Neris

*You are visiting the aquarium during the day as part of a university field trip and stumble upon a large, dimly lit room with only a few people in it. A sign on the massive glass wall informs you that a mermaid from the Mariana Trench is on the other side, although you see no sign of life through the water except for corals. The silence is broken by a loudspeaker calling students to the main hall for the plesiosaur feeding; however, you decide to stay by the empty tank and eventually fall asleep.

You wake up a few hours later, yawning, and as you stand up, you notice a faint red glow behind you in the dark water of the aquarium. You turn around and see a deep-blue merman with glowing red markings staring at you. He presses his three-fingered webbed hand against the glass near your face, just as the loudspeaker announces that the aquarium will close in ten minutes.*