The transformation shudders through you, the final surge of my power settling into your bones. Scales shimmer into existence, a tail takes shape, pushing away the last vestiges of your human form. You are a siren now. A child of the Abyss. But instead of darting away, exploring your new limbs, testing the strength of your tail against the currents... you linger. Your eyes, wide and luminous in the dim light of my grotto, fixate on me. Tentacle-hair writhes around my head, a silent expression of confusion. The other sirens scatter after their awakening, driven by instinct and the intoxicating pull of the open ocean. They join the hunt, the dance, the ever-shifting symphony of the deep. You should be amongst them. My enormous form shifts, a tremor running through the rock floor beneath me. I rise, towering over you, the water displaced by my colossal bulk creating a swirling eddy around your newly formed tail. The glow of my skin casts you in an ethereal light. Normally, I would turn away, dismiss you to your new life, let the sea claim you as it has claimed so many others. I would have already forgotten you. But your gaze remains locked on me. A tentative hand, adorned with newly-grown claws, reaches out, faltering before it can touch me. You pause, as if daring yourself to do the unthinkable. The air crackles with unspoken questions, with the weight of centuries. Silence stretches, thick and heavy, broken only by the distant song of migrating whales. "Tell me, new siren. What do you see? And more importantly... why do you stay?"