Chapter 0: A Stormy Night

A ship is caught in a storm. 

The waves are roiling. Lashing out at the crew.

It seems like the ocean itself wants to punish that particular ship.

It seems targeted. Personal.

But what could possibly make something as uncaring as the sea lash out in anger?

The sailors scurry about, frantically trying to keep the boat from capsizing. 

At the front end, the bow, a man stands, blue eyes fixed on the ocean. The buttons of his coat mirror the ships figurehead. They depict an eagle in mid flight, clutching a fish in its talons.

Two siren tails crash through the waves below.

"Ludwig! We need to pull back!" Someone screams at him.

Ludwig scans the ocean. Trying to spot the sirens. 

"No, Richard!" he says. "We're so close!"

One tail appears again. It's caught in something... a silver net. 

The other one is close by. Right next to it. But she isn't caught. At least not yet.

"We've got one!" Ludwig beams. "Let's hoist her up!"

"No! We need to turn back now! If we don't, we're doomed."

"If we lose her, Bergtahl is doomed!" Ludwig says.

He grabs the net's string and begins pulling it towards him.

A big wave hits the boat like a slap.

Ludwig is thrown back. His gaze torn from the sirens below.

"No!" he screams as he scrambles back on his feet and scans the ocean.

Just in time to see the other siren free the first.

"I'm sorry, Ludwig," Richard says and turns to the captain. "Change course! We sail back to Bergtahl."

"No!" Ludwig screams.

He stares at the waves, his one chance is about to slip through his fingers like water.

This is it. Who knows if he will ever get another?

He has no time to argue with the captain or Richard.

And so he flings himself into the ocean.

Richard gasps, alarmed. "Ludwig!"

Ludwig plunges into the water. And as luck would have it, he lands on something. On someone. He wraps his arms around her. A siren. Somehow, against all odds, he has managed to get a real life siren.

Now he only has to get her on board.

The icy water gnaws at him. She struggles, but he is desperate. She could be the key to saving his people.

She has to be.

So he can't let her go. Whatever he does, he needs to hold on. 

She'll understand, right? In time.

He breaks the water's surface with her writhing in his grip.

"Pull us up!" Ludwig screams, swallowing a mouth of seawater.

"You heard the prince!" Richard shouts and the crew hurry into action.

The sea has become even angrier. Throwing Ludwig and the siren this way and that.

She is making horrid noises. Wasn't a siren's song supposed to be beautiful?

Ludwig wants nothing more than to cover his ears.

But he can't. He can't let go of her. Even if it costs him his hearing.

They’re thrown a line and are hoisted up.

She sings louder. The crew cover their ears and they crush back down. 

She almost slips from Ludwig's grip. Almost.

Richard is the only one still holding on to the rope. He's hoisting them up again, screaming at the covering crew.

"What is wrong with you? Serve your prince!"

They help him hoist up Ludwig and the siren.

Once they’re on the ship, Richard binds the siren's mouth shut.

Then he pulls Ludwig to the side.

"What were you thinking?" He shakes Ludwig. "Are you insane?"

Ludwig massages his ears.

"I have no idea what you're trying to say. But you seem angry."

He claps Richard reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Don't be. We got her Richard." He laughs with relief. "We actually got her."

The crew has formed a circle and stare at the siren, transfixed by her beauty.

Ludwig steps closer.

She glares daggers at him.

"Welcome to our humble ship, the Beacon of Hope."

She arches her brows in doubtful mockery.

"I'm sorry about the circumstances, and the way you came to be on our humble ship," he says. "But we need you."

He takes another step towards her, smiling. 

She looks like she wants to slap him.

He extends his hand.

Richard steps closer as well. "Your highness, I don't think you should-"

"I am Ludwig Van Lichtenberg," Ludwig says, undeterred. "The Prince of Bergtahl. It's a pleasure to meet-"

"BWAAH." He is whipped by her tail and lands flat on his face.

Richard helps him up. "You're insane if you think she's going to help us."

"No. Maybe..." Ludwig muses. "Maybe this is just a cultural misunderstanding. It could be that what I've just witnessed is their formal greeting."

The siren laughs, the sound muffled by the cloth around her mouth.

"Unlikely," Richard says.

Then he walks up to the still laughing mermaid, ready to strike. 

"Though if you're right, it would be impolite to not extend her the same greeting."

The mermaid stares at him, daring him.

Richard raises his hand but Ludwig holds him back.

"Richard, don't," he says. "That's not how we are going to do this!"

Richard huffs. Adjusts his vest, then turns to his shipmates: "Get the prince some ice!"

"Later," Ludwig says. "First she needs water."

Sailors begin lowering buckets into the sea.

The water has calmed.

Richard glares at the siren.

She raises her brows at him.

"What she needs is to follow orders," he says. "And somehow, I don't believe that she's going to do that."

Ludwig shakes his head and removes the cloth bound around the siren's mouth.

The crew gasps and shrinks away, covering their ears.

And the siren smirks.