From the Depths
An unexpected Change

Kirea felt strange, her body not her own. A searing heat was spreading uncomfortably through her.

Her body wouldn’t move, her eyes wouldn’t open. She felt trapped in a cocoon of pain, was she dying? Was this what it felt like? Wasn’t dying in one’s sleep meant to be peaceful, why did it hurt so much?

She groaned as a sudden pulse stabbed at her chest. Every beat of her heart hurt. Don’t stop! She told it, even if it did hurt, she willed it to go on. Please don’t stop!

As the pain elevated with each intense pounding of her heart, she was gaining back pieces of herself. She gasped and rolled her head to the side. Breathing wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be, the pain was making it hard for her to focus though.

“Kirea!?”

The words spoken were foggy, as though they were muted somehow. She couldn’t tell who it was. Opening her eyes, the gentle light of the sun entering her room through a nearby window only made her wince.

Then came the next wave of pain tearing through her, beginning with the beat of her heart. She cried out unable to keep it in any longer. Her hands clenched at the seemingly damp, torn material on her chest. What was going on!?

“The pain... will pass once-”

This voice was weaker than the first, raspy and distant.

“- Once it fully... connects with her.”

Why did everyone around her sound like they were in a bubble, so muffled and far away? Her head throbbed, only to add insult to injury.

“Henry... come here. I need to... do one last thing before... before I fade.”

The voices died off, she was unable to concentrate on them as her blood felt as though it were liquid lava within her veins. Another intense beat from her heart had her fingers and toes curled in on themselves.

It took what felt like serval minutes for her body to begin to calm down, only wincing and cringing in pain when her heart would beat. It was slowly increasing its rhythm and the pain was becoming more and more tolerable.

Finally, she was able to open her eyes, letting out an exhausted sigh of relief. Henry was by her side looking down at her with a mix of relief and grief. His attention turned to the side, his sad smile confusing her. Why did he look so grim?

“She’s okay.” She heard Henry murmur.

Who was he talking to? She frowned, with her body not wanting to obey her it was hard to move. The simple act of turning her head felt as though she were made of bricks. Her muscles protested every minuit movement. It felt as though she really shouldn’t be moving, her body felt incredibly stiff and rigid, almost unnatural. But thankfully, it was fading, surprisingly as she grew more conscious and alert.

Her vision focusing she was finally able to see. But what sight awaited her she could never have expected.

Already Ren's form had faded to a great degree. His body was translucent under the torn material that was still intact. His torso looked to be bleeding, but given the blurred state of existence, she couldn’t make it out.

Her eyes widened and she bolted upright, not without resistance.

He reached for her, but his hand never managed to touch her skin.

“My one and only, I love you.” Ren’s words were barely a whisper. He closed his eyes and his form simply vanished.

It was as though he had been holding on to say goodbye to her. In the blink of an eye, he completely disappeared only leaving behind tiny grains of white that cascaded onto the bed sheets and floor. His clothing, now void of his form, gently floated down to rest on the residue beside her.

“REN!” She screamed.

Scurrying out from under the blankets she grabbed for the clothing and an intense sense of fear set in. This couldn't be real. The movement of the covers only made the tiny grains shift and begin to fall from the bed to the floor.

“No, no no no. Ren... REN!” She felt tears sliding down her cheeks as her chest clenched in pain. She was in denial, she didn’t want this to be true, it couldn’t have happened. Her eyes must be lying to her. She must be dreaming.

Henry attempted to restrain her as she frantically tried to scoop up what remained of the siren. His large hands gently took hold of her arms, halting her for only a moment before she shrugged him off.

“Kirea, he’s gone!” His own words were choked and filled with emotions, but they didn’t reach her.

Or rather she was ignoring him.

He reached for her again.

She yanked her limbs from his hold with a force that surprised him. She was a lot stronger than she had been before.

Yet again ignoring him as she continuously shook her head in disbelief. She slid off the bed onto the ground staring at the pile that remained. Now on her hands and knees, she continued to retrieve his remains, though she couldn’t hold onto them. Her sweaty palms contacted with the substance and caused it to bubble into foam.

She couldn’t hold back the sob as he dissolved between her fingers. But she couldn’t stop, her nails dug into the floor as she refused to stop. Bring him back! was all that was going through her mind.

“Kirea, you need to stop!” Henry tried again to grab hold of her, and a little more firmly this time.

“NO!” She threw him off again.

“Kirea!” At this point, he had given up on being gentle.

He took hold of her as she continued to struggle against him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace.

All the while she screamed, sobbed and fought back against him.

He held strong taking the onslaught as he fought back his own emotions. Until finally she seemed to calm down. She didn’t want to accept it, but there was no denying that he was gone.

Her heart felt heavy and worn, not just from the pain that came from it beating. She felt a hole inside her, she wanted nothing more than to feel numb to this moment, to feel nothing at all as an overwhelming sadness gripped her.

“What... what happened?” She still couldn’t stop the tears from falling. The scene played over and over, his ghostly form that just disappeared in front of her-

“You died.”

Her gaze shot up to stare at him, his hold loosening on her just a little. Her judgmental glare boring holes through him, she clearly didn't believe him.

He gently reached up to wipe away her tear-stained cheeks, she noticed then that his own eyes were puffy and red. His gaze lowered to the torn nightgown and her rather exposed chest, the wound had healed but it had left a noticeable scar.

She followed his eyes until she noticed the slightly risen skin, a new attention to her body that hadn’t been there before. The red stains that were now cold and still wet to the touch on her nightgown only added to the confusion.

There was no injury but it was clearly blood.

“What-” That slight twinge of pain from her heart beating shot through her again cutting her off.

“You okay! He said you should be fine once it was fully connected.” Henry’s panicked expression and odd words only made things worse.

“I-I don’t know what’s happening... the-the pain is getting less and less, it was worse when I first woke up.” She decided to answer truthfully. “What is this?” She placed a hand over the scar.

“He gave you his heart.”

She furrowed her brows. He was talking nonsense.

“Literally Kirea. He cut out his heart and replaced yours.” He turned his head to the side and gently inclined toward something that was on the floor to their right.

It had fallen there.

She followed the gesture to replace something terrifying sitting only a few inches from them. On the floor lay an oddly shaped object that was of a dark red colour.

She gasped and reflexively pushed away from Henry in an attempt to backtrack away from it.

It was a heart, a human heart!

She couldn’t take her eyes off it when suddenly a wave of nausea snuck up on her. She dry reached, unable to actually dispel anything from her stomach as it was empty.

Henry clasped the back of her head, forcibly pulling her face down to his chest. It made her break eye contact with the body part, but she could still see it in the back of her mind.

This couldn’t be real!

“Why...” She muttered.

They’d agreed that he would be the one to stay, he had promised to look after Henry. Why had he made this rash decision that made no logical sense?

And what did it mean for her and Henry? Without the Siren, they were both doomed. He would have known that!

“He did it becaus-”

He was cut off as she suddenly gasped for air.

Pushing away from him again she clasped her neck. She could feel little slits had appeared on her skin. She tried to take in a breath again but it wasn’t registering, it wasn’t working. Her lungs didn’t want it, or couldn’t handle it.

“Kirea!”

Henry was panicked and worse yet, she couldn’t tell him what was wrong.

What good would it do if she were able to tell him she couldn’t breathe? Though at this point she was sure that was a given. She made another attempt at a mouthful of air in an endeavour to maintain some control, but it was as if a different side of her was taking over, changing her.

“W- wat... water.” She managed to wheeze out.

Removing her hands she pointed to the change on her neck, knowing that they would look like some form of gill. She only hoped that he would come to the same conclusion that she had.

“Shit!” He exclaimed.

With no time to react or question her, he simply acted.

He scooped her up and jettisoned them through the wooden door. He had kicked the object so hard that it splintered off its hinges crashing to the ground and likely alerting the entire castle.

She kept her hands clamped over her neck as she continued to wheeze in an attempt to breathe. She was absolutely covered in blood, but thankfully no one stopped them, though many gave them worried looks and glances. The castle had no Doctor, but the town did so it didn’t seem out of place when he hurried her from the castle walls and disappeared out of view from the guards and maids alike.

She had barely any strength in her limbs as the oxygen she was trying to take in wasn’t reaching her body parts. She couldn’t even hold onto him as he practically skidded and slid down the steps of the cliffside. The landing on the sand was far from graceful as she was ejected from his arms and tossed onto the grainy ground. Rolling serval times before coming to a halt, her limbs now were shaking in sheer protest.

Her lips were turning blue as she stretched a hand out to the water that was still several meters away. She attempted to crawl the rest of the way to the lapping shoreline but thankfully didn’t need to. However, she did panic when he turned her away from the water and headed toward the rockside. Her tunnel vision made her forget that there was water closer than she thought.

She was barely taking in enough oxygen to stay conscious, normally by now given the amount of time it had been to reach the cavern, a regular human being would have passed out and suffocated. What did that mean for her? Her mind was blank she couldn’t think about it right now. She couldn’t focus anymore as she clawed at her neck as that seemed to be the problem.

He still held her tightly as he jumped.

Her body was engulfed by water, a sudden rush of cold flooding over her skin. It didn’t feel nice in the slightest, in fact, it burned.

Everywhere the salt water touched her skin sizzled as though she were inside a burning furnace, tapped in the flames.

She tried to scream, however opening her mouth only allowed the water to invade her lungs. She panicked, as any sane person would, thinking that she would drown.

She attempted to swim to the surface when hands grabbed her forearms and yanked her back down deeper.

She struggled profusely against the hold, lashing out and swiping at the assault.

Again she was yanked down away from the surface, this time coming face to face with Henry.

She froze.

His stern look pleaded with her to stop fighting against him. His hands cupped her face holding her still. He shook his head telling her no and pointed down with his now free hand.

But she didn't register what he was trying to tell her.

What had actually shocked her out of her panic was that she had caught the scent of blood. It sounded impossible. She then noticed the pinkish-red trail that had plummed and was floating around her.

Her eyes widened, Henry had been injured. His arms and torso had several gashes that were bleeding profusely.

She reached a hand out to cover his wounded forearm. As she did this she caught a glance at her own hand and her heart sank.

Her hands had changed, they were now webbed with elongated fingers that looked like claws.

It had been her, she’d injured him.

She was horrified, an emotion she was sure that was reflected on her face.

He took hold of her hands and squeezed gently, reassuring her that he was okay. She caught him wince and pushed him to the surface knowing that he’d need air.

She now understood that she probably needed to stay below the surface for a while to allow her body to change. The initial immersion had been painful but now only a dull sting remained on her skin. The water was becoming more comfortable and more welcoming by the minute. And remarkably, she could breathe.

She attempted to kick her legs to follow after Henry, she intended to stay just below the surface. But something about the action felt off and foreign. Her nightgown floating around her blocking her view, she moved it aside to finally notice what Henry had been trying to point out.

Her legs were starting to force together, already her ankles had grown a new layer of skin that was connecting them and creeping up to her knees. This wasn’t good, whatever was happening to her was happening fast! She swam for the surface in haste.

She breached the surface, where Henry immediately panicked. “What are you doing, get back under!” He hissed.

She attempted to speak forgetting that her lungs were still full of water. She coughed serval times choking on the liquid as she was forced to expel it inorder to communicate.

“I need... your Knife.” A few more coughs and she was able to breathe the air more easily again, though it was the water that was providing her with oxygen through the little gills on her neck. This was going to take some getting used to.

“Why?” He asked confused.

“My legs are fusing.”

“I noticed. Just let whatever is happening, happen. No need to cut them apart, we’ll figure it-.”

“You don’t understand. I still have my underwear on!” She pointed out.

“Oh.” His eyes widened.

They both looked at each other with concerned looks. Heaven knows what would happen if they were left and the tail grew over them, was it dangerous? Would she get an infection?

“It-It was left in your room, after...” He didn’t need to say it, it had been used to cut out her heart after all.

His attention being on other things at the time, he’d simply dropped the knife and hadn’t retrieved it.