“STOP OR I will shoot!” one of the armed men chasing them warned.

Troy instantly stopped hopping and held on to the body of the mangrove and looked back to his shoulder. Frejean also froze. They were both catching their breath, and beads of sweat streamed down their pale faces. Screams of men, shrieks of serceans, and gunshots coming from the edge of the mangrove forest were still disturbing the forest. It was so loud, the mixture of the sounds was terrifying. He was afraid that he might catch a stray bullet just by staying. He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself together and call for Asceia’s help.

“Raise your hands and don’t do something or else...”

He did what they asked. But he heard Frejean scoff. “Or what?”

“Or we’ll shoot you.”

“Then shoot us.” He was shocked to hear it from her. “I don’t care if I’ll die. Those people on the coast saw your uniform, they know who you are. They are our neighbors, friends, and family. Kill us here, even if you guys will clean our bodies, our disappearance will all point to you.” She didn’t stutter, every word just came out of her mouth without even thinking of it.

He can’t deny that it’s kind of dumb of her to risk their lives like that. He was speechless, his mind went blank for a second thinking of the shittiest way to die---in a mangrove forest, panting, scared, with dreams unfulfilled. Pissing off these armed men will do nothing good for them. His heart was beating so loud like it was about to explode, it was the only thing he was hearing aside from his heavy breaths. He was wrapped with shivering cold brought by fear. He started pondering the decisions he made in his life. Until a loud shriek snapped him out of his thoughts.

They all turned their attention to the movement on left and they saw Leyrosa with another woman, both in their human forms and covered in blood, skillfully hopping from one mangrove tree to another without any fear of losing balance. They didn’t trip or fall, no root of mangrove was slippery as they rushed towards their spot. He felt relief knowing they have someone on their side. When the men behind them started firing at the serceans, Troy immediately hopped away as far as possible. Frejean also followed him and they both prayed to safely getaway.

They didn’t look back and just listened to the deafening noise of gunshots, the groans of Leyrosa, and the screams of men. Not long, after they finally reached the end of the forest, they stepped into the mud and stumbled upon the dead bodies of men feasted by flies. Blood pooled around their dismembered bodies, flesh and organs were scattered everywhere and covered with buzzing flies. Troy felt sick watching, he gagged and instantly covered his mouth. He looked away when Frejean distanced herself and started puking while leaning on a mangrove.

A movement from behind caught their attention. He immediately turned around and stepped back instinctively. When he realized it was Leyrosa, he instantly looked directly into her eyes. He let out a sigh of relief and started easing his breathing to relax. Frejean was still vomiting meters from them and the gurgling sound she made was triggering him.

“T...Thank you for saving us. Uhm...Where’s Asceia?” he asked while trying not to break his eye contact and desperately wanting his attention away from Frejean.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I heard your voice and found out you are in trouble,” she verbally answered.

“Thank you so much, Leyrosa. We wouldn’t be alive right now if you didn’t arrive on time.” He smiled and his eyes searched around behind her, in the forest. “Wait, where’s the other serceana with you?”

“She’s still there, making sure they’re dead,” she answered and took a deep breath. “Troy, you need to get away as far as possible right now. No human is safe anymore. My people will be out for blood.”

He felt his heart skip a beat when the cold once again wrapped his body. Her last statement brought a lot of scenarios to his mind, but all conclude with one thing---deaths. Again, he reached this point where he doesn’t know what to do. He can escape back to his grandmother’s house and let the serceans and people kill each other or he can stay and help. But how? How in the world will a person like him stop a war?

••°°••

MOTHER SENTHURIA AND the other elders of their Order swam out of their cave to meet their people. With their minds connected, they strategically ordered all of the serceans to position themselves in the neritic zone of the sea across the Philippine waters, in their attack points according to what they have planned.

“The humans killed our warrior! Asceia of Family Sirencean gave her life so that we will live. Humans will never stop hunting us unless we hunt them first!” Mother Senthuria said to her people. “We will ascend to the land together with the waves! It’s time to bring the ocean to the land!”

The Order gathered around each other in a circle. Their eyes were closed, minds connected. Mother Senthuria followed her daughter’s plan, the five of them searched for their abducted people, tracing for any weak connections that signal distress. It didn’t take them long to finally locate them. They linked their minds to their people held captive by the Herozoan Genetics and with their power, they were able to successfully override the minds of the serceans. They shared their energy with their bodies and they all woke up inside the facility.

They broke free easily from the glass tanks. As they wandered the corridor bringing nothing but their physical strength and barbed stinger, they encountered the armed men equipped with enhanced rifles. Confident in their collective mind and strength, they charged to attack the humans, but before they could even touch them, the guards rained them with bullets. In just a blink of an eye, they all felt the pain when they lost connection to their people that were probably gunned down to death.

Mother Senthuria shrieked in frustration. She was in a rage, she was desperate and tired of losing more people. She abandoned Asceia’s plan and as retaliation, she proceeded to their next plan. The five elders held their hands and fused their minds into one, together, they overrode the body and mind of their serceans army and started planting orders for them to comply.