Let me tell you about the creatures my brain created while I was asleep, and how one specific moment in a dream made me feel things that changed everything.

The Rens weren’t planned. They weren’t researched. They just… showed up in my recurring dream, fully formed and refusing to be anything other than exactly what they were.

The Dream That Started Everything

For five years, I had the same dream over and over. And in that dream, there was a specific scene – the final trial.

A tentacle wrapped around an ankle.

That’s the moment that did it. That single image, that sensation in the dream, gave me all the feelings. The ooey-gooey, stomach-flipping, “oh no this is dangerous but also YES” feelings.

And somehow, my sleeping brain knew exactly what it was doing.

Because that tentacle wasn’t attached to some sea monster or villain. It belonged to Magnus. And in that moment in the dream, everything clicked into place about what the Rens would be.

Wait, Male Sirens?

Here’s the thing: I don’t know of any other male sirens in mythology or fiction.

Sirens are traditionally female. Always have been. The whole point of the original myths was women luring sailors to their deaths with their voices.

So when my dream presented me with male sirens, my brain apparently went: “Cool, but let’s make them completely different.”

Because the Rens aren’t just “sirens but male.”

They’re something else entirely.

The Twist: Half-Octopus, Not Half-Fish

In my dream, the Rens were half-octopus instead of half-fish.

I didn’t choose this consciously. I didn’t sit down and think “hmm, what if I based male sirens on kraken mythology instead of traditional mermen?”

It just came that way. Magnus had tentacles. Dark, powerful tentacles that moved through water with incredible speed and strength.

And honestly? It makes so much sense for what they needed to be.

Traditional mermen are:

• Graceful
• Fish-like
• Smooth
• Pretty similar to sirens, just male

The Rens are:

• Powerful
• Fast
• Dangerous
• Completely different from sirens

The tentacles aren’t just aesthetic. They’re functional. They make the Rens faster than sirens. More physically powerful. Different in ways that matter to the story and to the romantic dynamic.

They’re not a male version of the same thing. They’re partners – complementary, not identical.

How They Developed as I Wrote

After that initial dream, the Rens just… kept developing as I wrote.

I didn’t plan out every detail of what they could do or how they worked. I discovered it as the story unfolded.

What I knew from the dream:

• They had tentacles
• They were powerful and dangerous
• Magnus specifically had this intense, commanding presence
• That moment with the tentacle around the ankle was significant

What developed as I wrote:

• Their speed and strength as their primary abilities
• How they move through water differently than sirens
• The way they’re built for power where sirens are built for other things
• Their relationship to the ocean and to sirens historically

It’s like the dream gave me the foundation, and then writing the actual story filled in all the details.

Why Tentacles Hit Different

I’m not going to lie – the tentacles create a very specific vibe.

There’s something about tentacles in fantasy romance that feels more… visceral? More dangerous? More alien?

Fish tails are pretty. They’re elegant. They’re safe.

Tentacles are none of those things.

Tentacles suggest:

• Power and strength
• Something other, something not quite human
• The ability to grab, to hold, to restrain
• Movement that’s faster and less predictable
• Danger mixed with attraction

That moment in the dream – the tentacle wrapping around the ankle – worked because of all of that. It was protective and possessive and dangerous and intimate all at once.

And that’s exactly the energy the Rens needed to have.

Partners, Not Copies

One thing that became clear as I developed the Rens: they couldn’t just be “male sirens with the same powers.”

Sirens and Rens worked together historically. They kept the oceans healthy as partners. But they did it with different abilities, different strengths.

Sirens have: Various magical abilities that differ between individuals – some control water, some have visions, some have other powers. They’re magical and varied.

Rens have: Speed and strength. Physical power. They’re built differently, move differently, approach things differently.

They complement each other. One isn’t better than the other – they’re just different.

That felt important to me as I wrote. The romance between Kateri and Magnus isn’t about him being a male version of her. It’s about two different beings who fit together despite (and because of) their differences.

The Last Six Rens on Earth

In my world, there are only six Rens left. Six brothers who think they’re the last of their kind.

I didn’t plan this to make them more attractive to readers (though I’m sure it doesn’t hurt). It happened because of the story’s history – The Madness, the war between Sirens and Rens, the near-extinction of both species.

But it does create this interesting dynamic where these six incredibly powerful, dangerous males are also… alone. Possibly the last of their kind. Building a life in the human world because they think there’s no other option.

Until they meet the sirens who are also in hiding.

Magnus and His Brothers

Magnus is the oldest. The leader. The one with the devastating grin and the intense presence.

He’s the one from my dream – the tentacle, the final trial, all of it.

But he has five brothers, and as I wrote, each of them started developing their own personalities, their own presence. They’re not interchangeable hot guys with tentacles. They’re individuals.

Though I’ll admit, I haven’t spent nearly as much time with the other five as I have with Magnus. Book 1 is Kateri’s story, and Magnus is her mate. The other brothers will get their time in future books.

The Feelings That Demanded They Exist

Here’s what I keep coming back to: that moment in the dream gave me feelings that were so strong, I spent five years dreaming about it and then two more years writing it.

The tentacle around the ankle. The power and the danger and the attraction all mixed together. The sense of “this shouldn’t be happening but it absolutely is.”

Those feelings demanded that the Rens exist exactly as they are.

Not traditional mermen who are pretty and safe. Not just “male sirens” with the same abilities. But something dangerous and powerful and other – something that creates tension and heat and that specific mix of fear and attraction.

They had to be half-octopus. Because tentacles create a different vibe than tails.

They had to be fast and strong. Because they needed to be genuinely dangerous.

They had to be the last six. Because that isolation and that desperation matters to who they are.

They had to be partners to sirens, not copies. Because the romance works better when they’re complementary.

My subconscious knew all of this before I consciously understood any of it. The dream presented them fully formed, and then writing the story just confirmed that every instinct was right.

What Readers Will Discover

When readers meet the Rens in A Fog of Shadows, they’ll see:

The intimidation factor. Six powerful males who look dangerous because they are dangerous. Who have this presence that makes humans instinctively nervous even when they’re trying to seem approachable.

The physical difference. The way they move through water isn’t like sirens. It’s faster, more powerful, more aggressive.

The isolation. They think they’re alone. They’ve built lives in the human world, created a business, tried to bond with humans through Phobia. They’re making the best of what they think is their reality.

The mate bond potential. They can only have children with their fated mates. And they think all the sirens are dead.

Magnus specifically. His intensity, his command, his barely-contained power. The way he looks at Kateri from the very beginning like he knows something neither of them are ready to admit yet.

And yes, eventually, tentacles. Because that moment from my dream? It made it into the book. Exactly as it should.

They Demanded to Exist

I didn’t design the Rens through careful planning and research and world-building spreadsheets.

They showed up in my dream, gave me feelings, and insisted on being exactly what they were: half-octopus male sirens with speed and strength, the last six of their kind, powerful and dangerous and alone.

I just had to keep up with what they demanded to be.

And honestly? I think they’re better for it. Because they feel real to me – not constructed, but discovered. Like they existed all along and I just had to dream about them to find them.

The twist isn’t just that they’re half-octopus instead of half-fish.

The twist is that they showed up in my subconscious fully formed, demanded I pay attention to how they made me feel, and refused to be anything other than exactly what they are.

Thanks, dream-brain. You did good.