Alexander felt incredibly pumped as of now, this was his first fight. In his mind, he had thought about this so many times. But not once did he think he would fight a siren on land. A siren on land, he had never heard anything similar. He did grow up in a village in the middle of nowhere but still, this could not be a normal occurrence.
He stood in his fighting stance with his spear pointed outwards whilst the siren was rushing towards him. It came closer as time passed and eventually it was only a couple meters away from him.
It suddenly stopped, looked at Alexander with sheer confusion and did a full 180. It crawled back to rock it had come from equally as quickly as it had come.
Alexander could not process what had just happened, he was just ready to fight and was completely focused on that. But now the creature had run away, he stood there in complete disbelief.
After a moment, he finally got his bearings back and quickly analyzed the situation. The siren was sitting on the same rock it had come from, Orion was still passed out on the ground and he was standing with the spear in his hand.
He put his spear on his back and returned to dragging Orion into a safer spot, this time he was eyeing the siren the entire time. She or it, would certainly not surprise him. After he had dragged Orion to a safe spot he sat down and waited.
After a short while, Orion woke up. He looked around, with his brows pressed together trying to make sense of the situation. When he spotted the mermaid and he wanted to go to it, but Alexander had suddenly attacked him. Now Alexander was sitting beside him so casually.
"You finally woke up"
" What.. What do you mean woke up? huh, you fucking attacked me. There was a gorgeous mermaid. A goddamn mermaid and you choke me out! Why would you choke me out when I have a goddamn mermaid in front of me. Why are you sitting here so casually? What the fuck, this makes absolutely no sense you know that right? I should be be be beating the shit out of you, what the fuck is happening"
Alexander took a breath in.
"That was no mermaid, it's a monster"
I'll prove it to you, look over there. He pointed at the rock where the siren was but as he did it he had realised that it had turned back into being a beautiful mermaid. Alexander was distraught.
Orion looked over there, then he started drooling. The girl was still there and she was waiting for him. He started standing up, but Alexander quickly held him down. He pushed up, but Alexander was stronger and could simply force him to not stand up.
"Listen, that is a monster, she will lure you in and then kill you"
"How could such an innocent mermaid even pose a threat to me!?"
What was so strange about what was happening was the fact that he really liked her. Like he actually did, nobody could question the fact that he did. Orion was completely convinced at the fact that it was love at first sight, that was the only way he could logically explain the strong urge he had experienced.
Alexander had a headache, he was not going to let him run into his death. At the same time, it seemed very difficult to convince him not too. Therefore he simply held him down until he did not attempt to go over to the supposed "mermaid".
"That thing will eat you"
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Trust me, I want to go to that mermaid as much as you. But that is not its true face."
" Either way, I am not letting you got to her." Alexander continuede
Orion was truly stuck in a hard place. He wanted to do something but this person that he had just met was telling him he could not. Not only was he telling him he could not, he was physically restricting him to not do it. Orion got visibly infuriated at what was happening.
"God damn mermaid, " Alexander thought to himself. Alexander decided to choke Orion out again. Now that Orion would not be part of the equation he looked back at the mermaid and started walking towards it.
It changed back into its real form.
"What... is this thing taunting me," Alexander thought. He walked towards it, Alexander anxiety was telling him to do the opposite and made each hair on his body stand up. However, the river contained not only water but also food. This monster would not stop him from getting that.
The siren had a smirk when it looked at Alexander, it was taunting him after all. It was truly a troublesome problem, Alexander could not just leave his friend to die. Well, he could but he did not want to for that wasn't how he acted.
As he got closer to the siren he took out his spear and started walking forward carefully. Eventually, he got to the edge of the river, he looked straight at the siren, who looked straight back to him.
"Hello" Alexander called out.
"Hello" Alexander repeated
"There is no way you can sing such beautiful melodies but you can not speak." Alexander continued.
He then stood there, awaiting a response from the creature. It turned back into its mermaid and then started speaking.
"Hey sweetie, why are you pointing that sharp spear at me"
"You would kill me if I did not have it"
"Nooo, don't say that. I just want to play with you"
"You ran out of this pool with full intention to attack me"
"Come on, a manly man as you don't need a spear to protect yourself, especially not against me a lone woman.", Completely disregarding what Alexander had said.
Alexander felt that this spear was the only thing stopping her from doing anything to him.
"You are not a woman"
"How dare you, you disgusting pig"
Clearly, the mermaid was attempting to persuade Alexander to get into the river or to make himself vulnerable. However, the last comment had broken her charade, was this her weak spot? Alexander decided to probe further.
"How dare I, I mean your ugly as a crow"
"You filthy insect"
"Ha, you pig"
"I'll let you know many men have walked willingly into death for me, just like your friend wants to do, but you keep restraining him."
"Willingly, you trick them. There is no consent in you tricking them."
"Puny human, if it were not for your disgusting ego I wouldn't be hungry."
"There's plenty of fish in this river, why not eat them."
"Fish taste bland and boring, a human, on the other hand", she scoffed… "A humans blood is the sweetest thing, and its flesh is so tender and juicy, on top of that its wonderful scream before it dies is the best dessert."
She was visibly getting excited at the thought of eating a human. Alexander had never tasted a "human" and was never intending to do so. She seemed quite intelligent, can't she see that its wrong to eat a human.
Nevertheless, Alexander had to find a way to kill it or to make it run away. Otherwise, Orion would run straight into her mouth. Alexander quickly went through all the possible options. Firstly, he could jump into the river and fight her there, extremely risky and it seemed like she would have the advantage in that case. Secondly, he could insult her until she got mad enough to jump out of the river and fight him. Thirdly, he could make a deal.
As of now, the method Alexander thought would work the most was if he made a deal.
"I think fish tastes good"
"Disgusting insect"
"How about a deal"
"What do you mean "a deal" ?"
"If you give me three fully grown fishes and fill my pouch of water, I will leave and my party member will run into your grasp"