Calypso had invited both Hecate and Ocean Song back to her house.
Nessie had pushed her head through the window, just happily watching them.
It was an awkward air in the house.
"So, you two know each other?" Ocean Song decided to break the awkwardness.
Hecate gave him a look. "We're both Titans; obviously we know each other."
"I heard you're the goddess of magic now." Calypso said politely. "We haven't really talked since the war."
"Hmph."
Calypso looked at Ocean Song. "You know, I'm also a sorceress of some talent. The Titans would often compare us, saying who was better at Magic back in the day."
Hecate scoffed. "I was better."
Calypso didn't take offense to the statement. "I always said Hecate was better than me. Though, I am a little bit better than her with specific things. Plants, mostly. Living things. Animals like me better too, so it makes things easier for me when it comes to those."
"There's a reason that one of my domains is ghosts." Hecate huffed.
"I heard you're living in the Underworld now too. That dark and dreary place—" She glanced at Ocean Song. "- - It's not a place to live, really. Dark, horrid, not somewhere you would want to, say, raise children."
Hecate narrowed her eyes. "What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing~" Calypso continued to smile politely. "Just that, no one would actually want to live there, right? Compared to, say, a nice, beautiful, sunny island."
"There is nothing wrong with my home." Hecate said in a low voice.
"Sure, sure." Calypso hummed. "I'm just saying, compared to my island paradise…"
Hecate slapped the table. "You're trying to insinuate something!"
"I'm just making an observation. Who would want to live in a palace of ghosts and monsters and the dead? When you could live on a beautiful island like this…forever." She turned to Ocean Song again. "Did you know that I could make my husband immortal? If they decided to stay with me, of course. For eternity."
Ocean Song blinked. "Oh, that's neat."
Calypso's lips slowly curled up. "What do you think? How does my island compare with the Underworld in your view?"
"Your island is certainly beautiful." Ocean Song nodded, earning a growing, smug grin from Calypso as Hecate slowly frowned opposite of her. "However, I'm afraid it cannot compete with the beauty of the Underworld."
Calypso paused. "What?"
Even Hecate blinked in surprise at his answer.
"You're saying that my island is…uglier than the underworld?" It was utterly incredulous to her.
"The fact that it is the home of Hecate lives there makes it the most beautiful place in the world." Ocean Song spoke enthusiastically.
Calypso went blank, and it was Hecate's turn to look at her smugly.
The Goddess of Magic quickly crossed her arms, looking away with a soft "Hmph" when Ocean Song gazed towards her.
Another awkward silence ensued before Ocean Song opened his mouth again.
"So…what do you do for fun here?"
Calypso perked up. "I like tending to my garden!"
"Yes?"
"And…" Calypso paused for a second before answering. "I like fishing!"
"What else?"
"Um…I like…uh…watching caterpillars turn into butterflies."
"..."
Ocean Song felt like he was missing something. "Doesn't that take a couple weeks to happen? Or something like that…" He didn't know the exact amount of time; he wasn't a butterfly expert.
"Yes." Calypso nodded.
"And you…sit there and watch it…the entire time?"
"Yes." She nodded again.
"..."
"Goddess, I think Senior Calypso has been in seclusion for too long." Ocean Song spoke as he looked towards Hecate. "We need to set her up with Internet, or at least cable."
Hecate facepalmed. "Do you think it's even possible to set up cable in a place like this?"
"Are you saying you can't do it?
"No, I could, I'm just saying…" Hecate trailed off for a moment as both of them looked at her. "I don't want to."
She was so annoyed at Calypso trying to flirt with him that she stubbornly refused to be helpful.
"I don't know what those things are." Calypso chimed in.
"Goddess, this saddens me deep down into my soul." Ocean Song couldn't help but say. "This situation must be rectified."
Ocean Song stood up.
As a proper cultivator, how could he allow the existence of someone who doesn't have the ability to go online to read sacred texts!?
This injustice couldn't stand.
And he felt bad.
Like, weirdly bad.
Someone who finds enjoyment in sitting down for weeks at a time to watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly—was there anything more pitiful than that?
Ocean Song had a feeling that if he gave her paint, it would be a new, exciting hobby of hers to watch it dry.
"Why not leave?"
"I can't."
"She can't."
They both said at the same time.
Ocean Song was just confused by this, though. "I could build a boat?"
Hecate let out a sigh. "It doesn't work that way. You, and by extension, others can come and go technically. But she is cursed; she's bound to this island; she can't leave."
Calypso smiled sadly. "It's my punishment. I sided with the Titans in the war against the gods. After the Titans lost, I was imprisoned on this island and never allowed to leave. It was only pity that allowed me this even. I know that most of them are bound in Tartarus right now. And Hera even felt bad enough for me that I get attendants coming to visit me regularly and bring me news of the outside world."
"The curse can't be broken?" Ocean Song tilted her head.
"It wasn't the gods who cursed her." Hecate explained. "It was the Fates. At the behest of Zeus, but the Fates all the same. There are very few things capable of overcoming Fate in the world. Even if I wanted to remove the curse myself, it would be…difficult."
Ocean Song slapped the table. "This is unacceptable!"
Both women were taken aback by the abrupt display of anger.
He had always been rather soft-spoken and mild-mannered this entire time.
"As a Cultivator, I must do everything in my power to spite Fate when possible. Therefore, I will free Senior Calypso from this fate!"
"...How do you intend to do that?" Calypso hesitantly asked.
"First."
"Yes?"
"You must join my sect!"
"...okay?" She tilted her head in confusion, not knowing what that meant.
Ocean Song clasped his hands behind his back. "Wonderful, the Sword Heart Sect has grown once more."
Hecate rubbed the bridge of her nose. "How exactly do you intend to free her?"
"Okay, I have a plan."
"You have a plan?"
"Yes, it's a good plan."
"Okay, let's hear it."
"Why don't we take the island— " Ocean Song held up his hands. "—and move it somewhere else!?"
There was a moment of silence before Hecate got up, looking around the room. She found a ladle on the kitchen counter and walked over to Ocean Song and started hitting him over the head with it. "That's your plan!?"
"It's a good plan!" Ocean Song defended.
"It's not so easy." Calypso hid her mouth as she laughed at the two of them. "I'm bound to the island itself. It's not a matter of just…moving the island or something like that."
"What constitutes the 'island'?" Ocean Song asked. "What if I cut the island in half, took one part of it and placed it on the other side of the world? Would you be allowed to go over there?"
Calypso opened her mouth but found herself not having an answer. "I don't know?"
"I have another plan." Ocean Song declared.
Hecate leveled her blade at him.
"It's a good plan this time."
"Do you admit your previous plan was a stupid one!?"
Ocean Song wisely didn't answer. "I just need something." He stood up and walked outside as the two looked at him through the window.
Ocean Song took out a certain conch and blew on it.
It echoed out, reverberating through the world. The waters vibrated and the waves picked up as something came flying over at quick speeds.
A silhouette jumped out from the water before landing on the sands. "What's up, little bro?"
"Senior Brother!" Ocean Song called out happily. "This lowly Cyclops greets you!"
Triton, son of Poseidon, was standing on the mythical island now. "Is this Ogygia?"
"Indeed!"
"Huh, never been here before." His eyes carried over to the house not far away, and he spied the two in the window. He bowed his head politely to them in greeting.
"So that must be the Titan Calypso; my father told me about her." He rubbed his chin. "How did you end up here?"
"I came here by accident." Ocean Song admitted. "I was running away from someone." He said helplessly. "But I learned of Senior Calypso's tragic fate, and I decided to help her! She even joined my sect, so as the sect master, it is my duty to rectify this great injustice!"
"So…you want to free her?" Triton read between the lines. "That's not going to be easy, little bro. I hope you're not counting on me snapping my fingers and making it so. If the Goddess of Magic over there hasn't done the job, I can say that I'm not going to be of much help."
"I just need a few things, and I was hoping you may have them, Senior Brother."
"If it's just some toys you need, that shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure Dad wouldn't mind giving something too if you asked." Triton smiled casually. "I also got some extra money these days; if I need to buy something, I can do that too. By the way, you should stop by and visit too. I have my own palace set up now as well."
"A new Palace?"
"Yup." Triton looked proud. "The missus is a lot happier too. I'm sure she'd love to meet you. The city is still being built, but it shouldn't be much longer. I'm a king now."
"Congratulations, Senior Brother!"
"Haha, well, I guess I have you to thank." He grabbed Ocean Song, playfully pulling him into a half hug. "So why don't you tell your brother what you need? I'll see what I can do."
[Line Break]
It didn't take long for Triton to come swimming through the waters again.
He shot back up, his fish tail turning back into legs before touching the sand, landing gracefully.
This time, Ocean Song, Hecate, and Calypso were waiting for him.
None of them had any idea what he was planning, but Ocean Song looked confident in himself.
He was holding a sack in his hand. "Hecate." He greeted her first, a casual nod between them. They were basically strangers but still greeted out of politeness. "And Calypso, it's nice to meet you."
"You must be Poseidon's son. I've heard about you." She smiled warmly despite being strangers to each other.
Triton didn't say it out loud, but he did acknowledge that she seemed like a very gentle woman and had trouble picturing her as a menace in the Old War that needed her to be imprisoned afterwards.
"Here's the stuff you need, Little Bro. I got the general idea of what you're trying, and to be honest, I don't know if this will work, but it's…well, I'll call it unique thinking at least."
"I sure hope it does; otherwise we're doing Plan B."
"What's Plan B?" he asked.
"Moving the island—"
Hecate slapped the back of his head. "That is not a plan."
"Don't worry, it will work." Ocean Song spoke with absolute confidence.
The key to being so sure was that you just didn't consider failure as a possibility. You just assumed everything would work out in your favor; it was the Cultivator way.
Ocean Song reached into the sack and pulled out a pair of sandals. On the bottom of them, there was a little hidden cap that he popped up. The intention was to hide alcohol in a hidden flask, but Ocean Song just funneled Island sand into them.
"Here, put these on." He gave them to Calypso.
Hecate raised an eyebrow. "That's much more forward thinking than I had thought you were capable of. But that's not going to be enough. Just some sand doesn't make an island."
She at least acknowledged that it was a novel thought.
'Technically, she never left the island if island sand was under her feet'.
She would almost call it clever.
But the curse wouldn't be so simply overcome.
"That's just step one!" Ocean Song declared as Calypso put on the new sandals.
"They're comfy." She said happily.
"Nessie!" Ocean Song called out.
The Great Void Sect's defending divine beast popped up from the water. "Bawhoo!"
"Everyone on Nessie's back!" Ocean Song jumped onto her back with a soft step. The others, reluctantly, joined him.
At this point, they were more or less committed to seeing this through.
"Swim, Nessie."
She began to swim away from the island.
"She can't leave through the Mist Barrier." Hecate wasn't being pessimistic; it was more a reminder of the restrictions. "It will teleport her back to her island; if she gets too far away, it will force her back."
They were a good, few hundred feet off the island now, closing up to the edge of the barrier.
Ocean Song reached into the sack and pulled out a bottle.
Hecate noted that it was particularly magical—or divine in this case.
"Senior Calypso, please hold this in your hand with me." He held it up as she awkwardly grabbed onto it.
Ocean Song then tilted it towards the island. "I recalled the story of Odysseus, how he carried a bag of winds. Why not a bottle with an island inside of it? My Father had these nifty bottles in his palace that had entire ships inside, and I remembered them."
The cork came off the bottle, and immediately the winds around them changed, the mists distorted, and the trees on the island slowly got pulled towards them.
It wasn't a gradual process.
It was like someone slurping spaghetti; the bottle just sucked it all right up.
One moment, the island was there; the next, it was now miniaturized inside the bottle, water and sand and all, before Ocean Song plugged it with the cork.
He took out a string and wrapped it around the bottle before hanging it from Calypso's neck. "There you go; you're still with the island."
"Nessie, swim onwards!" Ocean Song ordered as everyone stared at him incredulously.
Hecate watched intently at the threshold of the mist barrier as Nessie's head went through it, and it was creeping up on the other Titaness.
To her surprise, it passed right over Calypso without any issue.
Calypso looked back, then down at the island hanging around her neck.
In fact, all three deities were looking at Ocean Song incredulously.
The fact of the matter was, no one ever expected her to carry the island with her and move away.
Ocean Song, noticing their gazes, responded in the most appropriate manner.
He clasped his hands behind his back, letting his robes billow heroically.
All in a day's work for a cultivator.
[Line Break]
A/N
New Sect member Ocean Song shows off his utter brilliance.
Truly, there has never been a wiser cultivator in the world.
If you want to read 1 chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name