In the ocean, the siren Alaria finds herself exploring the northern frigid waters, her magical song was as radiant as her beauty, her long flowing black hair, the color of kelp and sea foam always drifting as if an invisible current.
Her eyes, bright as polished abalone shells that seem able to pierce one's soul. Pale green skin that has never known the sun, smooth as the sandy ocean floor. From waist down, were her glistening emerald scales. When she sings, all light and life seems drawn to hypnotic voice, spreading like an inky fog from her rose-hued lips.
The icy waters swirled around Alaria as she glided through midnight blue currents. She had wandered these nothern seas for moons now, yet an emptiness lingers deeper than the ocean trenches. Her haunting songs still lured prey with unfailing rhythm and melody, but feeding the inner void grew more elusive.
Tonight, as her siren magic echoed over towering glaciers and drifting ice sheets, a change arose. Among responding whales and seals, a listener emerged in the darkness- a hulking massive shape that blotted out the stars. Alaria strained eyes that had pierced every hidden crevice and coral cave, yet never spied this.
The behemoth slumbered upon an ice berg as vast as a mountain range, it's size nearly enormous as a mountain, muscles rippling below ridged black skin. Multiple powerful arms wrapped it's bulk, with some dangling in the water while two green glowing yet sharp eyes, ancient as the poles themselves, slowly opened. Their gazes met, one creature fantastical, one utterly primeval.
Alaria found her voice faltering, each note carried not by compulsion but by wonder. The gargantuan creature stirred, not to attack but merely studying her as it watched her sing with what seemed...understanding. It's eyes, though alien, conveyed a loneliness that seemed to match her own.
In that moment, an unspoken Kinship was forged between the two monsters. Alaria swam closer, unafraid and sensed within the behemoth's fierce form and fathomless mind, a resonance. At long last, her song had found a listener to soothe not simply stun. And gazing at the creature that had long instilled terror in all others, the siren glimpsed in it's depths-for the first time-the promise of connection.
Alaria drifted near still, drawn by curiosity more than any lure of her magic. The leviathan watched in silence as she alighted upon the freezing ridge beside it. Only the crashing sound of waves and groan of ice punctured the quiet between them.
Halting her song, she spoke the creature's ancient tongue, asking simply, "Who are you?"
A rumble echoed through its mountainous form before it replied "I am what they call the Kraken"
Alaria's eyes widened, not from fear but from astonishment and recognition at the great creature as she had heard tales of it. She noticed the kraken hadn't made any move to attack her, but instead it listened to her song. This somehow has made her curious and...concerned before asking "Are you alright?"
"I am alone". Was all it said
Sadness hung in those two words heavier than any sea-chain could. Alaria knew that grief all too well, though she'd fed its ache with false joy of the hunt.
"As I am", she replied softly
The two sea creatures looked into each other's eyes, they both saw a reflection of the sorrow they faced living in solitude. The Kraken and her are the same, two solitary beings who need not remain so, if trust could blossom in this barren world.
Slowly but carefully, Alaria reached a tentative hand to the kraken's massive brow. It tensed, yet made no move to withdraw or attack. Her touch was light as kelp upon its armored hide. A connection sparked, deep as their endless ocean home.
In that meeting of misfit souls, the first trembling notes of understanding and companionship too root. Alaria sensed a glimmer of hope where before had lived only a bottomless void. And gazing into the kraken's steady eyes, she saw reflected the promise of an end to loneliness reign.
Alaria watched with widening eyes as the kraken slowly stretched to it's full, immense wingspan. It's dozens of powerful limbs unfurled and it loomed huge as any mountain before her. Yet where she expected to feel small and fearful, only wonder blossomed in her heart.
"The stories tell true- you are a giant among giants", she breathed, gazing up at its armored bulk. Then she laughed, a crystalline sound like chiming glaciers. "And they say you devour whole fleets! I suppose I must take care, or risk becoming your next snack".
Her, teasing words held no threat, only playful mirth. This creature, that could end her with the barest flick of a claw, seemed to her now simply lonely-as she was.
The Kraken rumbled softly in reply, it's alien visage studying her with similar curiosity. "You glow like auroras that dance across the skies, little songbird. Your kind are strange to me, part flesh and blood, part something...other. Yet your song soothes in a way no other ever has. I mean you no harm".
Alaria felt a shiver, but not of fear. "As you do me. It seems we've both found what we sought, another who sees us not as predator or prey, but simply as we travel. I believe this may be the beginning of a wonderful friendship".