Week 2 Story

Siren City: The Retelling of W.H.D. Rouse's Goblin City

Siren Painting
Source: Google Image

Twenty-five Navy Seals were aboard a large, beautiful ship called The Siren. They were in the middle of the Black Sea on a mission to find their lost brothers. Two weeks ago, a group of Navy Seals went on a boat to the Black Sea in order to figure out why airplane radios were unable to communicate when passing over this body of water. They never came home. The search crew was just two days into their two week long search when their electronics began to act up. Suddenly, they were without GPS, radio-service, and a way to communicate back to the mainland. They all agreed to continue the search, as their men were more important. Without their electronics, however, they failed to prepare for the lethal storm that was suddenly upon them. The storm thrashed the ship around in the deadly waters for 12 hours leaving it in shambles. When daylight broke, several of the men found themselves washed up in a cave. Through foggy vision, they could make out seven beautiful female silhouettes sitting on rocks surrounding the mouth. They looked around and realized only seven of them had made it. They called out to the beautiful women unsure if their minds were playing tricks on them or if they were truly being rescued. 

"Hello! We are Navy men! We were in a storm!" the stronger of the seven cried out.

When the women did not move, he got in the water and swam towards the shallow rocks. The closer he got to the women, the more beautiful they became. He realized they were all naked with only their long hair covering their bodies. He swam to the woman in the very front.

"Hi, my name is John. These are my Navy brothers. Are you hurt miss?"

One of the beautiful women made eye contact with John, and he was immediately captivated by her beauty. She had fiery red hair and amber eyes that seemed to pierce his soul. The other men were unable to make out the conversation between the two, as the woman spoke in hushed whispers. After several minutes of talking, John cried out to the other men "Men, this is Lagneia. She and her friends have a safe place for us. We must go with them." 

At first the men were suspicious, but they all thought, "These are fragile, naked women. What harm could they possibly do?" In fact, most of them figured the women wanted to sleep with them. Hearing the coast was clear, the men each went to one of the six other women where they all engaged in their own private conversations. Despite their previous suspicions, they all followed them on to a small boat that was to take them to a secret island where the promise of food and shelter awaited them. Once they reached land, the women began suggesting them and their partners take detours on the way to the homestead. Assuming the women were succumbing to their lust, the men individually and eagerly left the pact. One-by-one the men left until only John Smith and Lagneia were the only two left. 

The two arrived at the homestead where John noticed several odd things that did not seem to fit. Why were these women naked? How did they know where to find them? How did they survive on this island with no men? 

"You do not trust me." Lagneia said matter-of-factly noting the worry in John's eyes. 

"No, I do! I just don't understand. How have you survived all these years by yourselves? Without men to take care you?"

Lagneia chuckled. "Women are stronger than you think." 

With this, Lagneia prepared John a meal, and told him to rest up for tomorrow as the two were to find a way home for the men. 

John awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. A bad dream of his men and the storm startled him awake. He went to look for Lagneia, but she was no where to be found. He walked outside of the hut and noticed a trail to the beach nearby. He followed the trail, and as he got closer to water, he began to hear laughter. When he finally reached the edge of the trees, he peered behind a leaf and saw seven beautiful women in the water with fins and gills! He couldn't believe his eyes. The top half was human, but the bottom was fish!

He immediately went back to the homestead and began ferociously looking for his men. He realized he had not seen any of them since they arrived to the island. He began to go back the way they came and decided to search in all of the areas the men had peeled off from the group. He was brought to his knees his nausea when he came across the first man's shredded body. There lay the carcass of his brother, mangled on the ground as if an animal had attacked him. 

He jumped up and began running to the water. As he ran, he passed by several other men in the same state as the first. Finally, he made it to the small boat they had arrived on, jumped in, and began paddling. Five minutes into his frantic escaped, he heard a hushed laughter, and he quickly turned around. Not even a yard away, he could see Lagneia perched on a rock with her beautiful pink tail in the high in the air. 

She was smiling and waving goodbye. 

Author's Notes

I was inspired by the villainous, intelligent she-goblins in Goblin City. The goblins played on the men's inability to view women as anything other than sex objects and used to this their advantage. In my notes on Goblin City, I mentioned how I could not stop thinking about Siren, the evil version of a mermaid. These creatures supposedly lured men in with their beauty only to eat their souls. I merged these two stories together in order to create Siren City. A short story about men who ultimately let their misogynistic thinking lead them into a very dangerous situation. I left the ending up to the reader's imagination, as I was not entirely satisfied with the way Goblin City ended. Each of the seven sirens were to represent a deadly sin. I can definitely see this becoming a short story series, with each siren having their own narrative. In this version, Lagneia, Lust in Greek, takes over and lets the men think she is nothing, but a fragile woman. I can say I truly loved this assignment and look forward to expanding on this story. 

Bibliography. "Goblin City" from The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India. Web Source