The Sailor and The Seas

“Please don’t leave me, Stellar! You’re the only man I love.” A woman clinged desperately on his arms, her cheeks stained with tears as she dropped down to her knees. Her fingers clutching on his sleeves as if it could stop him if she tried hard enough.

“I promise, I’ll find a way for us to be together forever. There has to be an immortal magic that would turn me into one.” She said, sobbing into his sleeve in distress. She looked up to him with a look of despair and forlorn — attempting to stop him from walking away. “Just don’t leave me alone.”

Stellar, who seemed indifferent to her pleading, pulled his arm away— causing her to hit the ground. His amber eyes watched as she stumbled, cold and almost too piercing for her to look back. Almost, because he turned away from her gaze just moments before she could see his remorseless guise.

“I appreciate the time we spent together. But I have no intention to build a commitment with you.” He said, with a bored tone. Too easy — like he rehearsed it way too many times in his life. Like he didn’t even care about her or the relationship.

“So all the time we spent with each other is meaningless now?” She scoffed, baffled by what he had said. She got on her feet in a haste and looked at him with his back facing hers. “Just like that you throw me away like I’m just trash.”

Stellar stayed silent, before taking a step towards the door. He had heard those similar words plenty of times in his life. She was no different than his previous lovers.

“You’re the most cruel person I’ve ever seen. I hunted humans and gave you blood and you just—“ She screamed hysterically, reaching for an empty porcelain cup nearby and threw it in his direction, yet he dodged it easily as the cup hit the wall and broke into pieces.

“I appreciate your gesture. But I never asked you to hunt humans for me.” He said, twisting the doorknob and pushed the door open. His face barely facing her frantic hysteria. “Farewell, Brianna. Hope we never cross paths again.”

“Fuck you, Stellar! You piece of scum! I hope you feel what I feel!” She cursed him out, throwing objects towards the door while he walked out and shut it.

He took a few steps away and sighed while dusting off his shoulders.

“Had a fair share of heartbreaks in my life already anyway.”

He went on a journey to the countryside before hopping on a farmer’s cart on the streets. He went into his bags and opened a world map that he had been keeping for years.

“I already went to the nations in the west. It gets repetitive now. The ladies got too attached to me.” He muttered to himself, his eyes on the map before locking on the East.

He noticed that it’s been a century since he visited the Eastern Empire. The ladies there were cute yet too plain for his taste. At least, that’s what he remembered when he first stepped on the continent. Surely it had changed after a hundred years had passed.

“The old man mentioned that he loved ladies of the East. Knowing him, he probably went there and had ladies all over him.” He mused.

He then imagined the old and wrinkled Caelios all wrapped up in the arms of sexy beauties, serving grapes directly into his mouth while they were giggling. He quickly dismissed the thought, as it was too cringe for him.

“That old man barely has spare change. There’s no way he can afford the gold digging women there.” He sighed, before thinking momentarily.

“But maybe it wouldn’t hurt to find him there again. Maybe the women there got prettier.”

So he went across the country, boarded a ship abroad and sailed the seas— journeying to the Eastern Empire with other merchants and adventurers.

The weather was fine that day. The seas were calm and the sunlight felt nice on the skin. The other sailors were either enjoying themselves or just minding their own business. A lot of them were enjoying themselves or minding their business. The captain came to check his sailors occasionally but was mainly busy with the ship.

Stellar watched the people on the ship as he took a sip of his wine in his flask before a young gentleman sat next to him.

“Nice weather we’re having, right?” The gentleman spoke. “The seas seemed to be in a good mood today.”

“Careful, you might jinx it.” Stellar warned in a teasing manner.

The man chuckled to his reply, before staring at the other boarders. “True. It’s probably because they’re sleeping right now.”

Stellar looked at him confused. “They?”

The man’s expression changed slightly into a solemn one. “Sirens. They’re nocturnal creatures who hunt at night.”

Stellar nodded. He had heard of the creatures before. They were the evil sisters of the mermaid who lure sailors into drowning and eat human’s heart. They can be mistaken for mermaids due to having fish tails as lower abdomen and have unbelievably mesmerizing beauty. The only difference between them were sirens have much longer tails than mermaids and their webbed fingers have sharp claws so they can rip the flesh out.

But the most important difference between mermaids and sirens were their lullabies.

Mermaids lull sailors to guide them to safety while the sirens do it so the sailors jump off the ship and become their meal. The only way to differentiate it was siren’s vocals are much louder and sweeter than mermaids.

And sirens are stronger and faster than mermaids in terms of swimming speed. Sometimes they are known for bullying and killing mermaids and other sea creatures for entertainment.

They are ruthless predators of the sea. And the sea can be cruel at times.

Stellar however— was not entirely immune to the siren’s lullaby because of his half human bloodline. Sure he won’t easily jump into the seas, but hearing their lullaby was enough to make him go into a daze.

He hoped that his journey would be smooth.

“So what’s the reason for your trip to Meijiro?” The gentleman asked.

Stellar snapped out of his thoughts quickly as he turned to see the guy interviewing him. He played it cool however, not thinking too much about it.

“I’m traveling around the world.” He said, “Don’t want to waste my youth stuck at home, you know?”

He lied. He didn’t want to tell anyone that he had been traveling for his whole 2 centuries just to find his adoptive father who had been causing him trouble just for the sake of quenching his thirst for knowledge. He preferred to not get his ass on a manhunt again.

“I get you.” The stranger replied. “I’m in my mid thirties and freshly divorced from my crazy ex-wife. Now I’m trying my luck finding a new wife in Meijiro. Heard they are way more obedient and less insane than the women in the west.”

Stellar nodded. Not because he agreed. But he does understand his viewpoint. The women in the west have been a little nuisance ever since he stepped foot on the land almost a hundred years ago.

The women there were great with sex and pleasuring men. But that’s about it. Once they get attached to him, he just takes them as his little playthings for him to pass time until they either grow old and wrinkled and die sooner or later in life, or until he gets bored of them. And he gets bored like it was a breeze of a wind.

“Heard that there’s this one beautiful woman they kept in a famous brothel. Rumors said that she’s the Pearl of Meijiro and not even the Emperor could purchase her. Imagine how beautiful and brave she was to reject the Emperor’s proposal.”

That's new information, Stellar thought.

He never heard of that before. A woman so beautiful and defiant to the nation’s ruler. Usually people would cower beneath the Emperor’s feet and kneel down the moment he graced them with his presence. The Emperor is Heaven's most anticipated guest after all.

But a mere courtesan turning down the offer of becoming the Emperor’s concubine? Now that’s interesting.

He might have to pay the Red Light District a visit and see if she’s worth his time. And who knows, maybe he could get an insight where Caelios is.

***

The skies were a little cloudy that night.

All the sailors and passengers were fast asleep and snoring in their room. Some were probably being too loud while having fun.

Stellar was reading a book to pass time since he couldn’t sleep because the people next door were enjoying themselves too much and disturbing him from getting a good night's sleep. He’s trying his best to not get distracted from the woman’s loud moaning and gasping. And he’s sure that other people were gonna complain about it the next morning.

The seas were starting to get rocky and rough as the ships sailed past the continent. A soft rumble of thunder was heard in the sky followed by a flash of lightning in the clouds.

The ship crews were already on high alert as they heard splashing nearby. They could feel pairs of eyes watching every movement they make and waiting for them to slip up.

“Prepare ear plugs for everyone.” The captain of the ship appeared, seemingly preparing himself for the worst. “They’re watching us.”

The ship kept on sailing but the crews were already putting on ear plugs before knocking on doors.

Stellar heard a few urgent knocks on his door before opening up. Without saying a word, he was given a pair of ear plugs before the crew left. He saw the other crew desperately knocking on the next door but was met with a grumpy, fat man in his mid thirties with a sexy blonde woman next to him. They were given ear plugs but the man refused to wear them and shut the door.

“Tough crowd.” He mused to himself, putting the earplugs as he walked out of his room.

The sea started to get rough and the thunder was louder than before as the rain drizzled down.

A school of sirens leapt like dolphins, giggling and sneering at the people on board, scrutinizing each and every crew looking down at them with guns in their hands.

The captain scoffed at the apex predator of the seas with disgust, while the sirens chuckled and waved at him in a mocking manner before diving back into the sea.

Stellar watched the sirens splashing water at the men next to him with their tail, making them soaking wet and laughing at their faces.

Then, they dispersed. The sea was suddenly calm. Everyone thought that the sirens were just messing with them.

But the captain knew it was just the beginning— no, not even the tip of the iceberg. They were just having their “fun” before hunting for flesh and blood.

Just as the passengers lowered their guard, some went back to their room to sleep. Others were getting a little anxious. But the crew began to get serious.

Silence was all they heard.

Before a soft hum broke the stillness.

The crew raised their guns, looking for the source of the lullaby. The captain already had his shotgun in his arm, aiming at a distance.

The humming got louder, almost passing through the ear plug. The ship crew were starting to get dizzy just when the captain brought them back to reality.

“Be on your guard, boys! Don’t let those wretched creatures get into your head.”

Before anyone knew it, someone was running off the ship and leapt into the sea like a crazy lunatic. Then another one joined in. The other crews stopped the others who’s hysterically crying and wanting to be one with the seas while the armed forces were shooting down the sirens who were already assaulting the victims in the sea and drowning them.

Stellar only watched in silence, as if taking it in as a form of a small entertainment for him. His mind was slightly in a daze but it wasn’t in full effect due to the earplugs. He watched as the humans fought with the creatures of the sea, losing some passengers on board.

He noticed that the fat man from earlier was at the edge of the ship, mumbling something like he belongs to the sea and then dove down into the siren's embrace, willingly becoming their biggest meal yet.

The woman he slept with was hysterical as well, also repeating whatever the man said while being held back by other passengers.

After what it felt like forever, the sea was finally calm again. The sky was no longer cloudy and the hysterical crowd finally got back into their own senses.

“How many passengers have we lost?” The captain walked down the stairs, looking at his crews who disarmed their weapons.

“We lost at least seven people, captain.” One of the crews informed him.

“That’s their own fault for being a blasted idiot.” He cussed him out, putting his own gun away before checking if there was any damage done or not.

Then a woman’s crying broke out. She looked horrified from what the sailors told her.

“He’s supposed to bring me to vacation! How am I supposed to survive in the East alone?! If his wife knew about this, I’m going to be skinned alive!” She hyperventilated.

Apparently, the woman was the fat man’s scandal who happens to be the housemaid. His wife was away for business and they secretly used her money for vacation to the East. He heard it all when they were dirty talking inside their room.

Oh she’s definitely gonna be dead. He thought to himself, before going into his room to finally rest for the night.

And after an eventful night has passed, Meijiro is finally right in front of Stellar.

The Meijiro Port from far sight, though seemingly ordinary, was perhaps the most beautiful sight after such an event. But for Stellar, it might just be a time passing performance.