"Need to show these sirens that they’re not the only ones with voices," Donovan murmured, his voice low but laced with purpose. He cast a glance toward Leonardo, who, without need for further explanation, understood all too well what his brother ant by that statent.
Though reluctant, as he had never been comfortable using the power buried within him, Leonardo knew that when necessity called, he would answer. Not to ntion, but he hadn’t even considered bringing his dicine along with him for the journey. It never really occurred to him that he’d have to use his cursed voice again.
"Just my luck," he muttered.
anwhile, beneath the ship, the sea had begun to stir. Donovan stepped forward to observe the risk of the situation, nearing the ship’s edge. He was more alert than the rest of his team who had the ship protectively surrounded.
A minute passed before a figure erged from the sea, gliding just beneath the surface. Unlike the siren who had launched the earlier assault, to everyone’s surprise, this one bore the full illusion of sirenic beauty. Her face was untouched by decay, but her eyes carried no trace of deceptive warmth. Her anger was obvious, and there was no attempt at seduction from her part.
Around him, his warriors stiffened, their bows drawn as they awaited their Alpha’s command. The silence was heavy, taut with the promise of violence. But Donovan simply raised a hand before anyone could instinctively react, his silent command making them hold their attack.
His brows furrowed slightly as he observed the siren, sensing sothing was off. This one was clearly different, because she did not bear the marks of corruption by the water, at least not yet. Sothing in her felt fragnted, as though she had not entirely succumbed to the curse. A part of him was eager to test Es’s theory on the matter concerning the dark water’s effect, and if it truly had anything to do with the true bearer’s essence.
And so, against his own instinct and expectation, Donovan chose to strike a conversation first in hopes to understand better what was going on. Perhaps there were answers to be won, before the killing began.
"What is your na?" he asked, his voice quiet yet unwavering.
The figure below did not smile.
Her eyes, which were supposed to lure victims, now shimred with nothing but sorrow. Tracks of salt water clung to her cheeks, and whether it was tears or sea, none could say for certain. There was an unmistakable grief in those eyes, along with pent-up fury that seed to be on the brinks of shattering. The situation was far more worse than Donovan had realized.
The siren stayed quiet for a mont before parting her lips, her voice soft but filled with resentnt as she said:
"The na’s Elair."
That didn’t deter Donovan who went on.
"What happened to you? To your kind?"
"What happened to us?" His question made the siren scoff in distaste, her tone tightening. "That is the very question I ca to ask you." Her gaze sharpened as she noticed the familiarity of his eyes. "Your eyes, so you must be the one he told us about. Donovan, am I right? And a... certain blue-haired woman?"
She tilted her head in an almost predatory manner, but Donovan’s expression did not shift, even though his suspicion had been confird. "What do you want?"
"Freedom," ca her swift reply. "My freedom has been—"
Before she could speak further, her breath caught. A sudden strangled cry unexpectedly tore from her throat. It sounded raw with pain and inhuman strain. It was so piercing that those on deck winced and covered their ears, stumbling back.
Donovan tilted his head away, his jaw tight as the sound clawed through the air.
When his gaze returned to her, his expression darkened. Black veins had begun to bloom across her skin, spreading like ink as they twisted up her neck and jaw. Her hands trembled as she clutched her sides, trying in vain to subdue it. This ti, Donovan sensed an emotion much stronger than her anger.
It was fear and raw panic.
"I’m...I’m running out of ti," she breathed, her voice frayed with strain as she looked up at Donovan once more. "This ship must co down."
When her chest rose sharply as she drew in a deep, deliberate breath, Donovan’s senses sharpened.
"Cover your ears!" His command rang out, carrying across the deck.
He turned just as a violent scream tore from the siren’s throat. The board beneath their feet shuddered, whilst the mast groaned under the force. Several n staggered, clutching their ears. So pitched over the railing and vanished into the churning dark below. Of course, they had prepared for this, but that didn’t an there would be no damages done.
Seizing the opportunity, the water exploded as clawed hands breached the surface in a sudden surge, with sirens swarming the hull. They scaled the side of the vessel, their eyes glowing cold and bright in the darkness.
Donovan moved to cover the others before they could regain their footing. His hands flew to his star blades, and with a flick of his wrist, he sent them spinning through the air. In an attempt to avoid the fatal strike, a few of the sirens lunged to et it, catching the blade in their jaw with a hiss of triumph. It was almost as if they were mocking his attempt at defense.
Thinking they had the upperhand, a faint rhythmic ticking soon filled the air, but realization dawned on them too late.
The star blade detonated with a deafening crack, tearing through bones and sinew. The siren’s scream was cut short as they crumpled back into the water below. This gave the others more ti to recover from the piercing scream, and the ship turned into a warzone.
Cora hid behind one of the cabins, peering out at the chaos with wide-eyed wonder. Her fingers worked quickly to free her small notebook, and she began scratching furiously across the page, her script nearly illegible in her haste.
"If we end up dying today," she murmured to herself, "then soone ought to chronicle the tale. The world still needs to know of how bravely we died. Yes!"
And so, her quill scratched on, heedless of the screams and clash of steels echoing around her. She wondered where Leonardo had run off to, since she hadn’t spotted him in the crowds, but she forced herself to focus on what was more important right now.
From the corner of her eye, a flicker of movent caught her attention a bit too late. A siren had set its eyes on her, its muscles coiling as it lunged.
Rather than expressing her fear, Cora reached for a dented frying pan lying near a crate and swung it at the siren. The pan cracked against the siren’s face with a sickening clang, sending the siren sprawling.
"Honestly," Cora huffed, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. "Can’t you see I am in the middle of sothing?"
Her annoyance was clear, but she imdiately returned to her notebook, scribbling even faster, as though the interruption had been no more than an inconvenience. She kept in mind to add the siren’s disrespect to her chronicle.
anwhile, the siren hissed as it staggered upright, fury twisting its features. It never had the chance to strike back when a blade suddenly flashed, swift and sure, as it cleaved the creature in two in a single, clean motion.
Stunned by her unexpected protector, Cora looked up to see Althea, whose face was set in grim concentration, her blade dripping with black ichor.
A slow smile crept onto her lips as she watched Althea’s graceful movents while taking down the sirens, her eyes alight with unspoken admiration. She bent back over her notebook and whispered under her breath as she wrote, "Fearless. Beautiful. Deadly. Remind to buy her a drink if we end up surviving."
As the chaos heightened, with the deck slick with blood and gri, Donovan was starting to wonder where Leonardo was, and why he was taking so long. Worried that he might have been affected by the earlier scream, he slashed every siren that ca his way, their black ichor spraying across the planks, but he didn’t care at that mont. No asure of precision could quiet the dread building in his chest.... until he faltered.
He realized too late when he ca face to face with Elair, who had maneuvered her way through the chaos to get to him. Her eyes were alight with an unholy glow, and with her mouth inhumanly opened wide in a way that made her beauty fade instantly, she let out a devastating shriek. The sound waves travelled far beyond the sea, his hair fluttering from the sheer force she put into it.
His balance faltered as her screams burst his eardrums with a sickening pop, a wet rush of pain flooding his skull. His blades slipped in his grasp as the world tilted under his feet, and he covered his ears with his palms.
For a breath, Donovan knew only silence and pain, and for the first ti, he couldn’t hear anything.
The siren stood before him, watching as he failed to recover. "It is true when they say, to wipe out an entire army, go for the leader."
"Don!" Archer called out after seeing his Alpha on one knee, but the sirens kept swarming him, giving him no chance to go over and help. The sa could be said for the others as they were also sward.
Elair didn’t hesitate to jump on him, sending him crashing to the floor. Her mouth was opened wide once more, but it wasn’t to let out a scream. Before she could bite him, a rope from nowhere circled her neck with calculated precision and pulled her back. The rope tightened its grip around her neck in an attempt to ensure she didn’t scream, strangling her in the process.
She thrashed wildly, but her efforts seed to be in vain. Frozen by the save, Donovan looked up to see Es holding the head of her whip with all her might as she strained to fasten it to the ship’s edge.
The other sirens who caught on were montarily distracted, giving the others an opportunity to seize the opening. Es imdiately covered her ears and shouted.
"Now!"
At her signal, Leonardo appeared from behind the cabin. A dark, crackling aura coiled around him, shimring like heat waves that pressed ominously against the air with a suffocating weight. At the corner of his lips, the glowing sigil burned to life, an on everyone recognized instantly.
Panic flickered across their faces as they dropped to the ground, shielding their ears without needing to be told.
The sirens were still unaware of what was to co and tried to lunge an attack, but before any of them could strike, Leonardo’s voice rang out deeply through the stillness, heavy and resonant as he commanded:
"Explode."
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