Warning! This chapter is 8k words and is entirely set in Ogygia and Calypso's POV. Prepare for some corniness, lol.
This chapter was edited by Gladiusx.
The island of Ogygia was a haven of isolation, a timeless realm suspended amidst the azure embrace of the Sea of Monsters. On this particular day, a young woman with caramel-colored hair worked in an expansive garden. She kneeled by an empty flower bed with a small shovel, a bag of seeds, and a clay pot. The beautiful maiden hummed musically as she worked on her garden, planting a new clump of thyme to replace the wilting lavender before raising her voice into a melody.
Thyme whispers secrets to the endless sea,
Time dances slowly but never captures me.
Petals unfold, a tale woven in rhyme,
In this ageless haven, lost in the endless time.
Calypso smiled as the herb quickly took hold in the fertile soil, petals flowering before her eyes, and the surrounding plants blooming more while birds of paradise chirped with her melody.
The minutes, the hours, like petals in the breeze,
I sing to the flowers, a timeless tease.
A dance with forever, on this tranquil shore,
Where ageless echoes linger, forevermore.
The immortal maiden sighed deeply; her smile turned wistful and then bittersweet. Shaking her head, Calypso stood and stretched, her hands folding over her head as she bent her body backward, causing her prodigious bust to strain her simple white chiton to its limits. Calypso moaned in pleasure once she felt her back pop. Subsequently, her dress ripped, and she was as bare as the day she was born.
"… Again?" The Queen of Ogygia sighed in exasperation as she stripped off the remains of her garment and wandered about her island.
Her body had been aging rapidly lately. Usually, her ageless features would give her a body fit to be on a sixteen-year-old's, but it had grown since she met Perseus. This was the third time it happened, coinciding with the number of would-be lovers she nearly had. Her body had also filled out to what she saw was the perfect nubile form. A form ready for childbearing and marriage life, something Calypso was beginning to think would be forever outside her grasp.
Still, this was the fourth time the immortal maiden had fashioned herself a dress in the past… she wasn't sure.
Was it a week? Or a year? It didn't matter, for today had started well for the daughter of Atlas. She woke up in a good mood, the sun rising with its customary golden brilliance, casting a warm glow across the pristine shores and igniting the crystal-clear waters that surrounded the island. The same sun shone every day in her eternal solitude, but it felt brighter today.
Calypso began her day by checking on her precious flowers and gardens. The flora of Ogygia presented a kaleidoscope of colors, a testament to her home's mystical nature. Tall palm trees with fronds that rustled in the gentle sea breeze stood sentinel along the sandy beaches. Their trunks, as old as time, were adorned with intricate patterns that told tales of ages past. Further inland, an expanse of cedar flourished, with a menagerie of animals to call it home. Flowering vines adorned the trees, their blossoms releasing a fragrance that enveloped the air, carrying hints of sweetness and melancholy. Calypso had grown accustomed to the vibrant hues, finding solace in their perpetual beauty.
As the Queen of Ogygia strolled through the verdant landscape, the breathtaking diversity of plant life in her home never ceased to amaze her, despite the endless time she had lived on her island. Exotic flowers with petals that seemed to shimmer in every conceivable color dotted the meadows. Their aroma was an ever-present companion, and the immortal maiden occasionally paused to inhale deeply, the fragrance filling her senses with tranquility, somehow lessening the weight of her eternal solitude.
The fauna mirrored the enchanting beauty of the flora. Playful deer, rowdy horses and lazy cattle frolicked in the meadows and woods of the island, with lions and other predators calling the caves and hills their homes. Then, there were the collection of magical beasts from her time and when the pantheons were still being created. Exotic birds with plumage in myriad colors flitted among the trees, their melodic chirps forming a pleasant symphony that echoed through the island. Calypso often found herself losing track of time as she listened to their ethereal sounds, their tunes becoming the story to her timeless existence and an inspiration to the countless poems and songs she played.
As she strolled through her domain, Calypso arrived at the beaches of Ogygia, which were a picturesque expanse of white sand that sparkled like crushed pearls. The gentle lapping of the waves against the shore was a rhythmic lullaby, a constant reminder of the island's isolation from the troubles of the outside world. She walked along the water's edge, her bare feet leaving imprints in the sand that would be erased by the tide. Occasionally, a curious creature with scales that shimmered like precious gems would emerge from the depths of the surrounding water, briefly gracing the shores before disappearing into the azure depths.
She hummed a catchy tone as she enjoyed the feeling of the sands on her bare feet and removed the ribbon holding her long braid, allowing her hair to flow freely. The Titaness walked deeper into the waves and dipped into the azure waters.
One of the greatest benefits of her solitude was going naked any time of the day without worrying about modesty. It was not like Calypso cared about such matters anyway, her previous would-be lover being a prude. Francis Drake might have been a cruel rogue, but when confronted with her beauty, he turned into a stuttering mess and insisted on leaving her island even more than Odysseus. No matter, both of them were in Hades while she still existed, eternally…in solitude.
Calypso shook her head and gazed into the depths of the sea. The water around Ogygia was always as clear as the finest crystal, with abundant fish and other marine life, not to mention the not-so-mundane creatures that have found their way to her home. Calypso opened her mouth and took a deep gulp, enjoying the clean taste of the crystalline liquid as well as the exquisite sensation of breathing underwater. Having the goddess of water as a mother had given her certain abilities not so dissimilar to her latest guest. Thinking of her mother had her smile whimsically to the time she was raised alongside her younger sisters… oh, and Hera, of course. Must not forget about feisty little Hera, who was such a tomboy but ended up rising higher than any of them.
As the eldest daughter of Tethys, born before she married Oceanus, Calypso wanted to imagine she was her mother's favorite. Oceanus was kind enough to accept her in his halls, yet she always favored Atlas, who loved her greatly, as she was also his firstborn. When the gods escaped the Titan King's stomach, Rhea managed to establish an unstable peace and sent Hera to be raised by Oceanus and Tethys as a sign of goodwill. Call It what may, but all knew Hera was a hostage in all but name. Yet, they both made the best out of the situation, especially when her mother started having so many younger siblings for them to spoil.
How many were they now? Last Calypso heard, it was somewhere around ten thousand. However, her mother had not visited her in a while, and the immortal maiden feared that she was slowly being forgotten by the people she cared for.
The Queen of Ogygia sighed sadly before surfacing back to the island, the water dripping down her sun-kissed skin to her bountiful curves and wide hips. Calypso sighed again as she realized she would have to work her loom for a new dress. Within a few minutes, she was back in her dwelling in the heart of the island, a marble structure with intricate mosaics and tapestries built near one of the many lakes in her domain.
Silently, she worked her loom with rolls of wool she gathered from the sheep of the island and other fabric that was delivered to her through her servants, courtesy of the God Queen. The routine action allowed Calypso's thoughts to wander over whom she had done her best not to think about.
Perseus Jackson… how the Fates were cruel to send her yet again a man she could not help but fall in love with. Just as it was with Odysseus and Drake, none stayed long on her Island, although she did hear a queer tale from Francis that Odysseus stayed ten years on her island. Mortals have such terrible memories; then again, none had asked her about her island or how it worked.
She smiled in bemusement, time flowed in strange ways on her island. It was outside the domain of Kronos, her father's king, and in her long years of studying magic, Calypso could only discover that the Fates had something to do with it. She recognized the primeval power of Time at work and even suspected the hand of Chronos, the personification of Time itself, at play here. Why the Fates would collude with such higher powers just to imprison her here had always mystified her. The Olympians might have confined her to her birth island, but it was the Fates who turned it into a prison, for what reason she had yet to learn.
It did not stop her from formulating plans upon plans of escape while making sure her island remained intact. Runes and large spell matrices had been carved into the island and even the depth of the sea in her spare time, waiting for her to attempt a certain grand ritual she had developed over the millennia. Unfortunately, even if she succeeded and released the confinement spell placed on Ogygia, if outside forces still wished to imprison her, there was nothing she could do. Even at her full strength, she was nothing to the lowliest Olympian, let alone the Fates.
Calypso shook her head inwardly – it was no use fantasizing over what could be or, worse, drowning in the pit of despair as she worried about the consequences of freedom. Time was always on her side, and hopefully, an opportunity could present itself in the future.
Thinking back, Odysseus only stayed for a month, while Francis only lingered for a week. Percy barely remained for three days, and if the current trajectory continued, her next visitor might not even choose to stay at all.
Yet, her thoughts returned to Percy and how his quest had gone. He was the youngest of her visitors, and unlike them, his reason for leaving was far more duteous. A quest to save his people and aid his friends sounded much more impressive than two older men, tired of their adventures, who would spurn the chance to be her consort for some mortal woman.
A loud crack broke her musings, causing Calypso to blink. She had unconsciously gripped her warp threads too harshly and lost control of the colossal strength inherited from her father. Sighing, the Queen of Ogygia replaced the damaged parts before continuing her work.
Her latest visitor, however, gave her an entirely different feeling than the others. Perseus was truly reluctant to leave her and vowed to always remember, even declaring that he would visit her again one way or another. Just remembering that caused a bright smile to bloom on her face, and if she wasn't already in love with the hero, she would have fallen for him twice over.
Percy was young, too young to have a wife. Calypso knew that mortal customs had changed during her imprisonment, and she wasn't sure if men still waited until the age of thirty to marry. Nevertheless, as far as she knew, Percy had no woman to return to and no kingdom of his own. Just his mother and his friends from camp, which made things simpler, for he could become her king consort in Ogygia, and she would gladly welcome his friends and family to live alongside them!
Calypso did not know when he would visit her, and maybe even free her, but she had waited thousands of years and could wait a few more. The issue was the how. She, more than anyone, knew the intricacies of the protections surrounding her island. It was not difficult to enter or leave, as her divine guests had proven, but for her to leave would be a major challenge if she desired to keep her divinity. That was if she could break the shackles of fate keeping her in the first place.
The mere thought of Percy sailing in to swoop her off her feet made her feel giddy before she sighed in sadness. Her prison was absolute, her divinity was bound to her island, and even if the Fates allowed someone to release her, she would be a mortal. A powerful mortal in both strength and magic, but a mortal nonetheless, and she refused to relinquish her powers or her precious island. It might have been her prison, but it was also her home, where she was born and spent the majority of her life.
Calypso believed in Percy and that he would keep his promise to the best of his ability, yet she simply could not find a way for him to free her without major support from Olympus.
The flying shuttle stopped as she finished her new garment. The fair maiden had decided on a simple blue sleeveless dress that flowed down to her knees, with hip cuts, an open back, a low neckline that allowed her cleavage to breathe easily, and a diamond cut over her navel. She liked feeling the warm wind and the sun on her skin but had not meant to color it blue. Apparently, having Percy on her mind had affected her more than she thought.
Dressing in her new attire, Calypso packed away the dye and other tools before leaving her marble dwelling and gazed at the late afternoon sun. The three hills of the island each housed a place for herself; one was the marble house she just left, another was the cave where she housed Percy, and the last was a simple hunting cabin for when she wanted to scratch her hunting itch.
Sadly, being stuck on this island for millennia, with easy access to food and drink, had made her lazy and she had not touched a bow in a long time. Looking over her body, she noticed her flat stomach and thin arms, and the former warrior grimaced at her state; while Calypso knew she was beautiful and shall forever remain so, she had neglected training the mortal aspect of her body. Her previously toned stomach and corded arms and back were gone, replaced by the gorgeous yet frailer appearance she now sported.
She looked like a damsel instead of the Titaness that she was!
The Queen of Ogygia sighed and walked back towards the shore, where a round table was set by her servants with two comfortable chairs. It had been a long time since she received an immortal guest, and she did not count Hephaestus for he visited Percy, not herself. Every evening Calypso would have dinner here as she stared at the setting sun, her gaze following it to the sea, hoping, praying, that she would get another visitor, no matter how bittersweet it would end.
It was also then that she envied the gods, who could visit whenever they wanted. Granted, they must gain permission from the Fates, but they were usually accommodating. None of them, however, dared to even court her, let alone save her. None would dare go against the Fates and their whims, lest they risk their ire. If there was one thing she learned about her stay here, it was understanding how precious mortality was.
Her servants placed a sumptuous meal of buttered bread, cheese, roasted venison, a salad bowl, and a glass of fruit wine harvested from the many exotic trees on her Island. While Calypso enjoyed gardening and taking care of her flowers, it would have been beyond tedious if she had to do all the harvesting and cooking. While she enjoyed the womanly arts, in the hope for a future when she would find her love and bore him as many children as her mother, the Queen of Ogygia greatly appreciated the excellent work done by her subjects.
She smiled warmly at her servants, who went euphoric at her kindness and shook in excitement. The poor things were heavily persecuted due to being children of Nyx who had abandoned them for not being dark enough, and loving the sunlight. Ugh, that woman might be scarily powerful, but she had always been madder than a Maenad who had abstained from drinking for more than an hour.
Some people called them demons or fiends, and while they were Chthonic spirits, they were anything but. Those people never understood her servants, believing that they turn invisible due to mischief rather than shyness. Once they moved here, however, Calypso had insisted they settle on a name for themselves, and after much coaxing and patience, they obliged. Solarians; It was fitting for the immortal children of Nyx who abhor the darkness and adore the light, and even more ironic considering their sister Hemera was the one to watch over them before she retreated from the world.
Regardless, the Solarians had the ability to turn invisible along with other powers in the school of illusions, and Hera was kind enough to give them a home here when they were being hunted in ancient times. Yet, even after thousands of years, they were still jumpy around strangers and remained invisible to all but her. She would not forgive the god of forges when he so crudely shouted at them over a simple mistake. None of them, not even her, had ever used that strange container with the black liquid. Bepsi, she thought it was called?
Even if he was Hera's boy, that did not excuse such horrid table manners.
Either way, they were surprisingly cordial with Percy, which again made her morose. The immortal maiden sighed as she looked at the horizon, her meal finished and her servants cleaning the table. She would not lose hope, she had to believe in her hero… and yet–
Calypso jerked her head to the sandy beach as she felt a rip in the surrounding space, before she narrowed her eyes at her unannounced guests. Two people walked out of the magical portal, the first one was a beautiful woman clad in a dark dress with two lit torches held by a belt on her hip yet did not burn her. She had skin as pale as chalk, green eyes the color of the flames coming from her torches and hair darker than the night. The other person was a tall man with dark hair wrapped in a ponytail and a scarred face. The first visitor was easy to identify, as she had spent a lot of time practicing magic with, and against, her in their youth. The man, however, she had not seen in a long time.
"Hecate. Uncle. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
.
.
.
"It is so good to see you again, Calypso. How long has it been?" Prometheus gave her that annoying self-satisfied smile of his, like he knew something she won't learn until it's too late. She supposed it came with the territory of being the Titan of forethought.
"Not long enough, it would seem. Last I heard you were tied to a rock and getting your liver pecked by a flock of vultures" Calypso added a dollop of honey to her tea, the leaves she grew herself with the help of her servants. She would thank dear Hera for her gift, the queen of the gods had been a loyal friend since their misadventures in Oceanus' court.
"Oh, that was a long time ago. Thankfully, a demigod released me from captivity." The daughter of Tethys smirked inwardly as the Titan grimaced at the memory of his imprisonment. "I'm sure you heard of him, Heracles?"
"Doesn't ring a bell. Was it really that long ago? I'm afraid time runs differently on my island." She took a sip of her sweet tea, and thought about that name. She might have heard of Heracles, but he must have come after her time. Hera's gift… must be some minor demigod if Hera never mentioned him. Speaking of, it had been a while since she visited.
"Oh my dear Calypso, your uncle has been free for over three thousand years." Hecate took a generous quaff from her nectar as she stared bemusedly at the Titan.
"Has he?" The Queen of Ogygia honestly couldn't care less, she had lost track of time since her imprisonment, it could have been a hundred years or a hundred thousand. Her only method of measuring time was when the gods visited or the Fates sent her a mortal guest. Her uncle never visited her before, so why should she care? "I guess your neutrality in the war helped in granting you amnesty from the king of the gods. What was it that you were imprisoned for again?"
"Ah, well, as you know my dear, the Crooked One was not pleased when I fashioned humans out of clay but–"
"Bullshit." Calypso declared with a frown. She did not exactly understand the term, but she had heard Percy mention it once. The thought of her hero immediately caused her to feel melancholic.
"I beg your pardon?" The Titan's jaw dropped, flabbergasted, while Hecate guffawed as she spilled some of her drink on her dress.
"I might have been trapped here for who knows how long, but my memory has yet to fail me. Humans have existed since the time of Ouranos, or have you forgotten about our eastern neighbors?" She looked strangely at the laughing goddess and the disturbed Titan. "I did hear that the passage of civilizations has altered some of the gods' personalities. Surely, that would not affect you now, would it?"
"… I assure you that I am in my full mental capacities." Prometheus sounded annoyed, and Calypso decided she had enough fun poking his ego. "I, of course, did not forget about our Phoenician and Mesopotamian neighbors, nor even our more southern neighbors with their precious river. While they did have their humans, I was the one who fashioned the first Greek." The tall titan spread his arms as his smug smile returned.
"But not the first hero." Hecate piped up on the side, looking entirely too amused at the Titan. "Wasn't Cadmus a clear-sighted mortal from Phoenicia? A prince of Tyre, to be more exact, yet nearly all demigod lineages are traced from him. You wouldn't know who I'm talking about, dear. This was a little after your time." The goddess of crossroads gave her a sardonic grin that really tested Calypso's patience.
"The god-king, however, did not care about that, for he benefited greatly from humans." Her uncle continued as if he didn't hear Hecate. "He was more wroth when I taught them the secrets of Greek Fire. Something that could harm even a god." Unsaid was how Prometheus was released for a much worse crime than hers, which greatly irked her.
"Thankfully, the demigods monopolized the Fire; otherwise, our neighboring pantheons would have similarly taught their subjects their fancy magicks that would have rendered the earth into an eternal battleground." Hecate glared at the Titan of Forethought, and Calypso enjoyed seeing him grimace at his lack of foresight on the matter before he entered into a debate with his fellow Titaness.
The daughter of Atlas had a strange relationship with the goddess of magic. They both respected each other's prowess in the mystical arts, yet Calypso would never call her a friend. Primarily due to her nasty personality, but also because Hecate's powers had grown by leaps and bounds compared to Calypso. She blamed her confinement in Ogygia which severely restricted her talent, as well as the fact her divinity was bound to the island, while the goddess of magic had time aplenty to increase her power.
However, power did not translate to skill, and one must not forget that while Ogygia was her prison, Calypso was its absolute ruler. None but the Fates could question her authority here, not even Zeus.
"This has been a pleasant conversation so far, but to what do I owe the honor of having such esteemed guests?"
Prometheus looked peeved at the interruption, and that she did not care about his feats or history, yet he simply shrugged as he adopted that same smug smile. "Well, now that we are done with the pleasantries, I suppose I can get to the point. I have foreseen very interesting times ahead of you, my dear niece."
Calypso's eye twitched at the familiarity. Prometheus had never acted as an uncle to her, and had never seen her or the other daughters of Atlas as nothing more than a curiosity. "Have you now? Yet, I recall you are the Titan of forethought, not foresight."
"True, I have not the talent to divine the future, unlike the Fates or that whelp of a sun god who relies all too heavily on the primordial powers of Destiny." They all knew who he was talking about, and a shiver went down her spine considering her plan. "My method is a lot more nuanced and crafty. So far, it has proven to be more accurate than not. After all, I did manage to convince your mother not to side with the Titan King in the previous war. I'm sure she had a hand in convincing your stepfather, Oceanus, to be neutral as well."
The titan of crafty counsel looked at her expectantly, yet she maintained a bored expression. No doubt he wanted her to ask him how his divining ability worked, yet Calypso did not feel like entertaining him. She was bored, true, but not to the degree to fall for the simplest tricks like some lackwit!
"And you, Hecate? Have you come to gloat over one of your children supposedly having more talent than I? Who was the last one again, Sorsei?" With a raised eyebrow, the immortal sorceress turned to the goddess of magic, ignoring her uncle's morose look at being ignored. He would get over it, she was sure.
"It's Circe, and you should know about her. She gained immortality and even hosted Odysseus once." Hecate retorted smugly, and Calypso was starting to get annoyed at the pair of smug pricks in front of her.
"Ah yes, her. My latest guest had told me how he endured her hospitality before repaying her in kind. Have you not taught your daughter the risks of breaking the rites of hospitality? Acting like such a savage." Calypso tutted, enjoying the dark look appearing on Hecate's face. "Not to mention being such a man-hater because she was spurned once? She's losing a lot by keeping to maidens alone." Calypso licked her lips as she leered at her rival. "I understand the appeal, of course."
Truth be told, she wasn't as much of a deviant as she made herself to be. A few dalliances when she was young and adventurous did not necessarily mean that she would forsake the company of men over women. That no man dared court the daughter of Atlas in fear of her father was a shame, for she had never truly known a man's touch. Still, that only made her desire love more than anything.
Not to mention, the look on Hecate's face was so precious. A combination of distaste and acknowledgment of Circe's habits. That this conversation caused her uncle to shift awkwardly in his seat was a bonus.
"Ah, your latest failure, Perseus Jackson. How pitiful to not be able to seduce a fifteen-year-old boy. You insult my daughter, yet you have failed to produce any results over countless eons."
Both women glared daggers at each other before nodding in understanding. Insults were exchanged, and there was no need to take it to extremes.
"Regardless, I am interested in why the goddess of magic deigned to visit little old me." While she appreciated any visitors, some were poorer company than others.
Hecate drained the last of her Nectar before looking at her strangely. "I am also the goddess of crossroads, and while my divining powers are lackluster in comparison to others," she gave a conspicuous glance at the silent Titan whose smug smile returned with a vengeance. "That still gives me a strong intuition when someone is about to make an important decision that could affect our world."
Calypso narrowed her eyes at her former rival. "What manner of choice could I possibly make that would be so world-changing?"
"I have no idea." The goddess of crossroads shrugged. "I do know that it might affect me as well, which is why I'm here to observe you. The fact that this guy, of all people, chose to visit at the same time certainly piqued my interest."
Both women turned to the Titan questioningly. Prometheus maintained his smile long enough for Hecate's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance before he spoke. "I see no reason to divulge what I predicted since neither of you seem that interested in how I did it."
Calypso gawked at the sheer pettiness of her uncle and clenched her jaw. "Well, if you have nothing to say, then you might as well leave."
The word was almost hissed, and the power of it compelled the Titan to immediately stand with visible sweat on his brows. Hecate remained in her seat, yet her face looked a little strained. Calypso stared at the scarred face of her uncle, waiting for him to either leave by himself or she would forcefully banish him.
"You are no fun, oh niece of mine." Prometheus finally sighed before withdrawing an ivory box from behind his back. The Queen of Ogygia rolled her eyes at the sleight of hand – summoning things from a personal space was the most basic of spells that was taught to practitioners of magic.
The Titan of forethought placed the box on the table before giving them a slight bow. "This was something I received from your dearest friend, and she requested that I gift it to you. Unlike you two, she greatly appreciated my insight over the past few weeks."
Upon understanding whom her uncle was speaking of, Calypso hastily grabbed the box and opened it, revealing a golden apple with a long swirling stem. An apple of immortality from her sisters' gardens, though she wondered what she would ever need of it.
"Do what you will with it, although I am sure you could do much more with it than simply eating it." A rip through space formed on the beach, and Prometheus stepped through it, glancing at her one last time, and for once, his face softened to something akin to kindness. "Do not be afraid of the consequences, Calypso. Make your decision and live with it, or you may languish in eternal regret." The rip closed with that ominous warning, and the Titan was gone.
"Well, that was dramatic." Hecate also stood and, for once, gave her a genuine smile. "Whatever that decision of yours, I wish you the best. Who knows? You might be free soon and join us witches in our congregations."
"Even if I do, I would probably usurp your position as queen of magic." Calypso grinned toothily at her rival, causing her to giggle.
"You can try. I welcome all challenges. Alas, I can feel the Fates frowning at me, and I believe I have overstayed my welcome." Another rip in space appeared, and Hecate stepped backward into it. "Adieu, Calypso. May we meet again in better circumstances."
The rip closed, and Calypso was alone again. She sighed deeply and took the box containing the apple from Hera's garden. Not just any apple, but a fruitful one. Her dear friend spoils her too much.
The sun had long set, and the sky was lit by the bright moon and the plethora of stars. Calypso noticed the new constellation that Percy pointed out was her sister, placed there by Selene's successor. The loss of a sibling felt heavy, even one she never knew. Would her father also strike Calypso down should she stand in his way?
Shaking her head, she bid farewell to her servants as they cleaned the table and walked to a certain clearing on her island. It was empty with no trees or bushes for some distance, more of a meadow and close to a natural spring emptying into a lake, yet over the most fertile ground of her island. On one side was a cliff that overlooked the expanse of the sea that surrounded her island, while on the other was a forest of oak, cedar, and other trees that would normally never grow close in the wild.
She had planned to plant a new grove of orchards here, but had not yet gotten around to it. For once, procrastinating gave dividends, as Calypso grabbed a shovel from a helpful servant and dug a hole deep enough. The golden apple was planted, and she nodded warmly at the Solarian who had just brought over her harp.
Her fingers flowed over the strings, and the tune echoed in the night.
The way her magic worked differed depending on the situation. Healing and nurturing required her voice. Yet words were not as powerful as singing, or humming. Anything musical worked for what she desired, and unlike Charmspeak by that distasteful goddess, Calypso's magic worked on all things, not just sentient beings. Normally, she would sing a hymn for a few heartbeats so the roots would take hold.
Yet, now, Calypso found herself wanting more.
Infusing as much power and magic into her voice as her body could hold, the Queen of Ogygia plucked her harp and sang her heart out.
Underneath the moon's soft, enchanting glow,
I plant a fruit where mystic currents flow.
With whispered verses, secrets I bestow,
Igniting life as Hera's bounty grows.
The moon shone brighter as she invoked its presence. Calypso hoped Selene was still out there, looking down at her with an assured smile. If not, then perhaps that new goddess of the moon was in a good mood, as she could feel the power flowing through her and into the earth, causing the apple to melt into the dug pit and turn into roots. Invoking her dear friend's name caused the roots to grow further, controlled by her will as she directed it on where to go for a source of water and nutrients. Calypso smiled despite the heavy weariness that crept through her flesh and stubbornly continued plucking her harp into a rising crescendo.
In rhythmic cadence, a spell takes flight,
A melody that weaves through leaves and night.
Each note, a charm, a dance of pure delight,
As life stirs in the soil, beyond our sight.
The roots found the spring and drank greedily from it, causing relief for Calypso. No longer using her magic as the sole source of fuel, the roots stopped growing downwards and turned upwards. A sapling burst from the soil, and from it, silvery gray vines coiled around each other, forming the basis of a tree trunk.
Behold, dear sapling, rise both strong and tall,
A testament to magic's sweetest thrall.
May roots entwine with tales of ancient lore,
And branches reach where dreams forever soar.
Infusing more power into her voice, Calypso could feel her throat itch as she coaxed the sapling to turn into a tree and watched it grow tall and strong. Growing a divine tree like the Golden Apples of Immortality was tiring work, and she reckoned she could have raised a forest of mundane trees from nothing with the power she spent so far.
So grow, young one, beneath the moonlit sea,
A symphony of life, enchanted, free.
Calypso smiled in exhaustion as she beheld the fruits of her labor. The tree had grown from a mere sapling to a massive thing over a hundred feet tall, with dozens of branches and a trunk wide enough for five men to reach around it. It was dormant at the moment, with no fruits on its branches, but small leaves of bronze were already forming. The immortal sorceress knew that it was still a juvenile. Even with her magic, she could not force it into adulthood.
Despite its size, it was still far from reaching maturity, which would take time.
And time she had aplenty.
Standing up from the kneeling position she took, Calypso stretched lightly, careful not to rip her dress again before sending a murmur of gratitude to Hera. Grabbing her harp, she walked towards the cliff and sat on the ledge as she gazed down on the starry sky reflected through the azure waters.
Her uncle's words were still fresh in her mind, but she scoffed.
Calypso was well aware that she was nobody of importance, and her decisions were all meaningless. Were Prometheus and Hecate just mocking her?
While the Goddess of Magic was petty and loved to gloat, Prometheus never did anything without a reason. Calypso was tempted to use her magic to divine the past, to gleam into the titan's thoughts before his arrival. Yet the idea was discarded as soon as it appeared – using it on a divine being would drain her to death, even if her skills in divination were barely fledgling.
Calypso had never died before, and she was unsure if she would reform here on her island where her divinity was bound or if she would fade away and her island would be free. The thought of death brought her no relish…
Her mind drifted aimlessly as the night dwindled. The view was still magnificent despite seeing it countless times. Ogygia might be her prison, but it was also her home. Even if she could leave, Calypso did not doubt that she would oft return.
If only, if only she was not so alone.
A ray of sunlight heralded the dawn, breaking Calypso from her brooding – she had stayed out long enough for Eos to arrive. Or did her cousin lose her job to that troublemaker she heard so much about, Apollo? Regardless, Calypso's thoughts turned morose again as she watched the sun begin to rise. Ah, if only Perseus had stayed.
She knew the young hero was too duteous, too valiant to stay, but loneliness turned into longing.
For some reason, she felt like singing again. Even after the ordeal of growing that tree, she had recovered enough, and the immortal sorceress plucked her harp again.
In the quiet of Ogygia's shore,
Where waves kiss sands forevermore,
A harp resounds, its plaintive strain,
A tale of love, an endless chain.
Beneath the stars, she weaves her plea,
A song that lingers on the sea,
Each note a cry, a siren's call,
For the hero who'd break her thrall.
Through strings that echo, sorrows flow,
A melody of ebb and woe,
In twilight's hues, her voice takes flight,
A prayer wrapped in the fading light.
Lonely queen, her heart's refrain,
Sings for a king that might regain,
The echoes of a distant quest,
In harp's lament, her soul confess'd.
The sun rose as she finished her song, and Calypso felt a stray tear flow down her cheek. Yet another day had arrived, bound by the chains of solitude. Even her servants rarely speak, and she would not force them to converse with her when they preferred the solitude more than her. The Queen of Ogygia closed her eyes in dismay and left her cliff. A stroll tended to uplift her mood.
As she walked through the many paths she created along her island, Calypso enjoyed the songbirds heralding the new day with their melodic chirping, causing her spirits to rise. She idly plucked her harp as she walked and hummed along with the feathery singers. Soon, the immortal sorceress walked into a meadow where sheep and cattle grazed and a herd of horses frolicked by a stream. A nearby shed where her servants worked on grooming the horses, milking the cows, and shearing the sheep was occupied. Calypso waved merrily as she saw a pair of shears waving back, their user busy holding one of the massive sheep of the island in place. She had forgotten how large they grew.
On, the Queen of Ogygia went as she strolled past forests and meadows, orchards and fields, a watermill and a windmill, until finally, she reached the opposite end of the island, the sun shining brightly in the sky. Her harp was given to a servant to be placed in her cave, her chosen dwelling for the day. Standing on the white sands of the beach, Calypso gazed at the horizon, wondering if she should have breakfast or take a nap when a peculiar sight appeared.
The ever-present mist that blocked her from leaving her island had always been placid and calm, no matter the time of day. It never rained on Ogygia, nor was the island ever in need of water. The island was where Tethys gave birth to her firstborn and had thus been blessed by the goddess of fresh water to be an eternal fountain, with the cleanest water gushing from underground.
Calypso still had the power to invoke rain and storms through her magic. Yet, even in her darkest moods, where she lashed out with her might and magic in a vain attempt to break out from her prison, the mist never so much as budged.
Now, though, it looked different. It swirled in place as if it were agitated. For a whimsical moment, Calypso wondered if something was trying to break in, and she would need to defend herself. The thought brought a smile to her face, she had not gotten in a fight since her imprisonment, and clearing the rust off her skills sounded thrilling. Flexing her shoulders, the Queen of Ogygia prepared to defend her kingdom from any invad–
A ship broke through the mist, causing her eyes to widen and her jaw to drop. It was a strange design, although she was never knowledgeable on ships. The first thing she noticed about it was the figurehead. It was Amphitrite, her younger sister, who had also risen high to become queen of the seas. Calypso's eyes roamed over the movement on the deck, and her mind halted.
Blinking once, twice, thrice, the view before her eyes remained unchanged.
No…no, she could not believe it, she dared not believe it, even as her eyes dampened. Even the Fates could not be so cruel as to give her such an illusion.
But no, this was not the doing of the three cruel hags – she was too familiar with their power, and there was no trace of it here.
Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks, and her knees buckled in a moment of weakness.
"… Percy!" She choked out, and as if he could hear her from so far away, the man who promised to free her, the one whom she had never felt more sure of being in love with… nodded his head, his crooked grin threatening to split his face.
A joyous smile found its way to her lips, and her legs finally gave out on her, the exertion from the night taking its due. Calypso stared as the ship seemed to take forever to get to her, and Perseus clearly agreed. He turned behind him for a moment before jumping into the water. She forced her weary legs to stand up, and within seconds, her hero had surfaced on the beach, sprinting to her, and grabbed hold of her into a bone-breaking hug… for both of them, as she would not let go and gave as good as she received.
No words were exchanged. They did not even look at each other's faces but simply held themselves tightly; Percy's hands flowed through her hair and down her back while hers were firmly around his neck. Just one hug said everything they could ever need to say. Calypso buried her nose into his neck, taking in the scent of sea and storm, while Percy did the same to her hair. Idly, she noticed the ship stop a few hundred feet from the beach, and there were other people on board, but the Queen of Ogygia could not care less at the moment.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Calypso felt her legs tire again, so she leaned heavily on Percy's body, causing their faces to be inches from each other. "You came back."
"For you." Oh, she had missed his baritone voice, yet now it sounded even better. Calypso could feel the smoldering feelings and unbidden desire in his deep voice. "I promised to come back, and I stick to my word."
That was all she needed to hear as Calypso slammed her lips into his, kissing him for all he's worth. Time suddenly lost its meaning, and it was as if her limbs had a mind of their own as her legs coiled around his waist. Her hero's excitement could be felt through his clothes, and a moan escaped her lips when Perseus grabbed her butt, both to lift her and explore her flesh.
Nothing else mattered in the world besides that Percy was here.
He was here! And she was never letting him go.
A thud sounded on the ground near them, yet she didn't care. Percy tried to move towards it, but she grabbed his face and stuck it back to her lips. Calypso grinned through the kiss as her hero vigorously responded in turn.
There was the sound of someone gagging and some horse whining piteously, but she was too lost in her joy to care.
Just as they were lost in each other's embrace, they were hit by a splash of cool water. Neither of them cared, for the water ended up exciting them more, and suddenly, both of their hands were now slipping under their garments. Calypso snickered when she felt Percy pinching her behind before a loud explosion finally rocked them out of their senses.
The Queen of Ogygia turned towards the jarring sound with a snarl, only to freeze at the sight of two girls standing on the beach looking at them strangely, one of them holding an empty bucket. There was a Cyclops dragging a rowboat to the beach and a black Pegasus with a young girl on its back, but Calypso had eyes only for the redhead wielding the strange metal device, smoking and pointing towards the sky. The girl was pretty; she would readily admit it, but her twitching eyebrows and scowling face had Calypso raising an eyebrow challengingly.
"Now that I have your attention, could you please stop sucking your faces for another hour and wait until we're set in?"
Calypso glared daggers at the red-haired demigod. How dare she interrupt her reunion? The desire in the girl's gaze was clear for Atlas' daughter to see. A good taste in men, but there was no way Calypso would-–
Hang on.
The Queen of Ogygia gazed intently at the green-eyed girl and shushed Percy when he tried to speak. There was something strange about the redhead, something… familiar, as if she had known it long ago? Suddenly, it hit her, and her eyes widened in shock.
"No way! Hera? Since when did you become a mortal?"
The Titanomachy didn't begin when the gods escaped from Kronos' stomach. It's obviously fiction, and there's no way we could ever know the exact details, so I'm taking my own spin on the matter. Rhea did her best to keep the peace, but eventually, all hell broke loose.
Hera is mentioned to have gifted Calypso those invisible servants, who have no relation to the Lunarians from One Piece, and I always wondered…why? Then I realized that Calypso is Tethys' daughter, and considering Tethys and Oceanus' marriage was famous for how lovey-dovey they were, Calypso had to have been born before that marriage. We know Rhea had Hera foster with Tethys and Oceanus, and I can't see Atlas as real dad material, so he probably foisted his firstborn, Calypso, on her mother to raise. Oceanus was cool enough to raise her along with his own children, and thus, the relationship between Calypso and Hera. It would then make sense why Hera would make sure her foster sister had so much comforts. She even sent her Percy!
Suffice it to say, Calypso is one hell of a thirsty gal. I had to stop myself from having them fucking on the beach right in front of the crew, lol.
If you would like to read three chapters ahead, or just support me, feel free to join me on Patr(eo)n under the same pen name.