Ocean Song's eyes fluttered open, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
He slowly got up, looking around. The room he was in, or rather the house, was of simple make. It was clearly made by a person meant only for themselves.
Almost reminiscent of a log cabin, but perhaps with a bit more decadence in some places.
Stone and wood were the majority, but there were some things here or there that gave off a sense of luxury.
Some sculptures were small in stature but looked like they belonged in museums. Trinkets on shelves that appeared to be made of precious gold and jewels.
Even a few weapons casually tossed into corners that looked like they could buy a large house in a prominent city if the owner desired.
But most of all, it looked like nearly every piece of furniture, every shelf, and every wall was handmade and carefully put together by the same person.
Ocean Song's eyes landed on a large bow hung over the threshold of the door. There were a few arrows next to it, tipped with a faint green stain that seemed to have seeped into the metal.
It gave Ocean Song a faint sense of danger just sweeping his Divine Sense over it.
If he had to guess, Hydra Blood.
He knew whose house he was in.
He stepped to the door, pushing it open to see the man himself outside.
Hercules was cutting firewood. Rather, he was harvesting it in an absurd way. He wasn't using an axe. He used his hand to slam it down to splinter the wood and tossed it into a pile next to his house.
"You're awake?" He said without looking over. "Thought you'd be out for another day."
"Thank you for looking after me." Ocean Song wouldn't forget his manners as he clasped his hands and bowed.
Hercules grunted. "I'm getting started on dinner; come on." He gestured to a fire pit with a stove hanging over top. The fire was dim, so he grabbed some newly splintered wood to toss onto it, letting the flames start rising accordingly.
Ocean Song politely followed the orders and sat on one of the logs positioned around the makeshift stove.
"How long was I asleep, if I may ask?"
"A little over a day." Hercules told him.
Ocean Song pursed his lips. "I suppose I was hit harder than I thought."
Hercules shot him a look. "I hit you with enough force to shatter this island and cause a tsunami, and you didn't do anything to protect yourself. Don't sound disappointed, brat. If anything, I should feel offended that it was only a day."
Ocean Song pondered that and considered it logical.
Truly, he was powerful.
"Do you require me to complete a different task for me to earn permission to sail forward?" Ocean Song hesitantly asked.
"No need, you can go whenever you want." He said casually. "I don't really give a shit anymore if anyone wants to come and go, but I'm bound to act as the gatekeeper, so I have to at least pretend to do my job."
Most of the time, he would just demand a 'quest' like, 'Tell me your favorite color.'
Something incredibly inane and just tell them to fuck off after.
If he wasn't in the mood, that is.
"Did you really not know that I'm the god of sports?" Hercules asked him.
Ocean Song looked away.
The god let out a snort before chuckling a few times. "Dumbass."
Ocean Song cleared his throat. "Great Hero Hercules, if I may ask, if you don't like staying here, then why not leave?"
Hercules scrunched his nose before letting out a sigh. "It's not that easy, kid. I thought when I was mortal that if I became a god, I could escape all the chains placed on me, you know? But then I learned that the chains are replaced by a cage."
"Then break the cage." Ocean Song said seriously.
Hercules smiled faintly, dismissing his words as ignorance of a brat. "You're pretty strong." He said, changing the subject. "I heard a few things; you fought Ares, and you even tanked a few bolts of lightning from Pops, right?"
"That's right!" Ocean Song puffed up his chest.
"Compared to the brats these days, monsters, or demigods, you're definitely leagues above them. But you're still much weaker than I was when I was mortal, so don't get cocky." The God of Strength grunted. "Though, you're a monster, so you don't have the same advantages that demigods do." He rubbed his chin.
Ocean Song furrowed his brow. "What advantages do demigods get that I don't even though I am also a son of Poseidon?" He asked curiously.
Hercules flipped his hand over, now holding his iconic club, and he began to write in the sand. "Monster. Demigod. Why are there two words for something that's logically the same thing? Rather than a human being your mom, it was probably a sea nymph, right?"
Ocean Song nodded.
"So, why aren't you called a demigod? From a logical standpoint, it's a term that fits you." Hercules pointed at him with his club.
Ocean Song was quiet as he pondered it. "Words have power."
Hercules nodded. "It's a label given at birth, not even something the gods can change. It's a law of the world. Humans have the 'right.' Humans are the 'owner' of the world, despite what the gods will tell you. Monsters are things that humans overcome. Demigods—what differentiates them from every variation of godly children? It's their human parent; it ties them to humanity, and it gives them strength. It lets them push back their limits, challenge higher, and perform feats that seem completely illogical."
It made Ocean Song frown, but it also wasn't surprising.
"Think of it like a story; monsters exist for the hero to overcome them. Monsters can be strong, they can be feared, and they can be something even the gods dare not fight. But is there ever a time when a story says that a hero never rises up to slay it?" Hercules' tone had a hint of melancholy to it.
Ocean Song clenched his fists. It was strange to him to hear his existence lowered down to a narrative device on a worldly level.
But after a moment, Ocean Song let out a laugh. "It doesn't matter." He said simply, smiling. "If the world rejects me, then I will reject the world. If the world wishes to chain me down, then I will cut those chains."
His Dao Heart would not waver.
Hercules looked at him for a long moment, unsure of what to make of him.
"You're a strange monster."
"I have heard such words before."
"I'm sure you have," he muttered, shaking his head. "What's your weapon?"
"My Sword!" Ocean Song knew immediately what he was asking and slapped his storage bag, taking it out, and offering it for review.
Hercules took it casually, weighing it in his hand and giving it a light swing. "Good sword."
Ocean Song nodded. "My partner. It has been with me since I was born and for the twenty years I trained in secluded cultivation!"
"How old are you now?"
"Twenty years old!"
"...Did you start training the moment you popped out of your mom?"
"Yes!" Ocean Song nodded enthusiastically.
Hercules opened his mouth before closing it again. He knew for a fact that there was certainly something wrong with this Cyclops's head.
"You need to learn more control." He handed the sword back. "Your power is being wasted too much. I can see it plainly; you have a lot of strength, but you're not controlling it properly."
Ocean Song furrowed his brow once more. "You say my Qi control is lacking, Senior? But I have never had problems with my Qi Control."
Hercules surmised the terminology he used and went with it. He grabbed a charred piece of wood out of the fire and threw it up into the air. "Cut it."
Without hesitation, Ocean Song swung his sword, sending out a flash of light that split the log perfectly in half before it hit the ground.
Hercules evaluated it, nodding to himself. "Not bad." He acknowledged.
He knew that Ocean Song was strong, especially for his age.
Hercules then stood up and grabbed a piece of the split wood and threw it high up into the air. He then gripped his club and pulled it back.
It was as if the world pulled back with it, like mountains were uprooted, the seas reeled back, and the sky shifted.
Ocean Song felt like his presence suddenly engulfed the entire island, like he was standing before a man the size of a mountain.
Yet, at the same time, Ocean Song couldn't pick up any of his Qi slipping out.
At the same time, Hercules swung his club, and it was like the world was released with it, tearing apart at the seams to accommodate his mighty strength.
Contrary to the intense pressure, there was only the faintest breeze; it barely tickled Ocean Song's hair, the grass showing the barest swaying under their feet.
Yet, the piece of wood split in half five times before it hit the ground.
Hercules plopped back onto his log, dropping his club to his side. "That was using the same power that I had when I was mortal."
Ocean Song now had a better understanding of what it meant when people said that Hercules was the strongest hero to ever live.
Ocean Song knew for a fact that if he fought a mortal Hercules before he became a god, he would lose.
"It seems I require more training." Ocean Song acknowledged. "My sword Dao has been neglected."
Hercules could respect that.
Someone who recognizes that they need to improve. If he understood that, then there was nothing that needed to be said there.
"Fellow Daoist, I have a question."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"It's a question that may offend you." Ocean Song admitted.
Hercules let out a sigh. "Just spit it out; I'm not going to start raging if you ask something annoying."
"I have heard tales of your feats, but I have also heard of those left behind. For instance, there is the Huntress under the Goddess of the Hunt, for whom you claim that you used her to steal from the Golden Apple tree." Ocean Song inquired.
He wanted to know, mostly because, compared to the Hercules in front of him and the one from the previous texts, it was like two completely different people.
Granted, the Hercules in the texts barely appeared, and he was mostly talked about in outside contexts.
Mostly from people having bad things to say about him.
It didn't paint a pretty picture.
Hercules scoffed indignantly. "That's it?"
Ocean Song pursed your lips. "You don't regret it then?"
He couldn't claim any familiarity or even sympathy towards the woman in question, merely using her as an example, but more so the concept in general is what Ocean Song disliked.
"Regret is for humans." Hercules stared into the fire. "The moment I lost my humanity, I wasn't allowed to regret anything anymore."
"...do you hate being a god?" Ocean Song asked.
Hercules was quiet for several moments. "If I were human, if I were allowed to say I regret something. Then the greatest regret in my life would be becoming a god."
The air turned tense as he said that.
Somber even.
Ocean Song could feel the emotions in his words even if his expression never changed.
"You asked me why I was an asshole?" Hercules spoke up again. "And I know I was an asshole. I'm not an idiot; I knew exactly what I was doing. I stepped over a lot of people, Zoe, one of the Hesperides. I remember the exact look on her face when I betrayed her. It did what I did because I stopped caring and focused on one goal, sacrificing everything along the way. And I achieved it, and this is my reward." He swept his hands around. "So yeah, I'm an asshole, but you know why I don't give a shit still? I've more than paid my penance."
Ocean Song saw through the heart of it and understood what he meant.
Not just the cage itself, but more than that.
It was lonely.
He was here all by himself.
"...don't you have your wife to accompany you?"
Hercules scoffed, grabbing a piece of wood and tossing it on the fire. "Wife in name only. I don't love her; she doesn't love me. She's probably off screwing some mortal to make another demigod again. One final fuck you from the Queen Bitch herself, making my eternal life miserable with a wife that hates me just as much as I hate her."
"Fellow Daoist." Ocean Song swallowed because he knew he was about to do something stupid. "You gave up."
The air around them stilled.
Hercules slowly turned to look at him. "What?"
"You gave up." Ocean Song didn't back down. "You admitted defeat. You surrendered. You lost your heart."
"You motherfucker."
The next thing Ocean Song knew, his entire vision was filled with a club coming at him. He quickly brought his sword up to block, but the force of it sent him hurling backwards.
He hit the ground once before flipping onto his feet, finding himself standing near the beach again, having been knocked clear across the island.
Within the blink of an eye, a figure slammed down from the sky. Hercules hit the ground, sand flying up everywhere as another swing of his club dispersed it in the next second.
Ocean Song swung his sword to meet it; the collision caused the entire island to shake violently.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Hercules growled, grabbing him by the sleeve and throwing him over his shoulder onto the ground.
The ground beneath them cratered from the impact as Ocean Song let out a gasp. However, before Hercules could slam his club down, Ocean Song released several flashes of light, sending the sword phantoms at the great hero.
Hercules snorted, slamming his club into each of them, causing them to disperse with ease.
The Cyclops was quick to get back on his feet and slide across the sands to gain some distance.
"You let yourself be caged." Ocean Song shouted, and half a breath later, he gathered a significant amount of Qi and swung his blade to meet another swing of the heroes' great club, knocking him off his feet and sending him back into the center of the island.
"You know nothing!" Hercules's angry voice reverberated throughout the island.
"If you don't like your wife, divorce her!" Ocean Song roared back. "Ocean Sword First Form—Crashing Waves!"
His sword collided again with that club as Hercules leapt across the island at godlike speed. It was the first time he showed a hint of being pushed back.
But he was Hercules.
He simply gritted his teeth and put his back into it as he broke through Ocean Song's sword technique. He didn't say it out loud, but he felt that one. "Her mom is the goddess of marriage!"
"The one that you hate!?" Ocean Song retorted as they exchanged blows, each time, Ocean Song being on the losing end even with Hercules not using his full power. "Fuck her!"
That made Hercules momentarily pause as Ocean Song's third eye opened and his baleful demonic aura erupted as he slammed his fist into the ancient hero's chest.
Hercules spat out a mouthful of saliva that was forced up from his throat as he went flying backwards and through his own house, causing part of it to collapse on itself.
He got up easily, not even knocking the wind out of him. In fact, he was more angry that his house was destroyed.
Hercules gripped his club with both hands, and Ocean Song felt a tingle down his spine.
"Ocean Sword, Third Form—Calm Waters." His strongest defense move.
He felt the reverberation as he defended against the first hit of the club, dispersing the weight and force of it. Then the second came, and the third, and dozens more in quick succession.
Hercules evaluated him again for the first time. He looked at the monster who had defended against his blows that carried with them a not inconsequential amount of his strength.
Certainly not all of it by any means, but enough that it would reduce most creatures on this planet to paste if a single one of his hits landed.
"You say you're in a cage? You're Hercules, break the cage!"
His lips twisted back as he let out a shout. He failed to control his strength because, for some reason, his words reached deep down in the ancient hero's heart, more than he wanted to admit.
With a swing of his club, everything in front of him was obliterated.
The trees, the foliage, the rock formations—everything in front of him had been reduced to flat dirt, all but Ocean Song, who supported himself with his sword, throwing up a mouthful of blood.
Neither of them cared to look at the massive tsunami that had just been created and moved towards the horizon.
Ocean Song's Qi exploded upwards; despite taking that last blow head-on, he didn't wave. "Flood Dragon Soars to the Skies!"
Hercules' eyes widened for the first time as he braced himself and took it head-on.
The dragon made of qi and water roared at him as it tore through the air and descended on the ancient hero.
Hercules snarled as he took it head-on. An unstoppable force met an unmoveable object as the sky itself split upon their collision.
The only reason the island still stood was due to the metaphysical weight holding it together.
"You are Hercules!" Ocean Song shouted. "You're the hero that does the impossible!"
Maybe it was due to his other self and the stories he read and watched, the ones that venerated him. And now, seeing that same hero like this?
It left a foul taste in his mouth.
He didn't know why he was going this far, truth be told.
Simply, right now in front of him, there was a wrong that needed to be righted.
Hercules stood there, swinging his club lightly, dispersing the dust and debris that had been kicked up as the dragon had been dispersed.
His robes had been torn apart; his bare chest showed. His hair was disheveled, and a trickle of blood ran down the corner of his mouth with a few faint cuts that healed up immediately across his chest.
"You—"
Hercules let out a roar and leapt at him again; Ocean Song once more brought his sword up to block, the force of it sending out a massive shockwave that felt like a hurricane had just blown through.
Ocean Song strained himself to ward it off.
"Gave – "
A fist landed on his cheek.
Ocean Song briefly felt the light disappear and his vision go dark as his brain caught back up, and he hit the ground and bounced several times before hitting a large rock formation and shattering part of it until his momentum stopped.
He was on his knees and looked up; the sky and the sun disappeared.
A massive shadow loomed over him.
Hercules stood over him, his arm held high, his divine club held up, and his stature blotted out the world as his weight pressed down.
"-Up." Ocean Song looked him right in the eyes despite the urgent sense of death approaching.
Hercules brought the club down, but it only landed next to Ocean Song.
The island remained unscathed from the blow, but the force of it shot downwards.
Below the island, a several-mile trench now opened up, and lava spewed out as the blow pried open long-dormant volcanic vents.
"Get off my island." Hercule said expressionlessly.
[Line Break]
Hercules stood on the beach as he watched Ocean Song sail away on his boat, not offering a single word of goodbye.
There was a bitter taste in his mouth, and he couldn't understand why.
He wasn't even mad that the island was nearly destroyed.
Or that his house was destroyed.
He could fix it easily.
He had all the time in the world.
If anything, it would be something to keep him busy.
"Hey Herc!"
Hercules recognized the voice. "Hermes."
"Oh man, what happened? I felt the shockwaves; did you fight with someone?" The messenger god held his hand up over his eyes as he looked towards the horizon where Hercules was staring. "Huh, that's the weirdest Cyclops, did he piss you off?"
Hercules grunted noncommittally. "What do you want, Hermes?"
"Oh, nothing, just to stop by as usual. I was on my way to my uncle's place and felt what was going on." Hermes casually floated there sideways, like he was lying down. "Want to hear the newest gossip?"
Hercules didn't answer; he knew Hermes would say it anyways.
"Ares is cleaning the stables at the camp; can you believe that?"
That was almost enough to turn Hercules' mood around.
"Pops got caught trying to break his oath again. Like, during the deed. It wasn't pretty, especially after how angry Mom was about everything up till now."
Any kind of suffering Hera suffered was music to his ears. Normally, he'd laugh happily at hearing she suffered some humiliation, but oddly, he wasn't in the mood.
"Hermes."
"What's up?"
"...can you send a message to Dad? Tell him…I want to leave the island."
"Seriously?" Hermes flipped back to a normal position. "Come on, man, you know that's not going to happen. Just let it be. It's not so bad here, right? Do you have any idea how boring every council meeting is? You got it good here!" Hermes let out a small laugh, patting his shoulder.
But it just made Hercules frown. "Fine, whatever."
The Messenger God just smiled. "Oh right, Uncle Poseidon was moping around too. Apparently he's been fighting with his son, Triton."
Hercules grunted, not really caring about that.
"Oh, and Mom replanted her apple tree back in her garden. But she used it being stolen as an excuse to kick out all the Hesperides."
Hercules raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"You know Mom never liked them. They always used to sneak apples because Ladon wouldn't attack them." Hermes nodded. "They're the ones who feed him and take care of him after all. Besides, they're technically supposed to be taking care of it too, guarding it, not just Ladon. And they didn't even notice it had gone missing. Clearly they hadn't been doing their jobs."
It went without saying that Ladon hadn't been kicked out. Ladon was a monstrous creature, and there frankly wasn't a good alternative to having it guard.
"Mmm, oh, and I thought you should know Hebe had another kid join up at the camp; she just claimed him the other day."
Hercules felt his jaw clench unconsciously but just let out a sigh. "I don't care."
"Yeah, yeah, just thought you should know." Hermes shrugged again. "Anyways, nothing too crazy, but I'm off to Atlantis; I've got to deliver a few letters."
The god of messengers disappeared quickly.
Hercules looked up at the sky.
You gave up.
"Did I really?" He asked no one. "When did this become so normal that I just accepted it?"
He laughed.
He let out a full belly laugh.
He laughed because if he didn't, he felt like it may be tears that came out instead.
Caged.
That's what he was.
There was no denying it.
This island was his cage.
The duty he accepted became his cage. He couldn't reject it; he couldn't run away from it. It bound him as a god.
He watched Ocean Song sail away until he completely disappeared from sight.
There was nothing he could do.
His fists clenched.
Hercules does the impossible.
He slammed his club into the ground, letting it go.
"Fuck this island. Fuck Olympus. And fuck being a god!"
He was a god.
As a god, he was caged on this island.
Therefore, stop being a god.
Logically, one would say, you can't just 'stop' being a god. Zeus could strip someone of their divinity; there are ways to 'lose' it, to have it stolen, or to transfer it. But those all require extraordinary circumstances.
Once you became a god, your existence changed. It was intertwined with your very existence on such a level that even your soul changed along with it.
But who was he?
"I am Hercules."
And he did something unthinkable, something generally considered impossible.
He tore out his own divinity and threw it away.
And once more, Hercules was mortal again.
His actions didn't go unnoticed. With his divinity torn away, a burst of light had ascended to the sky, the purest display of divine power shown in quite a long time. It was not a god showing off their divine strength; it was divinity in one of its purest forms.
And all the gods of Olympus, and many more, all turned to look towards the commotion.
All their gazes turned to the Pillars of Hercules.
Hercules felt all the eyes on him. The incredulousness, the confusion, the surprise, and the shock.
Had there ever been a god that ripped out their own divine essence and tossed it to the side like garbage?
To the gods, they understood at a glance what happened.
And it was as insulting as it was illogical to them.
With all those gazes on him, he simply opened his voice, neither too loud nor too quiet.
"I want a divorce."
And he dove into the water, swimming away from the cage that could no longer hold him.
[Line Break]
A/N
Hercules gets a kick in the rear, basically telling him to stop being an idiot. And once again Ocean Song accidentally fucks up a lot more things.
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