After years of searching I was now in line of sight of the bottle. I had traveled all over the world gaining information and hints about it, and now here I was. The past few days had been the most challenging. I had swam underwater for five miles upstream; and with every foot gained I lost a shred of hope, but I continued anyway. Part of that five mile stretch was through about a mile of swimming above, underneath, and through a fluther of jellyfish. Then I had finally emerged above the water only to find myself facing a hundred foot climb up a slippery rock wall. There had been few breaks and even fewer moments to actually relax. I had been too excited that I might actually find the bottle, and too stressed that it wouldn't be there. Now I was finally here; all I had to do was reach into the thin crevice and pull out my prize.
If only my arms were two inches longer.
I had stretched until my arms ached, but I was still two inches too far. My arm wasn't skinny enough to slip through the crack; especially with all my gear on. If it came to it I would have to take all of my top gear off and then attempt to once more. I hoped desperately that it wouldn't come to that. The gear had taken me hours to get on, and I was still wet from my long swim.
"Out of all the supplies I brought, I didn't think I would need a longer arm," I huffed.
I shifted to try and squeeze my arm in farther, but my thick gear stopped me at my shoulder.
Then I remembered a small hook that I had packed in my backpack. Why hadn't I thought of that before I nearly pulled my arm out of it's socket?
I swung the pack off one shoulder and fumbled through it for a minutes before I found the thin hook. I breathed a sigh of relief and slowly slid my sore arm back through the crevice. The hook caught on the neck of the bottle and I slowly tried pulling it out. But the bottom of the glass got stuck and pulled the hook out of my grasp. Groaning, I thrust my arm through in one last attempt and felt my fingers touch a smooth surface. I wrapped my fingers around the bottle's neck and pulled as hard as I could, but it was slippery and flew off past me and the edge of the cliff, landing in a loud crash.
I cried out and scrambled back down the cliff as fast as I could, as if that could somehow repair the damage my carelessness had caused. I turned around to see the bottle- in one piece.
"Impossible," I murmured as I picked it up and turned it over in my hands.
Silvery smoke spilled out of it's mouth and I dropped the bottle as smoke continued to fill the chamber. I coughed as a voice boomed through the cave. "Who dares wake me from my slumber?"
I began to tremble. The myth hadn't mentioned anything about the genie being fifteen feet tall, with huge muscles, and having fire where his hair should be.
"It... It is I," I stuttered, trying to remain calm. "Calypso."
I winced as I said my name. I hated it. Of all the goddesses, my father had chosen the one who became stuck on an island for all eternity with only an occasional visit from a man who would leave her once she fell in love with him.
"You have three wishes, but beware," his voice shook the cavern. "They don't always turn out how you plan."
I nodded. I had thought long and hard about my wishes for the past five years.
"My first wish is to have immortality," I said without hesitation.
"Live forever?" He asked, amused. "Humans. Predictable."
He snapped his fingers and I instantly felt a shot of pain zap through my body, changing me. I doubled over as the pain intensified.
"My second wish," I grunted as the pain only grew. "Is to stay young and healthy."
"You're smarter than most," he mused. "Usually they wish the pain away, and then wish to undo that wish. Terribly amusing." I couldn't see him through the tears in my eyes, but the snap echoed throughout the rock walls.
I fell to the ground as a final burst of pain erupted in my veins.
"And your third wish?"
"World peace-"
"You don't want to do that," he interrupted, the amusement from his face completely erased.
"Why? I've thought this through. Nothing bad could happen-"
"Then you haven't thought-"
"I wish for world peace," I yelled over his booming voice.
He sighed. "As you wish." He snapped his fingers and he and the bottle disappeared.
Almost instantaneously, the ground began to shake and a stairway appeared to my right. I ran to it, leading outside for a view of the ocean around the small island. My mouth fell open. The world was on fire. Everywhere I looked was chaos and destruction. The island was the only piece of land that didn't seem to be burning, shaking, or drowning. All I could do was watch.
"Humans can't get along," a sad, loud voice said above me. "To have world peace is to have no humans."
"Except me," I mumbled. "I'm immortal. Alone on an island. Forever. Just like Calypso."
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