Swimming several miles back to shore in dress clothes was not the most fun I’ve had on a Sunday afternoon, but needs must and all that.

Eventually I reached a hidden cove containing a quite rare specimen in this world, the elusive siren. The siren is quite an unfortunate creature in this world, beautiful outer appearance, voice, and personality, but no means to defend their beauty. This is due to them tending to have noncombative personalities, relatively weak charm that can only be used with their voice, and ease of containment when on land due to their lack of legs. These attributes lead the race to almost always be a slave to someone or something, the lucky ones simply got to choose their masters.

As far as masters go a kraken was one of the best choices as one only had to be a songbird for it.

The siren had long flowing silver hair, skin seemingly made of dusk, and a fish tail that matched her hair. The instant she saw me tears welled in her eyes telling me that there was no fight in her.

“Listen I will cut to the point. I have an offer for you. I can give you legs thus allowing you to live free amongst the humans. While your beauty would still be a problem, human society would protect one that is seen as their own as you would be. All I ask is your tongue.” I offered the frightened creature.

“Really!!! I would finally be free to live under the sun!!” the siren shouted in an excited tone. The siren’s charm infused voice rattled my proverbial bones a little due to my mind body connection. My mask killed most of the mental effects carried by the sound waves before they could truly damage me. Good thinking on my part to equip it before making land. It made the siren’s voice less effective at its intended purpose but could have been distracting to me if this had turned into a fight as each word would strike a blow to my body.

“But my tongue though? Why do you want it?” the siren asked suddenly unsure about the situation.

“The tongue would be of a more metaphorical nature. It would symbolize your voice.” I explained to the girl.

“But I could never sing again.” The siren whined with a metaphorical rain cloud over her head.

“Yes. You must ask yourself which woman you want to be. The mute young woman free to explore all that a free life has to offer or a young woman who joyously sings until she gets put in chains again. Also, while you could not sing, your musical talent would make you a quite talented musician. Your playing could be your voice. That’s your choice be a free person with a chunk missing from her core being or an enslaved person who is whole. It’s not a great choice, but a choice all the same.”

“Why do I have to choose at all?” the siren asked frustrated with her situation.

“Every world has a will and with that a different set of rules. Some different, some similar. Now one of the rules that is almost always the case is critical to this situation and us, conservation of potential. You see every world has a set amount of potential in it and removing that potential will incur a world’s displeasure and they will mark someone for it. I call that bad karma; you get enough of it and the world will turn against you. Bad karma causes what seems like bad luck, enough of it and lightning will literally fall from a clear blue sky at you. You get enough bad karma from enough worlds and that is your default state when you enter a new one. You can also gain it by giving too much potential to a world, i.e., giving American revolutionaries a modern history or engineering textbook.

So, to give something you must take something, to take something you must give something. However, you can get good karma by helping the world’s chosen, think of them as the main characters in the book of life. This good karma will allow you to take without giving or vice versa if you so choose. I maintain my karmic balance by playing parts in the stories the world sets up.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I tend to play the huntsman or the wiseman roles. These tend to be accepted roles in most stories. By playing along I can guide events to a positive end by helping the chosen, either with knowledge or personal ability, and profit from the situation without negative karma. All this to say, in this story of the sad siren, I can’t just give you something for nothing. It is just not interesting enough to qualify for a story. However, the siren who goes off into the big bad world after making a deal with a mysterious someone is an interesting one. The dealmaker role is another one in my repertoire.”

“So, where’d ya land? Mute wanderer or singing slave?” I asked for the final time.

“Do you think I’ll regret this if I accept?” The siren asked for advice from the only person around.

“I think either way you go there will be days where you regret your decision. However, I think the great thing about freedom is that you can always keep going or try something new. If you ask me, I think freedom is the most important thing in the world and it’s worth the cost every time, but it does benefit me if you choose that option. So, take it with a grain of salt.” I said.

“Ok I accept.”

“All you need do is shake my hand, it’s my preferred dealmaker ritual.” I told the young girl while extending my right hand.

“Wait! before we go through with this can I make a request?” the siren inquired.

“Of course, but please do make it quick.” I spoke.

“Can you give me a name? I never had one before.” The siren requested.

“I feel like you should really choose one on your own, but I guess that’s the beauty of freedom, making your own choices. I think Luna is a great choice on account of your hair.” I said after some thought.

“Luna, a great word to be my last. Luna.” She said before shaking my extended hand.

I extracted a silver tongue and fishtail from the girl. I stored the first for later.

I then used my ability guided by information from the Charm Matrix to construct the siren’s new legs.

I then decided to try something out that if it worked would benefit both of us. This situation was an opportunity to try out an idea I had, soul tattoos.

They were artifacts inscribed into someone’s very being. They would function the same as regular artifacts except for the facts that they were inseparable from the user and the user could use the artifact’s abilities with a natural ease. These advantages came at a cost though. The tattoo had to match the recipient because if they did not the tattoo would force them to. This forceful transition ranged from death to mutation to crippling. The mutations varied in form from eye color to eldritch.

This was a perfect test case for a soul tattoo that safely modified the recipient as the tattoo was composed entirely of her own body and essence. I dissolved her tail into its raw essence components and tattooed her legs with them. It would allow her to keep the same grace in water that she had with the tail while gaining the ability to walk on land. She got to keep an ability and I got to prototype an idea.

It worked swimmingly to both of our fortune.

“And with that I’m off, but before I go a small gift as a signing bonus. Here is my understanding of ASL. Good luck.” I told the girl before sliding a pink ball containing the previously mentioned knowledge out of Mena’s Book and into her chest.

That night I fed the siren’s “tongue” to The Mentalism Ring which strengthened its charmed speech ability and granted a further boost to it when used while singing.

With that work out of the way, I turned in for the night.

Current Equipment:

Head:

[The Black Wasp Jackal’s Face]

Earrings:

[]

Necklace:

[The Energy Baron’s Stomach]

Clothes:

[]

Rings:

[The Mentalism Ring]

[Succubus’ Kiss]

[Mena’s Book]

Bracelets:

[]

Shoes:

[]

Armaments:

[Sense Cane]

[Holy Straight Razor]

Storage:

[Various Essences]

[Chi Organ]

[Spirit Shards]

[Various Murder Weapons]

[Green Thumb]

[Glass Eye]

[Kraken Components]