.

00:49:46Professor Wei handled the politics.

00:49:48I handled the science presentations.

00:49:50Opal and Red were not presented in person.

00:49:52I'd insisted.

00:49:53But the specialist, Dr. Voss, kept pushing.

00:49:55We'll need direct interaction.

00:49:56Cognitive testing.

00:49:57Physical capability documentation.

00:49:59You have our published data.

00:50:01Published data can be incomplete.

00:50:02His eyes drifted to Finn.

00:50:04Is that the hybrid offspring?

00:50:07The way he said hybrid offspring, like Finn, was a specimen.

00:50:10This meeting is about species classification.

00:50:12My child isn't on the agenda.

00:50:14Of course.

00:50:14But you must understand.

00:50:16A viable hybrid between a sapient non-human species and a modified human?

00:50:20The research implications alone.

00:50:22Opal walked in.

00:50:22He'd been listening.

00:50:23Of course he had.

00:50:24In human form.

00:50:25Dressed in the simple clothes I'd bought him.

00:50:27He looked almost approachable.

00:50:28Until he stood beside me and those green eyes locked onto Dr. Voss.

00:50:31He didn't extend his claws.

00:50:32Didn't bear his teeth.

00:50:33He just looked at the man.

00:50:35Steady.

00:50:36Unblinking.

00:50:37Dr. Voss took a step back.

00:50:38Opal smiled pleasantly.

00:50:41My wife said my son isn't on the agenda.

00:50:43The room temperature dropped 10 degrees.

00:50:45The delegation left the next morning.

00:50:47Recommendations filed.

00:50:48Protections approved.

00:50:49Nobody mentioned Finn again.

00:50:51The night after the delegation left, Opal took me swimming.

00:50:54No equipment.

00:50:55No cameras.

00:50:56Just us.

00:50:57My body had changed enough that the ocean felt like a second home now.

00:51:00The pressure.

00:51:00The cold.

00:51:01The dark.

00:51:01None of it bothered me anymore.

00:51:03He held my hand and pulled me deep.

00:51:05Past the reef.

00:51:06Past the drop off.

00:51:07Into open water where the moonlight barely reached.

00:51:09His tail glowed faintly in the dark, bioluminescent patterns tracing along the black gold scales.

00:51:14I'd never seen them before.

00:51:15You're glowing.

00:51:16Only for you.

00:51:17Sirens only display bioluminescence for their mate.

00:51:19Of course.

00:51:20Even his biology was dramatic.

00:51:21He spun me slowly in the water.

00:51:23My yellow hair fanning out around us both.

00:51:25If it ever becomes unsafe.

00:51:26If the alliance sends people who look at Finn the way that man did.

00:51:29I'll take you and him to the deep.

00:51:32The deep as in?

00:51:33Trenches no human vessel can reach.

00:51:35Caves even other sheeries don't know.

00:51:37Places where no one will ever find us.

00:51:39Sounds familiar.

00:51:41This time you'd come willingly.

00:51:42You're very confident about that.

00:51:44You married me.

00:51:45Fair point.

00:51:46I let myself float against him.

00:51:47Wrapped in the dark and the silence and the faint glow of his tail.

00:51:50I don't think it'll come to that.

00:51:51Neither do I.

00:51:52His arms tightened.

00:51:54But I want you to know.

00:51:55There is nowhere in any ocean.

00:51:56On any planet where you and Finn won't be safe with me.

00:51:58I know.

00:52:01Far below in the deep trench beyond Emerald Atoll.

00:52:03The underwater sensors picked up movement.

00:52:06Not one shape.

00:52:07Not two.

00:52:08Seven dark shapes.

00:52:09Circling in the abyss.

00:52:12Seven shapes in the abyss.

00:52:13Opal and red left at dawn to investigate.

00:52:16I watched them disappear beneath the surface from the dock.

00:52:18Then I put on my diving gear and went after them.

00:52:20My body could handle it now.

00:52:22The pressure that would have crushed me a year ago felt like nothing.

00:52:25The cold didn't register.

00:52:26I could see in the dark.

00:52:27Not perfectly.

00:52:28But enough.

00:52:28I followed the trail of bioluminescent disturbance they left in the water.

00:52:33Opal sensed me before I caught up.

00:52:34He turned.

00:52:35And even underwater I could read the fury on his face.

00:52:38He grabbed my arm and shoved me behind him.

00:52:40His body a wall between me and the dark below.

00:52:42Red flanked my other side.

00:52:44Claws out.

00:52:45Eyes fixed downward.

00:52:46I pushed past Opal's shoulder and looked down.

00:52:48Seven sirens.

00:52:51Suspended in the dark water at the edge of the abyss.

00:52:53Motionless.

00:52:54Their tails ranged from deep blue to pale silver to mottled green.

00:52:57Different sizes.

00:52:58Different ages.

00:52:59They watched us.

00:53:01Unblinking.

00:53:01Assessing.

00:53:02Nobody moved.

00:53:03The silence stretched.

00:53:04Minutes.

00:53:05My lungs burned.

00:53:06But my gills took over.

00:53:07Drawing oxygen from the water without effort.

00:53:09Then the largest one, a female with a silver white tail easily nine feet long, retracted her

00:53:14claws.

00:53:15Slowly.

00:53:15Deliberately.

00:53:16She lowered her head slightly.

00:53:17A gesture even I could read.

00:53:19No threat.

00:53:19Opal didn't return it.

00:53:20He signed at me.

00:53:21We leave now.

00:53:22I signed back.

00:53:23They're not hostile.

00:53:24You don't know that.

00:53:25We leave.

00:53:25He grabbed my arm and pulled me upward.

00:53:27Red followed.

00:53:27The seven didn't pursue.

00:53:29They stayed where they were.

00:53:30Watching, we broke the surface.

00:53:32Why did she stare at me?

00:53:33She can sense the pearl in you.

00:53:35His hand tightened on my wrist.

00:53:36She knows you're mine.

00:53:41I didn't sleep that night.

00:53:43I pulled up every archive data set on Thalassa's deep ocean.

00:53:4550 years of exploration records, sonar logs, temperature readings, biological surveys.

00:53:50Most of it was routine, unremarkable.

00:53:52But buried in a file from the earliest survey mission, I found it a single entry, flagged

00:53:56as equipment malfunction.

00:53:57Rhythmic sound pulse detected at 4,200 meters depth.

00:54:01Frequency 14.2 hertz.

00:54:02Pattern appears structured but does not match any known biological or geological source.

00:54:06Equipment recalibrated.

00:54:08Pulse not detected again.

00:54:0914.2 hertz.

00:54:10I pulled up Opal's vocalization recordings from Lina's research.

00:54:13His baseline infrasound frequency.

00:54:1514.2 hertz.

00:54:19Equipment recalibrated.

00:54:20Pulse not detected again.

00:54:2114.2 hertz.

00:54:23I pulled up Opal's vocalization recordings from Lina's research.

00:54:26His baseline infrasound frequency.

00:54:2714.2 hertz.

00:54:2950 years ago.

00:54:30The first humans hadn't even established a permanent outpost on Thalassa yet.

00:54:34They were already here.

00:54:35Already watching.

00:54:35I brought the data to my professor the next morning.

00:54:38He stared at the screen for a long time.

00:54:40We didn't discover sirens.

00:54:41They've been watching us since we arrived on this planet.

00:54:44That's either very reassuring or very terrifying.

00:54:46Both.

00:54:47Probably both.

00:54:50The silver siren surfaced the next day.

00:54:52She didn't approach the research station.

00:54:54She swam directly to the dock.

00:54:56Directly to me.

00:54:57Opal was between us in an instant.

00:55:00Tail-

00:55:00A-out.

00:55:01Claws half-extended every line of his body screaming threat.

00:55:03The silver siren stopped.

00:55:05If she wanted to kill me, she would have done it in the deep.

00:55:08You don't know that.

00:55:09She had six others with her and I was completely exposed.

00:55:12If they wanted us dead, we'd be dead.

00:55:13He didn't move.

00:55:14Opal, let me through.

00:55:16A long moment.

00:55:18Then he shifted aside.

00:55:19Barely.

00:55:21The silver siren regarded me with ancient, steady eyes.

00:55:24Then she opened her mouth.

00:55:25What came out wasn't human language.

00:55:27It was siren.

00:55:27Low-

00:55:28Layered tones that seemed to resonate in my chest rather than my ears.

00:55:31I shouldn't have understood any of it.

00:55:33But I did.

00:55:34Fragments.

00:55:35Pieces.

00:55:35Like catching words in a language you studied years ago and mostly forgot.

00:55:39The pearl.

00:55:40It wasn't just changing my body.

00:55:41It was changing how I perceived.

00:55:43Child.

00:55:44Bridge.

00:55:46Dying.

00:55:47I turned to Opal.

00:55:49Teach me your language.

00:55:51All of it.

00:55:52Now.

00:55:55Siren language had never been written down.

00:55:57Never been formally taught.

00:55:59It was inherited.

00:55:59Encoded in instinct.

00:56:01Passed through blood.

00:56:01Opal knew it the way he knew how to swim.

00:56:03He'd never had to learn it.

00:56:04Teaching it was something else entirely.

00:56:06How do you say why?

00:56:07He made a sound.

00:56:08I tried to reproduce it.

00:56:10He winced.

00:56:11That means danger.

00:56:12You just told me the ocean is about to kill us.

00:56:15They sound identical.

00:56:16They don't.

00:56:17The second tone drops.

00:56:19Listen.

00:56:19He repeated both.

00:56:21I genuinely could not hear the difference.

00:56:22I recorded everything.

00:56:23Ran frequency analysis.

00:56:25Mapped tonal patterns against meaning.

00:56:27Built a database from scratch, entry by entry.

00:56:29Three days.

00:56:30No sleep.

00:56:31On the second night, Opal carried me to bed.

00:56:33I fought him.

00:56:37I'm not done.

00:56:38You'll die before you finish.

00:56:41Then I'll die bilingual.

00:56:42He pinned me to the mattress and held me there until I stopped struggling.

00:56:45I was asleep in minutes.

00:56:48On the fourth day, I walked to the dock.

00:56:50Opal followed.

00:56:51The silver siren was there.

00:56:53Waiting.

00:56:53As if she'd known.

00:56:55I opened my mouth and spoke a full sentence in siren.

00:56:57It was clumsy.

00:56:58I'm listening.

00:57:00Tell me everything.

00:57:01Probably accented.

00:57:02Maybe slightly wrong.

00:57:03She understood me.

00:57:04The silver siren glanced at me.

00:57:06Then back at me and began to speak.

00:57:07When you deride you.

00:57:10She told me.

00:57:11Opal translated the parts I couldn't catch.

00:57:13In fragments at first.

00:57:14My comprehension was imperfect.

00:57:16And she spoke in a dialect older than anything Opal knew.

00:57:18I had to stop her constantly.

00:57:20Ask her to repeat.

00:57:21To rephrase.

00:57:22Opal filled in the gap.

00:57:23Frowning at words even he barely recognized.

00:57:25But piece by piece, the story took shape.

00:57:27Sirens were not always solitary.

00:57:29Thousands of years ago, they lived in loose communities throughout Thalassa's oceans.

00:57:33Not colonies like Merfolk.

00:57:35More like a network.

00:57:36Connected by infrasound across vast distances.

00:57:39They were the ocean's apex species.

00:57:41Not just predators.

00:57:43Guardians, then something happened deep beneath the ocean floor.

00:57:50The planet's thermal systems destabilized.

00:57:53Volcanic vents that had been dormant for millennia began to wash.

00:57:56The energy released was catastrophic.

00:57:59Entire ecosystems were wiped out in months.

00:58:01The sirens found a way to contain it.

00:58:03Using their infrasound, they constructed barriers.

00:58:05Acoustic seals over the most volatile vents.

00:58:08Frequency walls that held the energy in check.

00:58:10But maintaining the seals required proximity.

00:58:12Each siren had to remain near their assigned vent.

00:58:15Alone.

00:58:15Cut off from the network.

00:58:17Generations passed.

00:58:18The knowledge of community faded.

00:58:19Independence became instinct.

00:58:21Solitude became identity.

00:58:23They forgot they'd ever been anything else.

00:58:27We were not made to be alone.

00:58:29We chose it.

00:58:31To save the ocean.

00:58:32But the seals are failing now.

00:58:34We need the bridgeborn to restore what we sealed.

00:58:36But he is too young.

00:58:38We need time.

00:58:39Her pale eyes met mine.

00:58:40And time is running out.

00:58:42Opal's hand found my shoulder.

00:58:44His claws were retracted.

00:58:45But I could feel the tension in his grip.

00:58:47He'd just learned something about his own kind that he'd never known.

00:58:50That the loneliness he'd grown up with wasn't natural.

00:58:53It was inherited sacrifice.

00:58:55I covered his hand with mine.

00:58:57Said nothing.

00:58:57Some things didn't need words.

00:59:00That night I lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

00:59:03Opal was beside me.

00:59:04Finn curled between us.

00:59:05His tiny tail draped over Opal's arm.

00:59:07My son.

00:59:07Eight months old.

00:59:08Already the center of something enormous.

00:59:10You knew about the seals.

00:59:11The ocean dying.

00:59:13I felt it in the deep.

00:59:14Something wrong.

00:59:15Getting worse.

00:59:16Is that why you left?

00:59:18Partly.

00:59:18And the other part?

00:59:19He opened his eyes like Venn.

00:59:21You.

00:59:22I let that sit for a moment.

00:59:23I need to see the seals myself.

00:59:25The thermal vents.

00:59:26All of it.

00:59:26No.

00:59:28Opal.

00:59:29Too dangerous.

00:59:30The vents are unstable if one ruptures while you're near it.

00:59:32If you want me to trust them with Finn's future,

00:59:34I need to understand what we're dealing with.

00:59:35I can't make decisions based on someone else's word alone.

00:59:39I need to see the seals myself.

00:59:40The thermal vents.

00:59:41All of it.

00:59:42No.

00:59:43Opal.

00:59:44Too dangerous.

00:59:45The vents are unstable if one ruptures while you're near it.

00:59:48If you want me to trust them with Finn's future,

00:59:50I need to understand what we're dealing with.

00:59:51I can't make decisions based on someone else's word alone.

00:59:53You trust my word.

00:59:54You're my husband.

00:59:55She's a stranger who showed up with six friends

00:59:57and told me my infant is some kind of chosen one.

00:59:59He was quiet.

01:00:01I need to see it.

01:00:01If it's as bad as she says, we need to act.

01:00:03If it's not, we need to know that too.

01:00:05More dangerous than teaching a Sivan to flirt?

01:00:07Fine.

01:00:08But I'm coming with you.

01:00:11The descent took hours.

01:00:13The silver siren led.

01:00:14Opal stayed pressed against my side, one hand on my waist.

01:00:17We passed through layers of darkness.

01:00:19The twilight zone.

01:00:20The midnight zone.

01:00:21Deeper, the pressure was immense.

01:00:23A year ago, it would have killed me.

01:00:25Now it felt like a heavy blanket.

01:00:28Uncomfortable, but bearable.

01:00:29Then I saw it.

01:00:30The thermal vent loomed out of the darkness like a wound in the earth.

01:00:34Superheated water billowed from the fissure,

01:00:36distorting everything around it.

01:00:37And over the vent, shimmering faintly.

01:00:39The seal.

01:00:40It was beautiful.

01:00:41A lattice of sound made visible.

01:00:42Somehow.

01:00:43Frequencies woven together so tightly,

01:00:45they created a physical barrier.

01:00:47I could see where it was intact, the patterns tight and regular.

01:00:51I could also see where it was failing.

01:00:52Cracks ran through the structure like fractures in glass.

01:00:55In places, raw thermal energy leaked through, scorching the water.

01:01:00The seafloor around the vent was barren.

01:01:02Dead.

01:01:03I checked the temperature readings on my wrist device.

01:01:06Far beyond normal parameters, this wasn't a slow decline.

01:01:09This was structural failure.

01:01:10I ran calculations in my head.

01:01:12Rate of degradation.

01:01:14Energy output.

01:01:14Thermal expansion.

01:01:16The numbers were very bad.

01:01:18We surfaced.

01:01:19Opal caught me as I broke through into air.

01:01:24How bad is it?

01:01:26Maybe two years?

01:01:28Before the whole thing collapses.

01:01:29His arms tightened around me.

01:01:31What happens then?

01:01:33Cascading thermal eruptions along the ocean floor.

01:01:35Mass extinction event.

01:01:37Everything in this ocean dies.

01:01:38We have two years.

01:01:40We need to use them.

01:01:42I wrote for 72 hours.

01:01:44A formal proposal to the interstellar alliance.

01:01:47Title.

01:01:47The Lassa Deep Ocean Crisis Assessment and Proposed Siren Cooperative Intervention.

01:01:51I laid out everything.

01:01:52The thermal data.

01:01:53The failing seals.

01:01:54The siren's history as ocean guardians.

01:01:56The timeline core argument.

01:01:58Sirens are not a vulnerable species requiring human protection.

01:02:01They are the only force capable of preventing a planetary ecological collapse.

01:02:04Humanity's role is cooperation, not control.

01:02:07I attached my credentials, my published research, and every scrap of data I'd gathered in the

01:02:11deep.

01:02:12Then I sent it to my professor.

01:02:14I watched his face on the video call.

01:02:16He read it in silence.

01:02:17A long time passed.

01:02:18You know this will make you the most controversial researcher in the alliance.

01:02:22I know.

01:02:24My published research and every scrap of data I'd gathered in the deep.

01:02:28Then I sent it to my professor.

01:02:30I watched his face on the video call.

01:02:32He read it in silence.

01:02:33A long time passed.

01:02:34You know this will make you the most controversial researcher in the alliance.

01:02:38I know.

01:02:39Dr. Voss will come after you personally.

01:02:42I know.

01:02:44Your career could be over.

01:02:46If that ocean dies, careers won't matter much.

01:02:49He sighed, pushed his glasses up.

01:02:52Send it.

01:02:53I'll co-sign.

01:02:54The report went out that afternoon.

01:02:56By evening, my name was on every major news feed in the system.

01:03:00The alliance response split down the middle.

01:03:03Half the member states called for immediate cooperation with the sirens.

01:03:07The other half, led by a block of military industrial representatives, demanded caution.

01:03:12You're asking us to hand planetary defense to a species that kidnaps mates and goes feral.

01:03:17Dr. Voss said in his official rebuttal,

01:03:18I was invited to testify at an emergency hearing.

01:03:21Remote.

01:03:22From the research station's comm room, I sat in front of the camera.

01:03:25Behind me, through the window, you could see the ocean.

01:03:28Calm, blue.

01:03:29Hiding everything.

01:03:31I didn't use academic language.

01:03:33I want to tell you about my husband.

01:03:36I want to tell you about my husband.

01:03:38He hatched alone in a deep ocean.

01:03:40No parents, no family.

01:03:42No one to teach him how to speak, how to socialize, how to love.

01:03:46He survived by being stronger and faster than everything that tried to kill him.

01:03:51He grew up without knowing what loneliness was, because he'd never known anything else.

01:03:56When he was still a child, he saved a drowning girl.

01:03:59A human girl.

01:04:00She was the first living thing that ever spoke to him.

01:04:03She promised she'd come back.

01:04:05She didn't.

01:04:07For over a decade, he waited on that wreath.

01:04:10When he found her again, he didn't know how to say, I love you.

01:04:13He'd never heard those words.

01:04:15So he did the only thing his instincts told him.

01:04:18He kept her close.

01:04:19He fed her.

01:04:20He protected her.

01:04:21Was it frightening?

01:04:22Yes.

01:04:23Was it dangerous?

01:04:24Yes.

01:04:25But so are humans.

01:04:27We've destroyed planets.

01:04:28We've driven species to extinction across 12-star systems.

01:04:32These creatures have been protecting this ocean for thousands of years.

01:04:36Alone.

01:04:36In silence.

01:04:37Without asking for anything.

01:04:39All I'm asking is that we let them...

01:04:41The hearing was broadcast.

01:04:42Live, by Zheer's ship broke every record in the Alliance's history.

01:04:45Dr. Voss didn't speak again for the rest of the session.

01:04:49The public support didn't stop Dr. Voss.

01:04:52It just changed his approach.

01:04:53My professor forwarded me an intercepted communication three days later.

01:04:57Encrypted.

01:04:58Routed through back channels.

01:04:59A scientific research vessel was being deployed to Thalassa.

01:05:02Official purpose.

01:05:03Deep Ocean Geological Survey.

01:05:04Crew manifest included 12 marine geologists and 8 acoustic engineers.

01:05:09Unofficial purpose.

01:05:10Buried in a classified addendum my professor's contact had leaked.

01:05:13Acquisition siren acoustic frequency data for defense applications.

01:05:16The SEAL technology.

01:05:18If it could be replicated artificially...

01:05:19It wasn't just an environmental tool.

01:05:23A frequency wall that could contain volcanic eruptions could also contain explosions.

01:05:27Deflect weapons.

01:05:29Shield military installations.

01:05:30They weren't coming for the sirens.

01:05:32They were coming for the sound.

01:05:33How long until they arrive?

01:05:34Six days.

01:05:35Six days.

01:05:36I stood on the dock that evening.

01:05:38The sun was going down.

01:05:40Finn was asleep inside.

01:05:41Opal was somewhere in the shallows hunting dinner.

01:05:44Behind me, the research station.

01:05:45My professor.

01:05:46Lena.

01:05:47The team.

01:05:48In front of me, the ocean.

01:05:49Opal.

01:05:50Red.

01:05:50Seven sirens who had trusted me with their history.

01:05:52Six days wasn't much time, but I'd built an interspecies bridge in less.

01:05:57I didn't wait for them to arrive.

01:05:59I spent two days compiling everything.

01:06:01The siren seal data.

01:06:02The thermal vent readings.

01:06:04The full ecological timeline.

01:06:06And the leaked classified addendum detailing Voss' military objectives.

01:06:09Then I sent it everywhere.

01:06:11Simultaneously.

01:06:12Twelve member state governments.

01:06:14Forty major media outlets.

01:06:15Six independent scientific review boards.

01:06:17Everything.

01:06:18All at once.

01:06:19Nothing held back.

01:06:20If everyone knows, no one can bury it.

01:06:22He watched me hit send and let out a long breath.

01:06:27You just made yourself either the most famous or the most hated scientist alive.

01:06:33Probably both.

01:06:34You're scarier than me.

01:06:36Shut up and watch.

01:06:39Shut up and watch.

01:06:41Within hours, the feeds exploded.

01:06:43The leaked military plans drew immediate outreach.

01:06:45Three member states issued formal protests.

01:06:47Two demanded Voss' removal.

01:06:49The Ethics Commission launched an emergency investigation.

01:06:52By the time the research vessel was halfway to Palasa, Dr. Voss was suspended pending inquiry.

01:06:58I allowed myself one glass of wine that night.

01:07:01Opal watched me drink it.

01:07:03Is it over?

01:07:04The immediate threat.

01:07:06Not the war.

01:07:07There will always be people who want to use them.

01:07:09I know.

01:07:10That's why we build something permanent.

01:07:12Something bigger than one man's ambition.

01:07:14He took the glass from my hand and set it down.

01:07:17He pulled me into his lap.

01:07:19Later.

01:07:19Rest first.

01:07:21For once I didn't either.

01:07:24The Alliance convened an emergency summit.

01:07:27I received the invitation on a Tuesday.

01:07:29Not as a researcher.

01:07:30As the official liaison between the Siren species and the Interstellar Alliance.

01:07:33A title I'd never asked for.

01:07:35But apparently, when you're the only human alive who speaks Siren, married to one, and mother to the only known

01:07:40hybrid, the job finds you.

01:07:42I want Opal listed as co-representative.

01:07:44A Siren.

01:07:45At the Alliance headquarters.

01:07:47He's a legally recognized Sopian individual with full personhood status.

01:07:51He has every right to be there.

01:07:53We'll arrange accommodations.

01:07:54Opal had never left the Lhasa.

01:07:56Never left the ocean.

01:07:59The flight alone would be 12 hours in a sealed vessel.

01:08:02Surrounded by vacuum.

01:08:03That night I held him in the dark.

01:08:05Finn was asleep between us.

01:08:06One tiny hand curled around Opal's finger.

01:08:09I was scared.

01:08:10Not of the summit.

01:08:11Of taking him somewhere I couldn't protect him.

01:08:13But we made a promise.

01:08:14In the cave.

01:08:15On the dock.

01:08:16In the deep, never apart, that was the only vow that mattered.

01:08:20Opal's arms tightened around me.

01:08:21On the shuttle.

01:08:22He sat by the viewport and watched the Lhasa shrink below us.

01:08:25The blue planet, all ocean.

01:08:27Disappearing into black, then the stars.

01:08:29He didn't speak for a long time.

01:08:32I always knew the ocean was bottomless.

01:08:35I didn't know the sky was the same.

01:08:37I took his hand at the summit.

01:08:39Opal stood before 200 delegates in a simple dark suit.

01:08:43Human form.

01:08:44No tail, no claws, no visible threat.

01:08:46Just those green eyes and that voice.

01:08:48We are not asking for charity.

01:08:50We are offering a partnership.

01:08:53Help us repair the seals, and we will share what we know about the deep ocean.

01:08:57Refuse, and we will do it alone.

01:09:00Either way, the ocean will be saved.

01:09:03The only question is whether you want to be part of it.

01:09:06The vote passed unanimously.

I Taught a Siren to Court... Then Became His Mate drama - full video - English subtitle

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