"Please, Calypso. Don't try those berries," I said to her as she picked a red little fruit from the branches of a small hedge.

"It looks edible. Why isn't it?" she asked.

"The plants are tricking you."

"But we have so many plants at the palace. Are they tricking us?"

"No, they're just beautiful."

"Then why are these tricking us?"

"They were made to trick you," I said, exasperated. I made the mistake of trying to walk towards the bush but my injured foot argued against this. Calypso had, very roughly and painfully, managed to remove the arrow and put a piece of my clothing on the wound. Still, it hurt badly.

"Help me. We can get halfway there if we spend all day walking."

Calypso took my hand and lifted me up. Then, she took a large branch on the ground and put it under my shoulders. My injured foot was lifted off the ground.

Walking was painfully slow. My foot didn't seem to want to move at all which made walking with a pointy stick under my shoulder all the more painful. The uneven ground that alternated between wet mud and stick filled didn't help either.

A bow was strapped to my back, kept from falling off by a very bendable stick that wrapped around the top of one shoulder and the bottom around the other. It was a prized possession.

As we walked through nature, I came back to a revelation that had haunted me when I had first been exiled. Nature tried hiding the violence and wars that came, over a single resource, the sun with a lush greenery and unique brown. As much as I loved green, looking at the woods now didn't feel calming. More claustrophobic.

"How did it happen?"

I was shook out of my thoughts. "Hyas' death? Struck by a boar."

"I've heard that part but never the beginning," she said.

"It's not a story I like to tell."

Calypso looked empathetic. She hadn't been all that close to Hyas. He was always hanging outside the palace, hunting down dangerous animals while she was stuck inside, caring for the few plants Kronos hadn't decided to get rid of.

"Perhaps a joke then. Why did Kronos kill his father?"

I already knew that one but I nodded. The joke was as unhumorous as a joke could be but the Titans found his hilarious for some stupid reason.

"Because he wanted a snack."

That didn't help bring up my mood. Too much had happened for me to feel anything but sadness. Why did it have to be me who was the subject of this? Surely there was another perfectly ripe person out there who could fill in my role.

"Please, just stop," I said.

Calypso became quiet.

A sudden whoosh ran through the air. An arrow whizzed past my head. Instinctively, a bow was taken out from by back and it was now pulled back with an arrow. My arm already ached again, just from trying to pull back an arrow for a few seconds. Arms really seemed to go out of order real quick.

I scanned the area for the shooter. I would've had a better chance at naming all the monsters in the world than spotting the shooter. There were just too many places to hide. This spot where I was was possibly the worst place to ever have a shoot out with an enemy.

Remembering Hyas' words, I dove for cover behind the nearest tree only to accidentally charge the enemy who had been hiding behind the bush.

We rolled for a bit, the shooter punching me in the face, me retaliating with slick in the legs when the shooter finally managed to untangle herself and take out a long dagger.

The branch under my shoulder that I'd used to walk had disappeared somewhere, leaving me at the mercy of whoever this hunter was.

The hunter had auburn hair and looked fairly young, maybe twelve. A loose silver dress hung from her shoulders and was tied at the waist. Artemis.

"You. Boy!"

She ran towards me, full speed with her daggers prepared to gut me. I blocked her strike with Hyas' bow which sent enough power around to cause a tree to collapse. The roots were overturned.

The girl sliced at close range but I dodged the dagger that had been on a trajectory to cut through a vital limb in my arm.

"You think I was cute?"

"Not anymore!"

"Urgh!" the girl said and, in a rage, foolishly threw her right dagger at me. I ducked and the dagger flew right over my head, crunching a tree a few feet behind me.

"What's the right answer then? Yes?!" I said, trying to, as discreetly as possible, ready an arrow.

"There is no right answer! You're a male." The girl said. She let out another arrow but this one just grazed my chest.

"Stupid Hecate and her magic arrows!" She prepared another one to impale me and this time, it seemed like it was not one of Hecate's arrows.

What else could I do? Contemplate death? Alright I guess. I wondered if the Underworld had the ghosts of Golden Age humans. Kronos assured his people that, when the humans died, they went on as guardians. He hadn't really clarified what a guardian was but he did say that. So maybe I'd go along with life as a guardian too?

Then I spotted Calypso slowly creeping behind the shooter with an iron manacle. I returned my gaze to the enemy only to find that she was now pointing a ready-to-fire bow at me. Her eyes showed no regret.

She quickly turned around and took the chains Calypso had been holding.

"Good girl. You had the sense to sneak up on me rather than charge." She said.

She dropped the manacles and a burst of white light threw Calypso back a dozen feet. Calypso stopped moving.

In recklessness, I got up, ignoring the pain in my ankle and slammed into the hunter. She stumbled for a few feet and fell. Picking up the manacles, I forced her hands into the holes and tightened the item as close as possible. Artemis looked at me with sheer anger.

"Hecate!" She yelled, the noise moving through the forest.

"Shut up. Those bars are made of Titanium, the Titans trademark material."I said. I wasn't sure if that was true but Artemis stopped struggling.

What could I do now. Hecate was surely coming over now and I didn't think I could fight a goddess who could manipulate reality. But leaving Artemis here just meant she'd be freed by Hecate. Ah, I knew now.

"I want you to swear by the River Styx that you won't try to hurt me in these next years, directly or indirectly and that you'll vouch for my favor after the war."

Artemis looked at me with a strong sense of hate. A fire raged in her eyes. When I looked into them, I got dual vision, one of this current state and the other of men being tortured and burned to the stake.

Calypso was just now stirring. I mouthed the words Hecate and she nodded. I saw several wind servants heading up into the sky to halt Hecate. That at least would delay her arrival.

"Hecate has chosen not to come," I said.

"Lies. Nothing but rushed lies, boy," she replied.

Then I remembered Calypso. I brandished my sword and walked over to her. She was my sister but Artemis didn't know that.

Artemis turned her body to see what I was doing. I held my sword right up to Calypso's neck. Her eyes told me she understood what was happening.

"Don't you dare hurt your maiden companion!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Oh, I will and want to, Artemis," I said, "And if she dies, it'll be your fault for not agreeing to the terms."

"Boy! I will not be toyed with."

"Go ahead. Break free and watch a young maiden die."

Artemis was looking ready to burst into flames. Uncontrollable light was already filtering out of her body. And then, she muttered the words, "I swear by the river styx that I will follow your terms."

"Good."

I let go of the sword on Calypso's head and promptly fell to the ground on her lap.

Tired, I guess.