Betrayal on the name of Love

Inside one of the chambers of the mighty palace, King Bastian Alexandro laid limp on his bed, wrapped in sheets made of the finest of silk but they were unable to provide him even the minimum of comfort whilst he groaned in pain. His Queen, Norma paced impatiently around the room as she waited for the physician to come and medicate her ebbing husband.

It had been several weeks since when he was diagnosed with this incurable stomach ache that was killing him slowly. At first the physicians couldn't understand what was happening to him but then it was declared that he had been poisoned with something that was flourishing inside his body instead of killing him immediately.

They had started looking for a cure for the king's disease but all the attempts were fruitless as everything that was tried on him turned out to be ineffective until now. That was when they had to seek help from the weird old monk who lived above the peaks of the spiky mountains. After examining the King, the only cure that he had suggested was impossible to reach, the blood of a young Siren who hadn't shed her deciduous scales yet.

For the Queen, it sounded like a joke. Those unholy, obscene creatures were a taboo to even talk about. How could their blood be something other than filthy? It could be anything but a cure. No one knew what they looked like but it was assumed that they were the ugliest of the creation.

They were ruthless.

When she was younger and used to stay in her father's library most of the time, she had read quite a lot about them. It was written down in the old books that once a Voyager had fallen in love with a Siren who was merely a beautiful woman before.

She possessed a beautiful tail with shiny scales and pearls of all sorts embellished upon them. Every full moon she shedded her scales which turned into gold dust that glimmered in the dark and said to be used in potions crafted by mightiest of the magicians.

The pearls and gems also fell off and she grew new ones along with her scales. The man was allured by her beauty at first but soon he was tempted by the riches he could achieve from this wallet of treasure. He would bring the gold dust of her scales and gems from her body to the black market of magicians and would earn a hefty amount of gold coins in return. As the sea-creature was in love with the man she happily let him do so.

However, as the time passed his companions started growing suspicious of his flourishing lifestyle. He got scared that soon they would come to know about the source of his wealth. He grew greedy thus, one night when she came on top of the water to meet him and rested in his lap, he waited until she fell asleep and then cut her tail off to bring with him.

To his dismay as soon as the tail secluded from the mermaid's body, the scales grew dark and turned sharp like the tip of a knife. The pearls deformed into coals and ashes fell down instead of the gold dust. The once pale body of the woman turned darker than the night around them.

He hadn't even recovered from the shock yet when the tail slipped from his hands and wiggled near the darkened body of the woman. It reattached to where it belonged and soon the woman opened her eyes. This time her eyes were red instead of the pale hazel hue they once used to be. Her nails grew in sharp claws as she lunged upon the traitor and ripped his heart out with one jerk devouring it as mercilessly as ruthlessly he broke hers.

It was said that the other voyagers who were his companions were following him that night to see where he went. They saw this gruesome sight with their own eyes and ran for their lives afterwards. Some of them were caught by the beastly creature while a few of them reached the shore safely. They were the only ones who lived on to tell the tale because after that no man came back alive from the northern premises of the blue sea which was later named as the forbidden island of the Sirens.

After a long time of pondering upon the situation, the Queen finally decided to set her dislike aside and think about her husband's well-being. It was believed that the Sirens only targeted men so the Queen had planned about sending a woman for the job but no woman or man was brave enough to accept the offer no matter how big the award offered. Hopeless from everywhere the Queen turned to every other remedy that could possibly cure her husband but nothing was working.

A knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts. "Come in,"

An old looking man entered the room with a wooden box in his hands. A younger boy followed him who held a tray. Small potion bottles could be seen lying above the tray.

"Greetings your Highness," the man bowed his head and so did the boy.

"Come in Yougas, any progress?" She walked over to him.

"I have tried some new recipes, Your Highness. We can only hope they work but even if they did, I am afraid they would still be a temporary cure as this is seemingly a cursed poison that has been given to His Majesty. Only a young Siren's blood can cure it because that's the only poison which can cut this poison." He said to her before going over to the King's bed.

The Queen didn't say anything but quietly left the room to let them do their work in peace. She was headed towards her son's room, the crown-prince of Hunza, their only hier.

But another dreaded news was waiting for her there…