~~~~~~~~
When I was a girl, my mother told me stories. Lullabies really...

My mother told me lullabies of the evil mermaids

Leucosia...

Ligeia...

And Lore-Ley.

And ever since my childhood days,

That's what I have chosen to be

A dangerous nymph...

A lethal siren of the sea

Independent...

No need for any other man.

My mother always told me these stories for a reason

I never knew why but it was for something

The thing was...

I never thought I would learn the reason so soon

~~~~~~~~

It was a hot day in France, it was always like this in the 11th century

I was running through the woods with my brother and father.

We were playing what we called tag,

I was currently winning this little game

I was running for a little bit now, not really knowing where I was going

I stopped to take a breath, leaning on a tree

The sound of footsteps filled my ears, I moved and looked around not knowing where the noise was coming from.

"Papa?" I asked and cringed at the desperation in my voice, I never liked the fact that I needed my father and brother to help me with things.

"Maxam?" I started to walk back toward home, the sound of my own footsteps were echoing in my ears. I felt something wet under my feet, I never liked wearing my shoes. It made me feel like something was holding me back. I always liked the feeling of the grass and dirt under my toes.

I picked up my foot to see it full of dirt and mud from me running along with walking, the strange part was there was blood mixed in with it all but I wasn't hurt.

I could feel the fear flowing through my body,

All I knew was that I had to run like hell...

The world around me disappeared as I ran

I felt the sudden rush of power flow through me

When I finally came to the edge of my village,

The smell of blood became intoxicating

I touched my face feeling something strange going on

"Papa?!... Maxam?!..." I screamed running around the village

All I could smell was the metal liquid that flowed in my veins

I started to tear up as the feeling inside my stomach started to grow stronger and stronger

The smell was putting me in a trance, the feeling hurt yet felt so good at the same time

"Momma!" I ran to the town square hoping to find someone

But to my surprise...

Everyone was dead.

Everyone I loved...

Everyone I knew...

Dead.

My knees buckled and I could feel the mud underneath my knees,

The feeling of my quivering hands slowly collided with my face

Looking around the feeling of hunger suddenly came into my head

The thirst was making my head hurt,

I could hear the sound of footsteps, and the smallest bit of someones heart beat

Turning to the noise, I saw my mother walking toward me distort and afraid

"Momma!" I ran to her and sat her down onto a small rock.

"Hemera..." my mother's accent was thick, like silk.

"What Momma?" along with my mother, I too had a very silky french accent. Looking her over, I tried to find anything wrong with her. That's when I found that the smell of blood was coming off of her.

"Mon petit... there is so much you don't know, nor understand..." my mother laid her small hand on my cheek, I nuzzled into it and the smell of the metal liquid was even more intoxicating. I looked up at my mother and she gave me a look of reassurance.

"Its okay my love, drink... " I looked at her with such confusion, but the feeling inside my stomach grew stronger than I could have ever imagined.

"Momma please... explain, I'm so confused" my mother sniffled and cracked one of her winning smiles.

"I know it's gonna be hard mon petit... but just know, no matter who tells you. No matter who sutures you through all of this, know my love. That I love you, and you will always be my daughter, my Mon petit." the feeling of tears flowed down my cheeks and the feeling in my face happened once again.

The last few hours were a blur,

All I knew was that the feeling of blood on my hands were very real

I looked around and everything was so much more colorful...

Brighter even...

I could hear everything,

The wind... the birds... the deer running through the woods

I heard the sound of footsteps and the next moment I looked, I was up a tree watching the whole thing from above

The branches in the forest moved and they revealed my father and brother,

the need to call out their names was strong

Yet the feeling of seeing the weapons in their hands calmed the feeling some

My brother walked to the body of my mother and collapses right where I fell

The sound of my brother's screams ripped through my ears

My father ran to him and looked in despair

My brother looked around and laid his eyes on me

I smiled sadly and brought my finger to my lips to silence him

He nodded and I wiped the tears from my cheeks sighing

The feeling of rain fell into my hands and I looked straight to the sky and smiled softly

I jumped from my spot in the trees and watched my life fall apart before my eyes,

My father looked up to see me watching from the distance

I waved the smallest bit and the feeling of the rain became more welcoming

I turned away and could hear the sound of my family calling my name

I turned to them one last time and smiled the smallest

"I'm sorry papa... "

I turned, the feeling of shutting everything out came over me

The feeling of the rain taking over my emotions

I closed my eyes, shutting out all the emotions...

All the memories

I smiled one last time and walked into the rain

~~~~~~~~
That was the last time anyone saw me again

For a long while

They called me Ran, the lady of the salt water

They say for my love of the rain

Was it harder to die?

Or

Be the one who survived?