{Ogygia, 1000 B.C.E.}
"You're there, aren't you?"
Yup, I was fully and completely terrified right about now. Not that I had many options. First of all, I was powerless in this situation. Second of all, I had once killed Alcyoneus, one of Gaia's children.
Oh, and I'd also gone against Tartarus, her lovely husband, and almost took down Kronos, her previous favorite son. But hey, none of that had happened yet, so maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't be mad.
"Who are you talking about?" Calypso asked again, her voice trembling just a little.
I wanted to scream, to run, to do something. Calypso couldn't tell, but I could. I had grown proficient at reading souls over the past few millennia, and right now, Gaia was debating whether or not to kill her. The tension in the air was thick—like someone had turned the pressure up a thousandfold.
Gaia didn't reply to Calypso's question. She just inched forward, her presence heavy like an avalanche about to start. Her hand reached out toward Calypso's cheek, but before she could touch her, Calypso instinctively jerked her head back, a flicker of fear crossing her face.
"Who are you talking about?" Calypso repeated, her voice quivering.
"Don't worry, child. Come here for a moment." Gaia's voice was sweet, too sweet—like poison wrapped in honey.
Calypso hesitated, taking a cautious step backward. But before she could react further, the ground beneath her feet erupted. A wall of earth shot up from behind, and an earthen hand burst forth, grabbing her by the throat. It squeezed, and Calypso's feet lifted off the ground as if she were a doll on a string.
"You can stop pretending now, little shadow."
I stayed quiet, as quiet as a whisper in the dark. I didn't know what would happen if I spoke up, maybe it was all a fluke maybe she hadn't noticed me, so I was gonna stay quiet just in case.
But Calypso? She was anything but. She was flailing, her legs kicking wildly, her face growing redder by the second. Her gasps for air were painful to hear. Her pupils were dilated, and I could feel her fear radiating like a storm. There was a flicker of something beneath that fear, though—hope. Hope that it would all be over soon, one way or another.
Through it all, I remained silent. What would happen to me if I stepped out of the shadows? I still had to get back to the present, to defeat Kronos, to stop the war, to see my family again. I kept feeding myself excuses.
Maybe staying quiet was the right choice, maybe I was doing the smart thing. But as Calypso's struggles weakened, her breaths coming in ragged gasps, I couldn't justify it anymore. By the time I opened my mouth to speak, she had already lost consciousness, but her soul was still here, she was alive.
"I'm here," I said, my voice barely a whisper.
"That's a good little shadow," Gaia replied, her voice oozing satisfaction.
The hand around Calypso's throat loosened, dropping her limp body to the ground. She crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, unmoving. Gaia walked forward, her footsteps making no sound, and grabbed Calypso's face, tilting it up to look into her eyes.
"Come forward, little shadow," Gaia commanded, her voice silk and iron all at once.
"I can't," I responded, my voice as calm as I could manage, though inside, I was anything but.
Gaia's lips twisted into a mocking smile. "Well, that's disappointing. I expected more from the one who altered the World Records. What was your grand title again?"
Gaia chuckled, a low, dark laugh that echoed in the earth itself. "Oh yes that's right. Primordial of Shadows and Souls. Powerful sounding, yet so weak. Your existence clings to what? The lessers."
She spat the word "lessers" like it was a curse, and her laughter grew louder, more terrifying with every second. "The shadows of the lessers. The souls of the lessers. You're nothing more than a parasite, dependent on those beneath you. What a disgrace. Of course, it could only be expected, given you came from the union of my brother and my sister."
Her words hit like a hammer. That wasn't right. I was born to Erebus, yes, but my mother was mortal. How much of my story had she read? How deep could she delve into my page? Was she only grasping at my title and a few details, or did she know everything?
"I wonder," Gaia mused, her voice turning cold, "what would happen if I destroyed this body with my son's scythe? Would you perish along with it, little shadow?"
The scythe of time—the very weapon that had killed Ouranos, the primordial of the sky. The thought of it being used on me was... unsettling, to say the least, especially when I had already died once to a weapon that was being wielded by that overgrown shit.
"But still, little shadow, I wonder: how are you here now? Your birth, from what I've read, won't happen for millennia."
She had read my page and had been able to read more of me than I ever had of any other being, she had read the date of my birth
Gaia raised her hand toward Calypso's eyes. She extended two fingers, her nails sharp as obsidian (which honestly could have been what they were made up of right now), and brought them closer to her face. A hand of earth shot up from the ground, prying Calypso's eyelids open. The scene was unbearable to watch, but I couldn't tear my gaze away.
"You saw something you shouldn't have, little shadow. Something far greater than you could ever hope to understand. So now, I will see for myself what the Fate Breaker is all about."
Fate Breaker. That was my nickname—another thing Gaia had read from my page on the World Records. Her words dripped with mockery as she spoke.
"They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Is that why the World Records took yours from you?" she added, her fingers inching closer to Calypso's unblinking eyes.
"But I guess we'll see if that old saying holds any truth."
-SQUELCH-
With a sickening squelch, Gaia's fingers plunged into Calypso's eyes, bursting them. Liquid and blood spilled from the sockets, and I felt something within me tearing as Gaia dug deeper into Calypso's sockets. My very essence was being dragged toward Gaia, like a moth to a flame.
I couldn't move, couldn't stop her. The pull was overwhelming, like being caught in a riptide with no chance of escape. I tried to fight against it, I was the primordial of Souls for gods sakes this should have been my domain, still I could do nothing as I was torn from Calypso's mind.