Chapter 1: The Banished Young Woman in a Phantom Island
Alone.
Alone in the night.
There was a young and beautiful woman standing tall on the beach, gazing at the horizon as waves splattered onto the white sands, and went back into the blue sea, returning as cycles repeated.
Her hair was long, straight, and golden brown like caramel that was braided over her one shoulder. Her face was milky pale, with dark almond-shaped eyes and pouty lips. She wore a sleeveless white dress with a gold braid belt around her hips. Her appearance was beguiling without the need for any make-up at all and her beauty was almost unmatched that men would be drowned onto their knees by sight, even the fairest of the goddesses would be envious of her stunning existence.
This was Calypso. The daughter of the Titan, Atlas.
And she was alone.
Alone on an island, Ogygia. A phantom island. An island that exists everywhere and nowhere.
A spectacular place, its terrain was mostly grass-covered hills with pristine beaches along the edges. Small yet large. A marvelous island, surrounded by the great ocean, sparkling everywhere by the moon and sun.
This was her home. She loved her home, and she would always cherish it in her heart.
But she was alone.
Alone.
No one around but her.
No people around to talk with but to herself.
No children to play with but only herself.
No man or woman to befriend with.
No one to fall for.
No one to be with.
Alone.
Forever be Alone.
This was her curse. This was her nightmare which was reality. This was her suffering. This was her sadness.
This was her punishment.
Punishment for the crimes she had committed. A crime for supporting her father, Atlas, and her people, the Titans who once ruled the world after Ouranos' demise until their sovereign leader and lord's descendants came into existence and toppled their empire down to the bottom of the pits, and took over what was "rightfully" theirs. The Gods of Olympus.
After the Great War, most of her people were hurled into Tartarus, some were in hiding, some were chained onto the stones, and some served in the new order of the Gods either voluntarily or by force of slavery. And her father was condemned to bear the weight of the heavenly sky itself on his own for all eternity.
As for her, instead of being trapped and chained with her fellow people in one of the darkest realms in existence, she was imprisoned here, in her home.
Exile from the world.
Isolated from the world.
Cursed her to never leave her home, where she could never go out, but only others such as the Gods, demigods, and even mortals and lower creatures alike could. Even if she had tried to sail away on a simple raft or perhaps used her divine abilities and magic to flee, she would always be forced to return to her home which was now nothing more but a prison for the prisoner.
She could never leave. Forever trapped. Forever alone.
Alone.
In the early years of her time being isolated from the world, she wept.
Wept that she could never see her sisters again.
Wept that she could never explore the world again.
Wept that she could never be free.
Wept that she would forever be alone.
Forever alone.
Alone.
At some time, some gods pitied the Immortal Titaness, and so they had sent several invisible servants for her. Even some of the gods themselves visited her from time to time.
And hundreds or even thousands of years or so, mortals, and demigods came to her island either by the will of the gods and fates or came in by utter luck.
Almost if not everyone she met had befriended her, and inevitably fell for her beauty and irradiated kindness as she also fell for them. But while the gods gave her this mercy, this love she had for them was also a curse
Another curse was given by the Olympian deities themselves. Curse to be fallen in love with anyone who approached her domain.
But even then if she had accepted this curse, they would never stay with her for long, no matter how many times she had pleaded with them not to, they rejected the immortal Titaness, and soon left her, either returning to their home, reuniting with their families like Odysseus with his wife and son on Ithaca or finding a new adventure ahead as heroes of legends.
Some of them had promised that they would return to her island and free her from the isolation, and some promised to return and stay with her until the end of their days.
Unfortunately for Calypso, those were nothing more but false promises. Nothing but empty words as they said it from their mouth:
"I myself promise to return to this island for you, o dear Calypso, and we shall be together for the rest of our lives."
Lies.
Nothing but lies.
And for that, it would always hurt her poor broken heart.
Hurt that they would never return for her.
Hurt that she could never see them again.
Hurt that they only gave her false and empty promises and lies.
Hurt that they would leave her alone.
Hurt that she would always be alone.
Alone.
All alone.
Forever alone.
Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, trickling down on her cheek. She huddled herself in an embrace and lay herself down on the white sands. Easing the pain within her heart.
She gazed up into the stars, dazzling in the darkest of the night as the moon glowed in beauty and glory.
She wished that she could have someone with her, gazing under the stars. She wished that there was someone who would never leave her alone, someone who would always hold her hand, someone who would hug her to give her comfort, someone who would always kiss her telling her how much she will forever be loved by them, someone who would never leave her alone.
A wish so selfish, yet she prayed for it every night for that to become reality.
But she knew that she could never have that someone. Fate deemed it so. Where she will always be left alone by others. An Unattainable wish.
Forever Alone.
Why are the Fates always so cruel?
Her eyes drifted as they began to close themselves, her consciousness drowning in the depths of slumber. She welcomed it with open arms. Even only momentarily, she needed to be away from all of it.
Away from the unending torment.
Away from reality.
Away from it all.
And at last, she had fallen deep into her slumber.
Alone.
Alone in the darkness.
Complete and utter darkness. No traces of light can be found. No stars. No moons.
No land can be seen or touched by her feet, and hands.
No ocean to see with her eyes, nor hear it with her ears as they splatter, and not wets of salt sea poured her milky skin.
Nothing but an empty void of darkness.
That was all that she could see and feel.
No sounds. Not even her own voice.
Nothing.
Where was she?
Why was she here?
How was she here?
How did she get here?
The air within this peculiar place filled with weight, almost hard to breathe as if the darkness itself was trying to strangle her very own immortal soul.
Nothing was around here except her, and the darkness, and yet every part of her body or perhaps her very divine soul itself ached as if being thorned by a thousand needles. Each second of remaining in this realm was making her worse. She felt her body frail on the spot.
It hurts.
Why does this place hurt?
Was she in the realm of Tartarus?
Is this it?
Have the Gods finally decided to end her misery? Have they finally decided to imprison her in the depths of Tartarus itself with her people?
Or perhaps was she in the domain where Nyx the Goddess of Night and darkness ruled?
Or was this the place where immortals resided when they faded from the world?
No… This was something else. Something outside of their jurisdiction. Something they never knew existed outside of their knowledge.
Something uncanny.
Something worse.
How long will she be here? Will this only be temporary?
Or maybe she was only in her own dreams?
Was this only her nightmare?
No…
This felt real.
It felt real.
Everything is real.
After almost feeling like an eternity, far away that her eyes could barely see, the Immortal Titaness saw what appears to be a young woman, her face covered in a veil. Her cloth almost looked like it was made out of shadows themselves.
The woman in shadow stood in front of her. At first glance, she appeared to be frail and yet had indescribable strength within her.
Was this her domain?
Was she the one who had sent her here?
Calypso thought that if she had met this woman in normal circumstances… she would have suffered in the worst possible ways just by standing this close to her existence.
Unfortunately, her assumption seems to be right. She felt her power looked beyond revolting, beyond terrifying, her aura was far evil that she couldn't possibly understand. This feeling she had was almost like she was a mortal, and the woman standing in front of her was an actual God or perhaps far more, and far worse than any deity she knew in her existence.
Her existence… was an abomination.
An abomination that could never and should never exist stood tall in this realm of shadow.
The realm that belonged to her.
The woman in shadow steadily approached the Titaness, and with each step closer to her, Calypso wanted nothing more but to vomit. The sensation of what she was smelling from her was so horrid it may even equal Tartarus itself or perhaps she would even dare to say even worse than it. She wanted to cry but her eyes were dried as if any liquid would evaporate in this realm. She wanted to scream but she could not speak as if her mouth didn't exist at all. She wanted to move, bringing forth any of her divine powers, and magic to retaliate, to escape, to be free from this horrid sensation but she could do nothing of those.
In this dark realm, she was nothing more but a mortal to this woman's eyes.
And her footstep was more akin to a countdown. A countdown to her possible demise? A countdown to losing all sanity within the Titaness?
Calypso's dried and reddish eyes then saw the young woman's mouth stir. It moved at a slow pace as if time here doesn't exist at all and she could speak faster or slower if she ever so desires. From the way, the Titaness was looking at the woman's mouth with her eyes trying to decipher as much as she could. It appeared that she only spoke two simple words.
.̶̢̢̪̖̠̱̱͔̮̠̞̞̒̐͋̀̀̍̋͛͆̓̅̕̕͝ḯ̷̪͋̀́͠m̶̢͍̱̖̘̱̥̞͈̃͆́̈̿̉̔̋͊͝h̴̟̾̀̓̕͠ ̵̭͚̝̘͂̎̎͋̾̉̓̽̔̂̾̚͝͝͝A̶̛͉̒̈́̂͛͛̽̌͗̈́̿̎̌̒͝s̶̨̢̗͕̩̺̙̻̲̖̱͙̄͌ė̶̖̈̎v̶̢̪̼͇͇̹͙̒́̄̇̽ͅͅ
Her eyes snapped wide open. A gentle warmth filled her skin as her hair breezed slightly in the air.
Morning.
The sun had already risen itself from the sea, giving light to her domain and the surroundings. Her eyes were struck by its brightness, rubbing them with the balls of her fist for a bit of comfort.
While she would have enjoyed watching the sunrise, she couldn't help but tremble.
Why was she trembling?
What had just happened?
What did she dream about?
She… couldn't remember at all.
Nothing. All except the fear she was feeling and those t̸̢̤̠̞̞̾̈̃͌͜͝w̵͎̮̥͎̤̎̆̓̅̔ͅo̴̧̼͌̄̀̾́͂̕ ̷̨̛͚͕̦̇̐̂̊̑w̶̥̘͓̠͝o̵̺͕͆͑r̵̝̰̞͍̾̐ͅd̶̜̹͉̹͇͛̎͌͂̋̾͘s̸̡͓͔̫͕͕̟̓̉̍͝.
.̶̢̢̪̖̠̱̱͔̮̠̞̞̒̐͋̀̀̍̋͛͆̓̅̕̕͝ḯ̷̪͋̀́͠m̶̢͍̱̖̘̱̥̞͈̃͆́̈̿̉̔̋͊͝h̴̟̾̀̓̕͠ ̵̭͚̝̘͂̎̎͋̾̉̓̽̔̂̾̚͝͝͝A̶̛͉̒̈́̂͛͛̽̌͗̈́̿̎̌̒͝s̶̨̢̗͕̩̺̙̻̲̖̱͙̄͌ė̶̖̈̎v̶̢̪̼͇͇̹͙̒́̄̇̽ͅͅ
Calypso winced as her head began to feel pain.
Was it… all just a dream? A nightmare perhaps? It was normal for someone who can't remember their dreams but this one seemed almost too real and yet she couldn't remember everything that happened.
The more she thought about it, the more shivered went down her spine. She took a deep breath and soon enough, she was finally calm.
As she was about to stand up, she felt another familiar warm feeling fill her right hand, it wasn't from the sun. A familiar rough also joined the warmness but it wasn't from the sand.
Could it be?
To know the answer, Calypso looked at the source of such warm feeling and her eyes widen in shock at what she was now seeing before her.
Alone she was no longer.
It was a young man.
A mortal young man.
There lies a young man, sleeping soundly beside the Titaness. He seemed to be in his teenage years, he had spiky jet black hair, with nasty yet kind eyes. His clothes were almost tattered as if he was in some dangerous situation not too long ago. He wore a green overcoat with a buttoned- half-sleeved shirt, dark pants with brown boots, and lastly an orange scarf around his neck. His left hand held her right hand hence the warmth she was feeling today.
Was he a traveler? Another hero?
Did the Gods send her another hero to befriend with? To be fallen with?… and to leave her again?…. Alone?
Or maybe… her wish was finally granted?! Would this person be the one for her? The one person who will never leave her? Who will forever stay by her side? Has her endless wish finally come to fruition?
Or was it going to be the same thing all over again?…
Perhaps he will leave her for someone else.
She will be alone again.
Alone.
She shook her head. No… Not now… Now was not the time to have such thoughts. That will have to come later. Right now, this young man needed her help, and she would gladly do so.
And so she did. Calypso then stood up from her ground as she grabbed the young man with her divine strength with little to no effort and also with great care, she carried him back into her cave.
Alone no longer.
Here you go, everyone! ANOTHER NEW STORY. This is supposed to be a one-shot but after thinking about it, I'll just make it chapters by chapter.
And as for the Golden Angel… yes. I suck at promises, it's still there and I still write it but slowly…. And I'm really sorry for that. I have lots of plans there but my mind gets fuzzy and I don't want to make it worse by forcing myself to write that.
I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter! When will the second chapter be? (heh… yeah, I wanna know too…. WriterPupil please give me your writing 20-50k strength)
I wanna hear your thoughts about this. Thanks again and take care! ^^