Beneath the Endless Waves

07/04/2025 10:46 | Son Güncelleme : 06/11/2025 20:29 | Bike S. Demirkız

Beneath the Endless Waves

By Bike S. Demirkiz

When you dream of us, you hear our songs. Those sounds that echo through the waves, that make the wind tremble... Yet few of you remember who we are. But we have been here since time immemorial.

My name is Naïa. I am one of those born in the oldest waters of the world. We, the mermaids, are the echoes of a lost time. Men have called us monsters in their myths. But we are the echo of their mistakes and fears.

Once upon a time, there was a paradise in the heart of the world. What humans called the Garden of Eden was a vast laboratory that opened onto a shining golden shore. But it was not all stone and metal. Crystal domes reached to the heavens, glittering fountains spilled from the sky, emerald gardens defied gravity and floated in the air. The water sparkled with glowing moss, and the fruit hanging from the branches changed colors like rainbows. There was no night here, the sky always flickering in the soft light of the sunset.

And we were created here.

Our masters were beings from the sky. They came here for the gold, but in the end they became creators. They had power, they had knowledge, and they chose to push the boundaries. In their world, time did not flow as we know it; their wisdom was as old as the stars. At first they experimented with creatures like us. Hybrids, creatures with superior abilities. Some flew in the sky, some walked on land, some lived underwater like us.

They created us to be masters of the seas. They wanted us to feel the tides, hear every sound, know every movement, from the darkest points of the oceans to the sky. To be sentinels among the water veins of the earth. Our long silvery scales reflected the light of the sea. Our fingers could read the vibrations of the waves and hear whispers from the deepest wells. And most importantly: Our voice.

Our voice was created with the harmony of the stars. We were an echo in the rhythm of the waves. Our words were powerful enough to change the texture of the air, to touch souls. When we whispered a note, the wind changed direction. When we sang a lament, the ocean took a deep breath.

At first we were not alone. There were all kinds of creatures in Eden. Dragons with their giant wings soaring in the sky, Pan (goat men) dancing with their shadows in the moonlight, Cyclops (one-eyed giants), Kentaurs (horse men), Minotaurs (bull men) with their gigantic steps echoing through the woods... We were all here, together, part of the same world. None of us feared each other, for each of us had come from the hands of our masters. There was no hunger here, no war. Everything was shared in the garden. The water was clear, the air was soft, time was endless for us.

But when the humans came, paradise began to crack.

When Adam and Lilith were first created, they were like us - immortal like us, full of power like us. But Lilith did not accept the boundaries that were set for her. She did not fit into our masters' plan. And so she was consigned to oblivion. Eve was brought in her place. But Eve was different. She was not created like the others. She could reproduce.

And that's when everything changed.

People were different from others. They could multiply, they could fill the world. At first they lived with us. But as they multiplied, they wanted, their greed grew. More space, more food, more power... While they could multiply, we were cursed to live forever. We saw the first wars between them, we saw how the blood mixed with the soil. Our masters watched in horror, but what was done was done. Instead of being content with the land they were given, people began to plunder it.

Once vibrant, our songs fell silent, replaced by storms that carried despair

At first they avoided us, then they began to feel uncomfortable. They listened to our voices with fear. Our underwater world was now a threat to them. They only wanted to share it with each other.

And then the war began.

The children of the forest struck the first blow. The Pans were hunted. The Cyclops were hunted. The Minotaur was trapped in the labyrinth. Dragons fell from the sky. And we retreated beneath the sea. We didn't fight them - we just used our voices. We stopped them with our songs, we made them fall into the arms of the sea. But that only protected us for a while.

Enlil decided that humans had ruined this world. He closed the sky forever. Humans invaded the world. First they began to destroy other creatures that they thought were not their own.

The gods were angry. They sent the Flood.

But then Enki intervened. He showed some of the people the way to salvation. He taught them how to build great ships. And in those ships, he hid the genes of the creatures that had perished, so that one day, when the flood was over, the world could be reborn.

First, the waters rose, the sky darkened, the earth cracked. Mountains were swallowed up, rivers overflowed.

We mermaids were unaffected by the flood, but our brothers and sisters... Dragons, Cyclops, Kentaurs, Minotaurs... They all perished one by one. We heard their cries under the sea, but we couldn't save them.

And when the world was reborn, we were alone. We mermaids were free. But others made like us were no more.

And when the flood was over, humans decided to pick up where they left off. Our masters came back and offered the humans a deal: "We will give you civilization and you will serve us.

The first cities were built. People learned knowledge. They built temples. They called our masters gods. But we Sirens...

We never trusted humans.

We still live in the depths of the sea. Sometimes our whispers can be heard. But no human knows the meaning of our songs. They have forgotten us. They don't even remember that we once shared the same paradise.

When they forgot us, we became legends. But our voices were always in their ears. When the waves pounded the shore, when the storms raised the sea, when the wind whispered in the night... Those voices were ours.

Once upon a time, people held us sacred. The Sumerians called us apkallu - spirits who brought wisdom from the seas. The Babylonians knew us as the daughters of Ea, Enki. Divine beings created by those from the sky, hidden under the water.

Then the Greeks remembered us, but they distorted our story. They called us Sirens. They said we lived on rocky islands in the middle of emerald seas. They said our voice was so mesmerizing that sailors who heard it lost their minds. They told how Ulysses eluded us on his way home. They said he tied himself to the mast of his ship to keep him from jumping into the sea, mesmerized by our voice. But they lied. Because we didn't call anyone, they brought their ships to our rocks to listen to us.

And then came the Christian world. They cursed us. They called us daughters of Lilith. Because, like Lilith, we were free. We had voices that did not fall under the yoke of men. They made us the symbol of sin and temptation. But we only protected the sea.

On stormy nights, Norse sailors saw figures shining on the water. Marmenils, the men of the sea, mermaids roaming among the waves... The Vikings said they could hear the voices of the sirens in the icy blue water. They told how our songs echoed on the wind.

On the shores of Africa they called us Mami Wata. Lady of Wisdom, of the Waters and the Healing Sea Spirits. They saw us not only in the salty seas, but also in the fresh waters. They knew us as the guardians of lakes, rivers, and springs.

And then the people learned to build boats. They came in boats to cross the oceans. But they were still afraid of us. They felt that there was a world deep in the ocean that they could not understand. At night, they were awakened by echoes coming from under the water, and they became restless. They tried to hunt us. But we protected ourselves.

We used our voices.

When we whispered a note, the wind ripped their sails. When we sang a lament, the ocean opened its doors to them. We didn't call them, they surrendered to the waves. And then they declared us to be monsters.

We never harmed humans, but they tried to destroy us. We took refuge in the shadows beneath the sea.

Humans have forgotten us. But we continue to live in the depths of their memories, in their dreams, in their whispers.

The stories they tell of us have changed over time. Sometimes we were beautiful saviors, sometimes deadly seducers. When the storms broke, the sailors prayed, they said they saw us. But they did not understand our songs.

They forgot us.

But we have not forgotten.

At night, a song rises from the deepest parts of the sea. As the waves crash against the shore, if you listen for a moment, you can hear it. A melody that tells of that paradise, that lost world we once shared.

We're still here.

And our songs will never stop singing, echoing forever...

Written by Bike S. Demirkiz

Arzın Merkezine Bir Bakış: Oyuk Dünya Teorisi Başarılı Matematik Öğretmeni Eda Sevim'e Onur Ödülü!