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Description
The mermaids take a break during their annual migration to explore the various shipwrecks along one of the busiest shipping lanes of the surface walkers. This time they come across an oddity, one of the many ungainly vessels that had foundered during a particularly violent occurrence here many tides ago.

Their elders spoke of the cacophony of thunder on the surface as the water ran red to a stream of broken bodies that were cast down to their depths. They sensed these men, many just barely grown out of their youth, had come from so far away. Few could swim, many were so laden their floundering bore little use as they were dragged down below. Far tragic were those too slow or weren't able to escape from being entombed inside these odd metal vessels, their canvas screens in shreds as they dropped like a stone.

Stranger still was how many there were, wave after wave of them plowing towards the beach instead of the usual ports and harbors, and still, they kept going amidst the balloons of explosions that had long scared off the fishes and kept the mermaids at bay. The number of broken equipment and bodies grew closer towards the beach, as the tides washed them closer to shore.

The elder mermaids mournfully recalled how they were unable to save but a dozen or so, too many far gone to be saved, and as this violent tumult was being repeated all along that coast the mermaids couldn't find a discreet place to bring the men safely to shore without exposing themselves. A brave few who had gone up to the surface to find an explanation for what was occurring spoke of a surreal scene: hundreds of metal ships that filled the horizon, spewing forth smaller vessels laden with those young men from far away lands and making their way towards the beaches. The beaches themselves were ablaze, the morning dawn choked by smoke as the air was filled by the drone of metal birds flying inland. They dared not venture closer inland, yet all they knew was that the piles of broken ships and torn bodies grew closer to shore.
And yet more of the humans kept going ashore, none stopping for their fallen. And this scene would go on for that entire day.

The shifting currents would uncover these broken relics from time to time, their rusted metal husks long overtaken by coral and plankton. Little inside was of value compared to the Spanish galleons or the Greek galleys, their former occupants long been consumed by the sea. Yet as the youngest mermaid uncovered the top hatch and peered inside, she noticed and picked up a framed portrait of a young woman and a man. Remarkably well kept after the years, the mermaid wondered what became of the woman and if she ever saw that man again.

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I decided to upload a new version of the Tanktober Day 21 with just a slight change and a bit of a story to go with it.
Can you spot the difference?

Original here:

Description
The mermaids take a break during their annual migration to explore the various shipwrecks along one of the busiest shipping lanes of the surface walkers. This time they come across an oddity, one of the many ungainly vessels that had foundered during a particularly violent occurrence here many tides ago.

Their elders spoke of the cacophony of thunder on the surface as the water ran red to a stream of broken bodies that were cast down to their depths. They sensed these men, many just barely grown out of their youth, had come from so far away. Few could swim, many were so laden their floundering bore little use as they were dragged down below. Far tragic were those too slow or weren't able to escape from being entombed inside these odd metal vessels, their canvas screens in shreds as they dropped like a stone.

Stranger still was how many there were, wave after wave of them plowing towards the beach instead of the usual ports and harbors, and still, they kept going amidst the balloons of explosions that had long scared off the fishes and kept the mermaids at bay. The number of broken equipment and bodies grew closer towards the beach, as the tides washed them closer to shore.

The elder mermaids mournfully recalled how they were unable to save but a dozen or so, too many far gone to be saved, and as this violent tumult was being repeated all along that coast the mermaids couldn't find a discreet place to bring the men safely to shore without exposing themselves. A brave few who had gone up to the surface to find an explanation for what was occurring spoke of a surreal scene: hundreds of metal ships that filled the horizon, spewing forth smaller vessels laden with those young men from far away lands and making their way towards the beaches. The beaches themselves were ablaze, the morning dawn choked by smoke as the air was filled by the drone of metal birds flying inland. They dared not venture closer inland, yet all they knew was that the piles of broken ships and torn bodies grew closer to shore.
And yet more of the humans kept going ashore, none stopping for their fallen. And this scene would go on for that entire day.

The shifting currents would uncover these broken relics from time to time, their rusted metal husks long overtaken by coral and plankton. Little inside was of value compared to the Spanish galleons or the Greek galleys, their former occupants long been consumed by the sea. Yet as the youngest mermaid uncovered the top hatch and peered inside, she noticed and picked up a framed portrait of a young woman and a man. Remarkably well kept after the years, the mermaid wondered what became of the woman and if she ever saw that man again.

=======

I decided to upload a new version of the Tanktober Day 21 with just a slight change and a bit of a story to go with it.
Can you spot the difference?

Original here: